And these findings don’t just point to an increased call for civility, they also indicate promising signs of equalization between the way men and women are perceived in the workplace.

In 2016, a similar study from Crucial Learning found that women who spoke forcefully in the workplace experienced more of a social backlash than their male counterparts. Yet following prominent social movements calling for equity and fairness over the last few years, in a follow-up study conducted in October 2023, both male and female respondents rated men more negatively for their aggressiveness, indicating a shift in the way we perceive gender at work.

“Many of us have hoped that increased attention on the bias women face in the workplace would lead to greater equality,” said Emily Gregory, researcher and coauthor of Crucial Conversations. “Of course, inequalities still exist, but our results suggest society may be starting to hold men accountable to the same standard as women in the workplace when it comes to aggressive behavior.”

In the study (click here for full data report), respondents were asked to watch a short video clip of a man or woman expressing concerns about a project in a meeting with a group of their peers. The person in each video either expressed their concerns calmly and respectfully, or loudly and aggressively, while all having the same script. Respondents each saw one of the clips (male or female, neutral or aggressive) and answered questions about their feelings towards the actor’s demeanor.

Respondents penalized both the man and woman in the aggressive videos in areas of status, competency, and perceived value, or how much salary they believed the person deserved compared to the neutral videos. For example, the aggressive man lost almost $8,000 in perceived salary value compared to his neutral counterpart.

In an open-ended survey question, respondents were asked to provide three adjectives to describe the video subject. The adjectives used to describe the man in the videos were more negative than those used to describe the woman; for example, among the top five words used to describe each, no negative adjectives were used for the woman (assertive, direct, determined, strong, confident) while three of the five used for the man were negative (stubborn, aggressive and rude along with passionate and determined).

In addition, the less control a respondent believed the video subject had, the lower they rated the subject across all measures, including competency, status, leadership ability and perceived value.

“Being civil isn’t the same as being passionless,” said Nancy Smith, researcher and vice president at Crucial Learning. “You can advocate strongly for your beliefs as long as you’re in control. It’s those men and women who can exhibit passion without aggression who will find more listening ears than those with less civility.”

About Crucial Learning

Crucial Learning improves the world by helping people improve themselves. We offer courses in communication, performance, and leadership, focusing on behaviors that have a disproportionate impact on outcomes, called crucial skills. Our award-winning courses and accompanying bestselling books include Crucial Conversations® for Mastering Dialogue, Crucial Conversations® for Accountability, Crucial Influence®, The Power of Habit™, and Getting Things Done®. CrucialLearning.com.

The post Study Suggests Men & Women Pay Tax on Aggressiveness at Work—Indicating Greater Gender Equalization in the Workplace appeared first on Crucial Learning.

Crucial Consulting offers both off-the-shelf solutions as well as customized consulting support for clients looking to lead behavior change of any kind, even if prior attempts have failed. In past engagements, Crucial Learning consultants and their clients have seen impressive results:

• HCA Healthcare reduced nursing turnover created by the COVID-19 pandemic.
• Lockheed Martin won a $200 billion Joint Strike Fighter contract.
• Spectrum Health improved hand hygiene compliance from 60% to 90%.
• Newmont Mining reduced serious injuries by more than 70%.
• AT&T improved employee satisfaction by 20% and retained all key subject-matter experts through a reorganization.

“We are thrilled to offer comprehensive consulting services that will guide leaders and their teams to influence team- or system-wide behavior change and achieve impressive results,” said Andy Shimberg, CEO of Crucial Learning. “Our consulting philosophy is founded on the principle that behavior leads to results. When you replace unproductive, destructive, or mediocre behaviors with vital behaviors that lead to success, results are inevitable. Our team has the behavior change model and experience to help our clients do just that.”

Clients will partner with Crucial Learning consultants and master trainers to identify the behaviors standing in the way of their success and then create a behavior-change strategy to achieve their critical business results. Crucial Learning consultants are the leading experts in the application of crucial skills and are skilled practitioners in applying the award-winning Crucial Influence® Model to create rapid and sustained behavior change.

“At Crucial Learning, we’re continuously striving to provide ways to support and strengthen organizations and, most importantly, the people who work for them,” said Mike Morhardt, Chief Revenue Officer at Crucial Learning. “Crucial Consulting adds to our mission to create flexible learning experiences that teach proven skills for solving life’s most stubborn personal, interpersonal, and organizational problems.”

More information about Crucial Consulting can be found at CrucialLearning.com.

About Crucial Learning

Crucial Learning improves the world by helping people improve themselves. We offer courses in communication, performance, and leadership, focusing on behaviors that have a disproportionate impact on outcomes, called crucial skills. Our award-winning courses and accompanying bestselling books include Crucial Conversations® for Mastering Dialogue, Crucial Conversations® for Accountability, Crucial Influence®, The Power of Habit™, and Getting Things Done®. CrucialLearning.com.

CONTACT: Jordan Christiansen +1-801-995-5458, jordan.christiansen@cruciallearning.com

The post Crucial Learning Launches New Consulting Solutions appeared first on Crucial Learning.

Core Strengths is home to the Strength Deployment Inventory (SDI 2.0), a best-in-class assessment that delivers powerful personal insights into why we behave the way we do and how we relate to others. People learn how their core motives and values drive their behaviors, both in productive collaboration and in moments of conflict. The self-awareness gained from these insights helps people improve their performance and strengthen relationships.

People experience the SDI 2.0 assessment through the Core Strengths Platform which allows clients to access their individual assessment results as well as the results of their colleagues. This broad access to results extends the life of the assessment and ensures anyone can access valuable relationship intelligence on-demand to improve team collaboration and performance.

Effective immediately, Crucial Learning will acquire the Core Strengths products, technology, processes and workforce. In coming months, the SDI 2.0 and Core Strengths Platform will be integrated into the Crucial Learning product suite which includes the award-winning courses Crucial Conversations® for Mastering Dialogue, Crucial Conversations® for Accountability, Crucial Influence®, The Power of Habit™, and Getting Things Done®.

Crucial Learning leadership says the acquisition allows them to broaden their solutions and better serve their clients.

“We have been looking for a world-class assessment tool to help us respond to client interest and demand,” said Andy Shimberg, CEO of Crucial Learning. “We are confident we’ve found the right partner in Core Strengths. The SDI 2.0 meets our high standards of quality and client experience. Not only does it deliver performance-enhancing personal insight, but it has also helped organizations improve collaboration, teamwork and bottom-line results for the last 50 years.”

The SDI 2.0 assessment and corresponding Core Strengths learning solutions are complementary to the Crucial Learning offerings and will help clients experience the following:

• Improve relationship intelligence. The SDI 2.0 measures people’s core motives, how they experience conflict, their strengths, and how those strengths can be overdone. With these four views, it delivers personalized insights to help people develop trust and build productive relationships.
• Apply dialogue and accountability skills more effectively to increase collaboration. The SDI 2.0 reveals cues as to why people experience conflict, stress and tension. When armed with these relationship insights, participants can use dialogue and accountability skills more effectively.
• Build better teams. When people learn why they behave the way they do – how their core motives and values drive their behaviors—and when they have this same insight about others—they can build healthier, happier relationships and more effective teams.

Ultimately, the pairing of the Crucial Learning skill-based content and unique ability to produce world-class learning courses with Core Strengths’ assessment and platform represents an exciting new phase of growth and opportunity for the organization.

“We are thrilled to add the Core Strengths products and team to Crucial Learning,” said Shimberg. “Not only does this acquisition allow us to better serve our clients, but we are better equipped than ever to deliver on our mission to improve the world by teaching people skills to improve themselves.”

The acquisition was made effective on January 1, 2024.

About Crucial Learning

Crucial Learning improves the world by helping people improve themselves. We offer courses in the areas of communication, performance, and leadership, focusing on behaviors that have a disproportionate impact on outcomes, called crucial skills. Our award-winning courses and accompanying bestselling books include Crucial Conversations®, Crucial Accountability ®, Crucial Influence®, The Power of Habit™, and Getting Things Done®. cruciallearning.com

About Core Strengths

Core Strengths’ mission is to make work better by helping people improve their relationships. Built on 50 years of science, Relationship Intelligence (RQ) empowers leaders and teams to build trust, generate commitment, and drive results. Over 5 million users in organizations worldwide rely on Core Strengths to assess personality, develop employees, and build winning teams.

MEDIA CONTACT: Brittney Maxfield, +1-801-755-2809, brittney.maxfield@cruciallearning.com

The post Crucial Learning Acquires Core Strengths—Adding the Strength Deployment Inventory (SDI 2.0) Assessment to its Suite of Award-Winning Courses appeared first on Crucial Learning.

Based on the New York Times bestselling book, Crucial Influence draws on case studies of some of today’s most remarkable leaders and the research of renowned behavioral scientists to explain why people do what they do and how you can help them change—quickly and permanently.

At the core of this research is a powerful yet simple model, the Crucial Influence Model, for changing behavior. All leaders, from new managers to seasoned executives, can utilize the model to identify the personal, social, and structural levers that influence both motivation and ability, and how to use these levers to guarantee behavior change. Research shows that when leaders use at least four of the six sources of influence, they improve their chances of changing behavior tenfold.

“The most important problems you and I face – as leaders, as family members, as citizens and as human beings – are influence problems,” said Joseph Grenny, coauthor of Crucial Influence. “They are problems that will never be solved until some human or humans behave differently. This course will better equip every leader at every level to do what the world’s most successful leaders do: influence rapid, profound, and sustainable behavior change to achieve important results.”

In the reimagined and streamlined course, learners will enjoy new videos that reflect a modern and inclusive workforce and exercises immersed in practical tools to help busy leaders at every level of the organization solve everyday leadership challenges. Crucial Influence is an engaging course rich with group discussion, real-time practice, and group support and coaching. It is available in on-demand, virtual, in-person and blended learning formats.

Learn more at https://www.cruciallearning.com/crucial-influence.

About Crucial Learning

Crucial Learning improves the world by helping people improve themselves. We offer courses in communication, performance, and leadership, focusing on behaviors that have a disproportionate impact on outcomes, called crucial skills. Our award-winning courses and accompanying bestselling books include Crucial Conversations® for Mastering Dialogue, Crucial Conversations® for Accountability, Crucial Influence®, The Power of Habit™, and Getting Things Done®. CrucialLearning.com.

CONTACT: Jordan Christiansen +1-801-995-5458, jordan.christiansen@cruciallearning.com

The post Crucial Learning Releases Updated Crucial Influence Course appeared first on Crucial Learning.

In their new study conducted in March 2023, Connection is Retention: Lessons from Leaders with Unusually High Nurse Retention, Crucial Learning and AONL studied 1,559 nurse managers and 562 clinical staff at hundreds of US hospitals to understand the drivers behind record-high levels of nurse attrition.

Researchers found that widely adopted practices intended to improve connection and reduce turnover do little to achieve these goals. Specifically, when it came to employee rounding, the practice seemed so irrelevant that employees often didn’t seem to know it had happened. For example:

• 81 percent of managers reported that they round regularly.
• And yet, only 36 percent of clinicians say their managers round regularly.

Joseph Grenny, lead researcher, cofounder of Crucial Learning, and coauthor of Crucial Influence, adds insight into this gap. 

“As we dug into this curious and concerning inconsistency, we concluded that the most likely explanation for the gap is that rounding is being done in a way that is meaningless to the real concerns of frontline nurses,” Grenny said.

And identifying the real concerns of frontline nurses is where the research makes its greatest contribution.

When looking for successful outliers, the study identified select nurse managers who reported higher rates of retention than others in similar sized units and hospitals who faced similar market conditions. Results showed that nurse managers in these surprisingly high retention areas were unusually effective at creating connection by offering three things: care, growth and help.

Ultimately, nurses who reported that their nurse managers offered care, growth, and help were more than 80 percent more likely to intend to continue with their work indefinitely. Here is what offering care, growth and help looked like, according to nurses’ first-hand accounts.

• Care – I feel a sense of belonging and believe my manager cares about me as a person.

“My nurse manager came in on her day off to provide snacks and certificates for Certified Nurses Day. She provided a nice gift to all the staff working that day. This was a thoughtful act that made me feel appreciated.” – Nurse Respondent

• Growth – My manager takes an active interest in my personal and professional growth.

“I had mentioned to Charlene that I wanted to grow in my career. She took initiative to put me in positions to learn new tech, open hearts, etc. Most recently she helped get me into a bachelor’s program.” – Nurse Respondent

• Help – My manager steps in to help when I need it. 

“I couldn’t tell you who the director was at my previous hospital. The managers stayed in their offices. Joe is always walking around and asking me how I’m doing. Last Friday, I had four patients, and one was difficult to turn. Joe [jumped in without being asked]. I’ve never seen anything like it.” – Nurse Respondent

Other related findings included:

• Nurses who planned to stay with their organization three or more years were far more likely to rate their manager highly on care, growth and help:
  • CARE: 3 times more likely
  • GROWTH: 2.5 times more likely
  • HELP: 2 times more likely

And yet, their perceptions of rounding frequency were no different from those expecting to quit much sooner.

• In departments with unusually high stress (due to inadequate staffing, high patient load or challenging shift structure) the differences became even more substantial. For example, there’s almost a 60 percent higher chance that a nurse intends to stay in their job despite being in a high-stress job if they score high on HELP. 

In analyzing the data and fist-hand accounts from 1,090 nurses, Grenny and his co-researchers from AONL, Robyn Begley, DNP, RN, NEA-BC, FAAN, Chief Executive Officer, AONL and Chief Nursing Officer, SVP Workforce, AHA; and Beverly Hancock, DNP, RN, NPD-BC, and Senior Director of Leadership Development at AONL, extracted the following best practices demonstrated by nurse managers for creating a culture of connection—best practices that can be replicated in nursing teams to improve retention.

4 Best Practices for Creating a Culture of Connection in Caregiver Teams

1. Connection is about feeling not frequency. No one reported feeling connected because of a certain frequency of interaction. What they did report was some meaningful moment—an interaction that showed presence, planning, personalization or follow-up.
2. Always be collecting dots (ABCD). Hospitality guru Danny Meyer creates unique moments of connection with his hundreds of thousands of guests by admonishing team members to always be collecting dots—gathering key information about others to build strong personal connection. Great nurse managers do the same. A nurse might mention something about a son studying karate, a new motorcycle, or feelings of inadequacy. These dots are gold when the manager records them, reflects on them, and uses them to inform ways to show care, growth, and help.
3. Connection = Sacrifice. Meaningful moments require sacrifice. People perceive you value them when you show you’re willing to sacrifice things they know are scarce to you: your time, money, ego, or other priorities. This doesn’t mean you have to spend a fortune or an eternity.You just have to use enough of these four scarce resources to show you value care, growth and help.
4. Don’t make promises you can’t keep. Keep the promises you make. Nurses universally equate follow up with sincerity. If you make even the most modest care, growth or help commitments, they backfire if you fail to follow up.

Begley says these recommendations should help overwhelmed nurse managers in what is often the most challenging role of their careers to create teams of engaged and satisfied nurses.

“We recognize these recommendations might sound daunting to already overwhelmed nurse managers. They should not,” says Begley. “The first two don’t require time, they simply require thought. In fact, the first, Connection is about feeling not frequency, suggests that time spent today in ritualistic employee rounding might be recovered and repurposed. Our study suggests that replacing any recovered time with the second two activities will yield dramatically different results in engagement and retention. These are things managers are doing consistently and successfully in units just like yours and if replicated, will make a difference in your team.”

To download the full study, visit cruciallearning.com/connection.

###

Media Contact: Brittney Maxfield at 801-755-2809 or Brittney.maxfield@cruciallearning.com.

About Crucial Learning
Crucial Learning offers courses in the areas of communication, performance, and leadership, focusing on behaviors that have a disproportionate impact on outcomes, called crucial skills. Our award-winning courses and accompanying bestselling books include Crucial Conversations® for Mastering Dialogue, Crucial Conversations® for Accountability, The Power of Habit™, Getting Things Done®, and Crucial Influence®. We’ve spent thirty years helping hospitals and health systems around the world reduce avoidable medical errors and improve patient care and staff experience. CrucialLearning.com

About the American Organization for Nursing Leadership 
As the national professional organization of more than 11,000 nurse leaders, the American Organization for Nursing Leadership (AONL) is the voice of nursing leadership. Our membership encompasses nurse leaders working in hospitals, health systems, academia and other care settings across the care continuum. Since 1967, the organization has led the field of nursing leadership through professional development, advocacy and research that advances nursing leadership practice and patient care. AONL is an affiliate of the American Hospital Association. AONL.org.

The post New Study Identifies Three Things That Improve Nurse Retention and Reveals Employee Rounding Does Little to Reduce Turnover appeared first on Crucial Learning.

From the bestselling authors who taught the world how to have Crucial Conversations comes the new edition of Crucial Influence (previously titled Influencer). Drawing on case studies of some of today’s most remarkable leaders and the research of renowned behavioral scientists, this essential leadership guide explains why people do what they do and how you can help them change—quickly and permanently.

Over the last fifteen years, the book has sold more than 750,000 copies worldwide and has been proven to help leaders leverage the Crucial Influence Model and become exponentially more successful at securing change and achieving results. 

At the core of this research is a powerful yet simple model, the Crucial Influence Model^®, for changing behavior. Leaders around the world have utilized the model to identify the personal, social, and structural levers that influence both motivation and ability, and how to use these levers to guarantee behavior change. Research shows that when leaders use at least four of the six sources of influence, they improve their chances of changing behavior tenfold.

Coauthor Joseph Grenny reflects on the importance of the skills in the book for leaders at every level—from individual managers to team leaders to top executives.

“The most important problems you and I face – as leaders, as family members, as citizens and as human beings – are influence problems,” said Grenny. “They are problems that will never be solved until some human or humans behave differently. The problem we hoped to solve in publishing Influencer fifteen years ago was to better equip every leader at every level to do what only a few special people seem to be able to do: influence rapid, profound, and sustainable behavior change to achieve important results.”

The third edition of Crucial Influence: Leadership Skills to Create Lasting Behavior Change is now available on Amazon and everywhere books are sold. Readers will enjoy the following changes in the third edition:

• Updated stories and examples using the Crucial Influence Model
• The authors’ latest research on behavior change
• Practical application for leaders at every level—from individual managers to top executives
• New case studies and business examples

###

ABOUT THE AUTHORS:

Joseph Grenny, Kerry Patterson, David Maxfield, Ron McMillan, and Al Switzler are the cofounders and leaders of Crucial Learning, a learning company that improves the world by helping people improve themselves. Crucial Learning offers courses in communication, performance, and leadership, focusing on behaviors that have a disproportionate impact on outcomes, called crucial skills. The company’s award-winning courses and accompanying bestselling books include Crucial Conversations® for Mastering Dialogue, Crucial Conversations® for Accountability, Crucial Influence®, The Power of Habit™, and Getting Things Done®. CrucialLearning.com.

ABOUT THE BOOK:

CRUCIAL INFLUENCE: Leadership Skills to Create Lasting Behavior Change (Third Edition)

By Joseph Grenny, Kerry Patterson, David Maxfield, Ron McMillan, and Al Switzler

McGraw-Hill

$27.99/Hardcover/240 pages

ISBN: 978-1265049652

Publication Date: May 30, 2023

MEDIA CONTACT: Jordan Christiansen +1-801-995-5458, jordan.christiansen@cruciallearning.com

The post Crucial Learning Releases Third Edition of Bestselling Leadership Book, Crucial Influence appeared first on Crucial Learning.

In a January 2023 poll of 1,100 people, more than 1 in 3 managers (38.1%) believe they were promoted to a leadership role for reasons other than their leadership qualities.Only 28.7% believe they were promoted because they came into the job with extensive leadership experience.

Compounded with their lack of experience, more than half (52.1%) of respondents said their organization provided little or no training to prepare them to become a leader. And when asked if leading people met their expectations, 63.3% of managers surveyed admitted leading people was more difficult than they expected, with only 4.5% saying it was easier than expected.

But while they are suffering, it seems they are doing so silently. According to leaders, while 63.3% say they are personally struggling, 68.5% of direct reports say their manager seems confident and 59.6% say their manager even seem to enjoy their responsibilities. These disparate results indicate that managers are faking it—they’re also making it hard to get the training and support they need.

Joseph Grenny, leading researcher and coauthor of the New York Times bestseller Crucial Accountability, hypothesizes that this silent struggle is because new managers lack the interpersonal skills required of successful leaders.

“Before stepping into their new role, these employees excelled as individual contributors, focused on completing their to-do list of assignments,” says Grenny. “But as they move into people manager roles, their to-do lists change drastically. They are now tasked with solving complex interpersonal challenges. Without the proper skills and training, these new leaders not only struggle to help their teams, but they are also more likely to be frustrated and unhappy themselves.”

When asked which interpersonal situations managers found the most challenging, top answers included:

• Holding people accountable for bad behavior (19.4%)
• Addressing poor performance (18.4%)
• Resolving conflicts (12.3%)

And employees agree. When asked for the top interpersonal situations that are most challenging for their managers to respond to, respondents top three choices were the exact same: holding people accountable, addressing poor performance, and resolving conflicts.  

“Holding people accountable is hard,” Grenny said. “Just because you’re given a leadership title doesn’t mean it’s any easier to tell someone they need to improve their performance or change their behavior. And yet leaders who know how to candidly and respectfully hold their peers accountable create trust, solve problems, and secure results. Leaders with the skills to hold their teams accountable and help people achieve their potential will gain confidence and find fulfillment in their roles.”  

To help new and seasoned managers hold others accountable, address poor performance, and resolve conflicts, Grenny shares a few tips from Crucial Accountability and its companion course, Crucial Conversations® for Accountability:

1. Confront the right problem. The biggest mistake people make is to confront the most painful or immediate issue and not the one that gets them the results they really need. Before speaking up, stop and ask yourself, “What do I really want here? What problem do I want to resolve?”
2. Rein-in emotions. We often tell ourselves a story about others’ real intent. These stories determine our emotional response. Master communicators manage their emotions by examining, questioning, and rewriting their story before speaking.
3. Master the first 30 seconds. Most people do everything wrong in the first “hazardous half-minute”—such as diving into the content and attacking the other person. Instead, show you care about the other person and his or her interests to disarm defensiveness and open up dialogue.
4. Reveal natural consequences. The best way to get someone’s attention is to change their perspective. In a safe and non-threatening manner, give them a complete view of the consequences their behavior is creating.
5. Involve them in the solution. Ask them for their ideas and take their concerns seriously. People are far more likely to act when they’ve had a role in developing the action plan.

About Crucial Learning
Crucial Learning improves the world by helping people improve themselves. We offer courses in communication, performance, and leadership, focusing on behaviors that have a disproportionate impact on outcomes, called crucial skills. Our award-winning courses and accompanying bestselling books include Crucial Conversations® for Mastering Dialogue, Crucial Conversations® for Accountability, Influencer, The Power of Habit™, and Getting Things Done®. CrucialLearning.com.

CONTACT: Jordan Christiansen +1-801-995-5458, jordan.christiansen@cruciallearning.com

The post <strong>Lonely At the Top: New People Managers are Struggling to Step into Leadership</strong> appeared first on Crucial Learning.

“We’ve experienced healthy growth as an organization by helping our clients achieve profound behavior change at scale through our suite of courses,” said Andy Shimberg, CEO of Crucial Learning. “We are now ready for the next phase of growth. Mike brings a wealth of experience in scaling up organizations like ours. We have confidence he will build on our past success and help us make substantial strides in our growth trajectory.”

Morhardt was most recently executive vice president of commercial performance and operations at Clarivate, a leading global information services provider, helping revenue grow from $800 million to $2.8 billion annually.

Previous to Clarviate, Morhardt served as chief sales officer at Forrester Research and as the sales managing director at Gerson Lehrman Group. Morhardt also spent 14 years at Gartner in various leadership positions, including group vice president.

About Crucial Learning
Crucial Learning improves the world by helping people improve themselves. We offer courses in communication, performance, and leadership, focusing on behaviors that have a disproportionate impact on outcomes, called crucial skills. Our award-winning courses and accompanying bestselling books include Crucial Conversations® for Mastering Dialogue, Crucial Conversations® for Accountability, Influencer, The Power of Habit™, and Getting Things Done®. CrucialLearning.com.

CONTACT: Jordan Christiansen +1-801-995-5458, jordan.christiansen@cruciallearning.com

The post <strong>Crucial Learning Names Mike Morhardt as Chief Revenue Officer </strong> appeared first on Crucial Learning.

Created more than 30 years ago by David Allen, the world’s foremost authority on stress-free productivity, Getting Things Done teaches skills to improve individual focus and team productivity.

In the updated course, learners will enjoy new videos that reflect a modern and inclusive workforce and exercises immersed in practical tools for real-time application. The course is simplified and streamlined and is available in on-demand, virtual, in-person and blended learning formats.

New content and exercises in the course includes organizing latest & loudest requests for improved focus, applying GTD® to teams and saying no to low-priority work with integrity. The course’s example scenarios are also more representative and reflective of modern workplaces and communities.

“Burnout has been and continues to be top of mind for managers and employees,” said Justin Hale, creator of the course. “Getting Things Done is the remedy. Through GTD, teams and individuals can cut through the noise and never-ending to-do lists and focus on what is most important. And now, these new updates make it easier than ever to learn and integrate GTD skills into our teams and lives.”

The refreshed GTD course is now available. To learn more about GTD and other Crucial Learning courses, visit cruciallearning.com/gtd.

About Crucial Learning
Crucial Learning improves the world by helping people improve themselves. We offer courses in communication, performance, and leadership, focusing on behaviors that have a disproportionate impact on outcomes, called crucial skills. Our award-winning courses and accompanying bestselling books include Crucial Conversations® for Mastering Dialogue, Crucial Conversations® for Accountability, Influencer, The Power of Habit™, and Getting Things Done®. CrucialLearning.com.

CONTACT: Jordan Christiansen +1-801-995-5458, jordan.christiansen@cruciallearning.com

The post Crucial Learning Unveils Updated Getting Things Done Course appeared first on Crucial Learning.

In an August 2022 poll of 1,600 people, 2 out of 3 respondents said they struggled to fully focus on a single task or person. More people find it difficult to focus at work (68 percent), but 62 percent also have a hard time focusing at home.

Even when respondents can concentrate, it’s usually not for long. Nearly 1 in 3 survey respondents admitted they can only focus on a task for 10 minutes or less before getting distracted. Just 3 out of 5 last 20 minutes or less.

“Distractions are disastrous but they’re not going away,” says Justin Hale, researcher at Crucial Learning and co-designer of the Getting Things Done® course. “With long to-do lists and numberless notifications and interruptions, it’s harder than ever to stay focused on our priorities. If individuals don’t learn a few key strategies to manage their workload, we’ll continue to see high levels of burnout and tanking productivity.”

The effects of unfocused behavior are severe and far-reaching—starting with a decrease in mental and physical health. Respondents listed the greatest costs of their inability to focus as:

• Overwhelm – “I have too much to do” (73.2 percent)
• Lack of Energy – “I feel drained” (73 percent)
• Stress – “I feel worried about all I have to do” (72.6 percent)
• Decreased Efficiency – “I work much slower” (71.7 percent)
• Less Fulfillment – “I’m not feeling fulfilled at the end of the day” (54.2 percent)
• Disappointment – “I’m letting myself or others down” (49.4 percent)

A lack of focus also hurts our relationships. Most of us (61.2 percent) regularly think about unrelated things or people when we spend time with friends and family and 2 out of 5 allow themselves to get distracted by emails, texts, and social media while having important conversations with people they care about. During our most Crucial Conversations with the most special people in our lives, we still struggle to give our full attention.

Of course, the consequences of being unfocused don’t just affect our personal lives, they also hinder an organization’s bottom line. Most of the workforce (60.6 percent) rarely to never does an hour or two of deep, focused work each day without distraction. And 72.5 percent of employees admit to being physically in a meeting, but not focused on the discussion at hand.

Another 63.5 percent regularly feel like they’re not getting the most important priorities completed even though they’re putting in a lot of hours and feel busy. That’s likely because 71.1 percent admitted they rarely say no to things they are asked to do.

“Employees are feeling pressure to accept any and all assignments,” Hale says. “And that’s a problem because when stress mounts employees look for relief in menial tasks and less stressful activities rather than accomplishing the most important and meaningful work. Learning the skills to stay focused isn’t just a way to be more productive, it’s also imperative to reducing stress, being more present, and finding fulfillment.”

To help teams and individuals stay focused, Hale shares a few tips from Getting Things Done®, a Crucial Learning course which has been recently updated with new videos, exercises, and skills to teach the principles found in the New York Times bestselling book by David Allen:

5 Tips to Stay Focused

1. Minimize distractions. When it’s time to do meaningful work, close your email and other team collaboration apps. Don’t kid yourself into thinking you’ll be able to ignore those dings and notifications – your brain is built to respond to those cues in search of dopamine hits that come from responding.  
2. Plan time for work. You need to set aside time each day for focused work, email, and surprises. And don’t say that you don’t have the time; you’re already working in these modes, but you’re likely doing so all at once, which is incredibly inefficient. For example, spend 45 minutes only processing your email inbox. That way you’ll get through more items and can populate your calendar and to-do lists, setting yourself up to accomplish your highest priorities that day.
3. Prime your eyes. Take two to three minutes each morning to review your calendar and task lists before diving into email or work. When we begin the day by looking at email, we put a lens of “latest and loudest” over our productivity eyes. No more busy and unproductive days; instead, you’ll find yourself working the most important stuff more often. 
4. Ditch your phone. If you don’t need your phone for the activity you are doing or the conversation you are having, put it elsewhere. When you are done with that task or conversation, then pull out your phone. Even then, consider putting a time limit on your phone time.
5. Say no. It’s hard to focus when you’re drowning in opportunities of what you could do. Get in the habit of saying no to things that are not aligned with your larger goals. The best way to say no is by sharing your good intent and explaining why. Try this: “My goal is to be a solid contributor and help the team where I can, but I also don’t want to overcommit myself. If I agree to this, I’ll be at a high risk of dropping something, which wouldn’t be fair to you, me, or the team. I think it’s best for me to not commit to this right now.”

About Crucial Learning
Crucial Learning improves the world by helping people improve themselves. We offer courses in communication, performance, and leadership, focusing on behaviors that have a disproportionate impact on outcomes, called crucial skills. Our award-winning courses and accompanying bestselling books include Crucial Conversations® for Mastering Dialogue, Crucial Conversations® for Accountability, Influencer, The Power of Habit™, and Getting Things Done®. CrucialLearning.com.

CONTACT: Jordan Christiansen +1-801-995-5458, jordan.christiansen@cruciallearning.com

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