Best Things in the Workplace Are Free – Connection

“Best Things in Life Are Free.” That’s the classic song in MadMen when Burt Cooper dies. It’s signifies the #1 asset and “secret sauce” that leaders typically overlook. 

People value and are starving for true connection, complete trust, & teamwork with people who deeply care. 

It’s that emotional bond that enables us to accomplish and create the seemingly impossible. 

It’s also what brings the very best out of us individually and collectively. 

People after the fact point to success as the stock price, profit, sales, etc. But that completely misses the mark. That’s the effect, not the cause. 

The gold is in first creating the unbreakable foundation for “the together team.” It’s not to get distracted by process, strategy, etc. Because then leaders make lack of time excuses why they built the foundation on sand. We know what happens over time when they do (and the huge financial cost and emotional turmoil for poor teamwork).

Coco Chanel said, “The best things in life are free. The second-best things are very, very expensive.”

When leaders and managers behaviors and actions prioritize the business over the team, it requires them to pay a very expensive price. 

Here’s the video from MadMen that’s worth a watch: https://lnkd.in/e8gD2HF

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.

Wendy Dailey, HR Rockstars, Interviews Me on Trust and Employee Engagement

I had a chance to briefly meet the HR Rockstar, Wendy Dailey, at HR Florida 2019 at the end of August. We got a chance to speak for a little while on the phone a few weeks earlier on teamwork, trust, employee engagement, and a few other topics.

You can check out the article she wrote on it, “Building Trust: the Key to Employee Engagement.” She also hosts the fantastic podcast, The HR Social Hour (check it out here).

Here is a snippet:

“Here we are again, still, talking about Employee Engagement. Constantly. The TOP conversation in HR. And why? Because we continue to get it wrong. Any why do we continue to get it wrong? Because we are looking for that One Thing. Just tell us what to do, we seem to be asking the speakers, the writers, but make it quick and easy because we’ve got a lot of “real” work to do.

But here’s the not-so-secret secret: Employee Engagement means work. Ongoing works. There is no one-and-done for employee engagement. Engagement isn’t about foos-ball, after-work drinks or potlucks. All of those come out of the one thing you must do. You need to TRUST your employees and gain their trust.”

10 Workplace Conflict Resolution Best Practices

Here’s an article I contributed to on workplace conflict resolution. Help companies with workplace conflict resolution is becoming a bigger part of my business.

It only makes sense. Teams in conflict hurt not only their performance but cause a ripple effect in a company and with everyone they touch.

I’ve developed a completely new process that flips the workplace conflict resolution process. It takes me 50% less time than other companies who do this. How do I know? Many times, I’m not the first company they have brought in.

Here’s a snippet:

Be willing to apologize. Each party will have their own share in creating, fostering, or engaging in the conflict. “Most people don’t apologize during workplace conflicts. That hurts the relationship and things never get resolved,” says Jason Treu, author of Social Wealth and host of the Executive Breakthroughs Podcast. Just remember that “I’m sorry you’re upset” is not an apology.”

Keynote Speaker at Inside Sales Event in Atlanta

Looking forward to speaking in Atlanta tomorrow on how to build high performing and engaged culture for sales teams. See the sign-up link below at Vonage office w/ MarketSource Inc.. 

We’ll also be discussing how to create great teamwork, resolve conflicts and more effectively communicate. This information can also be used with customers and prospects to close more deals and upsell

This is interactive. Attendees will play Cards Against Mundanity in small groups to experience what it feels like to build deep, trusted relationships in minutes. Everyone will get a PDF version of the game (& you can buy physical card deck). 25,000+ managers and employees are using it. 

Cardsagainstmundanity.com (free pdf version) and physical card deck game (https://www.drivethrucards.com/m/product/272383)

I conducted similar keynote presentations this year at the AA-ISP Executive Leadership Retreat and at several chapters including Dallas, Austin, New York and Raleigh.

#atlanta #aaisp #vonage #marketsource #b2bsales #insidesales #culture #teamwork #salesmanagers #teambuilding #leadership  #salesmeeting #keynotespeaker #cardsagainstmundanity  #speaker #managertraining

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