The Best of This Week
The week’s must-reads for managing in the digital age, curated by the MIT SMR editors.
Topics
Weekly Recap
Three Steps to Fostering a Learning Culture That Delivers Innovation
To create the technology solutions to the world’s biggest problems, companies need more than just technologically savvy staff — they need a workplace culture that supports continuous learning and teamwork. Developing such a culture requires leaders to focus on optimism, the celebration of victories of any size, and a commitment to team spirit.
Empower Your Virtual Team to Achieve More (and Worry Less)
Many leaders of remote teams feel overwhelmed and isolated. One solution is to adopt an empowering leadership style, which involves delegating to team members, developing them so that they can contribute more, and soliciting their input to solve problems. But leaders often resist this approach when managing remotely, worrying about ceding control and taking new risks in a remote environment where they can’t observe people directly. Here’s how to help leaders reap the benefits of sharing power.
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How Slack Upended the Workplace
Slack has now moved out of startup land, with more than 169,000 organizations — including 65 of the Fortune 100 — paying for its services. But even if you don’t use Slack, you live and work in the world Slack helped create: where openness and transparency are prized; where who we are at the office and who we are outside of it are closer than ever before; and where things sometimes go very wrong, especially for people in power.
New Research on the Human Factor in AI-Based Decision-Making
Individuals’ unique decision-making styles inform the choices they make when working with AI-based inputs. Organizations can optimize AI and overcome flaws in human judgment by identifying and understanding the three types of decision maker — skeptics, interactors, and delegators — and by implementing three strategies for integrating AI into organizational decision-making processes.
What Else We’re Reading This Week
- Why does the internet keep breaking? (Source: BBC News)
- Your dreams about work are trying to tell you something (Source: The Wall Street Journal)
- Thousands of workers have gone on strike across the U.S., showing their growing power in a tightening economy (Source: Time)
- Argue better by signaling your receptiveness with these words (Source: Psyche)
Quote of the Week:
“The view of the office looks different from the top. While executives are banging down the door to get back to their corner offices, non-executive employees are demanding flexibility in where and when they work.”
— Brian Elliott, executive leader of the Future Forum, in “The Great Executive-Employee Disconnect”