10 Inspirational Leadership Terms to Build Effective Teams

A common question for leaders is, "How do you define a leader?" While there are many answers to that question, there is no doubt that leaders are only as strong as the people on their teams.

Therefore, I've assembled a list of ten characteristics - or inspirational leadership terms - that are essential for leaders to build effective teams comprised of dedicated, productive, and loyal team members.

ACCOUNTABILITY

Taking responsibility for one's actions and decisions.

ADAPTABILITY

Demonstrating the capacity to be flexible and receptive to change in new situations, with new technologies, and as markets change.

APPRECIATION

Recognizing the efforts and achievements of team members boosts morale and motivation.

SHARE THIS: If you aren’t saying “thank you” every day, then as a leader, you are missing a tremendous opportunity to let gratitude be part of your greatness.

COLLABORATION

Encouraging teamwork fosters innovation, creativity, and a sense of ownership among team members.

DELEGATION

Assigning responsibility or authority to another person to carry out specific activities.

EMPATHY

Understanding and empathizing with the needs and emotions of others helps leaders connect with their team and build strong relationships. 

EMPOWERMENT

Empowering team members by delegating authority, providing autonomy, and supporting their growth and development leads to increased engagement and productivity. 

RESPECT

Respecting the dignity, opinions, and diversity of team members is vital for creating a positive work environment.

TRUST

Building trust is crucial for effective leadership - trust leads to loyal employees, open communication, and the desire for collaboration.

VISION

Articulating a clear and compelling vision to inspire and motivate the team. 

What would you add to this list? Chime in and share.

Image Credit: LeaderlyAI.

Celebrate Employee Appreciation Day by Sharing a Book!

Since today is Employee Appreciation Day, I have a tip for all personnel, human resources, and staffing departments: I'd like to propose that you share a book with your employees to demonstrate how much you value them. And I have a suggestion for which book, but before we get to the specifics, first, a little background about today's significance.

Observed annually on the first Friday in March, Employee Appreciation Day was started in 1995 by Dr. Bob Nelson, to celebrate the publication of his book, "1001 Ways to Reward Employees." Together with his publishing company, he made sure that the holiday appeared prominently on workplace calendars. This was a successful strategy because the book sold over two million copies and was translated into over 25 languages.

Now back to the book that I propose sharing with your employees: GOOD LUCK, ICE CREAM TRUCK by Sorche Fairbank and illustrated by Terry Runyan. The book celebrates friendship and community - two important elements that should be celebrated every day in the workplace, but especially today on Employee Appreciation Day. 

According to Harper CollinsPublishers' description, "The sweet anticipation of waiting for the ice cream truck is tempered by the arrival of eight other trucks — a dump truck, a mail truck, a fire truck, a news truck, a utility truck, an excavator, a garbage truck, and a cement truck — in this picture book celebration of vehicles, professions, community, friendship, and delicious ice cream."

This book features a group of friends including a giraffe, cats, dogs, birds, frog, turtle, alligator, and more as they eagerly await the ice cream truck. However, as the book progresses, eight other trucks travel by the group. However, the group doesn't get upset, they don't yell at each other, they don't go home...they simply appreciate all the trucks that go by and calmly look forward to the ice cream truck. And they are happy when the ice cream truck appears.

Why do I suggest reading, sharing, and discussing a children's book for Employee Appreciation Day? The answer is simple. According to Katherine Rundell, author of WHY YOU SHOULD READ CHILDREN'S BOOKS, EVEN THOUGH YOU ARE SO OLD AND WISE, "Ignore those who would call it mindless escapism; it's not escapism; it is findism. Children's books are not a hiding place, they are a seeking place."

The Guardian explained Rundell's argument, "There's something particular about children's fiction that can open up new perspectives for adults. The best children's fiction helps us refind things we may not even know we have lost, taking us back to a time when new discoveries came daily and when the world was colossal, before the imagination was trimmed and neatened. There's also something instructive in reading books that are specifically written to be read by a section of society without political or economic power."

So, while you enjoy GOOD LUCK, ICE CREAM TRUCK, I will end by sharing three quotes from authors and their referenced books:

"If you give a person a book, you give him the world." ~Kristin Harmel, author of THE PARIS DAUGHTER

"For you unlock magic that is hidden within, and opening the cover is how you begin. Oh, all the worlds and the places you'll see; when you hold a book, you hold the key." ~Caroline Derlatka, author of WHEN YOU OPEN A BOOK

"If you can, always be yourself, unless you can be Batman — then always be Batman." ~Jenn McKinlay, author of PARIS IS ALWAYS A GOOD IDEA

Image Credits: HarperCollinsPublishers and Amazon.

Check out some reading tips from September 2024 here on my blog:

https://www.debbielaskeysblog.com/2024/09/five-readingtips-to-fall-back-to-reading.html

Celebrate Employee Appreciation Day with Gregg Vanourek

Since today is Employee Appreciation Day, I'd like to welcome Gregg Vanourek back to my blog. I recently read a post that Gregg wrote nearly two years ago entitled, "The Four Types of People in Any Organization (Beware the Fourth)," and it's especially fitting that we re-visit that post today.

First, a little background about Employee Appreciation Day and then a brief bio about Gregg. Observed annually on the first Friday in March, Employee Appreciation Day was started in 1995 by Dr. Bob Nelson, initially to celebrate the publication of his book, "1001 Ways to Reward Employees." Together with his publishing company, he made sure that the holiday appeared prominently on workplace calendars. This was a successful strategy because the book sold over two million copies and was translated into over 25 languages. So, as your organization considers how to best appreciate, recognize, and value your employees, read on for some amazing insights.

Gregg Vanourek is a writer, teacher, and TEDx speaker on personal development and leadership. He is also co-author of three books, including LIFE Entrepreneurs: Ordinary People Creating Extraordinary Lives (a manifesto for integrating life and work with purpose, passion, and contribution) and Triple Crown Leadership: Building Excellent, Ethical, and Enduring Organizations (a winner of the International Book Award). He teaches at the Stockholm Business School; served as a senior executive at a tech startup, now a market leader with $1 billion in sales; and has given talks/workshops in eight countries.

Now, what are the four types of people in any organization? Well, according to Gregg and his important post, they are as follows:

(1) LEADERS: According to Gregg, "We may disagree about what good leadership entails, but there's little doubt that we need leaders."

(2) FOLLOWERS: According to Gregg, "All organizations also need followers. How effective would leaders be without good followers? Followers are often neglected in discussions about organizational effectiveness, but that's a big mistake. Followers make a big difference in many ways: getting the work done, upholding the organization's values, supporting leaders in times of difficulty, contributing to the culture, and more."

(3) OBJECTORS: According to Gregg, "Objectors express disagreement or opposition. They challenge leaders when they go astray. Sometimes it comes in the form of tough questions. Other times in the form of outright objections. Though often overlooked, objectors play a critical role in accountability, culture, ethics, and more."

(4) MUTTERERS: According to Gregg, "Mutterers are the ones who sit quietly in the meeting, nodding their heads and going along, and then mutter complaints, insults, and frustrations under their breath after the meeting. The other dynamic often missed here is that people want to be around people who take initiative, not complainers."

In his post, Gregg used a soccer scenario as an example of these types of people. He wrote, "But was it the job of the coach to be the best in all areas all the time? Ideally, we'd have a coach who's brilliant at everything: scouting, recruiting, positioning, practice and drill design, match strategy, mid-game competitive adjustments, halftime chats, post-game reviews, player psychology, group dynamics, goalkeeper training, crisis management, humor, fun, and more. (Even TED LASSO doesn't rise to that mantle.)"

However, Gregg shared in a previous appearance on my blog, "The TED LASSO series is brilliant on many fronts, including the way it showed the human aspects of leadership and the complex dynamics of being part of a team and community. For leaders (and others), it has powerful lessons about heart, humanity, dignity, love, hope, belief in people, and the transformation of pain and hardship."

So, today, on Employee Appreciation Day, how can your organization help steer employees toward being leaders, followers, and productive objectors and help steer them away from being unproductive mutterers?

I asked Gregg to provide an update to include here today:

"Muttering can be toxic in an organization. It puts our attention on what's wrong instead of what's right or what we can do. It wastes time. It makes us passive and makes bad situations worse. Perhaps, worse of all, it's contagious. Leaders are wise to nip muttering in the bud."

My gratitude to Gregg for inspiring today's post, sharing an update to his post, and for being a valued member of my blog community!

SHARE THIS: People want to be around people who take initiative, not complainers. ~@gvanourek #EmployeeAppreciationDay #DebbieLaskeysBlog

SHARE THIS: Complaining does not work as a strategy...Any time we spend whining is unlikely to help us achieve our goals. ~Randy Pausch via @gvanourek #EmployeeAppreciationDay #DebbieLaskeysBlog

Image Credit: Adobe.

Read Gregg's post that inspired today's post:

https://triplecrownleadership.com/four-types-of-people/

Connect with Gregg at these links:

Website: https://www.greggvanourek.com

Blog: https://greggvanourek.com/blog/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gregg-vanourek-5347b11

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TripleCrownLeadership/

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/gvanourek

Twitter/X: https://www.twitter.com/gvanourek

Check out Gregg’s previous appearances here on my blog:

SPRING LEADERSHIP SERIES – Featuring Gregg Vanourek  (April 2024)

https://www.debbielaskeysblog.com/2024/04/spring-leadership-series-featuring_01233877214.html

Does Your Organization Have Culture Champions and Cultural Stewards? (January 2022)

https://www.debbielaskeysblog.com/2022/01/does-your-organization-have-culture.html

"Top 10" New Year's Resolutions for Leaders for 2025

Last January, after I read an inspiring post by the esteemed leadership expert Eric Jacobson entitled, "70 New Year's Resolutions for Leaders," I chose ten from those 70 and featured them in a post.

Since Eric's list included 70 resolutions, and New Year's resolutions are on many people's minds this month, I thought I would revisit Eric's post and choose my "Top 10" for 2025.

With much gratitude to Eric for his comprehensive list and inspiration for this post, here are my "Top 10" New Year's Resolutions for Leaders for 2025:

[1] View every problem as an opportunity to grow.

[2] Praise when compliments are earned.

[3] Assess your company's strengths and weaknesses at all times.

[4] Listen carefully and don't multi-task while listening.

[5] Teach something new to your team.

[6] Explain how a change will impact employees' feelings before, during, and after a change is implemented.

[7] Give feedback promptly and make it individualized and specific.

[8] Promote excellent customer service both internally and externally.

[9] Be willing to change your decisions.

[10] End every meeting with a follow-up To-do list.

And because I've been a passionate reader my entire life, I will repeat (and always include) this annual resolution: "Read leadership books to continue your leadership journey." Don't forget to read works of fiction because they ALSO contain important leadership lessons.

Lastly, here's one of Eric's favorite quotes from a previous appearance on my blog: 

SHARE THIS: Leaders are measured by the caliber of leaders they develop, not the caliber of their own leadership. ~John C. Maxell via @EricJacobsonKC #DebbieLaskeysBlog

What are your New Year's resolutions to improve your leadership skills during 2025? Chime in and share.

Image Credit: VistaCreate.

Here's the link to Eric's original post - print it and tape it to a wall!

https://ericjacobsononmanagement.blogspot.com/2023/12/70-new-years-resolutions-for-leaders.html

Here's the link to my post from last year:

"Top 10" New Year's Resolutions for Leaders (January 2024)

https://www.debbielaskeysblog.com/2024/01/top-10-new-years-resolutions-for-leaders.html

Connect with Eric at these links:

Blog: https://ericjacobsononmanagement.blogspot.com  

Twitter/X: https://www.twitter.com/ericjacobsonkc 

Check out Eric's previous appearances here on my blog:

HOLIDAY LEADERSHIP SERIES – Featuring Eric Jacobson (November 2024)

https://www.debbielaskeysblog.com/2024/11/holiday-leadership-series-featuring_0821075952.html

OLYMPICS LEADERSHIP SERIES – Featuring Eric Jacobson (July 2024)

https://www.debbielaskeysblog.com/2024/07/olympics-leadership-series-featuring.html

FALL BACK TO READING SERIES – Featuring Eric Jacobson (September 2023)

https://www.debbielaskeysblog.com/2023/09/fall-back-to-reading-series-featuring.html

Let's Celebrate #NationalLeadershipDay! (February 2023)

https://www.debbielaskeysblog.com/2023/02/lets-celebrate-nationalleadershipday.html

How Leadership Crafts the #EmployeeExperience (May 2018)

https://www.debbielaskeysblog.com/2018/05/how-leadership-crafts-employeeexperience.html

Leadership Doesn't Have to Be Hard (March 2016)

http://www.debbielaskeysblog.com/2016/05/leadership-doesnt-have-to-be-hard.html

The Importance of Mentorships (March 2013)

http://www.debbielaskeysblog.com/2013/03/the-importance-of-mentorships.html

The Importance of Training, Customer Connections & Leadership (March 2011)

http://www.debbielaskeysblog.com/2011/03/importance-of-training-customer.html

Serving in a New Role Today on Global Company Culture Day

What would you do if your title were "Director of People and Culture?" While that may sound like a bunch of words, what would you do in that role?

Since today is Global Company Culture Day, I thought it might be fun to try out the title and pretend I served in that capacity, if only for one day.

But first, a little about Global Culture Day. Created by the Global Company Culture Association in 2019 and observed every year on September 18th, it's a day for companies and leaders to focus on ensuring that their corporate culture functions in a way that, above all, maximizes the happiness of employees.

According to Tercon Partners, "Culture is a company's personality. Culture defines the environment in which people work – the values, beliefs, behaviors, and underlying assumptions that drive every aspect of the organization's activities. Culture exists in all organizations, whether it is created through careful design or it evolves organically over time."

According to Wharton management professor Sigal Barsade, "Culture, within a company or organization, is like an iceberg. Just as we can see only the tip of the iceberg, most of what constitutes a company's culture is below the surface. The part that's visible includes things like physical office space, ways the employees dress, and behavioral norms. But they are not the whole picture...you need to understand what's below the surface. The values and assumptions that rarely get questioned are the ones that most organizations take for granted."

And now, if I served as "Director of People and Culture" for an organization, I would focus on the following five areas:

[1] Employee Experience: Employee Engagement and Culture Development

Employees must be happy and productive to create positive customer experiences, which leads to repeat business and increased profits. So, organizations must focus on engaging their employees and developing amazing cultures. Department supervisors must understand the benefits of collaboration and learn how to be culture carriers. And the org's employee manual must be regularly reviewed and updated. The concept of "Management by Walking Around" should be the mantra of this role so that employees see the person in charge and can talk to that person on a regular basis - the key HR person should never be seen as always sitting in an office with a closed door.

[2] DEI (Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion)

This initiative would be more than just words. There should be a mosaic of people at every level from the C-Suite on down through all management levels. If someone within the organization wants to climb the corporate ladder, it is the org's responsibility to mentor and educate the person, rather than stop him/her/they due to gender, background, etc. All opportunities are open to all. Period. 

[3] Leadership Development

It's important for members of the C-Suite and department supervisors to keep abreast of leadership trends and attend leadership workshops and conferences in their specialty areas. It's also important to develop leaders from within the organization, and also promote from within.

[4] Continuing Education

Continuing education should not be for members of the C-Suite or top managers only. Courses should be available and offered for all members of an organization to help them learn on an on-going basis. Training sessions can be on-site, off-site, or online.

[5] Talent Acquisition: Onboarding and Offboarding

It's important to understand that the concept of employer branding is a real thing, and as a result, job applicants begin their relationship with an organization from the moment they read a job description. The relationship with the employer brand continues through a first conversation, a virtual or in-person interview (or more than one), and doesn't end there. The relationship continues through the job offer or SHOULD continue with a "no thank you letter or email" (which, too often, doesn't happen). In any event, the onboarding process should be courteous and professional and once a job offer is accepted, the new employee should receive a detailed employee manual (that reflects the org's policies and expectations of staff) and job-related materials to be successful at his/her/their job as well as a mentor within the organization. Lastly, it/when the time comes, the offboarding process should also be courteous and professional, and an exit interview should be handled in the same manner as the pre-employment process. Always remember, in today's social media era, everyone is a brand ambassador, and that also includes former employees. 

According to Wharton management professor Sigal Barsade, "Your culture can help you execute your strategy, but your structures need to support it. And if your strategy doesn't take into account your structures and culture, the execution will run into problems. For results, make sure all three complement and support one another."

What about you? Do you ever dream of working in the human resources or personnel area of your organization? If yes, what would you do to improve your corporate culture, especially today on Global Company Culture Day?

Image Credit: Tercon Partners.

My 2023 post: Let's Celebrate Global Company Culture Day:

https://www.debbielaskeysblog.com/2023/09/lets-celebrate-global-company-culture.html

Culture Matters: Shaping a Culture That Works (Wharton @ Work - July 2015):

https://executiveeducation.wharton.upenn.edu/thought-leadership/wharton-at-work/2015/07/culture-matters/

Review of JUMPSTART YOUR WORKPLACE CULTURE

How would you describe your workplace culture? Do all the employees get together after work and talk shop at a local bar or restaurant? Or is it stifling, hard to breathe - and you can only breathe at 5pm when you leave the office? Do all the employees know the brand promise - and is everyone a happy brand ambassador?

These are all important questions to ask when creating and maintaining a positive corporate culture and why so many employers have high turnover and lose talented employees. Here's an easy solution for all leaders: Add an important book to your must-read list: Jumpstart Your Workplace Culture by Eric D. Stone.

Eric explains, "Every company should be built around founding values, and those values must be the heart and soul of your culture." And, "If your brand is what people say about you when you're not in the room, culture equals the behaviors that happen when leaders aren't around to enforce the organization's behavioral code."

How often do you check in with your employees? Do you have one-on-one meetings with all employees? Eric proposes that you regularly meet with employees and ask a myriad of questions. These were my favorites from Eric's book:

(1) What's your employee experience been like so far?

(2) Do you know and understand the company values?

(3) What management style do you find most motivating?

(4) What's an opportunity the team might be overlooking right now?

(5) Do you feel challenged and encouraged to grow?

(6) Where could you use more coaching and training?

(7) Who's been your biggest influence here?

(8) Is there anything you think the senior leaders don't understand?

According to Eric, a strong culture "keeps your people engaged and wanting to stay with your company, focused on doing great work and meeting higher and higher expectations, all while staying in alignment with the company values and mission. A positive culture keeps revenues, profits, and market share growing. It's an energy source, and it's contagious...It feels great to come to work, and you and your team feel like a finely-tuned machine."

But a weak culture "is just as obvious, and the symptoms are everywhere. Employees are confused, angry, or apathetic. Expectations are unclear, training and development are lacking, follow-through and accountability are nonexistent...Instead of being united by a single clear 'this is who we are and what we stand for' idea, they're fragmented. It's every employee for themself."

Perhaps, it's time for your organization to re-think your culture. As Eric writes at the end, "Yes, you can check under the hood and quantitatively measure the health of your culture...You can repair your culture with some surprisingly simple initiatives." Remember, "a strong culture is obvious to onlookers," and will attract awesome employees and repeat customers!

SHARE THIS: Every company should be built around founding values, and those values must be the heart and soul of your culture. ~Eric D. Stone #CorporateCulture #DebbieLaskeysBlog

SHARE THIS: Leadership, at its core, is about making other people better as a result of your presence - and making sure the impact lasts in your absence. ~@FrancesFrei #CorporateCulture #DebbieLaskeysBlog

Connect with Eric at these links:

Website: https://www.ericdstone.com/

Website: https://clearpathventures.com/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/eric-stone-clear-path

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/clearpathventures_/

Image Credit: Amazon.

What's Your Favorite Job Interview Question?

If you are a job seeker, do you go into interviews with a list of prepared questions for the interviewer, or rather, do you wing it?

With the hope that you have a list of questions to ask about the position, the training, the position's success metrics, the company, and more, I would like to share my all-time favorite question for interviewers.

When I was in job-seeker mode, I would always ask - whether one person interviewed me or several people interviewed me:

HOW WOULD YOU DESCRIBE THE COMPANY CULTURE?

The answer for this question told many things. First, if the interviewer or interviewers took too long to answer, it looked as if they were hiding something. If responses from different people were vastly different, there was cause for concern. If there were examples within the responses that highlighted how mistakes were handled - for example, employees were treated fairly - those responses spoke volumes.

According to Chris Donnelly, "Understanding the company culture can help you determine whether you would be a good fit for an organization. It also allows you to assess whether the company's values and culture align with your own, ensuring a better cultural fit."

And to quote Richard Gallagher, "Building a successful corporate culture goes beyond business processes and into being a way of life. It gives meaning and purpose to the place where most of us spend over half of our waking lives. More important, it reduces the vast complexities of the business world into a clear sense of who you are and where you are headed. It is truly the soul of your organization."

So, what is your fave interview question? Chime in and share.

Image Credit: Daniel van den Berg via Unsplash.

Celebrating #NationalUnicornDay with Caroline Stokes

Do you know what today is? Celebrated each year on April 9th, National Unicorn Day celebrates the mythical horse-like creature with a single, pointed horn growing from the center of its forehead.

According to National Day Calendar, "Unicorns have been a popular mythical creature since Ancient Greek times...Many now see them as a symbol of love, purity, enchantment, and magic. They also continue to find their way into fantasy novels alongside other mythical creatures."

Over the last 15 years, thanks to social media, I have had the privilege of meeting inspiring marketing, branding, customer experience, leadership, and social media experts. One of these experts is Caroline Stokes, a leadership expert based in Vancouver, Canada. Due to the alignment between the title of Caroline's book and today's holiday, she is an excellent choice to appear on my blog today. Highlights from our conversation about leadership follow a brief introduction.

But first, here's a quick description of Caroline's book, ELEPHANTS BEFORE UNICORNS: "Learn how to identify your elephants, the obstacles getting in the way of your success, before focusing on your unicorns, the key employees who will help move your business forward."

Caroline Stokes is an executive coach who helps leaders to stay a step ahead in an uncertain future. She helps leaders understand how their team or organization needs to adapt to remain creative and competitive across business innovation, talent attraction, retention, and growth to meet evolving employee, customer and stakeholder expectations.

Caroline spent more than 20 years working for corporations, such as, PlayStation, Virgin, and Nokia in Europe and Australia, and went on to run two public relations agencies in England and Canada. Since 2008, Caroline has led global executive search and talent development strategies for Real Networks, Autodesk, Microsoft, Amazon, Electronic Arts, and Disney; and spurred on by her international experiences, in 2014, she launched FORWARD with a vision to create a constantly-evolving human capital solutions company with an ethical and humanist foundation. She is regularly called upon to share her expertise in the Harvard Business Review, Newsweek, Fast Company and more.

QUESTION: My favorite quote from your book ELEPHANTS BEFORE UNICORNS was, "I define people leaders as anyone who manages people in any capacity. If you have even one direct report, you're a people leader!...Whether or not you realize it, you have a tremendous impact on the direction and success of your organization." What are three take-aways you hope all readers will have upon reading your book?

CAROLINE STOKES: Three takeaways I hope readers will learn:

(1) That leaders are not born, they're made.

(2) To create an environment where people can trust each other, which enables everyone to do the work they signed up for in the first place. You've got to constantly work on the frameworks in the book or work with a coach to get there. It's not a one and done box-ticking situation. Like a diet or an exercise regimen, put the program in place and stick to it, evolve with it, stretch yourself. See all the growth in your mind, with your team, and with the results.

(3) Always work on your EQ. It's not easy to be wrong. It's not easy to make mistakes. What we do with EQ is by having awareness that we have done what we have done and to adjust. It's a life-long journey, and the book helps. (Note: Emotional intelligence (or EQ) is the ability to understand, use, and manage your own emotions in positive ways to relieve stress, communicate effectively, empathize with others, overcome challenges, and defuse conflict.)

SHARE THIS: I define people leaders as anyone who manages people in any capacity. ~@ocarolinestokes #NationalUnicornDay #DebbieLaskeysBlog

QUESTION: How can members of the C-Suite and HR teams learn the importance of "Employer Branding?"

CAROLINE STOKES: I wrote ELEPHANTS BEFORE UNICORNS primarily for the C-Suite to wake up and see that their organizations were not  operating according to their mission statements - that future employees and customers had bought into. Since the book was published in 2019, we are acutely aware of many organizations that continue to say that their employer brand is one thing, but the exit interviews and Glassdoor reviews say another. 

Culture takes time to adapt. Start now with the human first methodologies and start to see the needle shift on employer brand sentiment, which comes from an engaged workforce and lower rates of attrition.

QUESTION: What three things should be part of every organization's onboarding process?

CAROLINE STOKES: Here are three:

Goal #1: The first 100-days coaching program that every hiring manager uses with new hires, which includes goals, vision, what good looks like on a quarter-by-quarter basis. Then do all of that again at the 100-days mark because economic, societal, environmental, and personnel factors will have changed, which means that the goals will have shifted.

Goal #2: OKRs relate to everyone. (Note: Generally attributed to Andy Grove, who introduced the approach to Intel in the 1970's, OBJECTIVES AND KEY RESULTS, or OKRs, is a goal-setting framework used by individuals, teams, and organizations to define measurable goals and track their outcomes.)

Goal #3: Agreement that 1:1s should happen every week to focus on growth to reach Goal #1.

QUESTION: What's your favorite interview question, and why?

CAROLINE STOKES: I don't have a favourite interview question, as it comes off as a trap. The person being interviewed instinctively knows deep inside that it's planted to see how they will behave. I wrote for HBR that interviewing is a two-way street. The power dynamics are all wrong in an interview, and it's unattractive. (Link to article at end of Q&A.) 

I prefer an environment where the hiring manager and the hiring team huddle in realistic environments - like a 1:1 - to discuss the challenges, opportunities, areas for development, goals, and how to get through them collectively to innovate and problem-solve.

QUESTION: A well-known quote is, "People don't quit companies, they quit managers." What are some actions that employees can take, and what are some actions that leaders/managers/ supervisors/bosses can take to reverse this from happening?

CAROLINE STOKES: Everyone needs to do the self-work and the team-work. Expecting offsites or individual training isn't enough. The collective need to get together, people need leadership coaches, team coaches, strategic workshops. 

Marriage is hard where it requires constant communication, clarification, and calibration to reach goals. It comes to the power dynamic again - without collaboration, insight, everyone going down the road as a collective, people quit and people fire those people that go off track. It's a cycle that can shift at the blink of an eye with some economic disturbance or power imbalance. Nurture it, or expect some style of professional divorce.

QUESTION: Despite the findings detailed in an article published by Harvard Business Review entitled, "Research: Women Score Higher Than Men in Most Leadership Skills," the percentage of women in senior leadership roles is declining. (Link to article at end of Q&A.) How can we change this?

CAROLINE STOKES: We all know why. This is the elephant in the room. I outline it in an interview with a CEO for an article published in Business in Vancouver (link at end of Q&A), where even men knew how important women were, yet patriarchal models weren't evolving fast enough to bring in diversity of thought and processes to achieve the results many people were looking for. Systems require assessment and BRAVE leaders to change the status quo.

QUESTION: If you could dine with five leaders from history or modern corporate America, who would you choose, and why?

CAROLINE STOKES: Here are my five: Robin Williams (leader in comedy), Barack Obama (leader of the people), Elon Musk (leader of moonshot ideas), Oprah Winfey (leader of empowerment), and Nicolas Thompson (leader of The Atlantic). Imagine the enthralling, enthusiastic, and boundary-less energy they would bring and the deep pockets of reality they would share!

My gratitude to Caroline for appearing on my blog and sharing her inspiring thoughts about leadership and the employee experience!

Image Credit: Meritt Thomas via WordSwag.

Connect with Caroline at these links:

Website: https://www.theforward.co

Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/ocarolinestokes

LinkedIn: https://ca.linkedin.com/in/ocarolinestokes

Blog: https://www.theforward.co/blog

Book: https://www.theforward.co/elephants-before-unicorns

TEDx: Why an emotionally intelligent company impacts growth: 

https://youtu.be/cPmoC506_cM?si=KfXLIB3FQA40lulW

Here are the links to referenced articles from this Q&A:

National Unicorn Day

https://www.nationaldaycalendar.com/national-day/national-unicorn-day-april-9

How to Tactfully Disagree in a Job Interview

https://hbr.org/2019/11/how-to-tactfully-disagree-in-a-job-interview

Opinion: Why Boards and C-Suite Leaders Must Cultivate a Sustainability Culture

https://www.biv.com/news/commentary/opinion-why-boards-c-suite-leaders-must-cultivate-a-sustainability-culture-8383445

Research: Women Score Higher Than Men in Most Leadership Skills

https://hbr.org/2019/06/research-women-score-higher-than-men-in-most-leadership-skills

Inspiration for final question: Debbie's Amazing Dinner Party of 15

https://www.debbielaskeysblog.com/2022/06/my-amazing-dinner-party-of-15.html

"Top 10" New Year's Resolutions for Leaders

During December, I read an inspiring post entitled, "70 New Year's Resolutions for Leaders" by my friend and leadership expert (and advocate) Eric Jacobson. I wondered how many leaders make a list of leadership resolutions every January. Upon further reflection, I wondered if leaders make such a list, do they actually follow the resolutions?

There is no doubt that if a leader adhered to all of Eric's 70 resolutions, he/she/they would become an exceptional leader. But the reality is, that would be nearly impossible to find such a leader. I think sticking to ten resolutions might be hard, but much more likely. So I decided to pull out my favorite ten resolutions. 

With big applause to Eric, here are my "Top 10" New Year's Resolutions for Leaders:

1. Don't micromanage.
2. Don't be a bottleneck.
3. Focus on outcomes, not minutiae.
4. Celebrate your employees' successes, not your own.
5. Communicate clearly and often.
6. Admit your mistakes.
7. Encourage individualism and welcome input.
8. Encourage personal growth and promote training, mentoring, and external education.
9. Volunteer within your community and allow/support your employees to volunteer also.
10. Read leadership books to continue your leadership journey.

Again, much gratitude to Eric for creating his list and for inspiring me to pick ten. 

The goal of this post was to inspire you to create your own list of New Year's Leadership Resolutions with the hope that you stick to it during 2024.

Image Credit: Shutterstock.

Here's the link to Eric's original post - I highly recommend you hang it in a prominent place so that you can refer to it on a regular basis:
https://ericjacobsononmanagement.blogspot.com/2023/12/70-new-years-resolutions-for-leaders.html

Connect with Eric at these links:
Blog: https://ericjacobsononmanagement.blogspot.com  
Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/ericjacobsonkc

Check out Eric’s previous appearances here on my blog:

[1] FALL BACK TO READING SERIES – Featuring Eric Jacobson
September 25, 2023
https://www.debbielaskeysblog.com/2023/09/fall-back-to-reading-series-featuring.html

[2] Let's Celebrate #NationalLeadershipDay!
February 20, 2023
https://www.debbielaskeysblog.com/2023/02/lets-celebrate-nationalleadershipday.html

[3] How Leadership Crafts the #EmployeeExperience
May 1, 2018
https://www.debbielaskeysblog.com/2018/05/how-leadership-crafts-employeeexperience.html

[4] Leadership Doesn't Have to Be Hard
May 3, 2016
http://www.debbielaskeysblog.com/2016/05/leadership-doesnt-have-to-be-hard.html

[5] The Importance of Mentorships
March 11, 2013
http://www.debbielaskeysblog.com/2013/03/the-importance-of-mentorships.html

[6] The Importance of Training, Customer Connections, and Leadership
March 21, 2011
http://www.debbielaskeysblog.com/2011/03/importance-of-training-customer.html

Let’s Celebrate Global Company Culture Day!

Do you know what today is? It’s Global Company Culture Day, observed every year on September 18, it is a day for companies and organizational leaders to focus on ensuring that their corporate culture functions in a way that maximizes productivity, profitability, and the happiness of employees.

This day offers an opportunity to reflect on the importance of the onboarding process to integrate new employees into the corporate culture and to explain an organization’s culture. Does your org have a detailed and consistent onboarding practice? Are there specific employees (representing different departments) that participate in new employee onboarding? What elements do you include?

I’d like to propose a book that should be part of the onboarding program for all organizations: The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein. While the book was first published in 1964 for children, it has been translated into numerous languages. While I read the book first as a child, the story has remained with me for decades. If you have not read it, I highly recommend it.

According to Wikipedia:

“The book follows the lives of an apple tree and a boy, who develop a relationship with one another. The tree is very "giving," and the boy evolves into a "taking" teenager, a middle-aged man, and finally an elderly man. Despite the fact that the boy ages in the story, the tree addresses the boy as "Boy" his entire life.

In his childhood, the boy enjoys playing with the tree, climbing its trunk, swinging from its branches, carving "Me + T (Tree)" into the bark, and eating its apples. However, as the boy grows older, he spends less time with the tree and tends to visit it only when he wants material items at various stages of his life, or not coming to the tree alone (such as bringing a lady friend to the tree and carving "Me +Y.L." (her initials, often assumed to be an acronym for "young love") into the tree). In an effort to make the boy happy at each of these stages, the tree gives him parts of itself, which he can transform into material items, such as money (from its apples), a house (from its branches), and a boat (from its trunk). With every stage of giving, "the Tree was happy."

In the final pages, both the tree and the boy feel the sting of their respective "giving" and "taking" nature. When only a stump remains for the tree (including the carving "Me + T"), it is not happy, at least at that moment. The boy returns as a tired elderly man to meet the tree once more. It tells him it is sad because it cannot provide him shade, apples, or any materials like in the past. He ignores this (because his teeth are too weak for apples, and he is too old to swing on branches and too tired to climb her trunk) and states that all he wants is "a quiet place to sit and rest," which the tree, who is weak being just a stump, could provide. With this final stage of giving, "the Tree was happy."

As you can see, the moral of the story is to be a giver rather than a taker, and this is an important lesson to include in an onboarding overview. If you want a positive corporate culture with long-term positive, happy, and talented employees, consider adding this book to your must-read list for all employees!


Image Credit: Amazon.

Leaders, Employees, and Spotlights

Today is Step in the Spotlight Day, which is the perfect segue to today’s Q&A. Step in the Spotlight Day was first celebrated in 2008, and its aim is to encourage people to sharpen their skills to attract attention and grow their businesses. Recently, I connected with James Schofield from Nova Scotia, Canada, and invited him to appear here on my Blog in a Q&A discussion about leadership, onboarding, and the employee experience. Highlights of our conversation follow a brief introduction.

James Schofield is an experienced business coach with a specialization in Human Resource Management, specifically in the areas of Talent Attraction and Retention. He is a Partner at Roman 3 Solutions, Inc., where he leads Roman 3’s implementation team, helping organizations identify and develop a productive, profitable, and inclusive workplace culture.

QUESTION: How do you explain the importance of creating a positive EMPLOYEE EXPERIENCE to leaders who sit too high atop the C-Suite to understand?
JAMES SCHOFIELD: This is a common struggle in most workplaces, and we are asked this all the time. How do you connect organizational culture and the employee experience to business performance and outcomes?

One of the ways that we articulate that connection is something we call Productivity Insulation, which is the idea that organizational productivity and performance is only as efficient as how well you have insulated it. Like insulation in your home, if you do not invest in the things that will keep it well insulated, then your heat seeps out through your windows, doors, roof, and foundation. The key with poor insulation is that the expensive problems it causes do not show up as an item on your household budget. They are hidden expenses that make everything else so much more costly.

With productivity, the costs that come with poor insulation are things like slow and unreliable work, opportunity costs of not having the talent you need to take on new projects, customer loss when dissatisfied employees provide unsatisfactory customer service, replacement and on-boarding costs of high turnover, over budget and over deadline change management, etc. Just like the issues with home insulation, the problems caused by Productivity Insulation don’t show up on your balance sheet.

A business lives and dies by the people in it. Anything that requires people is dependent on the employee experience to be productive and efficient. This is something that the C-Suite knows, but sometimes they need to be reminded of how important the connections are.

TWEET THIS: A business lives and dies by the people in it. ~@JamesFromRoman3 #LeadershipTip #EmployeeExperience #DebbieLaskeysBlog

QUESTION: What elements do you think are critical to create a successful ONBOARDING program?
JAMES SCHOFIELD: Clear expectations and belonging.

One of the most important parts of starting a new job is to clearly know what is expected of you, and how success is measured. A common mistake that many workplaces make is expecting employees to figure out for themselves where the boundaries are, and how their coworkers and supervisors will measure their efforts. There is a lot of anxiety that comes with unknown expectations and a lack of transparency of how your efforts will be measured and assessed.

As for belonging, part of onboarding should be about the organization getting to know you, as much as your getting to know the organization. Encouraging people to share their thoughts and ideas, allowing for their unique perspectives, a chance to show their skills, and an authentic respect of someone’s true self. Too many organizations expect assimilation. The idea that “To ‘fit in,’ you need to look like us and sound like us. You can have different thoughts and perspectives, as long as you keep them to yourself.” This can be support thorough clear and transparent commitment, followed by authentic actions that actively encourage psychological safety.

QUESTION: How can a CEO/President be an effective brand ambassador?
JAMES SCHOFIELD: By demonstrating Authenticity, Integrity, and Transparency.

[1] When a CEO is authentic and sincere, it makes them more trustworthy and relatable.
[2] When a CEO is willing to not sacrifice what is right for what is easy or what is popular, it allows people to trust and respect the CEO. Consistently making the right choice, especially when it is the tough choice, builds respect and even those who may disagree on what constitutes the “right choice” can respect your ability to act with integrity.
[3] When a CEO is willing to be transparent and encourage others to do the same, it makes the general public more accepting of their organization, warts and all.
[4] When we see a CEO or brand ambassador who consistently acts with integrity, is being authentic, and is transparent, they naturally create a pull, a desire to be a part of what they’re doing. People are far more likely to give them the benefit of the doubt because we can trust that they are telling us the truth.

QUESTION: There is a new title in the C-Suite: Chief Happiness Officer. What do you make of this, and can it, or should it, become standard in all organizations? Or is this just marketing buzz?

(Here's the article:
https://www.fastcompany.com/40582655/employers-your-idea-about-employee-happiness-is-all-wrong)

JAMES SCHOFIELD: There is a lot of great research that links happiness to better productivity and work. The work by Shawn Achor comes to mind. But the mistake that companies often make is that happiness is the complete equal to motivation, enthusiasm, and productivity. When the harsh truth is, it’s not. Happiness is a natural by-product of workplaces where people feel included and engaged in their work. But happiness alone is not the same thing. You can be happy and complacent. Or happy and unmotivated. Happiness cannot be the final goal, but a milestone along the way.

So, my opinion is that the focus on Chief Happiness Officers is benign at best. My concern is that it is emblematic of how poorly we understand how a workplace culture is built. I will admit that it is a step in the right direction, showing the importance of the employee experience and that it is valued by senior leadership, but I’m concerned that it is style over substance.

QUESTION: Which leaders inspire you, from business or history, and why?
JAMES SCHOFIELD: If I’m being honest, I am not inspired by business leaders, celebrities, athletes, or personalities. I have been very fortunate to have many people in my life who have had a substantial impact on who I am, and living up to the faith they have placed in me is a source of inspiration.

I know that’s a bit of a non-answer, but actions, not people, inspire (me at least). That being said, there’s a great, recent example, of one person whose actions I admire, and that is author Brandon Sanderson. He is a fantasy author and recently had his popularity skyrocket after launching the most successful Kickstarter ever, when he raised something like $40 million.  

Due to his immense success, he has been approached by many companies wanting to gain the rights to distribute his works (I believe it was specific to audio book format) and offered him 100% of the proceeds in order to draw more people to their platforms (where industry average would be around 40% or something ridiculous). He used his influence not to negotiate a good deal just for himself, but instead, he negotiated that all authors who used the platform would get a higher percentage, effectively increasing potential earnings for hundreds if not thousands of aspiring authors.

This I respect, and these types of actions do inspire me to operate my business in a way that does good for others.

QUESTION: One of my favorite leadership quotes is from author and consultant Mark Herbert (@NewParadigmer on Twitter): “Leadership doesn't require you to be the smartest person in the room. It requires you to block and tackle for others.” What does this quote mean to you?
JAMES SCHOFIELD: To me, it means that you don’t have to have all the answers. You don’t have to pretend to be infallible. Your job is to empower others. A good leader does not demand the spotlight, they shine the spotlight on others.

TWEET THIS: A good leader does not demand the spotlight, they shine the spotlight on others. ~@JamesFromRoman3 #LeadershipTip #EmployeeExperience #DebbieLaskeysBlog

My thanks to James for sharing his employee experience and leadership insights and for appearing here on my Blog.

Connect with James at these links:
Podcast: https://www.roman3.ca/podcast
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCCtyRRzf1P8woNWhpQmZFPQ
Company on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/roman3
James on Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/JamesFromRoman3
James on Linkedin https://www.linkedin.com/in/jamespschofield/

Image Credit: Daniel van den Berg via Unsplash.

Tips to Improve Your Organization’s Employee Experience

Today is Employee Appreciation Day, and to celebrate, I’d like to welcome Marli Rusen to my blog in a Q&A about the employee experience, corporate culture, workplace diversity, and the role of human resources.

First, a little background about Employee Appreciation Day – and then a brief bio about Marli Rusen from British Columbia, Canada. Observed on the first Friday in March, Employee Appreciation Day was started in 1995 by Dr. Bob Nelson, initially to celebrate the publication of his book, “1001 Ways to Reward Employees,” which has expanded into “1501 Ways to Reward Employees.” The purpose was to remind employers to thank their employees when they do good work. So, as your organization considers how to best appreciate, recognize, and value your employees, read on for some amazing insights.

Marli Rusen brings many years of experience as a labor, employment, and human rights lawyer to her current work as a labor arbitrator, mediator, expert in workplace conflict resolution, and memorable keynote speaker. After working as a lawyer for 15 years, Marli made the decision that she wanted to make a positive difference in a proactive role when conflicts arose. For the last 15 years, she has served in a problem-solving, mediator role, working closely with all parties to help them arrive at a consensual resolution. She designs each mediation in a way that best meets the unique dynamics and issues with which the parties are faced to maximize the likelihood of success. Over the years, Marli has developed proactive and practical tools to help leaders resolve complex team dynamics that affect productivity, retention, and engagement. This has culminated in her creation of the MIRROR Method, a practical six-step program for leaders to follow in the face of team disruption and dysfunction. The MIRROR Method has been adopted with resounding success by numerous organizations.

QUESTION: You launched your new book entitled, "Walking on Eggshells? A Practical Guide to Resolving Stressful Conflict at Work and Home.” What are some key take-aways?
MARLI RUSEN: Here are some:

Conflict is inevitable and not necessarily a bad thing. Often, we incorrectly equate disagreement with disrespect. In fact, the mantra of “We all think the same here” is dysfunctional. Allowing for respectful discussions around difference and diversity will lead to progress. Forced consensus, however, will paralyze progress. We should not be freaked out by having or allowing differences of opinion in our workplaces.

Having said that, disagreements may become disrespectful, and conflict may become dysfunctional if accompanied by disrespectful or disruptive behavior/communication. In these situations, it is not the disagreement/conflict that causes the disrespect, it is the manner in which individuals speak to, speak about, or treat those around them, particularly those with whom they disagree.

When disagreements, disrespect, and disruption arise, it is critical to resolve them, where possible, in an early, informal, and respectful manner, using a clearly established set of ground rules. Examples of these are outlined in “Walking on Eggshells.” It is so important to understand and agree upon etiquette for having these types of conversations. This includes agreement on where and when to have these discussions and expectations on how to speak and listen to each other during them. These “rules of engagement” should be applied consistently and fairly to all, regardless of who is having the conversation.

SHARE THIS: We should not be freaked out by having or allowing differences of opinion in our workplaces. ~@MarliRusen #EmployeeExperience #DebbieLaskeysBlog

QUESTION: Your “MIRROR Method” book provides leaders with a six-step framework to diagnose and remedy workplace dysfunction, restore trust and communication, and build powerfully dynamic teams. Please provide an overview.
MARLI RUSEN: Many leaders are promoted without having the necessary training on how to lead effectively. They want to lead but don’t have the tools to show up as a leader (versus as an employee). They often learn through trial and error, at their expense and at the expense of those who report to them.

Through my MIRROR Method, the moment an issue happens on their team, I walk them through a 6-step process toward defensible and respectful resolution. The process will be FAIR, EQUITABLE, and BALANCED. The decision may not “feel” fair by the employee – but, objectively speaking, the process leading up to that decision will be.

QUESTION: Since the overall employee experience begins with onboarding, how would you create a memorable and positive onboarding experience?
MARLI RUSEN: There are three C’s of onboarding. They are:

Clarity: When roles, responsibilities, and work-related expectations are clarified at the outset, there is no wasted time on scavenging, that is, searching for basic answers on how to get things done. Employees need to be told, for example, who on each team is responsible for what; how their work intersects with and impacts others; and who they can go to with questions and concerns; etc.

Communication: Ongoing communication is critical. Since everyone communicates differently, it is preferable for leaders to engage in customized messaging and support for their staff. Some may prefer feedback in writing (such as email); whereas others may prefer verbal and hands-on direction. Also, people learn differently. When it comes to communication, coaching, and otherwise, remember that “No one size fits all.” This is especially important in the context of cultural diversity and neurodiversity. Meet your team members where they are and help them learn in a manner that best works for them. Be responsive and fluid as a leader.

Connection: From day one, employees want to feel valued, so leaders must make the time to value them in a demonstrable manner. New employees should also be paired with a longer-term employee, someone who enjoys and thrives in this role. This will help avoid the unwelcome wagon: where a disinterested team member assigned to mentor a new employee speaks poorly about the workplace and pays “lip service” to their role as mentor.
 

SHARE THIS: From day one, employees want to feel valued. ~@MarliRusen #EmployeeExperience #EmployerBranding #DebbieLaskeysBlog

QUESTION: There is a lot of buzz that there should be a HR position/expert at the C-Suite table. What are your thoughts?
MARLI RUSEN: Absolutely.

Human Resources is an area of expertise that requires education and experience. Consider these specialty areas: labor relations, retention and recruitment, onboarding and training, occupational health and safety, bullying and harassment, discrimination in hiring/firing, and many others.

Companies need someone from HR to handle these matters correctly for the benefit of the organization as well as from a legal standpoint. It would not be appropriate for me to review and opine on financial documents given my lack of expertise and training in finance. Similarly, I would not expect a member of the C-Suite to exclusively decide on HR-related processes and decisions when they lack related education and expertise.
 
QUESTION: There are many new titles for the head of personnel, aka Human Resources, including: Chief Happiness Officer, Chief People Officer, Chief Talent Officer, Chief Encouragement Officer, to name a few. What are your thoughts to change the title in order to improve the position’s value to all employees?
MARLI RUSEN: That’s a good question.

The title of Human Resources covers the myriad of responsibilities performed by the HR department. The other titles you mention are too limited in scope and fail to recognize the many roles and responsibilities assigned to those who work in this field.

For me, what’s more important than the title is that employees and leaders clearly understand the mandate of the HR department in their organization.
 
Organizations use their HR Departments differently. Some are neutral advisors for everyone in the workplace. In others, such as, certain unionized organizations, HR attends meetings as the “management-representative.” In certain workplaces, the same HR employee who meets with an employee in confidence about their personal struggles is later questioning them in a workplace investigation.

The confusion and lack of communication around the mandate of HR has created internal tensions and mistrust. We need to be honest and clear with employees and managers as to what HR may reasonably offer – and what it cannot.

Finally, regardless of the specific mandate attached to an HR department, it is the role model for an entire organization. Its treatment of others, including its processes around decision-making and conflict-resolution, sets the tone for the culture of the organization. For this reason, HR leaders and staff need to be mindful of how they communicate, how they treat all employees and leaders, how they handle conflict resolution, and much, much more.

SHARE THIS: Human Resources is the role model for an entire organization. ~@MarliRusen #EmployeeExperience #DebbieLaskeysBlog

QUESTION: What are the three key elements that a leadership team can do to create and maintain a positive corporate culture?
MARLI RUSEN: One of my favorite quotes regarding this topic is, “Employees don’t want the annual BBQ, they want day-to-day respect.” 

There are three R’s to answer this question:
Respectful conduct: Leaders need to walk the talk to show employees that they mean what they say. They cannot say one thing and do the opposite. The world of double standards is no more.

Respectful decision-making: Leaders must not show favoritism in their decision-making. Their decisions must be rooted in objective, work-related information, based on the best interests of the organization. Those decisions should be communicated in a respectful, consistent, and transparent manner.

Respectful accountability: Leaders need to effectively and respectfully manage disruptive behavior and poor performance that arises on their team. They cannot “disappear” in the face of conflict and controversy. They must actively engage with and manage conflict to ensure it is resolved in a timely manner.

A leader’s portfolio must contain expectations and tools for conflict resolution. In order build and maintain respectful and productive workplace cultures, conflict management must be treated as a necessary and fundamental leadership competency.
 

SHARE THIS: Employees don’t want the annual BBQ, they want day-to-day respect. ~@MarliRusen #EmployeeExperience #WorkplaceCulture #DebbieLaskeysBlog

SHARE THIS: Conflict management must be treated as a necessary and fundamental leadership competency. ~@MarliRusen #LeadershipTip #DebbieLaskeysBlog

QUESTION: Lastly, one of my favorite quotes about leadership is from Arnold Glasow, an American businessman often cited in the Wall Street Journal, Forbes, and other publications, “A good leader takes a little more than his share of the blame, a little less than his share of the credit.” What does this quote mean to you?
MARLI RUSEN: I agree but would go further. For organizations to thrive and advance, you need to create space and opportunity for innovation and growth. Employees need to feel confident to respectfully challenge themselves, raise concerns and ideas with their leaders, and question the status quo. They cannot do so when they operate in fear of making mistakes.

Leaders who “take a little more than their share of blame” don’t point fingers or shame their team. They celebrate the wins and find solutions to the losses. This does not mean that mistakes are not addressed. It simply means that they are resolved in a fair, confidential and respectful manner. If a leader shows consistent integrity and kindness, in good times and bad, the result will be loyal, committed, and engaged employees. Respectful and inclusive leadership does not cost a cent – and its benefits are priceless.

My profound thanks to Marli for sharing her workplace insights and for appearing here on my Blog.

Image Credit: Harry Adhi via Vecteezy.

Connect with Marli at these links:
Twitter: @MarliRusen
Facebook: /marlifrusen
LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/marli-rusen
Website: https://themirrormethod.ca
Book: Walking on Eggshells: https://themirrormethod.ca/product/walking-on-eggshells-guide-to-resolving-stressful-conflict/
Book: The Mirror Method: https://themirrormethod.ca/product/the-mirror-method-book/

Leaders Don't Have to Be the Star of the Show!

 

Today, in honor of the final game day of the 2022 football season, I welcome Ron Oltmanns to my Blog for a Q&A discussion about leadership with a final question that relates to football. As a member of the Twitterverse for more than 13 years, I always enjoy meeting new people and learning from them. To quote Matthew Kobach (@mkobach), "Twitter is a key that unlocks thousands of doors, some of which you never even knew existed." Highlights of my conversation with Ron follow a brief introduction.

Ron Oltmanns is the founder of Leadskill, a consultancy specializing in developing leaders and teams for business impact. He has more than 25 years of experience in consulting and education with much of that time spent coaching and training business people. Based on his work in the corporate arena, small businesses, and startups in the United States and Asia, he has developed deep perspective on what makes people successful and what gets in their way. Leadskill has conducted workforce assessments, psychometric testing, and leadership development programs in multiple countries. Born in Venezuela, Ron grew up in the United States, and also lived in Asia for eight years. Now a Texan, he lives in Houston, with his wife Angela, and they have two grown sons.

QUESTION: You use your Twitter introductory space to say, "The best investment a leader can make is their self awareness and their team's emotional intelligence." Can you please elaborate?
RON OLTMANNS: Self awareness is a tricky thing. Most people would say they have it, and way more than half of the leaders that I talk to think they have above average self-awareness, which is impossible. How could 80-90% of leaders be above average?!

I have found that ALL leaders (myself included) could benefit from greater self-awareness. When leaders admit that they aren’t as self-aware as they’d like to be, but they’re working on it, something interesting occurs. I’ve noticed that it almost always results in their team's paying more attention to their own emotional intelligence. Greater emotional intelligence (EQ) pays a big dividend. People take better care of customers, and they work better together when they grow their EQ.

[Note: According to Wikipedia, Emotional intelligence is most often defined as the ability to perceive, use, understand, manage, and handle emotions.]

QUESTION: You feature something called a FEELINGS WHEEL on your website. Can you please explain?
RON OLTMANNS: A key part of emotional intelligence is being aware of what you’re feeling. Research at UCLA several years ago proved that when you can name what you’re feeling, you’re much better able to manage your emotions.

Most of us have a pretty limited working vocabulary for what we’re feeling. A feelings wheel has an expanded set of feeling words arranged in a logical way so that you can find the right word to express what you’re feeling. Just doing that can increase your self-awareness, and when you are able to share specifically what you’re feeling with others, it creates a more empathetic and supportive environment at work. The feelings wheel is a great tool for making emotions more discussable.

[Readers can learn more at this link: https://leadskill.com/feelings-wheel/; and there are also several different versions of the wheel for beginners to advanced users in the online shop.]

QUESTION: On a post on your blog entitled "The Myths of Leadership," you wrote, "Leaders are only as strong as the people who follow them." Can you please share highlights from that inspiring post?

[Read the full post here: https://leadskill.com/myths-of-leadership]

RON OLTMANNS: As I grew in my career and interacted with more leaders, I found that the usual stereotypes of leaders that I carried in my head were just wrong. Myths, like leaders, are just born that way, or “leaders” are loud and powerful people are two misconceptions. I shared a couple more in that post.

We tend to think of leaders as powerful and charismatic people that can move a group of people. That’s sometimes true. But I’ve noticed it’s much more common to find leaders who are pretty ordinary people who are surrounded by bright and talented people.

When people are willing to follow or yield to a leader, that gives them power. When people become unwilling to follow or trust a leader, they lose their power. I encourage leaders to work hard to be worthy of the trust that people are placing in their hands.

SHARE THIS: When people are willing to follow or yield to a leader, that gives them power. ~@ronoltmanns #LeadershipTip #DebbieLaskeysBlog

QUESTION: If you could have dinner with any three leaders from history or the current era, who would you choose, and why?
RON OLTMANNS: This is a fun question! Of course there are many I’d like to have dinner with, but here are three that come to mind.

[1] Socrates. He was famous for asking questions and guiding people to examine the flaws in their beliefs. According to his students, he was a great dinner guest and maybe he was the first real executive coach.

[2] Confucius. I got to live and work in China for several years, and they have the oldest living civilization on the planet. There are many myths about Confucius, and I’d like to really meet the man himself and see what he would say about China today as well as his views on modern society and how we could make it work better for everyone.

[3] Margaret Thatcher. Besides being the first female Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, she had a great influence in the 1980’s when I was growing up. The UK was not the most powerful nation on earth, and I’d like to talk with her about how to lead with influence when you can’t command people and just flex your power.

QUESTION: One of my favorite leadership quotes is from author and consultant Mark Herbert (@NewParadigmer on Twitter): "Leadership doesn't require you to be the smartest person in the room. It requires you to block and tackle for others." What does this quote mean to you?
RON OLTMANNS: In American football, blocking and tackling are fundamental skills you have to learn and drill. Blocking is how you run plays, whether it's rushing or passing the ball. Tackling is fundamental defense; unless you tackle the guy with the ball, they’re going to score on you.

So, the quote says you don’t have to be the smartest person in the room, meaning the leader doesn’t have to be the star of the show. If they block for others or tackle the opponent, they’re creating a team. Leaders realize that a good team can run circles around a lone superstar. Without blocking and tackling, you don’t have a functional team — just 11 individuals on the field. Leaders with a good functioning team will mow down individual stars every day.

SHARE THIS: The leader doesn’t have to be the star of the show. ~@ronoltmanns #LeadershipTip #DebbieLaskeysBlog

My thanks to Ron for sharing his leadership insights and for appearing here on my Blog...who else is looking forward to the Super Bowl and the ads? Check back following the Super Bowl game for my annual review of the ads.


Image Credit: Barry Weatherall via Unsplash.

Connect with Ron at these links:
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Website: https://leadskill.com
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Culture Starts at the Top - But All Employees Shape It

To quote Matthew Kobach (@mkobach), "Twitter is a key that unlocks thousands of doors, some of which you never even knew existed." As a member of the Twitterverse for 13 years, I always enjoy meeting new people and learning from them. I recently connected with Shani Magosky from New York, and invited her to appear here on my Blog in a Q&A discussion about leadership, onboarding, corporate culture, and the employee experience. Highlights of our conversation follow a brief introduction.

After many years of diverse leadership experience across multiple industries, Shani Magosky started her leadership development consulting and executive coaching practice, The LeaderShift Project. Having worked for venerable institutions and unknown startups, in a range of economies from bubble to recession, and in revenue-producing, advisory, and senior leader roles, Shani's broad experience enables her to help executives and teams achieve "BHAGs" (Big Hairy Audacious Goals) at a wide range of Fortune 500 and private companies, startups, universities, trade groups, and nonprofits. In addition, Shani designs and facilitates breakthrough team coaching and other highly interactive workshops that are relevant, fun, and memorable so learning has the best chance of being retained and applied on the job. She is also the author of The Better Boss Blueprint and host of The LeaderShifter Show podcast. In her free time, Shani can be found rock climbing, mid-vinyasa at her favorite yoga studio, hurtling down black diamond slopes, riding her Harley, or watching college football.

QUESTION: You wrote an e-book about hiring in the post-pandemic era. Can you briefly explain what led you to write the e-book, and also share some of the highlights?

(Check out the e-book at this link: https://theleadershiftproject.com/free-resources/post-covid-hiring/)

SHANI MAGOSKY: I observed that many of my clients and other employers were having difficulty finding qualified candidates. According to a ManpowerGroup survey, 69% of U.S. employers are struggling to fill jobs. In 2010, it was only 14%. Of course, this dynamic relates to the "Great Resignation," but it’s broader than that. Company culture also plays a huge role in attracting and retaining top talent.

The e-book was created to help organizations take steps to make changes within. A few tips focus on nontraditional ways to find more candidates and how to identify "good clay" talent with transferable skills. But most of what I offered was advice on how to adjust internal hiring practices.

To clarify further, I envision "good clay" talent as individuals who share an organization's values and are passionate about an org's products and services. It is easy to "shape" these people into acquiring the knowledge and skills they will need to succeed in their new roles. Some of their qualities might include: high emotional intelligence, innovative thinking and creativity, sincere motivation, the desire to learn continuously, and a growth mindset.

QUESTION: How can all members of the C-Suite care more about onboarding, which directly impacts corporate culture and employee engagement?
SHANI MAGOSKY: The employee experience (EX) doesn’t start with onboarding; rather, it starts the moment a candidate reads a job description because it is emblematic of the culture. Culture starts at the top, so the C-Suite is responsible for cultivating culture and brand, both internally and externally.

Executives should ensure that they hire the right Human Resources leaders who will carry out the mandates for an EX that aligns with a culture and brand. I have seen too many otherwise great companies with CHROs who do more harm than good for the culture, and that is ultimately the CEO who is responsible for tolerating that.

The onboarding process should not only feature relevant and high-quality training, but also pay equal attention to integrating new hires into the team to build meaningful connections with their colleagues from the start.

All employees, not just people leaders, should be held accountable for creating a positive corporate culture. The cost of turnover is high and almost always underestimated because people don’t consider the costs that are more difficult to quantify, such as, the opportunity cost associated with a vacant role and damage done to customer relationships.

A sense of belonging, authentic connections, trust, and alignment with the company's mission, values, and culture are the primary drivers of employee engagement and retention.

TWEET THIS: Culture starts at the top, so the C-Suite is responsible for cultivating culture and brand, both internally and externally. ~@leadershiftproj #DebbieLaskeysBlog

TWEET THIS: All employees, not just people leaders, should be held accountable for creating a positive corporate culture. ~@leadershiftproj #DebbieLaskeysBlog

QUESTION: Many years ago, I had a boss who told me "to lower (my) expectations" when it came to the employees who reported to me. How would you have responded in that situation?
SHANI MAGOSKY: Leaders need to look in the mirror and ask themselves what role they play (or not) in setting their team members up for success. Leaders should coach their teams instead of simply teaching and directing. Coaching unlocks potential that no amount of knowledge ever will. Coaching empowers people to solve their own problems, make better decisions, shift their mindsets and habits, and contributes to ongoing career development. Coaching is what supports talent in important areas that can not be taught or demanded.

It's not always easy to be a coach, especially if one is trying to help someone who doesn't want to be helped. Effective leaders must ultimately recognize when a person may not be the right fit. Paraphrasing from Jim Collins’ book Good to Great, we must have the right people in the right seats on the right bus.

Besides, how does that reflect on a leader if they have low expectations? On top of that perception problem, a toxic environment is created for the high performing members of a team when consistently low performers aren’t managed out.

TWEET THIS: Leaders should coach their teams instead of simply teaching and directing. ~@leadershiftproj #LeadershipTip #DebbieLaskeysBlog

TWEET THIS: We must have the right people in the right seats on the right bus. ~Jim Collins via @leadershiftproj #EmployerBranding #DebbieLaskeysBlog

QUESTION: If you could have dinner with any five leaders from history or corporate America, who would you choose and why?
SHANI MAGOSKY: Here are my five:
(1) My grandfather Simon died before I was born, and I’m named for him. Everyone who knew him tells me what an incredible man he was. Smart, loving, funny, great son/father/friend/doctor. He served our country in WWII operating on soldiers in flight who might not make it to a military hospital alive. He was a badass, and I’m so sorry I never got to meet or get to know him.
(2) Elon Musk - no brainer; no explanation needed!
(3) Deputy Director of DARPA - I’m inspired and grateful for the innovative technologies they’ve developed not only for national security but also for organizations and the world. I use their acronym VUCA (volatile, uncertain, complex, ambiguous) with leaders all the time to describe the business climate in which they operate in today.
(4) Michelle Obama - I admire her so much not only for how she represented the role of First Lady but also how she put her family first while living in the White House when it was not easy to do. She describes in her book about telling the Secret Service they needed to figure out how the Obama girls could still do play dates at friends’ homes. And she wouldn’t take no for an answer.
(5) Ronald Regan - to learn first hand about the end of the Cold War.

QUESTION: One of my favorite leadership quotes is from author and consultant Mark Herbert (@NewParadigmer on Twitter): "Leadership doesn't require you to be the smartest person in the room. It requires you to block and tackle for others." What does this quote mean to you?
SHANI MAGOSKY: I have to admit that I both agree and disagree with this quote. Leaders should block and tackle for others. Their position in the organization allows them to mitigate or remove bottlenecks and/or barriers to success so individuals and teams can reach their goals.

However, sometimes, employees should navigate these situations for themselves in order to learn and grow. Rather than blocking, tackling, and giving all the answers, help people come up with their own solutions when such circumstances arise (this goes back to coaching). If part of the solution entails a leader stepping in to block/tackle, then do it. But don’t assume it’s necessary all the time because it could thwart their development and be disempowering.


My thanks to Shani for sharing her leadership insights and for appearing here on my Blog.

Image Credit: Debbie Laskey, MBA.


Connect with Shani on these links:
Company Website: https://theleadershiftproject.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/theleadershiftproject
Twitter: https://twitter.com/leadershiftproj
Instagram: https://www.instagramcom/theleadershiftproject/
LinkedIn-Shani’s Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/shanimagosky/
LinkedIn-The LeaderShift Project Company Page: https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-leadershift-project/
YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCyMzJQndiH6AvvdWbb_cygw