By Raafiya Ali Khan, Rachel M. Korn, and Joan C. Williams

Fair performance evaluations are crucial to a company’s success because they ensure that the most valuable employees are promoted and stay with the company. A number of companies have introduced calibration meetings — when supervisors discuss and adjust ratings across the company — in an attempt to eradicate bias by holding managers to consistent standards. However, new research suggests these meetings can introduce bias into the process in several ways. Small tweaks, such as teaching meeting participants what bias looks like, can help level the playing field.

By Laurianne McLaughlin

Jump-start the new year with advice from some of MIT SMR’s most thought-provoking articles for leaders.

By Amy Gallo

Active listening requires mastering many skills, including reading body language and tone of voice, maintaining your attention, and being aware of and controlling your emotional response. In this article, the author explains what active listening is and how to improve this essential communication skill.

By Charity Majors

I recently joined a startup to run an engineering org of about 40 engineers. My title is VP Engineering. However, I have been having lots of ongoing conflict with the CEO (a former engineer) around…

By Joost Minnaar

Earlier last year, I was invited to the Kelso Workshop at Rutgers University in New Jersey by Prof. Joseph Blasi, the world's most renowned expert on employee ownership. During this conference, I learned about Dr. Beyster and the remarkable employee-owned company he built, Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC). It is a fascinating story that's definitey worth sharing.

By Jeff Rosenthal and Molly Rosen

It’s long been recognized that cross-functional collaboration is essential. Still, stubborn silos that bog down execution, hamper innovation, and slow decision-making are still a common and persistent challenge. In their work with company leaders, the authors have found that, without leaders working together at the top, silos and dysfunction are inevitable. The onus is therefore on senior leaders to knock down these silos.

By Jeff Gothelf

OKRs bring transparency to your organization that reveals where you were wrong. This is terrifying. How do we make it easier to value this?

By Jackie Colburn

Design Sprints have the incredible ability to unlock the full potential of a team’s creativity and push innovation to new heights — that’s…

By Ron Friedman

It’s no surprise that trust is at the core of high-performing teams. But conversations about cultivating trust at work often focus on the relationship between managers and employees. As important — if not more so — is establishing trust between teammates.