Susan Scott's Blog, page 15

How to Have More Effective Meetings at Work

Notice the word “more” in the title?

Hopefully, your meetings are already effective; start and end on time, include the right people, have clear agendas, and achieve intended outcomes. Is that true of your meetings? Sometimes, maybe, never? You’re not alone.

According to an infographic published in the Muse, more than $37 billion is spent PER YEAR on unproductive meetings. Each day, there are 25 million meetings PER DAY in the US, and executives consider more than 67% of those meetings to be failed and unproductive meetings. A whopping 92% of respondents confessed to multitasking during meetings. It’s no wonder results are less than successful.

Impactful tips to make sure your meetings are set up to be the best use of everyone’s time.  

Timing  – When you facilitate meetings do you typically start your meetings on time, or when everyone is present, which could result in 15 minutes of idle chat? At the end of the meeting, do you provide a cushion for people to leave and take a mini-break before having to join another meeting?

One great tip I’ve learned is to schedule meetings 5 minutes after the hour and end them 10 minutes before the hour. This allows people time to decompress from one meeting before they reorient themselves to the next.  

Agendas  – Can you remember the last time you were invited to a meeting and had no idea why, that lacked knowledge around the context – what’s going on with the meeting topic, who is involved, or what outcomes the meeting was intended for? – which meant the first 20 minutes of the meeting were dedicated to clarifying why everyone was brought together.

A clear, well-thought-out agenda allows participants to prepare to bring their best thinking. It provides valuable context and creates a space where everyone can be ready to share ideas.  

Who to Include – Does your organizational meeting culture practice including EVERYONE in EVERY meeting just to make sure no one feels excluded? Or maybe you’re in recurring meetings where issues don’t get resolved because the people who have influence over decisions aren’t present? When it comes to having an effective meeting, we want to be intentional about the voices we include in the meeting and the voices we don’t. Perhaps there are perspectives from new employees or people in completely different departments that could add value to a decision you’re about to make. Who would be a stretch for you to include in a meeting?   

Creating “More” Effective Meetings 

Once you’ve got the essentials down (timing, agenda, people), you’re ready to take your meetings to the next level. Here are my three favorite meeting techniques that we cover in our Fierce Team Conversation Workshop.  

1. Clarify the Issue  

You want to call a meeting to do some brainstorming. Before you send that invitation, do you know what you would like to accomplish? Can you clearly articulate the issue in just two sentences? If not, take  – some time to reflect on these key questions: 

a. What is the issue? Is it a concern, a challenge, or an opportunity to evaluate? Has it been getting better or worse over the past few days or weeks?  

b. What’s at stake? How does this issue impact our company? Our clients? Our team morale?  

c. Has already been done so far? What’s worked? What hasn’t? Who else is involved?  

Once you’ve clarified the issue for yourself, share relevant background information along with the core issue in an email to your attendees, letting them know why you’re bringing them together. This allows your internal and external processors the time they need to come prepared to do their best thinking in your meeting.  

2. Create an Inclusive Space 

How often do you find yourself in a meeting where two voices dominate the conversation? Whether you are leading the meeting or not, you can ensure that all attendees have equal airtime. Simply extend the invitation by saying, “Carly, what are your thoughts? What would you add or amplify?” This is about shifting the culture of meetings: no more wallflowers who sit back and never say a word. No more dominant voices that drown out the rest of the crowd from sharing valuable insights. You intentionally invited each person for their unique perspective, right?  

3. Articulate Your Ideal Outcome 

What do you hope to accomplish by the end of the meeting? Do you need the group to help you come to a solution or just generate out-of-the-box ideas? Are you hoping for them to buy into your proposal or poke holes in it? And whatever your hope is, ask yourself, “is it realistic?” Did I provide enough details, and enough time, or invite the right people to get to my end result? One of my most frustrating experiences is when I run out of time just when my creative gears have started spinning.  

At Fierce, we know that life happens gradually, then suddenly. Which of these ideas will you start to gradually integrate into your meetings? Start with one, and over a few weeks track the results. Then add another idea to test and implement. Gradually then suddenly, you’ll find your meetings getting better and better results, one conversation at a time.  

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Middle Manager Burnout is at an All-Time High

 

“The Middle Managers are not alright” – Bloomberg article

Of all office workers, middle managers are reporting the highest levels of stress at 43% versus senior managers at 37% and Executives at 32%

Specific reasons given include

Pressure to deliver in economic uncertaintyConcerns about declining productivity in the workforceDiscussions around employee compensation not keeping up with inflationAll the challenges with return to office versus hybrid versus remote

The article states that investing in 1 on 1 coaching and community building is critical in helping these managers.

Here at Fierce we completely agree and with our innovative solution Pulse, we have helped people become self-aware around their specific stressors through biometric data and then quickly providing them with the solutions and tools to tackle these stressors through interpersonal communication.

We have seen 9-10% drops in stress within 2 weeks of 1 coaching session.  When you stand back this makes sense. With the person’s own biological response to their environment which we triangulate with calendar and GPS data, the user can immediately focus on the root cause of their highest stress events and with tools, we have been teaching for 20 years tackle them immediately.

THANK YOU

About Pulse by Fierce

Pulse, our newest Fierce tool, is an app that will stop burnout and stress within your organization quickly by using bio-metric data and a sophisticated AI.

An Organization that uses Pulse can: 

Track the trends of the stress for the whole organization, and build a resilient cultureEmpower employees to look at their everyday stress to avoid burnoutGive the skills to manage difficult conversations and office politics, balance workload, leverage diversity, and lead change in order to reduce stress

Learn more about how Pulse works here.

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Recovering from Burnout – Developing Mental Fitness, Resilience and Strength

 

An incredible article entitled “We need to Talk about Men’s Mental Health at Work” describes the real challenges for men around self-stigma and social stigma in discussing mental health. It provides ways for managers to see signs and proactively help by building a climate of psychological safety and vulnerability.

Some of the tips include demonstrating vulnerability in 1 on 1s, reframing “seeking help” as a sign of strength and leadership competence, and avoiding the use of words like “depression, sadness” INSTEAD “recovering from burnout,” “developing mental fitness, resilience, and strength.”

The statistics are alarming with only 25% of men stating they would seek help from mental health professionals while suicide rates for men are 3.6x more than women. The article also illustrates some signs to help managers with at-risk employees.

At Fierce we have focused heavily on providing the tools to eliminate stress through interpersonal communication skills that build resilience. We have seen signs of initial resistance consistent with this article that quickly go away in 1 on 1 coaching sessions because we are focused on hard tangible biometric data that focuses on specific events that are driving stress and immediately pivot towards action. Our results across demographics consistently show 9-10% drop in stress within two weeks from the coaching session.

We commend HBR and the author for addressing this often-ignored topic.

THANK YOU

Our Latest Innovation

Pulse, our newest Fierce tool, is an app that will stop burnout and stress within your organization quickly by using bio-metric data and a sophisticated AI.

An Organization that uses Pulse can: 

Track the trends of the stress for the whole organization, and build a resilient cultureEmpower employees to look at their everyday stress to avoid burnoutGive the skills to manage difficult conversations and office politics, balance workload, leverage diversity, and lead change in order to reduce stress

Learn more about how Pulse works here.

 

 

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The Importance of Diversity in the Workplace

With all the diversity and inclusion conversations that have been happening over the last decade, is there anyone still out there who doesn’t think that workplace diversity is a good thing? We know the benefits of diversity in the workplace are vast. Diversity improves workplace productivity, company culture, employee retention, and can break down prejudices. It also helps with the company’s reputation. The world needs all kinds of minds. And so does your workplace. The world of business is changing, and so is work culture.

Bringing diversity in the workplace is one of the top most priorities for business leaders and managers today. Diversity, as we know, gives greater access to a greater range of talent, not just the talent that belongs to a particular worldview or ethnicity or some other restricting definition. It helps provide insight into the needs and motivations of all your client or customer base, rather than just a small part of it.

Highly credible research organizations such as McKinsey and Company, and a host of others have shown that diversity can make an organization more effective, more successful, and more profitable. Diversity allows companies to adopt a different lens to solve challenges, operate the organization, and keep it strong. But let’s focus for a moment on the diversity of thought.

If you have multiple people on a team or in an organization thinking the same way, you don’t really grow or innovate. In fact, many times we leaders make decisions in a vacuum, in an echo chamber and these decisions may lack the perspective of others. And we often don’t see the impact of our decisions on other teams or customers. And as a result, without diversity and thought, we may not make the best possible. Decisions. So that begs the question, what are strategies we can use to invite, welcome, and appreciate diverse perspectives in the workplace? Decision making?

That’s where the Fierce model for Team conversations comes in. The team conversations model is a powerful tool that helps individuals and teams make better decisions through the collaboration of diverse team members. In our Teams model, we demonstrate how valuable it is to have multiple, even competing perspectives to make the best possible decisions with the best results. All the while fostering a culture of collaboration where diversity of thought is genuinely sought out and valued. Of course, it’s cliche to say that nothing worth achieving comes easily, but it’s true. And as I just mentioned, the benefits of true workplace diversity are invaluable.

Creating a more diverse workplace requires strategic action, especially if your company is in the early stages of building diversity campaigns and initiatives. So whether you’re a diversity and inclusion manager, a recruiter, a business leader, or a diversity advocate, try our Fierce Team model to create a workplace. Where all employees feel valued, seen and heard, and collaboration becomes part of the organizational culture.

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What is Agile Leadership and Why is it Important?

When was the last time you took a ski trip with a group of friends and developed a completely new leadership methodology?  Not only did it impact your business, but rippled throughout organizations throughout the globe. 

That’s the mythology behind the creation of agile leadership. Beyond a new trend in leadership styles, agile leadership has proved an effective method of generating results.

Why does agile leadership work and why is it necessary to embrace the methodology? At the heart of agile leadership is being adaptive and resilient in the face of great change. Because of many dynamics in the modern world such as technology, global change, and rapidly moving economic conditions, nothing stays stable for long.  

In fact, you hope that your own organization contributes to disruption in your industry. This means you are on the cutting edge, creating innovation and advancing above your competition. To continue to move forward and grow, you must learn to move your teams and organization to an environment of constant change.  

Unfortunately, change is uncomfortable for many people. There’s always the fear of job security or changing job descriptions in a changing environment. But being an agile leader means you are instilling your people with the ability to adapt and grow, ready to meet any challenges that lead to growth.

Agile Leadership makes bold claims and promises such as:

Advancements in employee autonomy driving toward problem-solving rather than waiting for leadership to solve everything for themContinuous improvement among every team and department generating more efficient business practices with less waste and greater productivityGreater creativity, innovation, and problem-solving ability throughout the organizationCollaboration within teams and across organizational silos to share information and provide valuable insights that normally would be missedMotivated employees who find value in the work they do and the contribution they add to the larger organizationAn open culture of idea sharing regardless of level within the organization leading to greater leadership developmentA human-centered approach to work rather than a slave to rigid processes and toolsThe Ability to respond to change even when the script calls for something different

Every leader wants to embrace these potential advantages. Imagine the progress your organization could make toward growth if only several of the promises materialized inside a fraction of your cubicles.

What are the principles of Agile Leadership?

 Agile leadership at its core is in contrast to previous top-down management styles manipulating and managing every possible action and metric. As an agile leader, you create the environment for success. Within that environment you allow room for failure because you move fast, and allow small experiments that generate feedback for better action.  

Remember the origin myth of Agile at the ski lodge. There’s more truth than myth to the story. Seventeen software development leaders were at a ski retreat, but a snowstorm prevented them from hitting the slopes. Being stuck in the lodge for several days provided an opportunity to brainstorm about creating a more effective and efficient way of bringing software to the market. 

Like all good stories, the truth may have expanded over time. However, they developed 4 values of Agile leadership with 12 basic principles. Software companies embraced those principles and other industries took notice and began embracing them as well to great success.  

Inside the software world, the former method of managing projects was through a top-down approach to management. Scope, budget, and timelines were mapped and planned before a project began. The problem with such detailed planning is it gives no room for volatile changing environments. 

Out of this discussion, Four Values emerged:

Individuals and interactions over processes and toolsWorking software over comprehensive documentationCustomer collaboration over contract negotiationResponding to change over following a plan

 

Days after the creation of those initial Four Values, they wrote:

12 principles creating the Agile ManifestoOur highest priority is to satisfy the customer through early and continuous delivery of valuable software.Welcome changing requirements, even late in development. Agile processes harness change for the customer’s competitive advantage.Deliver working software frequently, from a couple of weeks to a couple of months, with a preference to the shorter timescale.Business people and developers must work together daily throughout the project.Build projects around motivated individuals. Give them the environment and support they need, and trust them to get the job done.The most efficient and effective method of conveying information to and within a development team is face-to-face conversation.Working software is the primary measure of progress.Agile processes promote sustainable development. The sponsors, developers, and users should be able to maintain a constant pace indefinitely.Continuous attention to technical excellence and good design enhances agility.Simplicity–the art of maximizing the amount of work not done–is essential.The best architectures, requirements, and designs emerge from self-organizing teams.At regular intervals, the team reflects on how to become more effective, then tunes and adjusts its behavior accordingly.

 

Do you notice any key commonalities among these 12 principles? While designed for the software industry, the principles apply to any organizational endeavor where you are developing products and services for an ever-changing marketplace.

Conversation, feedback, and creating an environment of growth are at the core. If you are familiar with any of the Fierce methodologies, you know this is at the heart of Fierce. Learning and developing the skills to have effective conversations that move people forward. Creating environments of transparency and trust where people can bring their best to the workplace so they will take risks in generating new ideas.

The Agile Leadership Mindset

Applying the Agile Leadership principles in your organization requires you to adopt a new mindset.  

Do you remember learning about the scientific method back in your school days? In many ways, Agile Leadership is the scientific method in action. You have a goal then create a hypothesis to get there. You test to determine whether the hypothesis is verifying initial assumptions. Then you adjust. 

It’s an iterative approach to work rather than concrete plans and strategies that don’t examine results until much later in the process, when, unfortunately, change may be difficult or too late. Or, as they say in the military, “no battle plan survives contact with the enemy.”

Agile is similar to the OODA Loop developed inside the military as a decision-making methodology.  You observe, orient, decide, then act. The results of the action provide feedback to once again observe, orient, decide, and act. The loop continues until you hit your destination.

It takes brave leadership to allow the freedom for teams to live in an agile world, but doing so leads to greater outcomes. 

While the concepts of Agile Leadership are easy to embrace, implementing them in an organization can be difficult. How can your free form of leadership with the potential for continual change create the security and stability that so many workers crave?

Implementing Agile Leadership

Becoming an Agile Leader may require a deep cultural transformation. It is human-focused where you instill an entrepreneurial drive in every employee. Managers and team members must take ownership of their team goals, decision-making, and performance. Teams need to collaborate, come to alignment, and develop effective feedback frameworks.

As a leader, you are responsible for creating this environment and you must connect people to their purpose at work. Good ideas will arise when you encourage learning and development as a cultural touchstone. Encourage diversity to enable new ways of thinking about strategies to accomplish goals and overcome challenges.

For more information about how Fierce brings Agile Leadership to life in an organization, learn about: Fierce Team Program, Fierce Feedback Program, and Fierce Delegate Program.

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3 Steps to Combat Toxic Employees

 

Let’s face it, not everyone you work with is going to be your cup of tea. The same may be true about you. Regardless, there are three things that you can start doing today to combat toxic employees that you work with.

The first thing is to start with yourself. Do a self-scan, right? Ask yourself if you’re behaving in ways that other people might label as toxic. And then just like the oxygen mask that falls down on the airplane, take care of yourself before you start addressing the needs of those around you. Also ask yourself, what is it about them that leads you to label them as toxic?

How much of that is truly about them and their behavior? And how much of that is about you and just your perception of them and the fact that they just whatever, for whatever reason, they’re not your cup of tea. And then ask yourself, is their behavior a reaction to what you’ve done or maybe what you haven’t done? Especially, for example, if they’re a direct report of yours, have you set clear goals and expectations? Are you providing ongoing feedback to help them course correct or providing praise to encourage them to keep going?

That leads us to the second thing that you can do to combat toxicity in the workplace. Stay current with people. Provide feedback as much in the moment as possible, respectful of their privacy, and certainly not wanting to embarrass them. And then once you start be consistent with your feedback, even if you’re frustrated and you feel like it’s falling on deaf ears, really keep at it. Otherwise, silence is compliance, and you’re essentially telling them that what they’re doing is absolutely fine. And then, to encourage the other person to be open to feedback, model it yourself. Ask them for some feedback, right? Even if it’s hard to hear. Lean in, get curious.

Look for something in there that you can perhaps use and incorporate into your behavior. Ultimately be appreciative. Say thank you. Show them that you’re open and you are a work in progress as well. And that you can change. The third thing you can do is confront their behavior with them. For us, it’s a deeper conversation. You just take some preparation. Part of the preparation for you as you get ready to have that conversation is to shift your context. Many of us go into these confrontation conversations with the mindset of a conqueror. This is why you’re wrong. This is what you’re doing. This is bad, and you should stop, you need to change. I’m even using this as if it were bad.

We encourage people in our confrontation model to adopt an explorer’s mindset. Really get curious, start the conversation you’re prepared for, but let the other person know what their behavior looks like from your perspective, right? And within that, let them know what you may have done or what you may not have done that has contributed to their behavior. After all, if you want them to be accountable, you should start with yourself and model some accountability and then get curious with them.

Ask them what their behavior looks like from their perspective. Really listen. By the end of their time, they should feel really heard and understood. It doesn’t mean you completely buy into their perspective, but you’ve heard them and you understand what their perspective looks like. At that point, it’s time to work together and collaborate with them to chart a path forward, to recognize we can’t stay here, we can’t go backward. What’s it going to take for both of us to move forward? What have we both learned and what are we both prepared to do to get to a better place together and commit to that?

Get some commitments from them and commit to what you’re going to do and check in with each other along the way. This isn’t going to change overnight. And you might even want to set some milestones, some things that you can celebrate along the way towards this path of this ideal future state that you’ve set with each other. So those are the three things that you can start doing today. First, start with yourself. Provide feedback in the moment for deeper conversations. Confront their behavior with them, shoulder to shoulder with your explorer’s mindset. And then also know in the end.

The other thing that’s also true for you, that’s within your control is that instead of falling victim to the toxicity that exists and you’ve tried everything you feel like you can to help them to see a better path, one thing you can do is to step away. We can all choose to do that for ourselves. That may mean that you are moving into a new role or a new department or even a new organization, or if they’re on your team and they may need to find a new role, it’s a better fit for them. And so to help them down that path to a better state, that’s also within your control.

All right, we wish you well. And if there’s anything that we can do to help you and support you as you combat toxicity in the workplace, absolutely reach out at any time

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3 Examples of Resilience at Work

According to our Chief Behavioral Scientist, Gabe De LaRosa, one way to think about resilience is like putting air in a basketball. If you’re resilient, when you hit the ground, you bounce. When you’re not, you go “splat.” Some refer to resilience as the ability to bounce back from stress and adversity. Gabe encourages us to “bounce forward” from our experiences, internalize the lessons learned, and increase our resilience for the future.

The good news for all of us is, while there are many factors that influence our current capacity, resilience is not a fixed quantity in any of us. Just like running more miles prepares you for a marathon, there are things we can do to increase our own resilience.

When we are stressed at work, we can leverage the three Cs of resilience: challenge, control, and commitment. People who view stress as a challenge rather than a threat also see it as an opportunity for growth and a part of life. Focusing on your areas of control can give you a sense of empowerment and allow you to let go of things you cannot control, such as the external pressures of stress or other people’s actions.

When faced with stress, we focus on our commitment to a leader, our organization, or our values. Maybe a mix of all three.

 

1. A New Job

Starting in a new role can certainly bring on feelings of stress, whether it is imposed on you, or you chose to make the move. It can feel arduous to go from being unconsciously competent in our current role, to consciously incompetent in the new job. Even when the change is imposed, you choose to view this new challenge as an opportunity for growth and learning. Hold fast to your commitment to your values and focus on what is within your control.

2. A Toxic Team Member

Check out our vlog, “3 Tips to Combat Toxic Employees,” to get you started if you find yourself working with a toxic team member. While you can’t control their mood, attitude, or even behavior, you are in complete control of your own. Challenge your conversational skills and influence them to change by confronting their behavior without blame. Remind yourself why you’re there and leverage the commitment you share with your manager and valued colleagues.

3. A Major Mistake

At some point in your career, you’re going to mess up. Maybe even big-time. You’re human after all. As you pick yourself up and bounce forward, consider all the vital lessons that can be learned from that experience. We worked with one client that values these challenging lessons, to such an extent that they break out the champagne when a project fails to celebrate all the learning it created. They focus on what they can control going forward, and all are committed to the organizational values that support this growth mindset. Imagine if we all were able to do that?!

Remember: we are all capable of increasing our capacity for resilience. We’ve only scratched the surface of the many ways we can build that muscle at work.

Reach out to us if you’d like to learn more!

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How to Combat Quiet Quitting

Tiktok strikes corporate America. Not by boosting a brand via a hot influencer, but by coining a phrase that scares managers and leaders everywhere – “quiet-quitting”.

American TikToker @zaidlepplin posted a video detailing this new workplace trend summing up the attitude with “work is not your life”. The hashtag #QuietQuitting, then went viral as TikTokers everywhere expressed their own journey to quiet-quitting.

After dealing with pandemic workplace transformations, the Great Resignation, and escalating levels of burnout, corporate leadership has one more thing to worry about.

What is Quiet Quitting?

The term might create images of an employee silently leaving the office with no notice and with no plans to return. Thankfully, this doesn’t describe the trend. However, the impact to your organization may be just as damaging.

Quiet Quitting is when an employee decides to disengage from their job. Yes, they may do their job, but only their job and within the narrow frame of their job description. Never generating ideas or input, volunteering for projects, doing more than what is assigned, and never overtime. 

The Quiet Quitter puts their head down and performs as instructed but with no intention of engaging and creating more opportunities for themselves.

Unfortunately, this behavior will make it hard for many organizations to make goals. It can also create resentment among others and begin the slide into toxic workplace environments and damage overall morale. 

How Widespread?

A recent Gallup survey found almost 55% of employees born after 1989 are not engaged at work. They show up but do the minimum required. And according to a Talk-space / The Harris Poll Employee Stress Check 2022, employees ages 18-34 are more likely to feel burned out than the rest of the workforce.

Harvard Business Review created a survey collecting data from 2800 managers who rate 13,048 of their direct reports. The managers answered that 14% of their reports were quietly quitting, and only 20% were willing to give extra effort.

Why the Rise in Quiet Quitting?

For years, the way to get ahead in the workplace was to grind and hustle. In fact, to succeed many developed side gigs to expand their pocketbook and skill sets. The Pandemic changed all that. Placing people in isolated remote settings forced many employees to evaluate the work they do and how it affected their work-life balance. In fact, remote work often upset the work-life balance. Initially, the thought of working from home was a welcome respite from the commute and office politics, but slowly work crept into every avenue of life. People who didn’t set boundaries couldn’t escape. 

These attitudes didn’t fade away when workers began coming back to the office. Many proclaimed, “work will never take over my life again”.

Gathering a sense of purpose and meaning from the workplace drove many employees toward greater achievement and recognition. At some point in our work culture, this has been lost. 

As leaders, we must be aware of this trend and the attitudes of isolation and meaninglessness many feel in the workplace.  There are steps you can take as a manager to create a culture that brings meaning and fulfillment. It all begins with a conversation and these steps will help you stave off quiet quitting from infecting your organization. 

How to Combat Quiet Quitting

Psychological research around workplace satisfaction all point to three major elements that lead to engagement and fulfillment – autonomy, mastery, and belonging. 

Autonomy – relates to a sense of control an employee has over their time and energy at work. Yes, we all have guidelines and structures to follow, but a sense of autonomy develops when an employee is given greater power for decision-making and how they prioritize work.

Mastery – is a sense of the development of skills in their job. The employee sees progress in their role through their own efforts. If a worker senses they are getting better at their job, and feel challenged to develop those skills, they will begin to develop mastery and feel empowered by the progress.

Belonging – is a sense of community and connection with co-workers and leadership. If isolation during the pandemic taught us anything, it was people craving for connection. Cocktail hours and lunches on camera were not uncommon due to the need for community. We are social animals and need community and nothing develops community like striving for a common purpose.

If autonomy, mastery, and belonging are keys to combating quiet quitting,

What are some practical steps we can all take to improve these essential elements?

 

1. Recognition 

Recognize people for their work and achievement, especially if they have shown growth and development in their role. Recognition can take many forms and individuals are different in how they respond. Communicate often with team members and learn their recognition triggers. Ask the questions and observe. It never hurts to ask them for feedback when they feel rewarded.

2. Focus on Purpose 

Purpose creates belonging. People want to be part of something bigger than themselves. It is a major reason we become rabid sports fans, join charitable organizations, and embrace faith communities. We need something beyond the scope of ourselves. When we see our efforts contribute to the common good or shared goal, we gain a sense of purpose. Be clear within your organization about your purpose then demonstrate how everyone’s effort fulfills that purpose.

3. Connect, Connect, Connect 

Fierce is committed to connection. At the heart of our development programs is learning to build the skills and frameworks for deep conversations. Learning the skill of impactful conversation whether, through feedback, delegation, or even difficult conversations allow you to connect to the heart of your people. Ultimately work is about people. We are not robots or machines checking boxes and following algorithms. There is something uniquely special about each of us that longs to be seen. Find opportunities to connect with your people. Conversations are a great place to begin.

4. Career Development 

Providing a path for development and skill acquisition contributes to mastery in an employee’s journey. Even for those employees that don’t want to move up the ladder, they still want to improve and become better. Jobs morph and change over time. We can’t stay static year after year and continue to excel even in the same role. Building development into your employee’s life will deepen engagement and ultimately improve performance in the workplace.

5. Clear Expectations 

Boundaries at work are a major cause of quiet quitting, learning to set clear expectations is critical to help solidify them. Without communicating expectations on a regular basis, boundaries become fuzzy and employees become frustrated with their work life. Having regular check-ins, progress reports, and feedback sessions will greatly improve understanding of expectations. Don’t assume employees understand, check for clarification and help them meet those expectations.

6. Hold People Accountable 

Accountability is a corollary to expectations. It is often a difficult part of the leader’s or manager’s role. We often assume confrontation when holding people accountable. It doesn’t have to be fraught with conflict. The Fierce definition of accountability is a desire to take responsibility for results. It’s easy for all of us to blame others or circumstances when we are unable to generate results.

Ask a simple question, “Are you getting the results you want?” Then sit back and listen. What is in their control? What can they do within their control to improve the situation? This provides a deep sense of autonomy and power for the individual and removes the blame game.

Bottom Line

As leaders, we can’t stick our heads in the sand, and ignore the potential of quiet quitting in our organizations. However, we have the power to begin to change the culture and instill those three important values of autonomy, mastery, and belonging in the hearts of our people.

Even before “quiet quitting” entered the corporate lexicon, Fierce was at the forefront of developing those core values to empower team members and leaders.

If you are ready to build a culture of engagement, begin by scanning the Fierce catalog or talk to a Fierce specialist to create a custom program based on the needs of your organization.

 

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The Leadership Foundations for a Thriving Work Culture

A thriving work culture is built on leadership. Leadership can extinguish the fires of the most enthusiastic employees if they do not display the right characteristics. Your intuition and experience tell you this is true. Think back on the great leaders you worked with who uplifted you to better performance and development. Then remember those times you worked for weak leaders who diminished your abilities merely by being in their presence.

Leadership is the ability to raise people to new heights. When the people grow, the organization grows.

Why is leadership so foundational?

Human beings are mimics. We are all imprinted by our associations. Children parrot and imitate the adults around them. It is an inescapable part of our nature and doesn’t disappear when we enter adulthood. Your people will mimic the examples set by their nearest leaders. 

After working with top organizations for over 20 years, Fierce has identified:

4 foundational pillars that create health leadership.

When each of these pillars is in place, company culture thrives and toxic culture is held at bay.

1. Resilient Workplace

Focusing on resilience is paramount for leaders today. The disruption of work and family life over the last several years has created a crisis of burnout and toxic culture. Resignations and “quiet quitting” plague every organization. As a leader, you must mirror the behavior of resilience through self-awareness.

Learn to identify those areas in your own work life that cause stress and learn to mitigate and manage those issues. 

You can help those you lead by looking for cracks in the system that point to hidden stressors. Internal conflicts, missing goals, low productivity, and turnover are good signs resilience is needed.

Helping organizations build resilience is a key priority for Fierce. Recently, Dr. Gabe De La Rosa joined our team to help us further our mission of better understanding the dynamics of stress and resilience. Gabe has been at the forefront of building resilience inside the US Military and has helped in developing the Pulse app as well as the Fierce Resilience program. Read his whitepaper “The Impact Of Stress At Work” to see why we’re so thankful to have him.

As Gabe likes to say, it’s those silent stressors that cascade into overwhelm. Building self-awareness into your teams will short-circuit those triggers that lead to burnout.

2. Agile Leaders

Being adaptable and agile is required in the modern business space.  Agile leaders build collaboration and deep communication skills with their teams. They empower decision-making among each individual and create alignment through a common purpose. 

You can move to greater agility by focusing on outcomes and trusting in the ability of your people. When sudden changes appear, normal rules and procedures often don’t give guidance to action. In these cases, trust must be given to contributors to make decisions on the agreed-upon outcome of the company. 

You must trust that the training and discussions contributors have had will allow for intuitive almost subconscious correct action. 

Unless every member of the team shares the same values and outcomes, good decision-making won’t happen. When these pieces are shared, an atmosphere of trust occurs where decisions can be made quickly without over-deliberating or pushing every action back to leadership.

3. Inclusive Cultures

All levels of leadership must prioritize this cultural shift toward inclusion if they want to increase the creativity hidden inside their organization.

Scott Hopkins, the Director of Leadership at Christus Health expressed the power of this shift toward inclusion:

“The number one improvement since [undergoing Fierce training] is the creation of a common language where people can understand principles and apply them. Concepts and language have allowed us to build other system-wide training programs and integrate aspects of Fierce into them, reinforcing the key concepts into our everyday lives.”

Here’s a secret-building a culture of inclusive collaboration begins with effective structures to elicit meaningful conversations. Implement systems to prod insights from all team members and innovation will emerge.

We can’t forget that innovation can come from anywhere, and this may be the biggest benefit of developing an inclusive culture. When people are excluded, so are ideas. New ideas and innovations don’t always come from board meetings but bubble up from those closest to the customer or problem. Without structures that allow for all voices to be heard those innovations will be lost. 

As a leader, it can induce anxiety to give lower-level employees in your organization greater responsibility. Incorporating more people into problem-solving teams will further develop skills and create trust inside the organization. When employees realize their voice can make a difference at the highest level, they will be eager to contribute to the organization.

The most effective leaders understand that, in the words of psychologist, Chris Peterson, “Other people matter.” 

Leadership who have the skill to develop deep relationships across the organization and create a culture of collaboration drive positive change and innovation.

4. Connected High Performing Teams

No leader has ever wished for a low-performing team, but how do you create collaborative high-performers?

Edgar and Peter Schein, authors of Humble Leadership: The Power of Relationships, Openness, and Trust, write, “As a manager, if you personalize, you will minimize ‘subordination’ in order to emphasize collaboration, joint responsibility, and your own willingness to help your direct reports to succeed. … We don’t need to become friends and learn all about each other’s private lives, but we have to learn to be open and honest around work issues.”

Learning successful feedback systems and models helps keep everyone on track and moving in the same direction.  According to Gallup, managers who provide weekly feedback have employees who are 5.2x more likely to agree that they receive meaningful feedback, 3.2x more likely to be motivated to do outstanding work, and 2.7x more likely to be engaged at work.

Feedback leads to skill development, but more importantly creates mutual trust and openness. As part of the feedback process, use that time to instill a shared vision of a winning team.  A shared vision creates a sense of purpose — a purpose for their lives, the organizations, and to the customers they serve.

Interested in building these pillars for your organization. Let Fierce analyze your unique strengths and weaknesses and design a program customized for your culture so you can thrive.

The post The Leadership Foundations for a Thriving Work Culture appeared first on Fierce.

Self-Awareness: What is it and Why is it Important in the Workplace?

“He who knows others is wise; he who knows himself is enlightened.” – Lao Tzu was right, self-knowledge is truly liberating.

The wisest amongst have always known this truth. Socrates is famous for his aphorism – “Know Thyself”. Ancient historians tell us that it was inscribed atop the entrance of the famous Temple at Delphi.

Beyond the philosophical discussion, self-awareness is an essential meta-skill for the modern workplace. Without it, you run the risks of alienating co-workers, sabotaging leadership, and setting yourself up for burnout.

What is it?

Self-awareness as a psychological concept was first theorized in 1972 by Duval and Wickland in their book A Theory of Objective Self-Awareness.

According to Duval & Wickland, self-awareness is “The ability to focus on yourself and how your actions, thoughts, or emotions do or don’t align with your internal standards. If you’re highly self-aware, you can objectively evaluate yourself, manage your emotions, align your behavior with your values, and understand correctly how others perceive you.”

You may be thinking, “I know myself. I know my hot buttons. My likes and dislikes.” 

Unfortunately, study after study on self-awareness demonstrates that while 95% of people think they are self-aware, only 10-15% truly are. 

Being aware of your own emotions, desires, abilities, reactions, and goals puts you and your team on a path to success. It’s not only the key to a meaningful life but a meaningful work life.

Why is it important in the workplace?

 

Organizational psychologist and author of Insight, Tasha Eurich, says, “Research suggests that when we see ourselves clearly, we are more confident and more creative. We make sounder decisions, build stronger relationships, and communicate more effectively”

Doesn’t that sound like the type of environment where you and your team would thrive?

At Fierce, we’ve found self-awareness drives growth in three major components of work-life – Leadership, Team Dynamics, & Resilience.

Workplace Leadership

You can’t be an effective leader without self-awareness.

We can all think of leaders who aren’t self-aware. The TV hit show, “The Office”, parodied the leader without self-awareness. In each episode, Michael Scott launches into speeches causing eye-rolls among employees or moments of intense cringe.

How do you know you haven’t committed the same sins? 

Self-awareness among leaders provides the base for a strong character. It allows you to lead with purpose, trust, and authenticity. You are able to see clearly the reason behind both successes and failures. You understand who you are and what you need most from other people.

More importantly, you begin to see gaps in your management skills, but also understand where you are most effective. You become fully aware of those around you and their motivations and needs.

Team Dynamics

Self-awareness among teams and employees is something everyone should strive for. 

A self-aware team can handle conflict, embrace empathy, and make stronger decisions.  In the Harvard Business Review study on self-awareness, they found that Un-self-aware colleagues aren’t just frustrating; they can cut a team’s chances of success in half. 

The consequences of working with unaware colleagues include increased stress, decreased motivation, and a greater likelihood of leaving one’s job.

It is imperative that organizations do more to build this meta-skill to provide greater cohesion and collaboration among teams. One un-self-aware team member can poison the whole group creating a toxic culture that spirals downward quickly.  

A self-aware team is confident in its strengths and weaknesses and works together to become greater than the sum of the parts. They understand the impact that emotions have on others. Delivering and receiving feedback becomes more effective because self-awareness allows openness to constructive criticism. Feedback is also another developmental tool for growing self-awareness.

There are other benefits as well. According to organizational psychologists, self-awareness:

Leads to better decision making Builds empathy and enhances self-controlIncreases productivity and communication in the workplaceMake us more proactive and encourage positive self-developmentResilience

Self-awareness is the key to resilience. In a world full of stress, burnout, and resignations, building resilience is critical to survival as an organization.

The problem with resilience is we aren’t often aware of those triggers that raise our stress hormones. We don’t notice when we’ve entered that state where we can’t make good decisions and respond correctly to our colleagues.

Because each individual is unique and brings a completely different life experience, the same triggers for you may not be the same for someone else. We don’t often notice those small stressors that eventually cascade into severe anxiety, burnout, or depression. 

Part of self-awareness is knowing what triggers you to feel stressed. Knowing your triggers means you can respond to them more calmly when they come up.

Tools for Self-Awareness

No one is born with self-awareness. It is a skill that needs to be learned, refined, and strengthened over time. Here are 3 tools Fierce has used to help organizations build self-awareness.

Feedback

Learn how to give and receive feedback at work successfully. Feedback should be built into the culture of an organization to go both up and down the organizational chart. Not only do direct reports need regular feedback to build the necessary skills to reach goals, but managers need feedback from reports to build out their own leadership skills.  

Even outside of the workplace, ask friends and families to provide feedback on how they perceive you. Make sure you create space for honest feedback with the intent of understanding yourself deeply so you are able to make changes and grow.

Mindfulness

Mindfulness is important for all of us to remember that we are not our thoughts. Inside each of us is an observer who can easily become entangled with internal thoughts and external circumstances. Falling prey unconsciously to our own thoughts and outside events devolves us into victims who merely react to life rather than directing it. 

Mindfulness can take many forms such as meditation, breathing exercises, or frequent journaling. Whatever method you choose, take time to calm down your mind and reflect on yourself and the world around you.

Technology

With the advent of wearable technology, each of us has the ability to understand our biological responses to our inner world. Tracking and monitoring our response to life can have a massive impact on our ability to build greater self-awareness.  

At Fierce, we saw how powerful biometrics were at monitoring stress and developed our Pulse app to merge a person’s calendar data with biometrics to identify stressful events in their life. After testing the technology, we saw not only a decrease in stress but an improvement in self-awareness.

Recently one participant using Pulse noticed a particular meeting she attended regularly registered at the highest level of stress. This didn’t make any sense to her. This was a participation-only meeting. She rarely contributed. She never had to prepare or speak openly in the meeting. After reflecting on why it was creating great stress for her, she realized that apathy and boredom were massive stress triggers for her. This self-awareness led her to action. She contacted her boss and asked for her to be removed from the meeting or allowed a greater level of participation. They changed her role in the meeting, and she saw a decrease in biometric stress and an increase in workplace productivity.

Technology like Pulse can give us insight into our inner world and create greater self-awareness.

Summary

Self-awareness is a critical skill that is the foundation for all skill development. Without awareness of your lack of skills, weaknesses, strengths, and responses you can’t set a direction for growth. Without self-awareness, you are unable to track progress.  

At the end of the day, we all want self-awareness. Remember, it is a journey and a life-long effort but will pay dividends for our own development and the productivity of the organizations we lead. 

The post Self-Awareness: What is it and Why is it Important in the Workplace? appeared first on Fierce.