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#Leadership : 6 Keys to Employee Engagement During Times of Distraction…Gallup concluded that 71% of all Employees are either “Not engaged” or “Actively Disengaged.” In Simple Terms, Most Workers are Producing Far Less than They were Capable of Producing.

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The problem of disengagement can become even more pronounced during the summer months or any time there is an economic slowdown. Employee attention tends to wander off to those “those lazy, hazy, crazy days of summer” rather than their work responsibilities

free- women at meeting

So what can you do to keep your employees engaged, their morale high and performance at its peak during times of distraction?

1. Recognize disengagement.
You can’t fix it if you don’t even know it exists. Fortunately, it’s visible. You see it in their eyes.

As Eric Allenbaugh writes in HR Magazine, there are two eye patterns that indicate disengagement.

There are the glazed eyes. As one 42-year-old manager said, “It stopped being fun here 16 years ago.” His glazed eyes and numb spirit said it all.

There are the beady eyes. A bright, yet disenchanted three-year employee said, “This place sucks, and I can hardly wait to get out of here.” Her beady eyes communicated a strong message of discontent.

I would add a third: distracted eyes. By simply looking at someone, you can tell if they’re mentally present or somewhere else. This is especially common during the summer or when business is slow.

 

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2. Consider the high cost of disengagement.
When a company pays an employee $30 an hour (or any amount of money) to perform a task, that company is entitled to $30 of productivity each hour in return. If the employees give anything less, they are — in effect — stealing from the company.

You can’t allow that to happen. It’s too expensive. It destroys the employees’ self-esteem, because no one can feel good about him or herself doing just enough to get by.

3. Make sure you are not a part of the problem.
I often ask my audience members how many of them ever came across a job candidate who didn’t want to be there, who disliked the company, its products and its customers and then thought to themselves, “That’s just the kind of employee I want” and went ahead and hired that individual. No one raises their hands.

So I ask them, “If no one ever hired a person like that, then why do companies have so many of them?” It’s because something happened to those employees during the course of their employment that turned them off.

According to Terri Kabachnick, in her book I Quit, But Forgot to Tell You, some of the most common causes of disengagement are a lack of information, lack of job purpose and lack of respect. To re-engage your people or prevent disengagement during your slowdown periods in the business, you must …

Related: The 12 Steps to Happiness That You Create (Infographic)

4. Keep them fully informed.
In one Chamber of Commerce study, 50,000 employees from all types of industries were asked to rank the 10 factors that had the biggest impact on their morale and motivation. Not surprisingly, the employees listed “being in on things” or “being fully informed” as the second strongest morale-building, motivating factor in the workplace.

After studying the communication patterns in dozens of organizations, Tamotsu Shibutani concluded, “You had better keep your people informed, or they’ll make it up, and it won’t be flattering.”

If you want an engaged workforce, you’ve got to communicate, communicate and then communicate some more.

5. Instill a sense of job purpose.
It’s almost impossible for employees to spend five, 10 or 20 years on a job and feel good about themselves if they think their jobs are a colossal waste of time. Employees need to know more than what a job entails, and employees need to know more than how to do a job. They also need to know why they’re doing a job.

A part of leadership is making sure that your people come in every day feeling like they are working on the most important thing. This is especially important when your people may be thinking more about some outdoor summer activities than their jobs.

To build an “engaged” culture where you engage the disengaged, you’ve got to tell people that their work matters. You’ve got to show people that their jobs have a purpose that only they can fulfill.

6. Show respect.
You may think this strategy only applies to the younger generations in the workplace. After all, we keep hearing about how needy the younger generations are — asking for more recognition, more challenges, more autonomy, more communication and more rewards. But a baby boomer in his 60s put it this way in one of my workshops: “We want the same things. We just felt we couldn’t ask.”

When your younger workers badger you for more respect and recognition, just remember all your employees crave the same thing. Their communication methods may differ, but their needs don’t. Employees want to be regarded first and foremost as people who are respected.

That’s why most of an employee’s productivity is directly attributable to his or her manager. If an employee feels like he or she is nothing more than a number filling a time slot for a manager, the employee is not going to be fully engaged.

To show your respect, treat each employee as an individual. Get to know each person’s strengths and weaknesses and likes and dislikes. Call each person by his or her name.

Certainly, good weather, summertime activities and an economic slowdown can distract your employees. It may even contribute to their lack of engagement. But with these six tips, you can keep your people fully engaged, for their own good as well as the company’s.

Entrepreneur.com | August 31, 2015 | Alan Zimmerman

 

#Leadership : How to Create a Cohesive Company Culture…Most Importantly, you Need to Live & Die by these Values if you Expect Them to be More Than just Lip Service & Words on a Wall.

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I’ve spent the past decade building a company that is now the largest patient-physician platform in the U.S., and I believe one of the reasons why it was so successful was because of the company culture we put in place from the day the company was founded. This is the same reason I laid out company culture first when founding my most recent company, iBeat.

Free- Stones stacked on each other

When starting a company, you have the opportunity to set it apart by building a winning and cohesive culture. Culture is crucial, and it can make or break a company. In my many years of growing startups, I’ve learned that building a cohesive culture ultimately rests on two major foundations — a company’s mission and its core values.

First and foremost, a company must have a compelling and inspirational mission. Before you even start your company, you should think long and hard about why you’re doing it. If it’s only to make money, I recommend you go back to the drawing board. Your mission should cover both how you are of service to others, as well as what is so compelling and unique about what the team is doing that would make you want to still be doing it ten years from now.

Stating the mission.
When crafting your mission statement, aim to be energizing, aspirational, and memorable. Don’t get bogged down with fluff and buzz words that are vague and meaningless. Get to the point. If your employees can’t relate to it, then your mission statement won’t mean much to your customers either. Also, make it concise. If you can’t say it in a sentence or two, you haven’t nailed it.

At iBeat, our mission statement is, “Empowering people with the freedom to be fearless, explore, and live longer lives.” Notice it’s not about us. It’s about how we aim to do something greater — empower people.

An exceptional mission statement captures your brand and persona. It helps you stand apart from competitors and simplifies your strategic direction, but some mission statements — the truly great ones — surprise, inspire and transform. They provide purpose. They guide and help unify organizations, and they go hand-in-hand with company culture. Take the time and do this right, and it will pay dividends over the duration.

Be sure to ingrain this mission into your team from day one. At Practice Fusion, learning the mission was not only part of new hire training, but one Friday a month, we gather all new team members and test them on our mission in front of the entire company — they’re usually prepared!

 

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Identifying core values.
Next, an exceptional company culture rests on a strong set of core values. A company’s core values are the attributes you want instilled in your team, as well as rules and guidelines covering everything from how the team treats and interacts with one another to how customers are treated. If implemented correctly, you should be able to hire and fire based on these values.

Core values form a solid bedrock for any organization and really matter to the individuals. Think about your company personality and how it will play into your core values. Are you innovative and witty or quirky and creative? Do you foster a work hard, play hard mentality? If so, create that balance of work and play. Are you a true collaborator? Then advance that behavior in your company and promote the people who get it.

iBeat has six simple and straightforward core values. They are:

We execute without excuses.
We are radically honest.
We put community first.
We are pros.
We are operationally ruthless.
We work to live, not live to work.
These values help us immensely when hiring but also help keep us grounded. We aim to hire intellectual athletes who want more than just a job and a salary. We hire individuals who were excited to be part of new technology that is helping empower people to live longer, fuller lives.

Delivering the message.
Once values are defined, they have to be explained and socialized. I suggest starting with a company-wide, all-hands meeting devoted to rolling out and discussing the values.

Also, bear in mind, values also need to be constantly reinforced. We do this in multiple ways.

For example, one of the first things you see when you arrive in our office is a large wall with the company mission and values emblazoned on it. We also start every new employee training with the values, and we make sure they are aware and aligned with our vision, mission, strategy and values. Additionally, we recognize employees every month for their exemplification of the values. As you scale, you can implement tools like Bonusly and gamify recognition based on these core values.

Taking the time to define a strong company mission and core values breathes life into your employees. It’s the first step in assuring your company culture thrives and survives for the duration. If done correctly, it will be the reason people join your company, and if done incorrectly, it will definitely be the reason most people leave.

Lastly, and most importantly, you need to live and die by these values if you expect them to be more than just lip service and words on a wall. If ‘integrity with no compromise’ is one of your core values, but you knowingly allow people to stay on your team that lie, cheat, or steal, then no one will take your values seriously, and the organization will be compromised.

In contrast, if you see behavior that violates your core values, and you immediately act to remove that person from your team, the rest of the team will respect that decision, as you are acting to ensure the company value system is held high.

We’re searching for top company cultures to be featured on our annual list. Think your company has what it takes? Apply Now »

 

Entrepreneur.com | July 18, 2016 | Ryan Howard

#Leadership : Follow the 70-20-10 Model to Train Your Employees … Only 32% of Employees in the U.S. are Engaged, Involved in, Enthusiastic about & Committed to their Work & Workplace, according to Recent Surveys by Gallup. That means More than Two-Thirds of Employees are Not Engaged.

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Today’s rapidly evolving workplace requires employees to constantly upgrade their skills. They must be equipped to find knowledge quickly, be proficient with technology and be able to interact and collaborate using a variety of communication tools.

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The new reality of training is the 70-20-10 model, in which learners get 70 percent of their knowledge from job-related experiences, 20 percent from interactions with others and 10 percent from formal educational events.

Forward-thinking training initiatives can help employees be successful in a rapidly evolving environment. Yet many companies continue to use old-school training methods that have failed to keep pace with major trends affecting the workplace.

A survey by Boston Consulting Group found that companies spend tens of billions of dollars globally each year to train employees, but the money often is wasted because “the training is not geared to drive business results.” It also discovered that business leadership training and talent development often overlook frontline leaders, who create value for customers and that the training employees do receive often doesn’t have a meaningful impact on business results.

According to “The Impact of Employee Engagement on Performance,” a 2013 report by Harvard Business Review Analytical Services, having a highly engaged workforce “not only maximizes a company’s investment in human capital and improves productivity, but it can also significantly reduce costs, such as turnover, that directly impact the bottom line.”

 

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Yet only about 32 percent of employees in the U.S. are engaged, involved in, enthusiastic about and committed to their work and workplace, according to recent surveys by Gallup. That means more than two-thirds of employees are not engaged.

Meanwhile, Millennials and Gen Xers are a growing majority of the workforce. Millennials last year surpassed Gen X as the largest cohort of the U.S. labor force.

These trends are driving many companies to take a hard look at costly, ineffective and time-consuming traditional training – the kind involving daylong workshops and “death by Powerpoint” presentations. Today’s employees want opportunities for on-demand, on-the-job training and feedback.

Progressive companies are opting for a more immersive, interactive and ongoing training approach that typically involves technology. Toward this purpose, many are utilizing microlearning – delivering training content in a bite-sized, on-demand format.

Microlearning can include anything from simple methods, such as directing employees to research topics online and reporting what they discover, to customized digital libraries that offer leaders and employees on-demand access to a constantly evolving set of topics.

Companies that utilize microlearning effectively focus on providing rich content in a variety of formats so learners can focus on the right knowledge and skills in multiple ways. Here are some tips for building more agile, effective and efficient training.

Offer flexible options.
Learners are no longer tied to their laptop or PC. They use Twitter, YouTube, Pinterest and other social media networks to get information. Give them specific skill-building content they can use in a moment of need via social media or other online tools.

Provide both short and long learning opportunities.
These can range from a 30-second video available on their phones, focusing on a specific job challenge, to in-depth e-learning courses and one-on-one coaching.

Make it practical and interactive.
Effective training shows employees the connection between what they are being asked to do and why. It should connect them with the specific skills and information they need to do their jobs, and give them opportunities to learn, practice and get feedback.

Make it social, and fun.
Including a social element that involves community sharing and learning, and perhaps gaming elements, will intrigue learners to return frequently.

The new reality of training is the 70-20-10 model, in which learners get 70 percent of their knowledge from job-related experiences, 20 percent from interactions with others and 10 percent from formal educational events.

I expect interactive, on-demand, on-the-job learning solutions will remain critical to helping companies remain agile and adapt to rapidly changing business environments, though the form of these solutions will undoubtedly continue to evolve. Be open to experimenting with new modalities to ensure learners get what they need.

 

Entrepreneur.com | July 5, 2016 | Amy Fox

#Leadership : Are You Hurting Your Career With Corporate Jargon?…When we have to Dedicate Time & Energy towards Figuring out What someone is actually Talking About, we(your Team) is Inherently taking Away Time & Energy we Could be Putting Towards our Work.

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Mindshare? Sticky wicket? Straw man? Power alley? Can you improve your credibility and achieve better results simply by eliminating corporate jargon from your vocabulary?

Elegant business partners holding blank papers on green background

James Sudakow had declared war on the use of stupid corporate lingo. In his new book, Picking the Low Hanging Fruit…and Other Stupid Stuff We Say in the Corporate World, Sudakow not only advocates for speaking in plain English for his own sanity but articulates compelling reasons why doing so can have positive impacts on the work you do, the relationships you form, and even counterintuitively can help you be perceived as more credible.

Having held leadership roles in multi-billion dollar global technology companies and now serving as the Principal of CH Consulting–a boutique organizational transformation and talent management consulting practice–James is no stranger to the perils of swimming through murky jargon and the unintended consequences of its overuse.

If you are a leader of people, ask your teams for help monitoring your corporate jargon violations. It will likely be met with enthusiasm and move you one step further on the path of relatability. Corporate jargon bingo, anyone?

Picking the Low Hanging Fruit is a humorous glossary where we find strange but surprisingly common business expressions from burning platforms and paradigm shifts, to tissue rejection and open kimonos. Sudakow defines these terms and takes a witty jab at the corporate culture by calling out exactly what these terms do not mean, and also sites real examples from his own experiences that show the consequences of overusing these expressions.

People might not understand as much of what you are saying as you think

Most of us move so quickly in the corporate world that we might not recognize that the number of employees who are scratching their heads and simply don’t understand these expressions is larger than we think. As a young consultant working for a Big 4 global consulting firm, Sudakow would find himself sitting quietly in a state of confusion but hesitant to mention that he was lost.

“We all figure it out sooner or later. But why put ourselves through that?” Sudakow states. “Figuring out how to do the work amidst corporate politics and culture is hard enough without throwing a language barrier into the gauntlet.”

When we have to dedicate time and energy towards figuring out what someone is actually talking about, we are inherently taking away time and energy we could be putting towards our work.

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Relatability and Credibility–Corporate jargon doesn’t help

It doesn’t stop with simply not being understood. Credibility is at stake. In some ways, the credibility of the person using the terms can be damaged because his or her language feels inauthentic and doesn’t connect or resonate with people—even if the speaker actually has something very valuable to say.

Why is this so important? More and more have been written recently about the importance for leaders, in particular, to be relatable to their people–this relatability serving as a way to build common ground with the very teams they are asking a lot of. Many factors contribute to how successfully anyone can be in their goal of becoming a relatable leader or colleague, but overusing corporate jargon doesn’t establish anyone as “the common person.” It’s much more powerful to speak in plain English.

So what can we do about it?

Think about what you might say if you were talking to friends outside of work where corporate jargon simply wouldn’t fit. When preparing for formal presentations to groups, think about where you might slip into a corporate jargon violation and think about how you might replace it with a normal word.

 If you are a leader of people, ask your teams for help monitoring your corporate jargon violations. It will likely be met with enthusiasm and move you one step further on the path of relatability. Corporate jargon bingo, anyone? At the very least, be a good corporate citizen and help someone who might be a corporate jargon abuser by simply pulling him or her aside and constructively mentioning that the message might have resonated better in plain English.

For many of us, using corporate jargon has simply become a habit resulting from being immersed in the corporate world. In Picking the Low Hanging Fruit…and Other Stupid Stuff We Say in the Corporate World, Sudakow helps us understand in a fun and lighthearted way that the words we choose are important and that we can all make ourselves better understood by staying away from jargon.

Forbes.com | June 17, 2016 |  Kevin Kruse

#Leadership : Employee Retention- When Achieving True Success Means Letting Go… It Seems Counterintuitive to Give your Employees Every Opportunity to Leave. But by Helping your Team stay Engaged in their Role, Aligned in their Personal & Professional Goals, & allowing Them to Leave if it Isn’t a Good Fit, you’ll Ensure that Those who Choose to Stay Will be Committed to Doing their Best Work for You, for a Long Time to Come.

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The war for talent. The age-old battle waged by HR teams across the country, each vying to secure and retain the best people to help them achieve organizational success. The eternal effort to create systems, process, and benefits to help keep them once you’ve recruited them.

Free- Blowing a DandiLion

At the epicenter of the war for talent resides the tech industry, where many talented engineers and other highly-skilled workers have no problem jumping to another employer for a minor bump in pay or benefits. The result? Companies are forever trying to outshine each other with baubles, beer kegs and nap pods to try to entice this demographic to join them.

What this approach fails to do is inspire loyalty. Despite all the money that these companies pour into perks, at the end of the day, it’s just job hopping.

A Better Way to Retain Talent

What if, rather than doing everything possible to keep people no matter what, you took an alternative approach? That’s exactly what Rami Essaid, co-founder and CEO of Distil Networks, has done.

“It’s almost a fool’s errand to try to hold onto people,” Essaid suggests. “Why work to retain people when the only solution becomes offering more outrageous benefits? It’s an unsustainable cycle where people end up leaving anyway. Why not rethink the way work is designed where we acknowledge people are going to move around over the course of their careers?”

And Essaid has some first-hand experience with this phenomenon. His Silicon Valley-based cybersecurity firm helps customers identify and block malicious website traffic while letting legitimate users do what they need to do. Distil is able to find the “bots” that attack websites and police them before they can do damage to your brand.

The success of the company over the last five years has resulted in the rapid expansion of his team, now 150 strong. Here are some of Rami’s secrets to success:

 Be intentional about the culture you are creating from the start.Rami started Distil Networks with a small group of longtime friends and many of their initial hires included additional friends from their social circles. “This had the potential to create a dynamic of ‘haves’ and ‘have-nots’ based on whether or not you were a personal friend or not, so we made a very intentional choice that we were going to build a company where everyone was treated with a kinship and in a transparent and honest way,” Essaid explained.

The founders of Distil took care to create a fundamental way of working together that was deeply rooted in the values that they shared as a result of this friendship. And by extending those values out to the team as they grew, they were able to keep the same feeling and way of operating over the years.

Really commit to providing developmental opportunities. “We are constantly investing in our employees.” Essaid described how Distil Networks takes great care in providing robust and comprehensive development to its employees. Be it executive coaching support, job rotations to different functional areas, or training and development, this approach aligns with Essaid’s belief that the company can play a role in helping people achieve their own personal definition of success.

Helping people to grow professionally and personally plays a significant role in ensuring that Distil is the right place for them at that time in their journey. And, if it turns out that a great opportunity presents itself outside of Distil, trying to hold people back is not in anyone’s best interest.

 

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Structure career progression to include lateral mobility.Organizations that only afford career progression through promotion to levels of management dramatically limits opportunities. By finding ways to move people across the organization, Distil Networks has found another way to help provide people with the maximum opportunity for development.

Help people spread their wings and prosper, even if that means leaving your company. This is based on a few of the fundamental beliefs and assumptions that the leaders at Distil Networks hold to be true about the world of business. If people leave to pursue opportunities that present massive growth and development potential, keeping them would only hinder them. By letting them go forth and prosper, the company helps them succeed while also ensuring that the remaining workforce is in their place of most potential, doing their best work. If this is the case, Distil will become a much more attractive place to work—for the right people at the right time.

Essaid believes that helping people figure out their path and providing plenty of opportunities to achieve their vision of success is a much more productive, positive and effective cycle than trying to keep people who are not in their “zone” employed for as long as possible until they wind up leaving anyway.

Distil’s method doesn’t come without its challenges. Essaid is the first to admit that it can sometimes be difficult to get people to really think about, or articulate, where they want to go in life and in their careers. But this is not unique to Distil by any stretch.

It is incumbent upon leaders to both develop their own coaching skills and understand and acknowledge that some employees may have given little to no critical thought to their more long-term career goals. In these situations, engaging in frequent developmental coaching discussions can help guide employees in their progress so that they can be more intentional about setting and achieving their goals.

You can’t keep everyone around forever. As Richard Bach famously said, “If you love someone, set them free. If they come back they’re yours; if they don’t they never were.” It seems counterintuitive to give your employees every opportunity to leave. But by helping your team stay engaged in their role, aligned in their personal and professional goals, and allowing them to leave if it isn’t a good fit, you’ll ensure that those who choose to stay will be committed to doing their best work for you, for a long time to come.

Chris Cancialosi, Ph.D., is a Partner and Founder at gothamCulture.

Forbes.com | May 31, 2016 | Chris Cancialosi

 

#Strategy : The 5 Best Ways to Say ‘No’ to Your Co-workers…If you’re Constantly Shifting your Schedule to Accommodate a New Project, or you’re Picking up the Slack for another Co-Worker on a Frequent Basis, your Own Work will Suffer.

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You have to say ‘yes’ to a lot of things throughout your day. You answer emails and questions, get roped into mandatory meetings, and need to pick up projects at the last minute in order to meet company deadlines. In some cases, you won’t have a choice about those new tasks that get added to your already-full plate. And in almost every situation, it feels easier to say yes and pick up another assignment rather than risk upsetting a colleague, boss, or people who depend on you. But saying yes too often — or every time — has negative effects, too.

front and back woman hands showing thumbs up and down (isolated on white background)

If you’re constantly shifting your schedule to accommodate a new project, or you’re picking up the slack for another co-worker on a frequent basis, your own work will suffer. You might think that it’s showing you can be a team player, or that it’s just a one-time occurrence that won’t happen again. But habits are rooted in repeated events, and you can be sure that if you’re in the habit of saying yes too much, that eventually you’ll wonder where all your time went.

When you say no once, you’re more likely to say yes to the next request — especially if it’s from that same person. Be careful not to fall into that trap if the second question also doesn’t line up with your goals. “They feel so guilty about saying ‘no,’ they feel they need to salvage the relationship,” Vanessa Bohns, assistant professor of management sciences at the University of Waterloo in Ontario, Canada told the Wall Street Journal.

If you want to prevent this, or if you’re already at that point and need to get out of the cycle, there are effective ways to say ‘no’ without damaging your workplace relationships, while also establishing clear boundaries for yourself. In some cases, those boundaries are good to let others know where you stand, but more often than not they’re the most beneficial to helping you see where your priorities lie. It makes you more productive and ensures that when you do say yes to a new project, you won’t be burnt out and will be able to give it your full attention. Here’s a list of five tips you can use as a starting point, and adapt for the situations where you need to turn down a request.

1. Frame every task through your overall goals

Before you can even assess individual requests, you need to know what your overall goals are. In the case of the workplace, figure out what your long-term vision is while you have your position. Is your goal to get promoted quickly? Do you want to complete a certain project that’s going to take most of your concentration for the next month? If your goal is to get promoted, you might take on a few extra projects, even if they are more taxing, in order to make a good impression with those above you. But if you’ve set your sights on that one particular project, you might be less inclined to break your concentration, and leave the ‘yes’ work to when it’s complete.

“A ‘goal first’ approach is about defining your vision. Because if you do not have a vision, it will be difficult to understand what major requests are aligned with your goals and your direction and need your attention longer term,” writes Brian de Haff, CEO of software company Aha!, in a post on LinkedIn.

It also allows you to make better informed decisions about what times throughout your day you need to reserve for reaching those goals. Jocelyn K. Glei, the editor in chief and director of 99U, calls this “focus blocking.” To reach goals for that day, week, or month, you proactively block out chunks of time (Glei suggests 90 to 180 minutes each, so you have enough time to settle and focus on those tasks). That keeps other people, and yourself, from interrupting that time for less-important causes.

 

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2. Show you’ve listened to the request

You might decide within the first few seconds of a co-worker approaching that you don’t have time to help them with whatever they’re about to ask. That’s perfectly fine, and probably healthy for you to recognize. But if you want to maintain a positive work environment, respecting your colleague is more important than honoring the question itself. In other words, hear them out.

“If someone asks you to do something or for something, you should assume that it is important to them for one reason or another. They likely would not ask you otherwise. It’s your responsibility to get to the heart of the request and why it matters,” de Haaff writes.

If you listen intently, de Haff explains, you’ll be able to fully absorb the question and make sure you’re understanding what the other person is asking. That way, you can stand by any decision you might make to say no. The added benefit to not cutting someone off mid-question is that you’re showing you respect the person enough to at least consider what they’re requesting.

3. Don’t drag your feet to answer

You might decide within the first few seconds of a co-worker approaching that you don’t have time to help them with whatever they’re about to ask. That’s perfectly fine, and probably healthy for you to recognize. But if you want to maintain a positive work environment, respecting your colleague is more important than honoring the question itself. In other words, hear them out.

“If someone asks you to do something or for something, you should assume that it is important to them for one reason or another. They likely would not ask you otherwise. It’s your responsibility to get to the heart of the request and why it matters,” de Haaff writes.

If you listen intently, de Haff explains, you’ll be able to fully absorb the question and make sure you’re understanding what the other person is asking. That way, you can stand by any decision you might make to say no. The added benefit to not cutting someone off mid-question is that you’re showing you respect the person enough to at least consider what they’re requesting.

3. Don’t drag your feet to answer

Actually saying no — answering the “what” — can be the most difficult part. But answering the “why” sets up a transparency that makes it easier for others to understand your motivations for rejecting what they’ve asked you to help with. This is more than just being nice, as it allows the other person to understand your reasoning and perhaps even affect what they ask you for in the future.

“The benefit to you is that if you share your assumptions and motivations and they are wrong — the other person will have a chance to help you see a better way. If you simply provide your answer and when pushed respond with ‘My mind’s made up’, you will avoid ever having to change your course, but you’re limiting your opportunity for growth,” de Haaff writes on LinkedIn.

While you’re explaining why you’ve said no, however, don’t fall into the trap of offering to help with that same issue another time, unless you actually mean it. “Don’t add something like, ‘Well, maybe next year,’ to soften the blow,” Lesley Ronson Brown told The Wall Street Journal. “The person on the other end of the phone has just thought, ‘Gotcha. For next year.’ ”

If you do want to soften the blow a little bit, try the “sandwich” method of putting your rejection in between other more positive statements, Ni writes in the Psychology Today article. In the example of rejecting someone who wants to borrow your car, it could look something like this: “I understand you need a car this weekend. Unfortunately, I’m really not comfortable lending my car. Hope you can find another arrangement.”

5. Set up good habits for long-term success

If you’re able to get through a few rounds of saying no, which might seem incredibly awkward to you at first, it will set you up to have healthy boundaries. That way, you can look back on the things you were able to accomplish instead of a mess of half-hearted commitments. Matt Ehrlichman, founder and CEO of the startup Porch, wrote in an article for Inc. that saying no to spontaneous requests, as well as new projects, are often key. Ehrlichman has startups in mind especially, but the same holds true in any job you have.

“Steve Jobs once stated that, ‘Focusing isn’t about saying yes, focusing is about saying no.’ It means that great accomplishments can often be measured by the large list of things you didn’t do instead of the ones you did,” Ehrlichman explained.

One last thing to be aware of: When you say no once, you’re more likely to say yes to the next request — especially if it’s from that same person. Be careful not to fall into that trap if the second question also doesn’t line up with your goals. “They feel so guilty about saying ‘no,’ they feel they need to salvage the relationship,” Vanessa Bohns, assistant professor of management sciences at the University of Waterloo in Ontario, Canada told the Wall Street Journal.

Follow Nikelle on Twitter @Nikelle_CS

 

CheatSheet.com | April 12, 2016 | 

 

#Leadership : Top CHROs Discuss Culture In A Digital World…It’s Important to Begin Planning Today for the Use of Cognitive Computing in Enhancing Workforce Productivity, Reducing Business Risk & Increasing Competitive Advantage.

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Steve Jobs once said, “Simple is harder than complex.” Human resources embodies that mantra where the complexities of behind the curtain data and analytics can yield the simplistic beauty of a great culture.

Free- Home Office

To explore how top companies build winning cultures in a fast-changing digital world, on February 23, 2016 I spoke with these CHROs of industry leaders:

  • Victoria Berger-Gross, CHRO, Tiffany & Co.
  • Matthew Owenby, CHRO, Aflac
  • Larry Pernosky, CHRO, Amedisys
  1. What is the one data point you look to first?

Larry Pernosky, Amedisys:  “Engagement because as our engagement barometer moves up or down, so will the culture and attrition.”

Victoria Berger-Gross, Tiffany & Co:  “Employee turnover — because even though it’s a lagging not leading indicator, it’s an objective sign of what’s going on in satisfaction, engagement, and the strength of your employee value proposition against the external marketplace.”

Matthew Owenby, Aflac: “We focus on engagement as a leading indicator of many potential issues, from which we gauge the level of trust employees have in leadership which is the foundation for creating the best employment experience possible.”

 

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  1. What’s the relationship between data and culture?

Victoria Berger-Gross, Tiffany & Co.:  “Over time you develop culture with qualitative hand-selection of people, close relationships, and understanding what values you can and can’t adapt in people once they’re hired.  We use employee survey measurement, qualitative focus groups, and other data gathering to recognize our constraints and drive new offerings to encourage people to engage and grow with Tiffany.”

Matthew Owenby, Aflac:  “Data is particularly important from a hiring standpoint. We are careful to hire people who embody our strong, individualized culture. It’s not enough to have a technical competency, you’ve got to be a person that’s going to connect well with our culture. Data and analytics don’t build your culture– the culture is built on values. That’s what’s worked for us for over 60 years.  From a value perspective, communication is key–regularly, immediately, and with transparency. Access to LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter makes it easier to gauge what types of communicators you may hiring”.

Larry Pernosky, Amedisys: “We sit on a plethora of data. In redefining our culture, we needed to redefine how we use our human capital data overlaying with business outcomes.  You then view your business outcome differently, incorporating engagement data to form a strategy that truly motivates and inspires employees to grow personally and professionally. That ties back to the success of the company.”

  1. How will mobile technologies and the Internet of Things affect the future of HR?

Matthew Owenby, Aflac:  “A practical view of mobile technologies and the future of HR is that more Millennials represent today’s workforce and shape the expectation around, ‘I want the ability to sign up for healthcare via my Smartphone.’ And more senior leaders increasingly want to access information real time. We’re using more of a push rather than pull strategy, meaning we are deliberately pushing content, doing more things mobile, from an access to information perspective.  Even our internal app which says, here’s what you need to be talking to your people about today and here’s how to incorporate diversity and inclusion in regular touch bases with your teammates”.

Victoria Berger-Gross, Tiffany & Co: “We are continuing to add more mobile technologies in retail, distribution and manufacturing (we are unusually vertically integrated). This connectivity supports absolute alignment between these groups.  At retail, repeat and long-term customer relationships are key to our mindset of customer service. Our retail staff are consummate and credentialed professionals – many are gemologists – and we use technology for on-going training.  We also use broad consumer analytics to understand the behavioral shopping preferences of different consumer groups, which affects how we select and train sales staff.”

Larry Pernosky, Amedisys: “Tele-medicine, tele-monitoring are becoming increasingly important to acute or even critical acute care. Partnerships across technology streams help us procure the best technology possible. A number one priority is work/life balance, and more often for Millennials. Incorporating fitness, health and well-being strategies, such as personalized data feeds from a Fitbit, builds a caring culture where employees say, “I’ve got an organization who cares, and even provides technology to help me manage my life.”

  1. How do you see the role of HR changing five years from now?

Victoria Berger-Gross, Tiffany & Co.:  “For the most part, whatever the size, companies are led by the same number of 10 to 15 people at the top. Data allows us to further scale and be more data driven, especially in the groups with high staff numbers, about scheduling and employee decisions in general. Utilizing people in different locations, not necessarily tied to particular customers in a particular location. Updated, faster customer databases– while balancing essential privacy issue.”

Matthew Owenby, Aflac:  “Accessing information in more real-time, user-friendly methods and doing basic and even complex HR transactions via your mobile device, from any location. Increased productivity and efficiency, whereby you no longer require someone to be in an office to perform a transaction.”

Larry Pernosky, Amedisys: “We will have dynamic workforce planning and forecasting capabilities. Companies will make predictive forecasting and analytic decisions versus today’s practice whereby somebody leaves and you replace them. That will change the game, business outcomes, and even capital analytics.

The future of human resources was summed up by Susan Steele, Executive Partner, Talent and Engagement at IBM. “It’s clear that the HR function, along with the entire enterprise, is increasingly becoming more digitally-oriented, data driven and cognitively-enabled. While this trend creates opportunity for tech-savvy HR leaders it can lead to new risks and challenges for those HR executives who are unprepared. I would therefore encourage all Chief HR Officers to begin planning today for the use of cognitive computing in enhancing workforce productivity, reducing business risk and increasing competitive advantage.”

 

Forbes.com | March 21, 2016 | Robert Reiss

 

#Leadership : 4 Warning Signs You Have A Toxic Company Culture…Make a Point of Practicing Early Detection, Because If you Protect your Culture, you’ll Protect your Future.

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When I took my first job leading a large team, I was sure I knew how to spot a toxic culture. And I was sure that I didn’t have it in my team.  I was wrong.

Free- Rusted Tanker

We had issues (many of them were my fault). It wasn’t long until I was a young leader with a toxic staff situation. If you’ve found yourself in that situation, know that you’re not alone.

Just like our bodies, most teams don’t stay healthy without a disciplined effort. I have come to believe that teams will drift toward some level of unhealth unless their leaders are watching vigilantly for the warning signs.

Now that I’ve helped several hundred clients build their teams, I’ve come to recognize there are several early warning signs to toxicity. And just like our physical health, early detection can be the difference maker between staying healthy and becoming terminal.

Here are four early warning signs to look for, and what you can do to fix them.

Sign #1: Rapid Growth Is Killing Your Culture

Believe it or not growth can be the root of toxicity. Growth is great. It’s fun. It’s the goal of all entrepreneurs. But when growth hits breakneck speed, culture is almost always at risk.

Just ask the folks at Zenefits, the three year old Silicon Valley startup that had a $4.5 billion valuation last year. A recent Forbes article outlined the CEO’s troubles that led to his resignation, and a Vanity Fair article outlined some of the cultural mishaps that have made a bad problem even worse.

David Sacks, the company’s new C.E.O. said, “It is no secret that Zenefits grew too fast, stretching both our culture and our controls.” A memo that was sent to the Zenefits staff banning use of the stairwells for smoking, drinking, eating, or inappropriate physical interactions in the stairwell were just a few of the major red flags that their culture was toxic. Many are speculating that the loss of their culture may end up being the death knell of a company with a great idea.

Are you in growth mode?

Take an inventory and make sure your culture can keep pace with your rate of growth. Double down your efforts to guard culture, even if it means slowing down a bit. Assign someone on staff the job of auditing how well your cultural values are being lived out. Growth is an addictive drug. But just as good culture is a Petri dish for growth, rapid growth can be the casket for culture.

 

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Sign #2: Nobody Talks About Problems

If nobody on your team is vocalizing the issues they see, or suggesting ways of improvement, one of two things is probably happening.

Either you’ve created the most successful company in the history of business and you know everything, or people don’t feel valued enough to think their opinions matter.

Transparency and the ability to raise issues is a hallmark of good culture and a smart team.

At Google GOOGL +0.06%, transparency is a cornerstone of the culture. As Lazlo Bock, head of People at Google, said in a recent interview, “The benefit of [fusion_builder_container hundred_percent=”yes” overflow=”visible”][fusion_builder_row][fusion_builder_column type=”1_1″ background_position=”left top” background_color=”” border_size=”” border_color=”” border_style=”solid” spacing=”yes” background_image=”” background_repeat=”no-repeat” padding=”” margin_top=”0px” margin_bottom=”0px” class=”” id=”” animation_type=”” animation_speed=”0.3″ animation_direction=”left” hide_on_mobile=”no” center_content=”no” min_height=”none”][transparency] is not just that people feel trusted…The other benefit is they’ll know what’s going on. They’ll make better decisions and they’ll create better products.”

When people feel that they can speak up appropriately without a fear of retribution, they feel valued. The culture goes from a toxic one to an innovative and energetic one. Giving your staff a platform to voice their thoughts lets them know that their ideas matter, which in turn leads to them innovating and creating better ways of doing things.

What vehicles are in place in your company that allow team members to bring up concerns and be transparent? How could you improve awareness of those vehicles to the whole team?

Sign #3: Everybody Talks About Problems

While you want to give people a place to feel heard and valued, the number one toxin I see kill culture is gossip. A workplace full of complaining, negativity, and back talk is a workplace that will have high turnover and low productivity.

 The solution?

Declare war on gossip.

My friend and client Dave Ramsey has a “zero tolerance” policy at his office about gossip. They simply do not tolerate it. Does this mean that nobody can bring up concerns? Not at all. He and his team have a motto: “Negatives go up; positives come down.” That means when there are problems, people are encouraged to take that problem “up” to their superiors instead of gossiping with colleagues.

When there is positive feedback, team members are strongly encouraged to send those “down” to team member under them on the org chart. It makes the staff feel valued, keeps the leadership informed of potential issues, and creates a sense of unity for the team. Most of all, it provides solutions to problems. Sideways complaining and blame shifting not only spreads ill will, it leaves problems festering with no real solution.

Do you have a clear policy on how complaints and concerns should be handled? How can you reiterate that among your team?

Sign #4: The System Becomes More Important Than the Mission

Many well meaning leaders hire, fire, strategize, and conduct business in a way that puts old systems ahead of their mission.

I can’t tell you the number of times I’ve heard something along the lines of “that’s the way it’s always been done,” as a reason for leaders making the decisions they do.

There’s certainly a place for sticking to the things that have been successful in the past, but doing things out of habit instead of mission will suck the life from your team and create a toxic culture.

People are rallied to vision and work hard for a mission they believe in. They want to be part of a company that stands by values, but isn’t a slave to systems that block achieving goals. The key to striking that balance is having a litmus test that can be used to decide whether to follow the system or not.

Ed Young is a pastor and friend who has a great test. He says, “Every church is a non-profit, but it has a profit. And that profit is life change.”

If a decision that will affect great life change means circumventing a system, they go for it. But if there isn’t enough potential life change to warrant breaking the system, they go forward with their proven processes.

What litmus test could you implement to tell people when to follow a system and when to ignore it?

I’ve seen these warning signs take root in really great teams over the years. The teams that address them early are able to make change and charge ahead. Those who don’t, suffer the consequences.

Make a point of practicing early detection, because if you protect your culture, you’ll protect your future.

 

Forbes.com | March 16, 2016 | William Vanderbloemen

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#Leadership : 10 Ways To Spot A Truly Exceptional Employee…Take Notice of what’s Not Mentioned: Coding Skills, Years of Experience, Business Degrees, etc. These Things Matter, But they Won’t Make you Exceptional.

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A recent international study surveyed more than 500 business leaders and asked them what sets great employees apart. The researchers wanted to know why some people are more successful than others at work, and the answers were surprising; leaders chose “personality” as the leading reason.

Free- Man reaching to Sun Rise

Notably, 78% of leaders said personality sets great employees apart, more than cultural fit (53%) and even an employee’s skills (39%).

“We should take care not to make the intellect our God; it has, of course, powerful muscles, but no personality.” –Albert Einstein

The problem is, when leaders say ‘personality’ they don’t understand what they’re referring to. Personality consists of a stable set of preferences and tendencies through which we approach the world. Being introverted or extroverted is an example of an important personality trait.

Personality traits form at an early age and are fixed by early adulthood. Many important things about you change over the course of your lifetime, but your personality isn’t one of them.

Personality is distinct from intellect (or IQ). The two don’t occur together in any meaningful way. Personality is also distinct from emotional intelligence (or EQ), and this is where the study, and most leaders for that matter, have misinterpreted the term.

talent

The qualities that leaders in the study called personality were actually emotional intelligence skills. And unlike your personality, which is set in stone, you can change and improve your EQ.

Exceptional employees don’t possess God-given personality traits; they rely on simple, everyday EQ skills that anyone can incorporate into their repertoire.

Leaders don’t need to go searching for these skills either (though it doesn’t hurt when you find them); their duty is to help everyone on their team harness these skills to become exceptional.

Just consider some of the EQ skills that leaders and managers commonly mislabel as personality characteristics. These are the skills that set exceptional employees apart.

They’re willing to delay gratification. One thing an exceptional employee never says is, “That’s not in my job description.” Exceptional employees work outside the boundaries of job descriptions. They’re neither intimidated nor entitled; instead of expecting recognition or compensation to come first, they forge ahead in their work, confident that they’ll be rewarded later but unconcerned if they’re not.

 

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They can tolerate conflict. While exceptional employees don’t seek conflict, they don’t run away from it either. They’re able to maintain their composure while presenting their positions calmly and logically. They’re able to withstand personal attacks in pursuit of the greater goal and never use that tactic themselves.

They focus. Student pilots are often told, “When things start going wrong, don’t forget to fly the plane.” Plane crashes have resulted from pilots concentrating so hard on identifying the problem that they flew the plane into the ground. Eastern Airlines Flight 401 is just one example: The flight crew was so concerned about the landing gear being down that they didn’t realize they were losing altitude until it was too late, despite alarms going off in the cockpit. Exceptional employees understand the principle of “Just fly the plane.” They don’t get distracted by cranky customers, interoffice squabbles, or switch to a different brand of coffee. They can differentiate between real problems and background noise; therefore, they stay focused on what matters.

They’re judiciously courageous. Exceptional employees are willing to speak up when others are not, whether it’s to ask a difficult (or “embarrassingly” simple) question or to challenge an executive decision. However, that’s balanced with common sense and timing. They think before they speak and wisely choose the best time and place to do so.

They’re in control of their egos. Exceptional employees have egos. While that’s part of what drives them, they never give their egos more weight than what is deserved. They’re willing to admit when they’re wrong and willing to do things someone else’s way, whether it’s because the other way is better or it’s important to maintain team harmony.

They’re never satisfied. Exceptional employees have unparalleled convictions that things can always be better—and they’re right. No one is ever done growing, and there is no such thing as “good enough” when it comes to personal improvement. No matter how well things are going, exceptional employees are driven to improve, without forgetting to give themselves a healthy pat on the back.

They recognize when things are broken and fix them. Whether it’s a sticky desk drawer or an inefficient, wasteful process affecting the cash flow of the entire department, exceptional employees don’t walk past problems. “Oh, it’s been that way forever,” simply isn’t in their vocabulary. They see problems as issues to be fixed immediately; it’s that simple.

They’re accountable. If you’re a manager trying to decipher a bungled report, “It’s not my fault” is the most irritating phrase in the English language. Exceptional employees are accountable. They own their work, their decisions, and all of their results—good or bad. They bring their mistakes to management’s attention rather than hoping no one will find out. They understand that managers aren’t out to assign blame; they’re out to get things done.

They’re marketable. “Marketable” can mean many things. Inside the organization, it means “likeable.” Exceptional employees are well liked by co-workers. They have integrity and leadership skills (even if they’re not in an official leadership position) that people respond to. Externally, it means they can be trusted to represent the brand well. Managers know they can send these employees out to meet with clients and prospects without worrying about what they’ll say or do.

They neutralize toxic people. Dealing with difficult people is frustrating and exhausting for most. Exceptional employees control their interactions with toxic people by keeping their feelings in check. When they need to confront a toxic person, they approach the situation rationally. They identify their own emotions and don’t allow anger or frustration to fuel the chaos. They also consider the difficult person’s standpoint and are able to find solutions and common ground. Even when things completely derail, emotionally intelligent people are able to take the toxic person with a grain of salt to avoid letting him or her bring them down.

Bringing It All Together

Take notice of what’s not mentioned: coding skills, years of experience, business degrees, etc. These things matter, but they won’t make you exceptional.

What other qualities make people exceptional? Please share your thoughts in the comments section below as I learn just as much from you as you do from me.

 

Forbes.com | February 9, 2016 | Travis Bradberry 

 

#Leadership : How to Transform Habitual Negativity at Work…Here are some Simple Strategies to Transform Negativity at Work, Which can Slow Down Productivity & Sabotage Results.

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I wish I had a penny for every leader or manager I worked with who accepted some form of negativity at work, simply because it had become familiar. Like a persistent background noise, often negativity is tolerated until the impact becomes too hard to ignore. This might be when someone complains, or results are massively affected, or a customer notices and gives you feedback.

Free- Barbed Wire

Negativity at work does impact results. This study by Michigan State University found productivity was directly affected, as “negative-minded workers are more likely to become mentally fatigued and defensive and experience a drop-off in production”.

I was called in to work with a business which was missing shipping deadlines, customer complaints were escalating and arguments at work leading to discipline interviews were becoming the norm. Things had become untenable and the CEO was at a loss as to how to stop this downward spiral into negativity. The business was expanding internationally and they had come to a point where they knew they were heading towards a big fail because of the internal problems.

What I found out from the CEO was negativity had almost always been the cultural norm, but it had not been a big problem until recently. Like a rolling snowball, the negativity had grown and accelerated until it could no longer be ignored.

Examples of negativity at work

The worst extremes of negativity at work like bullying and harassment usually come to light fairly quickly. Research shows other poor behaviors, outlined below, cause almost as much distress to fellow workers as bullying, but they are often not viewed as seriously:

  • Claiming credit for someone else’s work;
  • Setting out to make a member of staff appear incompetent and/or make their lives miserable through persistent criticism;
  • Deliberately withholding information/providing incorrect information; and
  • Isolating/deliberately ignoring/excluding someone from activities.

The behaviors I encountered in the example I mentioned above were far more subtle, frequently seen in the workplace and most tolerated.  These showed up as:

  • Blaming each other and overreacting when things went wrong
  • Defensiveness, with a refusal to learn from mistakes
  • Gossiping
  • Jumping to negative conclusions and being negative about each other
  • Black and white thinking
  • Focusing on problems, without striving for solutions
  • Juggling for status
  • Cultivating a bleak and depressing outlook for the business
  • Blaming management
  • Agreeing to actions in a meeting, only to come out and complain

When you see these actions in the workplace, many managers feel their hands are tied as often the work still appears to be getting done, negativity is seen as human nature or managers don’t have the tools to help make positive changes.

 

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How to link negativity to poor performance

When negative behaviors are more serious, it’s relatively easy to link with misconduct and dignity at work type policies. When the negative behaviors are subtle, it’s more difficult.

Some leaders and managers don’t think they are able to link such negative behaviors with poor performance.  Performance criteria are often based on results, competencies or skills and so it’s difficult to quantify the impact of subtle negativity on performance in any meaningful way.

The way to link these subtle negative behaviors to performance is to assess the impact they have in terms of:

  • Productivity – How much time is wasted complaining, blocking a solution-orientated approach or resulting disputes
  • Cost – How much does it cost to bicker, moan and de-motivate people with a stream of negativity?
  • Motivation – What is the impact of negativity on employee motivation and effort?

How to transform negativity

Raising awareness and set standards is a must as well as an ability to transform negativity to more positive thinking and behaviors. Here are 6 ways to you can make the switch.

1.       By identifying the negative behaviors, you don’t want to see, you can describe positive behaviors you do want and incorporate these behaviors in your value statement or behavioral competencies.

2.       Set positive standards for the whole team, resisting the urge to identify individuals at this stage.

3.       Leaders model the behaviors you want to see; it starts at the top.

4.       Teach people how to get what they want in a constructive way, for example, show them effective ways of voicing views which engage rather than disengage.

5.       Empower people to have their say by asking them to offer solutions.

6.       Develop a “no blame” culture, using errors and mistakes as opportunities to learn.

Pivoting subtle negativity isn’t always easy, but there are ways you can channel the energy to be a positive force if you have an intention for positive change.

The opinions expressed here by Inc.com columnists are their own, not those of Inc.com.

PUBLISHED ON: JAN 21, 2016
Inc.com  | 

BY CHRISTINA LATTIMER

Founder, People Development Network