Mighty Good Work
From THE YES WORKS, this is MIGHTY GOOD WORK. A podcast built on the stories of people and companies who are making good work happen. Whether it’s work as a place to be, work as a product or service, or work as a way to spend your life, we will be talking to those who are committed to excellence and who are succeeding in bringing Mighty Good Work into existence. We aim to deliver actionable guidance to people shaping business about engagement, company culture, and healthy business relationships.
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MGW #24 - How To Fire People
01/22/2020
MGW #24 - How To Fire People
MGW #24 - How To Fire People Welcome back to the newly relaunched Mighty Good Work with your hosts Aaron Schmookler, Co-founder and Trainer of The Yes Works and Kristin Adams, Co-director of Startup Grind and first time founder of ALL2. Last episode we discussed shifting both the thought process surrounding, dialogue about and facilitation of people quitting their jobs and this episode we are focused on the other side of that equation - how to fire people compassionately. While one might think that goes without saying, you’d be surprised what still occurs in the workplace on the regular. As a podcast dedicated to leaders and aspiring leaders who insist that work should be good, even in the toughest of circumstances, we’d argue that a refresher course is in order. There's a common saying in the startup world the one great hire and the one great fire. Both are inevitable milestones – rites of passage in one’s career, if you will – so knowing what you should and should not do is pretty key. Firing DOs: Healthy company cultures champion continuous performance improvement PIPs (Performance Improvement Plans) used solely as a means to document and justify dismissal are not typically effective in managing an under-performing individual back to successful contributors Timely communication, immediate feedback, resetting clear expectations and outlining consequences in the moment are key; summarize and document for the benefit of both parties to follow through Open and encourage dialogue that helps get to the root cause of the performance issue (i.e. not having access to the right tools, inefficient processes, unrealistic expectations, improper staffing, lack of skills or interest, personal issues or life events, etc.) – some may be overcome, others not but determining that together can facilitate a smooth/mutual exit Individuals being fired for cause should know well in advance of the actual termination because of the open and frank discussion leading up it Pre-plan and coordinate the timing of both the internal and external communication/messaging Put it in writing and practice what you are going to say to the individual (i.e. don’t wing it/ad lib) Cut to the chase – no need for a long preamble; start with the statement and acknowledge the difficulty of the situation (NOT how hard this is for you) De-personalize the situation. Keep the focus on the big picture and if you do say something off-script, stop (apologize if warranted) and come back to topic Be authentic; if it makes sense to acknowledge their positive contributions, say they will be missed, etc. – do it Explain what happens next Keep it conversational Let them speak, ask questions – stick to your speaking points, do not argue the details/circumstances leading up to, etc. Discuss what they are looking for in their next job, provide constructive direction advice if asked Be their advocate to the extent it makes sense Most terminations are rooted in some kind of disconnect (skills, pace, life circumstances, etc.). This does not make them a bad employee – just the wrong fit Be generous when possible Severance, extension of benefits, etc. Ensure they get home (or to their preferred destination) safely (pay for car service, call friend or family to pick up, etc.) Firing DON’Ts: DON'T fire on a Friday or the end of the day, ideally early in the week around lunch hour Gives the individual the weekend to feel miserable, stew, get angry without recourse (i.e. puts them in a holding pattern until the following workweek) Gives time for the rumor mill to churn whereas a firing followed by a full work week provides the ability to ask questions and return/adjust to the new routine Take security precautions but DON’T perp walk if not necessary Stakes are higher than letting one person go; the performance of remaining employees often suffers if the message/statement being made is one of fear and/or reprisal Preserve the individual’s dignity; embarrassment breeds resentment & fuels gossip Give the individual a choice about when/how they want to collect personal effects, the option to do so without an audience Give the individual an option to say goodbye DON’T hide out after you’ve fired someone Take time to compose yourself if needed but be present, be visible, engage others – show you CARE Make yourself available for questions, concerns – allowing folks to process/vent will prevent other negative outcomes DON’T call a company meeting for the sole purpose of announcing the departure DON’T burn bridges, especially in today’s connected world While today’s topic doesn’t seem to align with workplace happiness, the fact is that as tough as it might be in the moment, the outcomes are usually quite positive. When handled correctly and with compassion, firing an individual can lead to happier people – both the employees who remain with the company and those who left in their new Folks, thank you so much for your time and attention. If you have questions, want to argue the merit of anything we’ve proposed today, have other ideas to contribute, etc. – we are happy to engage as long as the gloves don't come off. ☺ Kristin Adams: Aaron Schmookler: This has been Mighty Good Work and you are mighty good folks for joining us. Thanks for listening.
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MGW #23 - How to Retain Talent
01/08/2020
MGW #23 - How to Retain Talent
MGW #23 - How to Retain Talent Welcome to the Mighty Good Work relaunch. The focus hasn’t changed – this is still a podcast for people who want to make work a place worthy of the time we dedicate to it and for leaders and aspiring leaders who are committed to inspiring the same. We’ve tweaked the format, including a permanent new co-host, in the hopes of adding diversity of viewpoints, experience and topics for the benefit of our listeners. We are excited to share version 2.0 with you and on that note, let’s get started! In this episode we focus on shifting both the thought process surrounding, dialogue about and facilitation of people quitting their jobs. With tenure averaging 18-24 months (and dropping), if you're thinking about why and how people leave their jobs in the right way, you have an opportunity to actually do something to retain your best and brightest longer. Conventional wisdom is that people leave their jobs – having outgrown the role. The latest data would tell you that people leave people, more specifically, their managers. We contend that this is not an either/or situation, but rather people leave “bad experiences” and as such leaders must address the issue more holistically. If you think about a workplace version of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, successful leaders fulfill those needs by creating a sense of community, providing opportunity for development and growth and communicating the value of their employees’ contributions. Recognition, appreciation and critical feedback are key to how people interpret their experience (i.e. positive or negative), growth (i.e. improvement or stagnation of work product/process) and contribution (i.e. perceived importance of), making all three critical parts of the feedback loop. An oft cited reason for leaving is a lack of meaningfulness/purpose in their work. Find ways to tangibly connect individual contributions to outcomes. Strong leaders think big picture and balance methodology with results. Do physical butts in seats matter if objectives are being met? When is it ok to make process allowances if outcomes are achieved? Conversely, when is it not? We all have fear based reactions at times but how we address those slips matter. A private apology may not be sufficient, as public acknowledgment goes a long way towards demonstrating a commitment to the company’s mission and values. Promotions to management positions should not be made lightly. Tenure and the ability to perform hard skills consistently at an individual contributor level are not sufficient. Introducing an unskilled/unsupported manager into your ecosystem can quickly lead to employee unhappiness and subsequent turnover. Contrary to conventional wisdom, people do not necessarily have to be good at specific hard skills – be it writing code, accounting or creating content – to be leaders. Recognize the ability to communicate vision and strategy and give those folks opportunities to lead/influence. Don’t be so quick to dismiss the first-alerters – those you might chalk up to being hyper-sensitive or whiners. They often can signal early warning signs of problems that if addressed at that point won’t manifest as bigger issues. Strong leaders do not think in terms of a static employment contract, but rather on that allows for change over time. As employees’ lives evolve, what they need from work to support those changes also evolves. If the role or the company’s needs do not allow for that, then understanding those limitations and being prepared to gracefully facilitate that transition is key. Strive for better than average tenue. Nobody goes into a relationship with a predetermined end date in mind. You wouldn’t accept average product/service quality, sales results, etc. so investing in the things that keep your people engaged longer is just good business. Find ways to measure and improve. How you handle attrition factors into retention, as this communicates/models how others can expect to be treated. While it may seem counterintuitive, a common recurring theme revolves around the exit. Depersonalize the situation. Whether viewed as good or bad attrition, neither should it be viewed as an act of betrayal nor an opportunity to malign. Your ability to facilitate genuine, amicable separations and relay that to your staff will strongly factor into others’ decisions to stay or go. Exit interviews – the ability to give someone a chance to be heard – are important. Better to get the information first-hand and be able to address it head-on rather than via social media or open forums (Blind, Glassdoor, etc.). Strong leaders should view every employee exit as a way to create an ambassador of goodwill. You never know where paths will intersect, whether as a boomerang employee, advocate, customer, or partner. The ability to reengage with someone years later is a good litmus test of a successful exit.
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MGW #22 - Putting Core Values to Work
04/18/2018
MGW #22 - Putting Core Values to Work
Here are some action items taken from the episode to help you put your company's core values to work: Step 1: To get your company values off the wall, and actually working in your organization from top to bottom, make sure INTEGRITY tops the list. Without integrity, your other values are just suggestions. Step 2: Define integrity. Don’t take for granted that everyone knows what it means. Many companies define integrity as, “do the right thing.” The problem with that is... people can and do argue all day about what the right thing is. A more practical definition for integrity is Consistency. Consistency of thought word and action. You, your company, me… We have integrity to the degree that our actions are consistent with what we say, is consistent with what we think. Step 3: Get everyone’s explicite buy-in. If you don’t have a shared commitment to integrity on your team, then every other value will collapse when it becomes inconvenient enough. So, Integrity provides structural support for everything you do as a team. Including the primary driver of performance, growth, and fulfillment… A tool that’s difficult to wield: FEEDBACK The shared commitment to integrity helps you as a leader to overcome 4 obstacles to effective feedback. 1st, the THRESHOLD question: A question I hear from leaders often is, at what point do I have to give feedback? How incongruent, how “bad” does behavior have to be before I have to give feedback? My answer… Use your shared commitment to integrity to rethink the question. Integrity is all or nothing. You’re shooting for 100%, so every behavior you see either supports your values and goals, or not. So every behavior is an opportunity for kudos or correction. Thank you. That’s the ticket. Or, hey, we’re committed to consistency -- and that behavior is inconsistent. There is no threshold. 2nd, its corollary, the permission objection: Clients tell me, I give feedback, and my team acts put upon. They think I’m patronizing them or they think I’m picking on them. PArt of a shared commitment to integrity is the idea that we’re going to talk about the behaviors we see with one another as a team. “Maybe you already know what I’m about to tell you. In being obvious about what I’m seeing, I’m supporting your commitment to integrity. THis is the expectation we have of each other, and permission is granted in advance when getting everyone on board with integrity. 3rd, the Respect Hurdle: The VP I mentioned earlier had a respect problem. Her team didn’t respect her because she asked for above and beyond from them, but created policies that prohibited them from going above and beyond for the customer. They felt demoralized, and thought she was a hypocrite. As she committed to integrity -- and as the company came into consistency as well -- the team’s respect for her and the company grew. They became less resentful and even appreciative of feedback. 4th, the self-worth challenge: Acting with integrity, growing ever greater integrity is a matter of aspiration. Inconsistency on occasion is a part of the human condition. And our sense of self worth is tied to it. The more we practice integrity, the greater our sense of self and self worth. The greater our sense of self, the more in touch we are with our responses to one another. We’re more confident both in giving and in receiving feedback with equanimity and balance. So, growing integrity is also growing feedback capacity -- as a giver and as a receivier. For more on how to give and receive feedback effectively, check out my podcast conversation with Elaine Lin Hering on Episode 16 of the Mighty Good Work Podcast. Thanks for your efforts to make work good. Together we can insure that people are good for work, and work is good for people. If you’re ready for High-Performance Accountability Culture in your company, let’s discuss your training goals. Book a call today at TheYesWorks.com.
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MGW #21 - “Anxiety Free Workplace” with Bud Torcom
01/17/2018
MGW #21 - “Anxiety Free Workplace” with Bud Torcom
GUEST: Bud Torcom https://mazamamedia.com/ Twitter: HIGHLIGHTS FROM OUR CONVERSATION: Bud Torcom’s Big Hairy Audacious Goal is an anxiety free workplace. I’ve wanted to treat people the way I want to be treated and work in the kind of workplace I’d want to be working in. As a digital marketing company, being in the office for normal business hours isn’t necessary. We’re on a constant, steady drip of the stress hormone, cortisol. OUr bodies did not evolve for a constant cortisol drip. Anxiety is making us sick. Bud’s not sure an anxiety free workplace is possible. Even so, he’s on a mission to try… to see if it’s possible. The people of Mazama Media are the face of the company -- and the interface of the customers. Happy team members create happy clients. Human Prairie dog -- When each member of the team looks out for the interests of the others, then all individuals feel they can afford to look out for collective interests. “It’s my responsibility [to take on the stress].” The message to the team… “The thing that just happened is not going to mean you don’t eat tonight.” You’re not going to lose your job. We’re going to learn from the way things went down. We’re anticipating dips on the path of growth. Setting expectations of inevitable setbacks helps to smooth out the experience people have of the ups and downs of any business. “Blame the process, not the person.”Where did the problem hit? What can we learn about our processes and procedures from each setback, failure, or bump in the road.People want to have purpose, meaning, and fulfillment. Checklists help insure success. Set people up for success. When you work together as a team, and with the support of technology, much fewer errors are missed and less slips through the cracks. Both team redundancy and technology backup makes for effective performance. Processes and systems get refined over time. Learn from the data and refine as you go. The message to the team, “These processes and checklists are here to support you.” Limit the number of things on your list of to dos. A huge list is a stresser. Focus on the few that will have the greatest impact. Your team is going to be right about their priorities 90% of the time. Go with their gut. The presence of ping-pong and other games in the modern workplace does have a work relevant role to play -- to give the mind a break during which breakthrough can happen. Bud fires paying clients when they treat his team in ways that he doesn’t want people to be treated. Prospects who will create anxiety in the organization are disqualified as clients. Where are the places to relieve stress and anxiety from the whole system -- the team, leadership, and clients. Stress is cumulative and contagious. Prevent burnout by defining limits. Setting limits can enhance performance because results will have to come from effective behaviors over hustle. Delegation is a leader’s force magnifier. Richard Branson says that your team comes first, not clients. This is because people who know that someone’s got their back are freed up to care for the clients. Enough high-level thinking. Here are seven specific actions you can take to reduce anxiety in your organization. Blame the process, not the person. Build a got your back culture. You can get people to do more through praise than through condemning. So praise people. Thank people frequently. Give people the ability to create. Give them agency to affect the work they do and the way they do it. Put relationships first. “It’s never about the thing. It’s always about the relationship.” Build relationships that will deliver results. Let the people go surfing. ________________ Your host on Mighty Good Work is Aaron Schmookler. And, we’re The Yes Works -- Helping to make work good for people, and make people good for work. Resources mentioned in today’s show: Simon Sinek’s book, And his website: by Yvon Chouinard of Patagonia
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MGW #20 - “Dream Big. Perform Big” with Dan Ralphs_01
10/04/2017
MGW #20 - “Dream Big. Perform Big” with Dan Ralphs_01
GUEST: Dan Ralphs www.thedreamblog.com Twitter: @dreamtolead HIGHLIGHTS FROM OUR CONVERSATION: You can’t teach another person anything they don’t want to learn. They have to choose to learn it. If you can’t motivate people to choose to learn and grow, you won’t be very successful as a teacher… or as a leader. There’s a magic lever you can use to awaken that intrinsic motivation. It’s the question, “What’s the future for you? I’m an advocate for you.” Give them ownership of their future. We’re afraid of letting our people define success for themselves. We can trust our employees a lot more than we do to define an ambitious success outcome. People can and will be able to create a balance and synthesis of self-interest and company-interest. They can comprehend the interdependence. As a leader, ask yourself… Do I diminish or increase those who report to me? Do you think of them as being as capable, well-intentioned, and hard-working as you are? If not, how does your communication to and about them reflect those beliefs? Every company should have a dream manager. That may sound like a silly idea. It’s mutually transformative. OUr brains are designed to help us survive. We’re programed to seek sameness and to resist change. So we get into routines, and then into stasis. We resist change and growth. Dreams are those things that we want and that lie outside our comfort zone and that can be expressed in language. Try this: Make a list of 100 Dreams. Then choose one you could accomplish in 12-18 months. And commit to that dream. Make it happen. Get someone to hold you accountable. Watch yourself expand and grow to make that accomplishment a reality. Dreaming and executing on those dreams grow a capacity to perform that an employer benefits from. Intense side-hustling employees are higher performers than those with no side hustle. At Infusionsoft, the word “Dreamer” is akin to “Entrepreneur.” It’s someone with vision who brings vision into the world as reality. Managers hold people accountable to their dreams and to the steps it takes to achieve them. We invite managers and team members to dream together. That amplified the results. To create change, we need a community of people to believe in us even when maybe we don’t believe in ourselves. There are two parts of dream making: Imagining. And, Executing. These are fundamental business skills. Most people are much stronger in one than in the other. And the capacity in the other can be learned and grown. There’s great power in imagining possibilities -- and in aligning resources to support a desired possibility. If this improbable thing were possible, then what would it take for us to get there? Theoretically, it’s possible historically has turned into in actuality, it exists. Having a Dream Manager is a recruiting draw. The greatest benefit to Infusionsoft, though, is the growth of our employees. We want to see leaders recognize that part of their opportunity is to help those that they lead to aspire to bigger things, believe they’re capable of bigger things, and to put plans and actions into place to accomplish bigger things. We can magnify those whom we lead. Believe in people. When we believe in people, they are magnified and they accomplish more than they coul dhave without your belief buoying them up. Your host on Mighty Good Work is Aaron Schmookler. And, we’re The Yes Works -- Helping to make work good for people, and make people good for work. Resources mentioned in today’s show: Liz Wiseman’s book, Matthew Kelly’s book, and Dream School
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MGW #19 - You’re Doing Conflict Wrong
08/30/2017
MGW #19 - You’re Doing Conflict Wrong
There’s a lot out there about how to reduce conflict at work. A lot of the stuff out there is very good. This episode is about transforming conflict, and using it to your advantage. If conflict seems like something to avoid… If it seems like something you can win… Then, you’re doing it wrong. We’ve got a you can read. For those of you who don’t have time for well thought out articles, here’s your Mighty Good Work ADEPTability Skills Checklist: Slow Down Your primitive brain, and the fight or flight response is powerful, but it’s not the only game in town. You can teach yourself to override it. Breathe: Try something called box breathing. Practice it anytime you feel a bit anxious or angry. Breathe in for a count of four. Hold your breath for four. Breathe out on a count of four. Hold for four. Breathe in for four. Repeat. This may not be practical during an argument, but it’s great before initiating a conversation that you anticipate may be stressful. And, even during the interaction, bringing your attention to your breath, and doing this box breathing as much as possible is a powerful fight or flight defuser. Just ask a Navy Seal. This is a technique they use in actual battle. Look for common ground. Actually take a moment with your collaborator, your employee, your negotiating partner, whomever. Name the things you agree on in detail -- breadth and depth. Notice how much common ground you have that surrounds the points of contention. It’ll put the disagreement in perspective and remind you of how aligned you truly are. Puzzle it. Sit on the same side of the table -- literally or figuratively -- and investigate the problem. You’re looking together at a jigsaw puzzle, trying to find the solution. Your pieces aren’t better or worse, or even yours. Theirs neither. They’re not your ideas or their ideas. All ideas are joint property. They’re all just puzzle pieces. And they either fit, or they don’t. Murder the unchosen alternatives. When the decision is made about which direction to go down -- yours, theirs, a third unrelated one or a hybrid of the two -- put your doubts to rest. You may not be able to quash them, but don’t feed them. Instruct yourself, “We’ve made a decision. Whether I agree with it or not is irrelevant. That ship has sailed, and my job is to back this plan of action to the hilt.” Every plan of action but the one that was chosen is done. Burn your boats. Don’t dwell. And if it’s your plan that’s in action, don’t gloat. Reap the benefits By following this approach to difference and conflict, you’ll reap rewards. Your relationships will thrive. Your blood pressure will improve. Your organization's decision making will be more effective. Your results will be better. If you want, you can think of this as the “BLIMP” method. If you look above, you’ll see the steps… BLPM. Ok. BLIMP is a stretch. I just know people like acronyms. _______ Your host on Mighty Good Work is Aaron Schmookler. And, we’re The Yes Works -- Helping to make work good for people, and make people good for work.
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MGW #18 - Culture for Recruiting
08/17/2017
MGW #18 - Culture for Recruiting
From THE YES WORKS, this is MIGHTY GOOD WORK. A podcast built on the stories of people and companies who are making good work happen. Whether it’s work as a place to be, work as a product or service, or work as a way to spend your life, we will be talking to those who are committed to excellence and who are succeeding in bringing Mighty Good Work into existence.
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MGW #17 - “Happy Side-Effects of Channel Partnership” with Jen Spencer
07/12/2017
MGW #17 - “Happy Side-Effects of Channel Partnership” with Jen Spencer
GUEST: Jen Spencer Twitter: @JenSpencer HIGHLIGHTS FROM OUR CONVERSATION: Your partners are a natural extension of your sales, marketing, and customer success teams. And they should be treated as such. These relationships and their health starts at the top. Fear, uncertainty, and a lack of trust can erode the health of those partner relationships. What would help your partners be successful in the partnership. Give them access to all information and control that will help them succeed. Expose more to your partners than you may be inclined to. Alignment at the executive level is key. A culture of partnership and a win-win compensation agreement that doesn’t lead partners to compete with one another lays the groundwork for successful partnership. Why bring resellers or referral partners on board? They give you access to a community you wouldn’t have access to. Fill in expertise gaps with expertise you don’t have. Give you a regional access you don’t have. Symbiosis adds value for the customer, and makes the customer very sticky. Customer first drives effective partnerships. B2B buyers in a SAAS environment can change providers at a moment’s notice. To keep customers, you’ve got to add more and more value. There are beneficial side-effects to great partnerships. The differing perspectives and backgrounds of partnering organizations can drive and catalyze innovation. In M&A circumstances, partner organizations can help to preserve the integrity of the original vision, and the customer service of an acquired company. Strategies are strengthened by collaborating to develop and implement them across companies. Understand why you are partnering. Be sure you’re on the same page with your partners. Align your purpose with theirs, or know this is not a right-fit partnership. Build out partner personas the same way you’d build out customer personas. Be purposeful about partnering. Build a business plan together. Relationships are not all about the soft-stuff. Data can help predict what partner relationships will thrive. Partnership is a human endeavor. Choosing a partner is as important and nuanced as choosing an employee to hire. A bad partnership can impact your brand. And without synergy, a partnership will fizzle out. That’s lost opportunity, and wasted investment. For a long time, partnership seemed like a strategy for large organizations only. That’s not true anymore. Small and startup organizations are using partnerships to catapult them to success. And lastly, while Jen Spencer is a huge animal lover, she does not trust birds. Your host on Mighty Good Work is Aaron Schmookler. And, we’re The Yes Works -- Helping to make work good for people, and make people good for work. Resources mentioned in today’s show: Aaron’s appearance on Jen’s podcast: offers a free version of their platform to help you get started with your channel partner program.
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MGW #16 - “Drive Learning and Growth” with Elaine Lin Hering
06/28/2017
MGW #16 - “Drive Learning and Growth” with Elaine Lin Hering
GUEST: Elaine Lin Hering Across industries, people say that feedback conversations are their most difficult conversations -- both giving and receiving. ONe the receiving end, it’s triggering. On the giving end, you may cause a trigger in the receiver, and you don’t know how it’s being received. Three kinds of feedback: Positive feedback: appreciation Coaching: guidance for improved effectiveness Evaluation: Tracking against expectations In order to learn and thrive and do good work, we need all three kinds of feedback.Feedback is: solicited and unsolicited Verbal and non-verbal When receiving feedback, people often feel judged. When feedback is non-verbal, it’s especially hard to interpret. Principles of Improvisation: Everything is an offer. We are meaning making machines. Be specific. Yes, And. “Tell me more about that.” Skills for giving feedback is half the equation. Receiving feedback is an equally important set of skills. We reject feedback for three reasons: Truth trigger: You’re wrong. You have incomplete data. Relationship trigger: I don’t like or trust you and your motivations. Identity trigger: That’s not me. That’s not who I want to be. I don’t want to face the possibility that this describes me or my behavior. Build awareness as a feedback giver and receiver of the above triggers. As a giver of feedback, notice and unpack the labels you’re using in giving feedback -- and Be Specific. Specificity can help get around the truth trigger by helping people to be clear that we’re talking about the same thing. As a receiver of feedback… take some time away and assess the feedback away from the stress of the confrontation. Don’t use vague or uncertain terms that require interpretation, and that will inevitably get different interpretations from different people. “Be more man-like.” Describe behavior and describe impact instead. When receiving feedback, observe your first reaction, and then you can choose your response. Human beings think in labels. It’s our job as givers (and even as receivers) to translate those labels into useful information. How can you frame the feedback to be in the self-interest of the feedback receiver. How will it benefit that person to make the change you’re suggesting? As a receiver, if 90% of the feedback someone gives you is off and irrelevant, focus on the 10% that can serve you. Feedback is information exchange and it’s the fuel and driver for getting stuff done. So, ask yourself, how is feedback going on our team? How painful is it? How effective is it?We need a mindset shift: Feedback isn’t the “F” word. It’s an opportunity for improvement and accelerated growth. Neglecting to give feedback insulates people from the reality of their behavior, of the reality of the impact of that behavior. If you aren’t giving me feedback, you’re cheating me out of the opportunity to learn and grow. There is no learning without feedback. If you’re giving people feedback, and it’s not working. 1) Look at how you’re having the conversation. 2) Give meta-feedback. “We’ve had this conversation before. There’s a problem here with your making adjustments based on feedback.” It’s critical to discuss the impact, the results, the consequences of behavior. As feedback givers, we will never be free of bias. We can work to filter it out. And as feedback receivers, our job is to try to filter through that bias as well. Your host on Mighty Good Work is Aaron Schmookler. And, we’re The Yes Works -- Helping to make work good for people, and make people good for work. Resources mentioned in today’s show: , by Roger Fisher and William Ury , by Douglas Stone , by Douglas Stone and Sheila Heen , A Professional Conference for HR folks in Northern California
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MGW #14 - “Thriving Business/ Product, Process, and People” with Eric Johnson
06/01/2017
MGW #14 - “Thriving Business/ Product, Process, and People” with Eric Johnson
GUEST: Eric Johnson -- CFO of Nintex Nintex is a leader in workflow and content automation. Making more time in workflow for what really matters. The Eric Johnson approach: When I make a commitment, I deliver on that commitment. That builds respect and trust. Caring about people, and hold a mark of high integrity. And look for creating benefit for everyone. If you’re great to work with, and you do great work, life goes pretty well. We’ve never taken venture capital to fund operations. How are we achieving excellence, growth and recognition? It’s a combination of a few things. Fundamentally, serve a broad need around something that people care about. A great distribution model. We’ve done a great job of partnering to distribute and get great results for the customer. Hire great people. We are disciplined about how we hire, and how we treat people. If you’re competent, but terrible to work with, we’ll try to help you be better to work with… and ultimately, ask you to move on if you don’t improve. We’re transparent about how we want to work and what our values are. We onboard with a 30-60-90 process and again at 180 and there’s straight-talk about how they’re living up to expectations. Through our management training, we work to prepare our managers for positive feedback for a positive culture. Celebrate success. Recognize good work. This happens on a large scale and a small scale.Managers are given guidance and training, not simply expected to be effective without guidance and oversight. One-on-ones are expected to be a regular thing: weekly or semi-weekly. The reporting in one-on-ones isn’t just about the performance. “How are YOU doing?” When you employ best people practices, you can experience the difference quickly and powerfully. There is a hierarchy of function and roles -- and a personal way of relating to one another. We operate with a high level of transparency, and allow employees to ask probative questions. We don’t always answer with a high-level of specificity. But we are honest, even if we’re delivering an answer they may not want to hear. It’s important to identify the opportunities to say “no” to.1) What has alignment with our core values and goals, and what doesn’t? 2) After clearing that alignment, what’s going to deliver value to customers and investors? When there is disagreement around important questions… people need to be heard. They need to have the opportunity to go through the exploration process. If you’re not going to allow everyone on the team to express their ideas, and to be affected by the input of others -- then why have a team? When we face a situation that may in the short term be worse for us, but it’s right in the long term for partnering, then we go with the right in the long term for partnering. We need to do the right thing for partners, and the right thing for customers. That way, we have sustainable outcome -- not flash in the pan temporary gains. We don’t let policy prevent us from doing the right thing. Caring for employees, partners and customers pays dividends. Today’s guest: Eric Johnson, CFO of Nintex Your host on Mighty Good Work is Aaron Schmookler. And, we’re The Yes Works -- Helping to make work good for people, and make people good for work.
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MGW #13 - “The Employee Experience Advantage” with Jacob Morgan
05/17/2017
MGW #13 - “The Employee Experience Advantage” with Jacob Morgan
GUEST: Jacob Morgan -- Founder of The Future Organization Engagement efforts have failed. There’s a lot of investment in surveys and measurement, but the numbers -- and the practices that drive those numbers -- don’t change. Engagement is a result of core workplace practices. It’s not affected long-term by perks. We know when perks are installed to manipulate us. Employment day 1, everyone is engaged. Then, slowly, the organization breaks people down, and trains them to become disengaged. Part of the problem is that when corporations are focused on quarterly profit, things like changing workplace satisfaction that take time don’t get the attention they need to move the dial. We promote the wrong people. Leadership is a specific set of skills, and being a good individual contributors don’t always have the skills that leadership requires. There are people skills in your company already. Seek them out and leverage those skills. Organizations lie to recruits. We tell them how amazing and wonderful it is to work here -- even when it’s not true. Now, the new hires quickly become resentful and unhappy, not only because of the environment, but also because of the bait-and-switch. If you’re an individual contributor, speak up about your experience. Manager’s be committed to the success of others. Executives, take a stand for designing exceptional employee experience. The common assumption is -- You need to give your employees challenging and exciting work. But the employer doesn’t control what the work is that needs to be done. It controls the environment in which the work is done. How does the company require you to do your work? How does the company support you in your efforts? What is the culture of work in which the work gets done? What metrics are used to measure performance? Results are a trailing metric. Behaviors lead results. Measuring and rewarding behaviors improves employee satisfaction and results both. Environment can be controlled by the employer/organization. There are three environments. Culture. Physical environment. Technology. These three environments all play together. It’s important to deliberately design all three. With every change an organization makes, it’s important to consider the impact of change on the above three environments. There’s no such thing as an organization where 100% of the people are going to be happy all the time. The most important thing is how the organization responds to those people who at a given time are not happy. The companies that are doing people well are treating the problem as a laboratory would -- with quick, measured, deliberate experimentation, not with a lot of drawn out thinking. Make attempts and respond to the results with new attempts. This is a messy process. Decide for yourself whether this is a battle worth fighting -- at whatever level you are working. Expect that it’s not going to be easy. And the results are Subscribe to Jacob’s newsletter: text “future” to 44222 Find Jacob’s books, The Employee Experience Advantage, The Future of Work, and The Collaborative Organization here: Your host on Mighty Good Work is Aaron Schmookler. And, we’re The Yes Works -- Helping to make work good for people, and make people good for work.
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MGW #12: “Cultivating a Business Improviser’s Mindset” with Greg Towne and Aaron Schmookler
05/10/2017
MGW #12: “Cultivating a Business Improviser’s Mindset” with Greg Towne and Aaron Schmookler
Today, a departure from our usual format. Instead of host, today I’m the guest on another podcast. The host of the “Go Time” podcast, of Greg Towne Training invited me to be his guest. I enjoyed the conversation so much that we’ve decided to share it with you. Today, instead of the interviewer, I’m the interviewed. And I’ll be talking about what makes for effective training, why accountability is not a burden, but a great grace, and the way having a kid has shaped my career. Thanks to Greg and Go Time for having me on their show, and allowing us to share our conversation with you. Dreading failure leads to mediocrity. Celebrating failure can make you less self-conscious, more flexible in thinking, and more willing to take risks. “I can’t” and “That’s not my personality.” are crutches to protect us from facing fear. They help us feel safe. And they prevent us from being effective. It’s not necessary to rip those crutches out of people’s hands. Whatever people (yourself included) throw your way to excuse a lack of accountability, simply deny the applicability of the crutch. And insist gently but firmly on performance. Taking unreasonable accountability for reaching your goals and performing exceptionally gives you access to success. Gives your people access to success. Any success without unreasonable accountability is luck. Asking for help is called employing resources. If you’re not using resources at your disposal because of pride, you’re cheating yourself (and your organization) out of success potential. And there’s no lost pride. It’s just smart. It’s resource management. I speak about a client’s success in turning things around on his team. Here’s a link to a case study. Training that’s information transfer is ineffective because people go into auto-pilot, especially under stress. When training is habit-forming, it creates change, even in people who may be reluctant or resistant trainees. Work is more and more about experience, community, affinity. Work is more and more the place where we get those things, instead of other gathering places of communities in the past.Work is built on relationship. The stronger the relationships, the stronger the work. Accountability can be a pleasure -- when you’re striving to perpetually become better. Perfection is impossible to reach Striving is worthwhile. It’s enlivening. It gets people up in the morning to go to work. It’s uncomfortable, but rewarding. “That’s just the way things are,” “That’s not me,” “We’ve always done it this way…” Those phrases are a death knell. Comfort and complacency are tempting, but boring. Managers, supervisors, leaders who invite and inspire us into the roller-coaster of striving are the people whom we most appreciate. Thanks again to Greg Towne for hosting me, and for allowing me to share our conversation with you.
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MGW #11: Lee Cockerell - Build Self Awareness
05/03/2017
MGW #11: Lee Cockerell - Build Self Awareness
SHOW NOTES: GUEST: Lee Cockerell - Executive Vice President, Disney World Lee's website - Time Management Magic Course - Lee Cockerell has had a long and storied career in Hospitality, starting as a banquet waiter for Hilton, later helping put Marriott on the map, and eventually retiring after 10 years as Executive Vice President of Disney World. Now, Lee’s professional life is dedicated to sharing the wisdom he’s gathered over the years. Lee, you’re conducting workshops, delivering keynotes, doing a podcast of your own with our mutual friend, Jody Maberry, and consulting with leaders who care enough to become great. So I’m really glad to have Lee Cockerell on our show, dedicated to helping you create Mighty Good Work. Here are a few notes from our conversation. When you’re the boss, your behavior can have a profound effect on the people who work for you. Intimidation behaviors stem from low self-confidence. If you’re finding people intimidated by you… check your own confidence level. Consider your authority and status when interacting with people. Ask yourself, “Who am I?” Do people trust you? Success boosts your confidence level. “The world needs less big, bad bosses, and we need more teachers… Role-modeling is a gigantic responsibility.” Don’t underestimate the power of it. Management is defined as the act of controlling. Keeping important aspects of business on track requires a great deal of organization. With better organization, most people could get 50% more done. Train, test the effectiveness of your training, and respect the responsibility of being a role-model. Management is what to do. Leadership is how to be. How to be there for people. How to be a person of honesty and integrity. To be a person who can have the hard conversations. We can be more respectful, and more respectable. What can I do, and how can I improve my behavior? Have people in your life who will tell you the truth about how you’re doing and who you’re being. We do not see ourselves the way other people see us.Take a good look at the things you believe. Don’t believe everything your parents told you. Don’t believe everything you hear. Don’t believe everything your culture has led you to believe. Treat people as individuals. Not as a group. People only change in two ways: Education or crisis. Make it easy for your boss to tell you the hard truths -- so you can learn by education rather than through crisis. The people who are close to you can give you great feedback about even your professional life. Listen. Give them credence. Life is all connected. Physical health, family health, emotional health… These all affect your performance throughout your life including at work. You can’t have one personality at home, and a different one at work. Take stock on a regular basis. Strive consistently. Change is tough. It takes time. There are setbacks. People will tell you the truth if you’re consistent about setting the environment where people are not afraid of you one bit. Plan your day for effectiveness, not by default. Look to the future. Start putting things on your calendar, and have it before you need it. Do it now so the things that come up later have space, and your life doesn’t get out of control. Your personality must not conflict with your responsibilities. Effectiveness has requirements. Be careful what you say and do. People are making meaning from everything they observe of you. Culture starts at the top, and it affects attitudes. Don’t stay in a job that’s changing you for the worse. Move on. Three things that make the difference: 1) Hire the right people. 2) Train people. Test the training. Enforce the training. Train them so well their confidence skyrockets. 3) Create a culture where people know they’re valued, and they want to come to work. You can’t find the time. You must make time. Books by Lee: The Customer Rules Creating Magic Career Magic Time Management Magic Lee's website - Time Management Magic Course -
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MGW #10: “Get S#!t done. Have fun.” with BitTitan’s Culture Team
04/19/2017
MGW #10: “Get S#!t done. Have fun.” with BitTitan’s Culture Team
GUESTS: Darci Lee - Director of Talent and Culture and Kate Butcher - Manager of Culture from BitTitan Stay active to keep your energy up. Find great people. Onboard them well.A common thread in our conversations on Mighty Good Work. “It starts at the top. Culture is established and reinforced by leadership. Find your core values at the beginning. “Get shit done. Have fun.” Cut to the chase. If you don’t have integrity, you’re not going to be here. “We used to tout flat management and limited process… With 200 people, now, we have to have some management, and we have to have some procedures… The right procedures.” Procedures must be streamlined. Guidelines are more effective than limiting procedures. No-one wants to go see HR. That’s why we have talent and culture. “People come to us to get our guidance about how to have fun.” We’re in a new business model and a new environment. We move so quickly, you have to be who you are. It’s so liberating. Celebrate failure. “Yay! I failed.” Failure is not an end, it’s an inflection point. A time of learning and change. We’re not tied to a ship date. We’re not tied to a product launch. We “dog food” our products here before we got to market. We tell our engineers that you can just try stuff. Not all your work has to go to market. That’s part of creating an innovative culture. We’re willing to put something out into the market -- and if it’s not right, pull it back. That’s something that’s true throughout the company. It’s external -- and internal as well. Policies are tried, and adjusted, and changed whole-cloth. People need time-off. Mental health is served by a change of venue, a relief from pressure. Your people work better when they’ve had a break to reset.“A big part of our job is, how can we help people destress and get out of the office?” Policies have long been in place in corporate culture to try to create the trailing result of performance and results. When you enlist and inspire people to accomplish goals -- when you give them your trust, faith, and feedback -- you’ll be amazed at their motivation and drive. We invest in coaching for our people because they want to do good work -- and they will if they have the tools. Work-life balance is a fool’s errand. That’s a false dichotomy. Work is a part of life. Live a balanced life. People at BitTitan know they need to bring their full-self to work. Notice whether your people seek guidance from one another. Do people seek coaching, advice, help from HR, from their peers, from their managers? If not, how can you create a company culture in which people make the most of the resources available to them? Make sure in recruiting that what candidates see is what they’ll get when they come on board. Bait and switch is a recipe for losing people to resentment and mistrust. Your people need someone to talk to who isn’t their direct colleague, and who isn’t their line-manager. People we hire are willing to do the work. We provide a kind of “concierge service” to make things easy for people. The work is hard. Being able to do the work should be easy. We orient people as well as we can, and give them the tools they need to do the job. We have reverse engineered some of what we do from the folks out there who were already winning best place to work awards. That’s how we learn what people truly want in our sector. Look for the subtle cues that people aren’t being entirely themselves, and instead of ignoring those signs, probe into that -- their changes -- with kindness and care. We want people in the right place at the right time. How do you plan for succession? The most important thing is to hire the right people. People who have passion, integrity, and a sense of impeccability. Fun is a more effective motivator than fear or compensation. Not forced fun… Levity. Everybody has a different definition of fun. The names of things -- job titles, initiative names, etc -- carry information. Stuffy names lead to stuffy attitudes about and receptions of those things. ID high potential employees. Empower them to select their picks as well. Form a team of those folks to develop their leadership -- by giving them real leadership work to do, and autonomy. We’re people first, and workers second. If you don’t care for the person -- yourself included -- then the worker isn’t going to be at their best. Introversion is not the same thing as social anxiety. At the end of the day, we need to treat people as individuals. in a World That Can’t Stop Talking By Susan Cain BitTitan is HIRING! Getting up to 400 employees this year -- doubling in size. If you’re looking for a great place to work, get in touch with Darci and Kate.
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Principles Lead with Luke Hartsock - MGW #8
03/21/2017
Principles Lead with Luke Hartsock - MGW #8
GUEST: Luke Hartsock -- Founder and CEO of Decisive Data The Guiding Principles of Decisive Data: Create Customer Value: I do work that clearly satisfies my customer. The primary beneficiary of my effort is my customer. Be Original: I have a unique combination of skills, character, and history that no one else does. Serve Others: I put the needs of others first. Service is an attitude and way of being. Have Grit: I see challenges as opportunities for growth and learning. I am not defeated by setbacks and choose to endure and overcome. Pursue Excellence: I continuously improve my knowledge, tools, and expertise. The quality of my work is a representation of who I am. Have Fun: I foster an environment of laughter, joy, and friendship. Points of Wisdom from our Conversation: Culture starts with who we let into our company. Everything important gets codified. Even the oral tradition that is organically created, gets codified and written down, in order to ensure that as the company grows, it stays true to its core. Authority is effective when it can influence without having to control. And it’s effective when it can serve without demanding service in return. Transitions are hard. Change is hard. The transitions that people go through before and after a project are often overlooked to the detriment of the individual and the organization. Be aware of and beware the switching costs of moving from one area of focus to another, even briefly. Make sure to protect (and that your people are protecting) expanses of productivity time. We’ve got to move past the distractibility to really lead well. Behind distraction and lack of flow, avoidance in a real issue that hampers effective leadership. Note what you need to do -- and face it. Results are accomplished through behaviors. Request, measure, drive behaviors. Take what you want to build, and magnify that vision by 10X -- then you’ve got a vision that will really drive results. Method without vision has no capacity to guide or inspire. At Decisive Data, there’s a motto: Every decision informed by data. You can’t gather data if you’re not paying attention. Referenced Resources: Manager vs. Maker -- Cal Newport’s “Deep Work” -- At Decisive Data our mission is: Help people use data to realize better outcomes. Our vision is: Every decision informed by data And, we’re They Yes Works -- Helping to make work good for people, and make people good for work.
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Sales - A Noble Profession with Bill Caskey - MGW #9
04/04/2017
Sales - A Noble Profession with Bill Caskey - MGW #9
SHOW NOTES: Sales - A Noble Profession with Bill Caskey - MGW #9 GUEST: Bill Caskey Sales Trainer, Coach, and Podcast Host Professionals in sales are looked down upon in some quarters, and some sales pros even look down on their own professions. So we’ve brought Bill Caskey onto the show to help those of us who are in sales to practice the trade in such a way that we can all feel great about sales and selling. Here are a few notes from the conversation: Anyone can become a great salesperson as long as you’re willing to think differently about yourself. A lot of salespeople think they need to wear a persona. We’re not powerful when we’re wearing armor. We’re powerful when we don’t wear a mask. Sales can be a very noble profession if we think about in the right way. I’m not in sales. That’s not an accurate depiction of what we do in 2017. A salesperson creates an environment where a prospect can share about their problems or goals, and discover together whether the salesperson can help solve those problems or reach goals. Sales is not about convincing. Taking that off the table helps eliminate the fear of failure, fear of rejection. Avoid hyperbole. Don’t get ahead of the prospect. Don’t be more eager and enthusiastic than the client. Find detachment. If you’re attached to the outcome, you’re less likely to make the sale. Don’t work to “mirror” your prospect. When you imitate someone else, you lose yourself. When you practice sales gimmicks, you become a manipulator, and you feel the lack of integrity. People will tell you what they want if you’ve established trust, and you’re not pitching, and conniving, and contorting. If you’re faking it, pushing, pitching, and convincing, you’ll make sales in the short-run. But the sales will collapse as you build a reputation for poor service and poor sales qualification. Create. Create something useful for your prospects and clients. Articles, videos… Provide resources. Publish, write, produce, curate. That connects you to your work more, and separates you in the marketplace.Position yourself as an expert. If you bring value to my business, even outside of the products you sell, I’m going to be glad every time you ring my phone. Your product or service may be a commodity. A connector -- connecting people, resources, etc. -- will never be a commodity. There is a loneliness in sales. Sales leaders have to find ways to require working together. Sales reps somehow team up. Share what’s working. Listen in on calls, and give feedback. Compete together with the past, with the industry trends… Less competition within the team. Top performers are curious about what works. They’re hungry to learn new best practices. And they reach out to get the information. Ego interferes with lower performers’ willingness to ask for help, advice, and training. Don’t buy into the idea, “How I am, others are.” You need a coach to help you recognize what you’re doing, to reflect your actions, to help you shape what you’re going to do.
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I.T. That Adds Value with Gina Harris - MGW #7
09/06/2016
I.T. That Adds Value with Gina Harris - MGW #7
GUEST: Gina Harris Director of Information Technology at TalkingRain Beverage Company IT is just taking orders, fixing passwords, coding and explaining complex technical issues to those who don’t speak tech, right? Not if you are Gina Harris, from Talking Rain. IT is about viewing and treating people as change agents that require a whole business point of view. Gina speaks to the necessity of fostering business knowledge as an IT professional in sales, negotiation, optimization of supply chain, assessing people’s brilliance and automating work-flow, vendor relations, and risk management. Her advice, “Understand the business. Look at it from a 50,000 ft view. Look at how we make money. How we produce the goods we sell. Find out what that is all about. And then work down from the 40,000 ft, to the 30,000 ft, the 20,000 ft and understand who the players are. Who the influencers are…What the potential is to differentiate us from our competition. Really, it is ‘know the business,’ once you know the business, the IT part is a lot easier.” She shares that having a Learning Organization is essential to her company’s overall success. How do you ensure you have a Learning Organization? Empower your team with information. Paint the picture of the problem, brainstorm, research and collaborate the solution together. Soft skills are more important than your tech skills. Ability to embrace change. Being open minded Initiative Empathy Self Awareness Willing to Collaborate Thick Skinned- Don’t take rejection personally, find out what you could do better. Team Building Have each other’s back Humor No one says, “this is not my job” Speak to strengths and weaknesses Give credit and appreciate people’s skills Compassion & Empathy translates into Good Work When you treat people well, give them feedback and look them in the eye on a regular basis, they will rally behind the leadership if they feel supported. Thank you, Gina, for your transparent and informed advice on how to generate mighty good work as an IT pro and company wide. Visit Mighty Good Work and The Yes Works at: Found out more great info from Gina in this article: Theme music by: Miguel Juarez Midshow break music by : Allan Loucks
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"Culture Fitness" with Rebecca Clements - MGW #6
07/22/2016
"Culture Fitness" with Rebecca Clements - MGW #6
GUEST: Vice President of Human Resources at Moz, Rebecca Clements Rebecca Clements on Linkedin: Human Resources’ reputation as being pain-in-the-butt rule-makers and rule-enforcers was a leading reason Rebecca Clements chose to cultivate a different kind of HR experience. In this episode, Rebecca talks about the imperative of good culture in tech in order to attract and maintain talent from diverse backgrounds of experience. And she tells us how she and her team do it… “Culture is something that happens around you unless you are really intentional about it. If you are intentional and use it as an advantage within the business, then all of your time spent on it will be worth while and set you apart from your competitors, attract people, and help your business be successful.” What makes a company “culturally fit?” Clearly articulated values that everyone in the company embraces, wants to be a part of and upholds. Intentionality about how priorities are managed. Treat people well – clients and co-workers. How you treat one will bleed into your behavior with the other. She generously shares Moz’s value system called TAGFEE that every Mozzer aspires to daily. Transparent: Be willing to talk about it all: the good, bad, and ugly. They have a commitment to share what didn’t work, without making excuses. Authentic: Bring your BEST authentic self to work. People bring and share their stories. They share at Lunch & Learns to offer personal insight. They are encouraged to speak up and bring their set of experiences to the table. Active disagreement is vital and encouraged in order to have all opinions authentically on the table. Generous: The company provides paid-paid vacations for employees and sabbaticals for employees after 5 years. Considering the “Whole Human”. They match charity donations. They demonstrate a generous mindset by being available with time, information and coaching/guidance. Fun: Positivity- assume good intent, “You have my best interest at heart and I have yours.” They actively invest in team-building and building community. Empathetic: Empathy is key to decision making and solving conflict. They seek to employ empathetic people to increase the quality of the work environment. They talk about it, model it and celebrate empathy in their workplace. Exceptional: Being willing to choose unique, value-based marketing strategies or “give-aways”. Offering professional coaching to all of their employees to help them through challenges and opportunities. Anyone can pursue coaching for any reason at all. They know that if you are dealing with something at home or in the office, it will affect your work. Offering ongoing manager courses for all levels of management or aspiring management to gain skills. Yes, they even have a Team Happy: Rebecca leads a team of 5 people at Moz whose mission it is to ensure happiness, productivity and to embody TAGFEE. And, YES, they are hiring. And, YES, they have an annual marketing conference called MOZCON coming up this fall September 12-14. Get your tickets here Visit Mighty Good Work and The Yes Works at: Theme music by: Miguel Juarez Midshow break music by : Allan Loucks
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"Storied Leadership" with Jody Maberry - MGW #5
07/09/2016
"Storied Leadership" with Jody Maberry - MGW #5
GUEST: Jody Maberry -- Jody Maberry on LinkedIn: Jody Maberry Show (podcast): Our stories are what set us apart. Your story is not the same as anyone else’s, and that gives you the power to connect, intrigue, and inspire others. Some of us think we don’t have good stories, and wouldn’t know how to tell them if we did. “Good stories come to people who can tell them. When you look at life as a storyteller, you will find stories in nearly everything.” And with practice, and by tuning in to your audience, you can become good at it. Why tell stories? Stories stick with people. They’re memorable. And, stories tie things together. Innovation results from tying unexpected things together. So, stories lead to innovation. Whether you’re expert in a given field or not, your experience has something to offer to those who are. Innovation in a field often comes from the connections made by novices and outsiders. People aren’t motivated at work just by the paycheck and benefits package. That’s just the fuel that allows them to spend their time in your organization instead of hunting and gathering. People are motivated to do extraordinary work by a fulfilling story. Story creates identity and satisfaction at work. Every business (as Disney says) is putting on a show. Story creates the roles for people. As employers, we can create an environment where the storytelling is about the value of the work you do, and how fulfilling the work you do can be. Every story you tell informs every action we take. Change the story, change the experience. Each of us needs to be the hero of the story we’re in. Leaders can inspire and motivate those they lead by weaving a story in which everyone plays a critical role in achieving a goal that matters. Our clients and customers are the heros of their stories as well. To serve them well, we must help them through the obstacles they face in their journey. Be alert to the stories your company is telling, even when you are not speaking. Every aspect of your brand and behavior tells a story. ------ Visit Mighty Good Work and The Yes Works at: Theme music by: Miguel Juarez Midshow break music by : Allan Loucks
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Whole Company Well Being with Dr. Laura Hamill - MGW #3
06/25/2016
Whole Company Well Being with Dr. Laura Hamill - MGW #3
GUEST: Limeade’s Chief People Officer, Dr. Laura Hamill -- According to our guest this week,the most important asset a company has is its people. And to be the best it can be, a company has got to consider, care for, and nurture this single crucial resource. When we waste resources, whether money, or time, or people, we pay the price. There are real business reasons for companies to care about their employees. The big brands are noticing that. Talent recruiting and retention Business results as well from engagement Organizational culture must be aligned with what you’re trying to do as a business. You can’t have goals and aspirations that conflict with other goals and stated values, or that friction will chaffe. Culture is contagious. Behavior that happens leads to more behavior like it. You have to articulate what is the culture you want to have. You do have or will have a company culture, like it or not. Culture’s affects on the people and the business are so profound that you must be intentional about the culture you create if you want to thrive. Then, you’ve got to operationalize the culture you want to have. It’s got to be a part of what you measure, what you practice, and what you hold people accountable for. Culture, because people don’t understand it, is often viewed as soft and unimportant. But culture is learned skills and habits, not a set of knowledge or instructions. If the culture is not universal within a company, and reinforced, then it holds no water, and garners no respect. Culture creation is never done. And keeping it on track requires feedback in every direction. “At Limeade,” says Dr. Hamill, “We’ve created a culture of improvement. Each person is focused on improvement.” She sees culture as a job benefit to manage, as a selling point in recruiting equal to health insurance and vacation time. It’s not something to leave to chance, or to create deliberately and then forget about it.
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Your Happiness, Your Job with Dana Manciagli - MGW #4
06/24/2016
Your Happiness, Your Job with Dana Manciagli - MGW #4
GUEST: Dana Manciagli -- Global Career Expert: Speaker and Private Coach Over decades, Dana Manciagli amassed skills and insights into good work and career wisdom while working at such companies as Avery, SeaLand, Kodak and Microsoft. Now, she gives others the benefit of that wisdom as an author, blogger, keynote speaker, career coach, and global career expert. Earlier episodes of this podcast have focused on leadership’s role in great work in our companies. Dana Manciagli is here to talk with your host Aaron Schmookler about what each of us can do to insure that we’ve got Mighty Good Work.Reboot yourself by changing jobs, by jumping division to division, location to location, or company to company. Here are a few highlights from our conversation with Dana: Make choices! Don’t let your work happen to you. Be deliberate. Figure out what you like, and pursue only what you like. You can’t be all things to all people. Make choices. Sometimes they’re tough. You don’t have to get it absolutely right. Make a call and take action on it. “What are you waiting for? You have a vision. You know what you want to do next. Why aren’t you doing it?” Don’t rely on your boss to make you happy. Ask yourself, “What was this week like? Did I do my best? Treat my people well? Make good choices?” Take regular accounting of your own performance against your own standards of excellence. Expect greatness. There’s a lot of boss bashing out there. Stop bashing the boss. It only hurts your career. Business revolves around relationships. Rule #1: Build the relationship with your boss. There’s a “we factor” and you’re role in the relationship is equally important. It takes two. YOU have tremendous power in yourself -- through your choices -- to have good work wherever you are. Put in the work that it takes to enjoy work! Don’t be stuck.Take action to get to joy at work! If you need a private job search coach, contact Dana through her website or through LInkedIn.
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Serve Your Employees with Chris Free - MGW #2
05/28/2016
Serve Your Employees with Chris Free - MGW #2
GUEST: Rapport Benefits Group Principal, Chris Free -- Chris Free on LinkedIn: A theme that runs through my conversation with Chris can be summed up with a Richard Branson quote: “Employees come first. If you take care of your employees, they’ll take care of the clients.” Rapport Benefits Group keeps winning “Top Place to Work” awards because Chris and his business partners take this wisdom to heart, and they run their buiness in support of their employees. I’ve talked to their employees. They love woking there. And the company keeps growing. Business is good. Here are a few highlight points from our conversation. Make sure employees are well respected and treated. Your employees are the face of your company. Take care of your employees and they will take care of your clients. Practice flexibility and compassion Time and space for the things that come up in life Look at output over time from a given employee. Some days are up, some are down. It’s the aggregate that matters. Longevity of employees leads to great client relationships Loyal employees are engaged with their work. If your employee is worried about personal, at-home things, they’re not productive. Let them address their life in the timing of life, and they’ll produce. is often cited when looking at student productivity in school. It’s just as relevant on the job. Basically, if you’re hungry, or worried about your well being or that of your family, you’re not going to be able to focus on matters higher up the hierarchy -- like writing a report or serving a client. Chris told us, “We ask them about their goals. We help develop them to achieve their goals -- career and non-career goals.” We want you to fulfill your life. As we do, you’ll perform for our firm. Create a place where people think, “Maybe I don’t want to get out of bed and go to work today, but what if I miss something cool?” You can foster great relationships with people whom you turn down for jobs -- by referring them to jobs that’d be a better fit. If you help people promote themselves out of your employ, you’ll have a brand ambassador for life. Don’t create the environment for work that you’ve been disappointed by in past workplaces. Set clear and accurate expectations. Look for outcomes, not features. How do you stand apart? Get out of the office. Get involved with people. Be in the community. Cultivate a qualitative over a quantitative focus. Theme music by: Miguel Juarez Midshow break music by : Allan Loucks
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Be Intentional with Joe LeRoy - MGW #1
05/13/2016
Be Intentional with Joe LeRoy - MGW #1
GUEST: HopeSparks CEO, Joe LeRoy -- Here’s a distillation of some of the practices Joe told us that he and his team are using to ensure MIGHTY GOOD WORK at HopeSparks. If there’s one thing that really stands out as a theme woven through everything that Joe shared with us, it’s this: HopeSparks takes an intentional approach to everything they do, and to every decision they make. They take great pains to ensure that every action the organization and its people take doesn’t just make sense in the moment, but is connected to the culture they aim to build and to the mission they exist to serve. The theme of intentionality affects the flow of information: HopeSparks’ people see the vision, and are included in the mission. They also are given the opportunity to see the results of their work. As a result, they are fulfilled and gratified to an extent they would not be if the benefits of their labor were only understood academically. It affects hiring, firing and transitioning. HopeSparls Looks for (and allows their people to find) the right fit. Fit employee to program Change positions to allow for success if possible with a struggling employee Slow hire Never hire after just one interview Multiple interviews and interview formats Better decisions, better fit, eliminating terminations for cause Choose the pain of an empty desk over the pain of hiring a wrong fit. Commitment to excellence -- don’t stop at mediocre Intentional focus on methods and outcome (evidence based treatment) Doing WITH clients, not TO clients GOOD TO GREAT, Jim Collins: “Hedgehog Concept” What can you do that you can be better at doing than anyone else? Do you love to do it? Does it drive the economic engine? You’re not going to do it, if you don’t love it. And your clients will feel it if you’re checked out. People looking to you for service always is a vulnerable position to be in. What’s that vulnerability met with? Alert to recognize the issues attached to and impacting the hedgehog, and not avoiding those as “Not our department,” and also not addressing them as separate matters. Recognizing when a program is outgrowing its seat, and pulling it out to expand it. Not chasing dollars saying no to anything outside the hedgehog Say yes and go all in. Vetting all opportunities Do we have the resources? We gotta figure out the resource because this is our mission and our hedgehog, so we’ve got to do it. Get a foot in the door before we try to change a system Finger on the pulse of what’s coming, what are the systems, how are they changing, and how can we SOLVE? SUBTLE communication styles and vocabulary reflect about attitudes and culture fit, and they are indicative of the work ethic they will bring. There is information in EVERYTHING that people say and the way that they say it. LEADERSHIP by putting people into stretch goals and positions, allowing them to fail and learn Creates engagement Grows people to greater and greater capacity Managing people toward their potential rather than simply where they’re at. Leadership is like being a drummer. You don’t get the accolades. Most people hardly know how valuable your contribution is, but if you stop playing, it becomes clear how the music hangs on and is governed by the rhythm you set. “It ignites me to see people succeed here in this organization as staff members or team members... That’s what happened to me as a staff member.” -- Joe LeRoy Theme music by Miguel Juarez. Midshow break music by Allan Loucks at .
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