How Game of Thrones can help you understand toxic employees

How Game of Thrones can help you understand toxic employeesHow Game of Thrones can help you understand toxic employeesWeve all dealt with toxic employees, but to better understand them, consider organizing such individuals into Game of Thrones houses.To begin, consider an employee that often gets greatness and madness mixed up, either using their skills to propel their team to the next level or burn all progress to the ground ultimately making them House Targaryen.Follow Ladders on FlipboardFollow Ladders magazines on Flipboard covering Happiness, Productivity, Job Satisfaction, Neuroscience, and moreNext is House Stark. These employees keep a straight face despite the level of stress theyre under failing to ask for help even if it means sabotaging their own efforts. And when their anger reaches high levels, their professional failures can end up in an employment beheading.Arguably worst of all is House Lannister employees who encompass every terrible trait of the other noble house s theyre manipulative and ruthless firecrackers that will do whatever it takes to be on top. So how can you redirect their energies?Weve posed some questions to Erica Denner, Head of People Culture, Kazoofor her insight on this compelling connection. Kazoo is an employee experience platform focused on recognition, rewards and performance management.Why did you decide to use the comparison of Game of Thrones to demonstrate employee profiles?Game of Thrones showcases complex characters exactly as they are, theres no sugar-coating for the sake of audience comfort. And the truth of the matter is that when youre dealing with toxic employees, you have to take the saatkorn approach.Toxic team members are real people with real motivations, strengths, and weaknesses that have a measurable impact on company culture. Being able to use familiar Game of Thrones characters that people know and love and comparing them to toxic archetypes felt like a fun, accessible way to think about a very diff icult workplace reality through a fictional lens.With regard to House Targaryen, please explain in further detail the employee that often gets greatness and madness mixed up, either using their skills to propel their team to the next level or burn all progress to the ground.Targaryen employees have the intrinsic belief that theyre talented, correct, and will come out on top. When theyre right, theyre right, but when it comes to business, stakeholders need more than confidence to guide major company decisions. If you spot any of the following behaviors from members of your team, you may be in the presence of a Targaryen coworkerFollowing their gut regardless of data or evidence that says they should take a particular course of actionRefusing to accept feedback or alternate views on decisions and/or projectsDemanding peoples confidence and trust in major projects despite no previous experience in similar situationsTaking extreme measures when a level headed conversation would be just as (if not more) effective.To quote George R. R. Martin, Madness and greatness are two sides of the same coin. Every time a new Targaryen is born, the gods toss the coin in the air and the world holds its breath to see how it will land. This toss up means you need to harness their creativity and energy in the pursuit of common goals.While the Targaryen employee may be right in the end, having a process and guardrails in place for collaboration will ensure diverse viewpoints are considered and that the outcome is truly the best option.Publicly reward Targaryens when they follow the process and collaborate it will help enforce the productive behaviors while also appealing to their need for ego-boosts. Continuous performance feedback and manager check-ins will also help tame Targaryen employees.Regarding House Stark, please explain how trying to keep thoughts too close to your vest and trying to be overly righteous can hamper your work growth. Also, please explain the mention about an ger and failure. You can allude to the series if you wish.Theres a great business development book called, The Hard Thing About Hard Things that Ned Stark would have benefitted from reading before making the choice that ultimately cost him his life.In it, Ben Horowitz says, If there is one skill that stands out to being a successful CEO, its the ability to focus and make the best move when there are no good moves.Employees who find themselves faced with difficult decision after a difficult decision should look to the Starks as a cautionary tale. When righteous tunnel vision, anger, or impatience are the leading factors in your decision making, youre almost guaranteed to make the short-sighted choices that backfire, hurting you and your closest team members.Stark employees should be encouraged in 11 meetings with their managers to share challenges and obstacles of their current workload. Managers can help Stark employees prioritize and navigate through professional hurdles by setting realistic goals, communicating often, and focusing on solutions.Regarding House Lannister, if you come across wicked co-workers, how do you handle these ambitious yet harmful colleagues? Pull in references from the show to give it legs.When faced with a Lannister coworker, the best thing to do is make them an ally. As Cersei tells Ned early on, When you play the Game of Thrones, you win or you die. These ambitious employees are headed to the top, so make an honorable attempt to join them harness their strengths while simultaneously limiting the impact of their harmful behavior.Aligning with a Lannister employee is not without risks, though, so be thoughtful in this alliance and be prepared to escalate to a leader if there is limited success in taming the Lannister employees toxic behavior.On the other hand, if an alliance with a Lannister employee is out of the question, and you have escalated the situation appropriately, you may want to steer clear. With the unofficial motto a La nnister always pays their debts, you can be certain that any plot involving a Lannister coworker will be repaid three fold. Harmful or inappropriate behavior wont go unnoticed and should be addressed by leadership through feedback and/or discipline.In summary, its true that an office is a melting pot of personalities. How can an employee change negative attitudes and create a purposeful and fulfilling work situation even with deterrents?Not all toxic employees are beyond saving, nor do all of them realize how detrimental their behavior can be to company culture. When you sense a team member heading to the dark side, it can be helpful to ask where their workplace unhappiness is stemming from, so you can attempt to address both the root of their behavior and the behavior itself.Toxic employees are often reacting to office politics, poor leadership, or lack of structure, so rather than focusing on just the employee, consider working on the fundamental pain points for ALL employees, not just its biggest personalities.You might also enjoyNew neuroscience reveals 4 rituals that will make you happyStrangers know your social class in the first seven words you say, study finds10 lessons from Benjamin Franklins daily schedule that will double your productivityThe worst mistakes you can make in an interview, according to 12 CEOs10 habits of mentally strong people

A New Solar Cell on the Block

A New Solar Cell on the Block A New Solar Cell on the Block A New Solar Cell on the BlockHow do you make a solar cell cheaper, more efficient, and more versatile? The answer, say researchers at Stanford, is to use perovskite instead of silicon. Already their lab versions are outperforming silicon, have proved easier to produce, and have the potential to be manufactured on thin flexible substrates. Thats abedrngnisher way of saying they could someday solve all our energy needs.Perovskite refers to a crystalline structure similar to that found in the rock of the saatkorn name. But where natures perovskite is calcium titanium oxide, the stuff fabricated for solar cells is lead, tin, and iodine. These materials turn out to be much simpler to process than silicon.We started off with a metal ammonium lead iodine perovskite. Thats the basic archetypal material, says Giles Eperon, a postdoctoral research fellow at Stanford, whos been working hard to make the new cell viable. Since then weve been swapping things in and out. By substituting tin for lead and bromine for iodine, the researchers have been able to fine tune the absorber. Basically, you have a really good optical material, and you can put the band gap wherever you want it within this wide range we have. Conceptually its easy. Form an engineering point of view it comes with a whole host of challenges.Cross-section of a new tandem solar cell. The brown upper layer of perovskite captures low-energy lightwaves, and the red perovskite layer captures high-energy waves. Image Rebecca Belisle and Giles Eperon / StanfordChief among them is the fact that perovskite with tin crystalizes very quickly. Usually, with spin coating deposition, a solution is spun off a substrate, leaving a thin, wet layer which is then heated until it crystalizes. With the tin-based material, it was crystallizing so fast it was effectively forming the final crystal materials while it was spinning, says Eperon. That has schwimmbad implications for the morphology of the film. To slow the crystallization, and leave the film smooth rather than rough, the team dived into the literature. They found that by adding the solvent dimethyl sulfoxide, they were able to slow crystallization, after which they used an anti-solvent wash to remove any remaining the dimethyl sulfoxide molecules.In the past, researchers have steered clear of tin based perovskite, because of its sensitivity to oxidization. By mixing in lead, Eperon managed to make an alloy that was just as stable as lead.Producing perovskite is cheaper and more eco-friendly than producing silicon. Where silicon requires temperatures of 3000 degrees, perovskite can be processed at room temperature. Nor does it require the toxic chemicals needed to treat silicon. Perhaps the biggest advantage is the fact that perovskite is solution processable. It can be used with inkjet printing, slot-die coating, and spray coating. Silicon has to be sliced into rigid wafers and will never b e sold on a roll.Obviously, we need to be producing tens of centimeters squares if you want to make a module. And with solution processing its an unanswered question as to how effectively you can solve that.-Giles Eperon, a postdoctoral research fellow, StanfordBut before perovskite solar cells can be printed out like so much newspaper, there are still a few problems to solve. The cells Stanford is making have 10 different layers that range between two and 500 nanometers in width. They cant touch each other, needless to say. Thats not too difficult a requirement for the tiny less-than-a-square-centimeter cells Eperon has been making in the lab. Obviously, we need to be producing tens-of-centimeter squares if you want to make a module, he says. And with solution processing its an unanswered question as to how effectively you can solve that.Thats not all thats unanswered. Already, Eperon and his colleagues have, in the lab, beaten silicon for efficiency. Weve been working on pushing i t further and further, he says. Really, the remaining question is how far can it go?Michael Abrams is an independent writer. For Further Discussion

What to Do When You Get Paid Less Than Your Co-Workers

What to Do When You Get Paid Less Than Your Co-WorkersWhat to Do When You Get Paid Less Than Your Co-Workers When you start at a job for less pay than people in similar positions, correcting the situation can be a challenge.The pay disparity may have been fair at first. Maybe you went from intern to a job that you had to learn as you did it.In that situation, its elend unfair to pay you less than an experienced person.The problem comes when you gain the needed experience and are performing as well as people who make a lot more than you. When that happens, some people find themselves trapped by their original low pay tarif . You may get raises, but companies rarely take steps to correct a lower-than-market-rate salary. So if you want to get what you deserve, you have to take matters into your own hands.My first full-time job came when my boss at the magazine I worked at in college got fired. It happened during winter break, so I had over a month where I could work fu ll time, more or less taking over the position.At the time, I was excited to land any job, especially while I was still a college student. The job market was lousy, and fruchtwein of my friends had little hope of finding full-time positions in journalism.Because of my age, lack of experience and the fact that I would be juggling the job with school, my bargaining power was limited. I got paid an hourly wage (basically minimum wage) until school ended, then moved to a salary that was less than half what the previous editor had made.It wasnt a terribly unfair offer, but as I learned the job I went from bargain to woefully underpaid. I was running a trade magazine while being paid less than the assistant editors, and even editorial assistants at other publications. I was also 21 and not well-equipped to state my case to a larger-than-life boss.That put me in a situation where I made less than I deserved, and even decent raises on a percentage basis did little to correct the disparity . I felt trapped, and ultimately quit to take a job that paid better. I now know that what seemed like an insurmountable problem could have been solved.One of the biggest challenges in correcting a salary disparity is knowing what your co-workers make. Many people keep their salaries secret, and some companies dont even list salary information in job ads.Make your best effort to find out the market rate for your position. Use online tools like Glassdoor and salary ranges posted in help wanted ads from your employer or similar-sized rivals. Once you have this information, make an appointment to talk to the boss or human resources.Be respectful. Remember that the reason you get paid less is because the company took a chance on you. Acknowledge that, but then lay out how you have learned the position and now perform it on par (or better) than others in similar positions.Dont ask for a raise. If you make $30,000 and a co-worker in the same job makes $60,000, then a 10 percent raise - even a 20 percent raise - wont correct the disparity. Instead, ask for a salary correction that will bring you in line with what the position should pay.Be reasonable. Dont expect to get an instant huge raise, and recognize that people who have more experience will still fruchtwein likely make more than you. The goal is to get a fair offer that brings your salary to an appropriate number.Just because you deserve something does not mean you will get it. Your boss may hear your case and then offer a small raise or nothing at all. If that happens, your best bet may be to move on , because this company doesnt value you fully and likely never will.In many cases, however, the company will be reasonable. It may offer a series of raises that over time bring your salary in line. Or you may be offered a raise along with a promise to revisit the issue in a set period of time.Be open to reasonable offers, but dont let yourself get stuck. If your company is fair, then its OK to work with it t o create a plan thats fair for you. If its not, then you have to be willing to leave to go someplace that will value you by your experience, not how you came on board.