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Author: Melissa Davies

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Training and Productivity Tips

Loss, Grief, and Hope

Wow! What has happened to our world since the last edition of Wise Words? Life as we knew it has truly been upended. We began January with the start of a shiny new year, 2020, yet things changed dramatically along the way.

For almost all of us, we are now working from home. What does this mean? For some, it includes trying to schedule work hours and computer access around the access needs of children and spouse. Remember that not everyone in this country has more than one computer at home – in fact, there are many homes in this country where people don’t have internet access, including here in the National Capital Region of Washington, DC.

For others, it means learning to work remotely and be physically on your own all the time. In my case, I am working from my home office, connecting with clients via Zoom and other platforms. We’re delivering training courses that meet the needs of our clients, facilitating strategic planning sessions, and conducting coaching sessions – all via varying online platforms. All of the Wise Ways Consulting team are practicing social distancing as directed by our local state governments.

Loss

What many of us are experiencing is loss. “What kind of loss, Melissa?” you might think. “I’m an introvert, I’ve been practicing for this for the majority of my life! I’m loving this!” And that’s wonderful for you! But for many, there is loss – and it presents in differing ways. The loss of physically connecting with your team members at break, even the ones that drive you a little batty. The loss of your son or daughter’s senior prom or graduation events and trying to soothe their fears that they may not even start college in the fall. The loss of income as friends and colleagues are furloughed or let go. The loss of personal space, for those who chose to self-isolate by moving in with older family members. For those who live alone, the loss of human touch.

And of course, the overarching fear – we may contract the virus or someone we care about will become sick and possibly die. For those of us who have relatives in different locations and countries – the realization that if one of them gets sick, we cannot be there for them.

But before you try to tell people that “our relatives before us had to go to war, we’re just being asked to watch Netflix and chill” recognize the role that loss can play in our lives. Everyone’s loss is legitimate; there is no comparing each other’s loss and saying “well my loss is greater than yours because….” Seriously, no one wants to hear it. The biggest loss is always your own.

Grief

When we deal with loss, we then deal with grief. While we may try to say that we’re not grieving, we are, even in not-so-obvious ways. Grief is the response to loss – and while it is typically thought to be focused on an emotional response, it also includes physical, cognitive, behavioral, and spiritual components. Do you see people on Facebook joking about being pleased with themselves that they managed to shower and brush their teeth in the morning? The loss of normal routine can be extremely stressful for people. People are struggling with physical responses – a lack of sleep, low energy, lack of drive to press forward. As we struggle to identify what our new normal is going to be, people are trying to understand how this will impact them.

Joe Primo works for an organization called, Good Grief. It provides support to children and teens who have experienced a death or loss. In his TEDX talk , which you can find in the articles and video section of this newsletter, he explains that grief is good because it puts your life back to together. And though grief is one of the hardest emotions to work through, it navigates you forward. Grief teaches you about your powers of endurance, character, and friendship.

As a world community, we are grieving the loss of life as we know it. Your grief is different from mine, but just as valid and emotionally draining. I can see it on my video conferences as my clients struggle to “work”. I’m sure you can see it too, either on the faces of your (now) video colleagues, friends, and family, and certainly in the bathroom mirror in the morning through your own eyes.

It’s okay to grieve, in fact it is critical. It’s important to recognize that grieving is a process and to trust the emotion of grief and all other emotions that come with it. Grieving doesn’t work on a schedule; you’re not going to wake up one morning and ‘poof’ it’s over! Talk it out. Keep a journal. Sleep. Exercise. Eat well. Reach out to others. Keep a regular schedule. And most importantly right now, wash your hands and stay home.

Hope

Looking forward to life “post-Covid”, what do you want your world to look like? How will your life be new and unique from what it is now? What do you want to do differently? What might this new future hold for you? Identify goals and set intentions for change and growth. Use this time now to take a class or identify ways to grow toward your new mindset.

Each day, consider these Daily Quarantine Questions (author unknown)

  • Who am I checking on or connecting with today?
  • What expectations of “normal” am I letting go of today?
  • How am I getting outside today?
  • How am I moving my body today?
  • How am I expressing my creativity today?
  • What type of self-care am I practicing today?
  • What am I grateful for today?

Part of the grieving process is having hope for a new tomorrow. We will be a different society as we march into 2021, and I hope next April’s newsletter reflects that hope that we’ve all seen and the lives we’ve helped to create.

I welcome your feedback, ideas, and the chance to connect anytime you want to say hello. Contact me with your 2020 questions and goals.

Categories
Training and Productivity Tips

Fall in Love in with Your Job

This February is a leap year. What are you planning to do with your extra day? And to make the month even more special, it’s been reported that the famous groundhog Punxsutawney Phil, that intrepid weather-predicting rodent, has indicated an early spring. This is all great news to start off the month and should put us in a positive mood to tackle one of our biggest social and employee work issues – learning to like our jobs when we don’t, and the employees who come with them.

People are the number one issue we have in the workplace. Unfortunately, we just don’t like all of them. And when we struggle with the people, we struggle with our roles.

This month I’ve pulled together some tips, ideas, and resources on the ways and the reasons to love your work.

Let’s start with the most important tool – communication. But beyond learning new ways to talk it out in the work place, I think it’s important to talk it out with yourself.

  • Why are you working? Money, prestige, interest, power. Are you simply paying the rent or saving for something larger? Are you working on your career path and focusing on the next position along the way?
  • How do you define success? Job title, salary, leadership, contribution to mission.
  • If you are in a job you don’t like, why do you stay?

Finding a way out of your unhappy workplace maze begins with understanding how you entered and what may be on the outside.

Fall in Love with Your Job

Author Elizabeth Gilbert, best known for her book, Eat Pray Love, speaks often about creativity and the creative process.

In her book Big Magic, she writes about the value of living a creative life. She talks about people who want to cook, woodwork, garden, or take photos – basically any hobby that lights you up that may not be related to your day-to-day job.

Professionally you may be labeled a systems engineer or project manager, but you’re really a musician who wants to play guitar on the weekends. By changing your mindset about your work, it may change how you approach it. She recommends you work to be your own patron. It would be amazing if we could all make a living in a creative work field, but the reality, going back to Da Vinci and Michelangelo, is that without a patron like the Pope, it’s near impossible. You’ll spend your creative energy trying to keep ahead of your bills instead of in the workshop.

If instead when people ask, “what do you do?” you said, “I’m a dancer” instead of “I’m a CPA”, how would that change how you felt about yourself and your work? Would defining your true self empower you to live it and in order to live it, give deeper meaning to your work as a CPA? Okay, maybe not. But my point is when we are unhappy at work or when we are frustrated by employees, we become defined by it. Maybe the issue with John or Jane in the next cubicle isn’t that they’re bad at budgeting, but that they’re better at painting.

Sometimes changing and finding job satisfaction needs to start with us before we can help others. Find what you love and let that become defines who and what you are. Bring that sense of self to work and it may surprise you.

I welcome your feedback, ideas, and the chance to connect anytime you want to say hello. Contact me with your questions and goals for the year ahead.

Categories
Government Agency Training Training and Productivity Tips

Workplace Ethics, Morals, and the Law

The US workforce is experiencing a labor shortage. And while data suggests many workers are underemployed and underpaid, many industries are having a hard time filling positions.

What this means is it’s even more important for managers to develop employee retention programs, ongoing training, and salary adjustments. However, research also shows that salary and benefits are only a fraction of what is needed to retain an employee’s loyalty.

Recognition and appreciation rates are high when it comes to job satisfaction. When an employee is unhappy they become flight risks. This can spiral into bad feelings, bad attitudes, and deeper issues of discrimination and bias.

As we start a shiny new work year, I want to discuss ethics, morals, and laws in the workplace. I know it’s a downer subject. However, understanding how workers and management internalize behaviors at their core beliefs can be a game changer.

Let’s begin with company ethics.

Workplace Ethics

Ethics are a principle of philosophy that governs right from wrong. What should I do? Oftentimes, the ethics of a society, group, or family unit are aligned. Just like corporate culture. A company may have a stated code of conduct, no stealing, expense reports are due with receipts on the first of the month. No one is allowed to fly business class at the company’s expense. The customer is always right and all efforts should be made to rectify complaints.

When you join a company, you accept its code and for the most part, are not asked to behave in a way that violates society’s norms.

Morals

Morals are more personal. Morals and ethics are related and often interchangeable in discussions, but morals refer more to an individual’s personal value system. You can be part of a group that believes in a set of ethics but have different morals. For example. Your company believes the customer is always right. But, what if the customer lied, falsified information, or made personal and false accusations and you don’t believe you should be part of the solution that hands them what has been requested?

You could refuse to follow the customer is always right creed, knowing you could be fired or punished. Or, you could recognize the issues but follow the company policy.

Law

The law refers to a set of enforceable rules set by a governing body in society (thankfully we live in a democracy) with the express intent of people living together in harmony. Yes, not all people agree with all laws, that’s another discussion.

How you decide what is right and what is wrong is often based on the ethics of the group with whom you most identify.

You could share a sense of ethics and loyalty to your workplace but report illegal activity. It could become a case for law enforcement or at the company level, management could decide to stop servicing the client.

I’ve chosen a bland scenario, the customer is always right, to illustrate this discussion. Now, look at it through a lens of sexual harassment, gender-age-racial-able body discrimination, and a workers’ comp situation. Or a case where people are denied overtime pay even though it’s understood everyone works overtime.

When considering the actions of others, co-workers, managers, and subordinates, consider the difference between the ethics of the workplace and what is expected, and the morals of the individual. If their actions do not align with your own or the company, you can take action within the legal bounds of your workplace and authority. If their actions are a matter of differences of opinion, listen. You may learn something or at the very least, understand.

But one thing is certain, a crime is always wrong and should always be reported.

This month’s issue of Wise Words explores workplace ethics and morals to continue the discussion and I hope to provide you with the tools to make your own points understood and respected.

I welcome your feedback, ideas, and the chance to connect anytime you want to say hello. Contact me with your questions and goals for the upcoming year.

Categories
Diversity Training Personal Development

Merry Christmas vs. Happy Holidays

Well, the battle over “Merry Christmas” vs. “Happy Holidays” seems to have reared its ugly head yet once again. Apparently it’s becoming a new holiday tradition.

I listen to people wishing each other “Happy Holidays” and yet complaining about not saying the other. I wonder why the dilemma. Why are we so unable to wish a Merry Christmas to those celebrating this Christian holiday? Yes, there are those who are not celebrating this event but instead, celebrating Hanukkah. So are we so unable to say to those, “Happy Hanukkah”? Why can we not look to those in our communities who may be Muslim and offer them “Eid Mubarak” or “Ramadan Kareem”?

Why are we so aholidaysfraid to embrace members of our community for the diversity that they bring?

I watched the Michael Buble Christmas special earlier; in one segment of the show, he spoke with two little girls and asked how they celebrate Christmas. They let him know that they are Jewish so instead, they have their own traditions. He asked them to explain and they did so happily, sharing their excitement and joy. Out of the mouths of babes…..

Why is this so hard for us to do as adults? Why are we so afraid to ask people, friends and strangers, to help us understand how they celebrate their own holidays in their homes? Why can’t we learn from each other? Why are we so afraid of that which is different?

I lived in the Middle East for nearly a decade. During that time, community members took pleasure in wishing each other congratulations on the various holidays that occurred. If people there can accept each other and that which makes us unique, surely we can learn to do so here.

Can’t we?

Categories
Business Skills Training Career Development Corporate Teams Executive Coaching Leadership Development Leadership Skills Leadership Training Professional Development Project Facilitation

The Positive Impact of Empathy in the Workforce

I want to cringe every time I see a TV series or a movie that features a crazed, former military member brandishing a gun, running with simulated voices in his or her head, and ominous music of impending doom – all due to post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

I applaud storytellers for bringing mental health issues to light and for attempting to tell these often-silent stories. Yet what is often lost in the sensationalism of a highly trained person with a gun, is the humanity and seriousness of the situation.

The US Department of Defense, National Center for PTSD reports that issues of PTSD vary. For veterans who served in Operations Iraqi Freedom and Enduring Freedom between 11%-20% suffer. For the Gulf War, Desert storm the center reports 12%. For the Vietnam War the numbers are 15%.  These numbers cover only those who have been diagnosed; the estimates for actual individuals coping with PTSD are thought to be even higher.

These numbers are important because if you live and work in the Washington, DC region, or any area of the country with a large military population, you interact with people who may be suffering or who have suffered from PTSD.

In my role as a leadership development trainer and executive coach, I work with large populations of both active duty and retired service members. They are some of the most highly trained technical people and skilled managers in the workforce. When these people transition from active duty and enter the workforce, they can and do bring real value to the companies fortunate enough to snap them up.

Please don’t avoid anyone you know with PTSD or pass them over for job or promotions because they may have issues. Don’t be afraid of them or not trust them. After all, these brave men and women have given their all to protect us. Instead, learn to manage PTSD in the workforce, whether you are a manager or co-worker.

Coping with PTSD in the workplace

  • Create a safe place to ask questions and work together
  • Bring in a trained facilitator/consultant to work with both management and veterans to better understand issues and then develop solutions
  • Develop written procedures, meeting notes, and training manuals so employees and can refer back if they missed something at a session or need additional refreshers
  • Have published calendars for team tasks so individuals can refer to these privately
  • Provide access to alternate/softer lighting in work spaces
  • Initiate organization-wide strategies for managing stress
  • Set aside money for additional training for new members
  • Provide disability training to all team members
Categories
Professional Development Training and Productivity Tips Uncategorized

Are You Earning Enough?

Using a Salary Calculator.

Let’s talk about how much money you make. It’s okay, it’s just the two of us here.

Financial conversations are hard. Whether you are landing your first job out of college or are looking to make a leap into a new position or career, understanding your worth and your financial needs are difficult.

Some companies treat salaries like a competitive game. The less they can pay you, the more they believe they win.

Some companies have unfair and illegal biases against women and minorities.

Some small companies and non-profits simply can’t compete with large companies with full benefit offerings.

Then there’s the education piece. The more you have, the more you’re worth. That also includes the amount of experience and any specific certifications you may have earned over the years.

Let’s add location into the mix. Two people with identical resumes won’t earn the same in New York City vs Detroit. The cost of living in these two locations is too different and salaries are always adjusted to account for the location.

Are you looking for a raise?

My advice is to first take your organization’s pulse. How are the current and projected earnings, rate of hiring, and place in the market? Are you affected by the current trade war like farmers trying to sell their soybeans to China; manufacturing like Boeing; or labor issues like the GM Strike?

Next, determine how much you’re worth. You can try this salary calculator tool. Also, check out my column in Prince William Living magazine for a cost of living calculator to help you determine your worth relative to your location.

Consider your current compensation and benefits. How much is healthcare? What is the organization’s 401K or retirement contribution? How much do you spend to commute and park if you drive? How many vacation and sick days are you given? Are there other non-monetary benefits to include health club membership, access to legal services, or onsite childcare?

Finally, and most important to your company, why should they give you a raise? Just showing up every day isn’t enough. What have you done for them lately?

Come to any salary discussion with a list of accomplishments and ways you’ve improved and helped the organization. Make yourself invaluable and your management will want to compensate you for fear of losing you.

I know this sounds like a lot of work for the sake of your work. Yet before you can have a thoughtful and well-argued discussion about your compensation, you have to have all the facts as they pertain to you and your specific job and location.

Armed with data and a thoughtful accounting of your roles and successes, you’ll also have the confidence you need to have a difficult and important conversation about your compensation.

Studies suggest that the best time to have important discussions is in the morning before decision fatigue sets in. If you don’t have a defined salary review, schedule time on your manager’s calendar. Come prepared, it’ll show.

Contact me with your salary negotiation question.

Categories
EQ-i 2.0 Leadership Development Leadership Skills Leadership Training

Six Emotional Leadership Styles

Our emotional intelligence determines our potential for learning practical skills that are based on its five elements: self-awareness, motivation, self-regulation, empathy, and adeptness in relationships. Dan Goleman

Change is not easy and often can be uncomfortable, yet change is an essential ingredient to an organization meeting its mission. Strong leaders motivate their team members by understanding the importance of emotional intelligence.

Often considered the Father of Emotional Intelligence, Dan Goleman is the author of Emotional Intelligence, named one of the 25 Most Influential Business Management Books, by TIME Magazine. His works have gone on to help define strong leadership skills and styles. His book Primal Leadership: Realizing the Power of Emotional Intelligence written in collaboration with Richard Boyatzis and Annie McKee, defined six Emotional Leadership Styles.

In order to implement change, it is important to understand the six leadership styles and the degree of impact they can have on an organization.

The Visionary Leader  This leader moves people forward with a new direction toward a shared goal. By sharing knowledge about the destination but not micromanaging the process to get there, the visionary leader empowers others to utilize individual innovation, experimentation, and grants permission to take calculated risks.

The Coaching Leader  This leader encourages individuals to identify strengths and weaknesses and connects those traits and aspirations with the goals of the organization. The coaching leader positively impacts the climate and helps individuals build skill sets through one-on-one attention.

The Affiliative Leader  This leader takes a collaborative approach toward connecting people and engaging their emotional needs in a team setting. The affiliative leader creates a positive climate by alleviating stressful situations and healing differences between colleagues. In this scenario, poor performance by an individual can be masked by group effort.

The Democratic Leader  This leader takes a consensus-building approach valuing participation, commitment, and input from all members of the team. This style relies on the group’s commitment to the goals and input on various facets of the business. While this approach draws on a variety of skill sets, it can create a crisis when urgent business demands a quick decisive response.

The Pacesetting Leader  This leader is most effective with a motivated competent team but it should be used sparingly and in combination with other styles. The pacesetter builds challenges and goals and sets high standards with very little input and guidance. The objective is to be better, faster, and more efficient. When overused or used poorly, this leadership style can create a poisonous environment that can undercut morale and set individuals up for failure.

The Commanding Leader  This leader thrives in crisis as power and dominance are demonstrated and full compliance is expected. It creates a very rigid hierarchy much like that of a military commander issuing orders. The commanding leader maintains a singular vision and path to success and has no qualms about requiring all to conform to one unified ideal. This style is most often used, yet carries the least effect. Goleman argues it is only effective in a crisis when urgent change is needed.

Many of these leadership styles are most successful when utilized in tandem with one another. The most effective leaders pull from this selection of styles to fit the moment versus trying to fit each moment into a single style. Through proper utilization of each of these styles, a leader can move their team effectively through change.

Categories
Career Development Professional Development Training and Productivity Tips

Making the Most of Employer Feedback

Employer feedback is one of the best-established ways to communicate with an employee. With positive feedback, an employee, or even an entire team, will feel energized about their mission and skills. Negative feedback can, in theory, right a ship careening into a rocky coast.

Let’s talk about some feedback problems

  • Feedback trap – No one wants to hear feedback and no one wants to give any. This means our information is ignored or the feedback we get is thin or simply wrong.
  • Feeding my ego – The employee only accepts information that fits his or her beliefs. The employee pushes back against anything else.
  • Feeding me to the lions – Employees are asked to provide feedback on their boss or senior leadership. Employees fear reprisal and lie or don’t provide any useful information.
  • Feeding buffet – Too much feedback with no action plan, accountability, or follow-up, can loop back to feeding my ego – the employee only responds to what he or she believes is best.

I’m not advising you to ditch your feedback surveys, discussions, and procedures. However, for feedback to be effective, it needs to be administered with care.

Consider what or who you are looking to solicit and provide information concerning specific issues or behaviors. If your organization’s policy is to ask a variety of people to provide input for performance, assure direct reports that the information is confidential – unless they are filing a formal complaint.

Direct your questions to specific areas, not general questions about work habits and issues.

Ask the right people for feedback. If you only solicit information from subordinates or “friendly” sources, you miss essential critical comments from peers, and in some cases, customers.

If you have to deliver a lot of negative feedback, pick one or two of the most important issues where you want to see improvement. A blanket “your work habits are poor, you fail to communicate, and you are bordering on sexual harassment behavior” is not actionable.

If the person receiving the feedback is prone to only listen to what fits his or her world view, action items are essential. My book, How Not to Act Like a BLEEP at Work, takes you through a workplace scenario where an employee is placed with a mentor who helps her see her flaws and turns negative feedback into positive results.

This issue of Wise Words explores feedback and how to ensure it works for you and your employees.

Need some help? Check out my classes including my popular Communicating Strategically class.

Contact me with your leadership and team questions.

Categories
Leadership Development Leadership Skills Leadership Training

Developing Individuals like Crafting Fine China

The other day, a friend forwarded this lovely story; it started me thinking about how artisans see the final masterpiece from a blank piece of canvas or a single lump of clay. It also caused questions as to how leaders see the potential in individuals and begin to polish the hidden gem.

There was a couple who took a trip to England to shop in a beautiful antique store to celebrate their 25th wedding anniversary. They both liked antiques and pottery, and especially teacups. Spotting an exceptional cup, they asked, “May we see that? We’ve never seen a cup quite so beautiful.”

As the lady handed it to them, suddenly the teacup spoke, “You don’t understand. I have not always been a teacup. There was a time when I was just a lump of red clay.”

“My master took me and rolled me, pounded and patted me over and over and I yelled out, ‘Don’t do that. I don’t like it! Let me alone.’” But he only smiled, and gently said, ‘Not yet!’ Then WHAM! I was placed on a spinning wheel and suddenly I was spun around and around and around. ‘Stop it! I’m getting so dizzy! I’m going to be sick,” I screamed. But the master only nodded and said, quietly, ‘Not yet.’”

“He spun me and poked and prodded and bent me out of shape to suit himself and then… Then he put me in the oven. I never felt such heat. I yelled and knocked and pounded at the door. Help! Get me out of here! I could see him through the opening and I could read his lips as he shook his head from side to side, ‘Not yet.’”

“When I thought I couldn’t bear it another minute, the door opened. He carefully took me out and put me on the shelf, and I began to cool. Oh, that felt so good! Ah, this is much better, I thought. But, after I cooled he picked me up and he brushed and painted me all over. The fumes were horrible. I thought I would gag. ‘Oh, please, Stop it, Stop it!’ I cried. He only shook his head and said. ‘Not yet!’”

“Then suddenly he put me back into the oven. Only it was not like the first one. This was twice as hot and I just knew I would suffocate. I begged. I pleaded. I screamed. I cried. I was convinced I would never make it. I was ready to give up. Just then the door opened and he took me out and again placed me on the shelf, where I cooled and waited — and waited, wondering “What’s he going to do to me next?” An hour later he handed me a mirror and said ‘Look at yourself.’ “And I did. I said, ‘That’s not me, that couldn’t be me. It’s beautiful. I’m beautiful!’”

Quietly he spoke: ‘I want you to remember,’ then he said, “I know it hurt to be rolled and pounded and patted, but had I just left you alone, you’d have dried up. I know it made you dizzy to spin around on the wheel, but if I had stopped, you would have crumbled. I know it hurt and it was hot and disagreeable in the oven, but if I hadn’t put you there, you would have cracked. I know the fumes were bad when I brushed and painted you all over, but if I hadn’t done that, you never would have hardened. You would not have had any color in your life.

If I hadn’t put you back in that second oven, you wouldn’t have survived for long because the hardness would not have held. Now you are a finished product.

Now you are what I had in mind when I first began with you.”

~ Author Unknown ~

How many pieces of fine china have you helped to create in your career and lifetime? How many people have you taken the time to help mold and develop?

When you encounter a young intern or new employee who has been assigned to your team, how do your actions impact their future? Do you take the time to speak with them, learn about their goals, guide them on their way, and contribute to their future success? Or do you consider yourself too busy and important to give them any of your time?
Do you recognize them as individuals? Or do you treat them like they’re ‘just like everybody else’?

When you see the small flicker of something wonderful and new, do you take the time to cultivate that spark into the brightly burning flame it can become? Or do you snuff it out with harsh words and a cold shoulder?

Do you think back to those who spent time molding and shaping you?

So again I ask….how many pieces of fine china have you helped to shape and mold?

Categories
Corporate Teams Training and Productivity Tips

Building a Healthy Company Culture

Let’s talk about company culture.

Much has been said about companies like Google that offer employees snacks and Netflix with free movies. I’ve included a link in the Great Reads section, check it out.

Company perks are not the same as company culture. Culture refers to an organization’s personality. Even the most buttoned-down industries think finance, insurance, and government, can have attractive cultures. These are the places that are committed to employee satisfaction. Your organization doesn’t have to offer free massages for it to be a great place to work.

Time and again, employee surveys show that employees are most likely to be happy at their jobs when they have good management, feel valued, and have a mission to which they feel connected. A company may choose to show its value with freebies, but if movie nights and free vacations a la AirBnB aren’t in the budget, consider how other offerings translate.

  • Paid parental leave for women and men signals a commitment to families and values as employees transition to and from the workforce.
  • Paid tuition and training signal a commitment to training, education, and a growth mindset.
  • Healthcare benefits for part-time employees signal a commitment to health and understanding what matters to people.
  • Flex time and work-from-home options signal a commitment to family-life balance, transportation costs, stress, and employee independence.

Hire for your culture

  • Do your organization value teams and collaboration?
  • Are you based on independent thinkers and doers?
  • Do you provide services and want employees with a servant’s heart?
  • Does management want to see people at their desks or does it prefer online communications?

And while these touchpoints are broad, an organization can break them down to why they are important and how they work, or in some cases don’t work. If face-to-face communication is essential to your organization and everyone works from home, it’s time for a culture change.

In today’s tech-dependent environment, employees do expect perks and view them as part of an organization’s culture. The company with a 50% discount on its services, generous leave package, and management training program is seen as desirable. But perks are not a bandage for unhappy workers. Suddenly offering free Starbucks in the morning isn’t going to make up for poor leadership. It certainly won’t make up for a company’s poor reputation. Define your culture and hire employees who fit. If you can’t find enough qualified employees, maybe it’s time for a culture change.

Need some help? Check out my classes including my popular Change Management for Cultural transformation class.

Contact me with your leadership and team issues.

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