Everyday Leadership Podcast

As we start to wind down Season 1 of the Everyday Leadership Secrets podcast. 

We wanted to share an episode from one of the Clubhouse rooms we hosted a few months ago. 

Leading by example surely is a trait of an exceptional leader, but most of all it has to be the trait of any good leader.  

Organizations need to ensure that leaders have solid leadership training and that they are open-minded to understand that there are different ways to do the same task. 

As a leader, it is important what individual strengths are and what you can contribute from your experience. 

Learning never gets old and we can always learn from others.  Being a leader does not mean that you have all the answers, but it does mean that you can learn a lot from other people's styles and help your team adopt best practices. 

"Understanding that leading by example is putting it out there and being there for whoever you are leading on your team".

Visit us at rivetly.com. Like and follow our Facebook page, join our LinkedIn group Leadership Mindset Group and don't forget to #leadbetter.

The places around the world that keep passing progressive legislation allowing employees to disconnect from work keep piling on.  

Technology has made flexible work arrangements possible but at the same time, most employers do not recognize this flexibility as real work.  

Ontario, Canada, joins Spain, France, Portugal, and some US states in passing a law that will make it against the law to contact employees after work hours, with very few exceptions. 

Are you just taking the time to answer a quick call or just reply to an urgent email or Slack message? It is these types of flexible work that the legislations attempt to address. 

Is it possible that legislators can go too far in order to protect workers' rights? 

Critics of this type of legislation think it may deter large employers from expanding into their countries because of the ever-expanding red tape that employers ultimately have to pay for.

Visit us at rivetly.com. Like and follow our Facebook page, join our LinkedIn group Leadership Mindset Group and don't forget to #leadbetter.

What are you going to do about low employee engagement?

Perhaps you have noticed that employee engagement is down at your company and maybe it is time to do something about the situation. 

Now, there are different games, wine and cheese nights, chocolate tasting parties, comedians, magicians, and other forms of entertainment that can be brought into the company, via zoom or in-person that you think may help increase employee engagement.

There is nothing wrong with this approach per se, as long as you are clear that this type of approach does not create lasting employee engagement beyond entertainment and short-term team building.

Visit us at rivetly.com. Like and follow our Facebook page, join our LinkedIn group Leadership Mindset Group and don't forget to #leadbetter.

Perhaps you fancy your company a great employer. But, as with all things in life, even with the best of intentions, the way the company operates and is organized can be hurting employees’ health and well-being.

According to research by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, working conditions and the demands of the work environment are significant sources of stress for many Americans.

 The good news is that redesigning or rethinking the way your organization operates does not have to be costly.  In fact, the more you place your employee at the center of what you do, the more you can increase engagement and reduce turnover costs resulting in an increase in your bottom line.  

Listen as we discuss some practical stategies to help improve your employee's health and well-being.

Visit us at rivetly.com. Like and follow our Facebook page, join our LinkedIn group Leadership Mindset Group and don't forget to #leadbetter.

Scotiabank, a Canadian financial institution, has announced that they will no longer require resumes for student positions.  

The idea behind this move is that it gives an opportunity to candidates that have not had a privileged background and perhaps have not been able to attend top schools and have not had great work experiences, 

Surely, this type of approach is not new, however, most companies and specialists have largely just talked about it and as far as we can tell, it has never been implemented in a meaningful way. 

What do you think about moving away from a resume-based model to a testing model?

Visit us at rivetly.com. Like and follow our Facebook page, join our LinkedIn group Leadership Mindset Group and don't forget to #leadbetter.

If you're not offering a flexible or remote program, you're missing out on 50% to 70% of candidates. People want to work from home and are looking for flexibility to be able to control their time. 

Remote or Flexible work is a top 3 must-have for the majority of candidates along with salary and benefits.

As a leader, you have to ask what is the actual value to the company when your team is in the office? Is it a good use of everybody's time? 

Remember, you are asking your team to make child care arrangements, elderly parent care arrangements, and commute to your office. So, the in-office experience or meetings, need to be worth it.  Otherwise, you will just remind them why they need to find another job that offers flexible or remote work. 

If employees feel that they are being forced to go sit at a desk so that managers can physically see them "work", it will tank the employee engagement. 

Visit us at rivetly.com. Like and follow our Facebook page, join our LinkedIn group Leadership Mindset Group and don't forget to #leadbetter.

Empowering your employees is a good thing.  Low accountability is bad. 

Empowering employees when balanced with a high degree of accountability, can build a company that will benefit from the full strength that everyone brings to the table, leveraging the passion that every team member can put forth to every project. 

When you empower your team, you improve efficiency and increase engagement. This can help your team excel and also help your team members individually to develop new skills.  

As a leader, you cannot solve every issue so it is important that you listen to your team, walk them through a potential solution and hold them accountable to make sure that the solution is implemented.  

It is here that, as leaders, we don't necessarily hold our team members to a high degree of accountability. This includes having the right team members who can work independently or as part of the team.  

Visit us at rivetly.com. Like and follow our Facebook page, join our LinkedIn group Leadership Mindset Group and don't forget to #leadbetter.

Every office has at least one employee who is always complaining about one thing or another;  or just generally displays a bad attitude. However, sometimes their complaints are legitimate and are worth looking into further. 

We can all understand that certain behaviors are infectious and can literally contaminate the entire work environment.  To prevent such an outbreak, it is important that as leaders, we approach employee complaints with an open mind.  

Why? This is the most important question.  Is it a bad apple or Canary in the coal mine? what type of complaint are we looking at? 

Is it a recent change to company policies that are driving these complaints or is it a complaint from a chronic, constantly, complaining employee that is driving the unhappiness train?

Visit us at rivetly.com. Like and follow our Facebook page, join our LinkedIn group Leadership Mindset Group and don't forget to #leadbetter.

How do you manage work-life balance? 

Is this even a thing for you? For some people, there is no such thing as balancing work-life and life-life, because this is a very fragile equilibrium that is almost never maintained if you are able to achieve balance. 

The only way to maintain a perfect balance is to be static in life.  

However, for most people, work and life happen and there is no balance, it is a constant push and pull between priorities.  The very mere saying, "take care of yourself first", may feel like a ton of bricks to someone who is already overwhelmed with responsibilities, as taking care of yourself may feel like another to-do. 

We have different demands in our life.  Elderly parents, children, spouses, personal commitments, and mental health issues to name a few. For some, just showing up to work every day is a huge win. 

Being human beings, we all have a breaking point, and there are times that we need a break or slow down.  

In this episode, we discuss some of the aspects of managing work and managing life.  

Visit us at rivetly.com. Like and follow our Facebook page, join our LinkedIn group Leadership Mindset Group and don't forget to #leadbetter.

Why are people leaving or changing their jobs in record numbers? 

Well, what we do know is that we’re all have gone through a period of isolation, loss of connectedness, burnout.  To add to this shared difficult time, employees just have more job options at the moment.  

In study after study, we are seeing high levels of burnout and disconnection from their peers and possibly the world at large. 

Many employees had accepted their job or career as a fact of life, with their morning routines - until the pandemic hit- and some employees have a moment to reflect and realize that they have been running on a treadmill for the last decade. 

Leaders need to reflect on their leadership style and company culture to see what is being done to build a positive culture at work.

The second thing leaders need to do is to build trust. Listen, follow through and be sincere with your team.  If you manage remote teams and you doubt the productivity of your team, it is important to deal with it asap. A culture of mistrust will be one of the top reasons why your top talent will leave. 

Visit us at rivetly.com. Like and follow our Facebook page, join our LinkedIn group Leadership Mindset Group and don't forget to #leadbetter.