Sound Wisdom Blog
Quiet Quitting by Jim Stovall
Recently, there’s been a phenomenon arising throughout social media that has come to be known as quiet quitting. As in most things, there are two sides to the story. There are people who simply do the minimum required by their job and will not consider achieving anything above and beyond the role they were hired to do. Then, there are those people who reject the notion of being required to do extra work without extra pay, recognition, or overtime compensation.
Photo by Johnny Cohen on Unsplash
Recently, there’s been a phenomenon arising throughout social media that has come to be known as quiet quitting. As in most things, there are two sides to the story. There are people who simply do the minimum required by their job and will not consider achieving anything above and beyond the role they were hired to do. Then, there are those people who reject the notion of being required to do extra work without extra pay, recognition, or overtime compensation.
First and foremost, I would say all employers should treat employees the way they, themselves, would like to be treated. We succeed in business by providing quality goods and services to our customers, and that cannot happen without fully engaged and committed employees.
For workers, the concept of quiet quitting can be counterproductive and even harmful. Beyond the fact that you are hurting the organization you work for, you are hurting yourself. I’ve long believed that the way we do anything is the way we do everything. You can’t expect to have a mediocre, lackluster, or minimal performance in your career and then expect to have a great personal life or family life.
I’m a huge fan of the transformational writer Napoleon Hill. One of his most impactful success principles involves going the extra mile. Dr. Hill did not advise his followers to exceed expectations merely so they would do work for which they were not specifically paid. On the contrary, he believed that going the extra mile represented the key to professional and personal success and happiness. The quickest way to get a better job is to do a better job.
Whether you’re an employee or an entrepreneur, financial success often comes down to doing work you don’t get paid for so that someday you get paid for work you didn’t do. Regardless of their motives, those individuals who associate with the quiet quitters and are publicly posting online need to remember that we become like the people we hang around with and that current employers, future employers, and associates follow social media, too.
It’s very important that we all thoughtfully consider how we identify ourselves and how we present ourselves to the world. The concept of doing the least possible to just get by will not serve you or those around you well.
As you go through your day today, go the extra mile and reap the rewards.
Jim Stovall is the president of Narrative Television Network as well as a published author of many books. He is also a columnist and motivational speaker. Follow him on Twitter (@stovallauthor) or Facebook (@jimstovallauthor). His new book, Words That Shaped Our World: Legendary Voices of History: Quotes That Changed How We Think, What We Do, and Who We Are, coauthored with Kathy Johnson, is now available for preorder from Sound Wisdom.
What to Think about BEFORE All-Employee Meetings by Alyson Van Hooser
Team building can be significantly impacted during all-employee meetings. Usually, leaders have great intentions and hopes when conducting these team meetings.
They want to make sure everyone feels celebrated, and they want to be transparent in sharing information.
However, sometimes the after-effects of the meeting are less than ideal for team building.
Photo by Nathan Dumlao on Unsplash
Team building can be significantly impacted during all-employee meetings. Usually, leaders have great intentions and hopes when conducting these team meetings.
They want to make sure everyone feels celebrated, and they want to be transparent in sharing information.
However, sometimes the after-effects of the meeting are less than ideal for team building.
To avoid unnecessary consequences and negative team building results, watch this episode of The Man & The Millennial Show for what to think about BEFORE your next all-employee meeting.
Alyson Van Hooser is a leadership keynote speaker and trainer on millennials, Gen Z, and women in business. With the grit that comes only from tough experiences, Alyson has learned a thing or two about personal and professional success. From her management experience with Walmart, as an elected city council member, bank manager—all before the age of 30—Alyson has wisdom well beyond her years! Her latest book, coauthored with Phillip Van Hooser, is Accelerate Your Success: 30-Day Journey to Elevate Your Performance & Fuel Your Professional Growth. Connect with Alyson on LinkedIn and Instagram.
Accountability Is the Answer to the Great Resignation by Sam Silverstein
The Great Resignation is in full swing. People are quitting their jobs. It is rampant. But it is important to understand that people, for the most part, are not retiring. People are resigning from companies where they do not feel like they belong. They are resigning where they do not feel valued. They are resigning where they do not connect to the organization’s mission. They are resigning when they are not connected to a group of peers. They are resigning when they do not feel like they are being developed and grown for future opportunities. People are resigning when they cannot work remotely or build their work life into their lifestyle.
Photo by Eric Prouzet on Unsplash
The Great Resignation is in full swing. People are quitting their jobs. It is rampant. But it is important to understand that people, for the most part, are not retiring. People are resigning from companies where they do not feel like they belong. They are resigning where they do not feel valued. They are resigning where they do not connect to the organization’s mission. They are resigning when they are not connected to a group of peers. They are resigning when they do not feel like they are being developed and grown for future opportunities. People are resigning when they cannot work remotely or build their work life into their lifestyle.
The list goes on and on. Mostly people want to be valued, be a part of something, and live a fulfilled life. When they do not, the Great Resignation comes into play. What many workers find out is that when they resign because of money and go somewhere else the grass certainly isn’t greener. I always advise people to leave an organization with a weak culture. For the most part, do not leave for money. When you go someplace for money, you will, many times, find yourself in an environment where you are not happy.
So, what does this all mean for the leader who is fighting the Great Resignation? It means you better have your culture right. During the pandemic we found that the organizations that excelled were the ones who had strong, positive, sustainable workplace cultures. The ones that did not, suffered greatly. This still holds true through the Great Resignation.
People do not leave organizations where they feel valued, developed, a part of a community, and connected to the mission of the organization. People leave when leaders believe that people are simply a means to an end. And most of the leaders that treat people this way do not even realize they are doing it.
How does your culture shape up? Do you have an annual workplace culture assessment tool that you use to get real data on what is going on inside your organization. If you do not have real data, how can you address real problems?
The accountable leader puts their people first, makes sure that all decisions are made with the people’s interest in mind as well as the future of the organization, and ensures that everyone has a voice that is heard.
When an accountable leader would rather die than let their people down, then the people would rather die than let that leader down. It always comes down to relationships. When you create a workplace culture that truly values people then the people value the organization, and the Great Resignation is not even in their vocabulary.
Sam Silverstein is dedicated to empowering people to live accountable lives, transform the way they do business, and create a more accountable world. He helps companies create an organizational culture that prioritizes and inspires accountability. His latest book—The Accountability Advantage—is available for preorder from Sound Wisdom. You can follow Sam on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube.
Delegating Effectively in 6 Steps by Phillip Van Hooser
There is no perfect approach to delegating tasks. However, there are some steps in the delegation process that need to be clearly identified and clearly followed for delegating to be a win-win-win for your employee, the organization, and yourself.
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Delegating gets you (and others) ready for greater responsibilities and promotion, and it offers the organization greater continuity while minimizing the loss of talent.
There is no perfect approach to delegating tasks. However, there are some steps in the delegation process that need to be clearly identified and clearly followed for delegating to be a win-win-win for your employee, the organization, and yourself.
Following these six steps will help you ensure that you handle the conversation to delegate tasks the right way.
Set the Stage
Right up front, share what the vision, purpose, and end goals are for the task/s you’re delegating.
This helps your people understand exactly what they are working toward, why it is important, and what success will look like.
What, Not How
Hear that very carefully. You don’t want to tell the person to whom you’re delegating how to do the job—that’s micromanagement, not delegating.
But you do want him/her/they to know what the end result will look like. Do you want the results to be faster, cheaper, safer, or higher quality? Whatever it is, be specific.
Stephen Covey, in his book The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, said, “Begin with the end in mind.” Your people won’t know what the end should be unless you share it with them.
What Are the Limits?
In other words, don’t delegate a task to someone, let them go out with great excitement and enthusiasm, only to tell them later they overstepped important parameters.
It is defeating to hear:
“Oh, wait a minute, you can’t do that because we don’t have the time.”
Or…
“We don’t have the money to do that.”
Or…
“You can’t use those resources on this.”
Right up front, tell them:
“This is your task.”
“The end results should look like this.”
“And you are limited by these parameters (time, money, other resources, authority, etc.)”
Did I Hear You Say…
In the conversation to delegate tasks, a lot of information is shared all at once. It is the responsibility of the person delegating the tasks to ensure the message is heard and received correctly.
If anyone messes that up, it’s the one doing the delegating—not the one receiving the assignment.
The person you’re delegating to may be thinking, “I’m still thinking about number one and they’re already on number three. I don’t even know what was said about number two!”
That’s not a bad thing! It’s likely your employee is excited about the process and their mind is whirling with ideas. But you’ve moved forward with additional steps and they may have missed important information along the way.
For clarification, simply pause the conversation and ask:
“Okay, I know I have given you a lot of information. Tell me what you have heard me say so I can make sure I have communicated clearly and correctly.”
What they repeat back to you may be incorrect. Verbally take responsibility for not communicating clearly and then move forward with the correct information.
That Gives Me an Idea…
Back to those thoughts that were swirling in your employee’s mind…
“I would like to hear some of your initial ideas for this particular project—what are your first thoughts?”
Now, frankly, don’t expect too much, because you’ve just now delegated the project to them. But, even in the early stage of delegation, ideas surface. You want to have at least an idea of what they are thinking.
But this is really important to keep in mind.
Ask about their ideas and plans before you tell them what you think good plans would be.
This way they feel freer to share their ideas. The point is, leaders should want their employees to feel free to share ideas and thoughts without hindering or hampering that flow. The delegation conversation can be a great place for that!
Getting in on When
When you delegate a task, create a completion date. I’m a big believer that whenever possible, it’s important to create a negotiated completion date. In other words, I’m assigning the responsibility; however, I want my employee to be in on identifying and determining what that completion date would be.
For example, you can ask:
“So when do you think you can have this task completed?”
Allow them to respond and, if necessary, negotiate the timeline as needed. Also, include a midway follow-up meeting to discuss the progress of the project. This will ensure that no one is waiting until the last minute to start the task.
Delegating in 6 Steps
Using these six steps when delegating tasks and responsibilities truly makes delegation a collaborative effort! Give it a try and watch the success you, your people, and your organization realize!
Phillip Van Hooser, CSP, CPAE is committed to helping organizations transform their business outcomes by building engaged employee relationships. He is an award-winning keynote speaker and author on engaged leadership and communication. To learn how to build influence and secure greater opportunities through effective professional communication, pick up a copy of his book Earning the Right to Be Heard. Connect with Phil on LinkedIn and Facebook.
3 Strategies to Get Your Succession Planning Moving by Meridith Elliott Powell
First and foremost, you need to understand where you are: what talent you have, what talent you need, and what talent is available in your marketplace. In other words, you need to take inventory. You need to get a clear perspective of what it takes from a talent perspective to run your company effectively. What roles could easily be filled with existing talent, and what roles will you need to recruit for?
I was speaking in Baltimore, Maryland, at a Healthcare Finance conference. Because I was the closing keynote, I flew in the day before so I could spend some time connecting with some attendees and listening to the other speakers.
As you can imagine, the topics the speakers covered ranged from leadership to technology to government regulation—pretty standard line-up except for one guy, the speaker who was on before me.
A professor at the University of Maryland by day, he had started keynoting based on a new book he had published about the future of business. He called himself a futurist, someone who studies the future and makes predictions based on trends.
He spoke about everything from the disappearance of full-time employment to the role robotics will play in replacing traditional manual jobs. While I did not buy in or agree with all of what he said, when he started talking about the workforce and the future of employees and talent going forward, my ears perked up.
Beginning with what we all knew, finding great help is hard to find, and there is a virtual war on talent. He then shed some new light on why. He said that today’s workforce, while eager, is far less prepared than our parents’ generation.
Today’s Workforce
With baby boomers retiring at rapid rates, either because they want to or age and health are making that decision for them, there is just not enough talent to take their place. The natural succession plan would be Gen X. Roughly ages 38 to 53, they are the smallest of the generations, so just by sheer numbers, there are not enough of them to move into these vital leadership positions.
In addition, after the recession that started in 2008, many Gen X men did not return to the workforce. Having been hit hardest by layoffs and downsizing, many opted out of the job market, and, unfortunately, it looks like they are staying out for good.
That leaves millennials (roughly 21 to 37); while they are an even larger generation than the baby boomers, they are not nearly as experienced, according to our futurist speaker. He shared that things like organized sports and helicopter parenting caused millennials to miss the opportunity that lack of parental involvement provides for developing critical thinking and problem-solving skills.
Boomers grew up in a time when kids walked to school, sports were self-organizing, and parents backed up the teacher no matter if he was right or wrong. Those taught boomers early on how to persevere, be resilient, and solve problems—skills that would prove invaluable in the workforce.
Millennials bring amazing skills to the workplace; they are just different, and some of these foundational skills still need to be developed. That changes everything about how we view succession planning and the new role they need to play in our corporate culture. We used to have the luxury of waiting to do a succession plan when a leader was actually ready to retire or was thinking about stepping down. In today’s world, succession planning is an ongoing strategy and one of the most vital elements—a core competency—you need to have in place to ensure sustainability and long-term success. Also, it is a strategy that is never complete and needs to be continually updated, communicated, and invested in.
So, where do you start, and how do you get your succession plan moving?
Take Inventory—
First and foremost, you need to understand where you are: what talent you have, what talent you need, and what talent is available in your marketplace. In other words, you need to take inventory. You need to get a clear perspective of what it takes from a talent perspective to run your company effectively. What roles could easily be filled with existing talent, and what roles will you need to recruit for?
Create Criteria—
You need to develop your criteria your standards. What do you future leaders need to have in terms of skills, talent, and values? Develop criteria of what it really takes beyond experience and job history to lead your company.
Start Small—
Succession planning is not an easy task. There are many moving parts, and there is a lot of required investment in terms of time and resources. So there is no need to develop the entire succession plan in one sitting. Feel free to start small. Begin with the most critical positions—those most vital to the organization and/or those with leaders closest to retirement. Get those succession plans in place, see what is working and what is not, and adjust and continue your succession planning strategy.
Meridith Elliott Powell is a business strategist, keynote speaker, and award-winning author with expertise in business growth, sales, and leadership strategies. She was named One of the Top 15 Business Growth Experts to Watch by Currency Fair and One of the Top 20 Sales Experts To Follow by LinkedIn. Learn more succession-planning tips in her book, co-authored with Mary C. Kelly Who Comes Next?: Leadership Succession Planning Made Easy (Nonfiction Authors Association Gold Award recipient).
Accountability Is Impossible Without the Truth by Sam Silverstein
If you are a leader, you are either fulfilling your personal commitment to tell someone who is counting on you the truth, or you aren’t fulfilling that commitment. If you aren’t, then accountability within the relationship and the organization you lead is impossible, because you’ve already failed to be accountable to your team coming out of the gate.
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For a leader, there is no such thing as “kind of” telling the truth.
If you are a leader, you are either fulfilling your personal commitment to tell someone who is counting on you the truth, or you aren’t fulfilling that commitment. If you aren’t, then accountability within the relationship and the organization you lead is impossible, because you’ve already failed to be accountable to your team coming out of the gate.
That’s the high standard that leaders of teams and organizations must meet: they’re either telling the truth or they aren’t. It’s kind of like the old joke about having a baby: you’re either pregnant or you’re not. There’s no such thing as being “a little” pregnant. It’s an absolute state. And so is being a leader who expects—and shares—the truth.
You can depend on a culture where truth is consistently present. You cannot depend on a person who passes along, or accepts, less than the truth. Accountability and lying can never exist in the same space.
“Accountability and lying can never exist in the same space.”
People who seek truth want only truth and do not want anything else around them. They don’t want “BS.” They are not afraid of being told the truth. They love the truth, even when it hurts, and they don’t want to associate with anything that is not the truth or with people who accept less than the truth.
What happens to people who don’t want to hear the truth? What happens when they would rather have their egos stroked than deal with the reality of their situation? What happens to their organization? I’ll tell you. The viewpoint of the entire organization becomes distorted. The viewpoint of the company’s people becomes distorted. The viewpoint of what their people can accomplish becomes distorted. There is a false picture of where they are, both individually and organizationally. This false picture leads to bad decisions, and those bad decisions lead to an ever-growing wave of less-than-favorable outcomes. It’s a downward cycle.
When people consistently don’t want to hear the truth, they lead themselves and the people around them in the wrong direction. This is the ultimate recipe for failure.
The truth produces something. It produces a freedom. We have all heard the expression, “The truth will set you free.” This concept originates in the New Testament—it’s in the Gospel of John, chapter 8, verse 32. But what does it mean, this idea that the truth will set you free?
Free from what? What kind of freedom is it, and what will that freedom allow you to do? What happens if you do not have that freedom?
“Truth frees you by allowing you to be you.”
The reality is that truth frees you by allowing you to be you. When the standard by which you live your life is the truth that guides you, when you make your decisions based on this standard, you move closer to the person you are supposed to be. And you become more consistent in both your actions and your results. When you build your life around truth, you are free to move forward because you know how to make decisions, you know what your decisions are based on, and you know that the decisions you make, when they are based on the standard of truth, will always be the best decision you could have made.
That is true freedom, for leaders and for everyone else.
For more on this important topic, see Sam Silverstein’s book No Matter What: The 10 Commitments of Accountability. Sam is dedicated to empowering people to live accountable lives, transform the way they do business, and create a more accountable world. He helps companies create an organizational culture that prioritizes and inspires accountability. You can follow Sam on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube. This post originally appeared here on The Accountability Blog.
Freedom and Success by Jim Stovall
Freedom is an often-misunderstood word. We all grasp the concept of being able to do what we want to do and when we want to do it, but our ideas of freedom often get confused when we think of other people’s liberty, particularly when it relates to those with whom we disagree. The great American patriot Thomas Paine, said, “He who would make his own liberty secure must guard even his own enemy from oppression.”
Photo by Aaron Burden on Unsplash
For over 20 years, my column has been read each week by people around the world. The readers of the Winners’ Wisdom columns represent a multitude of nationalities, faiths, creeds, and cultures.
If you have been a reader of mine for any length of time, you know that I believe that our success is greatly a product of our own attitude, effort, and ingenuity; however, this belief presumes that you live in a free and open society.
In the two decades I have been writing Winners’ Wisdom, technology has changed the world. In the mid-1990s, most of the readers of my weekly columns accessed my message via a print publication such as a magazine or newspaper. Today because of the Internet, a diverse group of people around the globe read this weekly offering via the Internet. Many of these new online readers live in countries where they face resistance and oppression toward their success, freedom, and happiness.
Freedom is an often-misunderstood word. We all grasp the concept of being able to do what we want to do and when we want to do it, but our ideas of freedom often get confused when we think of other people’s liberty, particularly when it relates to those with whom we disagree. The great American patriot Thomas Paine, said, “He who would make his own liberty secure must guard even his own enemy from oppression.”
If you and I believe in liberty and enjoy our own freedom to succeed or fail on our own terms, we must not only tolerate those with whom we disagree, but we must be willing to fight for their rights as well as our own. I believe a true patriot and lover of liberty should be able to readily identify and articulate several beliefs, positions, and practices they disagree with personally but would defend vigorously.
I’m a voracious reader and find that I gain more enlightenment and deeper learning when reading books written by authors with whom I disagree. In many cases, I find that our areas of disagreement aren’t as deep as I thought they were, and as I begin to understand the motives behind other people’s mission and message, I find a lot of common ground. There is a phrase generally attributed to Native American wisdom that says, “Don’t judge a man unless you have walked a mile in his moccasins.”
Many times, issues boil down to right versus wrong; in which case, we must stand up for what is right. But sometimes that which we think is wrong is merely a different perspective.
As you go through your day today, celebrate your own freedom by protecting the freedom of others.
Today’s the day!
Jim Stovall is the president of Narrative Television Network as well as a published author of many books. He is also a columnist and motivational speaker. Follow him on Twitter (@stovallauthor) or Facebook (@jimstovallauthor). This and other motivational pieces by Jim can be found in Wisdom for Winners Volume Three, an official publication of the Napoleon Hill Foundation. You can listen to the audiobook here on Audible or purchase your electronic or print copy wherever books are sold.
Transforming the Diversity Conversation…the Accountable Thing to Do by Sam Silverstein
Viewing people differently because of race, religion, gender, sexuality, physical attributes, ability, or personal style choices means you will always miss out on seeing their true potential. When leaders do this and/or enable others to do this, they not only make the workplace feel unsafe; they rob the people they lead of a more promising future…and they rob their organization of talent, ideas, and a better-looking bottom line. A leader can never lead a person to their true potential if that leader sees only superficial differences and false limitations.
Most leaders miss a huge opportunity when they talk about diversity.
In the wake of multiple high-profile news stories about diversity and inclusion, and any number of hastily assembled “damage control” initiatives from companies at the center of those stories, I wonder if it’s time to reframe our national workplace conversation on diversity.
Here’s a start: If you’re a leader, you are already accountable to each member of your team to fulfill your organization’s commitment to provide employees with a safe place to work—not just physically safe, but emotionally safe as well. That’s non-negotiable, and yes, your commitment to diversity is part of that commitment.
If you have any doubts about what you’ve just read, try looking at the question this way: Is there any way any member of your team will be able to contribute to your organization at an optimum level if they don’t feel safe at work? Of course not. As the leader, you cannot mandate creativity, teamwork, customer service, and accountability. You can only create a safe place that allows those elements to flourish naturally and to their very highest potential. Employees will always want to go to a safe place; it’s simple human nature to seek out the feeling of safety. Whenever your people look forward to going to work because they feel safe as they pursue the organization’s mission, you have created a powerful competitive advantage. Whenever they don’t, you haven’t. It’s that simple.
Some leaders will say, “But, Sam, this isn’t the home. This is the workplace.” My response would be, “Do you want the very best out of your people, or do you want half or three-quarters of what they can do?”
I would follow up with this question: “How safe do you imagine someone feels at work when they see evidence, reinforced day in and day out, that they fall into the category of ‘second class—not because of their performance, but because of who someone else thinks they are?” The answer is: Not very safe at all.
Viewing people differently because of race, religion, gender, sexuality, physical attributes, ability, or personal style choices means you will always miss out on seeing their true potential. When leaders do this and/or enable others to do this, they not only make the workplace feel unsafe; they rob the people they lead of a more promising future…and they rob their organization of talent, ideas, and a better-looking bottom line. A leader can never lead a person to their true potential if that leader sees only superficial differences and false limitations.
Which brings us back to the diversity conversation. Most leaders miss a huge opportunity when they talk about diversity…which means most organizations miss that opportunity.
Here’s what I mean by that. Most company leaders wait until there is a major problem, some kind of triggering incident, to start talking about diversity and making it a priority. That’s essentially reactive! Why not be proactive? Why wait for a crisis?
The typical reactive approach we see from top management has a troubling ripple effect. It leads to a predictable “do-I-really-have-to” attitude towards diversity initiatives in general. Because diversity only shows up as a meaningful priority when there’s a potential problem, people tend to think (and, yes, say out loud) things like, “Too bad I have to go to diversity training tomorrow”—as though the training session were some kind of a distraction from their real job.
That’s how most people think of diversity training: as part of a public relations initiative. And unfortunately, all too often, that’s just what it is!
Here’s my point: getting a clearer sense of what it takes to make everyone in the workplace feel safe can’t be just a PR stunt. It has to be how you do business. It must be what you believe.
Understanding what makes our people feel safe must be part of our leadership strategy for our teams and for the organization as a whole. Why? Because diversity training affords us as leaders the opportunity to better understand more people.
If we can better understand more people, we can connect with more people.
If we can connect with more people, we have the ability to serve more people.
The more people we truly understand and connect with and figure out how to serve, the more people we can make meaningful commitments to.
And you know what else? When we build deeper relationships with our people, when we have an understanding of how best to serve them at a high level, and we make personal commitments to them, then we are naturally going to be more accountable to them…and in the process we will be creating an environment where they’re inspired to be accountable to us.
Which is what we really want!
So here’s what this all adds up to: Diversity, when approached properly, as an ongoing priority, isn’t a distraction from our real job. It’s one of the keys to building an accountable organization. For every single one of us, starting at the top, diversity is part of our real job, every single day! Not only that: It’s a major competitive advantage, waiting to be claimed…and we need to start treating it that way.
For more on this important topic, see Sam Silverstein’s book No Matter What: The 10 Commitments of Accountability. Sam is dedicated to empowering people to live accountable lives, transform the way they do business, and create a more accountable world. He helps companies create an organizational culture that prioritizes and inspires accountability. You can follow Sam on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube. This post originally appeared here on The Accountability Blog.
Three Strategies to Enhance Company Culture in a Virtual World by Meridith Elliott Powell
Culture is the set of values and beliefs a company has. When your culture is strong, your employees not only understand those values and beliefs; they use them to drive their attitude, their behavior, and the experience they create for team members and customers. With a strong culture, you get a more engaged team, a more productive work environment, and more satisfied customers.
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One of my favorite clients works in the manufacturing space, and lucky for them, 2020 was a great year. Despite the pandemic, they grew, added more staff, and increased profits by 32%.
Working together, we spent most of the early months of the pandemic navigating the consistent increase in demand. We spent our time helping over three-quarters of their staff learn to work remotely and the other one-third adjust to the new regulations and protocols to ensure a safe working environment.
For the first few months, company culture was the last thing on anyone’s mind. The team was engaged. Most of their employees were grateful to have a job, others driven by the urgent need to help their customers and team members. Pretty much everyone was willing to do whatever it took to keep the company growing.
Now we find ourselves over a year into this crisis, and the tide is shifting. Team members are getting burned out and starting to disengage. They suffer from “Zoom fatigue.” They struggle to achieve work-life balance, and they are getting frustrated.
For the first time since this pandemic began, the leadership team is wrestling with how long will this go on? How do we keep our team engaged? And how do we maintain and enhance our company culture in a virtual world?
Those are great questions that many leaders are challenged with today because building a culture and leading a team in a remote environment is different. It requires new strategies and a new set of ideas.
Before we jump in and start discussing the strategies you need to build and maintain your company culture, let’s talk about what culture is and why it matters, even more so in a virtual world.
Culture is the set of values and beliefs a company has. When your culture is strong, your employees not only understand those values and beliefs; they use them to drive their attitude, their behavior, and the experience they create for team members and customers. With a strong culture, you get a more engaged team, a more productive work environment, and more satisfied customers.
Now culture matters because employees are more engaged, more productive, and tend to stay longer when they work for a company whose values and beliefs are aligned with theirs. Let’s look at the facts: companies with winning organizational cultures have 72% higher employee engagement ratings. 65% of employees say their company culture is a deciding factor in whether they stay long-term or not, and 77% of employees believe a strong culture enables them to produce higher levels of work.
So, culture matters, and in a world where employees can work from anywhere and for anyone, giving them something to believe in, be a part of, and contribute to is one of the best tools you have to keep top talent.
There is so much value in investing in your company culture, so how do you get it right in a virtual world and working with a remote team?
1. Overly Communicate
Very few leaders communicate enough and far fewer communicate enough in a virtual world. You have to realize the moment your team started working from their homes, they felt disconnected, shut off, and isolated. They are unsure of how your company is doing, what challenges you’re facing, what you are focused on for 2021, and how they can best contribute.
You need to be answering their questions, and much more. You need to ensure that you communicate with your team often and provide opportunities for them to communicate with you. Communication is a two-way street, and if you want to drive culture, you need to ensure your team is talking to you as much as you are talking to them.
BEST PRACTICES: Here are some of the best ideas we see successful leaders today putting into place.
Weekly kick-off video – the CEO starts each week with a video that lets the team know where the focus needs to be, what she expects of them, and then rewards and recognizes individual contributions.
Town Halls – monthly or quarterly, town halls with the CEO and/or leadership team allow employees to get relevant updates and, more importantly, ask questions, get first-hand information, and heard on significant challenges.
Monthly Financial Updates – humanizing the business model by allowing employees to learn from the CFO how the company makes money, what they can impact, and how their contribution directly connects to the bottom line. This does more than any other strategy we have seen to decrease expenses and drive revenue.
2. Create Connection
Gone are the opportunities to grab lunch with a co-worker, tell a joke before the meeting starts, or participate in the monthly birthday celebration. What remote work has given us in productivity and efficiency has cost us in the areas of communication and relationship building.
People spend so much time at work, even if that work is remote. To be successful; they want to feel like they are connected to their co-workers, know their boss, and feel heard and understood by the people they work with. In a virtual world, you have to be more innovative to create that, and you have to build on those opportunities proactively.
BEST PRACTICES: Here are some of the best ideas we see successful leaders putting into place
TECH MATTERS – just like you invested in your office space, you need to invest in technology. If you want people to feel connected, they need to have the tools. Video is critical, strong audio is a requirement, and the right software and tools make it so much easier to engage.
CREATE SPACE – allow people to connect just like you did at work. Instead of the monthly pot luck dinner, create personal channels on your SLACK, TRELLO, or intranet accounts. Start rooms where team members can talk about their pets, taking care of aging parents, or what it is like to homeschool your kids in the age of COVID.
DONUT MEETINGS – beak the silos and communication issues by building relationships between departments and leaders you need to work together. Donut meetings are meetings set up between two and three team members who don’t interact regularly but need a better connection to work more effectively together.
3. Bind with Purpose
At the end of the day, in a traditional or remote work environment, people want to do work that matters, and they want to be a part of something bigger than themselves.
If you want your team to engage, then you need to give them something to engage in. That something is a purpose, who you are, what you stand for, and the impact you are making.
BEST PRACTICES: Here are some of the best ideas we see successful leaders putting into place
BEGIN EVERY MEETING – and end every meeting reminding your team members of your purpose, and how what they are doing matters, the impact they are making.
REWARD/RECOGNIZE – team members and situations that underscore the importance of your purpose. Tell stories and develop case studies that detail how the company’s purpose is to create change and help people.
NORTH STAR – use your purpose and core values as your litmus test, your north star in deciding whom to promote, whom to hire, and what new initiatives to implement in your company. You show your team just how important the core values and purpose are and why they matter to the company’s success.
Your Culture Is Your Best Investment
Yes, investing in building culture in a work environment can be challenging, but it’s not impossible. It is also one of the best investments you can make. One of the few advantages you have left in this constantly shifting and highly competitive marketplace is your team’s engagement level. Invest in your culture, and your team will invest in you.
Meridith Elliott Powell, CSP, is a business growth expert, keynote speaker, and award-winning author. Her new book, THRIVE: Strategies to Turn Uncertainty into Competitive Advantage, shares nine proven principles for leveraging uncertainty to grow your business and drive sales. It is available from Sound Wisdom on June 22, 2021—preorder your copy today! This blog originally appeared here on meridithelliottpowell.com and has been edited for inclusion on The Sound Wisdom Blog. Subscribe now for weekly inspiration and business insight delivered straight to your inbox (we won’t spam you—we promise!).
Accountable Leaders Learn to Spot Cultural Drift by Sam Silverstein
Then he asked the big question that I’ve noticed truly accountable leaders always make a point of asking me when I use this term in a conversation for the first time. He said: “How do you define cultural drift…and how do I deal with it?”
Photo by Markus Spiske on Unsplash
What if the culture you designed for your company isn’t the culture your people are actually living?
A client of mine recently told me, “I know in my heart that fundamentally we have a great culture at our company…but lately, I feel like something is off, and I can’t quite put my finger on what it is.”
I said, “Does it feel like you’re not quite hitting the bull’s-eye that you used to hit routinely as a company, each and every day? Like your people’s standards are slowly dropping? Like things somehow slipped just a little bit while you weren’t looking, or you were focused on an acquisition?
He nodded.
What you’re dealing with,” I explained, “is called cultural drift.”
He said, “Exactly!”
Then he asked the big question that I’ve noticed truly accountable leaders always make a point of asking me when I use this term in a conversation for the first time. He said: “How do you define cultural drift…and how do I deal with it?”
I realize you may be asking yourself the same questions now, so I’ll give you the same answers I gave my client.
Let’s begin by defining what we mean by culture. A culture is what’s accepted and what’s repeated in your organization. And here’s the most important thing to understand about your workplace culture: You’re going to have one, whether you realize it or not, and it will always come in one of two possible varieties. You will either have a culture by design or a culture by default. That means your culture either drives accountability in the workplace…or your culture does not drive accountability in the workplace.
“Culture by design” means you’ve actually stopped and thought about what kind of culture you want in your company, and you’ve built the workplace accordingly. You’ve asked yourself what you want your culture to be, you’ve identified and closely examined your values, you’ve found the best ways to model those values in the workplace, and you’re teaching and protecting and celebrating those values…consciously.
“Culture by default,” on the other hand, hasn’t done any of that. This is the workplace culture that just kind of happens. Nobody designs it with intention. It’s defined through the lowest common denominator. Inevitably, a lowest common denominator culture means a lack of accountability to people; it probably also means a lack of responsibility when it comes to fulfilling specific assignments. (Remember: we are responsible for things, but accountable to people.)
Here’s the point. Nobody ever stood up and said, “Okay. We hereby launch a culture where you don’t have to be prepared for meetings or show up on time, where you don’t have to treat people with respect, and where you don’t have to communicate effectively when it looks like something unexpected it going to keep you from getting the work done that you said you were going to get done. From today on, that’s what we’re going to notice and celebrate around here.”
Nobody designs that kind of culture. But if those behaviors are tolerated and repeated, they become part of the workplace culture…by default. People come in for meetings late and unprepared, and they treat their colleagues and customers with disrespect, and they miss deadlines and think nothing of it. It’s just what happens, because that’s the kind of culture leadership has allowed to take root.
Culture by default usually incorporates some cultural elements (like the ones I’ve identified above) that no one would consciously choose, but that end up being toxic daily workplace realities. All too often, a culture by default can lead an organization into a major downward spiral. This is not an issue of accountability vs. responsibility…because this organization will be lacking in both!
As you have probably already guessed, the most successful organizations are the ones that have created, and live, a culture by design. There are five steps to creating this type of culture:
Define the culture
Model it
Teach it
Protect it
Celebrate it
However, even if you do all five of those things, and do them right, something interesting can happen over time to change the culture.
Maybe you have acquisitions, and you acquire other companies. Maybe you grow organically, perhaps by adding new branches or new divisions that aren’t directly exposed to the cultural experience that people in your main facility have. Or maybe some key people leave and are replaced by other people. When those kinds of changes take place, what often happens is that the culture that you designed starts to drift.
What do I mean by that? I mean the culture starts to be not exactly the bull’s-eye of what you initially defined it and designed it to be. It’s not that your company has suddenly become a bad place to work…but it’s also not in the ideal place that you once had it. It’s drifting.
Now—how do you correct that drift?
Well, the first thing you have to do is you have to recognize that the culture is drifting. The sooner you recognize that (like my client did), the better off you are going to be.
The next thing is to identify what part of your organization is affected. It could be the entire organization…or it could be some subset of it. The drift could be taking place at a certain level of leadership. It could be between the first and second levels of leadership, or between the second and third levels of leadership, or anywhere down the line. By the same token, the drift could be in a regional area. You could discover the drift is centered in a regional office someplace. Some of that drift might be contagious; it might be affecting other areas of your business. The point is, you have to be able to identify where the drift is (and isn’t), so you can make the corrections necessary to get your culture right back where you want it.
Once you recognize where the drift is, you can take steps to correct it. We’ve designed a tool called The Accountability Index™ that helps you to do exactly this. This assessment allows you to identify the specific strengths and weaknesses of the current culture and helps you to identify the specific changes you need to make within the organization to get your team back to the routine of living the culture you actually designed…day in and day out.
Accountable leaders notice, assess, and take action to compensate for the cultural drift they experience in their organization. They know that, if left unattended, cultural drift can turn an empowering, productive culture by design into a downward-spiraling culture by default.
To learn more about The Accountability Index™…check it out here!
Sam Silverstein is dedicated to empowering people to live accountable lives, transform the way they do business, and create a more accountable world. He helps companies create an organizational culture that prioritizes and inspires accountability. His latest book, Pivot!: Three Big Questions That Reframe Your Perspective, Maximize Your Potential, and Improve Your Life, is now available from Sound Wisdom. This article originally appeared here on The Accountability Blog and has been edited for inclusion on The Sound Wisdom Blog.
The Accountability PhD by Sam Silverstein
How do you earn a PhD in accountability? What sets you at the peak of the mountaintop when it comes to being accountable individually and building an accountable organizational culture? I believe there are seven core requirements.
How do you earn a PhD in accountability? What sets you at the peak of the mountaintop when it comes to being accountable individually and building an accountable organizational culture? I believe there are seven core requirements.
You have identified your non-negotiable values. These are unique to you and take time to unearth. Reading someone else’s poster and saying, “Those are my values!” does not count.
You are living those values individually. Those values are showing up consistently throughout your area of responsibility within your organization. They drive your decision-making.
You do not confuse relational commitments with tactical commitments. Tactical commitments sound like this: “I will do the dishes tonight.” They can be crossed off a to-do list. Relational commitments, by contrast, are enduring. They are about making connections with other people stronger. They have no expiration date. They are the work of a lifetime.
You have studied, internalized, and now live all ten of the relational commitments that comprise accountability. These are ten critical commitments that strengthen human bonds and empower human relationships. They are:
• Commitment to the Truth
• Commitment to What You Value
• Commitment to “It’s All of Us”
• Commitment to Stand With You When All Hell Breaks Loose
• Commitment to the Faults and Failures as Well as the Opportunities and Successes
• Commitment to Sound Financial Principles
• Commitment to Helping Individuals Achieve Their Potential and Be Their Best
• Commitment to a Safe Place to Work
• Commitment to Your Word Is Your Bond
• Commitment to a Good ReputationYou are actively working to inspire accountability in the people around you. The key word here is inspire. Notice that inspiring accountability is not the same as demanding accountability.
You have taken on the challenge to build a more accountable world. In other words, you do not pretend that accountability stops at your family, your team, or your organization. It connects to everyone.
You are consciously building a legacy designed to outlive you. Sometimes people ask me: “When does a relational commitment end?” The best answer is: never. If you want to make a real difference…if you want to leave a legacy…you make these commitments, not just to your family, not just to your colleagues and team members, not just to your organization, but to the entire human family, including those people who will benefit from them long after you are gone.
Those individuals who meet all seven of these criteria have earned what I call the Accountability PhD, meaning they have attained the very highest level of accountability.
Learn more about how to Pivot! and be more accountable by visiting: https://mypivotlife.com/.
Sam Silverstein is dedicated to empowering people to live accountable lives, transform the way they do business, and create a more accountable world. He helps companies create an organizational culture that prioritizes and inspires accountability. His latest book, Pivot!: Three Big Questions That Reframe Your Perspective, Maximize Your Potential, and Improve Your Life, is now available from Sound Wisdom. This article originally appeared here on The Accountability Blog and has been edited for inclusion on The Sound Wisdom Blog.
“3 Stories Leaders Need to Know about Their Employees” by Alyson Van Hooser
How do leaders know how to lead whom? Storytelling and story seeking. When it comes to understanding how to lead people, stories tell you what statistics can’t. Stories capture attention, are memorable, and are personal. Stories break down barriers and build bonds.
Storytelling and story seeking shouldn’t be random. Instead, it must be intentional. Here are 3 stories every leader needs to know about employees.
Photo by S O C I A L . C U T on Unsplash
Stories unlock answers to challenges leaders must overcome. To hire the right people, get them to stay, and continue to perform above expectations, start by learning these three stories leaders need to know about employees.
Strategies you’ve heard that promise to help you recruit, retain, and lead great employees—but allow no room for individual customization—likely won’t work for leading the current and future workforce. Why? Our economy and diversity. The workforce is more diverse than ever—education, experiences, expectations, and more. In our economy, people have access to hundreds of thousands of jobs just a click away on their phones. Empirical evidence suggests that leaders who take an individualistic approach to lead their team will ultimately be much more successful than those who don’t.
How do leaders know how to lead whom? Storytelling and story seeking. When it comes to understanding how to lead people, stories tell you what statistics can’t. Stories capture attention, are memorable, and are personal. Stories break down barriers and build bonds.
Storytelling and story seeking shouldn’t be random. Instead, it must be intentional. Here are 3 stories every leader needs to know about employees.
Defining Memories
Unless something extremely significant happens, most of how we show up in the workplace is shaped by what we experienced growing up. As a child and young adult, we learned how to build relationships, respond to rejection, achieve success, deal with conflict, work as a team, and more.
One story you might share and seek would be the story about how you/they learned their work ethic.
Think about this…
My husband learned from his dad that showing up and working hard—even when it’s not convenient—will end up earning you experience, success, and respect for decades to come. From a leadership perspective, if an employee grew up learning a strong work ethic and realizing the benefits, it’s a safe assumption that they’ll show up with a strong work ethic throughout their time in the workforce, too.
On the other hand, I grew up with parents who did not work. I saw, felt, and lived the negative effects of that. I never want that for myself or my family. As a leader, if you have an employee that was dealt a tough hand and they overcame it, it’s likely they’ll continue that same positive trajectory going forward.
It could be that you are interviewing a potential candidate. If you ask them where/how they learned their work ethic and they have no response, this could potentially be a red flag or sign of challenges to come from a dependability or performance perspective.
A leader who understands an employee’s past can predict and prepare for how the employee will act in the future.
Today’s Heartbeat
Many organizations do exit interviews. Fewer organizations have implemented “stay interviews.” It’s important for leaders to know what keeps an employee showing up and giving their best so you can make sure you don’t stop doing what they’re liking…whether it’s the way you give feedback, the flexibility their position offers, etc.
A story you might share and seek would be the story about what a perfect day in their work-life would look like.
One employee may be quick to tell you that they would come in, keep their head down, do their job, not hear from anyone, and get to leave on time. Another employee might tell you that they’d want to be involved in many different projects, interacting with lots of different people, and wrap the day up with a one-on-one meeting with you to discuss progress. Ultimately, you may hear little nuggets from the employee about when, how, or what they need from you.
A leader who understands why their employees stay is more likely to never have to watch them leave.
American Dreams
Do you know where you and your employees want to be in one, five, ten years? If you haven’t had a personal conversation about this in the past year or two, now would be a great time.
To get them to tell you a story, ask them to tell you a story about what success will look like to them after ten more years.
Someone may surprise you and tell you that they picture themselves being an entrepreneur. As a leader, you need to know if someone is not in it for the long haul. Another employee may tell you that they want to be a leader in a different department in the organization. There’s your sign as their leader that you should start giving them opportunities to grow, as well as making time to develop their replacement when they get promoted.
When a leader understands the destination, they can make plans to take roads to get their team there faster, better, stronger.
The One Time Leaders Should Talk Before They Listen
If you’ve ever been in our comprehensive leadership development program, you know how critical it is for leaders to listen first. However, this may be the one time that I suggest that leaders should actually talk first.
People are more willing to share personal, insightful stories with people they trust. Before you jump straight into asking employees about their stories, start by sharing yours. When you intentionally open up to people about your life, they’ll feel you trust them more. In turn, they’ll be more likely to feel they can trust you, too.
Alyson Van Hooser is a leadership keynote speaker and trainer on millennials, Gen Z, and women in business. With the grit that only comes from tough experiences, Alyson has learned a thing or two about personal and professional success. From her management experience with Walmart, as an elected city council member, bank manager—all before the age of 30—Alyson has wisdom well beyond her years! Her book Level Up: Elevate Your Game & Crush Your Goals is now available from Sound Wisdom. Connect with Alyson on LinkedIn and Instagram. This article originally appeared here on the Van Hooser Associates Leadership Blog and has been edited for inclusion on the Sound Wisdom Blog.
Living the Values: The Key to Accountability in Trying Times by Sam Silverstein
As 2020 draws to a close, many leaders find themselves facing a challenge they are not used to addressing: team members who get sidetracked by intense disagreements about social and political matters having little or nothing to do with the team’s goals and objectives. What is the accountable leader’s response to this situation?
Photo by Priscilla Du Preez on Unsplash
As 2020 draws to a close, many leaders find themselves facing a challenge they are not used to addressing: team members who get sidetracked by intense disagreements about social and political matters having little or nothing to do with the team’s goals and objectives. What is the accountable leader’s response to this situation?
Social and political issues can cause serious divisions within the organization if leaders are not careful. Team members can start making assumptions about each other: “He probably supports XYZ policy—I know all I need to know about him.” That’s toxic.
That kind of bias and lack of respect has any number of equally toxic parallels: “She doesn’t come from the ‘right’ school—I know all I need to know about her.” Or: “He comes from a different department than I do—I know all I need to know about him.” When people take action on such beliefs, the actions are both unproductive and disrespectful.
How does a leader handle these kinds of divisions?
Here is my answer. In an accountable organization, people can disagree about a lot of things: politics, personnel moves, strategic decisions, the color the breakroom walls should be painted—you name it. But there are some things that everyone in the organization, without exception, has to agree on. We call these non-negotiable points of agreements Values because they are so valuable and so important to the organization and to each individual within it that, if one of them ever goes missing or is overlooked, we drop everything and figure out how to get it back.
Accountable leaders know that the values of the organization must always connect to the actions and decisions of each and every team member. They also know that Respect has to be one of those values. If team members are not willing to treat each other with respect—whether that is over a political disagreement, a disagreement about how to redecorate the breakroom, or anything in between—then the accountable leader has to call time-out and make sure the value of Respect is restored. If for some reason there is someone on staff who chooses not to live that value at work, regardless of how productive they are, that person has to be transitioned into finding some other opportunity elsewhere. It is as simple as that.
The values of the organization must always connect to the actions and decisions of each and every team member.
These are trying times, divisive times that we are now living through in the United States — perhaps as divisive as any in American history. It is understandable that some team members will feel strongly about certain issues, including political and social issues. That is not something that accountable leaders can change. What they can and must do, however, is uphold the organization’s real-time commitment to live its stated values daily, by both personal example and by making decisions that align with those values, even when they are difficult.
So, if you haven’t already done so, identify the organization’s core values, and make sure Respect is one of them. Then, defend those values whenever and wherever necessary. Finally, accept that anyone who can’t agree to those values—by making sure they are evident in every decision and every interaction—does not belong in your organization.
Sam Silverstein is dedicated to empowering people to live accountable lives, transform the way they do business, and create a more accountable world. He helps companies create an organizational culture that prioritizes and inspires accountability. His latest book, The Accountability Circle: Discovering Your True Purpose, Potential, and Impact with Accountability Partnerships, is now available from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Books-a-Million, Porchlight Books, and other fine retailers. You can follow Sam on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube. This article originally appeared here on The Accountability Blog.
Masters of Accountability by Sam Silverstein
Photo by Dylan Gillis on Unsplash
What is the first and most important commitment of accountable leaders? What do true Masters of Accountability always do?
I ask this question often, and I get a wide variety of responses. It surprises me how rarely people share the answer I am looking for: Accountable leaders are committed to developing their team members to their fullest potential.
That is their #1 priority. That is one of their “no matter what” commitments. That is what makes them Masters of Accountability: a commitment to developing their own people.
Leadership is always—repeat, always—about the people you lead. It is about developing your people to be the best they can possibly be. If you call yourself a leader but you are not all in with that commitment, you are in the wrong line of work.
There is a fascinating paradox at work here, however. We must start with ourselves. As accountable leaders, we cannot give what we do not have. That means we have to develop our own skills—so we can model and teach those skills to the team and the entire organization. We need to set meaningful development goals. We have to make a personal commitment to our own growth and development, not for our own self-aggrandizement, but as part of the larger organizational commitment to growth and development. That is what true Masters of Accountability do.
If we want to develop our people, then we have to develop the ability to understand what accountability is in our own world, and we have to make sure that we are living and leading with accountability consistently. That means figuring out where we are starting from and coming up with a personal growth plan. So, as leaders, we should have a personal growth plan for ourselves—and we should also be helping each of the people we lead to develop their own personal growth plan. Here are three simple steps that leaders who are Masters of Accountability take in support of these interrelated goals.
STEP ONE: Invest one minute in a Personal Accountability Assessment. You will find it here. This free assessment will give both you and your team members instant insights into those areas where your personal accountability is already strong, as well as those areas where there is room for improvement. This is the all-important first step in setting up the right personal growth plan: self-evaluation.
STEP TWO: Discuss what you have learned, and set a personal development goal. Clearly define where you want to be, based on the feedback you have received. Knowing where you are now, find out where you want to go next as a leader—and when you want to get there. Once you have done that for yourself, sit down with each of your people one on one and help them to set up a compelling vision of what is possible in their lives.
STEP THREE: Close the gap. Build a plan for getting from here to there, and start executing that plan. Your plan may take the form of a study group, or a book you choose to read, or an online course you choose to pursue, or any number of other opportunities for personal development. Choose one and build it into your weekly schedule. One powerful development option you and the members of your team may want to consider is the Pivot! course, which focuses on the three critical questions we all need to answer in order to become a more accountable leader, spouse, parent, family member, and friend.
Never forget: it is the commitment to develop yourself as a leader so you can develop your people that sets you apart as a Master of Accountability. That is what communicates to the team that you care about each of them as individuals and that you are loyal to them. That commitment to help them reach their full potential is what creates unshakable loyalty from them back to you. So be sure you follow the three steps I have just shared with you. Commit to your own growth and the growth of your team, no matter what!
Sam Silverstein is dedicated to empowering people to live accountable lives, transform the way they do business, and create a more accountable world. He helps companies create an organizational culture that prioritizes and inspires accountability. His newest book, The Accountability Circle: Discovering Your True Purpose, Potential, and Impact with Accountability Partnerships, is available from Sound Wisdom on November 9, 2020. Preorder it now from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Books-a-Million, or Porchlight Books. You can follow Sam on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube. This article originally appeared here on The Accountability Blog.
Accountability: It’s Personal by Sam Silverstein
One powerful lesson that accountable leaders can take from the last few extraordinary months is that personal commitments matter.
Photo by Words as Pictures from StockSnap
One powerful lesson that accountable leaders can take from the last few extraordinary months is that personal commitments matter.
That may seem like an obvious point. It is not. It requires constant reinforcement, especially within leadership circles. You would be surprised how many leaders I run into who imagine that their commitments do not need to be personal. They say things like “I am committed to quality” or “I am committed to making this company number one in its field.” Yet somehow they never grasp the importance of making personal commitments to actual human beings.
So let’s be clear. Without a personal commitment, there is no accountability. Teams and companies that struggle with sustaining good relationships also struggle with accountability. Without strong relationships, we cannot achieve anything of consequence, live up to our full potential, or make any kind of meaningful contribution as leaders or as human beings.
We are interconnected and interdependent, and our personal commitments matter. This principle holds true whether we are talking about a relationship that unfolds in our personal life or one that unfolds in our professional life. The kinds of commitments that support relationships are exactly the same in each realm.
Precisely the same rules apply whether you are the leader of a Fortune 1000 enterprise struggling to chart its path through an unprecedented economic downturn…or a member of a family struggling to stay sane and whole and safe in the midst of the global pandemic. The rules of the game are identical in both situations. They are extremely simple, and can be summarized as follows: accountable relationships require personal commitment in ten specific areas.
These ten RELATIONAL COMMITMENTS break down as follows:
I commit to discover and realize my own potential…so I can help others to reach theirs. We help other people get better and achieve more in their lives.
I commit to the truth. Lying and accountability cannot coexist.
I commit to live my values. Our core values state our principles and our standards of behavior. They are what we stand for. If we stand for nothing, we are wasting our lives. If we don’t know what our values are, we need to find out. Once we do know what our values are, we must honor them in our decision-making.
I commit to “It’s all of us.” When we commit to “It’s all of us,” we accept that we do not succeed unless the other person succeeds—and we accept that if the other person fails, we fail. This commitment starts with the people in our lives, and extends outward until it eventually encompasses the entire human family.
I commit to embrace faults and failures as well as opportunities and successes. We speak up about our own shortcomings, and we see discussing them as opportunities for growth. We do not judge others based on their worst moments. We are not perfect, and we do not expect others to be perfect.
I commit to sound financial principles. We come to this world empty-handed. We leave it empty-handed. In between, it is our job to maintain “our” resources responsibly—including, but not limited to, financial resources. We make giving a priority.
I commit to a safe space. We create and sustain an environment of physical, emotional, and psychological safety. What we allow in our space, we condone.
I commit to “My word is my bond.” What we say must align with what we do.
I commit to stand with you when all hell breaks loose. There will be tough times in life. We give people the support they need when they need it most, even if that is not convenient or easy.
I commit to a good reputation. Our actions matter—not just in terms of the outcomes they deliver today, but in terms of what people say about us, our family, our organization, and our team tomorrow.
There is no separate list of commitments for your professional life that is different from the list of commitments for your personal life.
These relational commitments are exactly the same.
If we expect to thrive in our families, in our organizations, or anywhere else, we must make each of these commitments on a personal level.
The people and organizations that will thrive during this time of challenge, the people and organizations that will come out of any crisis quickly and with the best prospects for success in the future, will be those that take on, and support, all ten of these relational commitments by means of actions—not words.
Accountability is based on accepting our interdependence, on understanding and fulfilling our personal, relational commitments to one another. If you want your family, your company, your society to be accountable, if you want to come out of hard times stronger than you went into it, I have good news for you: you really can make that happen by making, and following through on, these ten personal commitments.
Sam Silverstein is dedicated to empowering people to live accountable lives, transform the way they do business, and create a more accountable world. He helps companies create an organizational culture that prioritizes and inspires accountability. His latest book, I Am Accountable: Ten Choices That Create Deeper Meaning in Your Life, Your Organization, and Your World, is now available to buy from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Books-a-Million, and Porchlight Books. You can follow Sam on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube. This article originally appeared here on The Accountability Blog.
Are You “All in” on Your Life? by Jennifer Janechek
In her new book No Reserve: Take Ownership and Live YOUR Life without Limitations, celebrity “auctiontainer” Letitia Frye presents an extended metaphor comparing life to an auction. Many of us, she explains, establish conditions that are necessary for us to act on our dreams. Or in auctionspeak, we set a “reserve”—or a minimum bid—on our life. We wait to start living our legacies because we think we aren’t or don’t have enough: enough resources, enough connections, enough time, etc. As she writes, “Life is like an auction: you get your best returns if you don’t set a reserve on it. Anyone who wants to live a meaningful, fulfilling, invigorating life that makes an impression on the world must learn to live their life with no reserve.”
Stop setting a reserve on your life and start making progress toward your dreams.
Photo by Christina Morillo from StockSnap
This article originally appeared in Thrive Global.
In her new book No Reserve: Take Ownership and Live YOUR Life without Limitations, celebrity “auctiontainer” Letitia Frye presents an extended metaphor comparing life to an auction. Many of us, she explains, establish conditions that are necessary for us to act on our dreams. Or in auctionspeak, we set a “reserve”—or a minimum bid—on our life. We wait to start living our legacies because we think we aren’t or don’t have enough: enough resources, enough connections, enough time, etc. As she writes, “Life is like an auction: you get your best returns if you don’t set a reserve on it. Anyone who wants to live a meaningful, fulfilling, invigorating life that makes an impression on the world must learn to live their life with no reserve.”
What does it mean to live with “no reserve”? According to Frye, it means that we must go “all in” on our life and our dreams. It means that we have to take risks. It means that we have to give before we receive—without the expectation of a return—and that we have to build our network with an attempt to enrich our lives with multiple perspectives rather than align ourselves only with experts. In essence, it means that we have to discover for ourselves that we are our own greatest mentors and source of strength; we are, as Jason Hewlett’s The Promise to The One reminds us, The One whose Signature Moves can creative massive change—if we commit to sharing our gifts with the world.
Are you sitting in the back seat of your own life, missing valuable opportunities for growth and progress because you doubt your capabilities or fear the consequences of fully committing to your dreams? Below are three principles that will help you take the reserve off your life so that you can experience unlimited potential for success and enrichment:
Eliminate Project Noise
Sometimes we assume that our busyness is an indicator that we are working diligently to achieve our primary goal, but it can be quite the opposite: we might be undercutting ourselves by wasting time on activities that are not directly supporting our success. If we are “all in” on our lives, we have identified our definite chief aim and are ensuring that all our efforts are directed toward that one goal. To determine whether you are unknowingly holding yourself back in this way, write a list of all your responsibilities and activities—anything that requires your time, focus, or energy. Then arrange these responsibilities into three categories: (1) aligns with your primary goal; (2) might support your primary goal tangentially, whether through personal enrichment, financial provision, or another indirect connection; and (3) does not relate to or support your progress toward your primary goal in any way. Strike out all the commitments that fit into the third category. Scrutinize the activities in the second category, determining which ones are worth investing your attention into at the moment. The goal is to eliminate all “project noise”—time- and energy-draining activities that seem like opportunities on the surface but that ultimately keep you from making meaningful progress toward your goal because you’re expending your resources on activities that are peripheral to your chief aim.Put Passion Before Paycheck
According to Frye, “Waiting for someone else’s acknowledgment of your value is a set-up for failure. It prevents you from taking ownership of your life and gifts until you get that external validation.” That validation might be words of affirmation, or it might be the financial acknowledgment of the value that your expertise brings. Regardless of what form it takes, external validation should not dictate whether you pursue your dreams. Oftentimes a significant output of time and energy are required to see a financial return on your efforts, but there is no shortcut to success: you have to learn the ropes and invest time into your growth so that you can receive the maximum value for your contributions. That does not mean you can ignore financial responsibilities, but it does mean that you cannot wait to act on your dreams until the return is there.Become a Mentor
Rather than trying to find a mentor; become one. Build your network by reaching out to people who would benefit from the talents, skills, and gifts you have and determining how you can add value to their life. Through mentorship, you can magnify your impact while building a diverse network that will support your success journey by forcing you to take an active role in it. Stop pursuing the “experts” in your field and start pouring into others whose lives you can make an impression on. You will be amazed to discover what insights and gifts they can share, even if they are outside of your industry. Remember, you are the greatest mentor in your own life: if you’re “all in,” you can add value to others while expanding your own capabilities.
So many of us are missing crucial opportunities that could alter the course of our lives because we are consciously and unconsciously setting minimum requirements for our engagement—we have that reserve on our life that is limiting our reach. Stop waiting for your resources or the circumstances to be “enough” to merit your commitment; your dreams are worth the investment right now.
Currently celebrating over 16 years in the auction business and having raised over $500 million dollars for charity, Letitia Frye has truly earned her title as America’s foremost “auctiontainer.” Some of her biggest clients include St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, Alice Cooper’s Solid Rock, and the Make-A-Wish Foundation®, but she brings to every event, no matter the size, her expertise, contagious energy, and unique flair. After a devastating accident in which she was struck by a car while running, leading to a traumatic brain injury, combined with the sudden death of the father of her children, Letitia decided to broaden her span beyond auctions in order to help more people by becoming a motivational speaker. Her book No Reserve: Take Ownership and Live YOUR Life without Limitations is now available from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Books-a-Million, Google Play, and Apple Books. Follow Letitia on Instagram (@letitia_frye) and Twitter (@LFAuctiontainer).
Leaders Must S.E.E. Clearly by Alyson Van Hooser
With so much nationwide turmoil potentially affecting your team (personally and professionally), it’s likely that one or more of your people are experiencing heartache, despair, stress, etc. It’s incredibly important that you as a leader appropriately show love to your employees in the way of tender communication and finding ways to help that would lighten their load and heal their hearts. A great place to start is simply asking and listening to their stories. When you ask and listen, it shows them you care…and also helps you know exactly how to take action…just two of the many benefits of a leader who S.E.E.s clearly.
Photo by Christina Morillo for StockSnap
Everything rises and falls with leadership. Especially because of recent events, if you want yourself and your team to come out of this in a positive way, you have to S.E.E. clearly. If you’re wondering how to do that, I can help.
Below is an excerpt from one of the chapters in my new book, Level Up: Elevate Your Game & Crush Your Goals, which will help you successfully navigate the multiple issues facing our country—your people—right now. I teach often on the characteristics of the five different generations in the workforce and multiple informative motivational theories, but if you’ve ever been in one of my keynote presentations or leadership training sessions, then you’ve heard me express the criticality of understanding the personal stories that have shaped your people into who they are today.
As you dig into the psyche of people, you will find outliers who don’t conform to the generational and motivational information. The outliers do not make this information obsolete at all because most of the time, the basic principles apply. However, you have to be able to recognize the outliers. If you do not, YOU MIGHT NOT BE ABLE TO TRULY CONNECT WITH THEM.
[An example of an outlier might be a Gen X employee who is not an independent worker, where research suggests that the majority of Gen X adults are very independent workers. More discussion on “outliers” is featured in the book.]
Outliers will not fit the statistical norm. Why? Because something in their life has happened that shaped them into who they have become, which is different than the majority. Sociologist Morris Massey coined the term Significant Emotional Events (S.E.E.). A Significant Emotional Event is one that causes a person to question and even change their values. To create a more influential connection with people, you need to know the stories of the Significant Emotional Events in their lives—good and bad. There is information held within those stories that you will never be able to gather from science or statistics….
To truly know the people around you and understand what motivates them and what makes them tick, you have to build relationships with them. When you build a relationship established on trust, then the people around you will open up to you and allow you into their lives by sharing very real—sometimes good, sometimes tough—stories of what they have been through that have formed the why behind what they do.
With so much nationwide turmoil potentially affecting your team (personally and professionally), it’s likely that one or more of your people are experiencing heartache, despair, stress, etc. It’s incredibly important that you as a leader appropriately show love to your employees in the way of tender communication and finding ways to help that would lighten their load and heal their hearts. A great place to start is simply asking and listening to their stories. When you ask and listen, it shows them you care…and also helps you know exactly how to take action…just two of the many benefits of a leader who S.E.E.s clearly.
Alyson Van Hooser is a leadership keynote speaker and trainer on millennials, Gen Z, and women in business. With the grit that only comes from tough experiences, Alyson has learned a thing or two about personal and professional success. From her management experience with Walmart, as an elected city council member, bank manager—all before the age of 30—Alyson has wisdom well beyond her years! Her book Level Up: Elevate Your Game & Crush Your Goals is now available from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Books-a-Million, and other fine retailers. Connect with Alyson on LinkedIn and Instagram. This article originally appeared here on the Van Hooser Associates Leadership Blog and has been edited for inclusion on the Sound Wisdom Blog.
Happy Father Figure Day by Jason Hewlett
Courage. Bravery. You Can Do This. That’s the mark of a real leader who instills confidence beyond what we actually had, and we made it down the run unscathed.
Photo by Negative Space from StockSnap
We must have been 12 years old when our Boy Scout troop first went skiing with our new scoutmaster, Rick. He seemed cool, had a great manly beard, nice dark full head of hair, a friendly smile, lived in a big house, and wore perfectly fitted clothes to church.
Thinking we were all pretty hot stuff as preteens, growing up in Park City, UT, where they give you a week off of school during the winter called “Ski Week” just to perfect your skills on the famous snowy mountains, we went up to the top of one of the toughest runs at Park City Resort and looked down at the moguls before us.
We pretended to not be scared, but this run was extra crazy. If I recall, it was called Thaynes Canyon.
To a kid, the moguls were mountains unto themselves, and watching the best of the best try this run and eventually biff it into a yard sale as we laughed from above, riding up the lift, always reminded us to take a different route down.
As our scoutmaster, Rick, looked at us, he said, “Guys, you can do this.” He must have sensed our nervousness. And then he did what Legendary Leaders do: he said, “Watch this…see you at the bottom!” and went first.
Dropping into the gauntlet, bounding through the snow like a dolphin cutting waves, Rick was headed straight for the biggest jump on the run, smack dab in the middle, as we watched in horror screaming for him to turn.
I’ll never forget the feeling of sheer terror as our only adult leader launched into the air and began turning upside down, skis over his head…
It wasn’t long until he began twisting into a 360 upside down (a maneuver called a “helicopter”); and in perfect tight form, folded his arms across his body doing this other-worldly backflip; and then spread his arms back out in triumphant glory as he landed flawlessly and continued to the bottom of the run.
Our little troop of scouts stood at the top of the mountain, stunned at what we’d just witnessed. Who in the heck is our scoutmaster, and did he just really do that!?!
We were screaming in complete excitement, cheering and jumping, giving high-fives and clapping our poles, as one by one we braved the run and steep slope, following the Legendary Leader that was soon to be one of our greatest childhood heroes.
Courage. Bravery. You Can Do This. That’s the mark of a real leader who instills confidence beyond what we actually had, and we made it down the run unscathed.
Once at the bottom of the run, Rick high-fived us for making it down, gave us a big smile, and showed admiration for a few of us who tried to emulate his grace by trying a jump on a little mogul, as we went back to the ski lift with our leader.
We asked, “How did you do that jump?”
He said casually, “I was a ski jumper working on being in the Olympics when I was younger and had some decent success at it.” He left it at that and made the day about us, never him.
This was the first time I had seen another man, other than my own Father, as someone who would become a Father Figure in my life. There have been too many to count since. I have been so very blessed with leaders, friends, mentors, those who have inspired me and been the Father Figures that have kept The Promise of being what every man can be to a kid, whether their dad or not.
Truth is, I don’t remember if Rick actually did that helicopter and full back flip as it is still burned in my mind all these decades later, but that is what I choose to remember of The Legend that was this man.
These are the Legends who make up our lives—whether they are so blessed as to have a child and get to be called Father, Dad, or whether they are the ultimate scoutmaster, coach, teacher, mentor, neighbor, and friend.
Who are your Father Figures, and how will you celebrate them this day?
Perhaps you can reach out and say “Thank you,” or even just tell the stories that you recall to your family; it is important to keep the memories alive.
I am hoping to be creating the same memories for my little ones as we go skiing and have a fun time, just without my doing back flips and trading them for backbreaking slips as we inch down the slopes. Between the trips and travel, or just being home and fully present, this is how I keep The Promise to my family as life goes along.
I’m so grateful for my own Father, John Hewlett, and that he’s still with us, while so many friends my age have lost theirs.
I’m also so grateful for the Father Figures, such as Chris Poulos, Tony Ingle, Bob Staley, Ray Limberg, Mark Dietlein, Denny Crockett, Todd Winters, Hal Johnston, Floyd Weston, Johnny Stuart, Lou Heckler, Mark Scharenbroich, Mike O’Laughlin, Rick Sutherland, Greg Ezell, Presidente Bentim, my cousins, uncles, teachers, church leaders, mentors in the speaking business, and so many who have shaped my life.
To the men reading this blog post: To whom are you acting as a Father Figure? And if you can’t think of it, it’s time to keep The Promise and find a young person who is in need of your mentoring, as only you can offer, with your unique Signature Moves.
Happy Father Figure Day! Thank you to those in my life for being a Legendary Leader who kept The Promise to me and all those you play HERO to.
Jason Hewlett is a leadership expert, author, Hall of Fame speaker, and award-winning entertainer. His book The Promise to The One is available as an e-book from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Google Play, Apple Books, and other fine retailers. It will release in hardcover form in August 2020. This article originally appeared here on The Promise blog and has been edited for inclusion on the Sound Wisdom Blog. Subscribe for more inspiring content from Sound Wisdom.
Get Motivated to Lead While You #StayAtHome by Alyson Van Hooser
Where’s your head at right now with everything going on? Like so many people, have you defaulted to feeling overwhelmed, stressed, frustrated or demotivated?
I used the word defaulted because no one intentionally works to feel those negative feelings. They just happen; they’re most people’s default in difficult situations.
The fact of the matter is that you DON’T have to accept your default. Let me say it again for those of you who were just skimming up to this point—you don’t have to accept your default; you can flip the script!
Photo by LinkedIn Sales Navigator from StockSnap
Where’s your head at right now with everything going on? Like so many people, have you defaulted to feeling overwhelmed, stressed, frustrated or demotivated?
I used the word defaulted because no one intentionally works to feel those negative feelings. They just happen; they’re most people’s default in difficult situations.
The fact of the matter is that you DON’T have to accept your default. Let me say it again for those of you who were just skimming up to this point—you don’t have to accept your default; you can flip the script!
You don’t have to accept your default—you can flip the script!
Right now, this once-in-a-lifetime season of life is where most people will either crumble or remain static for the next several weeks or months. You aren’t called to be most people. Make no mistake, this is your opportunity to either hit home runs or let everything hit the fan. I want to help you get motivated to lead—both yourself and others—to come out from this situation better than you were before it even happened! Whether it’s business as somewhat usual for you, or if your world has been turned upside down, now is your time to shine!
Your Mindset, Your Choice
Because so many people are working from home and practicing social distancing, we are spending a lot more time looking at screens—computers, TVs, phones, etc. I saw a meme this week that made me smile. The meme said something to the extent of “Rapunzel was quarantined and she met her husband…so let’s think positive!” Although I’m not looking for a husband (I locked down one of those almost ten years ago, ha!), I am a big believer in the thought of purposefully focusing your mind on positivity. Being intentional in that way is incredibly powerful. When you own your power to choose a positive mindset, you create a breeding ground for growth and success!
Here’s what I know—most people are operating off their default mindset. When things get hard, most people default to overwhelm, stress, frustration, and mere survival. Maybe you’re there right now. If you are, I totally get it. This is a tough time for so many. But friend…I don’t want you to stay there!
Significance > Survival
Learning to control my mindset is the it-factor to crushing your goals. And what’s encouraging to me through all the struggles surrounding COVID-19 is that it’s been through the struggles in my life that I’ve grown immensely, gained the most value, and skyrocketed my momentum both personally and professionally.
Whether it was navigating poverty as a child or overcoming abandonment from my parents and then life-altering postpartum depression, etc., it is in the times where normalcy has been ripped out from under me that I had the life-changing choice to either spend my days struggling to survive or fighting to create significance.
Isn’t that what we are all experiencing right now with #COVID-19…a hard place where normalcy has been ripped out from under us?
So I ask you again—where’s your head at right now? Are you defaulting to struggling to survive or are you thriving by working from a place of creating significance?
Here’s the thing, when you operate in survival mode, it’s like you’re treading water. You can’t tread water forever! Eventually you tire out, give up, and go down.
When you shift your mindset from survival to operating from a place of creating significance during hard times, you increase the momentum in your life to emerge stronger, smarter, and better than you were before. You make the difficult times mean something positive!
Shifting your mindset is not a matter of how you feel, either. It’s a matter of how you take action. You may not feel like stepping up to the plate and making this a positive season in your life and for the people around you. Do it anyway!
Stand and Serve
In this season when so much feels uncertain, as if the ground is shaking, it’s time for you to choose to stand…stand and serve.
Most people are:
looking for ways to take care of themselves right now, not others
doing what they can to get by instead of doing what they can to create a better tomorrow
will come out of this season of life worse or no better off than they were before.
You don’t have to be most people! The steps you should take are steps that anyone could take, everyone should take, but very few will take. Whether you feel like it or not, if you choose to take action and step up during this time, it will all be worth it.
I’m a full-time author, speaker and trainer on leadership. I’m incredibly passionate about developing leaders because leaders have the potential to positively change the trajectory of people’s lives. Leadership is an incredible responsibility and honor! The world needs more great leaders and it simply starts with a person’s choice to say yes to leadership. I want to challenge you to stand up and say “yes” today.
Regardless of your position within an organization, you have influence with people around you. Up to this point, your influence may be good, bad, small, or large. If you choose to take action to SERVE the people around you, your influence will grow in a positive way and you’ll begin blazing a trail for yourself to becoming a great LEADER. It’s during the hard times like we’re experiencing right now that great leaders become easily recognizable. This is your opportunity to shine…to earn increased trust, respect, and loyalty from your people by serving them well. This is your time to crush your goals while helping others crush theirs.
Service Increases Motivation
I mentioned earlier that you may not feel like stepping up and leading right now. I believe to my core that those who want success, fight for it even when they don’t feel like it…even when it’s hard, even when they shouldn’t have to, even when someone else should step up. You need to act the way you want to feel right now. When you do that, eventually the results of your actions will fuel you into a more positively motivated state.
Think about this for a second…I want you to focus your mind on serving the people around you. Why? Because when you focus your mind on serving other people, suddenly there’s very little space in your mind or time in your day to be worrying about how you’re being negatively affected through hard times. Instead, serving others becomes the action that will steadily increase your motivation!
“Serving others becomes the action that will steadily increase your motivation!”
Because you have influence with the people around you—which means you are a leader– it’s your responsibility to lead yourself and your people well. The people you’re leading may be yourself, your co-workers, your employees, and even your boss. Regardless, it doesn’t matter who you’re leading, it matters what you do with this opportunity.
Ways You Can Serve Your People
Here are some practical actions you can start taking today to better lead yourself and your people. Anyone can take these actions, all leaders should take these actions, but only the best-of-the-best leaders will actually take these positive actions during this difficult time. I believe you are destined to be among the best-of-the-best, so let’s dig in!
Be the light for your people.
For many, this feels like a dark time. Be the light. Lead your people to the light. How do you do that?
First, you have to get your own mind right. You need to limit and purposefully choose what you hear, see, and say right now. Listen to music that has a positive message, only look at social media accounts that will bring positivity into your mind, find one news source you trust and only consume that one source once a day for a very limited time. Turn off and unfollow anything that doesn’t fit that description of what you should be hearing and seeing right now.
Once you’ve set those things in place for yourself, share the light with your people. Add appropriate joy and humor to your everyday interactions—e-mails, Zoom, face-to-face interactions if you’re still having those, etc.
Focus on becoming the light to your people. Give yourself and them a reason to smile and laugh. You’ll help yourself and others relieve stress…and while that is great for a person’s mental health, it is also great for a person’s professional performance (I won’t bore you with the science to back that up right now)!Dream for your people.
Many of your people are operating in survival mode where they cannot dream for themselves, but as a leader you can and you should!
So where do you start?
Think about your team’s goals prior to COVID-19, think about your team’s strengths both before COVID-19 and the ones that emerged amid COVID-19, and then be innovative! What new, more efficient and productive processes can you implement after this is over? What new strategies can you set in motion to escalate performance? The list can go on and on.
This is where you as a leader have the opportunity to shine. Think about the things other people aren’t taking the time to think about right now! Be the person that takes yourself, your people, and your company to places no one had even imagined before!Be steady for your people.
Your people cannot predict what the company, governor, or president is going to do or decide next. Proper communication is the antidote to the stress that uncertainty brings. As a leader, be the calm in this storm.
Schedule regular communication with your people. Communication time where you tell them what you know. Schedule enough time where you allow them to ask all of their questions and voice their concerns.
People are starving for great leadership right now. You can be the solution they need with steady communication.
This Is Your Time—Get Motivated!
As a leader, I’m believing that this is going to be the season of life where you step up in a big way and lead your people to feel and accomplish incredible things. All it takes is a choice from you…a choice to say “yes” to taking action to serve the people around you. When you do that, whether you’re in the office or working from home, you’ll reignite your motivation and take back control of your success! This is your time.
Alyson Van Hooser is a leadership keynote speaker and trainer on millennials, Gen Z, and women in business. With the grit that only comes from tough experiences, Alyson has learned a thing or two about personal and professional success. From her management experience with Walmart, as an elected city council member, bank manager—all before the age of 30—Alyson has wisdom well beyond her years! Preorder her book Level Up: Elevate Your Game & Crush Your Goals on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Books-a-Million, and other fine retailers. Connect with Alyson on LinkedIn and Instagram. This article originally appeared here on the Van Hooser Associates Leadership Blog.
A Tale of Two Employees by Jason Hewlett
“I hate going to work every day,” he quickly admitted after our call had just begun. “It’s like they know I’m needed to fill a spot, but I don’t feel needed in any other way. It’s like they don’t see what I could bring, my unique skill set and experience. I don’t know how much longer I can take this.”
Photo by Kristin Hardwick for StockSnap
“I hate going to work every day,” he quickly admitted after our call had just begun. “It’s like they know I’m needed to fill a spot, but I don’t feel needed in any other way. It’s like they don’t see what I could bring, my unique skill set and experience. I don’t know how much longer I can take this.”
That was quick, I thought, as I searched for what to ask next.
“What do you feel you could personally bring different to your job if the opportunity were offered you?” I asked.
“Actually, that’s the problem, I don’t even know at this point. I feel engaged, but it’s like I’m actively disengaged in doing nothing productive. That’s terrible, but it’s the truth,” he admitted.
I probed further, “Like what? What are you doing that’s disengaged from your work?”
He offered, “Well, for example, I take extra long to finish a project just to fill the time. I scroll on my phone and look at social media most of the day. I respond in short answers to emails and requests that I feel don’t fit my skill set. Anything I don’t want to do I make it painful for everyone to expect me to do. I let everyone know I’m not easy to work with, and I wear that on my sleeve.”
I confessed, “Thank you for admitting that. At least you are aware you’re doing these things. Would you be willing to change that behavior at some point?”
He replied, “Of course, if they’d just let me do what I do best.”
I asked, “Do you feel this is a practice unique to you on your team, or are others doing and feeling the same?”
I could hear him thinking over the phone.
“Yes, most of us on this team are like that, I’d say, because our manager doesn’t even know what we would be better at bringing to the table,” he finally admitted.
In essence, he was feeling guilt for a lack of integrity in work time spent, knowing full well he could have been doing more, but was merely putting in the time to keep a job. Active disengagement due to a lack of leadership from a manager who didn’t see him as a person but rather as a means to an end.
Lacking purpose, this 40-something-year-old had become one of the 87 percent Gallup finds are actively disengaged at work, costing the US economy trillions annually. Conversely, Harvard Business Review shows that performance is increased by 33 percent in employees who are actively utilizing their skill set and purpose in the onboarding process, resulting in billions of dollars gained when leaders can keep a new employee actively engaged from the moment of hiring.
What is The Promise of The Leader in this instance?
Admit an incongruence in engagement, and then help the disgruntled employee rediscover their purpose, share their unique strengths, and add life to a waning team.
Employee Example #1
Employee 1 was recommend to go through the revolutionary ICM (IDENTIFY • CLARIFY • MAGNIFY) Process along with his manager, and now they are in a mentoring relationship that offers both great purpose and satisfaction, resulting in a renewed lifeblood for the team and entire company, which in turn will benefit everyone in the long run. Projects finished quicker, creativity encouraged, accountability ensured. Happiness at work at an all-time high. This is The Promise of Leadership and Engagement.
Employee Example #2
Sitting next to her I could feel the positive energy and encouraging power she exuded over her influence in the workplace. As she spoke about her intentions and excitement for every day, I was also more focused to do my job well as a consultant. Being hired to come in and determine the challenges in the company, I was referred to her as the example of what can happen when one person discovers their Leadership Promise. How refreshing to see what was possible when an employee knew her reason for being an important part of making the engine go.
“How did you get to this place of being so satisfied with your work? You seem to be in a space of complete dedication to your work and excited for it every day,” I asked in all sincerity.
“Oh that’s easy,” she said. “I noticed my co-workers were struggling to find meaning in our projects, completing tasks in a timely manner for end users, and were losing morale. So I took them through the ICM Process over the course of an entire quarter.”
“And what did you find?” I wondered aloud.
“It’s incredible what happens to the engagement of employees when they know their purpose and not only know what they should be doing, but are encouraged to do what they’ve identified as what they are best at contributing,” she stated matter of factly.
“Can you show me how you took them through this?” I questioned, almost desperately.
“Sure, it’s simple. The ICM Process is:
IDENTIFY, or discover, your Strengths, Talents, Gifts, and Skills
CLARIFY, or Refine, with your co-workers (we prefer to call them The Family at Work)
MAGNIFY your Promise
…once all of this is complete, we discuss it as a Family at Work (our Team) and make sure everyone is utilizing their Signature Moves every day in every interaction. It’s our Promise Proclamation!” she exclaimed.
I sat there stunned. How simple of a concept, and yet how profound.
Giving time to all employees to discover and IDENTIFY their talents, gifts, strengths, and skills…
Confirming and refining those through a CLARIFY exercise with co-workers…
MAGNIFYING the words they identify and clarify as their own, which becomes their Signature Moves they are uniquely known for, becoming the effective Leaders they were born to be.
“How did you come up with this ICM Process?” I asked, “Did you hear it somewhere or read it in a book?”
She admitted, “I saw a speaker share it at a conference I attended a while back. He promised it would change our lives if we tried it out for ourselves. It worked so profoundly in my life that I decided to bring it to work. We are now in the top 3 percent of our company in sales, attendance, performance, and the most committed to each other of any team I’ve seen. Before we were in the bottom 25 percent. This ICM Process works!”
“Where can I learn more about this and is there a workbook for it?” I asked.
She looked around her desk, and then said, “Oh, here, it’s in this book. It’s not even released yet, but they gave us a copy at our event. Chapter 2 is the ICM Process. I recommend everyone try it and figure out their Promise.”
“Where can I buy this book?“ I inquired.
“The Speaker said it’s not available yet, but will be soon. Seriously though, it’s such a simple concept, the ICM Process, most people don’t even try it out. After seeing the profound effect it had on our team, I took it home and my family went through it. It changed the lives of my children and spouse as well. You should do it,” she said.
“I will,” I proclaimed.
“Do you Promise?” she asked.
E-book Set for Release on May 13, 2020
Jason Hewlett is a leadership expert, author, Hall of Fame speaker, and award-winning entertainer. His book The Promise to The One is available as an e-book on May 13, 2020, from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Google Play, Apple Books, and other fine retailers. It will release in hardcover form in August 2020. This article originally appeared here on The Promise blog and has been edited for inclusion on the Sound Wisdom Blog.