According to a VitalSmarts study of 1,097 professionals in the US, one in three said they’re ‘confident’ about their organization’s business continuity plan.

In a bid to track the impact of the flu-like illness sweeping across the globe, leadership training company VitalSmarts surveyed 1,097 adults in March to learn about how their workplaces are handling the situation.

Let’s face it, most meetings have always sucked because there’s often little to zero accountability for engagement. When we are together in a room, we often compensate with coercive eye contact. Participants feel some obligation to feign interest (even if they’re staring at their phones).

We’ve discovered and tested five rules that lead to predictably better meeting outcomes.

VitalSmarts, a leadership training company in Provo, Utah, found in a February survey of 1,060 of its newsletter subscribers that discussing politics outside of work can have a small trickle-down effect on careers.

“While 61 per cent had political discussions that went ‘surprisingly well’ four years ago, only 29 per cent can make that same claim today. That is more than a 50 per cent reduction in respectful and productive dialogue about our nation’s leadership,” says author Joseph Grenny.

“When it comes to success, nothing trumps good habits” says VitalSmarts‘s lead researcher and vice president, Emily Gregory.

An Overcoming Career-Limiting Habits survey from VitalSmarts indicated that a shocking 97% of people routinely practice limiting job-related behaviors.

Joseph Grenny, the coauthor of “Crucial Conversations,” and Justin Hale, master trainer at VitalSmarts, offer six tips for approaching scary conversations about poor performance and bad behavior.

“My research confirms a manager’s style under stress has a disproportionate effect on their personal influence and their people” – David Maxfield