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.
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.
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.
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.
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?
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.
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.”
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.
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.
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?”
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.
“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.
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?
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.
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.”
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.
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.
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!
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.”