Opt-in and Win

Here are my 5 essential coaching tips that are guaranteed to deliver a winning culture, because let's be honest, less sucky isn't going to cut it in today's climate.

ONE. Replace mandates with invitations.
Collaborative Cultures that have mutual purpose, meaning, and respect trust that employees act in good faith and make decisions about the best use of their time. Mandates infantilize, creating unproductive resentments.  Regrets to an invitation is an opportunity to start a meaningful conversation focused on increasing alignment.

TWO. Replace judgment with learning.
​As humans, we fear and resist the judgment of others, especially when it is negative. Fear causes us to hide mistakes that are rich learning opportunities. Judgment also limits our perspective to our view of the world. Choosing learning allows us to broaden our thinking, grow capability, and avoid missteps that can put mutual respect at risk.

THREE. Replace telling with listening.
We all like to be right and this causes us to advocate too strongly. If you want to break away from the path and show up as exceptional, choose inquiry. Inquiry is simply asking questions with the sincere intent to understand another's ideas and thinking. It requires curiosity and a commitment to hearing over being heard. It also drives efficiency and effectiveness. Teams that practice inquiry execute swiftly because they achieve true alignment and shared commitment, eliminating the tedious cycle of revisiting and challenging decisions over and over that can delay progress for weeks, months, and even years.

FOUR. Replace feedback with appreciation.
Appreciation differs from feedback in many ways. The intention is more celebratory and affirming. The words tend to be more generous and supportive. The context is less transactional and more relational. The impact is always constructive for the giver and the receiver. Appreciation never expresses anger that can fester into resentment.

FIVE. Replace celebrating heroes with celebrating shared success.
Collaborative cultures recognize the support and partnership that surrounds the success of a single individual. No one operates in a vacuum. In fact, that behavior is in direct conflict with the values and norms of a collaborative culture where mutuality trumps vanity. The victory of one is a victory for all.

Workplace culture is more important than ever because happiness and fulfillment at work is what job seekers expect. Please don't hesitate to reach out if you have questions about implementing any of these shifts. I'm always happy to support your success!

NOTE: These 5 coaching tips are extracted from an article authored for the Women in Insurance and Financial Services August 2020 national magazine which can be read in full here.

For several years, I had the privilege of teaching the Organization Behavior course in the McKendree University Louisville campus business school. I always included the Pike's Place Fish Market story when we talked about highly effective organizations, and here's why. 

I honestly can't think of many jobs that I would dislike more than working as a fishmonger - the smell, the gore, the pre-dawn start to every workday, the hard labor of setting up the ice displays, and did I mention the smell. And yet, on the brink of bankruptcy, owner John Yokohama and his crew embraced a bold idea - to become world-famous. 

Being world-famous wasn't John's master vision that he delivered to his team because he already knew that his top-down, traditional management style wasn't working. Instead, defeated and exhausted, John hired a business coach who showed him how to replace his command-and-control practices with an invitation for employee engagement. 

Facilitated by the business coach, Pike's Place Fish Market employees sat together in a meeting room and reimagined their future. The compelling vision to become world-famous and the idea of turning the fish market into an entertainment destination was generated, embraced, implemented, and perfected by the team. 

What happened from there not only saved the company with

• sustainable profitability
• an outstanding customer experience
• a uniquely positive and engaging culture
• a highly-skilled, loyal group of employees, 4 of whom purchased the business in July of 2018 from the retiring Yokohama,

but launched a management philosophy too.

Coaching Tips:

1. Be clear and bold about your why with the intent of creating direct connections for all positions and people in your company.
2. Believe in the talent that you have and invest in helping them achieve skills, learning, and job advancement to allow them to shine and continuously contribute fully to your mission.
3. Eliminate systemic dissatisfaction caused by lack of job clarity, unrealistic workloads, communication barriers, insufficient pay/benefits, etc.
4. Foster ownership at every level.
5. Get out of your head, let go of your ego, and invite the people alongside you to help generate a new and compelling future. 

When John and his team first gathered, I can only imagine that skepticism and distrust were present. Hiring a skilled professional who has the facilitation skills to bridge divides and makes space for every voice is essential to success. It is work to set aside old assumptions and beliefs and redefining relationships. Well-crafted questions, reframing of situations, and gentle reminders to practice new skills accelerate results.

Need help? I'll show you how, just like CEO Tiffany Howard, who recently hired me to help restore the high-performance culture in her organization. Read her review here. 

Many people felt compelled to declutter their living spaces between feeling trapped during the "safe at home" orders and the need to make room for work and learning spaces. 

Then we saw a surge in divorces as people looked at their 24/7 home-life and realized that their relationship with their partner no longer sparked joy.

Next social and political tensions grew, causing people to remove themselves from social media platforms or trim their friends to escape the negativity. 

Now businesses are returning to in-person operations, leading employees to re-evaluate their joy equation at work and sparking the Great Resignation. 

​To understand what sparks joy at work, you need to understand the three avatars personifying the varying levels of commitment and engagement at work.
 
ACTIVE AVERY feels tremendous pride and ownership at work. They have the opportunity to do what they do best daily. They feel heard, appreciated, and regularly receive affirmation of their value as a contributor. A strong, positive connection exists between the organization's purpose and values and their own.

APATHETIC ALEX is dependable and gets the job done but isn't passionate about their work and contribution. They rarely feel energized by their work and do not see the value of doing more than minimally required. They see their relationship with their employer as transactional and never intend to stay too long in a job or company.

ABSENT ASH is checked out, a warm body filling a spot on an organization chart. They resent their treatment at work and feel completely disconnected from the company's purpose. Their needs are not met at work, causing them to act out in ways that undermine the commitment of others. They announce their unhappiness loudly and often, seeking company in their misery.

Depending on the makeup of your workforce, the Great Resignation could be the nudge you've needed to embrace the wisdom of Good To Great (Jim Collins, 2000) and focus on getting the right people on the bus. 

Identifying the Absent Ashs and encouraging their departure is essential to prevent a few rotten apples from spoiling the whole barrel. Active Averys don't want to carry dead weight. They want to be surrounded by coworkers who share their commitment and pride. They also don't respect leaders who tolerate Absent Ash behavior. 

In other words, if you want to not only keep your Active Averys, but attract more of them, continuing to accept "warm bodies" is not an option.

Next, assess your operating norms to ensure you are meeting the four basic needs for a highly engaged workforce.

Third, revise your talent acquisition strategy to take advantage of the influx of career changers. According to a recent article on hrexchangenetwork.com, "A relaxation around an emphasis on previous work experience coupled with creative approaches to talent development is leading to employers finding a great amount of talent that they weren't seeing previously due to preconceived rules the company had around expectations and qualifications."

Connection is the key to sparking joy in every part of life. Now more than ever, you must have a people strategy that focuses on employee engagement. By focusing energy on cultivating the right environment for Active Averys, you are guaranteed to get the best out of every person, even if they only stay for two years. And, your reputation boost will make it easier to replace vacancies with more Active Averys. 

If you need some help assessing and building your culture, let's chat. DM me or use this link to hop on my calendar.

​Several years ago, when my girls competed in cheer and gymnastics, my side hustle was coaching their sports. Now let me be perfectly clear, I'm not an expert in either of these sports, so I spent a lot of time working side-by-side with seasoned professionals, soaking up all the wisdom they could impart. 

The physical training for these sports is incredible. Strength and endurance are required, so every practice included conditioning. Often we used stations so that each individual worked at her own pace. Each athlete chose to complete the whole set or cheat by reducing the number of repetitions.  As coaches, we decided not to micro-manage this. Instead, we always remind the girls of this simple truth.

​Today, I'm putting on my coaching hat and sharing a similar message with you. 

Inaction is a choice, and frequently it's the wrong one. Why? Because it is a passive acceptance in which active options such as the following are ignored. 

• Gather more information
• Consult other resources
• Allow things to play out unless/until ______ happens
• Act now, tomorrow, next week.

One of the common reasons for indecision studied by social psychologists is decision fatigue. This term describes the burden and stress felt when the number of decisions in a day overwhelms us. Our response to this mental exhaustion is to avoid decision-making or default to the easiest solution. Frequently in my house, this is how we end up ordering pizza for dinner. A helpful strategy to avoid decision fatigue is scheduling important work and conversations early in the day. 

Decision fatigue is legitimate. It is best to avoid important decisions when we are not thinking clearly. It is also different from the avoidance behavior resulting from fear that allows indecision on little things to grow into more significant problems.

Can you relate to any of these examples of fear-driven avoidance?

• Not addressing the performance issue of an employee the first time it happens, so that the second and third time your resentment is through the roof
• Not contacting a customer to renegotiate a deadline and then working until 3 a.m. to finish the work on time
• Not apologizing to one of your best people who later resigns to work somewhere else

The next time you face a decision, and the thought of it makes you tired, be sure to ask yourself why you are feeling this way. If you don't have the energy to deal with it, put it on the top of the list for the next day. However, feeling dread or avoidance is a symptom of fear.

So, how do we combat our tendency to default to passive indecision when we're uncomfortable. The simple answer is to shift from feeling pressured to make a change to actively seeking more information. This response de-escalates our fear response and sets aside our default assumptions and judgments in favor of learning.  

Looking at the examples above, consider this.

Instead of "confronting" your employee about their inadequate performance, ask questions to assess gaps in skills or knowledge before deciding what to do.

Instead of telling your customer, inquire about the impact of changing the deadline and whether it negatively impacts them.

As in the third example, sometimes you have to swallow your pride, face your fear, and own it. However, as the above examples show, often it is helpful to choose curiosity over decision avoidance.

Remember, when we avoid because of fear, we get a short-term respite followed by a more significant problem down the road. Your future self will thank you for avoiding the trap of passive indecision.