Generosity in the Workplace Should NOT Have to Hurt You

‪Here’s a good article to spur a discussion on the difference between giving, taking and matching. It’s focused on parenting, but it can be equally applied in the workplace.

Adam Grant has an excellent book on this topic, Give and Take, I read it many years ago when it first came out. I’ve also have the privilege to speak to Adam several times over the years.

The key with giving is to have boundaries and priorities. Then you can give freely without the burden of a certain set of expectations. ‬

Why does this matter? Building great relationships is like a bank account. You have to make deposits before you can make withdrawals. So when you lead with giving you can speed up the relationship building process.

The challenge can be not everyone will reciprocate. But there is no way to know that before you do an act of giving.

‪Self-sacrifice by harming yourself or allowing yourself to be taken advantage isn’t generosity. It’s actually selfish & self-inflicting pain. ‬

Selflessness isn’t the issue. That obviously can be good. It’s the application of selflessness.

How to Stop Comparing Yourself to Others at Work

What to do? Read to find out more.

Here is a ‪very good read on comparing yourself to others (and their successes).

Comparison is the thief of job & saboteur of success. Remember to swim in your own lane.

Why? Because worrying about what others are doing won’t help you and will demotivate you.

It also puts you in a scarcity mindset and you tend to look at the world in terms of a finite set of resources (ie someone has to win and someone has to lose).

What can you do? Here are two specific things.

  1. Acknowledge that other people have a different skills than you or that they have knowledge that could benefit you. A 2018 study published in Computers in Human Behavior found that people who think, “This person has a view on an issue that I’m dealing with,” enjoy better mental health than those who think, “This person is better able to achieve the task than I am.”
  2. The next time you’re tempted to think someone else is better than you, reframe the way you’re thinking about the situation. Ask yourself these questions:
  • What information does that person have that could be helpful to me?
  • What I can learn from this individual?
  • What knowledge, ideas, or areas of expertise does this individual have that could be valuable to me?

Rather than judge people, stay curious. Look for opportunities to learn and you’ll start to see that other people aren’t necessarily better or worse than you–they’re just different.“


Speaking at PRSA Dallas Unsummit Conference

Had a great time speaking at PRSA Dallas 3rd Annual Unsummit Conference on Friday. Spoke about how to breakdown the silos between PR & Marketing, along with how to build great teamwork. 

If you want a copy of the slides, contact me.

How to Have Stellar 1:1 Check-ins With Employees

There is a TON of research that shows if a manager checks-in once a week with their employees their performance typically will significantly improve over bi-weekly or less. It makes complete sense when you think about it.

Why? Here are seven reasons why weekly check-ins with employees matter.

  1. Show you care
  2. Help them stay on track and prioritize what’s most important
  3. Help them remove obstacles and roadblocks
  4. Provide feedback and support
  5. Challenge their thought processes and help them see better strategies, solutions, and tactics.
  6. Results from performance reviews won’t be a surprise
  7. Increase employee retention because 75% of employee quit because of poor managers and 90% of employees state their relationship is a top factor to stay at their company (and with their performance).

But this it depends on how the manager engages with their employees and the questions they ask. Weekly check-ins alone don’t ensure success.

So the next question that naturally arises is: What should a manager ask?

Here are four questions that you can go through in 10 minutes or less. It will ensure priority alignment and maximizes the chances for success that week.

  1. What are your top three priorities for the week (and why)?
  2. What’s going well with them?
  3. What are your challenges? Where are you stuck?
  4. What specifically can I do to help you?

Here are six additional questions managers can also use incorporate with their employees.

1) “What’s the best use of our time today?”

Or “What’s top of mind for you right now?”

2) “What does your ideal outcome(s) look like for the week?”

3) “What do you think is the best course of action for each priority?”

4) “Are you unclear about anything?”

5) “Do you have enough/right resources?”

6) “What was the most useful part of our conversation today?”

Can I Pick Your Brain? NOOO! Don’t Ask it. Here’s Why.

Can I pick your brain is one the worst questions ever. Why? It’s vague. It doesn’t tell the other person what you want. They can’t prepare. They don’t know if it’s worth their time to do it.

So chances are the person won’t reply or will decline to meet.

Have an agenda, questions and goals. State clearly what you want, time commitment, location, etc. To significantly increase your chances, I’d ask for 10-15 minutes. If the conversation is going well, no one will stop it. But you give the other person a clear, quick and easy out. And respect their time too and honor the 10-15 minutes. You’d be amazed what you can do in a short period of time.

Keynote Speaker at SHRM Columbus 2019 HR Symposium on October 24th

Honored to be the keynote speaker at 2019 HR Symposium for the Columbus, Georgia SHRM Chapter on October 24th 2019. The theme is: RIDING THE RAPIDS OF HUMAN RESOURCES. Grab your life vest and join hundreds of HR professionals from all over the State of Georgia and east Alabama at our 11th annual fall Symposium as we learn to ride the Class VI rapids of HR!  This year”s event will feature several high impact speakers, concurrent sessions, and much more.

My interactive keynote presentation will be on building high performing teams and engaged cultures. Attendees will be playing Cards Against Mundanity in small groups to experience how to build high levels of trust, closeness, and teamwork in minutes.

Here’s an overview (and more information on my keynote speaking can be found here):

Think about the best team you’ve ever been on. The team that was the most collaborative, connected, and productive. How did it feel to be connected to something bigger and feel like you could accomplish anything? What if you could recreate that feeling and success on every team you were on? What if you could accomplish this across your entire company? 

That feeling (and success) you just thought of is the most powerful business asset. It’s the foundation for a highly successful “culture and people strategy.”

In this interactive presentation, attendees will learn how to “dial in” to the right behaviors to build a high performing culture and maximize teamwork and employee engagement in minutes. They’ll also play the Cards Against Mundanity game (in small groups) so they’ll experience how these strategies will work for them (including how to skyrocket trust in minutes). 

Attendees will walk away with deep relationships with other attendees and be much more engaged at the conference.

The presentation based on research studies where participants built their closest relationships in their lives with a complete stranger.

HR professionals can also use these strategies with hiring, new employee onboarding, conflict resolution, trainings, and many other areas.

More than 25,000 employees have played Cards Against Mundanity at Amazon, Southwest Airlines, Ernst & Young, Google, Gillette, Microsoft, Oracle, Blue Cross Blue Shield, Worldwide Express, CareHere, Oklahoma City Thunder (NBA team), Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, Novartis, Merck, Vonage, and many others.

Attendees will:

1. Learn the “secret” strategies to quickly maximize engagement, teamwork, culture-building and employee retention.

2. Discover how to build high levels of trust both internally and externally with third-parties to instantly create great working relationships, reduce conflicts and maximize productivity.

3. Walk away with best practices tools (including a free copy of Cards Against Mundanity PDF version) that can they can implement right after the session to improve company culture and employee engagement. 

4. Use the strategies from the session to influence others and get more buy-in for HR initiatives. 

3.0 HRCI Recertification Credits & SHRM PDCs will be applied for those attending.

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