Susan Scott's Blog, page 16

3 Tips for a Resilient Workplace

What’s the #1 Skill today’s workers and teams need to be successful?

According to a recent LinkedIn News article, Resilience is the skill we need. 

This should come as no surprise given the dramatic amount of change we have experienced over the last several years. The world changed almost overnight. Events forced us into a virtual workplace and then required us to adapt into a new hybrid model. Isolation and anxiety increased.

One study by the Journal of Occupational Health found the financial cost of occupational stress was estimated to be up to $187 Billion in 2018. In 2019, the American Institute of Stress found that when they include factors such as absenteeism, turnover, and increased medical and legal costs, the number was closer to $300 Billion.

And that was pre-COVID.

Since the Pandemic, the numbers have skyrocketed. Burnout is one of the major causes of employee turnover, and a recent Gallup study estimated it at a 1 Trillion dollar problem.

The Harvard Business Review found that 75% of workers felt isolated, 67% reported higher stress, and 57% felt deep anxiety. Even though we are post-pandemic, the rate of change is not slowing down.

Learning new collaboration strategies and stress management is critical.

Experts acknowledge the only way to combat constant change is to build resilience. Sounds great? But how do you build it?

Because of the urgency for installing bulwarks of resilience inside organizations, Fierce sent our researchers and developers into overtime to analyze the issue. Our ultimate goal was to find the right levers to create resilience as rapidly as the rate of change.

The research has been enlightening.

Here are just 3 of the tips we’ve learned to begin building resilience inside your organization.

 

1. Proper Understanding of Resilience – Traditional thinking focused on grit or eliminating stressors. That approach eventually fails. Avoiding problems or attacking without greater fervor doesn’t provide the skill sets to manage and mitigate the stress that bombards us daily. 

The Center for Workplace Mental Health defines resilience as “the ability to bounce back and even thrive through major challenges”, and a “key strategy that helps employees tackle stress.”

Digging in and leaning hard into obstacles often accelerates anxiety and burnout. You may overcome the challenges but bear the scars of the struggle on the other side. 

Building resilience is a mixture of tools and techniques unique to what causes stress in your team.

2. Proper Understanding of Stress – “It’s silent, everyday stress that gradually and then suddenly leads to a state of being overwhelmed,” says Dr. Gabriel De La Rosa, Chief Behavioral Science Officer at Fierce Conversations. 

When we think of stress, we tend to imagine the big events – the intense conflict with co-workers or direct reports, job changes, tragic events, or failure to meet large goals. 

We rarely notice the small events that eat away at our psyche, until one day we feel immense burnout and overwhelm.

Every incident of stress affects your biology, but until it builds to critical mass, we don’t notice. 

As we’ve analyzed stress, we’ve discovered that stress is individual in nature. In fact, boredom and apathy can be as stressful to many of us, yet a confrontational encounter doesn’t affect us at all. 

Learn to think differently about stress. Here are a few questions to help analyze the role stress plays in your work life.

What items cause stress to your team and yourself?What events or people generate stress for you and your team?What type of healthy stress management works for you?

3. Build Intense Self-Awareness – Studies have shown that while 95% of people think they are self-aware, only 10-15% truly are.

Why is this a problem and how does it impact resilience? 

No two people have the same lived experience, we’re all unique, and our perception of stress plays an even bigger role in what causes us stress than even the stress event itself.

Without self-awareness, we don’t identify the true causes of stress in our life. This is the major reason most wellness solutions don’t work. Participants never have access to personalized objective data and feedback to their internal state.

At Fierce, we have developed several tools to increase self-awareness. Not only have these tools helped participants, but have given us deeper insights into what creates stress. 

Through self-awareness training, a recent Fierce client discovered a surprising insight into workplace stress. Using our bio-metric Pulse app, she noticed that one of her regular meetings triggered the highest stress response. She was shocked because this was a mandatory meeting where she had no contribution beyond participation. However, the apathy and boredom-induced meetings created stress. With this insight, she pivoted with her boss to either become engaged in the meeting or drop off her schedule. The results showed instant relief and productivity improvements.

Develop self-awareness of how stress impacts you and you are on the road to resilience. – Eurich, Working with People Who Aren’t Self Aware by Tasha Eurich, Harvard Business Review, October 19, 2018.

How Fierce is Building Resilience

Through our own research into resilience, it should be no surprise that we learned how important self-awareness is. We learned that the body responds to stressors and these can be tracked. Most of us aren’t intuitive enough to notice these subtle changes in our biology.

You need a stress detector for your biometrics that connects to your daily activities. Only then can you identify those small stressors that eventually wear you down.

This is exactly why we created the Pulse app. Pulse links with wearable devices, tracks daily stress responses, identifies workplace stressors, and provides tools to mitigate their effects. You can finally see what stress is doing in small increments and adapt before a crash occurs.

Coupled with the Pulse App, we built a new course called Fierce Resilience. The purpose of the course was to build self-awareness and the necessary tools to manage and mitigate stress. In tackling these issues, we’ve seen a dramatic increase in resilience among early participants.

Fierce Resilience is working because it:

Combats toxic stressed-out work environments with empowered self-aware individuals ready to tackle any obstacle.Transform resentful, negative, and frustrated people into energized mentally fit employees.Trains the fearful, unprepared workforce into a resilient force ready to navigate a hopeful future. 

To build resilience in yourself and your team, understand how unique stress is to every individual. We all process circumstances differently. However, you can build the skills to mitigate stress by being aware of how stress affects you and others. Begin by stepping back and thinking deeply about how stress impacts you. Taking that step will help you and your team become stronger in the face of change.

To learn how Fierce Resilience can create new self-awareness for you and your teams, contact a Fierce specialist to learn more.

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Top 3 Tips to Reduce Employee Stress at Work

While stress has some positive benefits, like keeping us focused on an urgent task or ensuring we are alert to prevent dangerous accidents, stress has created significant negative side effects for us, which have been exponentially magnified in the way we work after a global pandemic. In fact, 51% of employees feel physically drained after an average day’s work a few times a month or more and 25% of employees frequently feel emotionally drained after an average day’s work.

The line between work and life has continued to blur, often resulting in significant burnout.  

 

There are many reasons work can create stress. The World Health Organization (WHO) recognizes that poor organizational culture, poor work design, ineffective management, and working conditions in addition to the lack of support from colleagues and leaders all contribute to workplace stress. Some warning signs of stress include trouble concentrating, sleeping, or losing interest in work. There can also be physical indicators such as muscle tension, headaches, and stomach problems. All of these outcomes add up. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OHSA) has named stress to be a “hazard of the workplace” and estimates of the cost of stress exceeds $190 billion a year in annual healthcare bills. As organizations become more attuned to workplace stress issues, intentional initiatives to alleviate stress must become a priority.

Here are three strategies to consider when supporting the mental, physical, and emotional well-being of your employees.  

 

1. Create an environment that fuels your employees’ resilience.

This is about providing intentional stress-reducing activities for your team members to engage in so they recharge week after week. These can include lunch and learns, quarterly social activities for the community, meditation training, and other wellness-related programs. This can also include scheduling coffee chats with colleagues just to check in and share life.  

Resilience occurs when we can recover quickly from difficulties. How can you as a leader contribute to building an environment that increases resilience? Perhaps it’s consistently recognizing your team members when they’ve accomplished something noteworthy – no matter how big or small that was. Another approach is recognizing the stressful events in your team members’ weekly schedule. Fierce has a Pulse app that enables users to link stressful events with their Outlook calendars to pinpoint which meetings or activities create the highest level of stress. Once identified, users can get coached by utilizing Fierce conversation strategies to reduce or prevent future stress related to the specific activity. 

2. Create a culture that champions work-life balance.

At Fierce, we believe that culture is created one conversation at a time. The conversations you have with your direct reports, peers, leaders, and cross-functional team members have the opportunity to enrich the quality of each person’s experience of the organization’s culture. How you model work-life balance speaks volumes. As leaders when you encourage your team members to take time off, attend family events, and leave work at work (at decent hours), you are actively creating a culture that champions work-life balance. When you decide to send that email during non-traditional business hours, that sends a message as well…perhaps that you expect it to be read and acted upon even if it is beyond work hours. What kinds of behaviors are you engaging in that might influence the work-life balance of your employees? Are you even aware or intentional about the culture you are creating within your team?  

3. Provide clarity and alignment on priorities.

One of my favorite quotes from Brené Brown is: “Clear is Kind. Unclear is unkind.” When we consistently check in on the pulse of our team members, colleagues, clients, and leaders, we can ensure that we are moving forward in the right direction. Without the check-ins, how do we know how we’re doing about where we want to be? Part of ensuring employees are mentally and emotionally well involves consistent conversations on projects, priorities, and expectations. As leaders, some simple yet powerful practices include:  

a. Helping employees understand the big picture when assigning new responsibilities.  

b. Clearly articulating how many decision-making rights the employee owns in their new responsibility.

c. Ensuring employees know exactly what outcomes you are expecting and by when.

d. Providing the needed resources to set your employees up for success. This includes removing responsibilities that are no longer the best use of their time, ensuring they can take on the new assignment, and adding new resources as needed.  

Without all of these practices, we are bound to create stress for our employees, leading to burnout, dissatisfaction, and eventually unnecessary turnover.  

While stress is something we cannot avoid, organizations can create strategies that improve the ability of their members to be resilient throughout.  

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THE ANATOMY OF A FIERCE LEADER

 

So, we were recently working with one of our clients here at Fierce, helping them map their leadership competencies to our suite of conversation models that they offer in their organization. So, as I was thinking about that work recently, it made me wonder if there’s a way to encapsulate, in really broad terms that are easy to recall, all the tools that Fierce offers leaders at every level in every organization.

We tend to call it the anatomy of a Fierce leader, which I think actually has a nice ring to it, doesn’t it? Sounds like something to aspire to. Also, because I tend to think of things, strategically in large buckets and because I’ve long been a fan of three things, the simplicity of that, which nerd alert, I think comes from my undergrad years where I learned the power of the Ciceronian triplet.

There are three buckets that I’m thinking of that the Fierce leader emphasizes or embodies, there’s the self, there are others and then there’s the organization or the strategic, big picture level of things. I also tend to think in pictures or diagrams. So, imagine that there’s this series of concentric circles and they start with you at the core, the leader at the core, and then they ripple out from there. So, to begin to think about this, I invite you to do a self-assessment. What are your strengths? What are you known for, in your organization? What are your superpowers?

At the other end of the spectrum, think about those things that maybe are part of your development plan. If you’re an ever-evolving, ever-growing leader, one of those things, you’d really like to build, those underdeveloped muscles.

Among the key attributes of a Fierce leader, we tend to look at them as exhibiting high resilience in an ever-changing world.

They’ve got high integrity, they tend to be trusted, high in trustworthiness. They also tend to model compassionate accountability for those around them with, high emotional intelligence, they’re really self-aware, and they’ve got a passion for personal and team development. They’re always growing, always developing, and always working to develop those around them.

We love working with leaders at every level, to build, flex and stretch those muscles. We tend to look, at this level, for the self. The Fierce Foundation is where it all begins. We’ve also got our accountability model, which seems to support this work, to still start working with yourself, and our coaching model, to work with yourself and those around you as you’re beginning to build your muscle as a leader or strengthen your muscle as a leader. There’s also our delegation model, which, quite frankly, we tend to think of as an underutilized way to develop those around you and by the way, create some space for you to grow and develop and take on some more things.

At that next circle out, emanating from you at the core, thinking about others, your team, the people you work most closely with, your peers, and your supervisor. Think about how effective is your work with them, a Fierce leader practices, inclusiveness, and they tend to leverage diversity in all its forms. They also create psychologically safe environments that really foster risk-taking and vulnerability, both of which are essential for the resilience necessary for innovating. They tend to collaborate with others to make the best possible decisions. They don’t shy away from the big decisions, they tend to welcome them because of the way that they leverage their connections with those around them.

Many of our models support a leader’s development at this level, including Fierce resilience.

Our team model, which we tend to refer to as a beach ball model. If you imagine the beach ball, with all of those different stripes, which represent the different perspectives of all of the people in the organization, or at least on your team. That’s you, Fierce leader at that team level, and then the furthest circle out of those concentric circles emanating from you at the core, is the strategic level, the organizational level.

We found that when a leader can pull together and practice all of our conversational models, that are already at their fingertips, in their leadership toolbox. They’re fully equipped to lead change with transparency and they really are great at developing high-performing teams. They’re seen as organizational rockstars, quite frankly, who bring their company’s vision, mission, and strategy to life, in everything that they do.

If I just described you, because if I have, sincerely, congratulations on being a Fierce leader. If not, and it sounds like the kind of leader you aspire to be, please reach out. We’d love to help you get where you want to go.

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Importance of Modern Technology in the Workplace

Technology is at the base of the modern workplace. If companies and organizations aren’t always on the lookout to leverage technology to improve culture, workflows, customer experiences, and basic efficiencies they will continue to struggle. 

The importance of technology has only grown over the last several years. According to a McKinsey Global Survey of executives, 93% of companies surveyed said they had to shift to remote work, 62% said they had to deal with increasing customer demand for online purchases and services, and 34% said there was an increase in migration of their company’s assets to the cloud. 

Even within the Fierce organization, we have made technology a priority. We are always looking for ways to interact more efficiently with clients but also provide employees with the necessary tools to innovate and do their jobs effectively. 

Surveying the landscape of successful organizations and how they use technology, we have identified at least five reasons technology is important in your workplace.

1. Competitiveness

Innovation in technology has the ability to set you apart from your competitors. Not only in developing new customer-facing technology or selling technology innovations but by using the most innovative resources to empower your employees, create efficiency, and increase customer engagement.

We all feel this shift as the customer need for instantaneous demand grows, but this also trickles into the demands employees expect from their companies.

2. Communication and collaboration

Over the last several years most organizations were forced into embracing new technology in order to function in a hybrid workplace. The upside of all these changes is many companies began to discover new task management and collaboration tools. 

Companies that embedded these technological innovations previous to the pandemic had a decidedly competitive advantage over companies that were forced into the process.

3. Security 

Most organizations not only have sensitive customer information but also employee data that is important to protect. With the rise of cybercrime, cyber security is more important than ever. 

Criminals have expanded their reach and sophistication. Not only have we had to adapt with better firewalls and protection, but have had to train our people on being diligent and understanding methods of prevention.

4. Productivity

Innovative technology allows all of us to streamline processes that often took hours or weeks longer than it does today. Think of life before the Excel spreadsheet. Paper ledgers and calculations were required to manage the data that all organizations rely on today. Having the ability to manage data, draw conclusions, and then implement new strategies in the marketplace creates efficiencies that we’re never imagined before. 

The ability to reach new customers and customize products and services to very specific needs is one of the hallmarks of innovative technology. Customer interaction has improved by the ability to serve customers quicker allowing companies to scale faster than ever before. 

5. Compliance

Compliance feels like a necessary evil for most people in the workplace. However, it allows us as organizations to do the right thing for customers, our employees, and even our communities. Unfortunately keeping track of regulatory changes as well as internal processes and procedures can be burdensome. Technology has made compliance much easier to maintain in an organization.

It allows us to create a more fair workplace but also manage the core values of our organizations.

How has Fierce embraced modern technology?

For years Fierce has used technology to create better customer interaction and also tailor our content to the specific needs of organizations that lean on us for leadership and development. It’s no secret we believe strongly in the communication and leadership tools we have created. However, the way our methodology and tools get transmitted and adapted to customers can become stale if we don’t continually find new ways to adapt to new situations.

We made great strides in using virtual tools to communicate as well as helping customers role-play new skills through metaverse-like technology.

Recently we have launched a revolutionary new piece of technology called Pulse, born out of the need to accelerate workplace resilience.

With the rising rate of stress in the workplace prompted by all the work culture changes over the last several years, resilience has waned and burnout, resignation, and toxic cultures continue to grow. 

The problem seemed insurmountable. We need faster ways to instill Fierce principles to combat toxic culture.

Leaning heavily on all the advancements and biometric data and tracking along with sophisticated AI our researchers and developers have discovered insights into the markers of stress.

Our researchers and developers knew if we could identify those hidden markers of stress before they began to wreak havoc we’d have a fighting chance. We identified several bio-markers indicating stress. Using wearable technology like the Fitbit or Apple Watch, our researchers could pinpoint moments of stress during the workday. Developers used AI to connect those events to users’ calendars and tailor actionable steps and training to mitigate stress and instill new skills.

A Final Caution about Technology 

Ultimately, we should all see technology as a tool for deep relationships with customers and employees. Technology can easily become a distraction or a taskmaster unless human relationships aren’t at the center of decision-making around innovation.

How has your organization deepened its mission by embracing technological changes?

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5 Key Characteristics of High Performing Teams

No leader has ever wished for a low-performing team. As a team-member you’ve never longed for a dysfunctional team that muddles along bumping into obstacles but never accomplishing much.

No matter how strong our competitive drive is, we long to be part of a winning team–a high-performing team. The kind of team that smashes obstacles, knows its goal, and sets a plan in motion to accomplish more. 

Yet, the dream of the high-performing team seems to slip through our grasp. There are moments of greatness in every team. Those times when you are in sync and things move smoothly in a flow state. You can feel the energy, but it never seems to last. 

Is there anything you can do to create the right conditions for highly connected, high achieving teams? We think so. In fact there are 5 Key Characteristics that epitomize teams that consistently outperform. Implementing these elements will move your team toward greater cohesion and innovation.

1. Clarity of Shared Vision 

High-performing teams are built on the foundation of clarity. They understand the overall vision of the organization plus how they fit into the organization’s structure and purpose.

As a leader it is incumbent upon you to communicate this vision in a practical and clear way. The vision must be kept front and center in the daily work lives of team members. Every action they take as individuals and a group must align and be pointed to accomplish their portion of the vision.

Even if you aren’t the head of an organization, you still must translate the vision for the team you manage. This happens through open conversation and through collaboration with team members. Discussion and feedback regarding the overall mission and the team’s place in the vision is important. Once all members of the team create consensus of their own “sub” vision of the organization of the team they will share in the vision and feel a sense of ownership as they work toward that common goal.

2. Defined Roles and Responsibilities

One of the most frustrating aspects of work-life is not being clear about roles and responsibilities of the team and the individuals within. Only when responsibilities are crystalized can accountability take place.

Years ago, I was part of an organization who had a super-star on the team. She was intelligent and highly capable. Yet everyone in the organization was incredibly frustrated with her. Every project she tackled was executed flawlessly, but team members continued to grumble. 

What was the problem? Her responsibilities and role in the team was never clarified. She assumed one set of responsibilities and they fit her skill sets perfectly. However, everyone assumed a different set of responsibilities for her. Of course she failed to meet the responsibilities assumed by the team. The problem was the leader never communicated clearly to her or the team her own role and outcomes.

Eventually through much team frustration, the leader recognized the issue and built a clearly defined set of responsibilities for her. Once everyone fully understood her role, she began executing on those roles and the team moved forward in sync.

When everyone knows the part they play in the team, dedication to each naturally arises, because team members support each other in reaching their individual goals.

3. Clear and Respectful Communication

Communication is vitally important in building teams that perform at the highest level. At Fierce, we’ve learned communication is the true lynchpin of great teams. Unfortunately, these “soft” skills are rarely taught. Most team members are great technicians but poor at communicating with each other.

Time must be spent with tools to support communication between members. Team members must learn to respect viewpoints, learn empathy, and accept the different context and perspectives of each other. No one can be excluded from this task.

Conflict is the canary in the coal mine. Unresolved conflict or frequent conflict within teams is an indication communication must be strengthened. Conflict is also an opportunity to deepen communication skills and create greater cohesion within the group. 

4. Trust and respect

Trust must be given rather than earned. As a leader you must exhibit trust in your team. Extending decision making power to the team is one way to give trust. You must also create a sense of trust as well. To create trust as a leader you must show some level of vulnerability and be responsive to the needs of the team.

Trustworthiness on the part of the leader will filter down into your team. As you exhibit trust in the ability of your team, you create an environment where they trust each other.

In many ways trust is built from respecting the capabilities of each other. Extending respect builds trust. When you begin to see trust waver within a team, this is a signal conversations need to take place to restore what has been lost.

5. Continuous learning and improvement

Because none of us know all the answers or have the skill sets to tackle every challenge, we must be open to learning and becoming better at our jobs. 

Knowing the gaps in a team’s skill set happens through ongoing feedback sessions and conversations. Participating in continuous improvement discussion as a group leads to insights on these gaps. As a team examines the pain points or inefficiencies in their work, they can determine root causes and create action plans to improve. Improvement may require training in new skills. Understanding these gaps can only happen if we are willing to confront ourselves in conversation.

Summary

Building a high-performing team takes work. Implementing each of these elements is a journey, but one worth the effort toward a team that is collaborative and on a mission together.

Fierce has created multiple programs to help leaders instill these characteristics in their teams such as the Fierce Foundations Program or the Fierce Feedback Program.

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High Performing Teams: An Antidote To the Great Resignation

So I’ve been reading some articles lately, as I’m sure all of you have, it’s hard not to find these on a regular basis about this thing, termed the great resignation. It’s a result of this worldwide pandemic that we’ve all experienced over the past two plus years.

It makes sense, people take stock of their lives when a major event happens and wonder, “Am I Am I getting the greatest return on this investment of my time and energy?” For some people, it may cause them to leave. And it leaves behind organizations and people who wonder, where are these colleagues going. These these high performers often that have decided to go somewhere else. So what we find is; that a great antidote to the great resignation is a high performing team. Those don’t happen overnight and they don’t happen organically. Accompanied with that, there is some some data that stands out that really is striking.

Recent surveys that have been conducted show us that only 43% of employees report a positive climate within their team, less than half, and only 27% of employees say that their leader consistently encourages and recognizes suggestions for improvement.

Nearly seven out of 10 employees see no reason to speak up at work, either when they see something that isn’t happening quite right, or when they have an idea to help improve the performance of the team or the organization.

Coupled with that information, we’re also seeing higher level, higher reported levels of burnout, which is a result of stress, again, no surprise there, given what we’re all working through. As more and more people hand in their their notices, leaders are left scratching their heads, trying to reconfigure all of these puzzle pieces to make their their organizations and their teams work.

High performing teams, keep people in place, keep people thriving and working together.

Another key element of that is this notion of psychological safety. It’s a critical leadership component that enables and sustains those teams. Let’s talk about what I mean by high performing teams; some things that are present in a high well oiled machine, you know, teams that really thrive together. Those are led by leaders who leverage the diversity of thought and experience, that exists in their teams. That’s as teams come together, and they’re in that forming stage.

Leaders learn to appreciate and rely upon those different perspectives as they’re making their high impact decisions. Our team conversation model is designed to help leaders do just that, we refer to it as the beach ball model, because each person’s perspective is a different stripe on the ball and no single individual, in any organization has that the entire perspective. We tell leaders, if you stand here, you get a variety of different perspectives and enables you to make the best possible decision.

Another key component of a high performing team is the richness of feedback that occurs every single day, whether it’s peer to peer, individual to boss, and boss to direct report, all the way around, every single day. People stay current with each other, they provide insight. It’s hard for any one of us to have a true objective view of ourselves. We need feedback, we need our colleagues to help us stay on track, we need to help our colleagues stay on track as well. Our feedback model here Fierce, is designed to do that for colleagues and for teams in a highly efficient and very effective way.

Another component is of a high performing team is that they enrich relationships at every level as they work through conflict. Conflict is inevitable as people with with strong opinions come together to try to make the best possible decisions and to help an organization thrive. Those high performing teams are enabled by leaders who share perspectives without laying blame. And of course, the alternative that many of us have experienced, probably far too often in our careers, are leaders who avoid conflict at all costs, they prefer the nice to the kind, and they’re left again scratching their heads, wondering where all their high performance have gone as they’ve left because they’re the leaders aren’t taking care of those issues. High performers say, I’m not going to stay here, I’m gonna go someplace else where I’m truly appreciated, where I don’t have to pick up the slack of my lower performing colleagues.

Our conflict or confrontation conversation model is designed to help enrich the relationship and address the behavior of a colleague whose performance is off track. Embedded in all of that, is this notion of psychological safety, the cornerstone of any high performing team. It fuels people to take risks, and to not fear that they’ll be judged or punished, if they speak up, whether that’s to share something that they see that’s off track or to share an idea for successes, as I mentioned earlier. It also allows individuals to show some humility and to say, You know what, I don’t know everything, and I’m still learning as well.

It’s really about creating this culture of mutual respect among each other. It’s about building high levels of resilience at every level of the organization. As you look around and you’re checking your team, wondering what’s going on, noticing that that things aren’t functioning as smoothly as you’d like, and maybe you’re losing some key colleagues. Reach out, give us a call here at Fierce conversations. We’d love to have a conversation with you and see what we can do to help you to improve your conversations and your life, one conversation at a time.

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The Anatomy of a Fierce Leader: 10 Traits You Need To Practice

Everything rises or falls on leadership.

With all the challenges we face in society and corporate America, what characteristics embody the leader in the face of obstacles to transform their organization into a powerhouse? Leadership can be a very ambiguous concept. We hear characteristics of leadership as persuasion, influence, vision, or taking action. Classes and prestigious universities touting leadership MBA’s, attempt to teach the core elements that make a successful visionary. Rarely do we see specific directed actions a leader can take, plus a plan to develop those characteristics in themselves to make a difference in their organization.

Fierce researchers analyzed successful leaders and what they do to create positive culture as well as productive growth. After 20 years of research and experience among organizations of all industries and sizes, we have narrowed those elements into 10 characteristics that embody the Fierce leader.

This is the anatomy of a Fierce leader and what characteristics they portray. Each program within Fierce is designed to develop leaders into this ideal persona. As you look through this list evaluate your own leadership style and your relationship with your organization. 

Let’s begin.

1. Practices Inclusiveness and Leverages Diversity

DEI is on everyone’s mind today. As a leader how do you implement DEI to strengthen your team and not merely check a box of obligation? Practicing inclusiveness and leveraging diversity is really about including others when looking for solutions for the most important issues for your business.

Ask yourself: “What do you have on your plate today that would benefit from other perspectives?”

As leaders, we have to recognize that we are moving through the world within our own context. If we stay boxed in, we lose the power of other perspectives. Inclusiveness and diversity are about including everyone in your team and their insights into moving the organization forward. There is power in diverse perspectives because they often help us see issues and solutions in a new light for greater results and innovation.

2. Leads Change with Transparency

A report written by Scott Keller and Carolyn Aiken at McKinsey & Company suggests that 80% of what leaders care about when trying to enlist support for change does not matter to 80% of the workforce.

Susan Scott spoke at a ‘Tedx Overlake’ event. In her talk, titled: “The Case for Radical Transparency,” she addresses the common misconception that people can’t handle the truth. “My experience of most people,” she says, “is quite opposite of ‘we can’t handle the truth.’ There is something within us that responds to those who level with us, [leaders] who don’t suggest our compromises for us.”

Prior to their work with Fierce, Wolverhampton Homes was an organization struggling with trust and transparency issues in their culture. After leaders developed a Fierce mindset, staff engagement increased, and managers grew more confident in themselves and others. They also progressed from a 0-Star housing service with performance issues to an award-winning ALMO with the highest-possible ranking: 3 Stars.

Creating transparency, while difficult, increases engagement and leads to better outcomes.

3. Resilient & Solution Focused

Continued research on workplace challenges places resilience as one of the number one indicators of success, yet company leaders and employees struggle with issues around resilience. These problems manifest through low morale, employee retention, internal fighting, and burnout.

A resilient leader is one who is self-aware of their own stressors and begins to take steps to manage and mitigate those areas in their life. By modeling resilient behavior, the leader is able to transmit and teach those skills to those under their influence. Helping others identify stressors and confront the obstacles that keep them from performing at a high level is the epitome of a resilient leader. Rather than avoiding or dwelling on problems, the leader focuses on solutions to unleash the power of the team and empower them to mitigate stress.

4. Creates Safe Environments for Risk Taking & Vulnerability

Dan Pearce once said, “Share your weaknesses. Share your hard moments. Share your real side.  It’ll either scare away every fake person in your life or it will inspire them to finally let go of that mirage called “perfection,” which will open the doors to the most important relationships you’ll ever be a part of.”

Many employees find it difficult to take risks and voice ideas. A culture of criticism and insecurity runs rampant and many don’t feel heard. Others are afraid of ridicule or merely being invisible to leadership. 

Creating a culture of idea sharing and encouraging diverse thinking inside an organization begins with leadership being vulnerable themselves. Opening the door to your own struggles and difficulties allows a safe space for others to contribute. It’s okay to be critical of ideas but not personalities. We all have bad ideas, but only from a plethora of bad ideas can good emerge. If people stay silent, innovation can’t occur.

5. Models Compassionate Accountability

Accountability is necessary for every person to meet the goals we set inside of our organizations. Keeping everyone accountable without becoming a tyrant or a doormat is the challenge.

The Fierce definition of accountability is a desire to take responsibility for results. It’s a bias towards solution and action.

Only when every one of us takes responsibility for our achievements do we begin to realize a culture of accountability at work. And it all starts with you.

It is the leader’s responsibility to embrace the mindset: Given my current reality, what do I need to do to create the results, the career, and the life I want?

Recently, I read a leadership story of a manager struggling to be open and empathetic to employee concerns. When excuses were made about why contributors couldn’t perform, he sympathized with their plight. Unfortunately, he was well-liked but made no progress on the organization’s goal. Eventually, he was forced to have hard conversations, listening to performance complaints, but stressing responsibility. In the midst of challenges, we all still have a job to do. He learned to help his team acknowledge obstacles and in spite of difficulties commit to the task and make progress. 

6. Collaborative Decision Maker

No matter how capable we are, none of us have all the information to make accurate and impactful decisions inside our organization. We all need the voices of others and ideas outside of our own framework to grow.

The collaborative decision maker builds an environment where they listen and gain consensus from their employees. Instilling responsibility in your team and creating a sense of ownership allows for each person to contribute to the decision-making process. 

At Fierce, we use the beach ball conversation to help illustrate collaboration in decision-making. When you visualize a beach ball you notice it is made up of various colored sections. Each section on its own is ineffective and must be linked with the others in order to form a complete functional ball. Each team member functions as a slice of the beach ball and must contribute their perspective on issues in order to gain a complete understanding.  Going through this exercise demonstrates the need and value of collaboration in an organization. 

7. Exhibits Integrity and Trustworthiness

Dr. Brad Shuck, an engagement researcher, found that 75% of employees who work for leaders who are compassionate and live with integrity say they are unlikely to leave their current organization in the next five years.

Leading with integrity means the leader will keep their promises, clarify action needed, demonstrates responsiveness, confronts problems, and doesn’t hide from challenges or mistakes.

They acknowledge the accomplishment of others and don’t take credit for others’ work. Ultimately, leading with integrity develops trustworthiness and is about the leader’s ability to follow through on promises made.

8. Develops High-Performance Teams

Daniel Pink, the author of Drive, pin-pointed three elements necessary for generating the deepest levels of motivation within ourselves: autonomy, mastery, and purpose. In his words, “Control leads to compliance — autonomy leads to engagement.”

Modeling and developing open conversation within your teams is the first step toward high-performance employees. Teams that are able to give feedback all the time work in unison to a common goal. Giving skills for team members to work through conflict and enrich their relationship, bonds a group together for greater productivity.

In leading their teams, the Fierce leader must also begin developing latent abilities in others to help them advance their skill sets and career. One way a leader can do this is through delegation. Unfortunately, delegation often serves as a way to avoid work. Delegation should ultimately aid in the development of employees and give them a sense of autonomy. This will lead to motivation within the organization, however open communication and empowerment are necessary.

9. Demonstrates High Emotional Intelligence

“What really matters for success, character, happiness, and life long achievements is a definite set of emotional skills – your EQ — not just purely cognitive abilities that are measured by conventional IQ tests.”  – Daniel Goleman 

“The emotionally intelligent person is skilled in four areas: identifying emotions, using emotions, understanding emotions, and regulating emotions.” – John Mayer and Peter Salovey

Developing emotional intelligence comes from the ability to have deep conversations with team members. Most leaders unfortunately lack the skills necessary to have tough conversations. Transparency and confrontation make most people uncomfortable.

However, developing empathy and emotional openness within productive conversation leads to effective leadership.

10. Passionate About Personal And Team Growth

When employees know you care about their growth, they respond. It builds trust, commitment, and a host of other benefits that impact the bottom line. Finding ways to develop yourself by being aware of your strengths and weaknesses helps you to continue to grow as a leader. As you model growth behaviors in the presence of your team they begin to value personal growth as well.

Knowing your team and looking for ways to develop individuals as well as team cohesion is a necessary priority for a fierce leader.

As you read through the characteristics of a Fierce leader, you may have noticed a common theme.  Communication and open conversations are the primary skills that empower each of the 10 elements. How are you developing your conversation skills to become a better leader? After 20 years of leadership development, Fierce has built a tool kit that can put you on a journey to becoming a Fierce leader who can move their organization through the challenges of the future. 

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What is DE&I and Why is it Important in the Workplace?

DEI is a powerful workplace initiative you’ve heard about over the last several years. It’s the right thing to do but many companies still don’t have it right.

Recent surveys of corporate leaders show that 93% agreed that DEI initiatives are a top priority but only 34% believed it’s a strength in their workplace. Among HR professionals, 80% felt that companies were only going through the motions.

At Fierce, we believe DEI is important but many don’t understand it or know how to implement it effectively.

Let’s begin with the definition of terms to understand exactly what is DEI. Then discuss why it’s important in the workplace and what are some simple ways that you can reframe the initiatives to be more effective in your organization.

What is DEI? 

DEI stands for diversity, equity, and inclusion. These three concepts acknowledge the various differences between people in our workplace. These differences may be racial, sexual, gender, religious, age, culture, and many others. The different components of DEI work to embrace, support, and value the differences among us to strengthen the power of an organization.

Diversity – acknowledges all the different ways that people differ. These could be culture, race, gender,  socio-economics, language, political perspectives, education and many other factors.  When diversity is upheld as a value within an organization, differing viewpoints and perspectives are allowed into the conversation strengthening the overall culture. Careful attention is made to acknowledge differences that have been marginalized or under-represented in the larger society as well as specific Industries.

Equity – allocates resources to ensure everyone not only has equal opportunity but can achieve similar outcomes. Equity seeks to ensure that processes and programs within the work environment are impartial and fair. 

Inclusion – is diversity in practice. It is the act of supporting, valuing, and respecting all individual contributors regardless of their differences. An inclusive organization will give every person a sense of belonging in the workplace. Various viewpoints are welcomed to participate in decision-making and the growth of the organization. 

Why is DEI important in the workplace?

1. To redress inequality of opportunity – Statistics among underrepresented groups in the workplace have made progress, but there is more work that needs to be done. People of color are under-represented among white color jobs and leadership roles. However, they are over-represented in lower-paying jobs. Asian Americans are the least likely to be promoted to management and executive levels in places like Silicon Valley high-tech jobs compared to other groups.

Employees of color consistently report less positive experiences at work. These inequalities aren’t only specific to racial and ethnic differences but similar disparities are seen among women and even older adults.

2. Create psychological safety and high-performing teams – This is the Cornerstone of any high-performing team. It allows people to take risks and not fear they will be judged or punished. They can speak out and not be criticized personally. They can admit they don’t know the answer to a challenge but are still learning and seeking solutions. It’s about mutual respect.

When people feel valued and included, regardless of differences, they will bring their full selves into the workplace. Until every employee feels safe to contribute within the workplace, their talents will be underutilized. As every member of an organization begins to understand their context and the context of their fellow team members, collaboration will grow. Unfortunately, this is not always the case for many workers.

Workplace data says that one in four people left their jobs because of mental health.

One in five employees say their companies aren’t doing enough for mental health. And only 43% report a positive climate within their team. 

3. Builds Resilience – Fierce, is are committed to building resilient leaders and teams. DEI is a key component in creating a resilient workspace. A recent article, in the Harvard Business Review, discusses the three biggest drains on resilience. 

Managing difficult relationships and politics in the workplaceThe volume or pace of work stretches beyond capacityExperiencing personal criticism when contributing

Two out of the three factors can be tied directly to DEI initiatives. As people feel valued and respected, and develop conversation tools to understand and navigate differing perspectives, resilience is increased. 

Fierce & DEI

The strategy, that is most effective with DEI initiatives, is to pivot from diversity training, to leadership development coaching. This is the position we have taken at Fierce and implemented with many of the companies we work with.

For 20 years, Fierce has taught conversation skills that improve day-to-day interactions and get results. Productive communication and conversations are embedded with the values of DEI because they proceed from valuing others, understanding their context, and learning to communicate in their language.

The approach we take in DE&I development has to be in the line of work and relevant to what the employee is facing in their employee lifecycle stage. Whether they are a new hire, new manager, or senior leader, development may be different, but it will always value the person and seek to uplift them in their career.

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Understanding Microaggressions: 7 Examples and How to Reduce Them

High-performing teams are a critical antidote to the “Great Resignation,” and toxic cultures. You can start developing high-performing teams by leveraging diversity within your teams and providing psychological safety for members of the team. One simple tool to accomplish these objectives is understanding and preventing microaggressions. Not only is prevention important but openness and clear conversations around microaggressions will bond teammates and create deeper collaboration among members. 

What are Microaggressions?

Microaggressions are indirect, subtle, and possibly unintentional discrimination against members of a marginalized group. Usually, these take the form of statements, actions, incidents, or exclusions. Rarely are these actions intentional but they still create great harm and erect barriers between employees. At the root of microaggressions is our unconscious bias or misunderstanding of groups of people who are different from us.

Let’s look at the various categories and examples of microaggressions. Seeing examples will help you understand when you have committed or been victimized by them.

Examples of Microaggressions1. Verbal Microaggressions

When thinking of microaggressions, most of us will think of verbal aggressions such as offensive statements against various groups. While many of these are obvious, some can be subtle such as statements like “Do you even know what Snapchat is” if you’re talking to a co-worker that isn’t in their 20’s or 30’s, or “the way you have overcome your disability is so inspiring.” 

One common verbal example is continually mispronouncing another person’s name or making the statement, “Your name is really hard to pronounce.” It expresses that you don’t value the person enough to learn the correct pronunciation of their name.

2. Behavioral Microaggressions

Behavioral microaggressions take the form of actions on your part based on assumptions about someone’s culture or abilities. This can also take the form of stereotyping a person only for certain appropriate roles in the company. 

3. Environmental Microaggressions

This type assumes environmental preferences or habits based on culture. For example, assuming all Asians are good at math and must be placed in analytical tasks. Another example is making people feel they are a foreigner in their own country because they don’t look like what you might consider a traditional citizen. 

I saw this first hand in a previous workplace. A friend who was Native American constantly got questions about his accent and where he was from. I even overheard one employee tell him to go back to his country when they disagreed about an issue. 

Because the United States, is a melting pot of various cultures, this not only happens with racial and ethnic groups but even when people are transplanted from different regions of the country. Assumptions about intelligence or preferences based on accent occur often and create barriers in the workplace.

4. Racial Microaggressions

Racial microaggressions occur when stereotypes lead to verbal or behavioral actions. Asking someone where they are from and challenging them because you assume they are from another country. Proclaiming someone as “articulate” or “well-spoken” could be dipping into assumptions that their race is not usually intelligent and this person is exceptional.

5. Gender Microaggressions

The most common gender microaggressions are assuming people are fit for only certain tasks because of their gender. Only women can organize social events. Men can only do physical tasks. Women do only clerical work and can’t perform leadership tasks. 

6. Age Microaggressions

We often don’t think of age microaggressions, but they can be just as damaging. It’s common to assume older co-workers are technologically challenged and don’t adapt well. You may have even heard someone comment, “You can’t teach an old dog new tricks.” Again we erect boxes around people’s abilities when we make assumptions.

7. Disability Microaggressions

Thankfully, strides have been made within many organizations that provide disability access to employment. Even within companies that provide excellent accessibility for disabled workers, micro-aggression often persists. We often assume they can’t handle basic tasks and they are treated as if they are intellectually inferior. Sometimes, they can be excluded from events because we assume they will not participate.

Dealing with Microaggressions

Now that you have a better feel for how microaggressions are committed in the workplace, how do you deal with them? Whether you have experienced them or perpetrated them, there are simple steps you can take to minimize them.

Speak Up. Courage is needed to tell a manager or another peer that something they have said or behaviors they have repeated are offensive or hurtful. Unless you speak, behaviors will not stop. You have to assume the best in others and realize that the behavior may be unconscious. Until you make them aware nothing will change.Don’t be defensive. If a co-worker approaches you to discuss offensive behavior or language, your initial reaction will be defensiveness. None of us like to think of ourselves as intolerant or hurtful or racist. Pause for a moment before reacting and prepare yourself to listen.Listen & Understand. Give space for the person to speak without interruptions about their concern. Make sure they have had time to fully express their opinions before speaking. Before responding, make sure you understand their point of view. Ask questions and restate their opinion to make sure you understand.Affirm the person. Thank them for bringing the issue to light and affirm them for the courageous act. It takes a strong person to take a step that feels confrontational.Take responsibility. Once you understand the infraction, take responsibility for the action and apologize. Verbally express steps you can take and create an open dialogue so they can help you understand them and their perspective in future interactions.Seek awareness. As an employee interacting with a wide range of diverse people and cultures, continue to educate yourself on others’ backgrounds and the unconscious biases related to various groups in your organization. Like any skill set, this takes work and time.Final Word

It’s important to remember that we’ve all committed microaggressions at some point in our life. Don’t beat yourself up. For many of us, living and working in diverse environments is a new skill set. In the past, only diplomats interacting with other cultures developed such skills. Now we live and work in a world where we must understand the differences of all our team members, and develop new skills.

Also, don’t keep the fear of committing microaggressions from being open to those who are different from you. The benefit of learning the skills of collaboration between those who are different from ourselves will create an environment of creativity, meaningfulness, and productivity.

To deepen your skill set around microaggressions, Fierce has several courses built specifically for you and your teams.

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What it Takes to Develop High-performing Teams in the Workplace

Human beings are social animals. You’ve likely had to rely on those around you many times in your life to achieve a desired outcome: a winning score, a successful project, a savvy business strategy. Now recall the best, brightest example of such a team you’ve experienced. What made it so? What qualities were in place for you to hold it in such high esteem? Cool outfits? Attractive people? Popping soundtrack? Sweet! Sounds like fun.

I’m guessing the reality is closer to open lines of communication, a common understanding of what success looks like, and mutual support and appreciation. Closer to reality? I thought so. I do like a good soundtrack, though!

High-performing teams, like highly successful individuals, need to be nurtured and developed over time; they don’t spring to life overnight.

Bruce Tuckman taught us years ago, that groups develop in stages:

1. We come together and enrich relationships (Forming)

2. Our individualities create some tension (Storming)

3. We learn from each other and develop cohesive practices to tackle common goals (Norming)

4. We start to click as a cohesive group and produce outstanding results (Performing)

This process isn’t linear

We experience false starts, get curious, dig in, and try again until we start to flow.

Some teams muddle through and experience the toxicity that, unfortunately, often results. At Fierce, we invest in people and groups every day to help them navigate the natural tension that is part of forming high-performing teams. Communication – conversation, which determines what will happen in every organization and requires us to be with each other, fiercely focused on our mutual future – is at the very foundation of this work.

We inform individuals of the power of enriching relationships (Forming), tackling tough challenges (Storming), and interrogating reality and provoking their learning (Norming) along the way to becoming high-performing teams.

Over the course of our 20+ year history of working with clients in a wide array of industries, we have leveraged our Fierce resources to empower the people who make organizations – large and small – thrive. We firmly believe that while no single conversation is guaranteed to change the trajectory of a career, a company, a relationship, or a life – any single conversation can. It’s in our DNA, and we want to share those genes with you

Reach out to learn more today!

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