September 25, 2024

Team Building Activities For Your In-Office or Hybrid Team

September 25, 2024/ Bruce Mayhew

Almost every client I work with has some variation of a hybrid work model; it is the new normal for most businesses. There is no doubt that in our post pandemic world, employees’ expectations have changed. Or should I say the dreams employees had for the last 30+ years for a hybrid workspace are the same, it’s just that employees whose work was able to pivot during the pandemic now have confidence and proof they can work remotely and be high-producing.

But whether the dream team you are part of has any remote qualities or not, all of our workspaces have become faster paced and more isolating, not to mention that more and more our teams are made up of unique, wonderful individuals from different generations and different backgrounds. So, in a workspace where much of our communication is by email or some type of instant message system, it has become more important to put plans in place to intentionally create a sense of community that invigorates a high-functioning and very enjoyable workspace. This means including team-building activities into your strategic plans.

What’s In It For The Company
When individuals and teams feel a sense of connection and are part of an inclusive, supportive, trusting workspace, they typically create higher quality work, are happier (find joy) with their work and are more loyal to the company. And the old saying two heads are better than one still rings true, especially when it comes to creativity and problem solving. Even introverted people want and need to feel they fit into the company culture, they need to feel they are important to the team, their boss and their product / service.

What’s In It For The Employee
The benefits of working / connecting in-person for the employee can actually quite important to an employees longer-term career success. Especially if you are new to your career, know that the more time you spend in-person with your coworkers, the greater the likely benefit to the experience you gather, your learning and therefore your career. I will address this more comprehensive post later this year. Feeling a sense of belonging and caring are big parts of our successful lives at work… and with or family and friends. Even the most introverted or independent people need to feel care for and cared by others - and in this case their teammates, suppliers and customers / clients.

We Can Do More Than a Get-Together
With hybrid work teams becoming increasingly popular, we must take extra effort to create opportunities for our teams to come together as we move away from more traditional in-person work environments. But we can do more that get them to come together for a lunch or for a meeting and hope for the best. We can build team connections and promote learning of each other and their professional expertise which is great for the company and the employee. And let’s face it, in today’s workplaces, our younger employees are looking for the companies they have chosen to work for and invest their career hours / years in, to invest back into their professional success, whether remote or in-person

Hybrid Activities Are Possible
When your team building activities include people who are remote, there is a risk of a bit less ‘connection’ being made than if they were in-person, but with the right planning, the right technology and the right event it will still add value. And, it’s still better than doing nothing at all. It is likely hybrid team building will also take a bit more effort and logistic coordination. Side note, if you are going to upgrade your tech in the next year or so, look for flexibility and ease and maximum remote participation engagement opportunities. As someone who has gone into many offices over the last few years, some systems are so complex they need an IT person on hand while others are easy plug in and play options.

Team Building Activity Examples
The following are 17 team-building activities, many of which I’ve used or seen being used that can build familiarity, harmony and trust. And to be honest, some I like, some I like a lot and some are not my cup of tea. Most of these activities can be done on a budget, ensuring that your hybrid employees remain engaged and connected on an ongoing basis!

I find team building activities as often having two main approaches. Both approaches build connection, but they do it in slightly different ways:

One where the primary focus is to help people get to know each other and discover how much they have in common
One has a primary focus on people accomplishing a task or problem solving together.

Finding the best activities for your team largely depends on what you are trying to accomplish and how big or small your team is. When planning to make team building a regular event, my preference is to often use activities that can be set up, competed, and taken down with ease as well as activities that cost little or nothing. This allows them to be repeated with your team again and again. And then, once or twice a year include a more elaborate event like training events or external group activities where food, travel, conference fees and/or hiring an external facilitator or corporate trainer may be required. And if there is a cost, invest wisely, show your team that their wellbeing, education, and career development is an investment you take seriously.

How do we build a sense of belonging within a hybrid or partially hybrid work model?

1. Explore and / or Re-energize Your Team / Company Values.
I like this team building activity a lot since it explores what your core values mean.
Can be done in person or virtually.
This exercise is easy, not physical and doesn’t take much preparation.
There is a lot of variability with this team building activity. How you do this largely depends on your goal(s), how large your team is and how much time you can spend in one session. The more people discuss what your values mean (or what values they think should be adopted), the more they will believe them and use them to make strategically aligned, and mutually beneficial decisions. For large groups, split participants into smaller groups of 4 or 6 people. When you have limited time, choose only one or two of your existing values to discuss. Do one or two others at a later meeting. Give your (or each) team 30 minutes to discuss what a value means from the following possibilities:

Your clients / customers
Your product
The customer service you offer
Instructions / user guide
As you would reference them in sales material or a sales call
During internal decision making if there are two or more opinions
To employee training
To hiring / onboarding

If you have multiple groups, when everyone comes back together, each team shares their ideas / input. Then, the whole group can find consensus. Listen for new approaches, solutions or even if new values arise. Encourage people to share their experiences or stories they have heard from other employees, customers and/or suppliers. Make note of those stories. It may not be important where the stories came from – and it may be better from a privacy perspective. Most often it is the story not the source that matters.

A follow-up option is to select one person from each group to form a sub-committee and over the next few weeks develop recommendations based on everyone’s input. Then, distribute this back to your broader team for their input.

I like this exercise because it can be used multiple times as you discuss all the values in your company / team. Once done about discussing what each value means you can start again and discuss how to improve on that behaviour / action given that value from a strategic review point of view.

2. Have a Week of Team Meetings
I like this team building activity, but you may miss some people on vacation or ill.
Can be done in person or virtually.
This exercise is easy, not physical and doesn’t take any preparation.
There is a lot of variability you can do with this team building activity. As the name says, book development meetings every day with your team. I recommend planning meetings at the same time – preferably first thing in the morning to discuss a specific topic (like values), or do an activity like play croquet in the hallways, make puzzles, or go for a walk, or on one day run a group croissant, bagel and coffee breakfast.. Most people are most creative and strategic in the mornings. Mornings also focus participants before they get busy with other priorities. The great part of this approach is your team does a lot of team building in short time. The unfortunate part is people who are sick or on vacation may be missed. Thia would be a good time to encourage virtual employees to come in the office on some days. Have fun with this. It is a good way to get a new team to know each other.

3. Find 4 Things in Common
I like this team building activity a lot.
Can be done in person or virtually.
This exercise is easy, not physical and doesn’t take any preparation.
Divide your group into subgroups of 4 to 6 people. I like to arrange people who work together and/or collaborate. This exercise builds familiarity. The idea is that the more your team members start realizing how much they have in common, the more they are likely to trust each other, collaborate, and communicate more effectively with each other.

Start by splitting participants into smaller groups of 3 or 4. Use larger groups if you have more time – and to add complexity. Ask each team to find 4 things they all have in common… outside of work. Ask them to be somewhat specific. For example, everyone eats lunch is too broad, but if pizza is everyone’s favourite food or none of them like pineapple on their pizza, that works. The beauty of this exercise is that not only do they find a few things they have in common; the process means they also discover so much more information about each other. When this happens instead of seeing Bruce as the Finance or IT guy, we suddenly start seeing him like someone who we have something in common with.

4. Go To Events Together
I like this team building activity a lot.
Can be done in person or virtually.
This exercise is easy, not physical and doesn’t take any preparation other than coordinating the event.
If you have teammates going to a conference or an event, try to get them to walk down together or sit next to each other on the flight, and for sure, experience workshops together. The shared experience will help them create a bond, and they will likely have casual conversation and get to know each other on the way. They will also likely have conversations specific to your industry or a project they are both involved in and together discover new approaches by talking with each other or from one of the speakers.

5. Shared Expertise
I like this team building activity a lot.
Can be done in person or virtually.
This exercise is usually easy, not physical but does take any preparation for one person or one team..
There are countless shared experiences. Not surprisingly I like the idea of bringing in an external speaker for skills training (like leadership, email etiquette or difficult conversations). If you decide to keep things internal, you can have a group meeting where different people or different departments share a 20-minute overview of something important in their department or specific focus or expertise.

For example, finance may want to give a refresher about how to prepare for the upcoming year end. Your people have a lot of expertise that they may not always be able to share – or easily share. You can also encourage your team members to showcase their unique skills and hobbies. Each month, give a chance for one team member to host an hour-long virtual “master class” on a topic they’re passionate about.

This allows team members to not only express their personal interests, but also learn new skills from one another.

6. Have a Leadership Fireside Chat
I like this team building activity a lot.
Can be done in person or virtually.
This exercise is easy, not physical and usually doesn’t take much preparation.
This is all about building trust and feeling like your leaders are part of the team and approachable.
The set-up can be variable to suite the location and/or the number of participants, but typically you will want to have one or a few leaders being very visible at table or on a few tall chairs. It may look like they are having a panel discussion. This is an opportunity for team members to ask questions either in person or they could submit them in writing in advance. Usually there are no restrictions to the questions if they are respectful and not overly personal. So, someone could ask what their favourite pastime is. They might also ask work-related questions, which is fine and should be answered clearly if the responses are not gossip, HR related about them or someone else, or some strategy related aspect that is not confirmed or not yet out in public.

7. Book Club or Movie Club
I like this team building activity.
Can be done in person or virtually.
This exercise is easy, not physical and takes very little preparation.
Book or Movie clubs are a great way for team members to learn about each other. This doesn’t have to be an all-in or nothing activity. For example, if you have a team of 10 people and 3 like to read, I’d encourage the 3 to form a club. They can start with selecting a book or movie. Then twice a month they can book a conference room or schedule a virtual call to discuss. I specifically like the idea of getting together over lunch – perhaps even bring in a special meal – this lets others see how much fun it is. And, if your team is hybrid, this gives club members an extra special reason to come into the office that day. There are many benefits to an entertainment club for your team, including having fun, bonding and improved trust.

Book Club With A Twist
I like this team building activity, and it can go a few ways.
Can be done in person or virtually.
This exercise is easy, not physical and takes very little preparation.
Let’s say you have a direct report of 6-people including you. Every two months (or whatever timeline you choose) one person recommends a book. The only criteria is it has to do with work. For example, it could be on Leadership, Time Management, Difficult Conversations.

The company buys one copy each for all 6 people who report into you and one more for the larger team library.

Then, for the first 4-weeks (as an example), everyone who reports into you is expected to read the book. On the 5th week there is a team meeting to share and discuss what each person has found most relevant about the book / the message. These points may be written up and placed with the book in the team library.

On week 6 there may be another team meeting about how to implement something from the book. Then, on week 8 or 9, it all starts over again with a new book.

Your larger team can each ‘check-out’ the library copy of the book out for 2-weeks. They can also recommend books for the library and/or the leaders.

8. Hybrid Scavenger Hunt and/or Clue Solving
I like this team building activity.
Can be done in person or virtually.
This exercise is easy, not physical and doesn’t take any preparation.
Divide your group into subgroups of 4 to 6 people. I like to arrange people who work together and/or collaborate.

Scavenger hunts should be a fun team-building activity and are great if you have people who are remote and in-person.

If you have people who are both remote and in-person, it works nicely to design teams to include both.

For your scavenger hunt or clue solve, have identical lists of both physical and on-line things and/or information to find, so both in-person and remote team members can add to the game.

These activities are usually great because they are mostly fun, support teamwork and collaboration, leadership, creativity, problem solving and most definitely… effective communication and managing expectations and problem-solving skills.

9. Play Jeopardy
I’m not a fan of activities like this that require a lot of set-up or potentially external software.
Can be done in person or virtually.
This exercise is easy, not physical.
Jeopardy is a classic game that most people know how to play.

You may want to divide your group into subgroups of 4 to 6 people. I like to arrange people who work together and/or collaborate. It is now possible to create a custom game of Jeopardy by using solutions like Fact Tile.

10. Play Bingo
I don’t mind this activity, but it does take a bit of set-up.
Can be done in person or virtually if people download bingo cards.
This exercise is easy, not physical. This game is all fun but is sometimes difficult to bring back to team learning or education.
You might want to divide your group into subgroups of 4 to 6 people. I like to arrange people who work together and/or collaborate.

Bingo is a classic game that virtually everyone knows how to play.

It adds to a bit of the fun if you can arrange prized for Bingo winners. It can include company or supplier merchandise to a half-day off to fun / joke gifts. IIt is now possible to find free online bingo cards using solutions like bingo blog post! Although I have not used it they also have an online Bingo number generator.

11. Don’t Peek, Blind Drawing
I like this team building activity because people learn about communication.
I’ve done it with clients, and it works well.
It costs virtually nothing and is easy to implement and/or scale up.
Pair up your team into pairs of 2 o r3 people. I like to arrange people who work together and/or collaborate. The beauty of smartphones and laptops allows this activity with people who are remote.

This fun activity reinforces the importance of listening and creativity and clearly demonstrates that two people can interpret information and instruction in very different ways, therefore the importance of responding and/or sharing back. It also is important to note that verbal communication is often far more accurate than just writing – but still has its challenges.

I like finding black & white drawings that are simple but will still be a bit of a challenge. I recommend giving instruction to participants that if they need to describe a flower, they cannot use the word flower. If they are drawing a wheel or a plane, they cannot use those words specifically either.

Have participants sit so they cannot see each other. Also, you do not want the speaker to see what the other person is drawing since that may influence their in-the-moment instruction. One person instructs and the other person draws. When they are done, and before they do a show and tell, I like to switch and have the drawer give instruction on a completely different picture. When all is done, reveal, laugh and discuss what they learned about communication.

12. Take A Walk
I do like this team building activity.
Can be done in person or virtually.
It costs nothing and is easy to implement and/or scale up. You can even turn it into a fun competition.
Pair up your team into pairs of two or more. The beauty of smartphones allows us to share a walk and have a conversation even when we have remote people so, it’s your option to create pairs of people who are both in-person, both remote or a mix of both. Why not have all three?

Have your pairs go for a walk together… with camera on. They can be looking at each other, or show / share where each other is walking and talk about what is interesting to them. If you are remote, perhaps take a walk around your garden and show it off. If you are downtown, take your partner on your favourite places for lunch, coffee – or a tour through the gym you go to. Spending time together helps create a bond and trust in the days and months that follow.

This team building activity builds familiarity, understanding of each other and trust which are important elements in any relationship.

13. Cooking Classes
I like this team building activity because people learn to communicate and usually have lots of fun.
It will be difficult to do in a hybrid environment.
It can cost a lot and be difficult to scale up.
It can take a fair amount of coordination.
I did one of these with one co-worker years ago. We planned it and paid for it on our own. I also did another with friends years later.

Cooking classes are a fun way to spend time getting to know other people and deepen relationships with coworkers and even friends and family. Usually, they require coworkers to take some time out of their own schedule The good thing is that usually people learn something, have fun and it cooking is often an activity where everyone is on a somewhat similar ability scale.

14. Potluck and or Cookbook Creation
I like this team building activity because people learn about each other.
Can be done in person or virtually… but for a taste experience it would be best if people could come into the office.
This exercise is easy, not physical and doesn’t take any preparation.
I did one of these when I was in college and two when I worked at an office.
I like this activity because it creates a level of familiarity and curiosity. If you end up creating a cookbook, you now have something you created to give to suppliers or customers which may increase the familiar relationships from this activity. Or you could invite suppliers or customers to participate.

An in-office potluck can be a lot of fun and you can make them theme oriented like desert or breakfast. One twist I did with friends at college was to have everyone bring in a main dish traditionally from their culture or that was a special / favourite dish from their family. A potluck can be a fun team-building activity where people get to know each other and build trust, but is a challenge if team mates need to stay remote.

15. Lunch Club
I like this team building activity, but it can take a fair amount of coordination.
Can be done in person or virtually.
This exercise is easy, not physical and doesn’t take any preparation.
I did one of these when I was in at work.
Block off time in your team’s calendars for an in-person, virtual or hybrid lunch club. You can each go your own way and pick up food or bring it in. Some of the fun of everyone bringing in whatever they like, people may learn about restaurants around the office they didn’t know about – or they may learn how good a cook you are. This can be a fun team-building activity where people get to know each other and build trust.

16. Casual Pre-Meeting Chat
Not my favourite team building activity.
Can be done in person or virtually.
This exercise is easy, not physical and doesn’t take any preparation.
Allow the first 5-minutes of meetings to be time where people talk casually. It is a low-key, casual way to develop familiarity with each other. This is not my favourite because I also value time management. I like meetings to start on time, stick to an agenda and end on time – or early. Pre-meeting chats also gives people permission to come to a meeting late because they know the official meeting will start late.

I like casual chat to happen more organically, so I would encourage people to walk to get a coffee together or have lunch together or spend the first 5-minutes in a day asking a coworker how their evening or morning was. A variation of this meeting idea that I do like is when people do arrive at meetings early, use this time to chat casually vs. picking up your smartphone and answering non-urgent email. I find this a very productive use of time until the meeting starts.

17. Ice Breaker Conversation Cards
Not my favourite team building activity.
Can be done in person or virtually.
There are professional cards like ‘Talking Point’ cards that can be purchase that have questions written on them. The conversation cards are meant to foster deeper connections and meaningful conversations between people / groups. The idea is you flip a card or choose a card and answer the question. It is a decent game to play to get to know the people on your team – however, for people who are reserved, new or who don’t fully trust the people they are playing with, it may feel a bit intrusive. A few examples of questions are:

What is inspiring you right now?
What do you wish you knew?
When do you feel most like yourself?
If all jobs paid the same, what job would you like?

Conclusion.
Have fun with these and most of all, let your people have fun. And like I said earlier, I like to try to get activities that build familiarity and trust as well as invest in their education and career by helping them learn.

NOTE: When I break teams into groups for discussions, I think about what my goal is. Sometimes I want to bring existing teams closer, so I arrange group members this way. Other times I want to build relationships between teams, so I make sure I mix up my group members with people from each company division.

Thank you for reading about Team Building Activities For Your In-Office or Hybrid Team. I know - it was a long post. I look forward to hearing from you if you have any questions.

Bruce

The What, Why and How of Vulnerable Leadership

March 15, 2024/ Bruce Mayhew

Researcher, speaker, New York Times bestseller Brené Brown is an expert on vulnerable leadership and the importance for us all to have courage, put ourselves out there and show more emotion. She – and others I’ll mention throughout this article write and speak about how vulnerability and building a culture of creativity, trust, and collaboration is important for organizations, leaders and of course employees to be successful and engaged.

Let’s start this discussion by exploring what vulnerability is. Vulnerability may look different for each of us. It depends on our personalities, our upbringing, our experiences and so much more. For some, vulnerability can mean fearing not always having the answers. It can mean searching for the courage to ask others for help. We can also feel vulnerable when we [should] say, “I was wrong” or “I made a mistake.” And I bet all of us have felt vulnerable when we’ve entered a room and discovered we don’t know anyone and/or don’t see anyone who looks like us.

So yes, there are many ways to feel vulnerable. At this point, as a leader you may be thinking, “If you want to see vulnerable – ask me to add this to my plate. How can I possibly find time in my already far too long To Do list to add one more thing – especially the idea of vulnerability?” And yet you still want to be the best leader you can be for yourself and your team. This is what makes you a terrific leader, even if you don’t [yet] have a formal position as a leader. So, what I suggest is that as you take a few minutes to read this article, ask yourself, “Is there one small step I can take?” And as you do this I invite you to think of vulnerability from a position leadership strength, not a weakness; an example of positivity and opportunity.

Now that we have a shared the idea to see vulnerability as a strength, let me outline two more important areas we will explore in the next few minutes:

The positive attributes of vulnerability.
How to build a culture that is safe and where everyone can be vulnerable.

The power of vulnerability in leadership. How great leaders see vulnerability as a strength, not a weakness.

You and I both know that leaders don’t have all the answers.

Success in today’s high tech, fast paced economy requires creativity and innovation at all levels of the organization. It also requires alignment across the team on our shared vision, mission and values (which I recommend be fine-tuned every year). For creativity and innovation to exist, every team and every company must work together towards creating a culture where people feel welcome to be themselves and show their emotions to their team, coworkers, clients, and suppliers. This doesn’t happen by accident.

When we believe we can be authentic at work, we are able to help build inspired solutions that will make us all proud and successful. The best leaders aren’t afraid to be vulnerable. Leaders who see vulnerability as a strength are able to build teams who are willing to dare greatly as Brené Brown might say. By embracing vulnerability, leaders create an environment that nurtures trust, opens channels of communication and listens to new ideas – from everyone. This is where a leader’s real strength can flourish as they help others collaborate and share their expertise.

In contrast, when leaders try to be all knowing and all-powerful they are not protecting themselves. Instead, they are putting their longer-term success at risk as well as the future success of their team.

How to build a culture that is safe and where everyone can be vulnerable?

From Brené Brown to perhaps the leading expert on Emotional Intelligence Dr. Daniel Goleman, to motivational speaker and author Simon Sinek to Canadian author focused on transformational leadership, social collaboration, and communication Celine Schillinger, they all agree great leaders create an environment of respect, safety, and curiosity that teams trust.

The power of vulnerability in leadership cannot be overstated. And while this all sounds amazing, you and I have years of pre-programing within our communities / cultures that has told us that vulnerability means weakness. It will take effort for you to unlearn some of our less helpful biases and past lessons and decide to forge a new path that sees vulnerability and showing emotion as strengths and opportunities. It’s time to embrace new ideas and new voices that will create relevant, timely and collaborative solutions that also help us feel engaged and proud.

To build a culture where everyone can be vulnerable, everyone on the team must be certain they are allowed to be creative and to start sentences with the words, “What if we were to…” as they begin to share inspired, improvised, half-baked ideas. Here are a few examples how you can start building a culture of trust.

Get to know each other. You don’t have to become best friends, but start seeing people as more than a j.o.b. Explore what you have in common. Do you have pets, a summer cottage, traveled through Greece? Knowing someone is a good way [not a guaranteed way] to begin trusting someone.
Set an example when you are not doing well… when you are struggling. For example, if you are exhausted, frustrated or stressed, it’s fair to send someone else to a meeting on your behalf because you need some down-time. Delegating has the bonus of letting that person know you trust their ability to stand-in for you. Another example is asking for help if you are struggling with a task. In this example you are proving that asking for help is not only OK, but expected. And the bonus here is that it may give a junior employee a feeling of pride to be able to mentor you.
If you see someone else feeling vulnerable or attacked, help them! They may not feel they can stand up for themselves so do it for them. This demonstrates you are paying attention and that you care. And the people who see you do this will know it is OK to stand up for someone else as well.
Always stand up for the organizational values. As I shared earlier, your organizational values must be respected by all. And everyone in leadership positions must set the example. If leaders ignore shared values, they are telling others it’s OK for them to ignore them as well and that this jeopardizes team alignment, efficiencies and so much more – including perhaps the importance of building / honoring respect and trust.

“Leadership is not about being in charge. It's about taking care of those in your charge.” Simon Sinek

And while leaders must set the intention, it is all of our responsibility to build a trusting, vulnerable, safe workspace. The following are guideline examples for you to consider and expand upon:

Cultivate openness where everyone knows that when they share ideas, observations and opinions that they will be heard and valued.
Know that it’s unacceptable to not listen to others (and to learn).
Never joke, tease or gossip about someone elses expense. Everyone must know there is no risk of being made to feel stupid or embarrassed.
Acknowledge that leaders likely have insight into broader goals and have greater decision-making responsibility and therefore may make decisions we don’t fully understand or agree to… but must support.
Know our worth is not placed on whether our ideas are accepted.
Know that we all make mistakes, and we will use them as an opportunity to learn, not an opportunity to judge, accuse or demonize us.
Know that while we share our ideas, we must also know they may not be fully adopted but may spark other ideas.
Agree that if we have an idea or suggestion that is out of scope of the immediate topic under discussion that it might be best to arrange a smaller one-on-one meeting with our leader or one of our co-workers and start a discussion there. Staying on-topic during a meeting is also important.

All this to say, you can achieve honest, respectful relationships with your whole team when you agree to how you will treat each other. When team members can be vulnerable with each other, creativity and innovation are enhanced,.

Share Without Oversharing

Privacy and boundaries still exists in a vulnerable culture.

Questions many leaders ask themselves when practicing vulnerability is, “How do I embrace vulnerability without overdoing it and oversharing to the point of making someone uncomfortable — regardless of any positive intentions?”

A team that fully embraces vulnerability must also have an open discussion and shared agreement / recognition that we are all individuals with our own sensitivities and personalities. We must respect that someone may feel uncomfortable or vulnerable even though we don’t. It’s also true that some things are private – not everything about us needs be shared at work. The vulnerability we share at work doesn’t have to be the same vulnerability we share with our family or partner.

My suggestion is that if you are concerned you are oversharing or if you are worried your idea may trigger a sensitivity for someone on your team, this may be the perfect time to share the idea in a closed, one-on-one meeting with your superior. And if you are a leader who has already navigated this, I thank you for having your empathy and edit features turned on. Well done!

One last thing before I close. If you are wondering, “What if Bruce hasn’t done the task he said he would or is not being a team player. Shouldn’t I bring that forward?” To this, I say absolutely – but is that about creativity and a new idea or is that about Bruce putting the team and project in jeopardy? To me it sounds like the latter which suggests it is a conversation you should bring up with your leader or one of your co-workers in a private meeting – Bruce should not be made to feel vulnerable in that situation. Remember, for vulnerability to become a positive in your team it must be supported by trust and respect.

Conclusion

It is time for vulnerability to be part of our workplace culture; to show our emotions to our team and coworkers, our clients and suppliers. In recent years vulnerability for leaders and their teammates of all genders and generations has grown to become culturally acceptable, welcomed and even encouraged. Millennials and Gen Z especially are more comfortable asking for time to manage caregiver and mental health concerns. And lets face it, Millennials and Gen Z are now the dominant populations in our workforce.

If you’ve studied ‘Courageous Leadership’ and have been thinking of it as you read this article, that makes sense to me. Like courageous leadership, being a leader who begins developing a culture of vulnerability often starts with one or two small acts of courage. You can be certain that the best leaders aren’t afraid to be vulnerable. As you evolve down this path, and I imagine from time to time feel outside your comfort zone, I do hope you take pride in the steps you take, how you’ve evolved – grown during the process and how you now know you’ve have supported courageous leadership in your own way.

“Daring leaders work to make sure people can be themselves and feel a sense of belonging.” Brené Brown

When courageous leaders begin to demonstrate vulnerability and trust in their team, something truly special happens. I invite you to build a culture of collaboration, creativity and high employee engagement.

Leadership is a journey, not a destination.

Thank you for spending time with me today and reading ‘The What, Why and How of Vulnerable Leadership’.

Bruce

Learn More About Bruce Mayhew

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September 08, 2022

What Are Core Values?

September 08, 2022/ Bruce Mayhew

Welcome to the second in my trilogy of articles covering the importance and use of Vision Statements, Core Values (this article) and Mission Statements.

I like to think of core values as common ground we are all aware of, share, understand and can count on. Core values help unite us – be it families, the companies we work for and purchase from or the non-profit charities we support. Whether it’s connecting leadership to employees, employees to customers, or customers to a feeling of trust, core values bring people, ideas and actions together.

Defining, communicating, and living core values is essential to a company or department reaching its full potential. Yes, you can have a high-functioning department with a great leader and team who embrace shared values within a less-than-ideal company.

If you want a one sentence definition of what are core values, here it is. Core values are a list of action-oriented verbs that clearly and concisely represents the company’s guiding principles.

A company’s core values establish guidance for company leadership and employees. Core values help companies make important decisions and keep everyone on the team focused and accountable, particularly during time or challenge or change or when faced with difficult decisions. Core values are also a useful tool for recruitment. Similarly, core values are excellent tools to help improve customer awareness and confidence. When customers understand the business’s core values and see how they align with their own, they’ll more than likely trust the company.

How to Use Core Values

Before you publish the core values, determine how they will be used. How will the company help every employee begin living these values with every discussion they have, meeting they participate in and decision they make? How will these values be used in product design, implementation, marketing materials, sales discussion, and client support? When will they be used to say “Yes” and most importantly, when will they be used to say “No” or “I made a mistake.” How will these amazing new core values be integrated into every employee’s goal setting discussion and performance reviews – from the most senior to the most junior? Hold everyone accountable for living your core values – no exceptions.

Share them everywhere and all the time. What else is there to say? Implementation of your core values must be more than putting up posters in the conference rooms and updating them on your website. If that is all you do, you many as well not have done any of this work.

Finally, integrate them into your vision statement (your future looking document) and your mission statement (your what we are doing today document).

How to Build Core Values

Uncovering your core values is an important project that provides stability and guidance throughout the company. Consider these steps when planning how to find your company’s unique set of core values.

Assemble a Team
As with the exercise to uncover your vision statement, assemble a team who will share in this project. Ideally, include people from different levels of the organization. An outside agency will be a great asset as they can be a neutral voice and help guide the process.
Brainstorm values
In a small business you may be able to ask everyone for their insight. In a larger operation, you may need to be more selective as you capture a range of employee voices from different levels of the company. Ask employees to use verbs – action words and short statements to describe how they feel about the company, the work they do and the impact they make. Also ask what they would like to company to represent in the future. Don’t edit their feedback. You will likely end up with a long list of interesting ideas. Note, some of this feedback may not be positive or inspirational. That is valuable information into your corporate culture, and I encourage you to use it to work on your employee engagement.
Group themes
Now is the time to consolidate and group similar words and statements. Look for themes that represent your business now. I also encourage you to explore themes that are inspirational and will assist in supporting change and growth.
Look for words that pop
Have each person on your values team independently select 10 words they feel best meets the company’s current and future potential and uniqueness. Ask them to rate from highest to lowest and include a brief explanation of why they chose that word. Then, assemble the team and discuss. This is a time to practice your listening skills. Try to choose six core words which may have a few related words listed below them. If you have more than six core words don’t worry – go with that for now. Remember, you are looking for unique, relevant and truthful words that are inspirational for today and into the future.
Draft a support statement for each word
Try writing one sentence for each of the six word you chose in the previous step. You may want to ask each member of your team to draft a few versions of this sentence and then meet to review and discuss each option. Once you have agreed on a sentence for each word, ask questions like, “Are we missing anything?” and “Do we really believe them?”
Finalize core values
Share your proposed core values with others from top leadership to your newest employee. How do they feel about them? What feedback do they have about them? Use their feedback and see if there must be any further adjustment before you lock down your final core values and support statements.

Conclusion

I recently was approached by a prospect to do some leadership training. As part of our initial discussion we began to talk about their vision statement and their core values which they were proud of for good reason, they had recently invested a good amount of time to update them as part of their current and future strategy. To honour their hard work and the hard work of other teams who want to embark on this journey, I decided to write a trilogy of articles that walks through the important process of creating and using:

A Vision Statement
Company Core Values (this article)
A Mission Statement

I will link to the other two articles here as I launch them.

For now, let me leave you with one last thought about core values. Exploring, sharing and working each day being guided by your companies core values will help everyone as individuals achieve excellence as they work united toward the companies – and their own personal and professional goals.

Thank you for reading ‘What Are Core Values?’.

Be well and happy communicating, leading and creating a culture of belonging within your company or within your team.

Bruce

Learn More About Bruce Mayhew

To learn more about how leadership training can to improve your skills call us at 416.617.0462.

Related Workshops That Drive Business Success

Toronto based corporate trainer and executive coach Bruce Mayhew Consulting offers leadership training and professional development across Canada and the USA.

September 06, 2022

What Is A Vision Statement?

September 06, 2022/ Bruce Mayhew

I recently was approached by a prospect to do some leadership training to their executive team. Perfect, I love that kind of work. As I listened to their challenges and we discussed how I could help them, we began to talk about their vision statement and their core values, two exceptionally important elements of a business culture.

They were proud of their vision statement and values for good reason. They had recently invested a good amount of time to update them as part of their current and future strategy. They promised to share them with me after the call and I couldn’t wait to see them and to see how I could support their hard work.

So to honour their hard work and the hard work of other teams who want to embark on this journey, I decided to write a trilogy of articles that would demonstrate the importance of their efforts and share how a team would go about this journey by exploring the important process of creating and using:

A Vision Statement (this article)
Company Core Values
A Mission Statement

I will link to the other two articles here as I launch them.

What is a Vision Statement?

A vision statement is a document that provides a guiding light for everyone who might be interested in the company. It is a beacon for what the company wants to achieve, and should act as an invitation for employees, potential employees, suppliers, and customers.

When people read your vision statement, they should feel inspired and believe in it. They must trust the vision is attainable – even if it is a stretch – and they must want to be part of the journey. They must be able to see themselves (employees, suppliers, and customers), as willing participants who can share in the dream.

If the people within and close to your business don’t believe in your vision or feel it is all smoke and mirrors (as my dad would say), there is no way the future vision will ever be realized. And the worst might happen when the most trusted and valued employees abandon ship in search for a better place to offer their talents and customers go to your competition.

In summary, a vision statement is essential because has the power to:

Align the future with the business values and goals today
Provide a clear, unifying message to everyone
Be a proud anchor that attracts people to the corporate brand

Lastly, let’s agree every company should have a vision statement. And to push it a bit further, I like to see certain departments having a vision statement that is secondary to the company’s main vision statement. For example, imagine you are a division leader and are thinking a reorganization of your team would be a good move. This would be a perfect (and admittedly rarely used) place to create a one or two sentence vision statement that would explain the future you imagine.

How to Use A Vision Statement?

Before we look at how to build a vision statement, let’s explore how a company or leader can use a vision statement.

We have already discussed how a vision business statement should help inspire and align people inside and outside the company to reach the company’s goals. To do this means everyone has to know what your vision statement is, and how it applies to the decisions they make.

A company should be sure to use their vision statement as a talking point in every hiring decision, employee performance review and goal-setting conversation. Knowing and understanding the vision statement will also help guide leaders as they plan investments in training and even as they guide the design of strategic marketing and promotion messages. When employees and leaders are truly embracing the vision statement, they use it to confidently guide R&D decisions today that are an investment into the strategic future. When these are happening the leadership team can proudly say the vision statement is being integrated it into the company culture.

Hanging a vision statement in the conference rooms and dedicating a page on your company website isn’t enough to make it part of your corporate culture.

You may be feeling all of this seems like a lot of work – and you would be right. And we haven’t even got to the work required to build a vision statement. But let’s look at the alternative of not having a shared vision and guide into the future. Imagine what it would be like for 10 people in a department or 100 people in a division or 10,000 people in a company to not have this shared vision. Imagine the waste in time, resources, and manpower. Imagine your top 10 best product, sales, marketing, accounting and support employees being frustrated and quitting just to get away from the chaos, waste and frustration. Imagine the negative impact on your brand, customer experience and competitive advantage.

Prepare to commit time and resources to the vision you establish. Once you have one, commit your attention to using it – everywhere.

How to Build a Vision Statement?

Building a vision statement will take time. If you are efficient and the company is small, it may take weeks. If the company is mid-sized or large, expect it to take months. The one biggest mistake I see happen and I urge everyone to avoid is for one person to write the vision statement. The next mistake is to copy someone else’s.

A team should be assembled to build or update a vision statement. In a small business, you may be able to ask everyone for their insight. In a larger operation, you may need to be more selective while still capturing a range of employee voices. It’s also a good idea to hire an outside agency to assist as well since they can be a neutral voice as they guide the process and offer advice. Your team should represent a cross section of employees from different levels of the organization.

The next step is to start research. This can include competitive analysis, economic reviews, talking to technology experts, suppliers, customers and even prospect customers. The more information you gather the better off you will be. This information can also be used as you define the company Values and Values Statement (which I’ll discuss in another article and link to this one once it is published). I like to think of a company’s Vision Statement and Values as being related, but not exactly the same, like siblings.

You also want your team to outline your business’s goals for today – and tomorrow. Be bold, be creative, reach for the moon. If it sounds lofty and worries a few people, be happy, you might be on the right track. This is about being great in the future – not mediocre. Be sure you also pay attention to market analysis and customer feedback. If you find your goals start sounding like your competitors or worse, that they could be used by another type of business, throw them away and start over.

Most people believe a vision statement should be a concise, yet impactful and inspiring message, and they are not wrong. Well designed, well researched one or two sentence statements are easy for people to get behind. But, the senior team might feel it doesn’t go far enough. That’s OK – so design two vision statements. Use the short one for the general population, annual reports and websites and use the second, more lengthy vision statement for senior team strategy discussions, and to set senior team performance KPI’s.

Vision Statement Version 1: Widespread Use

Keep the vision statement short but meaningful.

Create a vision statement that is one or two sentences and delivers a concise, yet impactful and inspiring message. You want your employees, suppliers and customers to be able to understand easily, be able to remember the key message, and hopefully remember how inspired they felt when they read it. Note: “Just do it”, is not a vision statement but it is a really good Nike tagline.

Vision Statement Version 2: Senior Team Use

Create a longer vision statement for the senior team. This statement isn’t a secret, it’s just more information than most people need.

Your senior team might feel the short vision statement doesn’t provide enough scope for what your company can do and what they want it to do. That’s OK. A longer vision statement for the benefit of the senior team is terrific. It can help them determine big, bold decisions while also giving them guidance for Key Performance Indicators (KPI’s) for the company – and for each other.

Vision Statement Examples

COBS Bread: “To be the favourite bakery in every community.”

IKEA: “To create a better everyday life for the many people.”

Starbucks: “To establish Starbucks as the premier purveyor of the finest coffee in the world while maintaining our uncompromising principles while we grow.”

TED: “We believe passionately in the power of ideas to change attitudes, lives, and, ultimately, the world.”

Conclusion

Like the company that is hiring me for leadership training, most companies benefit from periodically updating their vision statement, values and mission statement. This makes total sense because our world is changing and companies have to change to keep up. By going thorough the process of updating your vision statement, values and mission statement there is also the opportunity to take a good hard look at the market you serve, what part you want to play and the corporate culture you want to work within.

Thank you for reading ‘What Is A Vision Statement’.

Be well and happy communicating, leading and creating a culture of belonging within your company or within your team.

Bruce

Learn More About Bruce Mayhew

To learn more about how leadership training can to improve your skills call us at 416.617.0462.

Related Workshops That Drive Business Success

Toronto based corporate trainer and executive coach Bruce Mayhew Consulting offers leadership training and professional development across Canada and the USA.

August 31, 2022

Benefits, Challenges and Solutions of Remote Work, Hybrid Work and In-office Work

August 31, 2022/ Bruce Mayhew

Remote work is not going away.

The last few years have demonstrated people are able to work remotely. We finally broke many misconceptions about remote workers. We have also advanced the development and adoption of technology to assist in collaboration and project management between individuals who may or may not be distance-based.

The challenge we have today is to figure out our brave new world and how work will ‘be’ tomorrow for each of us.

Many of us want the best of both working in-office and working remotely. Before we get too far down this path I recommend we pause for a moment to accept one of the biggest challenges we are facing is that there is no one-size fits all solution for companies, departments and individuals. But one thing I am pretty sure about is that people who work fully remotely will be the minority; in-person contact just offers too much potential benefit for the individual and the company.

Let’s talk about benefits of remote work, hybrid work and in-office work

There are many discussions about how in-office work benefits the employer. So let’s do something different (and perhaps a bit controversial) and explore some of the important benefits to you and I as individuals to being in the office at least some of the time.

In-office work helps us learn to communicate more effectively, confidentially and respectfully. It’s the face-to-face, in-person contact that is important here. Benefits from in-person contact helps us communicate pretty much everywhere; from simple discussions and reading body language, to learning to listen for what people are saying as well as what they are not saying. In-person contact helps us feel and give empathy and helps us recognize when others are sharing or needing empathy; all which are great for build trusting relationships. In-person contact is also amazingly important during creative brainstorming sessions, not to mention in-person contact helps us learn, practice, and sharpen our leadership skills.

Remote work also helps dedicated employees get more done in less time with fewer interruptions (starts and stops). Remote work is also good for employees as they might feel less stress about work, have more time to spend on other projects or training which would enhance longer-term career aspirations, have more autonomy and feel more productive.

Remote work employees may also have the benefit (stressing the word may) because they:

Have greater flexibility to support family
Save money on transportation
Save money on clothes and meals

Let’s talk leadership

Many people aspire to become talented and productive leaders as they progress through their career. Here’s the thing; experts around the world tell us leadership today is far less about being a subject matter expert and far more about building shared respect and trust with individuals. Being a great leader is about inspiring and supporting your team to want to do their best work as they pursue shared company goals.

One of the most important and challenging jobs of a leader is to inspire people who have a variety of personal and professional experiences, values, goals and who may even come from different cultures. This is a rewarding challenge that will require today’s leader to invest a considerable amount of time and attention into being great. And, as I suggested earlier, today’s leaders must also be able to have difficult conversations. Leaders must learn to share challenging news while helping others feel respected, supported, and to not be triggered into a defensive posture. To do this, great leaders have to be great communicators. Not surprisingly, these skills don’t just magically appear. Even the greatest leaders have had to acquire their skills through years of training, coaching and practice.

Can we all learn to be great communicators and build trusting relationships when working remotely? Yes, of course. But (you knew there was going to be a ‘but’), given today’s technology, our use (and misuse) of this technology, our workplace cultures, and past experiences, our success is almost always greater when we have at least some in-person experiences. Let me again share that there are no one-size fits all solutions; leaders and employees must understand different companies, different jobs, and different people will need different arrangements.

There is one more important benefit to in-person interactions. As I briefly mentioned earlier, when we are trying to come up with new ideas and brainstorm solutions, in-person idea-generation sessions are still best. They allow people to see excitement and body-language. In-person interactions allow us talk over each other in respectful ways and for everyone to follow the conversation from many directions at the same time. It’s an energy and rhythm that’s difficult to duplicate in an on-line format given today’s technology.

Let’s talk career-advancement

Imagine half of your teammates are in-office all or most of the time, physically seeing each other and going for coffee while the other half of your teammates are working remotely. It’s not a stretch to see how remote employees may be less top of mind and their accomplishments, participation, ideas and even future opportunities overlooked from time-to-time.

Is this ideal? No. Would almost all of us prefer if it wasn’t like this? Yes. The reality is that it would take a highly evolved workplace culture to find true balance between the experiences of in-office and remote workers. Might we get there in the future? I hope so.

It may seem unfair this burden falls 100% to the employee, but it is their career that is on the line, so I believe staying visible is an employee’s main responsibility no matter if they work in-office, remote or hybrid. You and I both know that even when employees are working in the office, staying visible is their responsibility. It’s just that as a remote and hybrid employee, staying visible feels different than when they used to work in-office all the time. So, how can any employee (and leader) be professional and proactive. Here are some examples:

Come to all meetings prepared
Do their work well and hand it in early
Help others when they can – but don’t let their work suffer
Say something positive when others do something great
Be on-camera during video meetings (and look interested)
For both on-camera meetings, in-person meetings and group phone calls, plan to sign-in or attend early if possible. When others show up, engage in casual conversation to support relationship and trust building.

There are also many other creative opportunities to stay visible. For example, imagine knowing a company retreat is being planned. Especially if it's not the employees’ job, I’d recommend making sure they are part of the organizing committee. Even the smallest role – like organizing and manning the registration table will give them major exposure.

Remote, in-office and hybrid workers must all accept there are pluses and minuses to every solution. As a remote worker part of your life may be easier (like zero transportation) and part may be less attractive. Meanwhile, your co-workers who go into the office may have the unpleasant experience of spending 1, 2 and even 3-hours each day commuting. In the end, we all have new elements to consider when revising our own, personal work-life-balance equation.

Note: This new environment is starting to level the playing field for people living with a disability who find either getting to in-office spaces difficult.

Let’s talk about moving forward – together

Five responsibilities organizations, leaders and employees (in-office and remote) will have to share, noting that some of the best organizations were doing these long before 2020:

A. Be crystal clear with company, department, and project goals

B. Communicate (and repeat) important messages clearly, often and respectfully… to everyone

C. Set and track clear performance metrics (note, being in-office is not a quality performance metric)

D. Follow organizational values and the unrelenting support of 100% respect for everyone

E. Support the concept that change is the new standard

A: Whether you are all working remote, in-office, or hybrid, if you are not clear with company, department, and project goals your work quality and your feelings of pride will suffer.

B: Communicate is the best way to keep people focused on a goal and to be sure they feel pride in their work and are inspired by their community. It builds employee trust with their leaders and among each other. When leaders and employees are transparent and communicate often, this also helps others feel a sense of stability and calm.

C: When consumed by the busyness of an office, many leaders confess they sometimes forget the remote worker when setting project assignments. This is why it matters organizations help their leaders change the way they set tasks and evaluate productivity. Performance goals should measure many things. For example, they should:

Be based on objective value added to the firm’s core goals
Constantly support the values of the organization.
Be transparent, understood by everyone
Be tracked in real-time

A popular approach to tracking and evaluating productively is called Results Only Work (ROW). This is a brilliant way to measure success, regardless of if employees are in-office or remote. Even if you have all of your employees working in-office I encourage you to set and track what people accomplish in today’s world, a bum in seat is not a good measurement of a dedicated, high-value employee.

D: As a leader one of the most empowering things you can do is ensure everyone on your team knows how their contribution aligns to the company values. And hopefully one of those values is to ensure everyone deserves to be a member of a respectful, inclusive and equitable workplace that is free from discrimination, harassment, or bullying. When it comes to setting and tracking clear performance metrics, demonstrating company values should be at the top of the list.

E: Leaders have to help take the fear out of change and insert an expectation of change. People love routine because it feels comfortable and dependable. But today, routine means you are falling behind your competition and/or co-workers. How we worked 10 years ago is different than how we work today. How we worked 2-years ago is different. And I imagine how we work 2-years from now will be different yet again.

Moving forward will not only change the way we work, it makes sense that the actual work we do will change. Like always, part this change will be due to market demand and innovation. But change will also accelerate as we integrate new remote-work and hybrid work models into our culture – not to mention the new emerging technologies. For example, as we emerge out of a pandemic, half of my mother’s quarterly check-in / check-up doctors’ visits are now done by phone. During the pandemic all of them were remote unless there was something serious my mother felt she needed to discuss. Before the pandemic all her doctor visits were in-person. These are three significant changes to how my mother’s doctor works in just over two years.

We are living in a culture of change. The organizations, leaders and employees who will thrive will be excited about change and see it as an opportunity to grow and develop new skills. I believe our clearest path forward is for us to all adopt a positive perspective that focuses on saying things like, “What we did today was great, how can we make it and/or the process better tomorrow.” We must allow ourselves to be reflective – but in a positive “can do” way that honours and respects what we did today, not condemn it. Treat it like an After-Action Review (AAR) originally developed by the U.S. Army as a structured review process would encourage everyone to pause after a project and to explore three questions with a goal to learn from our experiences:

What happened
Why it happened
How it can be done better by the participants and those responsible

Conclusion

Experts predict that as we move into a ‘new normal’ between 35 to 65% of employees will work hybrid with only about 10% working fully remote.

It is incumbent on everyone, leaders, and employees alike to make sure we all remain visible, front-of-mind, and reviewed based on job performance despite a remote status.

One last thing. When bringing employees back to the office either full time or as part of a hybrid work model, I strongly believe leaders need to be able to answer the following four key questions clearly and transparently. And I warn you in advance, if you tell the truth people will believe and respect the news you share even if it isn’t what they wanted to hear. But, if you try to fluff it off or treat today like it was 2-years ago, you will likely soon have a productivity and employee loyalty issue to manage… as well:

How can we bring people back safely?
Why are we bringing people back to the office?
What is our hybrid work strategy?
What is our workplace value proposition?

Thank you for reading ‘Benefits, Challenges and Solutions of Remote Work, Hybrid Work and In-office Work’. Together we can get the best of working in-office and remotely.

Be well and happy communicating, leading and creating a culture of belonging within your company or within your team.

Bruce

Learn More About Bruce Mayhew

To learn more about how leadership training can to improve your skills call us at 416.617.0462.

Related Workshops That Drive Business Success

Toronto based corporate trainer and executive coach Bruce Mayhew Consulting offers leadership training and professional development across Canada and the USA.

July 20, 2022

Being A Great Leader Today Takes Hard Work

July 20, 2022/ Bruce Mayhew

Being a great leader takes hard work, determination, and dedication; it’s a big responsibility. To explore with you what makes a great leader today, I’d like to talk about the elephant in the room so we can all be on the same page. Being a great leader today is a very different job than it used to be. And, while you and most of the people around you may be just beginning or in the middle of your career, I encourage you to recognize many of the management ‘structures’ most of us work within, as well as the mentors we have had at home, school and work have been strongly influenced by ‘old-school’, hierarchical leadership style. It is still a relatively new experience to be a leader of many as four different generations in our workplaces and to have to navigate the needs, challenges and opportunities that today’s highly technical and international work cultures offer. Again, it is a big responsibility.

So what does being a great leader today mean? Well, it has very little to do with being a boss and a great deal about inspiring everyone you work with. It means creating a team out of a group of individuals while respecting and encouraging their individuality. Being a great leader also impacts every email, every conversation, every meeting, every goal strategy session, every difficult conversation, and every performance review; it means we are always ‘on’.

One more thing before we get going because I hear “But I’m an introvert” frequently. Well, I can honestly share I am also an introvert, and I know it is possible to help everyone around you to believe in themselves and what they can accomplish in ways that are comfortable to you so that you can still feel authentic and respect your individuality. But let me also reassure those of you who are extraverts. No matter if you are an introvert or an extravert, both tap into empathy on a regular basis, therefore we can be genuinely empathetic when we are working to inspire people around us. It’s just that each tap into it in different ways.

If you are still asking the question, “How do I unlock my leadership skills so I can take myself and my team to the next level?” Great! That’s what I like to hear. Let’s explore how you can unlock your full potential which requires through a bit of self-reflection / self-awareness and how you can invest in yourself.

Self-Reflection / Self-Awareness

A high degree of self-reflection / self-awareness is foundational to being a great leader. It is empowering to know how you act when faced with feelings like curiosity, surprise, difficulty, or joy. It is also empowering to know how others “see” you. Are you approachable, warm, trustworthy, curious, and fair or are you the opposite? Do you have a reputation as being dependable and creative or are you known as the first one to look for an opportunity to delay a project or deflect responsibility? In a nutshell (as my dad would say), what are your best characteristics… and which ones might be holding you back, and frankly also holding your team back?

Being self-aware is one of the most important of all the soft skills we will discuss because it provides an opportunity to explore many of the other leadership characteristics of great leaders. It is a process where you can learn about yourself and help you set new expectations for your own personal and professional development. I also want to acknowledge that exploring your own self-awareness takes a bit of courage… ok, perhaps a lot of courage. The journey may make us feel exposed and vulnerable… especially if we believe a leader must exhibit unshakable confidence and authority.

I recommend taking a three-pronged approach in your self-reflection / self-aware journey.

Know you are likely going to hear things that will be a surprise. This surprise may be positive, but may also be… constructive. With challenging news, don’t get defensive, and don’t blame those people who cared enough for you that they chose to trust you and share their observations and experiences. Instead, be grateful and accept the information humbly and with a growth mindset – accept you are going to use that information productively to better yourself.
Approach trusted friends, family and colleagues. We cannot rely on only our own interpretation of our impact. If we do we may not see or learn about behaviours that are challenging. And to be fair, we may not see or undervalue some of our most important qualities.
Let your trusted community know you are looking to improve yourself and need their help. If you think they will be hesitant to share this feedback with you in-person, that may already be a red-flag for you. But, if you want to make an accommodation for them, arrange it so that everyone submits their responses to questions anonymously, in writing. Ask questions like:
a)   Do I inspire confidence within the people I work with?
b)   When challenges arise, how do I deal with them? Do I inspire calm?
c)   Do I stay grounded when I feel overwhelmed?
d)   Do others feel I help them feel proud of their work? How frequently do I do this?
e)   Do I appear to share information (transparency) or be somewhat guarded?
f)    Am I a good listener?
g)   Do I encourage others to share their point of view, thoughts, experience?
h)   Do I empower others to be able to work independently?
i)    Do the people around me feel I trust their work and their experience?
j)    What are my best qualities? What should I keep doing?
k)   What qualities should I work on? How can I improve?
Use a formal 360 type feedback mechanism which is very popular in at-work environments. 360’s are an anonymous feedback process where (as an example) co-workers, people who report into us, colleagues from other teams and potentially even clients and suppliers are asked to provide their written feedback to predefined questions.

Your search should gather information about your success in creating an inspired culture of trust, cooperation, and respect. Are the people you lead guided by shared goals and values and proud of what they accomplish as well as what the team accomplishes?

In the end, recognize there is great power in this exploration since nobody rises to low or no expectations.

Exercise Your Comfort Communicating

Being a great communicator is another of the most important leadership skills. Being crystal clear about the information you share with others as well as how you are sharing that information gives the people around you a rich understanding of what is expected of them. Crystal clear communication is critical to helping those around you feel included, that everyone has the information they need to feel empowered and successfully get their jobs done.

Great communication provides team members a shared focus of their work and greater alignment of the decisions they make whether they are working late at night by themselves or in the middle of a team brainstorming meeting. Being a strong communicator is also an opportunity to reinforce your shared company vision and values; the ‘Why’s and How’s’ associated to their work. Exercising your comfort communicating also means being generous with encouragement and praise.

Simply put, clear understanding, autonomy and responsibility encourage pride in their effort, self-esteem, confidence, and builds leadership skills in others. With more and more of the people working remotely some or all the time, our comfort communicating is now even more important.

Offer Encouragement And Praise When It Is Due

Being a great leader means taking opportunities to make sure people know they are doing well. Once a year during a 10-minute performance review just doesn’t cut it anymore. We all have a need to feel a sense of relevance and progress. You and I want to feel the work we do is meaningful and we are adding to the greater good. The greater good could be the team, it could be the company, it could be our community and planet… or it could be all of these.

Encouragement and praise from other people – especially people we trust and admire is like using a high-performance gasoline. Still the same engine, but now we are empowered to do more… and we do this with an exciting vroom vroom in our step.

And don’t worry, especially if outward praise doesn’t come natural to you. Encouragement and praise don’t have to be complicated (or expensive). Employees don’t need front-of-the room presentations, and they don’t need expensive bonuses (although nobody I know would say no to a cash bonus). Unfortunately, using money as the primary symbol of praise and recognition is a legacy of my dad’s generation. Don’t get me wrong – being paid fairly is important, but verbal and even non-verbal feedback is amazingly powerful… and timely. For example, when you see Bruce doing a great job solving a client issue, tell him… and be specific about what he did well. Say something like, “I saw how you took initiative and worked to fully understand what they needed and then offered a few solutions so they felt they had choice.” Or “Bruce, I noticed how you re-formatted all the tables in the presentation to follow the same layout. Even though content was from three departments, it reinforced how we are trying to project a single source solution.”

Stay In Touch

Staying in touch is more than going to meetings, assigning projects, and giving or getting updates. Sure, all those things are important and must be done but staying in touch with your team also means listening and being there for them.

The thing is, staying in touch is a two-way-street. It is an opportunity to get ahead of challenges – sure – but it should be so much more. Staying in touch is an opportunity to build a micro-culture where you enjoy trusting relationships with others, where you learn what motivates people, you get to know them… and you give them an opportunity to get to know you.

I want to encourage you to consider other opportunities to build trust and community by staying in touch. Create a routine where you regularly check in with your employees. Don’t leave these discussions and relationship building opportunities to their annual or semi-annual performance review. For example, have formal monthly meetings with your senior team. In addition, set and prioritize bi-weekly one-on-one meetings with each member of your team (or even a business partner) with the goal of being there for them verses them being there for you. For example, have what I call ‘15-minute Laser Meetings’ where your team member is the one who decides the agenda. They come to the meeting prepared to discuss one or two topics that are important to them and might include:

Project updates (if that is their choice)
An FYI on potential risks that may be brewing with a project or supplier
An outright ask for your help to get buy-in from another department (or person)
A discussion on how they are feeling overwhelmed by their workload
An update on some family challenges that may require some workplace flexibility over the next month
A request for career advice or to help them find a mentor
A request for professional development training

One amazingly powerful way to build a trusting workplace community and stay in touch is to go macro during some of your one-on-one (and team) meetings. Instead of discussing the detail of a project, discuss the impact of their work and a project on the overall organizational goals and values.

Another way to stay in touch is to recognize success. When is the last time you ended a meeting or video call and simply (and genuinely) said something like, “Hi Paula, I noticed how confident and well prepared you were for the briefing yesterday. You did a great job. I hope you are proud of yourself.” Imagine how inspired Paula will be for the next week… and potentially even longer.

When you are experiencing organizational change, I can assure you that this is a time when staying in touch is imperative. When facing such challenges as navigating organizational change, be transparent about the tasks at hand and infuse your team with a shared vision of how your company can benefit from the impending transition. Continually provide updates and reiterate the plan for moving forward to ensure your employees are aligned and understand how their work factors into larger corporate objectives.

Being self-aware helps you stay in touch. For example, if you are an extravert, being self-aware will help you pull back from what may be a natural tendency to insert yourself into the conversation, or to stop using sentences that start with, “What I would do would be to…”. Being self-aware may also help introverts give themselves a small push to engage in a different way. If all of this sounds like I’m encouraging you to exercise your soft skills, you are right.

Be Your Authentic Self… And Stretch Your Authentic Self

Can you imagine how many times have I heard someone say, “That is great for you, but that is not me” during a leadership-based conversation. If that is the case for you, here is some tough love. Being authentic doesn’t mean not learning and growing. You were ‘authentic’ when you started your first job. You were still ‘authentic’ last month, and since then I’m sure you have had new experiences that have further developed your authentic self. I’m not encouraging you to be someone you are not, I am encouraging you to be more aware of what is around you, and the opportunities you take to learn, grow and show your authentic self. I’d also encourage you to be curious about how people are responding to you and to situations you are involved in. After a team meeting or your monthly management meeting, do your team members hurriedly and quietly gather their belongings and rush out of your office, or are they usually energized and excited by your meetings?

Self-reflection is one way for you to choose to make a few changes in how you engage with others and from your investment, to experience some of the most immediate benefits, quickly inspiring trust, enhancing your performance, your team’s performance, and everyone’s pride and satisfaction from your shared accomplishments. So, I’m inviting you to decide how you might want to interact differently… for your own benefit and the benefit of those around you.

Find a balance where you can be yourself and still intentionally open yourself to new experiences and new things to learn. If you are an extravert, perhaps work on practicing your patience and listening skills. If you are an introvert, perhaps work on being ‘out there’ a bit more. As an introverted leader, having the structured laser meetings I discussed in the ‘Stay In Touch’ section might be a really good way to feel safe as you push yourself out of your comfort zone.

Being your authentic self through this journey will enable you to build a greater sense of trust… one of the most critical qualities of a great leader. When you are trusted and your team trust each other, each will proudly feel:

Less stress
Higher productivity
Greater engagement
Greater loyalty

Conclusion

We’ve discussed a lot of opportunity for you to become a great leader. As I was saying to someone just the other day, if you have time to address urgent issues, you have time to be proactive and take care of yourself and your team.

And let me share one last piece of advice. Have fun. Give yourself time to learn and adapt as you dedicate time for self-reflection and regular check-ins with your team. Allow yourself to make mistakes, because if you embark on this journey, you will make mistakes. Just apologize when you do – after all, you are only human.

Be well and happy communicating, leading and creating a culture of belonging.

Bruce

Learn More About Bruce Mayhew

To learn more about how leadership training can to improve your skills call us at 416.617.0462.

Related Workshops That Drive Business Success

Toronto based corporate trainer and executive coach Bruce Mayhew Consulting offers leadership training and professional development across Canada and the USA.

May 20, 2022

Great Leaders Create a Culture of Belonging

May 20, 2022/ Bruce Mayhew

Is your superpower the ability to help your employees feel they belong? When employees know they are part of a team that ‘has each other’s back’ and their contribution matters, employees experience amazing mental, physical, and financial health benefits. Imagine how fantastic that would feel. And there is also benefit to your success as their leader and the company when you help your employees feel they belong. Imagine how much less stress you would feel knowing you lead a high-performing team that is loyal, creative, productive and has greater attention to detail (I could go on). Simply put, creating a culture of belonging is a Win-Win-Win.

So, let’s explore how to create an at-work culture of belonging. To do this I think it is important to start by recognizing that every team culture will be unique – just like every family has a culture that is also unique. I also want to recognize that every great leader from Alan Mulally (one of my all-time favourites), to Bob Iger, Jeff Weiner and Reshma Saujani likely have best-practices that are unique to their style and personality… just like I expect you have a style that is unique to you. But to get your creative juices flowing, let me share a few recommendations I share with leaders I’ve coached.

1. Be Authentic, become Trustworthy

Be sure you are being yourself. If you try to ‘be’ someone else, others will recognize this and wonder what you are hiding and when you are going to fall out of your act; they wont be able to trust you or their surroundings.

One of the most difficult things for many leaders is admitting they don’t have all the answers. But it’s also important to know that even the very best leaders make mistakes and have something to learn. Learning, listening and pushing your boundaries should be moments of authenticity your whole team expects and duplicates. Another example of authenticity may be if you are participating in training and team building activities. It’s OK to share this is new territory for you as well and that like them, you may feel a bit uncomfortable. The important thing is to find a way to participate, have fun and be part of their team. People respect honesty. Being authentic and transparent will build trust with those around you, and it will likely help others do the same.

2. Honour Values

Values are not something to keep secret. Values are who we are; they influence our how we respond to joy, pressure, challenges and the unknown.

Your values will influence your behaviour and the decisions you make. Your values are often the things people remember about you minutes, days and even years later. It is difficult to fake values – especially for a long time which is why as a leader, hiring people for their values is often more important than hiring them for their skills. As a leader it is also important to be sure your team know the corporate values and how they can use those values to inform their behaviour and decisions as they work which in turn help your team rely on each other, decisions that haven’t even been made yet and of course, your customer / client experience.

3. Have One-on-One Meetings

I’ve always been a big fan of leaders having one-on-one meetings with their direct reports. Typically, every two weeks should work well, however in times of great change, high-stress or high-volume, it may be better to have one meeting each week.

I also want to share my recommendation that as a leader, have one-on-one, ‘welcome to the team, just want us to get to know each other’ introductory conversations with new employees. I don’t mean just your direct reports, I also mean having one-on-one introduction meetings with the new employees who report into your direct reports and even perhaps two levels below (depending on the size of your teams). Nothing says “I matter and I belong” more on day #1 of your new job than finding a meeting has already been booked for you to have a 30-minute one-on-one intro conversation with your boss’s boss for later that week.

4. Help Others Feel Great

Be sure your team feel they are respected, and their work is relevant. There are many ways to help people feel respected. What is important is to find ways that are natural for you. Here are a few recommendations, but please note, this is not an exhaustive list.

Option 1. Tell them they did a great job. Give them encouragement, even if they have experienced a set-back. Validate their effort, not only the results, especially if they worked hard but the project didn’t turn out exactly as planned. Success almost never happens the first time, it takes an iterative process so help them feel proud especially when they may be feeling discouraged.
Option 2. Let them see and/or speak with an end-user of your product or service. Help them hear stories of the meaningful impact and important contribution their contribution has had.
Option 3. Help them know what happens next with the work they do. Help them see how important their quality work and perhaps their creative work is, and how it makes someone else’s job one step down the line better and less stressful.

5. Empower Autonomy

Employees are often happier when they feel they have some input over what they do and when they do it, especially if their position allows them to work in a hybrid model.

Empowering autonomy often generates an increased sense of commitment, responsibility, pride in their work and pride in the respect the company provides them. It’s still OK to have some company or department structure. For example, one company I heard of allows flexibility through the week but asks everyone to be in-office every Wednesday to help facilitate community, provide opportunity for spontaneous conversations and to implement formal training. So, go ahead and give them some autonomy while making sure they know you are always available for support, the purpose of a project and the important timelines. They will make the right decisions.

6. Promote ‘Everyone Has a Voice’

Develop a more productive teamwork model by making sure everyone has a voice – an opportunity to contribute. Practice an attitude of acceptance and glass half full and instead listen to each other’s ideas and learned experience. A great corporate culture recognizes great ideas don’t pay attention to hierarchy and the people who are closest to the clients or manufacturers likely have some of the most relevant ideas. To support this, when someone’s idea is moved forward and/or included, be sure to recognize their contribution.

7. Nourish Creativity

Embrace new ways of thinking and even go out of your way to be exposed to new ideas and new people. Lead by example so people can see how it ‘works’.

As a leader (and in many ways we are all leaders), encourage and support everyone around you to find ways for them to experience something different at work and outside of work. Ask others what they are reading and watching and consider reading and watching yourself. Attend conferences, take an online class and/or attend corporate training opportunities. Start building a reading library at work for people to recommend and share books and articles. And above and beyond anything, keep an open mind.

8. Build ‘Familiarity’ Within Your Team

The pandemic has been a challenging ‘friend’ to teamwork and creating a culture of belonging. At the same time, it has provided an opportunity for us all to stretch and grow as we faced new personal and professional challenges including how to connect virtually. I don’t want virtual meetings to replace all in-person communication, but as we move forward. I do hope we can use our newly learned skills and acceptance of virtual connection as one more opportunity to bring teams – especially remote teams together to share each other’s work, to participate in education and training and to find ways to get to know each other as individuals.

9. Encourage Connection with Community

There are endless ways to connect with our community and none of them must be formal or corporate driven. For example:

Option 1. Support your team getting together for half-a-day once a month to do something community oriented like visit a Foodbank and pack groceries. Especially if you all can’t be off-line at once you can do this as a team, mini-teams or as individuals.
Option 2. Ask everyone to pitch in $10 so you can outfit a child from head-to-toe who could use some help as they start playing soccer, baseball, hockey or whatever.
Option 3. Invite a guest speaker from a local not-for-profit to share what their organization does and how their organization impacts the community.

Conclusion

Being surrounded by others doesn’t mean you and I will automatically feel a sense of belonging. A culture of belonging is all about feeling accepted, of being part of something worthwhile that deepen our sense of importance, pride and accomplishment.

Belonging is so powerful that it becomes part of our identity; it shapes how you and I think, how we respond to things and will influence many of our basic behaviours. The desire to belong is also a fundamental and extremely powerful motivator. As a leader, recognizing the importance and power of inspiring a sense of belonging with those around you - be it at work, with people you share a hobby, people at the gym or simply with your family. Your sense of belonging is an important opportunity to drive success for yourself and for everyone / everything round you.

Be well and happy communicating, leading and creating a culture of belonging within your company or within your team.

Bruce

Learn More About Bruce Mayhew

To learn more about how leadership training can to improve your skills call us at 416.617.0462.

Related Workshops That Drive Business Success

Toronto based corporate trainer and executive coach Bruce Mayhew Consulting offers leadership training and professional development across Canada and the USA.

February 08, 2022

What Is Servant Leadership?

February 08, 2022/ Bruce Mayhew

This article explores the question “What is servant leadership?” and some recommendations for leaders who want to become great servant leaders.

Servant Leadership as a formal leadership approach has been around since the 1970’s. The positive impact a leader who follows the servant leadership approach has is impressive. It is widely accepted that employees who are supported by a leader who embraces the servant leadership model feel more engaged and purpose driven. In short, employees have greater trust in their leader and as such feel a greater sense of ownership, impact and creativity for their work and often the organization. All of this leads to employees who are more loyal and therefore turnover costs and loss of institutional knowledge decreases.

I have to say I am not fond of the phrase ‘servant’, instinctively it is a negative trigger word for me and may be for you as well. And yes, I know that in this context it is meant as positive – to intentionally and willingly support others so they can be the best they can be. I liken this to how a parent chooses to put their children’s needs before their own so their children can grow and become the best they can be. Still, I wish that Robert K. Greenleaf who initially coined the name ‘Servant Leadership’ would have found another name.

I think it is important to lay a foundation and share my belief that every one of us can be called on to be a leader, no matter what our official title may be. For example, if people look to you for your expertise during a meeting, you are likely being a subject matter expert and leader in that moment. Therefore, anyone can follow the servant leadership model in their day-to-day work. Let me also share my belief that while an organization may not embrace a servant leadership culture, an individual can still develop a culture within their own department / bubble that embraces qualities of service leadership.

What Is The Difference Between Servant Leadership And Traditional Leadership?

A popular question is “What is the difference between servant leadership and traditional leadership?”

Servant leadership occurs when a leader sees the support and growth of their people (including their personal and professional health and development) as their main responsibility; basically, people come first. The main focus of a servant leader is to support the company’s employees and to provide them with the resources, information, flexibility, training and coaching they need (see my 11 Principles below), so they will be inspired and committed to working together to reach the company goals and market success. Service leadership is about empowering people as a valuable asset and enriching them in order to reach defined company goals.

Traditional Leadership focuses more on hierarchy and a high degree of guidance and influence in what employees do, how they do it and when; basically, company comes first. Following a pre-established process is typical in a traditional leadership model. Employees are given very little decision-making opportunity or autonomy. This ‘distance’ and lack of personal control means employees often feel very little ownership and commitment to their work or the company. The main focus of a traditional leader is to reach the company goals and market success in any way possible using people (to varying degrees) as a necessary resource.

Being A Servant Leader in 2022

Successful leaders in 2022 must accept they don’t have all the answers. New technology, new ways to work, new market conditions, new employee needs and new client needs are constantly shifting our world. Servant leaders embrace this and see this insight as a positive… a superpower that their competition may not (and often do not) have.

Servant leaders empower and inspire their employees to bring their whole self and unique expertise to each task. To do this servant leaders invest time to get to know the people around them. Servant leaders get to know people’s skills, what inspires them, how they communicate, their goals and opportunities for growth. Servant leaders learn how to help others succeed.

The same way a servant leader helps their employees develop new skills and be their best in their personal and professional lives, servant leaders also embrace growth in their own personal and professional lives; they serve as a living example for their team. In 2022, I believe one of the most important attributes of a successful leader is knowing that being a leader is a privilege and must be seen as a constant journey, a never-ending opportunity for each of us to invest in ourselves. There will always be strengths a great leader will have to learn, be reminded of and even re-learn. The moment a leader feels comfortable is the moment they will be losing their advantage.

Bruce Mayhew’s 11 Principles of a Powerful Servant Leader

As I mentioned above, I’m not thrilled about the term ‘Servant Leadership’ so for now I’m going to call these principles my ‘11 Principles of Service Leadership’. In one way of another, many of the people I work with ask me, “What do I have to do to be a great leader?” To be a leader no matter what your title says you are, you have to be committed to a life of learning about and practicing all of the following 11 principles.

Acceptance that leadership is a never-ending journey
Self-aware (Our Strengths, How We Act, Our Impact on Others)
Humanity (Values, Individuality, Empathy / Compassion)
Earn Trust (Faith, Confidence, Reliance / Commitment)
Vision (Dreamer, Prophet, Communicate Strategic Direction)
Transparent (Vision is shared, ‘Why’ is shared, Measurements of Success shared)
Foster Inclusivity (A trusted method for Input, Belonging, Diversity, Respect)
Be a Gardener to Individuals and Teams (Coach, Inspire, Ownership / Responsibility, Develop Others, Let others fail /learn, Support / Reward, Collaboration / Community)
Patience (Stamina, Serenity, A Listener)
Competence (Capability, Skill, Experience)
Character (Charm, Charisma, A Healer)

Conclusion

A servant leader sees beyond the company goals and ROI and instead actively seeks to develop and empower each employee and to align each employees’ goals and need with the goals and needs of the company.

I encourage you to explore how you can position your employees first and how you can align their goals with the goals of the company. On your own leadership journey, explore how self-aware you are and the trust you may or may not be developing as you support and communicate with others. And don’t forget to invest in yourself. Being a great leader is rarely a natural skill and learning how to be a great leader is not easy and doesn’t happen overnight. If you need help, find a mentor and a coach (I said and, not or) to help you become a better leader.

Thank you for reading “What Is Servant Leadership?”. I look forward to your thoughts, comments, stories.

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Toronto based corporate trainer and executive coach Bruce Mayhew Consulting offers leadership training and professional development across Canada and the USA.

December 13, 2021

The Role of Empathy During Difficult Conversations at Work

December 13, 2021/ Bruce Mayhew

Using empathy at work means pausing, even if just for a moment, to understand your own needs, beliefs and feelings. To quote Socrates, “To know thyself is the beginning of wisdom.” When you know yourself you will know when you have to be firm and when you can choose to be creative and compromise. Empathy during difficult conversations will always help you find clarity, be respectful and give you choice how you act and what you say.

November 23, 2021

My 8 Habits of Highly Empathic People

November 23, 2021/ Bruce Mayhew

Have you ever felt you just needed someone to hear you – to listen to what you were feeling or experiencing and to not judge you, offer advice or problem solve? Sometimes all we need is for people to respect us enough to acknowledge that what we are experiencing is real to us even if they can’t relate to or fully understand what we are going through.

I recall a conversation with a great friend about a time when they were having a heated disagreement with their partner at home. My friend was not feeling they mattered or was being respected. During this disagreement their partner kept saying, “Just tell me what you want me to say.” My friend said this frustrated them even more. They felt disrespected because (in their words) “My feelings and needs were being treated like an equation, that whenever I said X that my partner should respond with Y and all would be fine”. My friend had not studied emotional intelligence or empathy, but they knew that their feelings were not linear and predictable. All my friend wanted was to trust that they mattered enough that they could share what they were experiencing with their partner and to feel respected and safe… even if their partner didn’t fully understand their feelings and needs.

The example I share with you is clearly a personal one, but it would not take much to imagine a similar workplace disagreement. Lets face it, workplaces are filled with policies, guidelines and rules. And while policies, guidelines and rules are important to healthy workspaces, so are things like trust, patience, care and respect to help everyone know they matter.

This month I’ve focused much of my writing on the topic of empathy. Some of my other recent posts are ‘The Importance of Empathy at Work’ and ‘How to Practice Empathy at Work’. I also have one called ‘The Role of Empathy During Difficult Conversations’ on the drawing board that I expect to publish soon. But for this article I felt it important to share an example of our need for empathy and to outline 8 habits of highly empathic people and how these habits can help build relationships based on positivity and respect because we are all capable of empathy and we are all in need of empathy.

My 8 Habits of Highly Empathic People

Habit 1: Empathetic people are intentionally curious about other people, places, how things are done… and why. They see life as a collection of experiences and that growth and change are what help us evolve, stay healthy and stay interesting.

Habit 2: Empathetic people openly embrace opportunities to authentically experience how other people live, eat, work, rest and play. They know that their needs, feelings, experiences, likes and dislikes are unique to themselves and that there is a great opportunity for them to both learn from other people as well as teach other people.

Habit 3. They spend time trying to understand their own emotions in order to understand their own motivation, communication style, actions and impact. They know that their greatest accomplishment is to know themselves and that as they learn about themselves they are able to build better relationships with other people.

Habit 4. They challenge their own prejudices and biases – looking instead for goals, needs, experiences and/or feelings we have in common. Empathic people realize that as humans, it is natural and often healthy to have prejudices and biases that help us quickly respond to opportunity or danger. But, empathic people also know there are many times when we have to overcome some of our learned prejudices and biases so we (and others) can grow and be amazing.

Habit 5: Empathic people embrace growth, imagination and new ideas. Empathic people also know that some of us have an insatiable appetite for growth and change while others (like my mother) approach change slowly… and all approaches are OK.

Habit 6. They do what they can to help other people feel safe and respected, especially if they don’t agree with them. Empathic people find time to be with other people without needing to understand them, change them or fix them.

Habit 7. Empathic people listen without needing to speak, problem solve or push their agenda. They watch body language and what someone may be saying, not saying and needing. Instead of commenting they ask open-ended questions or may just stay silent and present.

Habit 8: They spend time trying to understand the emotions others may be experiencing in order to understand their own motivation, communication style actions and impact. As part of their own learning cycle they see communication as a way to learn about and support other people as well as an opportunity to learn about and support themselves.

Lets just be clear there is a difference between kindness and empathy. For example:

Getting a coffee for a coworker when you are going for one yourself is kindness.
Getting a coffee for a coworker who is struggling to meet a deadline, loves their morning coffee and hasn’t had a chance to get away from their desk is kindness and empathy.
Getting a coffee for your boss to gain favour is sucking up.

Why Studying Empathy Is Important

I believe studying empathy is important because it is what binds us together. As Jo Cox, a famous British Member of Parliament who fought for social justice and equality said, “We have more in common than what divides us”. Looking at what we have in common used to be easy, but in today’s global, digital, hyper-connected, hyper-disconnected, instantaneous and often competitive world, it is easy to only see what is different and separates us.

Empathy helps build trust and respect. And even when this process is slow, when we strive to understand and trust each other we are more likely to work together to find collaborative, mutually beneficial, Win-Win solutions. The alternative is Win-Lose, and why should we settle for Win-Lose when Win-Win is an option?

Studying empathy is important because it is in decline. A study by the University of Michigan Institute for Social Research combined the results of 72 different studies between 1979 and 2009. Using meta-analysis researcher Sara Konrath found that participants in 2009 were 40% less empathetic than participants in 1979, and the steepest decline in empathy took place over the last decade.

In our world today we are often disconnected from those around us. This starts early as more and more children are entertained and communicate almost exclusively using smart phones and smart pads instead of watching and engaging with people around them. Just the other day I was in a restaurant and a small child around 3-years old was consumed with playing a game on a tablet while their parents ignored them and talked among themselves. How is that child going to learn how to recognize feelings (their own and others) and then also learn how to express and manage them when they are shut off during their most impressionable time of their lives? I recall when I was young my parents would not even allow the TV or radio to be on during a meal which in retrospect I am very grateful.

Conclusion

I’d like to leave you with one final thought. Empathy is like a muscle; sometimes situations are so familiar like when we pick up a glass we don’t even realize we are using our strength. But often we find ourselves needing a bit more strength to lift heavy things or a delicate touch when dealing with something fragile. When it comes to empathy, many of us are good with the average please and thank you, but more often than we forget we need to pay attention to our emotional strength. Perhaps it will be an argument with our partner or it will be discussing a difference of opinion with coworkers; whatever the situations are, these are times when our previous investment into understanding and expressing our empathy ‘muscle’ will be important.

In those cases, I hope that following these habits of highly empathic people can help you exercise your empathy and keep in mind how to keep trust, patience, care and respect in mind.

Thank you for reading about my 8 habits of highly empathic people.

Bruce

How to Practice Empathy at Work

November 18, 2021/ Bruce Mayhew

Some people are naturally more empathic than others

Generally, we begin to develop our empathic skills when we are children by observing and learning from our family, communities, coaches, mentors, teachers and entertainment. When we mirror these behaviours we are rewarded (often with praise and attention) which further locks our understanding and comfort exhibiting these behaviours. During this process we usually also gain an ability to recognize empathic behaviours in others. The same goes when we practice empathy at work. When we are rewarded we repeat behaviours – both good and bad. So, in order to practice empathy at work we have to have leaders, coworkers and even suppliers and customers who demonstrate empathy and we all (or at least most of us) have to reward each other when we recognize it.

Why Do We Struggle Accessing Empathy?

To experience empathy we have to get in touch with our emotions. It is natural our empathy may be underdeveloped if our awareness, understanding and practice of empathy has not been nurtured. In more extreme cases, some people suffer from Empathy Deficit Disorder (EDD), but for most of us we all have some level of empathy. Some of us are more empathetic than others and many of us have learned to me more empathetic or less empathetic in certain situations, like at work.

There are many reasons why we may struggle accessing empathy. Here are eight:

We may learn to not feel empathy for survival. Imagine a hostile family setting or workspace that we can’t leave because of financial reasons. Knowingly or not, we may learn to not feel based for survival. Unfortunately, shutting down in one space often impacts all the other spaces we exist.
People who have an empathy impairment may be antisocial or have a narcissistic personality, autism or schizophrenia. Another reason people demonstrate low levels of empathy is that they may have been raised in families that avoided their feelings and even condemned others for feeling emotions. Some people have learned to shut down their feelings early in their lives to such a degree that they can’t even recognize or name their own feelings, and if we can’t recognize our own feelings we certainly can’t feel empathy for what other people are feeling, needing or experiencing.
Whatever the reason, people who lack empathy are often disconnected from themselves and the people around them. They may not even aware of their disconnect and that something important is missing. In most cases these people need professional support to learn to connect with their emotions.
Some businesspeople may wrongly have learned that empathy makes them weak or has no place in business / at work.
In our personal lives some people may push away empathy and vulnerability in relationships in order to protect themselves because they have been hurt in the past.
Some people may believe that if the empathize with someone that means they agree. (It does not).
Some people may have learned that showing empathy means they are weak.
Some people avoid empathy so that they can avoid dealing with their own fears and emotions that may cause them pain. Truth is, it is likely that those unprocessed feelings are causing them pain anyway. Again, the best way to learn to safely connect with their emotions is to get professional support.
Some people may believe empathy also means we share an unhealthy or inappropriate intimacy.

Empathy Is A Teachable Skill. How We Can Build And Practice Empathy At Work

Yes, we can learn to be more empathetic over time. This change process is called Neuro plasticity – the creation of new brain patterns. Neuro plasticity is like a reset – the more we change practice the more new habits become new reflexes. And, as I mentioned earlier, in the most difficult cases the best way to learn to safely connect with emotions will likely mean getting professional support.

The same way that great leaders become great by studying leadership techniques, learning and practicing, same goes for empathy. In most adult cases, learning to cultivate empathy and create new brain patterns is possible only when the individual is willing to change. We should also recognize that while supportive people and environments help us cultivate our empathy, angry and disconnected people and environments can weaken our ability to access our own empathy.

As A Leader… Helping Your Team or Team Member Practice Empathy At Work

As a leader I recommend the following two-step approach to helping your team or a member of your team be more empathetic.

Step 1.

The approach to teaching empathy often is customized depending on the person’s motivation and personal style and their environment / culture. In all circumstances, appreciation, positive rewards and recognition are also strongly encouraged as a core element to help individuals feel good about the empathetic choices they are making.

Whether in a personal or business space steps all related to manage each other’s expectations:

Share with them what behaviours are expected and not expected. Whether it is a technical skill or a soft skill, people can’t do what you expect if they don’t know what you expect.
Share why the behaviours that are expected and why they are important to the family and/or company as well as themselves. We all have greater motivation when we know the benefit (the why) our efforts are important and how we are making a difference.
Begin with empathy experiences that will resonate with their own goals and personal motivators. For example, if they are motivated by being seen as an expert in an area or by knowing they have contributed / added to a project, point out how you demonstrate empathy as a reward.
Be careful with what is considered ‘constructive feedback’. In time this will be a useful tool, but in the early stages it may feel demotivating. Instead, in the early stages focus far more on progress made while still acknowledging room for further development. Once individuals experienced success and gained some confidence in the process and their ability… and trust you, constructive feedback can be included. It may also be helpful to use a hypothetical example of how to demonstrate empathy when someone is falling short of expectations. This may provide some clarity without having to impact potential fears until their confidence or trust improves.

Step 2.

Learn to use / deepen your empathy. Your brain has neuroplasticity, it changes based on you repeating actions and / or though patterns and eventually they become routine, easy to access or easy to do. To learn how to be more empathetic, use your body to help your mind.

Listen with empathy. Put yourself in their shoes. Imagine what it would be like to have experienced what they are experiencing… or perhaps remember a time when you have felt like they feel… even if the circumstances are different.
1. Listen more than you talk – listen attentively. Don’t think about what you will say.
2. Ask open ended questions like “Tell me more”
3. Notice how you are feeling – the first step in self-regulating. The second step is to ask “Is what I’m feeling helpful? How do I want to respond? Should I respond? What will be helpful? Will being quiet be what they really need now?
4. Imagine how they might be feeling. Name the feelings. “They are angry”, “They are feeling they don’t matter” etc.
  1. Discuss how you would feel if you felt that. Would you be motivated or demotivated? What would you do in the short and long term
  2. Discuss the feelings they might be having. Would they be motivated or demotivated? How might they act in the short and long term.
Afterwards, explore what you learned about yourself and about them. Where did you empathize? How did it go? What went well? What might you do a bit differently next time?

As An Individual… Helping Yourself Practice Empathy At Work

If you are trying to help yourself fine-tune your empathy, I have a few recommendations to help you become more empathetic.

Do not try to change everything all at once. One of the first steps in this process is recognition of feelings and emotions within ourselves.
Don’t start on something that is going to be most difficult for you to change.
Do try to change something that is going to have meaningful, noticeable impact so you can feel a win, those around you can notice your effort and change and your efforts will make a difference.

Example: Perhaps start with offering greater recognition and being a mindful listener, but when it comes to having difficult conversations, bring support to those discussions. See growth as one step at a time and that eventually you will be prepared to handle difficult conversations on your own.

Conclusion

The more experiences we have feeling and learning about emotions – especially as youngsters, the more capable at managing our own emotions and being able to correctly recognize and relate to those emotions in other. As adults it can be a longer process but learning how to be more empathetic starts with recognizing the need and practicing empathy.

Let me leave you with one quick discussion of what not to do if you want to be more empathetic.

Don’t invalidate other persons feelings.
Don’t tell others how they should or should not feel (You shouldn’t think that, you should be grateful).
Don’t one-up them, “I know how you feel” or “You think that is big, listen to what happened to me”.

Thank you for reading about how to practice empathy at work.

Bruce

About Bruce and Bruce Mayhew Consulting.

Bruce is Corporate Trainer, Keynote Speaker and Executive Coach.

September 23, 2021

When Leaders are Poor Communicators, Who Pays The Price: Part 2

September 23, 2021/ Bruce Mayhew

In Part 1 of this post I mentioned how important it is for leaders to use professional evaluation tools to assess their communication skills. This is important because studies show many of us would rate ourselves as good communicators when we are not. The reality is, very few of us have invested in ourselves to learn and develop good leadership communication skills. Yes, some leaders have taken presentation skills training which has helped them speak to groups, but in their day-to-day, minute-by-minute, employee-to-employee and meeting-to-meeting work, I again propose few have invested in themselves to truly become good communicators.

I also outlined in Part 1 a total of 14 different ways leaders can be better leader communicators. But a long list like that may be overwhelming, so with that in mind lets discuss 5 of my favourite ways leaders can develop effective communication skills. Let me also give you one piece of advice now; if you are ever stuck, do whatever you feel the people you are leading need at that moment in order for them to be happy, inspired and productive employees who are loyal to you - their leader as well as loyal to their team and the company.

5 Ways Leaders Can Become Better Communicators:

#1. Lead with a clear reflection of the company’s Vision and Values.

It’s easy to get busy and see only what is in front of us, but great leaders help their team and team members also stay focused on the big picture… the vision and values of the organization.

A focus on the company’s vision and values reminds everyone why they are working on a project and how the purpose of that project supports the teams, companies and customers success. Having a discussion at the beginning of a project to outline how the task and results will support the companies vision and values helps everyone make decisions (either independently or as a team) because they have a shared understanding of the goals and can see how that project is like one important piece of a puzzle and how it must fit. This creates harmony by streamlining goals and aligning decision making, increases commitment and accountability by everyone and saves money by delivering solutions quickly and with little waste.

#2. Be clear with your expectations.

Being clear about your expectations is important from your big picture expectations and down to each request.

Communication Example:

Early in my career I learned the hard way that my job description was not a guide on how to be a top performer and get Exceeds Expectations; it was the minimum of what was expected of me. How wonderful it would have been if someone shared that insight with me.

When I say be clear about each request, I don’t mean micro-manage. What I do mean is answer the basics of Who, What, Where, When and How… especially when someone is new and doesn’t know your / your teams style. Far too often a leader will ask for something and everyone immediately drops what they are doing, meanwhile the request isn’t urgent. Also, far too often a leader will ask for information but doesn’t share how it will be used so their team spends far too little or far too much time ‘packaging’ it into a report that is far too brief or far too robust.

And when being clear with expectations, be sure to always keep your team motivated by shining a light on how they have met your expectations and the progress they’ve made. Remind them they have grown, and you are there as a coach as well as boss and you want to help them succeed. As leaders, far too often we tell people when they've fallen short but don’t tell them when they've met or exceeded our expectations and the reason we use is “it’s their job”. Let’s change this.

#3. Encourage employees to ask for clarity or help

The last thing anyone wants is someone who won’t ask for help or clarity. Unfortunately, when this happens one of three things often happen. They:

Waste time overproducing
Do a really bad job that can’t be used
Bury the request and do nothing at all… which usually becomes a crisis

Too often the reason for not asking for help is because they feel they will look weak or incompetent if they ask.

In today’s workspace things are complicated and ever-changing. If an employees is doing something new (and we all should be in order to stay current and grow), we have to make sure we are clear about expectations. It is a leaders biggest frustration when they get work back they can’t use and/or have to fix themselves. This is also one of the biggest frustrations and let-downs for employees who are scared to ask their boss or work diligently on something only to see it not meet expectations and not be used.

Great leaders let their team know that asking for help is a sign of respect for everyone and confidence in themselves. It can also be a sign of how that employee is growing and learning new skills.

#4 Give people autonomy to make decisions

When leaders are transparent it allows team members to align their work and decisions. When employees know what is expected of them another benefit is that teams and team members are able to work more independently, choosing when and where to work. This way, leaders can focus on getting updates and on bigger picture aspects of knowing the project is on time and on budget versus every minor decision. A critical part of this will also be to remember that ‘your way’ is not always ‘the only way’.

For example, I used to have a boss who would wordsmith copy changing a word here and a word there but never impacting the value of the document. One downside of this was that passing everything by him slowed down every project. It also had two other very negative impacts. First, everyone on the team started getting the ‘why should I bother spend more time perfecting my copy’ attitude because they knew he was going to edit and change the document. It just seemed we wasted less time by giving him ‘good but not great’ copy. Second, we never felt ownership or proud of anything final, so we began losing our inspiration to do our best. Thirdly, our loyalty to the leader, the project and the company dropped. While at that time I didn’t have a formal leadership position, I remember noticing that turnover was a bit hirer in our department than in others.

#5 Working 24/7 isn’t impressive

It’s not uncommon for people to think that being ‘busy’ is a sign of success and how valuable they are. At the same time when I teach Time Management people always talk about wanting more work-life balance.

It’s often a sign you are a good leader when your team occasionally pitch in during a crunch or to help with a great new opportunity for the company. But if this is happening all the time it is a sign something is wrong and your most valuable assets – your employees – are at risk of burning out. Note: burning out usually means short term disability or they quit. Either way it is a lose-lose situation for everyone.

The world at work is speeding up and especially since the COVID pandemic began people are stressed at home and often working far more than they or you ever signed up for. As a leader watch out for opportunities to tell your team how much they are appreciated. Also, as soon as you can reset everyone’s expectations, give them a break and perhaps lighten their load… and do that by bringing them in and asking them what ideas they have and what they need.

One last thought. Sometimes we try to give our team a break by letting timelines or quality slip. Lightening someone’s load for a short time or even a full break if they need it but lowering your and their standards isn’t the solution; people have to be proud that they did and will continue to deliver quality work.

Conclusion

Leadership is an iterative process that ebbs and flows. On one hand it is all about being in control and building a corporate culture focused on a vision and organizational values while on the other hand you are helping individuals bring their unique self to work, feel engaged and supported. It’s not easy.

As I mentioned in Part 1, the fact that 69% of managers are uncomfortable communicating with their employees says quite a bit. And I bet when looking at communication effectiveness, the number is actually higher if we were to ask the individuals who work with those managers. , it means there are opportunities for most of us (and I would wager all of us) to be better.

There is, however, one deceptively simple tactic that can help: ask people. Ask them, “How can I best support you?” or “What environment would help you do your best work?”. They may not have an answer immediately, but you’ll get them thinking. You’ll show them that you’re interested in their perspective. And provided you keep asking, you’ll get the answers you need to help them be happy, inspired and productive employees who are loyal to their leader, their team and the company.

Thank you for checking out ‘When Leaders Are Poor Communicators, Who Pays The Price? Part 2’..

An other article you might like.

When Leaders Are Poor Communicators, Who Pays The Price? Part 1

About Bruce and Bruce Mayhew Consulting.

Bruce is Corporate Trainer, Keynote Speaker and Executive Coach.

Bruce Mayhew Consulting specializes in customized Email Etiquette Training, Leadership & New Leadership Development, Generational Differences, Time Management Training and other soft skills training solutions in Toronto and across Canada. Bruce is also an Executive Coach to a few select clients.

September 23, 2021

When Leaders are Poor Communicators, Who Pays The Price? Part 1

September 23, 2021/ Bruce Mayhew

Imagine, 69% of managers are uncomfortable communicating with their employees as reported by Harvard Business Review. And since 60%-80% of most leaders’ responsibilities are now considered Soft Skills… I think we can all agree this is a serious gap / challenge.

When leaders are poor communicators, who pays the price for this gap? The answer is everyone!

The employee: They don’t feel pride and don’t grow, leading to feeling uninspired to do their best work which starts the cycle over again.
The company: Doesn’t get the investment, insight and loyalty from their employees that they need and that their employees want do give… if they felt proud.
The customer / client: They don’t feel as important as they should, respected as they should and don’t get solutions that inspired employees could provide if they were engaged, respected and encouraged.
The leader: Even the leader is eventually found out, but often not before many employees and customers have become disengaged and moved on, costing the company dearly.

What makes a great leader communicator?

A great leader communicator starts with awareness of course. If you are wondering about yourself, look externally for your proof. Studies have shown that in almost every case we will rate ourselves as far greater - or far poorer leaders and communicators than we actually are. I encourage you to reach out to a reputable service that offers psychometric evaluations and/or who will coordinate a robust 360 degree evaluation for you and everyone else on you team… not just your leaders.

Another key aspect of being a great leader communicator is knowing what you should be doing. The following is a long list of strong leadership traits, but I will never say that a list I create is complete. I am sure everyone could add another great leadership trait that you have or do admire.

A great leader communicator is someone who:

Works with others to create a vision / strategy to shape their future.
Is an ambassador of the values of the team / organization.
Listens more than they speak.
Communicates frequently and is transparent with opportunities, goals, expectations and feedback.
Recognizes everyone is unique and has something special to offer.
Is compassionate and not afraid of their - or other peoples emotions / needs.
Inspires people to do their best as they work toward that vision and live those values.
Helps everyone incorporate each other’s style into the work and the values of the organization. IE: Does not micromanage and force others to do things ‘my way or the highway’.
Recognizes employee engagement is not a one-size fits all solution. For example, four motivators that engage people are competency, autonomy, purpose and impact.
Builds, mentors and coaches their team so they can feel proud of their efforts and develop skill to meet their personal and professional goals.
Doesn't lose focus but also embraces the need to change and adapt from time to time.
Accepts they are not always right.
Accepts they don't always have the answer - someone else will likely be the Subject Matter Expert.
Accepts they also have something to learn and additional skills to develop.

The fact that 69% of managers are uncomfortable communicating with their employees, it means there are opportunities for most of us (and I would wager all of us) to be better. So, with that in mind, lets discuss some of the things that many leaders hesitate to communicate but also things that happy, inspired and productive employees need and want to know.

#1. Lead with a clear reflection of the company’s Vision and Values.

It’s easy to get busy and see only what is in front of us, but great leaders help their team and team members also stay focused on the big picture… the vision and values of the organization. The great part of this is that reminds everyone why they are working on a project and how the purpose of that project supports the teams, companies and customers success. Having a discussion at the beginning of a project that outlines how the task and results will support the companies vision and values helps everyone make decisions (either independently or as a team) because they have a shared understanding of the goals and can see how that project is like one important piece of a puzzle and how it must fit. This creates harmony by streamlining goals and aligning decision making, increases commitment and accountability by everyone and saves money by delivering solutions quickly and with little waste.

#2. Be clear with your expectations.

Being clear about your expectations is important from your big picture expectations and down to each request.

For example:

When I say be clear about each request, I don’t mean micro-manage. What I do mean is answer the basics of Who, What, Where, When and How… especially when someone is new and doesn’t know your / your teams style. Far too often a leader will ask for something and everyone immediately drops what they are doing, meanwhile the request isn’t urgent. Also, far too often the leader asks for information but doesn’t share how it will be used so their team spends far too much time ‘packaging’ it into a brief, or far too little time and present only the basics.

Above all, always keep your team motivated by shining a light on the progress they’ve made. Remind them they have grown, and you are there as a coach as well as boss and you want to help them succeed.

#3. Encourage employees to ask for clarity or help

The last thing anyone wants is someone who won’t ask for help or clarity and instead:

Wastes time overproducing
Does a really bad job that can’t be used
Buries the request and does nothing at all

Too often the reason for not asking for help is because they feel they will look weak or incompetent if they ask. Truth is, in today’s workspace things are complicated so if an employees is doing something new (and we all should be in order to stay current and grow), we have to make sure we are clear about expectations. It is a leaders biggest frustration when they get work back they cant use and/or have to fix themselves and also one of the biggest frustrations and let-downs for employees who are scared to ask their boss or work diligently on something only to see it not meet expectations and not be used.

Great leaders let their team know that asking for help is a sign of respect for everyone and confidence in themselves. It can also be a sign of how that employee is growing and learning new skills.

#4 Give people autonomy to make decisions

As mentioned above, when leaders are transparent it allows team members to align their work and decisions. When they know what is expected of them another benefit is that teams and team members are able to work more independently, choosing when and where to work. This way, leaders can focus on getting updates and on bigger picture aspects of knowing the project is on time and on budget versus every minor decision. A critical part of this will also be to remember that ‘your way’ is not always ‘the only way’.

For example, I used to have a boss who would wordsmith copy changing a word here and a word there but never impacting the value of the document; whether it was his intention or not, all he did was make it sound more like him. The downside of this is that passing everything by him slowed down every project. It also had two other very negative impacts. First, everyone on the team started getting the ‘why should I bother spend more time perfecting my copy’ attitude because they knew he was going to edit and change the document. It just seemed we wasted less time by giving him ‘good but not great’ copy. Second, we never felt ownership or proud of anything final, so we began losing our inspiration to do our best. Thirdly, our loyalty to the leader for sure and often to the project and the company dropped. While at that time I didn’t have a formal leadership position, I remember noticing that turnover was a bit hirer in our department than in others.

#5 Working 24/7 isn’t impressive

Conclusion

Remember that people want to succeed and feel proud of where they work and how they contribute. They rarely need control. Instead they need room to flourish. A leader’s job is to build the right team so that company, team and individual priorities are aligned and that happens when leaders are transparent, flexible, trusting, trustworthy and respectful.

Thank you for checking out ‘When Leaders Are Poor Communicators, Who Pays The Price? Part 1’.

An other article you might like.

When Leaders Are Poor Communicators, Who Pays The Price? Part 2

About Bruce and Bruce Mayhew Consulting.

Bruce is Corporate Trainer, Keynote Speaker and Executive Coach.

September 20, 2021

The Importance Of Building A Supportive Company Culture

September 20, 2021/ Bruce Mayhew

A supportive company culture is a living, breathing, dynamic space. It is an environment where ideas, responsibilities, respect and mutual support ebb and flow between leaders, employees, suppliers, clients and more. It is a place where trust and loyalty are nurtured carefully. And all supportive corporate cultures are built on a foundation of purpose; a shared understanding of the company vision, mission and values. Metaphorically speaking, purpose is where you are going, and corporate culture is how you are getting there.

Everyone from the most junior employee to the most senior has a responsibility to support the company culture; it is not the sole responsibility of the leadership team, HR or the social committee. A healthy, supportive corporate culture is a symbiotic relationship that involves everyone. It grows out of the big and small decisions we make, how we act, what we say, how we say it, how we treat each other and what part we play in our community. We are all ambassadors of our corporate culture as well as our own personal and professional reputation (brand).

The following are opportunities where each of us can contribute to a supportive company culture. And, while all of these are great opportunities, we must recognize it would be impossible to ever develop a complete list. So, I encourage you to consider these suggestions but to also consider what other ways you and/or your company could use to create a supportive company culture.

Company Examples: Adding to a supportive company culture:

Companies with supportive company cultures know most employees want to be proud of where they work and want to help the company be the best it can be. Yes, there will always be an employee who doesn’t care and only wants a paycheck, but truthfully, there are far fewer people like this than we may think. Most people who have checked-out simply don’t feel valued, respected and supported (3 from a list of most common reasons), but put them in a space where the corporate culture is rich and they will thrive.

To help proud employees do their best work, the following are examples how great leaders add to a supportive company culture:

· Offer employees fair wages with respectful benefits
· Strive to be sure employees feel:
- Valued
- Appreciated
- Trusted
- Involved
- Empowered
· Encourage employees to ask questions
· Employees believe they contribute / their work is important
· Employees feel a level of control / Autonomy
· Provide employees opportunities to better themselves
· Empower employees to work when they are at their best
· Employees are:
- Mentored
- Challenged
- Promoted
- Encouraged to enjoy interests outside of work
· Be a good corporate citizen

Leadership Examples: Adding to a supportive company culture:

While it is everyone’s responsibility to build and support the company culture, leaders really do play an important role in what happens throughout the company and/or within their team. Even a leader within a company with a questionable company culture can create a happy, creative, productive and loyal corporate micro-culture when their team feels their respect and trust.

So, what can a leader do within their company and/or team to develop a supportive corporate culture?

Include everyone on your team to define team values and/or to discuss what the current team or organization values impact them and how they approach their work. Note: Even though your company may have defined values, I don’t think there is anything wrong with sitting with your team to not only review them… but to add one or two that your team may want to also adopt.
Explore openly with your team how every decision and/or action supports (or does not support) the company’s core values, beliefs, mission and vision.
Be approachable
Practice empathy
Be crystal clear with your expectations
Agree that no question is a bad question. Better people ask for clarification than do something unexpected eh?
Demonstrate trust by giving employees the opportunity to figure things out for themselves. This often develops a greater sense of responsibility, pride and confidence in the employees (or teams) and makes their work important to them.
Demonstrate you value suggestions from employees and suppliers as much as you do from other leaders.
Provide employees and teams the autonomy and decision-making ability they need to be accountable. Leaders need to support their team while also helping them be responsible and accountable for their work. Accountability develops greater sense of responsibility, pride and confidence. It will help them grow and be better at their work in the future. Remember, leaders do not make every decision; they trust employees who are experts and/or closer to the work.
Reward when people and/or teams are accountable.
Encourage and praise employees who collaborate well with others. This doesn’t mean only reward extraverts; introverts are often some of the best collaborators.
Take onboarding new employees seriously, help them learn the language, the culture and the organization. Consider matching new employees with internal mentors.
Help your company and team be a good corporate citizen.
Respect our environment.

Employee Examples: Adding to a supportive company culture:

During my career I have had some great bosses – I’ve also had one really bad boss. This bad boss created a terrible team culture even though the overall corporate culture was quite good. Thankfully, there were a few of us on the team who banded together to support each other and to find ways to do our best work within the toxic storm our leader created.

Ways in which employees can add to a supportive company (or team) culture include:

Know what the company’s core values, beliefs, mission and vision are. Try to use those as goal posts for the decisions you make.
Demonstrate you recognize everyone has a voice and their ideas are valued.
Always enjoy a good laugh, but never at someone else’s expense. Mutual respect is critical.
When you are wrong or makes an error, admit it and move on. Being accountable shows respect for yourself and your colleagues. A culture of accountability also develops trust.
When someone else is wrong or makes an error, move on. Ask them if they would like your support to find ways to minimize / correct the damage.
When someone else has a better idea, give them credit and help them / the team develop it further. Be an example of integrity, honour and respect of other people and ideas.
Be respectful with your language.
Help your company and team be a good corporate citizen.
Respect our environment.

Toxic workplaces cause psychological and physical stress. This engages peoples natural instinct to protect themselves, to not share creative ideas, decreases motivation, increases absenteeism and eventually turnover.

Organizations are aways in competition to hire and retain amazing people. The best way to protect themselves from losing valuable employees is to make sure you have a supportive company culture that makes your employees… and your competitions employees… want to work for you.

Conclusion

You now have many examples how to create a supportive company culture that is an environment for growth, hard work and change while still maintaining a low stress environment. This creates one of the best places to work where productivity and loyalty are high while conflict and turnover are low. When we have a great company culture, employees trust each other and can be their true authentic self. When we trust and respect each other we share good ideas, crazy ideas, we look out for each other and everyone wins.

BONUS:

Two deeper dives into how companies and leaders can build great a great corporate culture.

1. Build a solid employment brand. It starts with understanding what makes your organization unique. Once you have it, promote it; find every opportunity to talk about the company brand. Write articles, post employee survey results, sit on panel discussions, talk with reporters in addition to the more common approach of building a great career website and distributing job openings in both typical and non-standard places. Make sure that everyone knows yours is a great place to work.

If you’re a good employer, employees will want to work for you. Existing employee loyalty will go up and when you do need to hire new people you will be attracting talent that want to work for your company versus have to find a job.

Now is the time to be further developing your corporate culture because you can bet your competition is.

2. Consider sabbaticals or approved / arranged boomerangs. We all know what a sabbatical is. In office terms a boomerang is when an employee leaves a company and then later returns to work for the company.

Imagine offering an agreed upon leave of absence like sabbaticals and boomerangs to employees who meet or exceed expectations to achieve a personal goal or gain new skills.

Neither sabbaticals or boomerangs need to be for a year. Why not let them be can be as flexible as required. And, perhaps you can arrange employees spend some time in the office so you don’t lose all productivity. For example, imagine having a strong employee who requests a 3-month sabbatical to take a few courses or earn a professional certificate to help them further their career. Depending on their schedule they may even be able to work 2-days a week. Or imagine letting an employee take a 2-month boomerang to take their dream vacation.

Offering flexible options will provide a clear example of how you trust and value employees while giving them some autonomy. Employees who negotiate sabbaticals and boomerangs are going to be even more valuable when they return because they will always have a fresh perspective and likely be more hard-working than ever. If nothing more, they will be more loyal. And let’s be clear, in most cases you will save thousands of dollars versus the high cost of recruiting new talent in highly competitive business environments and opportunity lost when valued employees see no other way to get ahead than to quit… or worse, to not take a dream course or vacation, feel resentful about it and stay.

Whenever you can, create a workplace where employees feel comfortable being themselves and is built on mutual respect and mutual benefit.

Thank you for your interest in building a supportive company culture.

An other article you might like.

Why Trust Matters and How To Build Trust At Work

About Bruce and Bruce Mayhew Consulting.

Bruce is Corporate Trainer, Keynote Speaker and Executive Coach.

September 09, 2021

Introducing Dr. Edward de Bono's Six Thinking Hats

September 09, 2021/ Bruce Mayhew

I recall that when I first learned about Six Thinking Hats by Dr. Edward de Bono it was from someone who said it was a tool to analyze how each of us instinctively ‘think’ and therefore determine how potential hires may ‘fit’ within a team. It instantly seemed odd to me to think any person can be identified as ‘one thing’ … and it still does. Take me for example, different parts of my personality and experience are present at different times. Sometimes I am quiet and reserved and sometimes I take charge… and there is a whole spectrum in the middle.

Long story short, the person who introduced Six Thinking Hats to me was missing the power of this model. There are however Psychometric tests that do a very good job measuring an individual’s logical, verbal, mechanical, abstract and situational judgement reasoning. But for now, as a communication and leadership trainer and coach, let me share what I’ve learned after much research and my understanding about how the Six Thinking Hats can be used.

I see Six Thinking Hats as a great leadership, team, planning and problem-solving tool. It gives us a guideline on how to expand our thinking and encourages us to explore non-traditional possibilities and opportunities that may impact a project or decision. It also helps us analyze risk. And, as I suggested above, if we use it to only define ‘how Bruce thinks’ or ‘Bruce’s instinctive style’ then we are not doing our project, our company and certainly not Bruce and his future any favours.

What Are The Six Thinking Hats?

Before we go any further, let me share with you my explanation of what each colour within the Six Thinking Hats means from the perspective of a leader:

White Hat: "Facts & Information"
- The white hat represents research, learning and information gathering. It’s about knowing what you know and knowing what you don’t know. It is also about giving yourself permission to learn more - gather more facts and information.
Red Hat: "Emotions & Intuition"
- The red hat represents emotions and feelings. It’s about tapping into intuition, empathy and hunches while feeling safe to share who you are, your likes and dislikes. It is about embracing Soft Skills and what makes each of us unique.
Black Hat: "Judgement & Skepticism"
- The black hat is the judgement. Judging, being cautious and assessing risk is important but too often the black hat is overused. Part of the creative process is learning from our mistakes… not hiding them or being fearful of making one as we grow. Make sure your environment doesn’t condemn mistakes and allow caution to paralyze progress.
Yellow Hat: "Optimism & Benefits"
- The yellow hat represents optimism, the glass is half full not half empty. We embrace values, see opportunity, explore benefits and encourage positivity.
Green Hat: "Creativity & New Ideas"
- The green hat represents creative thinking. Green represents exploring new ideas and possibilities; it is about being free to be our unique selves, to share our thoughts and to try new things.
Blue Hat: "Control & Organization"
- The blue hat represents control but certainly not stagnation. Everything happens on purpose. It is about strategy and a shared vision. It is about goals, objectives, planning, agendas and defined / measurable conclusions.

I really like how the Six Thinking Hats encourages us to think more broadly. For example, it’s easy (and very common) to explore all the risks and threats of an idea and forget to explore all of the creative possibilities and opportunities that may not be immediately obvious. When we look at only the negatives and risk of a decision, we can’t truly move forward, learn, adapt and grow.

The Six Thinking Hats reminds us to look at a situation (every situation) from six different perspectives.

For The Team

The model helps eliminate bias and group think. No matter what someone’s personal style or even hierarchy, using the Six Thinking Hats (Red, Yellow, Black etc) helps the team stay focused on important issues and encourages shared understanding. This leads to the team being able to collaborate more effectively and reach consensus with little to no conflict. It also often means decisions are made more quickly and with less waste because it improves transparency, collaboration, team trust and accountability in a very productive way.
A team can use the Six Thinking Hats in many ways. For example, a committee of 12 people could divide into six teams with two people per team. Each team could explore a shared topic, need or opportunity from the perspective on one of the hat colours. Then, after 1-hour each team would present their ‘research’ and ‘brainstorming’ to their peers. This would be a quick way to conduct a very thorough review which should also lead to shared understanding, shared decision making and perhaps best of all… shared commitment.

For The Individual

The Six Thinking Hats helps each of us grow by encouraging our creativity and imagination while also improving our analytical skills. But it does more of each of us. The Six Thinking Hats encourages us to make room for other people’s opinions and to remember that not only are each of our jobs and responsibilities different, we are not all built the same. From this we are able to build trust with other people and within our teams, helping each of us to communicate more confidently and effectively and develop more reliable interpersonal skills.

It’s far too easy for us to get overwhelmed exploring risks (the black hat), and to not give creative ideas the benefit of the other six hats. The Six Thinking Hats reminds us to do more and be more. It is a leadership, team and problem-solving tool that gives us permission to be cautious and also permission to dream and to use non-traditional thinking or ‘thinking outside the box’ which may be a more familiar term.

Whether we are using the model as an individual to evaluate options or if we are in a team, the Six Thinking Hats theory empowers us to generate traditional and non-traditional ideas and to use non-biased evaluation to select the best possible decision. And of course, giving a nod to the blue hat, the model provides concrete reasoning that we can use now and in the future to justify our decision.

Example of how Dr. Bono’s theories help us generate non-traditional ideas:

Problem: A company is dumping pollution into a lake. It is seriously harming the ecosystem and a solution has to be found. There are many traditional methods that come to mind:

Tax the company for each ton of sewage they dump.
Draft laws that force them clean their waste before it goes into the lake.
Draft laws that make them collect and recycle their waste in advance.

These solutions can work, but they are complicated, take time, require constant monitoring and can fail.

Solution (non-traditional): Using critical thinking and the Six Thinking Hats to generate new ideas, a team identifies a simple and non-traditional solution. Make the company position their water intake valve immediately downstream from their sewage output valve (usually output valves are positioned downstream). This way, the company is the first to be impacted by any pollution they dump. They will be eager to monitor pollution levels themselves and will likely be very motivated to find eco-friendly alternatives to their processes.

Conclusion

The Six Thinking Hats is a framework that helps us explore all sides of a situation; to dream, be creative, listen carefully, evaluate, feel, learn and above all, to grow, become better and achieve more as a team and as an individual. It helps us explore what can be… versus what is. The model also helps us change our perception and therefore overcome ‘errors of potential’ as Dr. Bono might say.

When you are faced with solving a problem, try using the Six Thinking Hats model to frame your approach and help you generate new ideas. I am confident it will help you explore your problem from multiple perspectives, improve creativity, help develop teamwork within a team (if you have one) and firm up your (and other peoples) commitment.

NOTE: The Six Thinking Hats approach was created by Dr. Edward de Bono a Maltese physician, psychologist and philosopher who is a global authority on creative and conceptual thinking wrote a book called ‘The Six Thinking Hats’ that encourages all of us to think differently and ‘The Mechanism of The Mind’ and many other books.

Thank you for reading this article, please be well. Happy communicating and happy leading.

Bruce

An other article you might like.

Read How to Prepare for a Job Interview Level 1

About Bruce and Bruce Mayhew Consulting.

Bruce is Corporate Trainer, Keynote Speaker and Executive Coach.

August 26, 2021

Build A Supportive Company Culture

August 26, 2021/ Bruce Mayhew

A supportive company culture is a living a breathing, dynamic space. It is an environment where support for people and their ideas ebb and flow between leaders, employees, suppliers, clients, their communities and more.

A healthy, supportive corporate culture is a symbiotic relationship centred around the company’s core values, beliefs, mission and vision. Everyone from the most junior employee to the most senior has a responsibility to support the company culture, it is not a responsibility for only the leadership team or the responsibility of HR or the social committee.

The following are opportunities for companies, leaders and employees to build together and add to a supportive company culture. These are all great opportunities but it would be near impossible to develop a complete list. It is likely there are some unique opportunities for your business. For example, imagine that if you are in the entertainment business what you might be able to do around a special performance or with a costumed event. If you are in the technology business what might you be able to do with a custom app or remote team solutions. Bring your teams together to brainstorm ideas.

I encourage you to consider what you can do to integrate or strengthen the opportunities within this article. I also encourage you to celebrate and share with your friends, family and like minded professionals what you and/or your company does that is not included within these lists.

Company Examples: Adding to a supportive company culture:

Supportive corporate cultures are respectful of everyone. Companies realize that employees want to be proud of where they work. Employees are also eager to help the company be the best it can be… until they feel disrespected or used. To help employees do their best work and be the best individual they can be, supportive companies don’t only take, they give back to employees, helping them be their best and be proud of what they do and the company they work for.

Companies that add to a supportive company culture:

Strive to be sure employees feel:
- Valued
- Appreciated
- Trusted
- Involved
- Empowered
Encourage employees to ask questions.
Take opportunities to let employees know they contribute and that their work is important.
Help employees feel a level of control and autonomy.
Provide employees opportunities to better themselves.
Empower employees to work when they are at their best.
Provide opportunity for employees to be:
- Mentored
- Challenged
- Promoted
- Encouraged to enjoy interests outside of work
Let employees grow at their own pace.
Are a good corporate citizen.
Offer employees fair wages with respectful benefits.

Leadership Examples: Adding to a supportive company culture:

While it is everyone’s responsibility to build and support the company culture, leaders do play an important role in what happens throughout the company and/or within their team. Great leaders don’t wait – they know that even within their own team they can make a difference and create a fantastic, trusting and respective corporate culture where employees on their team are happy, creative, productive and loyal.

So, what can a leader do within their company and/or team to develop a supportive corporate culture?

Explore openly with their team how every decision and/or action supports (or does not support) the company’s core values, beliefs, mission and vision.
Be approachable.
Practice empathy.
Be crystal clear with expectations.
Celebrate great work.
Recognize and celebrate when employees make decisions or take actions that are inline with the company’s core values, beliefs, mission and vision.
Agree that no question is a bad question. Better people ask for clarification than do something unexpected eh?
Demonstrate trust by giving employees the opportunity to figure things out for themselves. Opportunity often develops a greater sense of responsibility, pride and confidence in the employees (or teams) and makes their work important to them.
Listen. Leaders demonstrate they value suggestions from employees and suppliers as much as they do from other leaders.
Provide employees and teams the autonomy and decision-making ability they need to be accountable. Great leaders help employees and teams be responsible and accountable for their work. Accountability develops greater sense of responsibility, pride and confidence in the employees (or teams) work in similar ways that opportunity does. Accountability will help employees grow and be better at their work in the future. Remember, leaders do not make every decision; they trust employees who are experts and/or closer to the work.
Reward when others are accountable. Celebrate accountability. Turn it into a positive team building and / or learning experience.
Encourage and praise employees who collaborate well with others. This doesn’t mean only reward extraverts; introverts are often some of the best collaborators.
Take on-boarding new employees seriously, help them learn the language, the culture and the organization. Consider setting new employees up with internal mentors for a short time.
Help the company and team be a good corporate citizen.
Respect our environment.

Employee Examples: Adding to a supportive company culture:

During my career I have had some great bosses – I’ve also had one really bad boss. He created a terrible team culture within a more or less very good corporate culture. Thankfully, there were a few of us on the team who baneded together to support eachother and to find ways to do the best work we could do within the perfect storm our leader created every day.

Ways in which employees can add to a supportive company (or team) culture include:

Know what the company’s core values, beliefs, mission and vision are. Try to use those as goal posts for the decisions they make.
Demonstrate they recognize everyone has a voice and their ideas are valued.
Always enjoy a good laugh, but never at someone else’s expense. Mutual respect is critical. Toxic workplaces cause psychological and physical stress. This engages peoples natural instinct to protect themselves, to not share creative ideas, decreases motivation, increases absenteeism and eventually turnover.
When you are wrong or make an error, admit it quickly, help find a solution and move on. Being accountable shows respect for yourself and your colleagues. A culture of accountability also develops trust.
When someone else is wrong or makes an error, offer to help find a solution and move on. Ask if your support to find ways to minimize / correct the damage would be helpful, don’t push your way in.
When someone else has a better idea, give them credit. If appropriate, help them / the team develop it further. Be an example of integrity, honour and respect of other people and ideas.
Be respectful with your language.
Help the company and team be a good corporate citizen.
Respect our environment.

Conclusion

When our workspace creates a space where employees feel comfortable being themselves. When we have a great corporate culture, employees trust each other and can be their true authentic self. When we trust and respect each other we share good ideas, crazy ideas and we look out for each other. This is the best environment for growth, hard work and change while still maintaining a low stress environment. This creates one of the best places to work where productivity and loyalty are high while conflict and turnover are low.

Negative cultural issues can have long-standing effects on your workforce’s wellbeing and performance. Leaders who do not realize this are setting up the company, the employees and suppliers and of course themselves for failure.

BONUS:

Two deeper dives into how companies and leaders can build great a great corporate culture.

Now is the time to be further developing your corporate culture because you can bet your competition is.

2. Consider sabbaticals or approved / arranged boomerangs. We all know what a sabbatical is but a boomerang in office terms is when employee leaves a company and then returns to work for the company at some later date. Imagine offering an agreed upon leave of absence like sabbaticals and boomerangs to employees who meet or exceed expectations to achieve a personal goal or gain new skills.

Sabbaticals and boomerangs don’t have to be for a year. Why not let them be can be as flexible as required, and perhaps you can still arrange employees spend some time in the office so you don’t lose all productivity. For example, imagine giving a strong employee who meets expectations a 3-month sabbatical where they work 1 or 2-days a week and use the extra time to take a few high-intensity courses or earn a professional certificate to help them further their career. Or, imagine letting an employee take a 2-month boomerang to take their dream vacation.

Offering flexible options will provide a clear example to all employees that you trust and value them. And, when you have an employee who has returned from a sabbatical or boomerang they will have a fresh perspective and likely be more valuable and hard-working than ever. If nothing more, they will be more loyal and you will save a ton of time, money and intellectual knowledge versus the high cost of turnover and hiring new employees. Think about it, can you advertise for, interview, hire and train a new employee in 2-months… or even 6-months? Usually no. We see time and time again when a valued employee sees no other way to get ahead than to quit… or worse, they stay and feel resentful and not appreciated.

Thank you for reading this article, please be well. Happy communicating and happy leading.

Bruce

An other article you might like.

Read How to Prepare for a Job Interview Level 1

About Bruce and Bruce Mayhew Consulting.

Bruce is Corporate Trainer, Keynote Speaker and Executive Coach.

July 09, 2021

Four Rules To Be An Effective Leader

July 09, 2021/ Bruce Mayhew

Rule 1.

Lead by sharing a strategic vision and by honoring shared values with every decision. Be consistent with your company vision and values. Be an example that inspires others and help others be consistent with your company vision and values. At some moment in time it may be important to break the rules and do something unexpected… daring… challenging. But if your decisions are always in-line with your overall vision and values, it will be OK.

Rule 2.

Have someone (or a team) who can push you. Find successful people you trust, work with them and listen to them. Also find successful people who will listen to you and who are not scared of disagreeing with you – who will challenge you and enter into open, creative, productive, respectful dialogue.

Rule 3.

Empower everyone around you. Give them the tools, resources and moral support to push their limits and grow. Help them be successful but don’t try to be them – be you. Everyone has special qualities to add. Together you are a force – apart you are alone.

Rule 4.

Read books and articles. Yes listing to others is important and watching YouTube videos has value. But we learn differently when we read and there are thousands of talented people who have written books and shared their great ideas. Take advantage of their experience.

Conclusion

There are many great things great leaders do. I encourage you to explore how you are doing with these four rules. Thank you for reading four rules to be an effective leader. Please share your own favourite leadership rule or rules in the comments.

Thank you.

Bruce

About Bruce and Bruce Mayhew Consulting.

Bruce is Corporate Trainer, Keynote Speaker and Executive Coach.

April 12, 2021

How Leaders Can Use "The Motivation Myth" by Jeff Haden

April 12, 2021/ Bruce Mayhew

For as far back as I can remember I’ve believed you can’t motivate anyone… but you can inspire them (or yourself) to do great things. Motivation however, comes from within.

Jeff Haden’s book “The Motivation Myth” is a whole book dedicated to this idea, and I find it inspiring.

In “The Motivation Myth” Jeff takes us on a deep dive into how to motivate ourselves. Using those same techniques I see a direct line on how leaders can inspire others to achieve greatness.

One of the other great things Jeff does is provide solid reasons why motivation surges often evaporate regardless of our best intentions. And, since Jeff is Inc's most popular columnist, an author, speaker, ghost writer, cyclist, husband and so much more, I trust that if anyone knows about motivation, it is Jeff Haden.

How Leaders Can Use “The Motivation Myth”

Leaders can use the “The Motivation Myth” by embracing Jeff’s basic idea that motivation isn’t satisfying. What Jeff believes is satisfying is when we see the results from our effort and feel a sense of success and accomplishment. This makes total sense to me. So much of what I write about in my leadership articles and speak about when I give presentations and training events is the idea that one of the best things leaders can do to help someone is to learn how to inspire them.

As leaders we need to help others feel proud of what they are doing, learning and accomplishing… and this is easier than most of us imagine.

I believe you and I and all the people around us at work are inspired by only five core desires. This of course assumes we are paid a fair wage and our physical and emotional safety is not an issue. The five desires that inspire employee engagement are:

Competence: To be great at a task by gaining experience and using that experience.
Autonomy: To be trusted so that we have a choice on what we work on, when and how.
Purpose: To know our work is important… that what we are doing has meaning and won’t be wasted.
Impact: To know we are making a difference and whatever happens will be better because of us and our efforts.
Connection: To be part of a ‘Tribe’ as I’m sure author and speaker Seth Godin would say.

As a leader, this short list makes it easy to keep track of how we can inspire anyone, from our employees through to our children and pretty much anyone else we meet.

When people are inspired by what they accomplish, this success as Jeff calls it in “The Motivation Myth” will give them a rush. And because they like that rush they will want to feel that again and again. That is what drives people to do more of the thing that gives them a sense of ‘Competence’ or ‘Autonomy’ or ‘Purpose’ or whatever they crave.

Whatever button (desire) turns them on, be sure to push that button… or those buttons. This is when they will begin to feel sustained motivation!

It is important to note that different people will have a different hierarchy to this list of five desires. So, as a great leader, take time to learn which desires are the most important to each of the people around you. Is it a drive for ‘Competence’ or, do they light up when they know they have had ‘Impact’? One desire isn’t better than the other – they just are. And, as I teach in my training, be prepared for someone’s inspiration desire to change; especially if they have a life-changing event like a wedding, a birth, an illness or perhaps have purchased a new home.

What About Self-Motivation?

Should you ask of yourself “What motivates me? ”Ug. No! Stop asking that question. Instead ask “What inspires me?” and“What makes me happy?”

As we have discussed above, a key message of “The Motivation Myth” is to stop waiting for motivation to hit. Instead, do something that makes you feel proud… feel success. Even if you take one small step, experience how wonderful it feels. Even if it is a bit scary it still feels great right? And, take notice of what you learned about the task and/or about yourself. That is all pretty exciting and that is what gives you the motivation to take another step.

Set yourself a goal and then write out all the steps you can think of that will lead you to that goal. Then, Jeff says ignore the goal. Only focus on the one step in front of you. Put yourself on a path and start experiencing each step. Live in the present, not the future. Feel pride and success as you accomplish that first step… and then move on to the next step on the path.

One last thing. I believe it’s important you expect your path to change over time. You may need to add a step or take a step away. You may need more time or less time. That is OK. Remember, you are likely experiencing new things and meeting new people and learning new skills. That is exciting - inspiring. Embrace that exciting, inspiring feeling. Take pride in your accomplishments. Everything is OK as long as you stay open – stay present and stay curious as you pay attention to your plan. The next thing you know you have accomplished your goal.

Thank you for reading about how leaders can use “The Motivation Myth” by Jeff Haden. It is a great book that explores how high achievers really set themselves up to win. If you have not read it, I recommend you do. I also think it is a great approach leaders can use to inspire their team. I will enjoy your comments / suggestions of this article.

Bruce

About Bruce and Bruce Mayhew Consulting.

Bruce is Corporate Trainer, Keynote Speaker and Executive Coach.

March 18, 2021

Advice to build an inspiring corporate culture that energizes your corporate strategy.

March 18, 2021/ Bruce Mayhew

Advice to build an inspiring corporate culture that energizes your corporate strategy.

A first step to building an inspiring corporate culture that energizes your corporate strategy (if there ever is a first step), is to be comfortable that corporate culture and corporate strategy are two very different things that enjoy a symbiotic relationship.

Corporate Strategy answers the question, “What do we do?” It offers direction for employees to follow by defining goals and objectives. It is the Vision and Mission of the company. Strategy is tactile and easily measured using accounting tools like Net Income, Return-on-Investment (ROI), Sales Growth and Net-Conversation Rates.

Corporate Culture answers the questions, “How do we do it?” and “Why do we do it?” It encompasses energy and passion, fuelling excitement that employees, clients and suppliers will give to the corporate strategy (and feel from the corporate strategy). Corporate culture defines whether the journey is exciting, gratifying, sustainable and something to be proud of, or a lack of culture (or a negative culture) can make the exact same work discouraging, repetitive and exhausting.

A strong corporate culture rallies people behind the strategy and can quite literally drive exponential success. But, strategy with a mediocre culture will never reach its full potential.

Corporate Strategy versus corporate culture

Being Intentional Matters

Having an intentional corporate culture is like being part of a great orchestra with many musicians committed to playing the same music at the same time at the same tempo. Sure, the string section will be playing one aspect of the concert (finance), the wind section will be playing another (production), the horns will be playing another (sales) and the percussion will be playing yet another (marketing), but together they are all excited to bring their best to a shared goal.

When a team have shared commitment and trusted leadership to guide them along the path of vision, mission and values they become high-functioning / high-value and their individual expertise shines. Staying with the example of the orchestra, if the musicians didn’t have a shared goal and a conductor they trust, their efforts would almost always be disorganized with a risk of chaos. Alternatively, working together they can all bring their unique expertise and experience to the project and create beautiful music.

Leadership Responsibility

Supporting the corporate strategy and corporate culture are two of the most important responsibilities of a leader.

As I said earlier, strategy and culture should live in balance – a symbiotic relationship. This balance should guide and align everyone’s actions and decisions whether they are collaborating as a team of 10 people or are working on their own. And while the company will have one overarching culture, great leaders know that within the company many micro-cultures will likely exist. For example, the legal department will likely have a strong sense of policy and structure while the R&D and marketing departments will likely have far more creativity and agility. But even with these differences, all employees should still experience work that is exciting, gratifying, sustainable and something to be proud of.

How you and I experience culture is always changing. Every new person on your team or in your working group will add a bit of their own flavour as they share into your corporate culture. Over time, as your company / industry changes your corporate culture will adjust a bit as well. Every company and every team will have a unique culture; you will never be able to duplicate the culture somewhere else, but that is OK just create a new great culture. So, embrace what you are experiencing but don’t hold on too tightly – expect it to change and let it change.

A word of caution; many companies move the responsibility for corporate culture to their HR team. There are real challenges with this. Sure, HR should be involved as a partner – a member of the team. But, without the unconditional input, collaboration, financial support and implementation commitment of department leaders, real impact within each department and across the organization is not possible. Healthy corporate culture limps along when it becomes only HR’s responsibility at no fault of people in HR.

More About Corporate Culture

Because corporate culture is more elusive, I want to spend more time talking about it.

As I mentioned earlier, when exploring corporate strategy and corporate culture, strategy is what we are most familiar with. Corporate culture is far more abstract and even mysterious within organizations because it is usually a reflection of softer skills like trust, respect, transparency, diversity and inclusion, reward and recognition. But a healthy culture also positively impacts many important processes like how we hire, who we hire, how we treat advancement opportunities and so much more. Aspects of organizational hierarchy, authority and consistency are also culture attributes.

Regardless of how it is built, culture drives engagement and productivity through camaraderie, loyalty, learning, commitment – a willingness to proudly go the extra mile and lend a helping hand at a time of need or crisis. These are always driven by culture and rarely driven by strategy. Culture lives within each of us but because it is more personal it must be nurtured.

Examples of a good corporate culture are high measurable levels of:

Communication
Respect
Recognition
Purpose
Impact
Trust (built upon reliable communication and respect for example)
Morale
Competency
Autonomy (requiring a flexible culture for example)
Motivation / Inspiration
Training / Professional Development
Innovation (requiring a stable and interdependent culture for example)
Transparency
Inclusion
Diversity
Comfortable Workspace (workspace safety is a Hygiene quality)

The question is, how do you get these? How do you drive engagement and productivity by investing in corporate culture?

Every item on the list above (and more) are the result of specific intention… a strategic goal to embrace corporate culture and to build that culture one brick at a time – one step at a time. And it does take time. Some wins will be quick – some not so much.

How To Develop a Healthy Corporate Culture

For widespread corporate success the leadership team have to be 100% onboard. You are likely going to need to adjust virtually every element of your organizational structure; from job descriptions to training and development to performance measurement, HR policies, internal and external communication, new employee on-boarding, workplace flexibility, hierarchy and more. Once the leadership team is on board an organization needs to successfully embrace and develop a corporate culture and include the following steps.

Be an organization that embraces, supports and rewards change. Everyone says they hate change but change you must… and in reality, people hate ambiguity and feeling lost – not change – so communication is critical.
How will you involve everyone in the process, building trust, commitment and accountability?
How will you determine what is working that you want to keep and what needs to change – like using an employee survey?
Develop or refresh / update your vision, mission and goals.
Identify your company values, what they mean and how everyone can represent them. Everyone gets measured by them… even your top salespeople and your COO. Nobody gets a pass.
Share what is expected. Everyone has to know what is expected. From you most recent hire to your longest serving employee to your customers, suppliers and investors. Share the road map of what is changing and why. Be crystal clear about what new behaviour is important and why as well as what past behaviour isn’t and why.
Introduce what your reward and recognition structure will look like in the new culture. How are you going to help employees make the transition and what is available for employees who choose to not make the transition?
How will you be sure you hire the right people? Culture should be one of the first assessment criteria used to screen potential candidates. Will you use methods like Behavioural Event Interview when hiring to remove unconscious bias and support diversity and inclusion?
How will you support your leaders and ambassadors? Everyone looks up to someone. Leaders have to be on board and know how the corporate culture impacts their department so they can support their team. They should also know how the corporate culture impacts the other departments so they recognize how the culture is defined in that space and can align their team accordingly. This step also allows leaders to be able to properly support employees who have official or non-official leadership roles.

One Person Can Make A Difference: You Can Too

If you are a leader please don’t throw up your hands and say, “I’m just one person – my this isn’t on the corporations’ radar. I can’t do anything on my own.” I’m here to confirm you can make a difference. Yes, it will be more difficult and likely not as successful than if the whole company was with you, but I’ve seen whole departments quickly turn a low morale and low productivity team into a high-performing award-winning team when a new leader came in, even though the leadership above didn’t change or did the pay grades or budget or anything else.

Trust, transparency, open dialogue and respect are four of the most powerful culture shifters and when team members see / feel these in action great things begin to happen, which begin to compound / collect and significantly energize the mindsets and motivation of the team.

Conclusion / Recap

Don’t let things get too complicated. Let’s just remember corporate culture and corporate strategy are symbiotic whether we acknowledge corporate culture is there or not. Strategy provides direction by outlining the ‘what’… the companies vision and mission – around them is defined the goals. Culture provides direction by outlining the ‘how’ and ‘why’… guided by the pride and values the company and therefore the employees will stand by, honour and emulate.

Seriously, keep it simple. Great cultures are easy for everyone to describe and everyone to understand no matter if they are an employee, supplier or customer. I usually recommend to clients to keep their values list to 6 words and their mission / vision statements to two sentences each. This clarity helps everyone focus on what matters because it lets people understand the ‘why’ behind the ‘what’… something that Simon Sinek talks about extensively. And because people understand the why they have passion and commitment. This is why research like Deloitte Australia research by Deloitte Australia shows that when financial services companies focused on culture instead of compliance their compliance levels actually improved.

High levels of employee engagement and employee training correlate with closely aligned views of what the cultural characteristics are and how to represent them.

For organizations that are looking to embrace their corporate culture and make it intentional, it will be important to see how structure and reorganization from leadership to discussions to messaging to financial commitment can support the desired culture and vice versa.

Thank you for reading. I will enjoy your comments / suggestions.

Bruce

About Bruce and Bruce Mayhew Consulting.

Bruce is Corporate Trainer, Keynote Speaker and Executive Coach.

February 24, 2021

Are Generational Differences Important To Study And Discuss?

February 24, 2021/ Bruce Mayhew

Generational differences are real – just like cultural differences are real. In this article we’ll discuss generational differences in the workplace and why discussions about generational differences and generational diversity are important for team success.

What are generational differences? When looking to define generational differences we typically mean differences in experiences, values, beliefs and needs. The answer to the question, “are generational differences important?” depends on how we use the information. If we use it to determine how I will act as an individual or what kind of reward will inspire me, then making assumptions based on what year I was born will likely not do either of us much good. But if we use the information to estimate how a group of consumers in one generation and from one geographic area will respond, we will likely get close to making a good (but not perfect) decision.

This begs the question, “How does labelling employees by generation help or harm employee, team success?”

Overview

Today’s workspaces currently have employees from four generations all holding junior through to senior positions. And of course, each generation brings very different and valuable perspectives, experiences and insights. In addition, on one side of the age spectrum is a large group of young employees who likely are highly educated and are used to a fast-changing world. On the other side of the age spectrum is a large group of older employees with unparalleled experience, institutional knowledge and typically less formal education.

Are Generational Differences Important?.png

To be clear, I’m not saying Gen Z and Millennial employees don’t have experience, they do; and I’m not saying Gen X and Boomer employees don’t have education because they do. What I’m saying is there are people from four very different generations who all have something unique and very worthwhile to say (and if we know what is good for us and our companies) to be listened to.

Globalization also means we have valued employees (and customers) from many different countries with values, needs and traditions that further add to the complexity and amazing insight of our workspaces. And while I could talk more about cultural differences, for the purpose of this article I’m going to stay with discussions about the importance of generational differences and generational diversity (for the most part).

The diversity and inclusive energy in todays high-functioning workspaces is quite amazing. One of the great trends of the last 10ish years that is adding to this positive energy is that many in the business world are finally seriously focusing on important topics like team development, trust and accountability. Along with the strong focus on diversity and inclusion there is also a heightened refocus on important issues like creativity, equality and accessibility. When we talk about diversity and inclusion in the workplace, we often think of things like race, culture, gender and sexuality. But age is another important aspect within the diversity and inclusion discussion.

For reference, the following are general categories in Canada and the USA. Please note, generational birth ranges do vary from country to country and east to west:

Baby Boomers (born 1946 to 1964)
Generation X (born 1965 to 1980)
Millennials / Generation Y (born 1980 to 1995)
Generation Z (born 1996 to 2010)

Generational Differences Training: Argument For

The simple reality is that there are differences in populations from different generations. For example, some high-level generational differences are as follows:

Boomers grew up in the economic boom following the depression. They had very little in the way of money or possessions and physical labour was the bulk of available work. Hard work and loyalty was part of their basic upbringing. From a career perspective it was generally expected that employees would be loyal to companies and companies would be loyal to their employees. As young adults many Boomers became uncomfortable with the economic structures and began rebelling, wanting a better quality of life.
Generation X often grew up with their mothers returning to work and wanting to have their own career, therefore many grew up in two-income families. Generation X kids were also the first generation to grow up with computers. They were children who watched the Vietnam war unravel on live TV (and in colour). They also experienced corporate America consolidate and lay off their loyal parents and move manufacturing to developing countries. For many of these reasons Generation X lead the charge of wanting greater work-life-balance.
Millennials grew up with most families able to provide for them better that any previous family structure. They had exposure to computers at a young age, video games and diversity like no generation before them. Their parents were known as ‘Helicopter Parents’ giving their children lots of pre-planned activities, positive reinforcement and often less independent freedom. Traditionally Millennials want feedback frequently because that is what their Boomer parents gave them.
Generation Z are often seen as being financially conservative but socially liberal. Why? Because they saw their Millennial brothers, sisters and cousins collect large amounts of debt through education but have fewer job opportunities than expected. Generation Z children traveled widely with their parents and grew up with computers from birth, giving them instant access to information and entertainment. At school, many cultural stereotypes were broken because their schoolmates (and friends), came from many different cultures and backgrounds. At the same time the entertainment they consumed and their family structures often broke many gender based stereotypes.

Now that we’ve explored a few of the generational differences, how might labelling employees by age generation help or harm employee, team and organization success? I believe the #1 greatest benefit from generational differences training is how it helps us understand ‘Why’ certain generations behave the way they do. With an understanding of ‘Why’ we humans are naturally more patient and empathic. Instead of treating everyone the same, great leaders and great companies use discussions about generational differences as opportunities to recognize employees are different and that they can embrace these differences to help their employees, their company and of course their customers to be successful.

This is a big step for companies. Don’t undervalue its importance and how difficult traditional management style is to overcome. Consider, almost all of the 1900’s hard work (and I mean physical labour) translated to success. In this environment money was the primary motivator because with money you could buy what you needed to survive.

Today we know money isn’t the best motivator. As long as we are being paid fairly based on our industry and work, people don’t want to only survive… we want to thrive. This means most employees want to embrace their own definition of work-life-balance. In the last 40+ years a whole new business psychology industry has slowly been emerging that studies and measures the impact of what really motivates and inspires employees. Through that research we finally began seeing the undisputable reality that intrinsic motivation… like pride, purpose and impact is far more effective and longer lasting than extrinsic motivation… like money.

Generational Differences Training: Argument Against

The worst thing we can do is use stereotypes to determine how individuals will act or what individuals need. If we use stereotypes we will undoubtably make mistakes that will stop a company from hiring a great employee or by not rewarding a valued employee as they need to be rewarded and therefore, they quit.

Without doubt employees should be assessed on their unique ability to do a task and rewarded based on their individual abilities, needs and goals. Except at some high-level marketing level, I can’t think of many helpful situations where the generational label would be effective in predicting behviour.

Conclusion

All we have to do is look within our own families, our brothers and sisters who grew up with the values and often in the same households to see we as individuals we want different things and are inspired in different ways. We are both similar and different, and this is an example of why discussions about generational differences and generational diversity are important.

Beyond allowing me and others to generally understand the ‘Why’ of a generation or culture I have to admit, I’ve found that one of the most important benefits generational differences training delivers is in how it helps the teams I’ve worked with discuss – and often be amazed by how diverse people are. Through these discussions participants experience in real-time the insight (often for the first time), that what inspires one person will likely not inspire another person even if they are from the same generation and doing the same work in the same company. I bet some of your coworkers want to buy a house and raise a family while others want to rent a condo on the 30th floor and travel… and I bet some want to own an energy efficient electric car while others dream of a F150 pickup truck. For many of employees, the choices relating to how they live their lives are endless.

We are all individuals with unique training, skill, motivation and ambitions and it is best that instead of making assumptions, we stay curious as to what others value, believe and need. In the end, what is important is that you strive for greater generational diversity and treat everyone with curiosity and respect.

Thank you for reading. I will enjoy your comments / suggestions.

Bruce

About Bruce and Bruce Mayhew Consulting.

Bruce is Corporate Trainer, Keynote Speaker and Executive Coach.

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#1. Lead with a clear reflection of the company’s Vision and Values.

#2. Be clear with your expectations.

#3. Encourage employees to ask for clarity or help

#4 Give people autonomy to make decisions

#5 Working 24/7 isn’t impressive

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#1. Lead with a clear reflection of the company’s Vision and Values.

#2. Be clear with your expectations.

Being clear about your expectations is important from your big picture expectations and down to each request.

#3. Encourage employees to ask for clarity or help

#4 Give people autonomy to make decisions

#5 Working 24/7 isn’t impressive

Conclusion

Company Examples: Adding to a supportive company culture:

Leadership Examples: Adding to a supportive company culture:

Employee Examples: Adding to a supportive company culture:

Conclusion

BONUS:

Company Examples: Adding to a supportive company culture:

Leadership Examples: Adding to a supportive company culture:

Employee Examples: Adding to a supportive company culture:

Conclusion

BONUS:

Rule 1.