– Freidrich Nietzsche

We take people through journies that lead them to define their ideal relationship towards work. During that journey, they develop an understanding of how their tribes have influenced their decisions, how they solve problems, as well as their willingness to change. All too often, we underestimate the power of a tribe. Because tribes have rigid rituals and expectations. When we break those rituals or expectations, most tribes respond with various versions of, “You’re Crazy.”

For example:

A very successful insurance executive came through one of our programs. By the end of the first day, she had designed a compelling new career which included launching her first business. She found the new venture especially meaningful because it could solve a big problem in healthcare. When she told her husband, he immediately questioned her letting go of a job well into six figures. She expected that and in speaking to his needs, they worked it out. Today, she has a business with offices throughout the United States. There is nothing unusual about a tribe insisting that we navigate away from the safest route through life. But, for most of us, full living requires taking ownership of our careers. Until we take that step, to varying degrees, we are living someone else’s life.

The way tribes perform in the workplace is especially important when taking a new job. This is why a CEO or business owner must take charge of his or her culture. When leaders don’t take the time and initiative to define their tribe, we get chaos. We learned this while designing our first leadership program with one of the most iconic brands in the entertainment industry.

Previously, the company had deep pockets for solving problems. But, after that terrible event, consumer spending had plummeted. We were asked to customize our program to inspire a business revolution throughout the company. In other words, rather than waiting for the resources to return, executives would have to orchestrate and inspire their people to innovate, practice resiliency and to become more persistent than ever before. They were asking team members, many of them already distressed, to move from a historic model of paying for change versus earning and requiring change with every employee.

How many gathered by the water cooler to plan that leader’s demise?

When we meet the resistance of a tribe, how do we increase the probability of their support?

Let’s begin with how human brains are wired. Our minds are capable of thinking about something other than ourselves for a maximum of 15-seconds. We are constantly referring back to ourselves with questions like, “I’m I interested?” “What was on that grocery list?” “Could his suggestions hurt me?”

This is why using righteousness or threats don’t work. Once again, we increase our probability of success by speaking in terms of their needs and expectations, not ours.

Years ago, we were delivering one of our public programs. After the first lunch break, a group of men was laughing as they made their way into the room. Thanksgiving was a week away. A few of them had already made decisions to make significant career changes and they were envisioning how their families would respond to the news. They had come up with the “Jewish Mother’s Hierarchy of Acceptable Career Choices.”

All of the choices were based on how one mother responded to the other when she disclosed what her son did for a living. A minor rise of the eyebrows was reserved for CPAs. An attorney pushed those brows to the middle of their foreheads. A doctor produced a natural facelift.

One of the gentlemen had been an attorney for six years and actually loathed the practice of law. One of his clients was selling a florist shop. During those two days with us, he made a decision to buy the business. The following week, he would tell his family what he was about to do. His parents had paid for law school and drummed into him the importance of developing security through education and a good job. His conversation began with how much they had commented on his unhappiness with work.

“I’ve made a decision to change careers and one of my biggest motivators is to stop bringing negativity into our family. All of you know what I am referring to.”

He told them of the purchase and some of them went crazy. So, he pointed out that he could go back to the practice of law. Give him a year, he requested. He broke down the shock into manageable bites. A decade later, that business has grown into a spectacular success. He later told me that his success would never have happened without his great education. The big difference is that he applied his knowledge to something he loved. His parents continue to receive a weekly delivery of beautiful flowers.

Ethical selling practices are not focused on pitches and orders. Getting people to engage and support us hinges on our skills to speak to their expectations. In the workplace ordering our people to do more is insulting when they are already frenzied. Usually, that kind of transaction is simply greeted with deeper disengagement.

In today’s frenzied workplace, leaders are often stuck in a trance. The mere notion of adding another activity to their plate is met with, “I don’t have the time to do this.” But, the leader’s role is to gain as much support as possible from every stakeholder. This can only happen if the leader is connected to what his or her people want and need. Some direct reports will pour themselves into the work if they are rewarded with tangible progress in their careers. Others will be motivated by greater income. Many will be motivated by directly experiencing they are a vital part of a clearly articulated mission.

Leaders will never understand this if they don’t ask their stakeholders the right questions and listen with deep respect. There is often a strange belief that leaders don’t have the time to engage with their own people. In the leadership development industry, it is routine to send out costly consultants to manage 360 interviews with stakeholders. Others use processes that provide confidentiality so employees can give candid input.

What a lost opportunity!

During our intake process, we study the most important relationships between the business leader and key stakeholders. We design unique interview questions that inspire the stakeholder to give leaders the most important and tangible truth. Then, we give a package of interviews for each executive participant. Then, we hand those interviews with the executives and instruct them to go interview their people. Initially, our internal partners developed anxiety around having leadership development participants conducting interviews without go-betweens or filters. My response was, “Why on earth would you want an executive who is incapable of developing the kind of transparency where stakeholders can share their truth?”

We didn’t sugarcoat the questions. For example, one of my favorites is, “What is it about me that either inspires or lowers your willingness to contribute?” Where there was a history of conflict between the participant and a stakeholder, we directed the questions towards tangible resolution. Where there were problems around skill deficits, we designed questions that would lead to an active learning commitment from the employee.

Of course, it takes a bit of courage to do this. But, we build safety nets so these initial conversations are the beginning of a new form of transparency between the leaders and their stakeholders.

I remember a business leader who arrived for a two-day event that occurs directly after these interviews. He had a reputation for being very aggressive and disrespectful. His technical capacity was profound but his management style led to ongoing casualties. Not long after we began, he raised his hand and stood up. People were stunned to see tears in his eyes. He told us that his perception of success had been centered on climbing the corporate ladder as quickly as humanly possible. If there were casualties, that was the cost of growing. This notion had been instilled in him by previous role models.

The interviews had led to a new outlook. He was stunned with what people had told him and realized he wasn’t getting their support because their actions were primarily motivated by fear. He told us that from this point forward, he was going to practice a new brand of success based on helping each member of his team grow and reach their own ambitions.

After giving us a variety of examples in how he would make a change, I said, “This is going to take a bit of courage. But, who in the room has had a sense of “you’re crazy” when hearing his message?”About half a dozen hands came up.

I continued, “If you are open to helping him make a long-term behavioral change, please raise your hands.”

Three hands went up and they became his new mentors.

Today, his business unit has a reputation as a platform for launching transformative careers. Top tier talent stands in line to get in because of the organization’s track record of meeting the highest standards and rewarding talent with accelerated career growth.

As we step into a world where accelerating change impacts us every day, we simply must build the very skills that help people stay relevant and competitive. We need leaders who fluidly zero in on what people want and need. We need leaders who listen and act. Most importantly, we need leaders who fulfill their commitments.

Many of us don’t get what we want out of life because we believe the right people will not help us. But, once we define what we want, our success is almost purely based on the quality of the support systems we build to launch, grow, and sustain our vision.

It is vital to understand that as change speeds up, the skills to connect fluidly and graciously become more important. Consider that if this is true, then most failure occurs because of isolation.

Sustainable support is not a one-way street. Ethical tribal behavior isn’t an act of convenience. Those of us who ask for support and don’t help others will burn out and have to replace support systems. Those of us who support others but cannot ask for help will burn out period.

Engaging the tribe and building effective support is learnable and doable. If we don’t learn this, most tribes will own us and will contribute to our failure.

Building support is a critical need for any successful individual or organization.

Much of what we have learned to suggest has come out of working with thousands of individuals and organizations. In so many cases, what we propose is nothing more than good manners. So much organization development investments are focused on being more aware of our differences. Witness all the time and money that is poured into diversity and generational differences. The core needs are more simple. Most everyone wants to be heard, respected, seen, appreciated and asked to become part of a team, a mission, or a vision.

Of course, we can discard all that is suggested here because attitude is a choice.

That’s it. I have 32 tribes that need my attention.

For the last time, Happy New Year!

Brought to you by David Harder, President – Inspired Work, Inc.

Schedule 15-Minutes to Discuss Your Workplace or Career with David (Here)

(C) Copyright, 2020, Inspired Work, Inc. – (All Rights Reserved)

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Well, we are doing it in a trance. The numbers around employee engagement are so bad that odds are high many CEOs are also disengaged. People’s rank has absolutely nothing to do with whether they have succumbed to a trance. We witness the trance in executives who lazily cut expenses by laying people off or tell HR to “fix the engagement problem” and walk away.

What do we have to learn from CEOs running magnificent and magnetic cultures? While preparing my new book “The Workplace Engagement Solution,” I studied them. When we explore great cultures such as Southwest Airlines, Google, HBO and Trader Joe’s, we find CEOs that embrace many of the values that represent an “Engagement CEO.” When an executive goes about the business of building a category leader, talent moves to the front of the line in terms of the necessary characteristics within the CEO. Board members and investors would do well to find CEOs with these traits.

If you are considering joining an organization where you want to thrive, it is also smart to evaluate the CEO or business owner.

 An Engagement CEO

• Takes charge of the culture personally
• Develops a strong leadership brand as evidenced by their consistent behavior and message
• Walks the talk, leads by example and leans toward democracy over elitism in any form
• Expresses continuous, genuine and worthy praise to their employees
• Constantly seeks ways to keep their talent current and relevant
• Treats employees as the organization’s greatest asset instead of a potential liability
• Packages engagement as a profit source rather than an expense
• Effectively manages and educates all stakeholders in the need for effective people initiatives
• Moves the vision from short-term financial performance to long-term value, brand strength, and reputation
• Tells themselves and others the truth, especially about change
• Is resolutely and directly connected to the front line
• Is transparent and expects transparency throughout their organization
• Shows respect towards all employees and learns from all of them

Many will treat engagement as a sidebar activity, a perk provided to the employees. However, the purpose of engagement is far more rigorous than simply making employees feel better. Engagement is about being awake, interested, alert, invested and present. Real engagement moves an organization beyond the business targets.

Making the decision to lead business culture is one of the few competitive advances that are in control of the CEO. Alas, this basic truth doesn’t even cross the mind of many leaders who block the thought with, “I don’t have enough time” or, “Profit margins are too slim to give this attention.”

There are no shortcuts to success. We learn nothing of value through the study of dysfunction. Any CEO engaged in category leadership knows this. In the end, the quality of our talent is going to determine if we lead the market or continually run to keep up.

As I studied engagement CEOs, it also became clear they lead engagement for a series of business payoffs:

• A fully engaged culture and a superior employer brand.
• The best possible products and services, and excellence in everyone’s behavior.
• The organization makes the world a better place.
• The organization makes every attempt to fully engage with every customer.
• Recognizes there is simply no substitute for human decency, compassion, understanding, and pursuit for “the high road.”

On a practical level, here is one example:

We live next door to a huge Ralph’s Grocery Store. It is literally 100 yards from our front door to the store. And yet, we spend most of our shopping dollars elsewhere. The majority of employees are sullen, don’t look people in the eye. In the morning aisles are blocked because they are stocking shelves after the doors open. Disengagement isn’t limited to the customer experience, it also potentially impacts our health. We have had to either throw out or return spoiled produce and contaminated chicken.

I’ve often praised Trader Joe’s for its remarkable culture where the average tenure of cashiers is 19 years. There is a cashier that calls out our names. I asked her about the stories of the longevity and loyalty of their employees. She said, “Nineteen years? Those are the kids. I’ve been here for 26 years.” I asked her why. She responded, “We’re a family! Here’s an example. There have been many times when I come to work before the store opens. If the general manager is here first, I find him scrubbing and cleaning the bathrooms. No one pulls rank, we work together.”

The two organizations offer a remarkable contrast regarding CEO behavior. At Trader Joe’s, everyone knows their CEO, Dan Bane, because he regularly appears at the stores. As we returned rotten food to Ralph’s, I asked if they knew the name of their CEO. They didn’t know who he was. I also asked a couple of them if they knew anything about Yucaipa Companies. The response was, “Who are they?” Yucaipa owns Ralph’s.

One company has a CEO who visits, asks questions, listens, and strives to make Trader’s a better place to work.

The other one is a commodity. Everything feels and looks cheap. The employees give the consumer little attention.

Which company will be the first to convert to robotics and virtual check-outs?

There is the rub. Technology will not replace accountability, emotional interest, and problem-solving on behalf of their customers.

Dan Bane made it very clear that employees are the lynchpin for customer satisfaction and loyalty.

In the other company, employees don’t even know the CEO’s name.

Brought to you by David Harder, President – Inspired Work, Inc.

Schedule 15-Minutes to Discuss Your Workplace or Career with David (Here)

(C) Copyright, 2019, Inspired Work, Inc. – (All Rights Reserved)

The post What is An Engagement CEO? appeared first on Inspired Work Services.

Isn’t it ironic that the skills we always needed to be successful have been given this rather dismissive term called, “Soft Skills?” These are personal attributes that enable someone to interact effectively and harmoniously with other people.

For years, many people have run away from learning how to sell, influence others, build support systems, effectively pay attention to other people, and skillfully draw attention to themselves.

Why are these skills so important today? Many people only had to deal with networking and selling themselves just a few times in their careers. But, as change continues to accelerate, the cycles of having to sell ourselves also grow. As the world undergoes this huge restructuring of work, connectivity will determine who works at their full potential and who becomes part of the growing ranks of the underemployed.

For example, today’s average college graduate is going to change careers, not jobs, 4-6 times. But our schools are not giving them the skills to deal with such change. With half of our nation’s workforce in a state of underemployment, of course, we are going to have turmoil. Far too many workers are being kicked to the curb by change because we never taught them how to change! College graduates tend to be haunted by underemployment for about 10 years.

As the world speeds up, thriving literally depends on our building courage skills and the ability to connect far more effectively with the very people who can give us great jobs or projects, the mentors who can give us a clue, and the champions who can hold us accountable for waking up. Honestly, it would be far more straightforward to change the words soft skills to courage skills. This is because many of us have run away from developing these skills because of the discomfort of drawing attention to ourselves.

Many of us have this inside dialogue that if we draw attention to ourselves, someone is going to hurt us. And, the probability of getting hurt does grow when more people see us. But, the probability of starving grows as we become less visible. As a result, many of us draw just enough attention to ourselves to survive but not enough to thrive. Wouldn’t it be more healthy to not only learn how to draw healthy attention to ourselves as well as develop the skills to deal with the consequences of visibility?

What are courage skills?

Sales

Selling is a multi-fold skill. It includes the ability to make a quick pitch, one that captures the value of what we are selling and speaks to the needs and expectations of the buyer.

Consultative selling is the ability to ask the kinds of questions that prompt the buyer to tell us what they want and need. It can include questions that help the buyer define their needs for the first time. This is the most important form of selling and is far more comfortable than relying solely on pitches.

Influence

Here, we are so clearly connected to our gifts that our words, actions, and interests create understanding in the people we encounter. Real influence is rooted in our ability to pay attention, to listen to someone’s every word, to notice their facial expressions and body language, and to be interested.

Customized Support Systems

Many people don’t get what they want because they don’t define what they really want. Many people don’t define what they want because they believe, on some profound level, that the right people will not help them realize their vision. If this is the case, why bother defining a mission, vision, and purpose?

But, once we define exactly what we want, our success is almost purely based on our abilities to create a support system, perhaps even a community that brings our mission, vision, and purpose to life.

Social networking offers the greatest potential to build these support systems with mind-bending speed. But, usually, that potential isn’t realized because social media platforms are not teaching the ideal ways to connect with others. Sending out connection generic and bloodless connection requests do little to build communities. We have been teaching people how to use social media in ways that actually develop engaged relationships. It is how we rebuilt our organization after the great recession.

Presentation Skills

Anyone with the ability to make a presentation to a group or in public immediately gives themselves a 60% pay hike over people who don’t. But, the need to effectively present oneself is growing. Let’s be clear, presentation skills include connecting with people virtually, face-to-face in the flesh, and once in a while, on stage.

The National Speaker’s Association once conducted a poll which defines that over 80% of Americans would rather and literally die rather than make a presentation. That would indicate that developing courage could help them move forward. It doesn’t have to be earth-shaking? Anyone can walk down the block to a Toastmasters meeting and find other people who are equally afraid.

Summary

As the transactions around work speed up, connectivity becomes far more important. As task work falls away, developing courage skills gives us the option of pursuing the work that will bring happiness and freedom into our lives. The skills make it easier to select a job or business. as our work platform.

But, we recently had an experience that personifies just how much our country and our culture needs a seismic shift in what we emphasize in learning.

My colleague, Dr. Mary Campbell and I spoke to a large community organization about the need to teach these skills in all of our schools and within our families. The organization sponsors one of the country’s most successful charter schools. Right after our presentation, they gave out the “student of the month” award to a junior from the school. She was so afraid of the attention that she refused to walk up to the podium to accept her award!

How many parents are in the same boat?

As change in the workplace continues to accelerate, the need to interact effectively and harmoniously with others will continue to grow. Anyone who wants to have the options to do the work they most want to do ought to be elevating the need to learn the courage skills. And, just what is courage? It is the commitment to take the right action whether or not we are frightened.

Remember, that in today’s world, the single biggest reason for failure is isolation.

Building these skills requires commitment. Humans have long demonstrated that we first must instill a vision in why we are going through the discomfort. I always suggest picking the work that you would most love. Perhaps opt to become a better role model for your children. Afterward, invest in the training that will fulfill your vision. Find mentors who can help. Go home and tell your children, “You know what? I have been a lousy example of drawing attention from myself. I’ve been responding to the very idea with fear as if some boogie man is going to jump out from the shadows. Don’t do what I do, because, in the years ahead, your ability to make a living and be happy depends on learning the skills that allow you to effectively connect with others.

For all of us:

• Rather than putting up with that job you cannot stand in an industry that is shrinking, go have lunch at Toastmasters.
• Practice contrary action. Instead of putting down social networking, learn how to use the medium to build strongly engaged relationships.
• Set new expectations with your spouses, business colleagues, and friends. Make a commitment to learning how to draw attention to your work at a whole new level. It requires courage and you need their support in getting back on that horse until you ride comfortably and joyfully.
• Don’t discuss your challenges with anyone who is committed to hiding. They will quickly talk you out of the venture. In other words, hang out with people who succeed.
• When people notice you, thank them and praise them. When we praise someone and they respond, “Oh it was nothing,” we are actually telling them to not notice, evaluate and judge us.

In closing, the more skilled we become with courage skills, the more we connect with the world and the more we connect with ourselves.

Courage skills will help turn life into a grand adventure.

Brought to you by David Harder, President – Inspired Work, Inc.

Schedule 15-Minutes to Discuss Your Workplace or Career with David (Here)

(C) Copyright, 2019, Inspired Work, Inc. – (All Rights Reserved)

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A consumer brand tells the world why you exist.

An employer brand is who are actually are.

In our country, entire tribes of CEOs perpetuate an idea that in order to offer low-prices customers are willing to have a mediocre buying experience. There was a time in our history, where they could work. However, technology is evening the playing field. For example, when we can order just about anything without leaving home and have it delivered in hours, why go to the mall and deal with irritated employees?

Let’s take a look at two comparisons. Each demonstrates the power of solid employer branding:

• Von’s Pavilions and Trader Joes
• United Airlines and Southwest

We live next door to a Von’s Pavilions located at the beach. Online critiques of the store include statements such as, “The store’s employees ought to be on suicide watch.” Von’s nationwide has one of the lowest customer service scores amongst all of the largest grocers.

Vons is owned by Albertsons. The company posted its first profit in years on February 24.

On the other hand, mention Trader Joes and people’s faces light up. The average tenure of a Trader Joe’s cashier. While many CEOs will be dismissive of the comparison, Trader Joe’s prices are even lower than Von’s. And yet, Trader Joe’s isn’t a commodity, it is a carefully orchestrated consumer experience. This is a company that controls costs through tight inventory strategies and portrays a family to its customers. The average tenure of a Trader’s cashier is 18 years.

Trader’s doesn’t release its net profit figures. However, the company sells $1,734 per square foot per year while Whole Foods, the runner-up, sells $930 per square foot. Most Trader Joe’s customers smiling and kind staff as well as unique food values to be a winning combination.

Bring up United Airlines and what images come to mind? People being tasered and dragged off of planes, dogs dying in the cargo hold, and employees with absolutely no sense of enthusiasm.

On the other hand, Southwest Airlines is famous for its culture of low rates, workers with humor, courtesy and playfulness.

Southwest Airlines is famous for its culture of workers who demonstrate fun, courtesy, and playfulness and now they have added a profound dose to the employee as well as customer experience. Those characteristics had already made Southwest the most loved airline based in America. Commercial pilots hold up Southwest and FedEx as the gold standard for a positive work experience. A couple of years ago, CEO Gary Kelly, decided it was time to create renewed energy in their culture. He introduced a new set of aspirations for all of their employees. He asked everyone to support a vision of being the most loved, flown and profitable airline in the world.

Kelly suggested that one of the ways they would deepen their culture come from telling stories of how they improved the lives of the customers they touch. He said, “We exist to connect people to what’s important in their lives through friendly, reliable, and low-cost travel.” He asked everyone to develop the art of storytelling and to become involved with the story’s behind each passenger’s travels and to find ways to elevate their lives.”

The heart behind this commitment is profound. It can be gut-wrenching. As I researched their stories, I found a letter from a woman named Nancy:

“Last night, my husband and I got the tragic news that our three-year-old grandson in Denver had been murdered by our daughter’s live-in boyfriend.”

Her husband had to get his daughter as quickly as possible. He was on a business trip. In Los Angeles, the crowds were so backed up that he was going to miss the plane. TSA could have cared less. But, a flight attendant from the first leg of his journey had already called ahead to the pilot of the last plane. He ran to the gate expecting to see everyone gone.

The pilot and the ticketing agent were waiting for him. One of them asked, “Are you Mark?” The other added, “We held the plane for you and we are so sorry about the loss of your grandson.”

True employee engagement develops cultures that matter and businesses that we love with fierce loyalty. Because, all of them have heart. But, the greatest heart of all is an employer brand that orchestrates outcomes that are as rich as this story because heart cannot be faked.

Sure, consumer brands are good. But, employer brands determine what our businesses become.

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For years, my company has produced engagement with intact teams. We’ve produced great results regardless of the overall engagement level throughout an organization. When I was asked by the business publisher Career Press to write The Workplace Engagement Solution. When we included the word solution, I asked for more time to write the book! Research, interviews with key business figures, and common-sense led to the architecture that produces a very real solution to the biggest problem that employers face today, a global disengagement that hovers around 87%.

Why are these horrible numbers so persistent? Here are a few insights:

• Many organizations continue to treat talent development as an elitist investment reserved for the high potentials and senior executives.
• This dynamic has produced a consulting industry that continually characterizes management as inadequate in dealing with the problem. Hence, we pour money into the top tier.
• Employees will not engage if we do not teach them how to change. The investment in teaching all employees to change and engage is strikingly worthwhile. However, the only sustainable way to do this is through mentoring rather than depending endless relationships with consultants.
• Without a democratic approach to engagement, breakdowns will undermine all efforts.

With a purely democratic solution, the global disengagement problem can only be solved if everyone from the entry-level worker to the CEO/owner is dealing directly with his or her own engagement.

Engaged CEOs lead their cultures. The very word “engagement” implies connectedness and transparency. As I have already pointed out, the failure of most engagement programs begins when the CEO turns the initiative over to someone else. Make no mistake about it, engagement includes an emotional component and many CEOs are uncomfortable with the feelings generated by the human side of the business. Others are so absorbed in dealing with market and shareholder expectations that they believe they cannot add culture concerns to their crowded plates. Nothing could be more wrongheaded.

Unfortunately, well over 80% of engagement initiatives are doomed from the start. Here’s what happens. The CEO visits human resources and tells them to, “fix the engagement problem.” By the time the CEO hits the door, he or she is disengaged. The human resources department messages the rest of the organization that an engagement initiative has begun. The employees look past human resources to the CEO and witness business as usual. An employee survey is released. The results make the managers feel more inadequate than ever. Leaders are sent to a retreat center returning enthused while the employees think, “So what?” All too often, the chief human resources officer is held responsible for the engagement failure and is shown the door. I work with a wide variety of human resource executives with career development and routinely tell them that if the CEO isn’t leading the culture, “keep your bags packed.”

The CEOs of category leaders know that engagement is core to meeting business targets. They lead the culture. Their involvement with the culture is transparent and consistent.

The journey for employees to move from disengagement to full engagement requires commitment, courage, and, in quite often, discomfort. Here is an example why this is true. How many employees, “fly under the radar?” They believe that drawing attention to themselves will hurt them. And, if we build the skills that create connectedness, we better include the skills of how to manage attention. Unfortunately, when we do not draw attention to ourselves, we starve. Helping all workers become visible and transparent is a major step towards connectedness, the essence of engagement. That journey is a plump job for mentors.

This challenge becomes even clearer when we accept that engagement and personal change is challenging for all of us. The journey from disengagement to engagement requires deep personal change and some new life skills. Unfortunately, too many of us still fear the predictable discomfort of personal change and avoid it at all costs. We do not even understand that we are working against our own best interests. We lack the insight because we simply don’t know what we don’t know.

Engaged CEOs are visible. They visit the frontlines. They practice transparency. They never ask employees to do anything they wouldn’t do themselves. They recognize that talent is the number one driver of category leadership.

One of my favorite engaged CEOs is Adam Miller of Cornerstone on Demand. His office has four walls of glass and it is next to the lobby. They are the category leader in online learning. They have the lowest turnover compared to other big tech companies. Adam lives and breaths engagement.

Joe Coulombe created a category leader simply because there isn’t another grocery store remotely comparable. At Trader Joe’s every CEO since Joe visits the stores regularly and listens to the employees. They have a culture personified with the fact that whoever opens the doors first, they clean the bathroom, even if it is general manager. The average tenure of Trader cashiers is eighteen years.

It is so basic. If the CEO wants every employee to look customers in the eye and connect, it is time to look their employees in the eye and connect. If we want our employees to stay ahead of change and take ownership of their lives, we must do the same and do it in the light.

Years ago, we were asked by Disney to design a new leadership program. We created highly informed and personalized 360s. Then, we told the executives to go conduct the interviews. This instruction was met with shock and I responded, “Why would you want a leader in this company without the emotional intelligence to conduct a truthful conversation?” The outcome was transformative.

Whatever we want from our talent, stand in the light with them. Live it, breath it, personify engagement. Your mentors will depend on you as a role model to replicate what it means to connect with their colleagues, their customers, and especially, their lives.

Brought to you by David Harder, President – Inspired Work, Inc.

(C) Copyright, 2018, Inspired Work, Inc. – (All Rights Reserved)

Schedule 15-Minutes to Discuss Your Workplace or Career with David (Here)

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The post Why Must the CEO be the First to Engage? appeared first on Inspired Work Services.

According to David Harder, author of The Workplace Engagement Solution(Career Press), here’s why:

“The tech industry is filled with both employers and employees committed to rapid growth and change. Tech companies routinely displace talent as business models change. On the other hand, if an organization isn’t keeping up with a particularly talented employee’s growth, they are gone in a second. Collectively, these dynamics create the volatile turnover and by extension, can lead to significant engagement challenges.”

In the book’s chapter, What is an Engagement CEO?, David and his colleague Mary Campbell interviewed Adam Miller, CEO of Cornerstone on Demand. They discussed what it means to be an engagement CEO, a particular challenge in leading a fast-growing tech company in Southern California. Cornerstone on Demand’s culture grew out of an unusual dynamic. Los Angeles had no technology industry to speak of. So, Adam made a series of decisions that have contributed to cultural and business success.

David: In an earlier interview you said that by starting in LA, you were put in the position of having to hire potential rather than experience.

Adam: Absolutely true.

David: Is it the same today?

Adam: It is a little less true today because tech has grown in LA. But when we began, B2B marketing and software development were extremely difficult to find in LA. We found it was better to find the people with the right com­petencies and build their technical skills. We did this by only hiring people that were active learners. You describe this need throughout the world. Well, it is truer in a tech company. It is exponentially truer in a hyper-growth company where we have to find people who are capable of moving up from the baseline. Most tech companies don’t operate that way. In hyper-growth, they regular­ly pull out the individuals that are not keeping up with the growth. The way we did it here, the reason we have had such stable and high retention is that we hired people that required the same characteristics of active learning and an interest in personal growth. We hire the ones who demonstrate they want to learn and are ambitious. As a result, they have grown with us.

Mary: I bet you had some casualties.

Adam: Very few. It could be said that we defy the odds because, in so many organizations, only one to two will make it because they are exceptional. I am saying the opposite. Only one or two did not make it because everyone had the attributes. Our people make it because they are continuous learners when they arrive as well as in the parochial process because these are the people that get promoted.

Cornerstone on Demand’s success reminds me of Germany where talent isn’t discarded due to change. Talent is constantly being trained to stay ahead of change as it happens. Consequently, the country has the lowest unemployment in developed countries and underemployment is virtually unknown. For example, the country’s automobile industry makes full use of robotics but has not had any mass layoffs. As technology moves forward workers are trained to solve solutions rather than engaged in repetitive work.

The Workplace Engagement Solution includes a central premise that if we want to build engagement in the modern world, we need to build active learners. Consider that Cornerstone on Demand was founded in 1999. By identifying the need for workers filled with potential, Mr. Miller also had to build an organization that accommodates that potential. The results? Today, not only is Cornerstone a category leader, it has one of the lowest turnover rates in the technology industry.

David Harder’s new book, The Workplace Engagement Solution (Career Press) offers an entire “crack-the-code” approach to engagement. Order your copy by clicking here.

Brought to you by David Harder – Founder & President, Inspired Work, Inc.

(C) Copyright, 2018, David Harder – (All Rights Reserved)

Get your copy of The Workplace Engagement Solution (Career Press) (Here)

Hear David Harder talk about The Inspired Work Program:

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We frequently select many mid-managers because they get the job done quickly and accurately. We then promote them to manage others or to use that core strength to finish an important project. However, few receive management or leadership skills training. Instead, they are elevated because they were more productive than their peers. Quite often, they continue with their previous workload, sometimes even increasing until they break or leave. Ongoing restructuring, the elimination of career ladders to the executive ranks, and persistent insecurity have diluted the mid-managers loyalty.

In my book, The Workplace Engagement Solution (Career Press), disengagement is viewed as a trance, so persistent that many leaders view it as impenetrable. However, for CEOs, business owners, and organizations that set engagement as a standard, we can solve the problem through culture change and by showing everyone how to change and engage. Engagement is learnable. From my experience, mid-managers need the most help.

In 2012, Harvard Business Review indicated that almost half of the Gen-Xs, which represents the largest segment of mid-managers, planned to leave their jobs within two years. A year before, Bersin & Associates released the findings of their research and indicated that: “Middle managers have fewer resources, manage more people, and are less engaged than all other employee groups.” This is backward! If we think so little of them, why do we let mid-managers lead and motivate the organization’s largest number of workers, usually the ones that directly touch our customers?

Take a moment to consider all of the managers in customer service call centers, grocery stores, department stores, service centers, specialty retailers, schools, insurance agencies, healthcare, and government. As consumers, we complain about the poor customer service we experience and wonder, “How did it get so pervasive?” The problem has grown to the point that many companies routinely do nothing because the competition is exactly the same.

When a CEO or business owner commits to full employee engagement, mid-managers are no longer given the short shrift in development. Mid-managers simply must be given the kind of development that:

• Teaches them how to change, reflect, sell, network, influence, and actively learn
• Shows them how to elevate the use of their time from frenzied activity to value
• Holds them just as accountable for engagement as senior executives
• Moves them from taskmasters to strategic leaders, talent developers, and problem solvers

If there is any doubt about the value of this quest, start adding up the times you encounter a brand ambassador that you remember as a positive stand-out, a look you in the eye and do whatever it takes to make you a satisfied customer.

Why don’t we make that kind of engagement the new normal?

Brought to you by David Harder, President – Inspired Work, Inc.

(C) Copyright, 2018, Inspired Work, Inc. – (All Rights Reserved)

To discuss your workplace or your career with David Harder, schedule fifteen-minutes, Here.

The post Mid-Management. Engagements Final Frontier appeared first on Inspired Work Services.

For many years, organizations have literally protected sexual harassment through settlements and non-disclosure agreements. Consider the message this sends to everyone. Time and time again, we have indicated that money is more important than human dignity or “doing the right thing.” It is time to shatter this practice and for any organization that is reluctant to do so, take a look at how quickly the entire public learns of illegal behavior. But, this is also the time for many women to stop participating in the old system of hiding the crime. I think of the many human resources executives and labor attorneys, all women, who have negotiated these agreements only to have the same executive become emboldened to continue. When we protect revenue generation over protecting our own people, it is time for everyone to know. That is not a threat, it is a simple outcome of modern living. Transparency will only grow. Technology has turned most everyone into a reporter.

I know how the old game works from personal experience. In my early 20’s, I came out of as a gay man. Coming of age in the 80s led to the realization that gays and lesbians had to make themselves visible if we were ever to have equal rights. I shielded myself from getting fired or picked on by always becoming the top revenue generator. But, while I was going down that road to fight for equality, other revenue generators have used that profitability cloak to protect themselves from getting fired or going to jail after a sexual assault. Consider for just a moment how perverse it is for any organization to behave like that. But, we have done this with well-thought-out risk management routines.

I praise the Board of Directors of Comcast for firing Matt Lauer on-the-spot. That one act perhaps signals a shift in how all studios respond to what is in essence, a crime. If we want all women and men to be protected from assault, we must end the practice of paying people off rather than showing perpetrators the door. And, with rapidly growing transparency throughout our culture, this is the time for human capital executives, labor attorneys, CEOs, business owners and board members to re-examine their values. At the beginning, ending all attempts to sweep challenges like this under the rug might feel a bit conflicted. But, consider the probability that we no longer have a choice.

In the last few years, so many women, who signed non-disclosure agreements that were foisted on them to keep their mouths shut have stepped forward to speak out. Think of the courage it takes to do that when they have been they have been warned of financial ruin. All too often, they are taking that stand because the perpetrator has done it again, sometimes with greater violence and harm. The days of protecting a bit of profit by hiding illicit behavior as more and more organization suffer staggering losses in reputation and shareholder value are coming to an end.

Live and work with nothing to hide.

A transparent world sees that.

We are better than we used to be.

Let everyone know that.

Brought to you by David Harder, President – Inspired Work, Inc.

(C) Copyright, 2018, Inspired Work, Inc. – (All Rights Reserved)

To discuss your workplace or your career with David Harder, schedule fifteen-minutes, Here.

The post Shattering the Business of Sexual Harassment appeared first on Inspired Work Services.

That said, does this growing avalanche of disclosure demonstrate an even far bigger trend?

It does.

Many of our most famous perpetrators grew up in a time when the rich and powerful were led to believe they could get away with just about anything. It is difficult to imagine anyone would have been so brazen had they realized that transparency would transmit his or her actions into the minds of millions.

The transparency revolution is also throwing open the doors to great, mediocre and nightmarish employers. Today’s employment candidate can quickly learn enough to know whether a hiring manager is telling the truth or lying. Many of the worst employers are complaining that Indeed and Glassdoor are a fad that is “ruining their candidate pool.”

Two years ago, the beginning transparency revolution unearthed banking giant Well’s Fargo’s criminal deeds towards its customers with over 1.5 million unauthorized accounts opened and charged to customers. Apparently, the delusion and the need to exploit isn’t getting through to the shuffled senior managers. This past month, the public has heard of two new scandals at the bank, all based on trying to bilk even more out of mortgage and auto loan customers.

Transparency is shining a light so bright on organizations, leaders, politicians, and celebrities, who’s next? Well, let’s be candid. All of us have lost our privacy. For example, when I decided to look for my birth mother, we found her in 6 hours.

The most successful and modern employers practice transparency at all levels. Everyone’s performance is in the open light. Employee engagement is practiced and led by the CEO. Teams are so engaged that anyone who falls behind is quickly pulled forward. Hiding is quickly becoming the game of amateurs and con artists.

In conclusion, here are a few simple suggestions with big payoffs:

• Live life with nothing to hide
• Run your organization with nothing to hide
• Get rid of silos
• Whatever you want your employees to do, do it yourself
• Provide everyone’s performance in the open
• Practice total integrity in marketing and service to your customers
• Instead of making payoffs, get rid of any sources of malfeasance

Really? Here is a little case study from just this morning. We have been getting complaints about the high-speed Internet that is installed in our office and house. We have been paying a sizeable premium for this service. So, our technology consultant measured its speed, which turned out to be lower than the basic Internet provided by Spectrum. Ah, Spectrum, a child of Time Warner Cable and Charter Communications. The two parents of Spectrum made so many “most hated companies in America” lists that Paul Allen had it spun off and they slapped on a new name. After getting our readings on Internet speed, a few strokes on Google led us to the class-action lawsuit taking place right now against Spectrum for bilking its customers by lying about Internet speed and adding dozens of charges with a price that is, on average, five times the amounts advertised on Television. Some will respond, “But, that’s the norm.”

No, it will no longer be the norm. Today’s technology has given us the capacity to transmit bad and/or criminal behavior at the speed of light. Millions of whistleblowers hold recording devices in the palms of their hands. One story now gives births to other stories in an eye blink. In many ways, I believe the story of transparency is as important for us to tell as the tipping point against sexual harassment. Now, is the time to let vendors, employers, clients, co-workers, stakeholders, and others to hear today’s very important reality.

We see you.

Brought to you by David Harder, President – Inspired Work, Inc.

(C) Copyright, 2017, Inspired Work, Inc. – (All Rights Reserved)

If you would like to discuss your workplace or your career with David Harder, schedule fifteen-minutes, Here.

The post Today’s Sexual Harassment Shock Wave & the bigger revolution behind it appeared first on Inspired Work Services.

Today, a dear friend and I are getting together with our former boss – Gail Angel. I have not seen her in twenty-three years! Gail owned one of the most successful staffing companies in California. Gail also taught me the very greatest lesson on the first day I showed up as a new general manager.

I remember 1985 as an absolutely terrifying time in my life. People were dying…in droves. None of us knew how AIDS was transmitted. Before it became a world disease it was a gay disease. By the grace of God, my partner and I were healthy. Both of us were at a community event where the physician who identified HIV – Michael Gottlieb announced to hundreds of leaders a new disease that killed all of its victims within weeks rather than years. We turned and looked at the audience. A number of men were gaunt and covered with sores. But the hysteria that terrible illness generated in those early days separated the weakest from the rest of the pack. So many people died in isolation from their families and in some cases, their closest friends.

Economic shunning ran through the business world. Many employers were pressured by their insurance companies to get rid of employees with the dreaded disease. Somehow, I guess they justified the economic opportunity with the morals of the time.

On that first day, Gail took me to meet several leaders within the agency. We met Vicki Johnson – a gorgeous African American woman who ran the downtown office. I had already heard that one of her consultants had just returned from the hospital in a desperate struggle with pneumonia. He was a charming young man named Jonathan. Vicki proudly introduced me to everyone in her operation. We came to Jonathan’s office. He could barely stand up but he did and he warmly shook my hand.

“We are so happy you have joined the company,” he beamed.

A moment later, I turned to Vicki and excused myself for a quick visit to the bathroom. As I was vigorously scrubbing and washing my hands, Johnathan walked in the door.

He asked, “Everything OK?”

I smiled and fled the bathroom.

It hadn’t been but a few minutes when the other two owners joined us in Vicki’s office. They were there to welcome Johnathan back from the hospital. I watched the four women embrace and kiss the one individual in the building who most needed affection. A few minutes later I jumped into my car ashamed, sad and so very moved.

It was a turning point.

Not long after, Jonathan passed away. Those women loved and supported him until the end.

What am I going to tell Gail today?

When she walked in the door, both of us were stunned at how youthful and beautiful she is after 25 years. Today, Gail is in her third career as a celebrated artist with installations in several leading museums and a cadre of fans. Before I could say a word, she turned to me and asked,

“I cannot imagine what it is like to touch so many people’s lives. What is that like for you?”

I told her that when I open my eyes in the morning, I think of someone whose life has changed and transformed for the better. There are so many today that I prefer to think about them one-person-at-a-time. I told her that finding that unique gift led to an unexpected and grace-filled life. I told her that she had also done that for me. I had never recounted the impact of that day and as I shared the memories with her, Gail’s eyes flooded with tears. She remembered and felt love towards Jonathan as if it happened yesterday.

Even now, I don’t know if Gail’s behavior with that young man was an act of courage or simply heart. She always seemed so totally fearless. All that I do know is she did the right thing and it changed my life.

Brought to you by David Harder, President – Inspired Work Services, Inc.

(C) Copyright, 2017, Inspired Work, Inc. – (All Rights Reserved)

If you would like to discuss your workplace or your career with David Harder, schedule fifteen-minutes Here.

The post How One Boss Changed My Entire Life appeared first on Inspired Work Services.