On May 25, I’ll be leading The Renewal Colloquium – with a special focus for library leaders – for the South Carolina State Library. Register soon.
Category Archives: Uncategorized
Book Haul: Communication
A fundamental thread throughout low-morale experience development is how the people involved talk (or don’t) talk with each other. Frameworks like library nice and resilience narratives encourage inauthentic or weaponized performances of civility or toxic positivity; in turn, people engage behaviors of hypervigilance and negative self-talk as they try to predict or decipher what people areContinue reading “Book Haul: Communication”
Launched: Renewals Executive Coaching
A year ago on this day, I started Renewals Coaching! Today, I’m beyond excited to announce that I’m launching Renewals Executive Coaching, designed to focus on the organizational culture and performance needs and concerns of formal leaders. This service expansion continues its core objective of working with people seeking support while working in dysfunctional workplaces, withContinue reading “Launched: Renewals Executive Coaching”
Three Ways to (Re-)Establish Clarity Between Your Work and Personal Life
Happy New Year, Renewers! More of us are heading back to our workplaces this week – or have already returned and are anticipating a distinctive return to “pre-holiday operations.” You don’t have to rejoin/uphold expectations or implications of overwork (or the feelings of uncertainty or perfectionism that come along with them)! Here are three thingsContinue reading “Three Ways to (Re-)Establish Clarity Between Your Work and Personal Life”
Book Haul: Hustle Culture Resistance
x Grace, M. (2018). How to not always be working: A toolkit for creativity and radical self-care. New York: Morrow Gift. Harris, M. (2014). The end of absence: Reclaiming what we’ve lost in a world of constant connection. New York: Current. Hersey, T. (2022). Rest is resistance: A nap manifesto. New York: Little, Brown Spark. Jaffe, S.Continue reading “Book Haul: Hustle Culture Resistance”
Low Morale, COVID-19, & Ambiguous Loss
One of the things my original low morale study surfaced is how grief shows up in the experience. Many participants described their grief using the terminology of Elizabeth Kübler-Ross’ Grief model: denial, anger, bargaining, even acceptance: “…You know, as the stages of grief are not clear cut and you stop one and go on toContinue reading “Low Morale, COVID-19, & Ambiguous Loss”
Published Low Morale Studies
This post reflects a record of the published studies I’ve done on low-morale experiences. It will be updated as studies are published, so bookmark this post if you’re following my research agenda on this phenomenon. Kendrick, K.D. (2023). The cornered office: A qualitative study of low-morale experiences in formal library leaders. Journal of Library Administration. doi: 10.1080/01930826.2023.2177924Continue reading “Published Low Morale Studies”
A MicroBlog Series: Red Flags
Red Flag (noun) : something that indicates or draws attention to a problem, danger, or irregularity. – Merriam-Webster Low-morale experience data and anecdotes highlight that, for a variety of reasons, victims often discount or ignore early warning signs that co-workers (including leaders, colleagues, or direct reports) or organizations are toxic and/or harbor or promote abusiveContinue reading “A MicroBlog Series: Red Flags”
Impact Factors & Enabling Systems
The low-morale experience is one that moves through several stages, starting with a trigger event, moving forward to long-term exposure to instances of abuse and neglect, and then hopefully, successful resolution or mitigation. While the experience is launched by individual behaviors, it is also influenced and further propelled by external or internal factors and wide-spreadContinue reading “Impact Factors & Enabling Systems”
Ego and Low Morale
Negative self-talk plays a large role in the cognitive impact of low-morale experiences. Within all of my low-morale research projects, respondents shared inner-mind tapes of perfectionism (read: shame) or imposter syndrome (read; reduced professional confidence). Another way self-talk may show up is via self-aggrandizement, and it’s usually couched in the context of emotional conflict orContinue reading “Ego and Low Morale”