November 2019 Newsletter Article
Four Ways To Help Your Employees Develop Their Purpose And Leadership Skills
by Hugh Hornsby
I suffered a severe head injury at the age of 9 that triggered epilepsy and ADHD. This was at a time when teachers really did not understand the disorders and how to handle me. I will never forget when one of my teachers told me that I needed to be placed in a special school and that I was not cut out to go to college. Today, I thank that teacher every day because I was determined to prove her wrong. I remember looking at her and saying, “I am not only going to college; I am going to be a big success.” She laughed. It's funny; I've thought of her almost every day since that time, but it's obvious that she didn't think of me. I saw her a couple of years ago, and she didn't know who I was. Even so, I passed her my vice president of sales calling card and said, "I want to thank you because you helped change my life." I quickly walked away with a smile on my face. Believe me when I say I know a lot of people had it a lot worse than me, but experiences like these don't have to get you "stuck." Mine defined my desire to help others, and I have built many businesses around my desire.
But your failures can help define you as well. In martial arts they say that when you get knocked down, you get back up. I learned at an early age that the key is to fail, get back up and ask yourself what you could do differently. The largest failure that we all could have would be not to take action. Do not let yourself or your team members become part of a law I call the "law of getting stuck." As I have turned around and built up companies, it hasn't been difficult to find people who are stuck. Helping many of these people find their purpose and passion, or their "why," is very rewarding as a leader. I've helped build companies and develop people with a four-step process; here's how to implement it in your own team and help them avoid getting stuck.
1. People:
Find those people who are stuck and who want to become a part of something bigger than themselves. The easiest way to identify these people is to begin having sessions with your team and discussing what is important to them. Where do they want to go and why? Ask very simple questions, and let them talk to help you discover where they are. You have to care and make sure they know that you are there to help.
2. What You Offer Them:
Ask the right questions. Find out where they want to go, both with their career and family life. (Yes, I said family life.) How can you help to get them there?
3. Self-Education:
Have your team members commit to educating themselves each day and each week. You can help them find books, podcasts, CDs and seminars relevant to their goals and roles.
4. Commitment:
Ask these team members to commit to offer the same help to others once you bring them into the fold. For example:
Hold a leadership workshop that is not mandatory but voluntary. This will help you find those who want to learn and give back. This can be a basic workshop that's as simple as sitting around a table and having a discussion on what leadership means to them. I highly suggest making this interactive so you get the entire group to create conversations. Then have them tell a little about who they are, where they came from and where they want to go or end up.
Develop an internal mastermind group for those who are interested. You can base this off of a book and discuss it together.
Develop a library of books, CDs and podcasts. This is a great way to have products available to read.
Offer leadership training. My favorites are leadership groups that meet on a regular basis.
Remember, keep it simple. Even if you only reach one person, you are making a difference as a leader. And remember your end game: supporting others so they can do the same.
In the song "Any Road," George Harrison sang, "If you don't know where you're going, any road will take you there." Helping others find that road can also help you elevate and change yours.
As an example, I've been interviewing and hiring for a launch. I held a workshop on leadership and our unique hiring practices. One person raised her hand and asked where she could find someone to help her find her "why." She said she wasn't sure she was doing what she wanted to do. I told her I understood and that figuring that out took some true thought. Her question reminded me that a lot of people think that the only way you become a leader is to find this great place and start once you get there. But you can start that journey today, right from your seat and right where you work. Just open the door for someone today. As the saying goes, "Inch by inch is a cinch."
To get started, ask yourself: Are you leading from where you are? Are you offering those that work for you a place that is more than a job? Are you offering a place to help people grow and find themselves while helping others do the same? Changing a culture happens from the inside out, both in a person and in a company or in a department.
Enjoy the journey.
Losing Employees to Clients or Competitors? Culture Is the Secret to Retaining Them. by Drew McLellan
Businesses lose employees all the time. At any moment, you could lose your top salesperson or developer to your biggest competitor, a company in another industry or one of your own clients. Some of your best workers might decide to start a company of their own. Even Microsoft, a hot destination for top talent, regularly loses high-ranking employees to Amazon, Google and other competitors.
What’s the problem? In a word, culture. You can throw money at top talent all you want, but if you don’t inspire your teams, you’ll struggle to attract employees in competitive job markets or retain your best workers in the face of tempting offers.
Healthy cultures lead to happy people, and happy people lead to happy clients. To create that happy culture, you don’t need to start Free Beer Fridays or let everyone leave after lunch. You simply need to improve your emotional awareness and give your employees the environment, motivation and perks that matter to them.
Why you must listen closely.As a leader, you probably consider yourself to be an attentive, helpful soul. When employees start to leave for greener pastures, though, it’s easy to wonder what they saw elsewhere that you didn’t give them.
The trick, as usual, is to listen. Employees love managers who listen to what they have to say, remember their opinions and treat them with respect. While better relationships won’t necessarily make every employee stay for life, a personal touch can go a long way.
ay you have an employee who gets especially upset when she feels disrespected. When you have a heated discussion with that employee, you can either press your point to get things done sooner, or you can back off until tempers cool down. The first option might get the job done, but you might sacrifice that employee’s job happiness in the process. The second option is less appealing in the short term but wiser in the long run.
This process relies on active listening. If you don’t pay attention to what employees say, you’ll never know what they need -- and when they find someone better at listening, they’ll jump ship right away. Active listening is a time-intensive process, but if you want to keep your best workers, it’s the price you have to pay.
Follow these tips to create a culture that not only attracts the best employees, but also keeps them at your company when headhunters come calling:
1. Discover your employees’ triggers.
Learn what makes your employees light up and what makes them furious so you can speak to each employee with compassion and understanding.
A close friend of mine performs an exercise at her company that she has found highly useful. She calls the exercise “sharapy” -- people talk to one another in pairs to share something significant about their lives or jobs. Partners aren’t allowed to speak until the time for the first partner is up. When the sharing ends, participants should be able to share most of what their partners relayed to them with relative accuracy.
The point is not to quiz employees. Rather, the point is to teach employees how to listen intently without thinking about what they’ll say next. In a world where distractions such as smartphones are king, these exercises are uniquely useful to forge stronger bonds within teams.
2. Wear your values on your sleeve.
You might think you know yourself well, but do you really? Most entrepreneurs start their companies without thinking much about identity, focusing only on values after sales start piling up.
Online shoe and clothing retailer Zappos does it differently: The famous “Ten Commandments of Zappos" include such rules as “pursue growth and learning” and “be passionate and determined.” Customer service agents at Zappos have the power to send replacement shoes for any reason they deem worthy. Many even keep greeting cards on their desks to send personal notes to customers who need them.
Agents at Zappos aren’t trained to sniff out who’s lying for an extra pair of shoes and who’s legitimate; they’re trained to make customers happy, and they do what’s necessary to achieve that goal.
3. Give employees real power, and watch how they use it.
Actions speak louder than words. Let employees make decisions with real effects, and see how they wield that power. The answer will tell you what your culture values and how your team responds to responsibility.
We allow our employees to set their own growth goals in quarterly one-on-ones. Other companies take similar paths. One recent survey from Paychex found that 73 percent of employees expect employers to provide high-quality self-service options, so employees clearly want to take control of their own lives.
Keep tabs on how different employee empowerment policies affect metrics such as engagement, and then draw the line from engagement to profit. Higher engagement is better for business, but not to the detriment of a company’s bottom line.
4. Don’t rely on unwritten rules.
Write down the rules you expect employees to follow, and then follow them yourself. Employees are attracted to companies with clearly stated missions, but only when the people running the show truly walk the walk.
Richard Branson didn’t become one of the most prominent businesspeople in the world by equivocating. After the murder of Jamal Khashoggi in a Saudi consulate in Turkey, Branson didn’t just condemn the Saudi government for its involvement; he suspended many substantial agreements his company had with the nation, showing the world that he means what he says.
Within his businesses, Branson treats his employees with respect and makes his expectations clear. That philosophy has made Virgin one of the most sought-after employers in the United Kingdom, per LinkedIn, as top talent swarms to a company that understands the value of culture.
To employees, staying at a job is about more than salaries and perks. By creating a great culture and merchandising it to top talent, companies can attract better candidates and keep their top workers for longer. Follow these tips to invest in your culture and transform it into a powerful tool for recruitment and engagement.
What’s the problem? In a word, culture. You can throw money at top talent all you want, but if you don’t inspire your teams, you’ll struggle to attract employees in competitive job markets or retain your best workers in the face of tempting offers.
Healthy cultures lead to happy people, and happy people lead to happy clients. To create that happy culture, you don’t need to start Free Beer Fridays or let everyone leave after lunch. You simply need to improve your emotional awareness and give your employees the environment, motivation and perks that matter to them.
Why you must listen closely.As a leader, you probably consider yourself to be an attentive, helpful soul. When employees start to leave for greener pastures, though, it’s easy to wonder what they saw elsewhere that you didn’t give them.
The trick, as usual, is to listen. Employees love managers who listen to what they have to say, remember their opinions and treat them with respect. While better relationships won’t necessarily make every employee stay for life, a personal touch can go a long way.
ay you have an employee who gets especially upset when she feels disrespected. When you have a heated discussion with that employee, you can either press your point to get things done sooner, or you can back off until tempers cool down. The first option might get the job done, but you might sacrifice that employee’s job happiness in the process. The second option is less appealing in the short term but wiser in the long run.
This process relies on active listening. If you don’t pay attention to what employees say, you’ll never know what they need -- and when they find someone better at listening, they’ll jump ship right away. Active listening is a time-intensive process, but if you want to keep your best workers, it’s the price you have to pay.
Follow these tips to create a culture that not only attracts the best employees, but also keeps them at your company when headhunters come calling:
1. Discover your employees’ triggers.
Learn what makes your employees light up and what makes them furious so you can speak to each employee with compassion and understanding.
A close friend of mine performs an exercise at her company that she has found highly useful. She calls the exercise “sharapy” -- people talk to one another in pairs to share something significant about their lives or jobs. Partners aren’t allowed to speak until the time for the first partner is up. When the sharing ends, participants should be able to share most of what their partners relayed to them with relative accuracy.
The point is not to quiz employees. Rather, the point is to teach employees how to listen intently without thinking about what they’ll say next. In a world where distractions such as smartphones are king, these exercises are uniquely useful to forge stronger bonds within teams.
2. Wear your values on your sleeve.
You might think you know yourself well, but do you really? Most entrepreneurs start their companies without thinking much about identity, focusing only on values after sales start piling up.
Online shoe and clothing retailer Zappos does it differently: The famous “Ten Commandments of Zappos" include such rules as “pursue growth and learning” and “be passionate and determined.” Customer service agents at Zappos have the power to send replacement shoes for any reason they deem worthy. Many even keep greeting cards on their desks to send personal notes to customers who need them.
Agents at Zappos aren’t trained to sniff out who’s lying for an extra pair of shoes and who’s legitimate; they’re trained to make customers happy, and they do what’s necessary to achieve that goal.
3. Give employees real power, and watch how they use it.
Actions speak louder than words. Let employees make decisions with real effects, and see how they wield that power. The answer will tell you what your culture values and how your team responds to responsibility.
We allow our employees to set their own growth goals in quarterly one-on-ones. Other companies take similar paths. One recent survey from Paychex found that 73 percent of employees expect employers to provide high-quality self-service options, so employees clearly want to take control of their own lives.
Keep tabs on how different employee empowerment policies affect metrics such as engagement, and then draw the line from engagement to profit. Higher engagement is better for business, but not to the detriment of a company’s bottom line.
4. Don’t rely on unwritten rules.
Write down the rules you expect employees to follow, and then follow them yourself. Employees are attracted to companies with clearly stated missions, but only when the people running the show truly walk the walk.
Richard Branson didn’t become one of the most prominent businesspeople in the world by equivocating. After the murder of Jamal Khashoggi in a Saudi consulate in Turkey, Branson didn’t just condemn the Saudi government for its involvement; he suspended many substantial agreements his company had with the nation, showing the world that he means what he says.
Within his businesses, Branson treats his employees with respect and makes his expectations clear. That philosophy has made Virgin one of the most sought-after employers in the United Kingdom, per LinkedIn, as top talent swarms to a company that understands the value of culture.
To employees, staying at a job is about more than salaries and perks. By creating a great culture and merchandising it to top talent, companies can attract better candidates and keep their top workers for longer. Follow these tips to invest in your culture and transform it into a powerful tool for recruitment and engagement.
