The Bill Perry Show

As a leader, are your attempts at intended appreciation with your team falling flat? Maybe it's because you're not speaking their language. Today, I'm talking with Dr. Paul White, the man who literally wrote the book on appreciation at work. He is the co-author of the book, Five Languages of Appreciation in The Workplace. It is hands down one of the best books that leaders can utilize in order to grow their sense of effective communication with their teams.  RESEARCH SHOWS 79% OF PEOPLE WHO QUIT VOLUNTARILY DO SO BECAUSE OF LACK OF APPRECIATION Dr. Paul explains “Not everybody feels appreciated in the same way.” In our conversation we cover the five languages of appreciation being words, quality time, acts of service, tangible gifts, and even physical touch. APPRECIATION IN THE WORKPLACE MAKES SENSE FOR BUSINESS We also discuss how appreciation can help increase a business's bottom line. For instance, if your team feels valued, they're more likely to be cheerful and helpful to the customers to get a problem solved. This positive action could mean repeat business. Dr. Paul and I take on many aspects of appreciation in the workplace. My hope is this conversation may illuminate the need to be more intentional with the communication of appreciation as leaders, as team members—both professionally and personally.  EPISODE HIGHLIGHTS Behind the book, The 5 Languages of Appreciation in the Workplace including collaborating with co-author Gary Chapman. Employee engagement isn't what leaders should be focusing on and instead what leaders should be focusing on. Why compensation and financial reward is a poor long-term motivator. How appreciation makes a difference in an organization. How to transform a toxic workplace into a place that is healthier and vibrant.  Until next time, lead well! Bill    Connect with Dr. Paul: Paul's Blog: https://www.appreciationatwork.com/blog/ Paul's LinkedIn Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/paul-white-ph-d-3178276/ Get the Book: Five Languages of Appreciation in The Workplace   Connect with Bill: Book a time to speak Web: https://www.theinnovatusgroup.com LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bill-perry/ Twitter: @innovatusgroup Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thebillperryshow/ *** EPISODE CREDITS: If you like this podcast and are thinking of creating your own, consider talking to my producer, Danny Ozment. He helps thought leaders, influencers, executives, HR professionals, recruiters, lawyers, realtors, bloggers, coaches, and authors create, launch, and produce podcasts that grow their business and impact the world. Find out more at https://emeraldcitypro.com 

It is a new year. It's a new decade. Welcome to 2020! With these moments on the calendar, there's always the hope of great change. But the reality is the movement of dates on the calendar doesn't create change, something else has to happen. Very little change occurs until you make a significant change in the way you see the world. And this is the topic of this week's podcast episode. A BETTER VERSION OF YOUR LIFE BEGINS WITH A BETTER UNDERSTANDING OF YOURSELFBy better I don't mean earning a greater revenue or obtaining more success. These things are valuable. When I talk about better I mean less entangled and becoming more available to the people you serve (family, team, community). Change cannot be based on what's going on outside. It really has to begin on the inside. And this can actually pose a challenge to many. CHALLENGE YOUR MINDSET IF YOU'RE GOING TO GET BETTER You have to challenge your own mindset if you're going to get better. Oftentimes, pushing through challenges to come out as a better version of yourself—you cannot not get there alone. Leaders need other leaders. Peers need other peers. You need people in your corner who have experienced the same challenges, the same threats, or the same types of successes. We need others to fuel our endeavors in order to afford us the sense of safety which comes from knowing our struggles aren't unique—even though our paths may be different. In actuality, our journeys are more the same.  Leaders who are free in themselves will encourage freedom in those they're given to serve. If we, as leaders, are still trying to get our needs for safety and survival met, we will never be fully available to give anything more to those who are making the journey with us.  Until next time, lead well!  Bill    Connect with Bill: Book a time to speak Web: https://www.theinnovatusgroup.com LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bill-perry/ Twitter: @innovatusgroup Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thebillperryshow/ *** EPISODE CREDITS: If you like this podcast and are thinking of creating your own, consider talking to my producer, Danny Ozment. He helps thought leaders, influencers, executives, HR professionals, recruiters, lawyers, realtors, bloggers, coaches, and authors create, launch, and produce podcasts that grow their business and impact the world. Find out more at https://emeraldcitypro.com 

Ho, ho, hold on…you don't like Christmas? I understand this season can be painful for some. It can be a season where depression and suicide rates are on the increase. Or perhaps, as you get older the events of Christmas don't match the warm, sentimental memories you carry for the season. Today, I want to offer you a message of kindness and hope. YOU CAN'T SLOW THE CLOCKThe holiday season is filled with frenetic energy and pressure. You are faced with doing the right thing plus fulfilling obligations to be at all of the holiday social engagements. The reality is you can't slow the clock. But you can positively influence the movement of your soul as it responds to the movement of time. I want to offer you a couple of recommendations to help make the season a little bit easier to manage. BE KIND AND GIVE YOURSELF MERCYThis season offer the gift of kindness to those around you. Everyone around you is in a great battle. I also would like to ask you to offer yourself the gift of mercy. You don't need to do it perfectly, but I'm pretty confident you can do it. When you offer yourself the gift of mercy, only then are you able and free enough to give unto others the gift of kindness. Be kind to them and to yourself this holiday season. Until next time, lead well!  Bill    Connect with Bill: Book a time to speak Web: https://www.theinnovatusgroup.com LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bill-perry/ Twitter: @innovatusgroup Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thebillperryshow/ *** EPISODE CREDITS: If you like this podcast and are thinking of creating your own, consider talking to my producer, Danny Ozment. He helps thought leaders, influencers, executives, HR professionals, recruiters, lawyers, realtors, bloggers, coaches, and authors create, launch, and produce podcasts that grow their business and impact the world. Find out more at https://emeraldcitypro.com 

Do you know how much it costs an organization when employees are not engaged? It can be very costly to the bottom line. Employee engagement is a vital piece to any organization and effective coaching on the part of your management and leadership can be a solution to engaging employees.  My guest today is Keith Webb. Keith has years of experience training individuals about how to effectively coach others in their organizations within their spheres of influence.    EMPLOYEES WANT RESPECT Employees want to be heard, be respected, and be involved with the decisions affecting them. In this episode we discuss the fact that good managers recognize the importance of asking for input from their employees. Having input makes employees  feel appreciated and valuable. Having a voice makes them feel as though they matter.    LISTENING IS KEY IN COMMUNICATION WITH EMPLOYEES When you give people a voice, it is critical to listen to them. People tend to only listen for about 17 seconds before they interrupt with a thought or a question. However, as effective managers, it's critical to really listen to your team members about the matter you are discussing with them. You may find that coaching them through a situation goes much quicker when you know exactly what they are discussing! We will discuss more about listening and other traits to help you as their coach to grow your team!   Episode Highlights: What coaching really is Keith's biggest challenge as he moved into coaching The deeper level of coaching What leadership should do to promote employee engagement Understanding the difference between advising and coaching How to adjust the expectations of employees Keys to effective listening and the importance of open questions Curiosity is an important leadership trait The time effective coaching takes as you encourage ownership and accountability of your team Until next time, lead well!  Bill    Connect with Keith Webb: Website: http://keithwebb.com/  Creative Results Management: https://creativeresultsmanagement.com/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/webbkeith/   Connect with Bill: Book a time to speak Web: https://www.theinnovatusgroup.com LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bill-perry/ Twitter: @innovatusgroup Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thebillperryshow/ *** EPISODE CREDITS: If you like this podcast and are thinking of creating your own, consider talking to my producer, Danny Ozment. He helps thought leaders, influencers, executives, HR professionals, recruiters, lawyers, realtors, bloggers, coaches, and authors create, launch, and produce podcasts that grow their business and impact the world. Find out more at https://emeraldcitypro.com 

Emotional intelligence is a skill that is so important to everyone, including those in leadership. My guest this week is Teresa Quinlan. She has over two decades of experience in learning and development, and she has spent the last 15 years training leaders and their teams, giving particular attention to the area of emotional intelligence. On this episode, she helps us understand why we need to develop that area of our lives and how to go about doing it.  YOU CONTROL YOUR EMOTIONS, AND YOU CHOOSE HOW TO REACT TO THEM In a very simple way of putting it, emotional intelligence is growing your capacity to understand your emotions and use that information to be more effective. And in this episode, we discuss the fact that emotional intelligence is a skill that can be developed. There are strategies you can use to identify your triggers and manage how you handle them.  IT'S DIFFICULT TO BE SELF-AWARE WHEN YOU ARE UNDER STRESS It can be hard to pay attention to yourself when sources of stress are coming at you. However, especially as leaders, it is important to be self-aware so you that you can manage your responses as you handle not only your situations but those of others you manage as well. We will discuss ways to become more self-aware so that you can always bring your best to your life - whether that is your personal life or your life at your business. Episode Highlights: Emotional intelligence as an approach to drama in any relationship, whether that is personal or executive What emotional intelligence is How emotional intelligence can change and develop The components of emotional intelligence How stress affects our self-awareness What the ROI is on developing emotional intelligence with regards to businesses How emotional intelligence affects drama in a positive way The influence of emotional intelligence on the accountability of team members Directing people beyond your scope of ability when you realize additional professional guidance is necessary Some effective immediate strategies to develop your self-perception Until next time, lead well!  Bill    Connect with Teresa Quinlan: Website: IQEQTQ YouTube: Teresa Quinlan LinkedIn: Teresa Quinlan   Connect with Bill: Book a time to speak Web: https://www.theinnovatusgroup.com LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bill-perry/ Twitter: @innovatusgroup Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thebillperryshow/   *** EPISODE CREDITS: If you like this podcast and are thinking of creating your own, consider talking to my producer, Danny Ozment. He helps thought leaders, influencers, executives, HR professionals, recruiters, lawyers, realtors, bloggers, coaches, and authors create, launch, and produce podcasts that grow their business and impact the world. Find out more at https://emeraldcitypro.com   

Today I'm talking with Jennifer McClure, a former executive recruiter and HR executive who offers a wealth of knowledge on the subject of corporate leadership. Jennifer is here to talk to us about developing corporate leaders and the importance of employee appreciation.   People don't leave companies, they leave managers It seems like common sense that people want to be appreciated, they want to feel like the work they do, matters. We'll discuss the old adage that people don't leave companies, they leave managers and how employees want to know that someone's paying attention. It may be easy for people to jump ship when times get tough, if they don't feel a connection with management, so we'll cover how to avoid this downfall.     When you think you're doing it right, but you're not Jennifer will share with us, a time she thought she was doing everything right, until she found out she wasn't. One of her best employees left, and thankfully, that employee opened up to Jennifer about why she was leaving. This gave her the opportunity to make changes in the way she managed, and create more meaningful connections with the employees under her care.   Episode Highlights: People don't leave jobs, they leave managers Managing people the right way How to create meaningful connections with your employees Making your appreciation intentional Avoiding stereotypes, especially about generations The importance of feedback How technology has allowed us to be more connected Until next time, lead well!  Bill    Connect with Jennifer McClure:Podcast: Impact Makers Podcast with Jennifer McClure Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/JenniferMcClureSpeaker Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/impactmakerspodcast/ LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/jennifermcclure Twitter: https://twitter.com/JenniferMcClure   Connect with Bill: Book a time to speak Web: https://www.theinnovatusgroup.com LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bill-perry/ Twitter: @innovatusgroup Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thebillperryshow/   *** EPISODE CREDITS: If you like this podcast and are thinking of creating your own, consider talking to my producer, Danny Ozment. He helps thought leaders, influencers, executives, HR professionals, recruiters, lawyers, realtors, bloggers, coaches, and authors create, launch, and produce podcasts that grow their business and impact the world. Find out more at https://emeraldcitypro.com   

The holiday season is my favorite time of year. I grew up in a great family situation where holidays were marked with extended family time together with good food and great family engagements. However, there is a lot of pressure attached to the holidays. This year, I would encourage you to take a step back and relieve some of that stress during this busy season.  THE HOLIDAYS ARE A VERY EXCITING BUT CONFLICTING TIME OF YEAR While the season is filled with joy, for many leaders it can be the most stressful time of the year. This has to do with making year-end numbers, increased activity with teams, and the distractions facing team members as they move through the holiday season and its many events. We spend 93% of our lives indoors - in an artificial environment. Take some time to get outside and move around to breathe.  GIVE YOURSELF THE GIFT OF MARGIN THIS YEAR It is important to remember to be good to yourself during the holidays. Give yourself some room to connect, create joy, and create time for rest. It is important to relax and release stress - whether that means taking time to walk and breathe deeply or to isolate yourself some other way to recharge a bit so you can bring your whole self to others. Episode Highlights: With so much pressure during the season, it is okay to skip some obligations to relieve some of this stress Question your involvement in things that take away from your joy Reasons why many leaders point to this time of the year as the most stressful  The importance of taking time to connect with your family A great idea for separating yourself from tech  How to create margin for yourself How to connect on a level that brings you life and joy  Until next time, lead well!  Bill    Connect with Bill: Book a time to speak Web: https://www.theinnovatusgroup.com LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bill-perry/ Twitter: @innovatusgroup Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thebillperryshow/ *** EPISODE CREDITS: If you like this podcast and are thinking of creating your own, consider talking to my producer, Danny Ozment. He helps thought leaders, influencers, executives, HR professionals, recruiters, lawyers, realtors, bloggers, coaches, and authors create, launch, and produce podcasts that grow their business and impact the world. Find out more at https://emeraldcitypro.com 

Today I welcome friend and business leader, Charles Weathers to the show. I've known Charles for some time, and I've benefited from his extensive knowledge of leadership development.  Charles spends time working with nonprofits and faith-based organizations. He loves working with them because they share his heart for the community. He has worked to help these companies with board development, governance, leadership development and strategic planning.  Intergenerational Boards Today, boards have a broad range of Gen X, Boomers, Gen Y and Millennials. Companies must find ways for these groups to work together if they are going to sustain their business. Interacting with intention and working together to overcome stereotypes will go a long way toward building trust and successful relationships.   The Last Seven Words of a Dying Organization Backward thinking often gets in the way of forward progress. The “we've never done it that way before” mentality stalls progress and causes organizations to crumble. Businesses must be willing to engage in conversations about the future and look at things from new perspectives.  Episode Highlights: How board leadership is changing The positive impact of intergenerational boards A strategic plan is a mindset, not a piece of paper Setting the organizational culture How culture is a primary indicator of sustainability Facilitating courageous conversations The danger of agreement  Being seen, heard and valued Building trust through vulnerability The inclusion illusion   Until next time, lead well!  Bill Episode Resources: Connect with Charles Weathers: Website: charlescweathers.com Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/charlesweathers LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/charlesweathers/   Connect with Bill: Book a time to speak Web: https://www.theinnovatusgroup.com LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bill-perry/ Twitter: @innovatusgroup Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thebillperryshow/   ***   EPISODE CREDITS: If you like this podcast and are thinking of creating your own, consider talking to my producer, Danny Ozment. He helps thought leaders, influencers, executives, HR professionals, recruiters, lawyers, realtors, bloggers, coaches, and authors, create, launch, and produce podcasts that grow their business and impact the world. Find out more at https://emeraldcitypro.com 

I am so pleased to welcome Laurie Ruettimann to the show. Laurie had spent many years in human resources leadership and realized she hated her job. She left her position in HR and is now on a mission to fix work. She has some ideas about what is currently wrong with work and some steps we can take to fix those problems; not only in our workplaces but in our lives as well. FUNDAMENTALLY THE WORLD OF WORK IS BROKEN The world of work exists so corporations can make a profit. Profits are acquired based on the work of employees. Because of that, there is a lot of talk about the employee experience and the importance of employees. However, most policies do not match up with what we say we want for our employees versus what we actually provide them. This is a system problem and Laurie has some thoughts on addressing this problem, head on.  WE FIX WORK BY FIXING OURSELVES The other element, when it comes to fixing work, is the emotional and psychological side of ourselves that we take to work. Laurie says that she fundamentally believes, “We fix work by fixing ourselves.” We need to examine ourselves, our values, and how we lead our lives at home. In this week's episode, we dive deeper into the holistic view of fixing work as well as working to make positive changes to fix the world around you. Episode Highlights: Laurie's upbringing and how it informed her view of work  The concept that there is no leadership without self-leadership The importance of recognizing that the responsibility of corporate success should be placed upon employees  Workers are capitalists too and need to be put first The need to focus on your relationship with money and be proactive in controlling that aspect of your life Examining your view of wealth and realizing it refers to more than just money The holistic view of fixing work by fixing yourself as well as working to make positive changes to fix the world around you   Until next time, lead well!  Bill Episode Resources: Connect with Laurie Ruettimann Website: http://letsfixwork.com Laurie on Twitter & Instagram LinkedIn: http://linkedin.com/in/laurieruettimann   Connect with Bill: Book a time to speak Web: https://www.theinnovatusgroup.com LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bill-perry/ Twitter: @innovatusgroup Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thebillperryshow/   *** EPISODE CREDITS: If you like this podcast and are thinking of creating your own, consider talking to my producer, Danny Ozment. He helps thought leaders, influencers, executives, HR professionals, recruiters, lawyers, realtors, bloggers, coaches, and authors, create, launch, and produce podcasts that grow their business and impact the world. Find out more at https://emeraldcitypro.com 

This week I am pleased to have Danny Ozment of Emerald City Productions on the show. Danny is the producer of this podcast and always works hard to make me sound good! Danny and I talk about the creative potential for leaders and human resources teams to utilize the medium of podcasting to drive vision, values and policies through every level of your organization!  PODCASTING IS A GREAT WAY TO COMMUNICATE INTERNALLY When it comes to internal communications within a business, podcasting is a great option for leaders to effectively communicate their messages to employees at all levels. Danny says this is referred to as “enterprise podcasting,” and he discusses the benefits of using podcasts as opposed to traditional methods of communication within a business. PODCASTING PROVIDES A GOOD ROI Are you looking for ways to communicate with employees more effectively while also watching the bottom line with regard to expenses? Podcasting provides good ROI when it comes to the time and money that will be invested. The productivity and efficiency of podcasting allows leaders and employees to save time. They can create the content and then be done as the actual production and hosting of the podcast can be outsourced. We discuss this and other benefits of enterprise podcasting on this episode of The Bill Perry Show. Be sure to listen to this enlightening interview with Danny Ozment! Episode Highlights: Danny's journey to becoming a podcast producer Why people are gravitating toward podcasting Podcasting as a vehicle of trust within organizations, from leadership to the members of the team Reasons an executive team should choose podcasting over traditional methods of communication The ROI that can be gained when teams choose to distribute information through podcasting Hosting solutions available to keep your podcast secure Resources that have researched how audio is consumed in the industry and how effective it can be Until next time, lead well!  Bill  Episode Resources: Connect with Danny Ozment: Podcast Services: https://emeraldcitypro.com/Website: https://dannyozment.com/Podcast Strategies For Growing Your Business, Community, And Influence While Profiting   Connect with Bill: Book a time to speak Web: https://www.theinnovatusgroup.com LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bill-perry/ Twitter: @innovatusgroupInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/thebillperryshow/   *** EPISODE CREDITS: If you like this podcast and are thinking of creating your own, consider talking to my producer, Danny Ozment. He helps thought leaders, influencers, executives, HR professionals, recruiters, lawyers, realtors, bloggers, coaches, and authors, create, launch, and produce podcasts that grow their business and impact the world. Find out more at https://emeraldcitypro.com

It's my pleasure to have my friend, Mike Kim, on the show this week. Mike is a marketing strategist, and his philosophy is, “Marketing isn't about closing a sale. It's about opening a relationship.” As we move through this discussion, you will hear that if you don't love yourself, you're not going to manage any other relationship around you. THE MOST IMPORTANT RELATIONSHIP YOU'LL EVER HAVE IS THE ONE YOU HAVE WITH YOURSELF The longest relationship you will ever have is the one that you have with yourself. So, it is vital to ensure that this relationship is a healthy one. To help form the foundation for that healthy self-relationship, Mike has three questions to help us view ourselves better and more objectively and to help us understand why we make certain decisions. PEOPLE MAKE DECISIONS BASED ON EMOTION Mike's three questions are intended to tap into the emotion that is underneath whatever people have going on. He says that no matter what kind of business or persuasive challenges you face, you have to appeal to the emotions of others. People make decisions based on emotion, and then they justify it with logic later. In this episode, we discuss those three questions and how they have been a catalyst for many of the decisions Mike has made and the fact that he wants to help as many people as possible to step into their new life. Episode Highlights: The importance of loving yourself Mike's 3 bizarre questions that help form the basis for a healthy self-relationship  Seasonal shifts and what we need to do to follow these subtle shifts with regard to the questions...answers change based on the season of your life that you're in You can't just be saved from something; you have to be saved to something How to approach these questions and the value of walking through them with an advisor or coach Action cures fear; the importance of moving forward Adults learn differently than kids, so the learning process is much different as an adult   Must commit to change, have courage, get competence, and then you have confidence The importance of seizing opportunities when they become available  Until next time, lead well!  Bill  Episode Resources: Connect with Mike Kim Podcast: The Brand You Podcast Connect with Mike on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mikekimtv Connect with Mike on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mikekimtv/   Connect with Bill: Book a time to speak Web: https://www.theinnovatusgroup.com LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bill-perry/ Twitter: @innovatusgroupInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/thebillperryshow/   ***   EPISODE CREDITS: If you like this podcast and are thinking of creating your own, consider talking to my producer, Danny Ozment. He helps thought leaders, influencers, executives, HR professionals, recruiters, lawyers, realtors, bloggers, coaches, and authors create, launch, and produce podcasts that grow their business and impact the world. Find out more at https://emeraldcitypro.com

My guest this week is doing amazing things for people and focusing on the dialogue of moving people forward at work. He has recently begun focusing on the value of humans, creating a community known as HumansFirst. One of the things he has identified is that we are in a current leadership crisis. But he has a potential solution for this. THERE IS A GLOBAL LEADERSHIP CRISIS Mike says that when we look at the condition in companies, there isn't a lot of hope for positive change because, “While people want to do the right thing around them and the people that they engage with every day, they feel that they're encumbered by a structure and a system that doesn't allow positive change.” However, he goes on to note that he has learned over time that people will be able to move companies forward if we create a shift in culture to emphasize people. PEOPLE WILL DRIVE PRODUCTIVITY When we look at corporate settings, it is clear that people drive productivity. Mike notes we must focus on the fact that “Business is people.” And when we do that, the business has the ability to change in a positive way and move forward. He notes that change is happening at a much quicker pace than in past years, and, because of that, companies must depend upon humans to move forward. Episode Highlights: People will drive productivity Employment structures are transactional as workers are measured against finite pieces and then get paid to “do their job” ROI with regards to putting humans first People for profits - when people are growing they will bring their best effort The concept of HumansFirst The necessity to bring our whole selves to the office and the opportunity to be heard to make people feel valued Workers must feel free to express themselves This is an experiment - doing discovery now Until next time, lead well!  Bill Episode Resources: Connect with Mike Vacanti: HumansFirst Club: https://humansfirst.club/ HumansFirst Playground LinkedIn Profile: linkedin.com/in/mjvacanti   Connect with Bill: Book a time to speak Web: https://www.theinnovatusgroup.com LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bill-perry/ Twitter: @innovatusgroup Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thebillperryshow/   *** EPISODE CREDITS: If you like this podcast and are thinking of creating your own, consider talking to my producer, Danny Ozment. He helps thought leaders, influencers, executives, HR professionals, recruiters, lawyers, realtors, bloggers, coaches, and authors create, launch, and produce podcasts that grow their business and impact the world. Find out more at https://emeraldcitypro.com

Today it's my honor to have a new acquaintance on the show with me. Steve Woodruff has a really interesting title. He is known as the “King of Clarity.” If your organization needs some guidance on getting through all of the “noise” that is out there, this is the episode for you! BREAK THROUGH THE GRAY MATTER OVERLOAD We live in an age of information that is everywhere, all the time. Everywhere we turn there is more noise; it is coming from all angles and from companies of all sizes. There is so much out there competing for our attention. So companies are faced with the challenge of breaking through gray matter overload (“GMO”). Steve points out that everyone out there is suffering from GMO, and companies need to find a way to reach their audiences. Does your company have an effective way to cut through all that sensory input and get your message heard? Steve has ways of doing that, and he shares some valuable information in this episode. CLARITY HAS VALUE Steve describes clarity as being characterized by a memory dart, a way of cutting through the clutter and making people understand you. He thinks of the memory dart as “a way to get a message across into people's brains very quickly.” That is important when you consider all of the information people process each day. Clarity has a great deal of value for every organization. How do you effectively get your message across to others? He also discusses the core value of organizational clarity both internal and external to the organization. We all know to prioritize connecting with our customers for branding and growth, but there is also great value to be had internally. After all, it is essential to have everyone on the same page with regards to internal communication, collaboration, networking, branding, and vision. So we also discuss this huge need for internal clarity. Episode Highlights: What a memory dart is and how it can help your business GMO - gray matter overload - what it is and how to cut through it What the human brain reacts to and how even small companies can be competitive “It's not our audience's job to figure us out” - the importance of truly understanding that and moving beyond it The huge need for internal, as well as external, communication and some insight on developing that Keywords to communicate identity and value within an organization The 5 elements on the approach to clarity Referral readiness - what it is and why it's important Until next time, lead well!  Bill Episode Resources: Connect with Steve Woodruff: https://clarityfuel.com/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/swoodruff/ FaceBook: https://www.facebook.com/kingofclarity/ Book: Clarity Wins   Connect with Bill: Book a time to speak Web: https://www.theinnovatusgroup.com LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bill-perry/ Twitter: @innovatusgroup Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thebillperryshow/   ***   EPISODE CREDITS: If you like this podcast and are thinking of creating your own, consider talking to my producer, Danny Ozment. He helps thought leaders, influencers, executives, HR professionals, recruiters, lawyers, realtors, bloggers, coaches, and authors create, launch, and produce podcasts that grow their business and impact the world. Find out more at https://emeraldcitypro.com

This week it is my privilege to have Dr. Michael Hudson on the show. Michael is a full-time speaker, coach, and consultant. He enjoys working with leaders and teams to build their strategic visions. Today we focus on the importance of being true to yourself to be the most effective leader. PUT YOURSELF IN THE RIGHT ROOM Are you in the right place right now? Sometimes we find ourselves working very hard to do what we need to do in public, but we are not being true to ourselves. Michael believes we must put ourselves in the right room with the right people. If we don't do that, we will “find a way to mask that discomfort” as he says. And that is not the most productive way for us to live our lives. After all, at some point we have to take that mask off and deal with the issues that are going on internally. However, if we are authentic with ourselves, we can pull on our own strengths to be good and effective leaders. ARE YOU STRONG ENOUGH TO BE VULNERABLE? Being a successful leader can be simplified into looking at a couple of positive traits. Good leaders are curious and humble. They know that they need to rely upon the information that those they are leading have. Asking questions and listening intently can create good relationships. These qualities help to demonstrate the vulnerability or authenticity that many seek in a good leader. When we open up communication and break down the barriers between leaders and their teams or organizations, then trust can be built. And this will lead to a healthy organization. This episode is truly inspiring as Michael and I discuss looking at ourselves honestly, without any masks, to tap into our authenticity. Sometimes that process leaves us feeling very vulnerable. But it opens the door to move forward on our journeys past our inner struggles. Episode Highlights: Finding ourselves “not in the right room” and needing to make a change Imposter syndrome causes us to want to compensate The 3 things we have to do when it comes to leadership The possibility of moving forward past our inner struggles Successful leaders can frame their lessons in a replicable framework that they can teach to others Real integrity is living from the inside out - making sure we stand up for what is right Michael's mantra for good leaders: ask, listen, learn, and serve...and serve first How sometimes we put on a mask to hide discomfort in our lives, and it's okay to get help from friends, coaches, or professionals to get beyond that Until next time, lead well!  Bill Episode Resources: Connect with Michael Hudson: https://www.michaelhudson.com/coaching/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/drmichaelhudson/ To start a conversation with Michael: michael@michaelhudson.com Attract Your Clients video series   Connect with Bill: Book a time to speak Web: https://www.theinnovatusgroup.com LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bill-perry/ Twitter: @innovatusgroup Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thebillperryshow/   ***   EPISODE CREDITS: If you like this podcast and are thinking of creating your own, consider talking to my producer, Danny Ozment. He helps thought leaders, influencers, executives, HR professionals, recruiters, lawyers, realtors, bloggers, coaches, and authors create, launch, and produce podcasts that grow their business and impact the world. Find out more at https://emeraldcitypro.com

This week we are introducing a new concept to the show in which I bring in trusted friends and advisors who have had a positive impact on my life and who, I believe, can be beneficial to you as well. It is my pleasure to welcome Kevin Monroe to the show. Kevin is a business consultant, podcast host, and, as he likes to highlight, a husband, father, and grandfather!   LEADERSHIP IS CONNECTING AND BUILDING RELATIONSHIPS Connecting with other people is key to moving forward. It is so interesting to see how, through connecting with others, you ultimately connect with more and more people as your message gets out there. Through leadership and the relationships you build, amazing things can happen in life and also help foster a healthy team in the workplace. Kevin details exactly how this shows up in his business and in his life, during our conversation together.  GRATITUDE OPENS YOUR PERSPECTIVES Gratitude expands your field of vision so that you can see life and the problems you face from different angles, and build a deeper appreciation for it all. As Kevin says, “Gratitude gets you out of the pit and into possibilities.” Focusing on gratitude is changing lives. Our thoughts are what we bring to life. If we look at things for which we are grateful, even while bad things are happening, we start to see the good and focus on it. The good things were there all along, but we miss seeing them by not focusing on the things for which we are grateful. Gratitude is an attitude or mindset, and when you are a member of a community of others who are expressing gratitude, it helps to spur you on. Episode Highlights: Relationships are essential to moving forward on your journey through life What the gratitude challenge is and the impact it is already having in just a few months  Anything worth doing is worth doing poorly - sometimes you have to take an idea and run with it People who have taken gratitude into the office have seen incredible differences in their office environments and employee retention The challenge of looking at your life and noting something you are grateful for today The line from the book “Surviving to Thriving: The 10 Laws of Grateful Leadership” that changed Kevin's life Until next time, lead well!  Bill Episode Resources: Connect with Kevin Monroe: Web: Kevindmonroe.com Podcast: https://kevindmonroe.com/listener/ LinkedIn: http://linkedin.com/in/kevinmonroe Twitter: @kevin_monroe The Gratitude Challenge  Surviving to Thriving: The 10 Laws of Grateful Leadership by Stephen Foran    Connect with Bill: Book a time to speak Web: https://www.theinnovatusgroup.com LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bill-perry/ Twitter: @innovatusgroup Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thebillperryshow/   *** EPISODE CREDITS: If you like this podcast and are thinking of creating your own, consider talking to my producer, Danny Ozment. He helps thought leaders, influencers, executives, HR professionals, recruiters, lawyers, realtors, bloggers, coaches, and authors create, launch, and produce podcasts that grow their business and impact the world. Find out more at https://emeraldcitypro.com 

Change is in the air. The last several months, I've offered some thoughts and ideas regarding life and leadership and how to do both with all of your heart. It's time to bring some other voices into the mix.  Starting next week, I'm going to introduce you to some of my amazing friends. You'll hear from accomplished leaders, consultants, and creatives who will offer excerpts of their stories and share the wisdom they've gleaned in their journey. Why the Change You may have noticed my absence for the last couple of weeks. I had to take some of my own medicine. Remember my battle cry: Put your own mask on first! Client engagements have taken a healthy leap forward, and I had to hit pause to evaluate and make sure I was offering you quality content. I felt that I wasn't bringing my best self to the table. I'm not after perfection, but I do want to offer the best of what I've gleaned over my 56 years. One thing I've realized about myself is that I really don't enjoy talking to the wall. I'm uncomfortably self-conscious and overly self-critical in isolation. As Donkey reminded Shrek, “you gotta have friends!” I've got some. They are amazing. And I'm going to share them with you. What to Expect In the first season, I kept most episodes to just under 15 minutes. These conversations will take a bit longer to unpack ideas well, but I'm still committed to offering wisdom for your journey in smallish chunks. Time is one of your most valuable assets, and I'll do my best to honor it. I'll continue to promote self-care as one of the chief investments you make, not only for yourself but for those in your sphere of influence. You can't give away what you don't have. If you don't care for yourself, you won't care well for others. We'll also be diving into the latest research and thoughts on how healthy leadership trumps process efficiency in establishing sustainable success. While efficient and strategic process determines profitability, how you lead those with whom you work largely determines sustainability. I'll host guests who have demonstrated great courage and agility in maintaining their integrity in life and leadership. Some have been at the leadership helm for years while others have walked away from successful endeavors to take a road less travelled and forge new paths. Season 2 of The Bill Perry Show begins next week. Don't miss it! Until next time, lead well! Bill --- Tiffany Taylor and the team at sparkit in Los Angeles help me look better than I probably am. They maintain and develop all my collateral material for these podcasts, including my social media presence. If you need help getting your message heard, contact Tiffany at tiffany@sparkitmarket.com.   *** EPISODE CREDITS: If you like this podcast and are thinking of creating your own, consider talking to my producer, Danny Ozment. He helps thought leaders, influencers, executives, HR professionals, recruiters, lawyers, realtors, bloggers, coaches, and authors create, launch, and produce podcasts that grow their business and impact the world. Find out more at https://emeraldcitypro.com 

Organizational health is often a messy process, and it requires a great deal of intentionality. As in any relationship, for a team's health to be sustainable, we and others on the team need to make subtle adjustments at various crossroads. What you choose to do during challenges, difficulties, and opportunities will determine your growth and experience. That is the case with all of life.  In this episode, I talk about the responsibility of choosing to work within the values and vision of our team.   The Choice to Fit the Values of the Larger Team When you take a job or develop a relationship with a friend, a significant other, or a child, entering into that relationship will always require adjustment. If we are going to relate well, we have to make adjustments to accommodate the needs and visions of others. When you join a team, you demonstrate responsibility by accommodating your behavior to fit the values of the team. For example, a client of mine had an employee who, over time, began to demonstrate repeated unproductive behavior, meaning behaviors not aligned with the larger team's values or vision. The employee's manager explained the impact their behavior was having on the team, and the employee was given the opportunity to shift and adjust the behavior. They instead chose to continue the unproductive behavior. They did not choose to responsibly make the subtle adjustments needed to work within the values of the larger team. Entrepreneurs Are No Exception If you are an entrepreneur, and more specifically a solopreneur, you are not exempt from the process. You will have to make adjustments to accommodate the needs and personalities of your audience and clients. If we're going to relate well, we must adjust. Choose Organizational Health, but Don't Choose a Wrong Fit Making adjustments for the team's values is a demonstration of responsibility to the community, the vision, and the relationships you are entertaining. If you are unwilling to adjust to fit easily into the population you are joining, it's very likely that you will also find yourself unwelcome there or unable to sustain the relationship in healthy ways.  On the flip side, don't try to make yourself fit with teams that don't share your core values. If you find a fit, exercise intentional responsibility in making subtle adjustments toward a healthy organization by bringing your best self to your team. How Do You Know if It's a Good Fit? If you want to give yourself the best chance for success, learn the values of the company you are joining, the friends you are entertaining, or the love you are courting. Do your values align easily with theirs? If there are stark differences in expectations of behavior, that should be a red flag that informs your response. Asking good questions is always a key to revealing vision and values in any relationship. Here are a few good ones to ask when you are inviting someone to work and walk with you or when you are being invited to join a group: What values are most important to you? To this team? How do those values play out in daily interactions? What is it about me that makes you feel like I align with those values? Your Mission, if You Choose to Accept It Do yourself and those around you a favor. Don't try to make yourself fit in with people or teams that do not share your core values. There will rarely be an absolutely perfect fit. Even the healthiest connections require some measure of adjustment. If you find a fit, exercise responsibility in adjusting to the opportunity you are given in a relationship. Every invitation to a relationship, to friendship, or to be a part of a team or a vision requires a response. Every response requires some demonstration of ability. Therefore, every opportunity invites us to grow in responsibility.  A better you, better team, better business, and better life is possible, but the choice is yours. Until next time, lead well! Bill ---  Tiffany Taylor and the team at sparkit in Los Angeles help me look better than I probably am. They maintain and develop all my collateral material for these podcasts, including my social media presence. If you need help getting your message heard, contact Tiffany at tiffany@sparkitmarket.com. *** EPISODE CREDITS: If you like this podcast and are thinking of creating your own, consider talking to my producer, Danny Ozment. He helps thought leaders, influencers, executives, HR professionals, recruiters, lawyers, realtors, bloggers, coaches, and authors create, launch, and produce podcasts that grow their business and impact the world. Find out more at https://emeraldcitypro.com 

How do you recognize the possibilities that business and life are handing you? In this leadership podcast episode, I expose an incredibly effective key to seeing more opportunities—gratitude.  Be Present and Thankful to See More Possibilities We are pre-wired for negativity. When faced with a challenge, our default perceptions and our automatic narratives kick in before we have time to consider options.  To kick the negativity narrative and become more aware of opportunities, reframe your perceptions to recognize challenging situations as invitations to grow and become. A key that makes a better perspective possible is gratitude. It may sound simplistic, but giving thanks for what you have—even when it's insufficient—opens your eyes to possibilities, to opportunities that are hidden when you're entangled in broken thought and behavior patterns. Thanksgiving Reveals One Thousand Gifts I've known and taught this principle for years, but I still need reminders. I recently read One Thousand Gifts by Ann Voskamp. It was like getting hit in the face with a bucket of cold water. Her story serves as a shocking wake-up call to remember that all of life is a gift for growing and that thanksgiving is the key that reveals the gift. (If you are one of the first five people to mention this specific episode on your Instagram, Facebook, or LinkedIn profile, I'll send you a free copy of Ann's book. Tag me so I see the post!) Intentional Gratitude Opens Your Eyes Gratitude is not a command, it's an invitation. It's an opportunity to see the best, to acknowledge the beauty, to capture the benefit of a moment or a situation. When you begin to practice gratitude intentionally, your eyes are opened to the possibilities around the moment or the relationship. Several years ago, I spent an entire year focused on being grateful. The more gratitude I expressed, the more I found to be grateful for.  I believe that intentional gratitude is an act of resistance and rebellion against the prevailing presence of anxiety in our culture. Psychologist Robert Leahy points out, “The average child today exhibits the same level of anxiety as the average psychiatric patient in the 1950s.” Maintaining an attitude of gratitude isn't easy. You will need some help getting started if this isn't in your normal emotional regimen. The Gratitude Challenge My friend Kevin Monroe has developed a powerful kickstart to a lifestyle of intentional gratitude. The Gratitude Challenge is a free 10-day jumpstart, or catalyst, to living a life marked by thanksgiving. If you need a push in your process, this is a great, free tool to help you shift your perspective. Gratitude Is Too Simple This is one of those invitations that seems too simple to be effective. I promise that if you will begin to intentionally find things to be thankful for, especially in moments when you could express the opposite, you'll become increasingly aware of possibilities around you. Your perceptions will begin to conform to your gratitude. It will make you a better version of you! A better you, better team, better business, better life is possible, but the choice is yours. Until next time, lead well! Bill ---  Tiffany Taylor and the team at sparkit in Los Angeles help me look better than I probably am. They maintain and develop all my collateral material for these podcasts, including my social media presence. If you need help getting your message heard, contact Tiffany at tiffany@sparkitmarket.com. *** EPISODE CREDITS: If you like this podcast and are thinking of creating your own, consider talking to my producer, Danny Ozment. He helps thought leaders, influencers, executives, HR professionals, recruiters, lawyers, realtors, bloggers, coaches, and authors create, launch, and produce podcasts that grow their business and impact the world. Find out more at https://emeraldcitypro.com

Often prospective clients ask if I can guarantee improvement in their leadership and work experience. They want to become a better leader, and they recognize the need for change in their business culture or personal life and leadership skills. I'll tell you what I tell them: If you want different results, you must overcome the resistance to change, invest energy to breaking unproductive patterns, and choose transformation.  Step one to improving your leadership is to say yes to the invitation for growth. The Invitation to Becoming a Better Leader What I offer and recommend in the way of improving your life and business is simply an invitation. What you choose to do with what you are given will determine your growth and experience. That is the case with all of life. A better you, better team, better business, and better life is possible, but the choice is always yours. Much of life seems to be contingent on our conformity to an established hierarchy or compliance with existing structures. While adjusting, conforming, or complying, never forget that you have a choice. There are costs and consequences to every choice you will ever make, but you still get to choose. Positive change is determined by your intentionality. A better experience and a better life are the result of accepting the invitation to do something different in order to get a different result. Information Is Not Transformation We live in information overload. One of the more significant challenges in our culture is the temptation to substitute the acquisition of information for the work necessary to experience transformation. Information is not transformation. Transformation occurs when you apply appropriate information. It's not what you're given; it's what you do with what you're given! Breaking Bad (Patterns) There is a lot of energy required to break bad behavior patterns and unproductive work practices. It is so much easier to stay in an unproductive pattern. You don't have to do anything if you don't want to. You also don't have to experience the recognition and reward attached to new and better opportunities. If you want different and better results, you are going to have to change the way you are doing things. Change Is Not a Command but an Invitation Change is not a command. It's an opportunity. In my client work, I occasionally meet individuals who hold everyone and everything around them responsible for their success. The way that I recognize them is that they blame everyone and everything around them for their failure. At the end of the day, recognition and promotion are not inalienable rights. They are the fruit of offering yourself to the invitation to grow and become. You May Need to Find Another Garden If you can't bloom where you are planted, you may need to find another garden. Every work experience and every relationship is not going to offer you the culture and the affirmation you need to become the best version of you. Don't stay where it isn't working. But if you find that you are moving from garden to garden, relationship to relationship, job to job, the problem may not be with the garden, the companion, or the employer. It might be you! Reframing What would happen if you began to look at the events of your life as an invitation? What if your difficult work experience is simply an invitation to become a better communicator? Change and growth are not requirements that you have to obey. They are opportunities. You can stay right where you are in life, work, and relationships. Or you can see opportunity as an invitation to become a better version of you. Where Are We Going? Over the next few episodes, we are going to talk about what it looks like to respond to life's invitations, what it may cost you, and what you will face in terms of resistance to growth. Here's a secret: Even resistance is an invitation. It all depends on how you respond. Until next time, lead well! Bill ---  Tiffany Taylor and the team at Sparkit in Los Angeles help me look better than I probably am. They maintain and develop all my collateral material for these podcasts, including my social media presence. If you need help getting your message heard, contact Tiffany at tiffany@sparkitmarket.com. *** EPISODE CREDITS: If you like this podcast and are thinking of creating your own, consider talking to my producer, Danny Ozment. He helps thought leaders, influencers, executives, HR professionals, recruiters, lawyers, realtors, bloggers, coaches, and authors create, launch, and produce podcasts that grow their business and impact the world. Find out more at https://emeraldcitypro.com 

In this leadership podcast series, we discuss the value of working as a community and collaborating as a team. In this episode, we dive into four benefits of not going it alone. Create Better End Products When we create and work with others, we are more likely to produce better quality work in a timelier fashion. This stems from an implied accountability. An ancient proverb states that “in the multitude of advisors, there is safety.” In healthy collaboration, we are less likely to create a product or service that will harm others or ourselves. It's easy to get myopic when you are ideating and creating solo—you can't always see the ripple effects of your efforts or your vision. Having someone, or a number of “someones,” who can easily speak into your vision reduces the likelihood of damaging yourself or others along the way. This goes back to the trust I talked about in Episode 33. Get More Joy in the Creating Having a team to share your dreams, your vision, and your work helps minimize the effects of failures. It also magnifies the celebration of small wins and big victories. Introverts Need Community Too I work with a number of leaders who are introverts by design, and I've been told by some of them that they just prefer to work alone. As a creative who is an introvert, I can assure you that I need the influence and wisdom of those who can see through and around me. Be Known One of the greatest joys in life is the joy of being known and appreciated by at least a few. Some may find larger stages and venues for their visions and dreams, but to be known in a small community creates a sense of safety and appreciation that satisfies the most basic human needs. We need to feel safe. We need to feel valued. We need to create work experiences where those who give themselves to our vision find the same. Let Me Help I can help your team create a more authentic collaborative environment. Set up a time to talk with me, and let's get your team healthy together. Here's a link to set up a call: Complimentary Consultation. Until next time, lead well! Bill *** EPISODE CREDITS: Tiffany Taylor and the team at sparkit in Los Angeles help me look better than I probably am. They maintain and develop all my collateral material for these podcasts, including my social media presence. If you need help getting your message heard, contact Tiffany at tiffany@sparkitmarket.com.   If you like this podcast and are thinking of creating your own, consider talking to my producer, Danny Ozment. He helps thought leaders, influencers, executives, HR professionals, recruiters, lawyers, realtors, bloggers, coaches, and authors create, launch, and produce podcasts that grow their business and impact the world. Find out more at https://emeraldcitypro.com 

In this leadership podcast series, we talk about the value of working as a community collaborating as a team. In this episode, we look at how trust is built when we encourage healthy collaboration.  Loss of Trust  Much of our current work culture requires that we do more with less. This culture is placing increasingly burdensome workloads on individuals while demanding higher performance levels. A negative effect of this highly individualistic culture is the absence of deep trust.  Increase Trust, Improve Speed  The trust equation is simple: When trust goes up, so does speed, and costs come down. The opposite is also true: When trust is low, speed is low as well, and costs go up. Consider going through an airport prior to 9/11 versus today. When trust was lost, our travel times and expenses increased.  Trust and Toxicity  An absence of trust is typically marked by an increase in drama and confusion. Deep, vulnerability-based trust is the antidote for toxicity in the workplace culture. When I know you have my back, and you know I have yours, we move forward together without the constraints of suspicion and unhealthy competition.  The Kind of Trust We Need  Most teams exist at a trust level best categorized as predictive trust, meaning that the trust demonstrated is only related to predictable behavior. That kind of trust can either work for your team or against it, and when it works for you, it creates productive bonds. The kind of trust you need comes from knowing your team and peers beyond functional work performance.  Know Those You Work With  Initiate conversations that reveal heart matters. Find out what motivates and drives each individual. Is it family? Recreation? Creativity? Social justice? Getting to know your team on this level instills the confidence that you have each other's best interests at heart. In a culture marked by deep trust, collaboration and creativity will become a competitive advantage for your vision.  Let Me Help  I can help your team accelerate the trust-building process and move you quickly to greater levels of employee engagement. Set up a time to talk with me, and let's get your team healthy together. Here's a link to set up a call: Complimentary Consultation  Tiffany Taylor and the team at Sparkit Marketing in Los Angeles help me look better than I probably am. They maintain and develop all my collateral material for these podcasts, including my social media presence. If you need help getting your message heard, contact Tiffany at tiffany@sparkitmarketing.com. Until next time, lead well!  Bill    Better Together podcast series   *** EPISODE CREDITS: If you like this podcast and are thinking of creating your own, consider talking to my producer, Danny Ozment. He helps thought leaders, influencers, executives, HR professionals, recruiters, lawyers, realtors, bloggers, coaches, and authors create, launch, and produce podcasts that grow their business and impact the world. Find out more at https://emeraldcitypro.com  

In this series, we are going to discuss about the value of working as a community and collaborating as a team. This episode highlights the dangers of isolation and what it can cost us in terms of perspective and creativity. Silos and Isolation Our current work culture requires that we do more with less. This is placing increasingly burdensome workloads on individuals and demanding more in terms of individual performance. This tendency is moving the corporate needle toward silos and individual isolation as people cover their own bases and have very little energy left for easy collaboration. This work culture progression can move frighteningly quickly to territorialism, suspicion, drama, and toxicity. The Chemical Equation The current work culture is dopamine rich and oxytocin deprived. As individuals experience the temporary rush produced by personal achievement, they require more the next time to satisfy the brain's desire for this rush. When the dopamine rush is not balanced by the connection and collaboration chemical of oxytocin, people become increasingly addicted to their own personal success. Losing Our Connection The same thing is happening in our interpersonal relationships. In a world increasingly inundated with “technoference,” we are beginning to lean into the dopamine-rich arena of social media likes and comments at the expense of oxytocin that is produced through personal connection and collaboration. It's Costing Us Creativity By design, creativity often begins in isolation as an inspired thought or meditation. But the best solutions for a community or even a couple are the result of dialogue, objective feedback, and the refining nature of being in close proximity to other humans. In a culture of suppressed collaboration, creativity loses some of its sustainability. Radical Baby Steps Initiate some radical acts of resistance to the pull of isolation. Instead of answering the email from the co-worker around the corner, step around the corner and offer your answer in person. Instead of texting your lover or your kids in the next room, put the phone down and go tell them in person. You might end up having a legitimate conversation. Tiffany Taylor and the team at Sparkit Marketing in Los Angeles help me look better than I probably am. They maintain and develop all my collateral material for these podcasts, including my social media presence. If you need help getting your message heard, contact Tiffany at tiffany@sparkitmarket.com. Until next time, lead well! Bill Better Together podcast series *** EPISODE CREDITS: If you like this podcast and are thinking of creating your own, consider talking to my producer, Danny Ozment. He helps thought leaders, influencers, executives, HR professionals, recruiters, lawyers, realtors, bloggers, coaches, and authors create, launch, and produce podcasts that grow their business and impact the world. Find out more at https://emeraldcitypro.com  

In this series, let's discuss the value of working as a community and collaborating as a team. This first episode is an invitation to think differently about how we approach work and enhance our organization's development, creativity, and innovation. The Biggest Challenge Speaking to a large group recently, I asked the question, “What's the biggest challenge facing your organization right now?” Their answer: “They expect us to do more with fewer people.” This leadership approach is pivoting employees toward isolation and loneliness. Individual workloads are so heavy in most organizations that there is very little time to consider how to do teamwork; how to effectively collaborate. Employees are Wired for Collaboration Our history and physiology both attest to the benefits of working and doing life together. While herds and prides promote survival, today's work culture encourages a divide and conquer mentality. We're seeing an alarming separation, and unknowingly, we may even be feeding staggering rates of suicide. The generation coming behind us sees very little hope for a fulfilling future. Some companies get it—they recognize team performance above individual contributions. But there is a need for both. People need the affirmation of individual recognition, but we must simultaneously encourage collaboration and connection by rewarding teams as a group. There Is a Cost to Team Collaboration—and Benefits To facilitate greater connection and team collaboration, you may need to reduce workloads to make room for people to come out from under their individual obligations. Profitability and margins may suffer; costs may creep. But there is a much larger cost if we continue to sacrifice the collaborative part of our nature on the altar of efficiency. On the flip-side, more collaboration encourages creativity and innovation; it's the fruit of a well-rested, healthy team. Take Courage Have a courageous conversation with your team, your spouse, or even your friends. Ask the question, “What would it take for us to experience the value of being better together?” ________ Tiffany Taylor and the team at Sparkit in Los Angeles help me look better than I probably am. They maintain and develop all of my collateral material for these podcasts, including my social media presence. If you need help getting your message heard, contact Tiffany at tiffany@sparkitmarket.com. Until next time, lead well! Bill *** EPISODE CREDITS: If you like this podcast and are thinking of creating your own, consider talking to my producer, Danny Ozment. He helps thought leaders, influencers, executives, HR professionals, recruiters, lawyers, realtors, bloggers, coaches, and authors create, launch, and produce podcasts that grow their business and impact the world. Find out more at https://emeraldcitypro.com  

In this leadership podcast episode, let's get real about our productivity-driven hustle culture. To be an effective leader and work smarter not harder, we look to nature for a few best practices.  Overworked and Under-Rested Many of the leaders I work with are burning their candles at both ends. They overwork to overproduce, and eventually, they become shortsighted in their problem-solving. This is not intentional; it's more often a self-preservative effort to maximize production. Creating Marginal Space If we're going to be present and bring our best selves to problem-solving, we must create some marginal white space in our routines. This will afford us greater creativity and collaboration with our co-workers and family. Nature's Call If you find yourself with less and less to offer in the face of increasing demand, nature is calling. Maybe you need to give the land a rest. I'm not talking about vacation. Vacation often becomes just another expression of hustle culture as we attempt to compensate for lost time with family and friends. I'm talking about sabbatical. Warning: Disruption Ahead Let me warn you kindly. What I am recommending will be so disruptive that you may find yourself disoriented. We're so slanted toward our high-productivity hustle culture that any resistance to that mindset will not be well tolerated. What Hustle Culture Has Taught Us A recent op-ed piece in the New York Times by Bonnie Tsui, You Are Doing Something Important When You Aren't Doing Anything, referenced a viral LinkedIn article by Ian Sohn, president of digital marketing agency Wunderman Chicago. Sohn wrote in defense of his vision for a healthier, more humanistic workplace: “I never need to know that you are working from home today because you simply need the silence. I deeply resent how we've infantilized the workplace. How we feel we have to apologize for having lives. How constant connectivity/availability (or even the perception of it) has become a valued skill.” Letting the Land Rest The ground of your mind, your will, and your emotions need a rest. Nature screams the truth that overworking a piece of land results in steady declines in productivity. Keys to Success Be kind to yourself. Start gently with a one-day disconnect. A lengthy sabbatical may be too disruptive if you've never intentionally rejected your productivity mindset. Don't make this about compensating for lost time in other areas of relationship. Don't exchange productivity in one area for productivity in another. Make some room for silence. This is not easy amid excessive technoference. Working through short periods of intentional silence is incredibly restorative. Again, be kind to yourself. Don't attempt a three-day silent retreat if you've never gone more than an hour without noise. Start with thirty minutes. Radical Resistance One of my favorite observers of life, Walter Brueggemann, says that sabbath is an act of radical resistance. Observe how quickly your proclivity toward productivity surfaces when you begin to create some space between you and your productive bent. It will attack like a jilted lover! Keep It Simple You don't have to create an extravagant plan for a sabbatical, but intentionality is critical to your process. Take a day and go hike. Sit by a stream. Treat yourself to a long meal. Tell Me Your Story If you engage in this radical act of resistance, I'd love to hear your story. Contact me through any of the available channels listed below. Tiffany Taylor and the team at Sparkit Marketing in Los Angeles help me look better than I probably am. They maintain and develop all my collateral material for these podcasts, including my social media presence. If you need help getting your message heard, contact Tiffany at tiffany@sparkitmarket.com or 323-371-1292.  Until next time, lead well! Bill   Episode Credits:  If you like this podcast and are thinking of creating your own, consider talking to my producer, Danny Ozment. He helps thought leaders, influencers, executives, HR professionals, recruiters, lawyers, realtors, bloggers, coaches, and authors create, launch, and produce podcasts that grow their business and impact the world. Find out more at https://emeraldcitypro.com.

In this As One podcast series, we talk about why organizational alignment matters.  If the organization or team that you lead is out of alignment around certain critical issues, your experience is going to be a rough ride. In this episode, we highlight the need for your leadership team to find agreement around the most important issue that your organization is facing in any given season. What is the one shared goal? What's Most Important Now Most organizations suffer from initiative overload. When your team has so many competing focal points, nothing is accomplished well. You'll have a flurry of activity but mediocre results. Your team will function with much more integrity when they agree and are aligned around one shared goal. Every department has an idea of what they need, but the critical question is: What is currently most important for us as an organization? Singular Focus Revenue, expenses, business development, employee engagement, and client satisfaction will always demand the attention of your team. There are seasons when one of those, or even something completely different, needs an elevated level of attention from the team. Breaking Silos Without clarity and alignment around a singular focal point, you'll see silos emerge within your team—it's the inevitable result. The fruit of silos: Leaders and departments will focus on activities that are in their best interests and projects that will propel their performance and advancement, not necessarily what is best for the organization.  When the leadership team instead agrees on the current, most important initiative for the organization, leaders are more willing to sacrifice time and resources to achieve the common goal. Humility and Exposure Gaining commitment to a short-term goal will free your leaders to demonstrate humility--the mark of great team—and will also expose any team members who are more interested in serving their ego and personal agenda than the greater good. Agreement on the One Goal Takes Time Give this process time. It requires an intentional conversation with the full team. Don't make the mistake of gathering opinions or extrapolating your challenge from moments around the coffee pot. You will need someone to draw out opinions from those who tend to withhold their thoughts in crucial conversations. Key Questions A couple of helpful thoughts to stimulate the conversation are: If we don't address _____ in the next six months, we are going to be in trouble. If we only accomplish one thing in the next six months, what does it need to be? Get Buy-in If you are the senior leader, you may already know the answer to the question. Giving your team the opportunity to speak into the process affords you the buy-in and commitment that you likely wouldn't gain if you presented your thoughts as a directive. Context for Decisions You don't have to publish this goal throughout the organization. It is sufficient for a backdrop for leadership team decisions, and as a context for determinations regarding sacrifices of resources and time. I would deeply appreciate a review and a rating if you have enjoyed this episode. Take a minute to offer your feedback, and please recommend the show to a friend. Connect with me on social media! Direct message me on Instagram or Twitter. I'd love to know how these podcasts are encouraging your team's results. Until next time, lead well! Bill   EPISODE CREDITS: If you like this podcast and are thinking of creating your own, consider talking to my producer, Danny Ozment. He helps thought leaders, influencers, executives, HR professionals, recruiters, lawyers, realtors, bloggers, coaches, and authors create, launch, and produce podcasts that grow their business and impact the world. Find out more at https://emeraldcitypro.com 

In this As One podcast series, we talk about why alignment matters in organizational health. If the organization or team that you lead is out of alignment around critical issues, your experience is going to be a rough ride. In this episode, we talk about how your team's behaviors are accurate representations of your core values, whether you like what you see or not. What you and your team value will always be reproduced in your actions. Make Your Organization's Core Values Clear Have you ever made a long road trip with your kids in the back seat? Do they know what's expected from them as you drive for hours or days on end, or do you rely on hope that they'll always do the right thing? What about your team: Do they know what behaviors are expected, or are the values of your organization unclear? Your Values Should Guide Your Team's Internal and External Behaviors Your team will function with much less drama when they agree and align around behaviors that matter to your organization's vision and personality. Most teams have a list of core values, but they're often vague. Your team's values should guide your daily interactions both internally and externally with clients and vendors. They should inform every relational aspect of your business. CEO to Client: “We'll Miss You.” Southwest Airlines is known for nearly militant adherence to its core values, one of which is humor. After a Southwest attendant gave the standard pre-flight safety presentation with the skill of a stand-up comedian, a frequent flier complained to the CEO, threatening to stop flying with Southwest if the behavior continued. The CEO replied with a short note of only three words, “we'll miss you.” This is an excellent example of how commitment to core values can affect an entire organization's processes and relationships. Values that Miss the Mark If your values are unclear, or they aren't reflected in your team's day-to-day behaviors, they'll breed cynicism and a demoralized workforce. One of Enron's core values was integrity. It's hard to believe their team didn't become cynical and siloed from the lack of integrity. Alignment Minimizes Drama Getting clear and aligned around actual behavioral values is one of the most intense exercises in my process with clients—and if the team continues to do the intentional, hard work to rehearse and drive those values throughout the team and processes, this alignment proves to be an extremely valuable tool for the entire organization. Quit Reaching Over the Seat If you want to minimize the amount of time you spend dealing with unproductive team behaviors, connect with me for a free, complimentary conversation about our organizational-health process. In less than 30 minutes, you'll find out if some feedback would be valuable for you and your team.   Connect with me on social media! Direct message me on Instagram or Twitter. I'd love to know how these podcasts are encouraging your team's results. Until next time, lead well! Bill   EPISODE CREDITS: If you like this podcast and are thinking of creating your own, consider talking to my producer, Danny Ozment. He helps thought leaders, influencers, executives, HR professionals, recruiters, lawyers, realtors, bloggers, coaches, and authors create, launch, and produce podcasts that grow their business and impact the world. Find out more at https://emeraldcitypro.com

In this As One podcast series, we talk about why organizational alignment matters. If the organization or team that you lead is not aligned around specific, critical issues, your experience is going to be a rough ride. In this episode, we talk about the value of your team being specific, clear, and aligned around why you do what you do. In their classic work, Built to Last, Jim Collins and Jerry Porras recognize that healthy, enduring organizations are incredibly clear on the fundamental reason they exist. Know Your Why If your team lacks alignment around the reason that your organization exists, you'll see a lack of unity and direction. Ultimately, a lack of alignment yields a demoralized and unmotivated workforce. Your team may be functional but will never be highly productive. Compelling Vision Your team wants, actually needs, a compelling vision. What are you doing to make the world a better place, even if only for a small group of people? A compelling ‘why' is the thing that encourages team buy-in. People want to feel that they are a part of something larger than themselves, something that offers significance for their investment. Passion is easily lost in an organization without a significant reason for your team to participate in the vision. Money is Not a Good ‘Why' Some organizations exist solely to make money for the principals and shareholders. Unless you have a remarkable profit-sharing plan for your team, this is probably not going to be the kind of vision that gets them out of bed in the morning. Making money is simply an indicator of success, not a compelling reason for existence. Vision Statements Are Not Marketing Tools Your marketing department can't craft compelling vision statements; they can contribute, but your “why” has to be more than a marketing tool. It must represent the heart of your vision in order for people to give themselves to it with any measure of integrity. Questions to Ask Yourself and Your Team A couple of questions should help jumpstart your “why do we exist?” conversation: What can we do to make the world a better place? And, for whom are we making it better? What is possible while staying within the boundaries of our greatest strengths and passions? Possible Categories Exemplary Client Service: We exist to make the world better for our clients. Industry Specific: for example, hospitality. Disney exists to offer individuals the ultimate in guest hospitality. Greater Cause: I have a client whose professional endeavors helps them create excess wealth that feeds causes. Near and dear to their heart is a desire to make the world safer for children without parents and victims and targets of trafficking. Community: I helped a client define the following 'why' for their organization: “We exist to improve the communities in which we work by implementing proven environmental solutions that protect human health and the environment, and encourage sustainable social and economic development.” Employee Benefit: Some companies exist to create extraordinary cultures and opportunities for their employees. Barry-Wehmiller is an exceptional example of this, and Bob Chapman tells their story is his book, Everybody Matters. Wealth Creation: This is not typically compelling for your team members, but if this is your vision, state it clearly. People need to know what they are buying into. Coming to alignment is not a fast-food type of encounter—it takes time to define and clarify. The process is messy as ideas are introduced and debated. Give yourself the gift of time and effort to create critical alignment. It will save you time, drama, and confusion in the long run. --- If your organization is suffering from a lack of alignment, connect with me for a free, complimentary conversation about our organizational health process. It won't cost you more than 30 minutes of your time to find out if some feedback would be valuable for you and your team.   Connect with me on social media! Direct message me on Instagram or Twitter. I'd love to know how these podcasts are encouraging your team's results. Until next time, lead well! Bill   EPISODE CREDITS: If you like this podcast and are thinking of creating your own, consider talking to my producer, Danny Ozment. He helps thought leaders, influencers, executives, HR professionals, recruiters, lawyers, realtors, bloggers, coaches, and authors create, launch, and produce podcasts that grow their business and impact the world. Find out more at https://emeraldcitypro.com

In this As One podcast series, we talk about why organizational alignment matters. If the organization or team that you lead is out of alignment around certain critical issues, your experience is going to be a rough ride. In this episode, we look at the value of creating agreement and alignment around four key concepts. Know Your Why In order to engage your team at an optimal level, the team needs to agree around why you are doing what you are doing. Your ‘why' creates a compelling vision that attracts the engagement of your employees. What are your values? For a team to function with minimum drama it is necessary to align around expected behaviors. When everyone agrees to abide by clear stated values there opportunity for dysfunction and drama is significantly reduced. What are we doing? This should be the easiest question to answer, but you might be surprised. In the absence of clarity team members often take on tasks and responsibilities that do not contribute to the vision or mission of the team in a profitable way. Reducing Siloes An organization needs to be clear on, and aligned around, the greatest challenge facing the team at this moment. Without agreement on this you run the risk of every team member focusing effort on the issue most critical to their area of responsibility. You need the cohesion that occurs when you face challenges as one. Creativity and Innovation Suffer Creativity and innovation are two of the first liabilities when a team is not functioning in union with one another. Alignment provides boundaries and clarity that free team members to know what they need to pursue and how much permission and flexibility they have in their process. ---  If your organization is suffering from a lack of alignment, connect with me for a free, complimentary conversation about our organizational-health process. It won't cost you more than 30 minutes of your time to find out if some feedback would be valuable for you and your team.   Connect with me on social media! Direct message me on Instagram or Twitter. I'd love to know how these podcasts are encouraging your team's results. Until next time, lead well! Bill

In this “Leading with a Limp” podcast series, we talk about how leaders can effectively manage themselves and their teams during times of conflict and move toward organizational health. If you've been a leader for any time, you know that strife, betrayal, and even personal wounds will come. The secret to leading well isn't to avoid these painful times but to embrace them and heal. Creating an exceptionally healthy environment requires intentional, hard work. But do it, and your team will flourish. In this episode, we consider the value of friendships and connections at work as a safety net to ease the irritation when relationships are strained. Friendships and Team Engagement Friendships on the job are vital to an employee's sense of engagement. Gallup, the leading voice in measuring and reporting on the state of employee engagement included the question, “Do you have a close friend at work?” in their Q12 engagement survey. Wise Leaders Create Opportunities for Connection I place little value in trust falls. I think they are a good way to get hurt. The value of experiences like those and others is the opportunity to connect and bond in a non-work-related way. Great leaders create space for their people to connect with and appreciate each other beyond a level of mere functionality in the organization. The Chemicals Friendships and close connections stimulate the production of serotonin and oxytocin, the biochemicals responsible for feelings of appreciation and connectedness. That sense of connectedness is critical when stress is elevated and relationships are strained. Make a List I have a client who brainstormed ideas for encouraging their team members to connect. They came up with over forty ideas, many of which were free or inexpensive. It's not the magnitude of the moment that matters. It is simply the creation of a moment to bond over shared experiences like family matters, hobbies, sports, or entertainment. These bonds create a safety net and reduce the damaging presence of cortisol in seasons of high stress. Be Intentional Create moments to connect on a social level for the sake of your team. The mechanics do not matter; the intentionality to provide a moment does. Connections fulfill a deep longing in every individual. Allowing for those connections on the job will help to ensure your team survives and thrives in seasons where relationships are strained. --- If you recognize conflict in your team or a limp in your leadership but don't know where to begin, let's talk. We offer a great diagnostic tool to determine the strengths and liabilities of your organization. It's a relatively pain-free process by which we obtain feedback from your team members to identify the roadblocks and blind spots in your pursuit of a healthy team.  Connect with me for a free, complimentary conversation about our organizational-health process. It won't cost you more than 30 minutes of your time to find out if some feedback would be valuable for you and your team.  Connect with me on social media! Hit me up on Instagram or Twitter. I'd love to know how these podcasts are provoking your thought processes. Until next time, lead well! Bill

In this “Leading with a Limp" podcast series, we talk about how leaders can effectively manage themselves and their teams during times of conflict and move toward organizational health. If you've been a leader for any time, you know that strife, betrayal, and even personal wounds will come. The secret to leading well isn't to avoid these painful times but to embrace them and heal. Creating an exceptionally healthy work environment requires intentional hard work. But do it, and your team will flourish. In this episode, we focus on the qualities of leadership that enable leaders to create cultures that facilitate restoration. The Winning Combination: Humility and Professional Resolve Jim Collins and his research team identified these two qualities as marking leaders who succeeded in creating enduring success for the companies they led. Humility without professional resolve fails to deliver exceptional results. Professional resolve without humility produces inflated egos at the expense of the contributions of those who serve your vision. Humility C.S. Lewis offered a brilliant definition of humility: “Humility is not thinking less of yourself. It is thinking of yourself less.” Healthy leaders are not driven to inflate their own egos. They don't suffer the common neuroses of being gracious publicly and assholes in private. The Resolve Leaders who possess a resolve to create an enduring business and whose successes are shared by all who make that possible will intentionally create a level of trust that enables teams to navigate seasons of conflict and emotional injury. Responsibility and Generosity The creation of exceptional trust is the reward for leaders who are quick to take responsibility for failures and generous with credit for their team's successes. We're Creating a Challenging Future Unfortunately, with the growing popularity of an every-player-gets-a-trophy mentality we are not setting future generations up for success where these two characteristics are concerned. I believe that every child should be valued, but we have to allow them to fail and then teach them to take responsibility for their failures if we are going to foster their future success. In a world where ego is rewarded with little consequence for failure, extreme personal humility and intense professional resolve cannot flourish. We owe our kids a better future. --- If you recognize conflict in your team or a limp in your leadership but don't know where to begin, let's talk. We offer a great diagnostic tool to determine the strengths and liabilities of your organization. It's a relatively pain-free process by which we obtain feedback from your team members to identify the roadblocks and blind spots in your pursuit of a healthy team.  Connect with me for a free, complimentary conversation about our organizational-health process. It won't cost you more than 30 minutes of your time to find out if some feedback would be valuable for you and your team.  Connect with me on social media! Hit me up on Instagram or Twitter. I'd love to know how these podcasts are provoking your thought processes. Until next time, lead well! Bill

In this Leading with a Limp podcast series, we talk about how leaders can effectively manage teams during times of conflict and move toward organizational health. If you've been a leader for any length of time, you know that strife, betrayal, and even personal wounds will come. The secret to leading well isn't to avoid these painful times but to embrace them and heal. Creating an exceptionally healthy environment requires intentional, hard work. But do it, and your team will flourish. In this episode, we focus on the necessity of handling hard conversations with employees well. First, Know Your Story and Honor Theirs Awareness of our tendencies under stress gives you and your team the advantage when the need for difficult conversations arises. Individual stress profiles, such as those provided in a DISC or MBTI profile, offer you insight into what to expect from each other when the stakes are high. There Is Always More to the Story Our own reactions under stress, and the reactions of those we live and work with, are rarely the product of the immediate moment. Unless the moment is an expression of malice or violence, our reactions are most often an extension of a deeper story. How we interpret moments of stress is often distorted by the lens of experience. This is why it is critical to know your team and to develop deep levels of employee trust. Take time, and be intentional to know their stories. Develop Self-Control Managing your reactions is a function of your emotional intelligence. The good news is, this is an area that we can all grow in. Step Away and Come Back In the heat of a stressful conversation where the stakes are high, self-control may look like walking away, taking a time out. This is an acceptable strategy as long as you come back to the table and reframe the conversation in a solutions-oriented posture. Having Hard Conversations with Employees When conversations take a heated turn, consider these three steps: Rehearse the objective. Acknowledge feelings—honor what's in the emotional atmosphere. Stick to the facts. Navigating difficult conversations is awkward and uncomfortable for most of us, but the advantage goes to those who do it with grace! --- A valuable resource for additional thoughts on difficult conversations is Crucial Conversations by the team at VitalSmarts. It is loaded with examples and strategies for facilitating productive conversations when the stakes are high. If you recognize conflict in your team or a limp in your leadership but don't know where to begin, let's talk. We offer a great diagnostic tool to determine the strengths and liabilities of your organization. It's a relatively pain-free process by which we obtain feedback from your team members to identify the roadblocks and blind spots in your pursuit of a healthy team.   Connect with me for a free, complimentary conversation about our organizational-health process. It won't cost you more than 30 minutes of your time to find out if some feedback would be valuable for you and your team.   If you haven't already, we'd love your feedback on the show. Leave a comment, a review, or even a topic you'd like to hear me cover. Until next time, lead well! Bill

In this Leading with a Limp podcast series, we talk about how leaders can effectively manage teams during times of conflict and move toward organizational health. If you've been a leader for any time, you know that strife, betrayal, even personal wounds will come. The secret to leading well isn't to avoid these painful times but to embrace them and heal. Creating an exceptionally healthy environment requires intentional, hard work. But do it, and your team will flourish. In this episode, we focus on how you as the leader can avoid developing a limp (or heal the one you already have) when you experience friendly fire from your team. First, Address the Issue If you've never witnessed healthy conflict, your tendency during difficult times is likely to avoid, shove it under the rug, ignore. Unaddressed issues within your team lead to bitterness. Left unreconciled, these issues mar both our trust with each other and our ability to move forward with ease. We become awkward, uncomfortable. We might start to avoid the person with whom we have the breech. The seed for an unhealthy working environment has been planted, and it will begin to impact your financial bottom line: When trust goes down, time and expense go up. The most important thing you can do is address the issue. Don't let it fester into a limp. Develop a Set of Core Values, or Behaviors For long-term organizational health, develop your team's core values. Establishing team values will give you a playbook for mitigating conflict and miscommunication. Core values are not slick words developed by your marketing team that live on your wall and website. Those do no good, and chances are your team has no idea what they say anyway. True core values define the behaviors upon which your team agrees they will relate to each other—and they are vital to your organization's health. Core values are pre-agreed behaviors: When conflict comes, this is how we are going to behave with each other, with clients, and with vendors. These day-to-day behaviors promote the best among your team, and they are so clear and rehearsed that any team member can recite them at any time. It is healthy to have conflict in your team about project challenges because it will push everyone to improve; however, when conflict becomes personality-directed and even mean-spirited, team values are vital to keeping the team together. Read more about developing core values. How to Establish Effective Team Values Core values are day-to-day behaviors that are clearly demonstrated among your team. Practically useful team values will have the following qualities: They define how you are going to behave with each other, clients, and vendors. They are clear and well-rehearsed so all team members can readily recall and understand behavioral expectations. They are a team high priority, so if values are violated the parties involved will come together to examine what happened and why. Go Back and Fix the Problem If there are breeches now—people you've harbored offense with, something simmering that you've left unaddressed—go back this week and have the awkward, but profitable, conversation. Reconcile. Watch trust go up, and watch trust and expense go down. When new conflict arises, proactively address the issue at hand as soon as possible. This breeds trust and helps prevent offenses from festering. Don't let offenses go unchecked with your team. Vulnerable Leadership Will Give You a Competitive Edge Be willing to model this behavior as a leader. Have the humility to own your part and say, “Let's come back to the table, talk through the problem, and see if we can get back to the issues and the concepts.” This is vulnerability-based trust, and it will give you a competitive edge. Your employees and peers will trust you when you are willing to model humility as a leader and admit when you could have handled things differently. Do the hard work, and your team will flourish under your leadership. ---  If you recognize conflict in your team or a limp in your leadership but don't know where to begin, let's talk.  We offer a great diagnostic tool to determine the strengths and liabilities of your organization. It's a relatively pain-free process by which we obtain feedback from your team members to identify the roadblocks and blind spots in your pursuit of a healthy team.   Connect with me for a free, complimentary conversation about our organizational-health process. It won't cost you more than 30 minutes of your time to find out if some feedback would be valuable for you and your team.   If you haven't already, we'd love your feedback on the show. Leave a comment, review, or even a topic you'd like to hear me cover. Until next time, lead well! Bill

As leaders, we all have seasons that we're leading with a limp, that is when we've suffered a leadership injury, such as a betrayal or a loss of confidence in our team. The danger is, if left unresolved, our injury can cause our attitudes to calcify into patterns of highly-charged reactions. This erodes the harmony and trust within our team and leads to an unhealthy work environment.   You may be reacting to real offenses or even betrayal from employees or colleagues, but to heal the limp, it's imperative that you take a step back after the situation escalates to assess the real root cause. If you've overreacted with your team, you also need to repair any broken ties.   What to Do When Leading with a Limp The first step is to reflect. In instances where you find your reactions getting the best of you, give yourself room to be self-aware:  Consider the root of your response and how it found its origin. How much of your reaction was fueled by perceived offenses, real offenses, and past offenses? Look at the reaction from a new perspective and discern the message from the messenger.  Review the intensity of your reaction. Did the punishment fit the crime?   Self-reflection can shed light on past experiences and betrayals that cause you to put your armor up. In doing so, you may find opportunities to repair communication with your team and revisit shared values.  Define Your Team's Values: “This is who we are. This is how we behave.”  High-emotion situations are where core values can help. Core values are more than inspirational posters in the breakroom—they are a code of conduct. If you don't have core values for your organization already defined, create a list of shared values that are actionable and describe specific behaviors. Useful team values will directly address how you are going to live together in harmony and pursue peace with each other. From there productivity and creativity will ultimately flow.  Rebuild the Team Relationship If your limp has caused any over-reactions, work on rebuilding. Don't let offenses and perceptions fall by the wayside. Some leaders by default isolate themselves after uncomfortable situations. If you're leading a team, you can't isolate yourself or insulate against one individual without isolating or insulating against all.  You need to address the problem. Set an example as a leader and offer a genuine apology to the person you slighted. You can go back to your team member at that moment and offer words like “I'm sorry. I overreacted. That did not come off well, and that's not my intention toward you. That's not how we're committed to functioning together.” Take time to listen to the other party. If the interaction is intense, bring someone you trust—not as ammunition to defend your stance—but to mediate and hear both sides of the story.   ---  If you recognize conflict in your team or a limp in your leadership but don't know where to begin, let's talk.  We offer a great diagnostic tool to determine the strengths and liabilities of your organization. It's a relatively pain-free process by which we obtain feedback from your team members to identify the roadblocks and blind spots in your pursuit of a healthy team.   Connect with me for a free, complimentary conversation about our process. It won't cost you more than 30 minutes of your time to find out if some feedback would be valuable for you and your team.  Till next week: Better You. Better Team. Better Business. Better Life.

To create a healthy company culture, you need to get to know your employees' needs and wants. We're continuing our podcast series on what your team needs to thrive. This week: your team's need to feel valued. In episode 18 we introduced the idea of growing healthier teams as a function of Maslow's hierarchy of needs. In order, they are survival, safety, belonging, importance, and self-actualization. Highly engaged, connected team members become the norm in a culture where an individual's importance and value are reinforced and celebrated. There are very few individuals who have the capacity to function at a high level of impact and influence without the support and encouragement of at least a small community of people who cheer for, encourage, and challenge them in their process. Even those of us who function as independent entrepreneurs need a band of brothers and sisters, a community. That implies that we are willing to know and to be known. With your team, it's important they know that what matters to them matters to you. It really comes down to a very simple equation: a little time plus empathy equals the communication of importance and value. We're introducing a key word to our leadership vocabulary: empathy. As Albert Einstein said, “Empathy is patiently and sincerely seeing the world through the other person's eyes. It is not learned in school; it is cultivated over a lifetime.” Empathy and sympathy are different. Sympathy is pity, and it's not a long-term motivator. Empathy is an understanding and a willingness to share the feelings of others. It says, “That sucks. I am so sorry,” and “What do you need from me?” I recently worked with a group of young leaders who said the number one behavior they valued in a team was empathy. Empathy communicates value. How do you integrate empathy in your team? Train your leadership that empathy is a core leadership value. Set the standard that you as a team are going to communicate value and appreciation for every member and that you're going to do that by expressing genuine trust and empathy. Integrating empathy, recognition, and appreciation into your engagement strategy must be intentional and consistent in order to get the return on investment. Whatever you do, don't try this simply as one more strategic initiative. If empathy and appreciation feel insincere, your team will pull back, become self-protective, and disengage. If we want people to love their work, we're going to have to love the people. In the workplace, love values others. It's a deep appreciation, respect, and dignity for another. Start today by extending sincere empathy and offering recognition and appreciation for their contributions. If you take care of your people, they will take care of your clients and your business. -- Healthy cultures should be a pressure relief for leaders: Drama is reduced, confusion is diminished, accountability improves, and the team focuses on results, not personal agendas. If this sounds like heaven to you but you often find yourself doing a slow burn in hell, let's talk. We offer a great diagnostic tool to determine the strengths and liabilities in your organization. It's a relatively pain-free process by which we obtain feedback from your team members to identify the roadblocks and blind spots in your pursuit of a healthy team. Connect with me for a free, complimentary conversation about our process. It won't cost you more than 30 minutes of your time to find out if some feedback would be valuable for you and your team. If you haven't already, we'd love your feedback on the show. Go to iTunes, Stitcher, or your favorite podcast platform and leave some love. Till next week: “better you, better team, better business, better life.”

What do your employees want most? In part five of this series, we uncover surprising findings on team culture and get to the heart of how you can make your employees happy. In a study conducted by the University of Minnesota, managers and employees were asked to rank work-related needs like job security, good wages, promotion, help with personal problems, appreciation, and feeling in on things (desire for connection). Employees ranked these factors on how important they felt each issue was in the workplace. Managers ranked them according to how important they thought their employees would rank each issue. The result? Leadership and employees had a completely different view of factors that mattered most at work. These three things mattered most to employees: Appreciation Feeling in on things, desire for connection Help with personal problems In contrast, those three things were at the bottom of the order in responses from leadership. In this podcast episode, I talk about why leaders often overlook these factors. As a leader, you can save time and money by better understanding employee needs. Appreciation and recognition are the least expensive yet most effective tools in your battle for employee engagement and satisfaction. Leaders often assume employees value survival and safety-level needs, such as good wages and job security, above other factors in the workplace. This is where the disconnect comes in. Employees' top needs often relate more to belonging, importance, and self-actualization.   Communicating a sense of belonging begins with being interested in your team members on an individual and personal level. Leaders can avoid high employee turnover and recruitment costs by fostering a sense of belonging and comradery in their teams. How to Meet Your Team's Needs for Appreciation How you can start to effectively meet your team's needs:  Know the dos and don'ts of communicating appreciation. For appreciation to have value, it has to be specific and meaningful to employees. Appreciation that is too simplified or general can actually be counterproductive.     Start conversations. Know your team members on an individual and personal basis so they feel a sense of belonging. Speak their language. Understand the 5 Languages of Appreciation in the Workplace and how they can help your employees feel valued. Encourage connection. Create occasional opportunities for team members to have fun and connect around moments other than work. -- I want you and those alongside you on your journey to deeply enjoy the life you have been given. Feel welcome to drop me a line on social or email me if you would like to get started on creating a happier, healthier team. As always, we're here to help you get to a “better you, better team, better business, better life.” Resources in this episode: Gary Chapman & Paul White's book, The 5 Languages of Appreciation in the Workplace.

Listen in to this week's episode for leadership tips to improve your company culture and make employees happy. First, address your team's safety, security, and social needs.   Leaders, you can prevent high employee turnover by first ensuring that your employees' needs are being met. Maslow's hierarchy of needs comes into play here and ranked in order, these needs are: survival, safety, belonging, importance, and self-actualization.   Starting at the basic level of survival, we're talking about the physiological needs of food, warmth, and shelter. After those are met, then we can address safety—also known here as job security, resources, and good health.   If your team members struggle with security or shelter, they won't have the bandwidth to appreciate the connection, even if you've created a work culture that offers a sense of belonging.   In reality, true team engagement doesn't begin until we can address level three in the hierarchy of needs: belonging. Belonging (the need for community) is identified by Gallup as one of the 12 factors of employee engagement. This is the need for friendship, family, or a sense of connection. How can you keep employees happy at this level? Employees in the belonging stage desire respect, recognition, and the ability to express strength and freedom.   Extending a sense of belonging is the foundation of employee and team engagement. If you really want to awaken engagement as a leader, don't just offer your team a sense of place. Offer them a voice.  Next is the need for self-actualization, a motivation to fulfill an inner potential. Team members at the self-actualization stage have the possibility for growth, and they crave the opportunity to express creativity and innovative ideas.  In this leadership podcast episode, I talk through three ways that you can meet employee needs and wants to grow a highly engaged organization:  Start conversations. Ask your employees if their basic needs of survival and safety are being met. Albeit awkward at times, these conversations will offer your team a sense of belonging and could potentially help them find additional resources to address these needs.   Encourage open communication. People only feel valued to the degree that they feel heard. When your team is voicing their opinions, listen for their strengths and recognize them for their contributions.  Voice your appreciation. The height of team engagement will occur when each team member feels appreciated, recognized, and able to express their full potential. Your employees will add value to your team if they feel valued.   As always, feel welcome to drop me a line on social or email me if you would like to talk through your organizational and leadership challenges!  

Are you a safe leader—meaning, can your team trust you not to respond in an exaggerated way when under stress? Or does your team walk on eggshells, fearing volatility or withdrawal when stress hits? If so, you're setting a culture that tells your team they aren't safe when times are tough. We're continuing our dialogue on the top three things your employees need to thrive: safety, appreciation, and inclusion. Your team's number one need is a psychologically safe work environment, and that vibe always begins with you. How to Become a Safe Leader Your IQ and personality may be relatively set, but there's limitless room for growth in your emotional intelligence. In this episode, I cover these practical tips that can help you improve your self-management against the triggers that often provoke you and turn you into Mr. Hyde.   Become aware of and take control of your self-talk. Breathe. Gather your presence and become aware of what is going on within you. That can help you bring control to difficult moments in lieu of just reacting. Count to ten. Even a small pause can help diffuse the internal chain reaction that can often trigger when on auto-pilot.   Sleep on it. Give yourself the gift of space away from the situation to think clearly. If something is particularly difficult, it's okay to back out and ask for an overnight pause. Smile and laugh more. Clean up your sleep. Nothing is more critical to good self-management than getting good, quality sleep. Being well rested promotes a healthy reaction when under stress. Studies show that incomplete sleep cycles can drastically affect your emotional well-being.   Visualize yourself succeeding. If I know I'm stepping into a particularly difficult encounter, my habit is to play out the worst case in my head before the situation happens. We are wired to anticipate the worst—it's what provokes our fight or flight—so it takes effort and energy to go against the default failure mantra. Instead, intentionally visualize yourself successfully responding or communicating. Imagine yourself having a calm response and coming up with a positive solution. Remind yourself that this can change. Put a mental recharge into your schedule. Take time every day to pause, get outside, and take a break. Get feedback. Speak to someone who is not emotionally invested in your problem. Pay attention to your judgmental self-talk. When faced with stressful situations, we frequently default to “I always” or “I never.” Instead, turn these into “this time” or “sometimes.”   Give yourself and those around you the gift of improved self-management. Set the pace, and model the behavior you want to see; then you will have the authority to hold those around you accountable for their unsafe behaviors. --- Have a burning leadership question you'd like us to cover? Email me or DM me on Instagram.

Are you a safe leader? Can your team members approach you with concerns and challenges without being afraid of your response? In this series, we're focusing on your employees' top three needs. Number two: a safe leader.  Job stress and anxiety don't come from the actual work but from uncaring and unaware leaders. As a leader, you can develop a team of happy employees who love their jobs. Do this by facilitating open communication, team productivity, and employee engagement. In unhealthy work cultures, leaders are volatile and unpredictable. Ineffective leaders aren't always super angry or demeaning; sometimes they withdraw and stop offering support. I call this an eggshell culture, where people are very careful not to say what they are thinking. In eggshell cultures, team members rarely offer creative or innovative suggestions. Meanwhile, leaders wonder why they don't get greater effort from their people. A truly engaged team won't be too careful to share their ideas. They will propel your vision and make real impact. Courageous leaders recognize that the culture of their organization begins with them. Listen in for ways that you can make employees feel safe. In this episode, you'll hear: Why research shows that employees would rather be unemployed than work with volatile leaders and managers. Ways that a healthy work culture and appreciation can reduce stress and anxiety at work. Tips for identifying your own stress responses and keeping your cool in high-pressure situations. How one firm motivated employees to produce higher-quality work and increased client satisfaction.

How is your company culture? Does your team have what it needs to feel safe?  I'm not talking about physical safety here. I'm asking if your organization's culture fosters an atmosphere of professional and emotional safety for your team. If you want to create a culture where employees are happy, engaged, and thriving, listen in.  For the next few weeks we're focusing on your employees' top three needs. Number one: a psychologically safe workplace.   An atmosphere in which your team feels protected, valued, and appreciated is paramount to every other desire your employees have. When they feel like they belong—they are free to relax and offer their best to your vision.  What does an unsafe company culture look like? It's a workplace where employees react out of fear, self-protection, and self-preservation. They're driven to protect themselves from leadership and each other. It's an exhausting environment.   Repeated studies show that being unhappy on the job, feeling unsafe and unappreciated, contributes to levels of anxiety and depression equal to or greater than the pain of unemployment.  Listen in for steps you can take today to change the culture around your office and help employees feel psychologically safe.   --  I'm motivated to helping you grow a business that your team members would describe as “a great place to work.” For us here at the Innovatus Group, our mission is all about the progression of “better you, better team, better business, better life.”  ---  Resources in this episode: Simon Sinek's book Leaders Eat Last  https://amzn.to/2JKblEL

Leaders can easily fall prey to workplace stress and the demands of the team. This can cause them to sacrifice the creativity that fuels innovation and progress. In this podcast episode, I talk about how to find proactive solutions during times of stress by taking a pause and practicing intentional mindfulness.   We're wrapping up our “Be Good to Yourself” series, which is focused on why leaders truly need to take care of themselves before effectively caring for their teams.   In 1929 Coca-Cola introduced their marketing slogan, “The pause that refreshes.” Though I'm not a fan of soda, this slogan offers insight into how you can become a better leader. Regular moments of pause and intentional reflection are critical to growing your capacities in leadership and life and doing both with all your heart.  Keeping up with the goals and demands of the workplace can lead managers to miss out on opportunities to give and receive necessary feedback. If that's not enough, the constant dinging and buzzing of our smartphones can add to the challenge of finding quiet moments to re-center.  The frenetic pace of our lives caps the voice of wisdom that is often only recognizable in a still, quiet moment. Listen in as I share how you can find those moments.   In this episode, you'll hear:  The key benefits of taking a moment to pause and intentionally reflect.  How a creative genius and holder of 200 patents, Dr. Elmer Gates, used pauses for enhanced productivity.   Quick ways you can incorporate intentional reflection into your life without interfering with your daily routine.   Strategies for thinking critically and creatively—instead of reactively—in crisis situations.   I'd love to hear your questions, thoughts, and comments. If you have a minute, drop me a line on social or email me with your name and questions, and I'll take some time in an upcoming episode to address some of your organizational and leadership challenges!  As always, my hope is to encourage you in the pursuit of a better you, better team, better business, better life! 

Is it possible that you are unintentionally sabotaging your own progress toward becoming a better leader? As we've written in this series, healthy teams require healthy leaders, so it's vitally important you take care of yourself. In this podcast episode, we'll talk about self-care in terms of self-talk, positive thinking and overcoming perfectionism. What you say to yourself is critical to the health of your leadership.   We all have foundational messages that tend to run through our minds on auto-play. Many of these thoughts are negatively oriented. For most of us, the process is so automatic that we often don't realize how self-critical we are. We can blame our primitive ancestors for these negative leanings. When facing great hardships and threats over time, our thought processes evolved to diligently consider dangers to our existence. In other words, we are actually hard-wired to yield to worry.  The good news is that you can rewrite the negative story you have written about yourself. In this podcast episode, I share my own experience in reversing negative self-talk. The first step was to acknowledge the dysfunctional thought process. I had to intentionally break ranks with my perfectionist leaning to say, “Just because I don't do something perfectly that doesn't make me a failure.”  You have value and worth beyond your wildest imagination. Your previous failures and the messages of your past do not have to define who you will become.   In this episode, you'll hear about:   The research of Dr. Masaru Emoto, which explores how positive thinking impacts health and wellbeing.   How I learned to approach daunting DIY projects with less dread and more positivity.   Ways that you can offer hope and genuine kindness to those around you. (Hint: it starts by offering it to yourself.)   The origins of our negative self-talk and how to change it at the core.    I'd love to hear your questions, thoughts and comments. If you have a minute drop me a line on social or email me (bill@theinnovatusgroup.com) with your name and questions and I'll take some time in an upcoming episode to address some of your organizational and leadership challenges!  As always, my hope is to encourage you in the pursuit of a better you, better team, better business, better life! 

We're continuing our leadership skills series, and we're focused on why you, the leader, need to take care of yourself first. Healthy teams require healthy leaders.   In this episode, we unpack leadership self-care tip #3: the critical importance of a good night's sleep.  Healthy, effective leadership depends upon your getting quality, neurochemical-reset sleep. Without it, certain biochemical balances in your body—balances that are strategic to your emotional capacity and critical thinking—are impacted.   Unfortunately, 60% of us report poor-quality sleep, and it's affecting our leadership.  Think you're good? Not all sleep is created equal. Research shows, to get the full health benefits of a good night's rest, you need to move through four complete sleep cycles, and you need a minimum of 6 to 6.5 hours to do that.   You can sleep eight hours and not move through four compete cycles. It's the quantity and the quality of sleep that are key to maximizing your internal reset and optimizing your brain function.   In this episode, we offer a few tips to help fix what's disrupting your cyclical sleep process. Good sleep goes a long way toward helping you be more aware of and present to those around you. That one thing will help improve your relationships in life and leadership.   I'd love to hear your questions, thoughts and comments. If you have a minute, drop me a line on social or email me with your name and questions, and I'll take some time in an upcoming episode to address some of your organizational and leadership challenges!  As always, my hope is to encourage you in the pursuit of a better you, better team, better business, and better life!  

We're continuing our series on developing leadership skills, specifically focusing on taking care of yourself as a leader first. Why is this important? Because healthy teams can contribute significantly to your ROI and they require healthy leaders. In this week's episode, we unpack leadership self-care skill #2: becoming chemically dependent! Healthy chemical dependencies for leaders have nothing to do with caffeine, wine and alcohol—the great elixirs of truth—or mind-altering substances that eventually destroy the very faculties you desperately need to stay on top of your game. I'm referring to the biochemical influences that influence self-regard and healthy interactions with your team. I'm talking endorphins, dopamine, serotonin, oxytocin, and melatonin, or collectively, EDSOM. These five naturally occurring chemicals set us up for success in creating highly engaged workplaces, families, and communities because they reinforce all the feel-good elements of safe relationships, achieving goals, and being a valuable team member. When these chemicals are in healthy balance, you are an amazing person to live and work with. When they are out of balance, it's a different story. Understanding how these neurotransmitters and biochemicals can affect your interactions will make you more aware of the influence you're having on your team and will propel you to greater levels of presence in your work and your personal life. Listen in for simple strategies you can implement today that will encourage healthy chemical dependencies for you and your team and strengthen the bonds of your organization. --- I'd love to hear your questions, thoughts and comments. If you have a minute, drop me a line on social or email me with your name and questions, and I'll address some of your organizational and leadership challenges in an upcoming episode. As always, my hope is to encourage you in the pursuit of a better you, better team, better business, better life!

Healthy teams require healthy leaders. If you aim to become a better leader and to develop a healthy organization that delivers results, then it's imperative that you focus on you first. It's leadership development 101. Over the next few episodes, we'll discuss the absolute necessity of leadership self-care. Step one in improving your leadership and your team's experience: take care of yourself. In this episode, we cover the leadership tool of mindful meditation. Before you think I've jumped ship, let me say this: Your best and most innovative ideas will emerge as you become more intentionally mindful. Backed by centuries of practice and modern research, meditation can help you become a better leader by: * Being more present with your team * Making more mental space for creativity * Developing stronger mental discipline * Managing your own thought processes * Growing in emotional intelligence * Better managing your stress, anxiety, and depression * Increasing your immunity and lowering your blood pressure * Helping you sleep better * Improving your happiness and general well-being Listen in for simple and actionable steps that you can take to improve your emotional intelligence and grow in your leadership today.

Settled, but not satisfied. Everyone has moments where that feeling prevails. When you realize that you have settled without fulfillment for an extended period of time, that's when momentary despair becomes resignation! In Episode nine we're wrapping up our conversation about the all-too-common pain of resignation. And the good news that you do not have to live in that pain... More often than not, freedom from that pain comes down to leaders and teams willing to do the intentional, hard work of creating trust, practicing the art of healthy conflict, and extending appreciation for those in their workplaces and communities. Adjusting numbers is relatively easy compared to the intentionality required to build healthier team and family relationships. I'd much rather reprogram my external systems than have to look at how my behavior is affecting my performance. Behavior is almost always at the heart of engagement! Life is meant to be lived, and vision realized within a community. Invite the people who have offered their strengths to your vision to work with you to realize the fruit of your dreams. They will be happier at the end of the day, and so will you! Let me know how I can help you! Connect with me on social media via DM on Instagram at : Instagram.com/thebillperryshow, or Schedule a conversation!

Resignation is the primary symptom of disengagement, both personally and professionally. We're continuing to look at the idea of resignation-the acceptance of something undesirable, but seemingly inevitable. And, the good news that you don't have to live with that pain. Resignation and despair often find their conception in ‘settling.' Settling is the idea of being okay with just being okay. For many of you, in repeated bouts in the ring with resignation you have silenced the voices of dissension, those small signals from deep inside that tell you something isn't right. You're not satisfied. You might be settling...  I see it every day. You settle for work experiences that are not fulfilling. You settle for relationships that are functional at best. And they keep pushing down the internal voices of dissent. The problem with our silencing efforts is that they are often subtly self-destructive. We usually silence with some kind of addiction. Food, alcohol, re-doubling our efforts at work, affairs, television, fantasy novels. It doesn't have to be illegal to constitute a counterfeit. In this episode, I share some of my own story of realizing that I had reached a place of settling, and the move I made to shift into a new role. I offer you three strange questions, courtesy of my friend Mike Kim, that will give you resource for piercing the fog that is obscuring your passion. Here's a link to Mike's podcast where he introduces those questions. You'll love his stuff too. Rising from resignation means living from the inside out. Your actions are determined on deeply held convictions and values. It requires being willing to wrestle with the rumblings when something “just doesn't feel quite right.” If you'd like to connect with me elsewhere, you can DM me on Instagram at: instagram.com/thebillperryshow If you need some help getting clear on your passion, vision, and values, use this link to schedule some time to talk with me.

Resignation is the primary symptom of disengagement, both personally and professionally. We're continuing to look at the idea of resignation-the acceptance of something undesirable, but seemingly inevitable. And, the good news that you don't have to live with that pain. Resignation generally presents in diminished productivity, a withdrawal from communication, and a lack of passion and enthusiasm. Healthy teams are the product of healthy leaders. If your team is trending towards disengagement, the first position to consider is your own. Assuming you are not personally lost in the weeds, here are a few questions to ask concerning your team: Does everyone understand why we are doing what we are doing? The number one need: be in on things... Is everyone clear regarding their role in the vision? Do we have clarity and agreement around how we expect each other to behave in the pursuit of the objective? Alignment always begins with clarity. Disengagement begins with a loss of clarity around why we are doing what we are doing. If your team is exhibiting the signs of resignation and despair, don't offer directives, ask questions! Every team member deserves the right to the pursuit of happiness. While their overall emotional state is not your personal responsibility, it is your responsibility as a leader to ensure that they have every resource and opportunity at your disposal to experience that within the boundaries of your influence. How to Retain Top-Shelf Talent - https://www.theinnovatusgroup.com/employee-retention-checklist-download/

Resignation is the primary symptom of disengagement, both personally and professionally. Over the next few episodes, we're going to look at the idea of resignation-the acceptance of something undesirable, but seemingly inevitable. And, the good news that you don't have to live with that pain. Typically, resignation is marked by thoughts like, “life hasn't become _______”, or “if only ______”. Most of the time it's a function of a lack of alignment either internally, or externally with your team. Here's some advice. Get outside. Often it helps to get out of the mundane, routine operations that pull you away from vision and values. Ask yourself a couple of introspective questions: “Where have I moved away from integrity?” “Where did the train leave the tracks of vision and purpose?” Get help! It's not always a great idea to navel gaze alone. Get a coach to walk you through the process of getting back to passion and purpose.

In this episode, I talk about the path a leader has to take to create a culture that will engage, empower and inspire every team member and allow them to express their unique potential.   The path starts with clarity and alignment. Clarity and alignment represent the foundation organizational health. For a leader to experience maximum impact, their vision has to be clearly defined and they also must be aligned with their vision. People want to know that what they are waking up to do matters and why it matters. Team alignment around a shared vision is a primary component of a healthy organization. Clearly defined values, behaviors around which your team is aligned, become a backbone of a healthy organization. When this is realized, this is the point where drama and toxic company culture begins to fade.     In this episode, you'll hear about: How processes can create clarity and alignment within organizations The importance of creating a clear company vision Vision alignment and organizational health 101 Core values and their development   Resources mentioned: “Start with Why” TedTalk by Simon Sinek Retain Checklist - https://www.theinnovatusgroup.com/employee-retention-checklist-download/

A more rewarding and engagement work experience always begins in the heart of the leader.  In fact, building a healthy team rests on the foundation of growing yourself as a leader. As a leader, you have to, “Put your own mask on, first.”  It will enable you to survive, thrive and serve in seasons of stress, chaos and confusion. In this episode, I talk about the priority of self care and emotional intelligence.  As a leader you have to be willing to make time and room to develop yourself first. And, highly developed emotional intelligence is the secret sauce to great leadership. If you want a healthy and highly engaged team, you have to do the intentional, hard work to become a more healthy and highly engaged leader. “A better you makes for a better team, makes for a better business and makes for a better life.” In this episode, you'll hear about: Leadership and the priority to self care Self care is a foundational component of your emotional intelligence Emotional intelligence and your emotional quotient   Resources mentioned: Retain Checklist - https://www.theinnovatusgroup.com/employee-retention-checklist-download/

Today I use my words as a mirror to help you see the pain that leaders and employees live with on a daily basis. All of this pain can contribute to a fairly unfulfilling work and life experience.  Creating a fulfilling work environment starts with leaders. As a leader, whether you focus on culture or not, you are creating one. The Gallup Organization reported in 2016, 33% of U.S. employees were involved in, enthusiastic about and committed to their work and workplace. In that same time frame, 51% of employees were disengaged. Disengaged employees are putting in time, but not contributing with all of their heart. Engagement with your employees matters. Company cultures that reflect a positive environment matters too. It begins with you. You can create cultures that produce higher engagement and retain top shelf talent is my passion. I'd love to help. In this episode, you'll hear about: The story of a successful tech company faced with toxic culture and a turnover rate of 35% How actively disengaged employees can attribute to a toxic company culture Why employee engagement matters to your company and your bottom line   Resources mentioned: Retain Checklist - https://www.theinnovatusgroup.com/employee-retention-checklist-download/