How do you help a new employee feel welcomed?

I hear from so many employees who tell me how LONELY and DISCOMBOBULATED they felt on their first day. It shouldn’t be that way.

A new employee only gets one first day, and you have one opportunity to make that special. Let’s make it happen.

4 Ways to Make Your New Employee’s Day Special

1. Personalize it

You might even make a bit of a ruckus. I promise if you watch the first minute of today’s Asking for a Friend with the sound on it will make you smile. One of our clients decorates the office space of every new team member with their name and balloons. Another new employee best practice is to write a handwritten note with specific reasons why you know they will be so valuable to the team and express your confidence in the contribution they are about to make.

The key is to ensure your employee feels seen and cared for. The goal is to have them leave work feeling confident they made the right choice.

Here’s a longer list.  Make Your New Hire’s Day: 7 Ways to Improve the New Hire Experience 

2. Be interested and interesting

You’ve heard this from me before… and it matters so much when you’re building new relationships and new human connections.

Our SynergyStack™ team development deck makes it easy for the new employees to talk about their strengths and learn about the strengths of other team members.

3. Scaffold their first few days with structure

This sounds obvious– but structure creates psychological safety AND it’s often overlooked. I recently had a millennial describe his first day this way.  “You know that scene in Seinfeld where George goes to work, sits there all day, does nothing, and goes home? Yeah, my new job is kind of like that.”

That level of frustration is hard to recover from.

4. Ask them for their I.D.E.A.s

Our Courageous Cultures research shows that many employees are not asked for their ideas when they first start a new role. This is a PERFECT time to get a fresh perspective.

For more detail on how to do this well check out: How to Capture Best Practices in New Hire Orientation

Your turn. We’d love to hear from you. What are some of your best practices to make a new employee feel welcome. Leave a comment, or join the great conversation that’s happening on Linkedin.

The post How to Welcome a New Employee: Small Gestures That Show You Care appeared first on Let's Grow Leaders.

Are you looking for more joy in your work? Has work gotten monotonous? Does today feel too much like yesterday?

Important work is hard. And sometimes repetitive tasks are a vital part of the gig. But if your job feels monotonous and boring, find ways to mix it up and find more joy.

3 Ways to Break the Disrupt the Monotony and Find More Joy at Work

Here are a few places to start to find more joy at work. Or, what I’ve learned to call “skipping to work.”

1. Find meaningful ways to make a deeper contribution.

Much of the research on joy at work points to the satisfaction that comes from making a meaningful contribution.

An easy place to start is to pay attention to why the work you are already doing matters– and who it helps.

From there, consider if there are other areas you can go a level deeper. Maybe you can teach a co-worker, share an idea, or find a new way to delight customers who walk through the door.

You might find joy in knowing you’re making a bigger impact for the humans you are working with, to your customers, or to improving your organization.

2. Invest in deeper building human connections

Think beyond an intention, and make a plan. You can pick a few relationships and deliberately invest in getting to know them at a human level. Show up interested (in them) and interesting (be easy to get to know).

You can even combine #1 contributing with building connection– and get up to something significant with a co-worker. Some of my best work memories from my time at Verizon (and lasting relationships) came from collaborating on projects we both cared about.

3. Do something that scares you (or at least challenges you).

When you’re stretched and growing, the endorphins kick in. If your work is feeling monotonous or lacking joy, talk to your manager about ways you can step out of your comfort zone and try something new.

It could be preparing for a new role, or taking on a special project, or going deeper in the work you currently do.

4. _________________ Your turn. What advice do you have for someone looking for more joy at work?

The post How to Find More Joy at Work and Disrupt the Monotony appeared first on Let's Grow Leaders.

“Hey Karin, I was just in your and David’s session at the Association for Talent Development (ATD) Global Conference in New Orleans, where you talked about human connection and the 4 dimensions of productive conflict (collaboration): connection, clarity, curiosity, and commitment.

And I’ve got to tell you. There are a few people on my team who struggle with connection. How can I train someone to connect? #AskingforaFriend

Let’s start here few connection habits from our new SynergyStack System. These habits are designed to be easy to implement and can help build stronger, more meaningful connections in the workplace.

Start with One or Two Practical Habits

When someone is more task-focused, the last thing they want to hear is that they need to “be more connected.” That can feel vague and overwhelming. What I find works better is to break the job of connecting into practical tangible habits (you might even call them “tasks”) that people can practice.

If you’re naturally great at connecting, this can feel silly, but trust me, I’ve helped many people pick a few habits and put connecting on their “to-do” list. Task-oriented people are normally great at getting stuff done once they know what to do.

Start with just one or two habits and encourage the person you are looking to train on building human connection to schedule time on their calendar to do this.

For example, a good time to practice the “care about you” habit would be in a one-on-one or staff meeting.  So they could just add “CAY (for Care About You)” to those appointments on their calendar as a reminder.

Or perhaps there’s a company event coming up, where you could encourage them to consider how they will use that time to get to know two people better by asking about their people, pets, or projects.

Once they’ve agreed to experiment with a few habits, the next step is to “schedule the finish” and pick a time where they can share what they did and the impact they had. If they know they have time on the calendar to talk wth you about this again, they are more likely to follow-through. Plus reflecting on the process will help reinforce the habit. And of course, this gives you a scheduled time to encourage, reinforce, and discuss how they will keep the progress going.

4 Important Habits That Help People Connect

1. I care about you and show you in my words and actions.

Empathy is a bridge to deeper understanding and trust. When you genuinely recognize and respond to the emotions of team members, it creates a safe space for open dialogue and vulnerability.

You can kick-start a supportive conversation with: “It sounds like you’re really frustrated…”

2. I take time to learn about your people, pets, and projects

For better teamwork, dive deeper than just professional interactions. When you understand someone’s life, it’s easier to understand their perspectives and motivations at work. Ask about hobbies, families, and dreams.

Kick off a chat with questions like: “How’s your new puppy? Is she eating your dirty socks?”

3. I find a way to play—to energize our teamwork and lighten the load.

During tight deadlines and serious discussions, a little levity can go a long way in building better teamwork and fostering connection. Laughter can reduce stress and increase creativity.

Break the monotony and propose a lighter approach: “What if we gamified this?”

4. I work to help you succeed. Your win is my win.

When team members support one another, they amplify their collective potential.

Show your commitment to their success with: “How can I be most helpful?”

Your turn.

What’s one of your favorite habits for fostering human connection?  And how do you train someone who struggles to connect well?

The post Human Connection: How Do I Train Someone to Connect More Deeply? appeared first on Let's Grow Leaders.

Clarity is key to better collaboration and more productive workplace conflict.

Click here for more insights on clarity and collaboration.

Think about any significant conflict you have now, or had in the past. We’re willing to bet that the source of the conflict includes an expectation violation of some kind. You thought they’d clean up their coffee cups after the meeting. They thought the magic coffee mug fairy would take care of it.

Everyone carries around expectations of one another. And sometimes, you don’t even know what you expect until someone doesn’t live up to it.  The second dimension of constructive workplace conflict from our new book, Powerful Phrases for Dealing with Workplace Conflict, involves getting everyone on the same page: creating clarity about outcomes and expectations.

One of the common mistakes we see people make in workplace conflict is that they don’t clearly understand what success looks like. So you get conversations like this.

Jack: “I don’t like this.”

Jill: “Okay, what would you like to see happen.”

Jack: “I don’t know. I’m not sure what I want.

Can you feel the frustration? That’s a conversation that can’t go anywhere (And before you feel bad when you show up like Jack… listen, we do it too.)

When you get clear for yourself and help other people find their clarity, now you can have a more productive conversation.

12 Habits Great Teams Consistently Do to Create Better Clarity and Collaboration

Here are 12 foundational habits to create greater clarity. Note that this is part two of our better teamwork series (links to the other three articles are at the bottom of this page).

1. Define Success: Visualize and articulate your vision for a desired future

Habit: I establish clear outcomes and expectations.

Engage others on your team by asking, “What does winning truly look like?” Great teams don’t assume everyone’s on the same page. They take time to describe the desired future with specific goals, expectations, and measurements of success.

Related Article: How to Build a Great Team Culture

2. Know What Matters Most: Understand how your work connects to the bigger picture

Habit: I seek out the bigger why behind any task.

Before you can make meaning (see Habit 3 below), understand the bigger why.

3. Make Meaning: Establish a bridge between daily tasks and overarching objectives

Habit: I help connect the work we do to the bigger picture

Great teams don’t just perform tasks; they delve into the “why” behind their work. They seek a deeper understanding and purpose. Be sure you and your teammates can finish this sentence. “This (work, project, process, procedure) is so important because…”

4. Set Clear Expectations: Articulate a clear definition of success

Habit: I communicate clear and specific expectations.

One good conversation about expectations prevents fourteen “why didn’t you” conversations. One secret to better collaboration is clear expectations.

Related Article: Creating Clarity: Strategic Activities for Human-Centered Leaders

5. Communicate Consistently: Vary communication to break through distractions

Habit: I build a proactive communication plan to get everyone on the same page. 

People make memories based on recency, recall, repetition, and emotion. If you want an important message to cut through distractions, communicate multiple times through different channels. Great teams prioritize communication.

Related Article:  Remote Team Communication: How to Send Memorable Messages

6. Check For Understanding: Ensure the message you intend to send is the message received

Habit: I ensure the message sent is the message received.

You always make sense to you, but how do you know your team understood what you meant? How do you know you’ve understood what someone says to you? Good communication involves a feedback loop: a send and a receive.

Related Article: Check for Understanding: A Leadership Communication Best Practice

7. Schedule the Finish: Close the loop with a clear commitment

Habit: I confirm specific deliverables and timeframes for when we will follow up on commitments.

You’ve got more to do than time to do it. Your plan is going to get interrupted. Your interruptions are going to get interrupted. If you don’t have an intentional, focused way to finish what you start, it won’t happen. Great teams don’t leave accountability to chance or a heroic act of willpower. They set clear expectations about deliverables and timeframes.

Related Article: High ROI Leadership: Schedule the Finish 

8. Prioritize What Matters Most: Spend time on activities that will have the biggest impact

Habit: I spend my time working on our most important things. 

Great teams understand that there’s always an infinite need and finite me, so mind the MIT (most important thing). Want a great team? Prioritize activities and habits on what will have the biggest impact.

Related Article: Productivity at Work—How to Lead Highly Productive Teams

9. Clarify Others’ Interests: Understand what a successful outcome looks like for others

Habit: I seek to understand what matters most to others.

One easy way to foster collaboration is to ask, “What would a successful outcome look like for you?”

10. Look for Common Ground: Seek opportunities for alignment

Habit: I help people realize our shared objectives. 

Great teams have a knack for finding common ground and using that as a starting point for collaboration.

11. Share Information and Best Practices: Proactively communicate helpful insights

Habit: I freely contribute what I know to make work easier for others.

Great teams build a habit of sharing what’s working. They look for ways to be helpful and to make one another’s work a bit lighter.

Related Article: How to Share Best Practices That Improve Results

12. Share Concerns: Initiate important conversations

Habit: You can count on me to tell you what’s on my heart and mind.

Collaborative teammates say what needs to be said and have the hard conversations sooner.

Related Article: How to Start the Conversation Everyone Wants to Avoid

See Also the other 3 Articles in our 4-Part Collaboration Habits Series

Better Teamwork: 12 Practical Team Habits to Build Deeper Connection

Creative Teams: 12 Habits That Foster Curiosity and Collaboration

Create Commitment: 12 Habits to Build Agreement and Accountability

The post Great Teams: 12 Practical Collaboration Habits to Create Clarity appeared first on Let's Grow Leaders.

Last week, we talked about meaningful metrics, focusing on the game, not the score, and identifying and isolating the daily habits most likely to lead to success. Today we go a level deeper with a practical way to ensure your team’s busy day is worth it– giving them the breakthrough results they’re working so hard to achieve.

Here’s the sad truth. It’s really easy to have a busy, busy day, with alarmingly little to show for it. We’ve all been there.

Of course, there are lots of reasons for this. Sloppy emails, unclear expectations, unproductive conflict, and workplace drama. Days are filled with tons of activity, but you end the day, week, or month and have nothing to show for all that effort.

The problem could be distractions from the most important activities. It could also be THE WAY way your team is performing their tasks.  They may be performing the activities and habits that SHOULD lead to success. But doing those habits without the right focus on outcomes can become a box-checking exercise.

They’re doing what you asked, but are focused on counting metrics (how busy they are), vs. quality metrics, (how well they are accomplishing these tasks).

How to Make the Most of a Busy Day: Moving From Counting to Quality

Moving from counting to quality means re-evaluating how people are spending their time. Some team members will do what they know how to do or are comfortable with doing. They’re busy, but doing lots of what’s familiar, not necessarily what’s most helpful.

You’ll need to help them make this shift (and model it yourself). For others, they may be doing exactly what’s needed, but are missing one small change that will leverage their hard work.

Let’s look at three examples of shifting from counting to quality.

Busy Day Example 1: The Enthusastic Sales Rep, Who’s Just Not Selling

First, imagine that you’re leading a sales team. One of your measurements is the number of times salespeople visit an existing client to uncover additional opportunities. You have a sales rep who exceeds their quota of visits and is always out with clients – every day is a busy day.

But, the trouble is, they’re NOT SELLING anything new to those clients. The activities and habits that SHOULD work to help them accomplish their MIT (Most Important Thing), aren’t. You investigate and it turns out that they’re spending time with the same three low-level managers because they have a good relationship. But they’re not asking strategic questions or uncovering sales opportunities.

Now, as you help them grow from counting those visits to quality visits, you’ll have them analyze who they’re visiting, what they discuss on the visits, and whether or not they set up a next step.

A quality visit might include an introduction to a senior manager, a discussion of upcoming projects, learning about their sourcing requirements, or a follow-up meeting to share how your company can meet those needs.

Busy Day Example 2: The Efficient Nurse, Missing Connection

Let’s look at another example from one of our healthcare clients. Their nursing staff was doing an excellent job with their numbers and countable activities. They took patients’ blood pressure and temperature, delivered medications, and completed their patients’ charts. But patient satisfaction scores didn’t reflect all that activity – as important as it is.

The move from counting to quality for the nursing team involved one small change in their busy day. When the nurse entered the patient’s room, they would greet the patient by name, tell the patient their name, and what they were there to do. That one small moment of connection leveraged all the other important work they were doing and their patient satisfaction scores improved.

As you help your team move from simple counting to evaluating the quality of their work and how much it contributes to the results you need to achieve, it’s important to apply this principle to your own work too.

It’s easy to get sucked into emails, into solving a problem that feels good but doesn’t make a big difference. This is a good time to pause and reflect on your busy day: do you have common activities that take up far more time than the value they add? How might you spend less time on these? Or perhaps stop doing them altogether?

Busy Day Example #3: The Check the Box Manager

This busy day example is one of the most dangerous. When HR checks the performance management system, this manager looks like they’re on top of their game. They’ve check all the boxes. Weekly one-on-ones, check. Mid-year reviews, check. Development plans, check. Five people recognized this month, check. Yup, they even took their team off-site for an end-of-year meeting.

And yet, employee engagement scores are some of the lowest in the company, and exit interviews indicate that the biggest reasons people are leaving are a lack of career path and support from their manager.

This is a case where the manager is so overwhelmed with the busyness of their job, that they’re not taking the time to truly invest in their employee’s development, just doing enough to keep “the HR police” off their backs. Or, they haven’t been trained on what success looks like for these critical employee development activities.

If you’re a manager of managers, don’t rely on a spreadsheet from HR to tell you how well your managers are developing their teams.

Focus on Quality

Metrics matter.

And “counting” metrics are certainly a start.

The sales experts are right, Sales IS a “numbers game” to SOME EXTENT. And, the number of phone calls made is only the beginning.

Sure, you need to know that your employees are following the safety protocols, but that’s table stakes, not excellence.

And YES, it’s so important to track if your managers are doing key tasks like one-on-ones or development plans. But it’s even more important to ensure they’re helping build confidence and competence in their employees.

If you want your team’s busy days to matter, we encourage you to dig a little deeper and focus on quality as well as counting.

The post One vital way to ensure your team’s busy day leads to better results appeared first on Let's Grow Leaders.

The shift to remote work and hybrid teams has left many people longing for deeper human connection. And even for those who’ve returned to the office (or never left in-person work), a few years of “choosing our bubble” has left many of us feeling unmoored.

But, how do you ask for what you need, without appearing needy? The new year provides a natural opportunity to invest in a deeper human connection with your team, your co-workers, and your manager. The benefits are tremendous.

Today we share some tips for opening this conversation.

Why Human Connection Matters: Do You Really Need a Best Friend at Work?

There’s a reason Gallup includes the question, “I have a best friend at work” among its top 12 drivers of employee engagement.

When you have a best friend at work, you’re more likely to feel supported, encouraged, and appreciated. And (you know we love this stat), employees with a best friend at work are 27% more likely to report that their opinions seem to count at work.

Apparently, best friends at work are great courage encouragers.

Even if you have plenty of friends in other areas of your life, there’s a proven connection between human connection and trust. Most of the trust research cites connectedness or “intimacy” as a key component of trusted relationships. It’s hard to trust people we don’t know.

Why It’s Harder Now

Every day we hear concerns about how the lingering feelings from pandemic-induced isolation make their team feel less connected. Most people tell us having a best friend at work is harder now.

• “I joined my company in the middle of the pandemic, and now we’re staying fully remote. I’ve yet to be in the same room with anyone on my team.”
• “People hardly even turn their cameras on anymore. It’s hard to feel a human connection staring at a bunch of black boxes.”
• “It’s not the water cooler I miss. I mean, we didn’t even have an actual water cooler. But I find it harder to get quality one-on-one time with my co-workers in this hybrid team. I have my virtual one-on-one time with my boss, and that’s good. But I miss the other human connections.”
• “We’ve downsized and now we’re all slammed with extra work. No one seems to have time for casual conversation. And yet, I think we need that now more than ever.”
• “We all just race from one virtual meeting to another. Technically, I spend all day talking with people. But at the end of the day, I yearn for human connection.”
• “We used to get together for offsite meetings, but even our end-of-year meeting was virtual this year. I miss people.”
• “I thought that when we returned to the office, I’d feel more connected. But not much has changed. Honestly, I wonder why I bother making the commute.”

How to Ask For What You Need

This isn’t an article about the pros or cons of hybrid work, or when to bring people together for what. We’ve got lots of thoughts on how to do that deliberately and well (see 6 habits of highly effective remote and hybrid teams and some ideas for bringing people together for team innovation).

It’s about encouraging courage to ask for the human connection you need.

We’re writing this because we’ve heard from so many people who feel isolated and alone at work but feel like “no one else” seems to have an issue.

As one manager put it, “What if I reach out and ask for more time to get to know people and they say no? That would make me feel even worse.”

So today, we offer a few starting points to invite a deeper connection when you yearn for more.

How to Invite a Conversation About Deeper Human Connection

Of course, there are lots of ways to have this conversation. The best way to ask for what you need is to ask for what you need. But, if you’re feeling awkward or alone, here’s an approach that might help.

1. Ground your ask in business outcomes

If you’re concerned with looking needy, you can ground the conversation in the desire for team success or business outcomes.

For example:

• “I’ve been thinking about how we can accelerate our teams’ performance in the new year. And I realized how little we actually know about one another. It strikes me that understanding and knowing a bit about one another’s strengths and priorities could really help. How would you feel about setting aside some time in one of our team meetings to get to know one another a little more?”
• “I really care about the success of this team and have some ideas about how we can collaborate more in the new year. I’d love to hear yours. Can we set up some time to talk?”
• “We depend on one another a lot on this team, and sometimes I think we shy away from conversations we need to have because we don’t know one another all that well. I think there could be real value in starting the new year by building a deeper human connection. Here are a few conversation starters that can help. What else do you think we might do?”

2. Invest in one relationship at a time

If starting with a team conversation feels overwhelming, another approach is to invest in one relationship at a time. What if you were to identify three people and invest in making a deeper human connection with them in the new year?

A few conversation starters.

• “It’s been a tricky few years, and we’ve all been so busy. I realize how little I know about you as a person. I’d like to change that. Would you like to go to lunch (or have a virtual coffee) to get to know one another better?”
• “I admire the work that you do, particularly your approach to _________. I wonder if we could set up some time to learn more about one another, our work, and how we might help one another.”
• “My new year’s resolution is to get to know my co-workers better.” Would you like to have lunch (a drink, or a virtual coffee)?

3. Balance being interested AND interesting

One of the biggest challenges we hear from people feeling a lack of human connection at work is that their relationships feel too one-sided. It’s easy to fall into a pattern of being overly other-focused—very interested in learning about other people, but not sharing much about yourself.

Or to err on the other side of telling people more about yourself without being genuinely curious about what’s important to them. Read more in Authenticity Leadership: 5 Big Mistakes that Can Derail Your Influence.

One of the best ways to make deeper human connections is to show up being both interested and interesting whenever you can.

Your Turn

Genuine human connection doesn’t happen overnight, and it takes deliberate effort, particularly in a remote or hybrid team.

And, it matters.

If you’re feeling at all isolated or disconnected, we encourage you to take the first step to find the others who might yearn for this too.

We would love to hear from you. What are your best practices for fostering genuine human connection at work?

The post A Better New Year at Work? A Fresh Start to Deeper Human Connection appeared first on Let's Grow Leaders.

Use This Powerful Process to Empower Your Team
to Solve Problems on Their Own

How do you empower your team to solve more problems on their own?

In today’s Asking for a Friend from the PMI Rochester conference, David shares our very popular “9 What’s” coaching methodology to empower better decision-making and problem-solving. Read the original article here. 

The following nine questions will empower your team and help you to free up your own time and increase your team’s ability to think and problem-solve on their own.

9 Important Questions to Empower Your Team

Goal

1. What is your goal?

Start here to check for understanding and ensure that the team member has a good grasp of defining the problem.

Reflection

2. What have you tried?

This question ensures you don’t spend time covering the ground they’ve already explored to solve the problem. It also requires your team member to make some effort before requesting help.

3. What happened?

Finish gathering facts by asking them to talk about the consequences of the solutions they’ve already tried. Sometimes just the act of talking about it will help them figure out a new solution.

4. What did you learn from this?

Click the image for more detail on the 9 what’s process

With this question, you empower your team member by asking them to reflect on their experience. Often, the act of examining what happened and what learning they can draw from it will spark a new approach to solving the problem.

Analysis

5. What else do you need?

This is a check to see if there is additional training or equipment they need.

6. What else can you do?

Now it’s time to empower your team member by having them generate some new options. When you ask this question, one of two answers usually happens. Your team member might say, “I don’t know” or they might offer some options, eg: “Well, I was thinking I could try option A or I could try option B.”
If they say, “I don’t know,” we’ll come back to that with question #9. Let’s assume for now that they offer some options.

7. What do you think will happen if you try option A? What about option B?

You’re asking your team member to explore the potential consequences of their proposed solution. This gives you insight into their thinking and helps them think through what makes their choices viable or desirable.

If they are missing a critical piece of information, you can supply it here without telling them what to do. Eg: “One additional factor you will want to know is that the customer considers that a vital feature.”

Commitment

8. What will you do?

This is the critical step to empower your team member. As you helped them review the facts, reflect on what they learned, explore alternatives, and the consequences of each choice, the goal is for your team member to choose their solution.

Bonus Question

9. Super-Bonus Question to empower your team: If you get an “I don’t know”

Ask “what might you do if you did know.” (read the article in the comments for more on how to ask this well and why it works).

How about you? How do you empower your team to solve more problems on their own?

How Do I Ask Better Questions: Asking For a Friend with Chad Littlefield [VIDEO]

The post Empower Your Team to Make Better Decisions appeared first on Let's Grow Leaders.

You care about your team and the work they’re doing. They’re working hard. And if they’re like so many teams we work with, they yearn for better recognition. They want to know their work matters and that you (and your boss) appreciate all they do.

So how do you help your team’s performance stand out? How do you ensure that they not only get the recognition they crave, but their performance shines so strong it’s difficult to ignore? Better recognition does more than improve morale, it leads to better creativity, innovation, and courage.

For Better Recognition: Start By Differentiating Your Team’s Performance and then Bring on the Spotlight

1. Focus their efforts on what matters most
2. Encourage them to fix something broken
3. Help them build deeper cross-functional relationships
4. Keep them growing
5. Encourage executive visits and skip level meetings
6. Take them on field trips (physical or virtual) for exposure and perspective
7. Help them become leader teachers

Differentiate Performance

1. Focus their efforts on what matters most

Have you ever noticed it’s not necessarily the times in your career that you worked the longest or hardest that led to better recognition? Sure sometimes there’s a correlation, but chances are it was more a matter of finding that sweet spot where your skills and talents matched a strategic business need. And, strategically spending your time doing what mattered most.

If your team has thirty-seven priorities on their plates, they can’t exceed expectations on all of them. Talk to your manager, know what matters most, and be sure you help your team nail that.

To help your team’s performance stand out for better recognition, be sure they’re focused on the right strategic priorities.

An easy way to do this is simply to ask your manager.

• “What’s the most important thing my team needs to accomplish to really impact the business this year?”
• “Imagine we’re sitting here this time next year, and you’re blown away by our team’s performance… what would we have accomplished?”
• “I know all of these metrics matter, but which matters the most? and why?”

2. Encourage them to fix something broken

What’s not working that’s driving everyone crazy? What process could be made more efficient? What can your team do to improve the customer experience (not just once) but systematically? How can your team make work more efficient not just for them but for their peers as well? Help them to find something broken and fix it.

3. Help them build deeper cross-functional relationships

Great work never happens in a vacuum. And some of the best recognition comes from peers.

Help your team invest deeply in developing peer relationships in other departments AND with one another. Help them be better recognition givers.

Nothing frustrates senior managers more than dysfunctional turf wars that distract people from doing the right thing for the business and for your customers. Your competition is not the department down the hall, it’s mediocrity.

4. Keep them growing

Some people have 10 years of experience and other folks have 1 year of experience 10 times. Even if your team is not changing roles, be sure they’re constantly learning and growing. Have a clear development plan that stretches them and helps them contribute more to the business each year.

One of the best ways to recognize your team is to continue to invest in their growth. And your team will stand out

And Then, Give Your Team an Opportunity to Shine

Once you’ve mastered the first vital element for better recognition, ensuring there’s something important to celebrate, the next step is giving them opportunities to shine.

5. Encourage executive visits and skip level meetings

When your team has something to celebrate, be proactive in including your manager, other executives, and peers in the conversation.

“Hey, we’d love to show you what we’ve been doing this quarter. Can you join us for an in-person, or virtual ops review?”  If executive visits or skip-level meetings aren’t a natural part of your culture, this guide executive visit guide is a great place to start. 

6. Take your team on physical or virtual field trips for additional exposure and perspective

Of course, you don’t need to wait for people to come to you for better recognition. You can take your show on the physical or virtual road. Set up a time for your team to meet with other teams and departments to share what they’re doing and to gather feedback to help strengthen collaboration.

7. Help your leaders become “leader teachers”

One of the best forms of recognition is to be asked to teach what you know to others.

Give your managers an opportunity to share their expertise with members of their own team and others in the organization. We do this in our long-term leadership development programs all the time through challenger groups and other techniques (learn more here).

Our clients tell us that’s such an important part of sustainable culture change.

You get more of what you encourage and celebrate and less of what you ignore. Take time for deliberate, deeper, and better recognition by giving your team opportunities to make a bigger impact, showcase their contributions, and build deeper relationships along the way.

How to Give Your Team Better Executive Exposure

How to Prepare Your Successor For Success

Your turn. What are your best practices for better recognition?

The post How to Help Your Team’s Performance Stand Out For Better Recognition appeared first on Let's Grow Leaders.

That’s why I was so excited to talk with Jennifer Moss, author of The Burnout Epidemic on my #askingforafriend show to talk about burnout at work, why it happens, and how to address it from an organizational, team, and personal perspective.

What Causes Burnout at Work?

Jennifer shares six main causes of burnout at work

1. Excessive workload
2. Perceived lack of control
3. Lack of recognition
4. Poor relationships
5. Lack of fairness
6. Values mismatch

2:15 Jennifer, what has been a source of strength and inspiration for you over these last couple of years?

Dialing back the activity and slowing down has been very healthy.

3:30 Burnout issues need to be fixed on a systemic level, team level, and individual level.

4:00 Acknowledging the Systemic Issues Contributing to Burnout

• Burnout is sometimes defined as Institutional stress left unmanaged.
• You cannot fix burnout with self-care alone.
• Because the root causes of burnout are institutional, we need to attack the problems much earlier on (“upstream”), looking at societal issues such as leave policies in order to fix challenges. This may mean changing policies to cover non-traditional needs (i.e. parental leave not just for births or bereavement leave for losses beyond the immediate family) and designing policies to meet people where they are at.

12:44 The war for talent affecting burnout.

• It’s very challenging to encourage people to take breaks when there is so much work because of turnover.
• This may not be the time to have rapid growth acceleration goals or stretch goals.
• Decrease workload by increments.
• Reduce inefficiencies.
• Train more strategically to streamline and save time.
• Encourage lots of communication between team members and leadership.

15:13 Ideas for frontline leaders to use with their teams to fight burnout

• We are still acting like we were when the emergency started. There has been a large increase in meetings, chats, and emails.
• Change the expectations of who should be at meetings, how long they need to stay in the meeting, and make meetings more actionable.
• Determine what communications are really needed.

Not being invited to a meeting isn’t a slight – it’s a gift.

19:30 The good intentions that are backfiring.

• Ask your team before deciding on certain policies or benefits:
• “How much do you want to be in the office?”
• “Do you enjoy the holiday parties or not?”
• “Is yoga with the boss comfortable?”
• “Are virtual happy hours really beneficial or is it one more thing to do?”
• Also, be careful not to be tone-deaf (i.e. fitness challenges when there are people less physically able to participate.)
• Remember that a committee planning wellness/culture initiatives are not just for deciding – it should be about asking.

Frequent, consistent, active listening is key.

24:21 Helping yourself with burnout issues.

• Burnout was first defined as “caregiver syndrome.”
• Highly engaged workers care so much and therefore can be extremely stressed.
• If you feel like you are no longer getting joy out of your work or are feeling disassociated or cynical, that may be a sign of burnout.
• Overworking people can devalue their passion, which can negatively affect the community and economy as a whole (particularly if their role involves direct service to the community as in healthcare, teaching, etc. and we lose the ability to meet community needs because of a lack of workers.)

27:20 How to talk with your manager about burnout.

67% of people surveyed felt like they could not talk about mental health at work. It’s starting to change. If you don’t feel safe talking about it, see if there are more anonymous means (i.e. telehealth options) by which you can take care of yourself, or decide how long you want to work at that company.

29:10 What are effective ways to meet people where they are while also meeting company policies?

• The social contract with our workplaces is changing, but it’s still a transactional relationship that needs to be mutually beneficial.
• Asking what people need is key. Talk to employees about your role and consider yourself a mental health conduit, even if not a mental health professional.
• Overcommunicate about the tools and options available.
• Spend time with the HR team (who often feel siloed) to learn about options/policies. Give them data that will help them craft healthy policies.

31:43 One last piece of advice

There’s no right way to feel right now. We are in a bit of a healing phase while dealing with uncertainty. It’s time to give ourselves more grace and compassion. Acknowledge that we can’t do it all. Instead, cheer yourself on for making it through another day. Also, give that grace and compassion to others.

Your turn.  What suggestions do you have for fighting burnout at work in yourself or in your team?

The post How Do I Help My Team Handle Burnout at Work? (Video) appeared first on Let's Grow Leaders.

As a human-centered leader, you truly care about your team and their career growth. But what if promotional opportunities are limited, or you have team members who are just not interested in taking on more?

In this “Asking for a Friend”, I talk with Julie Winkle Giulioni, author of Promotions are So Yesterday, about the multiple dimensions of career growth.

Alternative Career Growth Options: Beyond the Climb

Navigating the Career Growth Conversation (with timestamps)

Source of Inspiration

1:30 What has been one source of inspiration/strength for you?
Family, friends, frontline workers – the grace I’ve seen extended among human beings.

Three Questions

2:45 How do you build careers and develop employees when promotions and opportunities are limited? Three questions Julie used in her research:
What does career growth mean to employees?
How do people want to grow?
What’s available in organizations to help people grow?

Eight Dimensions

4:15 While “climb” is one way employees want to develop, Julie discovered seven other dimensions to career growth.

• Contribution
• Competence
• Connection
• Confidence
• Challenge
• Contentment
• Choice

In aggregate, all seven of the dimensions other than climb were more interesting to people, with
contribution and competence consistently at the top. “Climb” is consistently at the bottom.

Helping Your Organization See the Value of Other Dimensions of Development

6:08 How do you help an organization to see and appreciate the other elements as ways to encourage growth?
These dimensions lead to a more abundant mindset. Encourage leaders to expand their definition of career development. Emphasize that these other dimensions are things that CAN be done whereas a promotion may not be available. Use the information to empower.

Is “Climb” is Losing Its Luster?

8:30 Why is “climb” losing its luster?
It may be more that it was the only thing on the menu. Having other dimensions creates an expanded vocabulary for career development.
Employees are savvy and often see that the life of a manager is not always pleasant and is often challenging or even daunting.
People are reprioritizing the relationship they want with work. They may not want additional stress, but tend to still want to grow.

Confidence / Meaning / Timing

10:25 Is confidence regarding the role or outside the role?
Both. Managers will do well to personalize this to the particular employee.

12:50 It’s never worth the extra money/prestige if you don’t love the work itself.
People are looking for meaning.

16:30 What if you have a “climber” who is not ready to move up?
Our default setting is to climb. With the expanded menu, managers can have a deeper conversation to find out what’s animating the desire to climb, and find other ways to boost and develop the person on the road to a new role.

13:44 How do managers help their team consider these other dimensions?
Use self-assessments to jumpstart the conversation
Link to Julie’s assessment: https://www.juliewinklegiulioni.com/book/promotions/assessment/

19:00 A quick look at Let’s Grow Leaders’ Confidence/Competent Model

Connection and Networking

19:37 Connection
Facilitate connection through the work people are doing.
Invite people to create and learn together.
Be strategic about how you organize the work to build connection. (It builds development organically.)
Encourage people to share their growth goals with one another.

23:52 Strategic Networking
Think about peers: Do you have an encourager? Do you have a challenger?
Develop a collaborative rather than competitive environment.

Measuring: A New Way of Gathering Numbers

25:07 What strategies do you recommend for internal measurements where metrics traditionally defined success?
Redefine the metrics. i.e. the number of people who have expressed interest in other dimensions, the quality of conversations between managers and team, etc.
Shift from meaningless numbers to meaningful, qualitative, and reflective numbers that look at the quality of relationships.

Contentment? Really?

27:34 Contentment
Contentment is not synonymous with complacency.
Contentment includes acknowledging that we will be working for a long time. We can’t climb constantly.
How can I do things with great joy, ease, meaning?

Last Piece of Advice

30:35 Last piece of advice
Start by taking the free self-assessment to reveal more about yourself and how you may want to grow.

Related Asking for a Friend Episodes on Career Growth

If you enjoy this Asking for a Friend video, you might also enjoy this article which includes an interview with Julie “How to Develop People When You Don’t Have the Time.”

And this conversation with April Rinne about building a “portfolio career.”

And you may also find our Developmental Discussion Planner handy as you help your team have deeper development conversations. 

The post Career Growth: How to Be More Creative as You Develop Your Team (Video) appeared first on Let's Grow Leaders.