Employee Engagement: Is Isolation Plaguing Your Organization?
Weekly toasts and virtual coffee breaks are valuable and helpful. However, they do not solve the isolation problem plaguing your team. We can help.
We have these conversations with top leaders across the country often…
Our team is overwhelmed. Mental health challenges are constant.
Our team feels isolated and unsupported now more now than ever.
Our team has less work to do and is less productive.
Our team doesn't feel connected to what's happening in the rest of the organization.
Can you relate?
Leaders - these challenges keep creeping up and you keep working diligently to address them. It's been incredible to see and hear how you continue to try and support your team while growing the business and taking care of your clients, patients, vendors, and/or customers.
While we are all working hard to solve the isolation problem I think we have only been scratching at the surface and we can’t afford to allow this problem to keep permeating through our organizations.
Scratching the surface doesn’t solve the problem. It's like when companies tried to fix company culture with bean bag chairs, ping-pong tables, and kegs of beer. Yes - most people appreciated two out of three of those. However, all people appreciate feeling valued, heard, empowered and supported. How are you doing that for your team?
Scratching the surface doesn’t solve the problem. It's like the couple who is in constant marriage trouble. To try and solve the problem, they escape reality and go on a great vacation or buy the car they always wanted. It's great for a few weeks, but then reality sets in. The actual problems weren't solved and the dysfunction continues. (If this is you, sign up for the Life At Home Event!)
Scratching the surface doesn’t solve the problem. Weekly toasts and virtual coffee breaks are valuable and helpful. However, they do not solve the isolation problem plaguing your organization.
People want to feel valued, heard, empowered and supported. People make it hard though. When we don't feel those things, we often make it difficult for others to provide them. We put our walls up… we make excuses… we get "busy". In the meantime, attitudes diminish along with the quality of our work and a culture of ownership, accountability, and excellence.
So what options do we have? Here are a few ideas on how to begin to solve the Isolation problem.
Clear Communication (Two-Way)
No one ever loved playing walkie-talkies with a kid who held the button down the whole time. If we can't dialogue, it's not engaging.
Here's what I'm saying: Communicate as much as you can to your organization as a fast as you can. Then, host a virtual coffee break to dialogue what you communicated. Facilitate conversation (real conversation) about the direction of the company, the values being lived out, the vision for the next year, etc... As well as the fear, questions, and doubts team members might have. Make sure to ask for feedback from your team. They may have great ideas or advice on how to bridge any communication gaps.
Clear Expectations
Take a minute to review and possibly reset job descriptions and roles with your team members. As teams grow and projects shift, it's amazing to see how many great team members take on more than they should. At first it was helpful, but then it becomes detrimental to them and the team. With clear expectations, you can more effectively and authentically support your team.
Clear Check-In Process
Remember: People want to feel valued, heard, empowered and supported. Providing clear and consistent check-ins creates a systemized process for you to lead and your teams to know you are supporting them. This is a priority. How do you solve the isolation problem plaguing your organization? Stop allowing isolation to occur in your organization. Be courageous and lead forward. Do not let fear, insecurity and uncomfortability (new word) win out over good leadership.
201° Performance Management Training
One of the most helpful tools we have been providing our clients has been the 201° Performance Management Training. The system provides the backdrop needed for leaders to move forward and employees to lead up while feeling supported. We see trust returning, productivity increasing and isolation diminishing.
I'm not saying the solution is simple. Mental health, emotional health, physical health - all of these things take time to overcome. However, time itself does not solve the problem. It's like physical health. If you never eat healthy or exercise, you won't get healthy. It's the consistency over time that makes all the difference.
It's the consistency of your leadership, the health of your leadership over time that can make significant impacts on your team and organization.
Reach out if you are ready to solve the isolation problem and improve the accountability and ownership challenges that so many are facing right now. We will walk you through it, so you can lead forward.
The Day My Face Slid Across 2x4's
Have you ever moved forward rapidly without fully preparing?
Have you ever made quick decisions that left you wishing you hadn’t?
Have you ever moved forward rapidly without fully preparing?
Have you ever made quick decisions that left you wishing you hadn’t?
It was a beautiful day in Northwest Arkansas and we were riding all over Slaughter Pen Trails for the first time with no need to pay attention to the time. I finally felt like I was ready to jump again. It had been years, but I finally felt ready. I mean - I had jumped 6 inches that day so what’s 4-6 feet?
My buddy said, “do you want me to video tape you?”. How can I say no to an epic video that would show my wife that I still have athletic abilities?
Then it happened. My face slid across 2 x 4’s for the first time and prayerfully the last …
There are many leadership and life lessons to share from this crash …
Here’s the lesson of the day: If I would have looked down the trail a bit further I could have prepared for what was coming. I would have realized the “ramp” wasn’t really a ramp … I would have had a better chance to execute well or could have chosen a different path.
Sometimes we get excited, we think we are ready, and we aren’t. The problem is that we are leaders not just mountain bikers. We have teams relying on us to lead well. While we can get up and shake it off - our teams might not get up as easily. Mistakes are more costly and painful. They cost us at our jobs and they cost us at home.
This time - there is too much at stake. Everyone has already felt the pain and anxiety from COVID 19 - they don’t need more.
How are you going to continue to develop your leadership and management to help yourself and your teams avoid sliding across the 2x4’s. at work?
A few tips:
Slow down before you start going fast. Give yourself the time to prepare.
Don’t rely on what you used to know to navigate every decision. Keep learning and pay attention to the new challenges you have not been through yet.
Gain clarity on where you are going and how you plan to get there. A good plan gives you a solid shot to execute it.
If you need help finding clarity or improving your leadership and management to avoid the pitfalls give us a call.
Performance Management | The 201° Story
It was the summer of 2019. Our family was officially growing from 3 boys to 3 boys and little girl. So our house size needed to grow as well. We found the perfect house in the woods. Sure … it had what Meg needed inside, but it also has what I need outside. A massive, custom-built, Texas-style smoker.
Okay. Here’s how I fed my family and friends all summer. Here’s when it clicked.
Great management is like smoking a pork shoulder. Don’t roll your eyes - get ready to go eat and become a better manager. Management is not just telling people what to do and making sure it’s done. Management should truly be helping your people achieve their fullest potential and then celebrating when it happens! That doesn’t happen organically, naturally or easily. It takes a process. (just like it takes a process to get to 201°!)
Step 1 | Preparation
The Food: Preparation is key. The right cut of meat, the right spices, the right temp on the fire. If you don’t prepare, there’s a good chance you won’t enjoy the end result.
The Backyard Smoker
The Manager: Onboarding the team member properly makes a drastic impact on the success of that team member. Build a relationship with them, find their strengths, discover their communication style and bring clarity to how they can succeed. We leverage the SDI 2.0 to help shorten the learning curve in new relationships and enhance those that already exist.
Step 2 | Maintain Consistency
The Food: The pork shoulder is on the grate. It’s cooking. There are three responsibilities I have during this step of the process.
a) Monitor the smoker temperature
b) Monitor the meat temperature
c) Continue to add the proper amount of logs to the fire to maintain the temperature
The goal is consistency. It takes effort, checking, knowing the right size of the log to put in the fire box. The meat can keep improving with consistency.
The Manager: Maintaining a consistently healthy work environment is key to developing a direct report to reach their potential. Our check-in process helps the team member take ownership of their development and gives you the opportunity to provide steady feedback so they can keep improving. The goal is growth and moving towards 201°. If you don’t keep the fire going or if you let it go for too long the temp can drop. That’s when you need to lean in even more to get back on track.
Step 3 | The Wrap
Time To Wrap!
The Food: The pork is edible at 145°, but it would be horrible. It’s like giving a direct report a task and they complete it, but they do such a bad job that you will never ask them to do it again. Well - that could be on you for asking them too soon. (maybe). Back to the food. When the pork shoulder reaches 180° you pull it out and wrap it in foil. The foil increases the temp faster and gets it to 201° in half the time. If you wrap too soon the pork can cook but will lose out on the flavor and burnt ends. You have to do the wrap at the right time, which is clear to you since you are checking it on a regular basis to maintain consistency.
The Manager: When the team member is ready for next-level coaching you need to provide it. You have been maintaining consistency and development for them, but you and I both know that some comments they need to hear they won’t hear until they are ready. We don’t want to break them, we want to develop them. Picture a team member at 180° and you are almost to 201°. It’s time to have a conversation about their growth, development and how they can hit the next level. Then you maintain consistency at a faster pace to help them get there.
Step 4 | The Celebration and Rest
The Food: When the temperature gauge on the meat hits 201° it’s a party for all. Hard work is going to pay off soon. You pull the pork shoulder off gently because it’s falling apart already. After you pull it off the smoker it’s time to let it rest for an hour. It’s still cooking. It’s 201° degrees! Let it rest for an hour and finish prepping the rest of the meal. If you don’t let it rest you will not experience the full potential of what you spent so much time working on.
The Manager: When the team member pushes through a challenging project with success and hits 201° you celebrate! When we Hustle and Grind we need to remember to Rest! If we don’t give them a moment to rest we will miss out on the team member truly hitting their full potential.
Well … that’s the 201° Performance Management Story. It’s time for you to experience your own 201° stories. Give us a shout to bring 201° to you soon.