Remote businesses and teams have long faced the challenge of communicating effectively.

The common perception is that diversity and inclusion is an HR prerogative. But that’s not true.

As a woman leader, business owner, and student of the brain and leadership for the last several decades, I believe it is time for us to change the conversation and mindset about women in the workplace. As G.D. Anderson said, “Feminism isn’t about making women stronger. Women are already strong. It’s about changing the way the world perceives that strength.”

In the spirit of this year’s International Women's Day theme of #ChooseToChallenge, here are 4 areas we should all challenge ourselves to change perceptions. 

We are thrilled to participate in the CEO Action Day of Understanding again this year, during which organizations encourage their teams to have discussions to further understand and embrace their differences and work to educate their people to build more inclusive cultures. As your prepare for this year's event, here are a few learnings to keep in mind.

One year into the global COVID-19 pandemic, many remote teams are feeling like they’re constantly running on fumes. Beyond the stresses of the health and economic situations, days spent on endless, back-to-back virtual meetings, sharing your workspace with family… it is easy to feel drained. For years, a top productivity concern was time management -- now it has shifted to energy management. Here are some of the best techniques we’ve learned for energy management to support wellness and resilience and avoid burn-out in remote work.

Diversity. Equity. Inclusion. Belonging. Concepts that are finally appearing to get the long overdue attention that they deserve in the corporate world.  diversity and inclusion in the workplace than we have in years — maybe ever. Even so, in many organizations, it’s still an uphill battle to move beyond a statement of commitment to actual action.

If you’re struggling to get top-level buy-in for broader diversity and inclusion efforts, it may be time to rethink your approach. Read on for some tips on how to be more persuasive in your conversations with executives and to learn how you can use technology and data to strengthen your argument.

Momentum for action on racial equity has continued to build around the world, and we like many others have spent the past few weeks in an ongoing discussion on what else we can do to help contribute to positive change. It remains remarkably difficult for organizations to have uncomfortable conversations about racial bias, so as a first step we’re spreading awareness of how cognitive diversity can be used as a powerful device to break down the walls in these conversations.

For many, the word “diversity” brings up images of staid EEOC training or well-intended but not necessarily critical programs—the “have-to-dos” that don’t get much buy-in or enthusiastic support across the business. So it’s probably not the first word that comes to mind when you’re talking about innovation.

But here’s why it should be.

Even with all the excitement around our transition to the New Year, many of the colleagues, executives and managers I speak with describe a feeling of mental fog and slowness, as well as hesitancy in gearing up for the coming year.

As one meme stated: "Before I commit to 2021 I am going to need to see a list of terms and conditions." 

As we’ve learned in 2020, there are some things you simply can’t predict about the year ahead from the vantage point of the present. 

After all, how many of us had a pandemic-induced lockdown and acceleration of remote work adoption on our “trends to watch” lists at the end of 2019? But the major upheavals of this year also give us a pretty good hint at some of what we can expect for the future of work and human resources in 2021.

When it comes to the broad field of Human Resources, everything from complexities related to COVID-19 safety and vaccination policies to potential changes in compliance and regulatory priorities from a new US presidential administration will be in the spotlight.