High Impact Leaders

What is the best way to keep morale high among team members in between big meetings?

We are big believers in fun team outings — especially for smaller teams. The good news is that these team-building activities are fairly easy to organize. They are also fairly inexpensive. In fact, you can receive a fantastic return on your investment by building team spirit and communication skills.

Surveys show that the main reason for employee dissatisfaction is the employee’s personal relationship with his or her immediate manager. So, these simple, spontaneous acts of teamwork can increase job satisfaction significantly. (Team work leads to teamwork!)

Below are a few ideas that we have found work really well to build teamwork. Psst! These work best when you offer them as a bonus activity versus a requirement. “If you and your family are available, the company is going to pick up the tab for…” works much better than “Everyone is required to attend…” Many of these team outings are great for their flexibility. You’ll find that employee engagement increases when a team-building event is offered or voluntary rather than required. Attendance can be the entire team (in large groups) or departmentalized (in small groups).

Show Notes: Fun Team Outings that Build Morale (https://www.leadersinstitute.com/meetings-try-fun-team-outings/)

Happy Thanksgiving week, everyone. I hope you had a fantastic time with your family, and overeating, and watching a lot of football. If you are outside of the United States, welcome, and I hope you had a relaxing regular week.

Since we are in the holiday spirit, I wanted to focus this week on a few ways to build morale in the workplace during the holidays. Companies, big and small, will often schedule Christmas parties or annual meetings in December. Others will want to kick off the new year with new goals and strategies. So, on this episode, I'm going to share with you some of the best ways that I have come across to do something fun and rewarding for your team during the holidays. I've broken the tips into three sections. First, I'll give my best strategies for small groups (25 people or fewer.) Next, I'll give you tips for bigger groups. Then, finally, I'll give you some of the best strategies for virtual end-of-year meetings and parties.

Show Notes: Christmas Team Building Activities to Build Morale in the Workplace (https://www.leadersinstitute.com/christmas-team-building-activities-to-build-morale-and-fun-at-work/)

Happy Thanksgiving. And for those of you outside of the United States, happy third week of November.
I wanted to take a break from the normal public speaking tips and share with you this week one of Abraham Lincoln's least quoted speeches but the one that has a significant impact on US citizens every November, his Thanksgiving proclamation that created the holiday.

Where did the Thanksgiving Holiday come from? Yes, the pilgrim created the first Thanksgiving in Plymouth. And yes, President George Washington made the first Thanksgiving proclamation in 1789. But it was actually Abe Lincoln who created the national holiday. Ole’ Abe reinstituted the holiday that Washington created during his presidency.

This episode covers the words of the Thanksgiving proclamation. I also add a little commentary to show you how you can incorporate some of Lincoln’s techniques into your own speeches as well!

Show Notes: Abraham Lincoln’s Thanksgiving Proclamation
(https://www.fearlesspresentations.com/president-abraham-lincolns-thanksgiving-proclamation-oct-3-1863-with-commentary/)

Strategic thinking skills are one of the most sought-after skills in the business world.

According to Harvard Business Review, “[Because] organizations face unprecedented challenges, fostering the creativity necessary to develop truly breakthrough ideas has become more important than ever.”

Anyone can follow a pre-established recipe. It takes expert strategic thinkers, though, to know when that recipe is no longer working. In this post, we are going to cover how great strategic thinkers give companies a competitive advantage in the marketplace. If you develop this critical skill, you will create new opportunities for yourself and be elevated to higher-level positions in your organization.

What Is Strategic Thinking and How Does It Help You Become a Better Leader?

In order to understand the importance of this skill, let’s start at the beginning. What exactly is strategic thinking? And why are strategic thinking skills so important to business success?

Definition of Strategic Thinking.

Strategic Thinking (Critical Thinking) is a process of identifying ways to move a person, team, or organization toward a long-term goal. When you think strategically, you have to anticipate setbacks and challenges and have a plan to deal with them. You also have to measure your progress toward the goal.

A good way to explain this is to think about playing Chess. A good strategy will anticipate how your opponent will move and plan your own moves well in advance. So, strategic thinking is planning combined with adapting to changes in order to reach the ultimate goal.

Personally, I believe that the absolute most-effective strategic thinkers are those who are also adjusting the long-term goal consistently as well. At times, you may find that your goal isn’t big enough. In those cases, you want to increase the goal. In others, the marketplace may change, or we may uncover competitive intelligence where we change the goal altogether.

Going back to the Chess example, in some cases, a good leader may realize, “Whoa, we aren’t playing Chess at all. This is a brand new game.”

How Does Thinking this Way Help You Be a Better Leader?

My team went through this with the Covid-19 pandemic. At the very start of the spread, our strategy was to reschedule meetings postponed due to meeting restrictions. Next, we had to adapt when the restrictions increased and the weeks of delay turned into months.

Eventually, we realized that our customers were being forced to transform their in-person meetings into virtual ones. Many of these customers had little or no experience organizing big virtual meetings. Since we had that expertise, we were able to adapt quickly to the new needs of the market. Good leaders are able to do this.

Poor leaders tend to be more reactionary. When challenges develop, the poor leader is always playing catch-up. This type of leadership is like playing baseball and just watching the ball go by you. The more times that you do this, the more strikes are against you. Eventually, you have to swing out of desperation. A better strategy is to study the pitcher. If he throws his fastball high in the strike zone 80% of the time on the first pitch, I can anticipate that. When I see that action, I can capitalize on it. If he doesn’t, I make an adjustment on the second pitch.

Show Notes: Make Strategic Thinking Part of Your Team Culture (https://www.leadersinstitute.com/strategic-thinking-make-strategic-thinking-part-of-your-team-culture/)

In this episode, I'm going to cover a few to improve your listening skills and, specifically, a few ways to help improve the listening and communication among your team members. If you stick around until the end, I will give you a fun way to get your team laughing and thinking more seriously about how they communicate and how they listen.

How to Improve Listening Skills in the Workplace

If you are like most people, you probably believe you are a great listener. The problem is that everyone else that you have to deal with needs to improve their listening skills, right? The truth is that this often-used term has two parts — “Listening” and “Skills.” We often overlook the second part. Skills are those strengths that we develop through consistent focus over time.

When I was a kid, our little town had a community center with a basketball gym. I wasn’t a member, by my best friend was. He went there three to four times a week to play ball with other kids. One weekend, I spent the night at his house, and he invited me to go to the gym with him. I spent 10 minutes or so practicing a few shots. Some other kids arrived, and we divided into teams. Within the first couple of trips up and down the court, I realized that I had the least skill on the court. (Just as an FYI, I never did develop this skill.)

My point is that the other kids were much better than me at basketball because they practiced. I didn’t.

People who are effective listeners are effective listeners because they practice. You can be a good listener as well with just a little practice, yourself. In fact, listening is one of the most important skills in leadership development. If you want to be a great leader, the first step is to develop good communication skills. And the easiest way to do that is to develop active listening skills.

Improve Listening Skills at Work — The Four Levels of Listening

In order to become a better listener, step one is to determine what good listening skills are. In our leadership classes, we introduce four levels of listening. The levels are listed below from the worst listening skills to the best.

1. Level One: Ignore the Other Person Completely. This level isn’t really listening, but we tend to do it a lot.
2. Level Two: Just Pretend to Listen to the Other Person. We do this when we are trying to be courteous, but we really aren’t interested.
3. Level Three: Selectively Listen to Your Coworkers. This is the level at which we spend the most time at work. Oddly enough, we tend to do this to save time.
4. Level Four: Attentively Listen to Your Team. This is the highest level of listening. The more we focus on this level, the better listeners we will be.

Critical listening around the office isn’t difficult. You can encourage your team to take small steps and teach them the art of listening. That is if you have taken the time to practice good listening skills yourself.

One of the best ways to set a good example is to practice empathetic listening in one-on-one conversations with your team. Use the practical tips above. Successful leaders pay careful attention to details and make great listening a daily routine. You can too!

Need some Team Motivation?

Want a few tips about how to build team spirit when you hear words like “slow down,” recession, and uncertainty? You are not alone. Goldman Sachs published a report recently saying that

 93% of small business owners fear a recession in the next year.

Uncertainty causes fear. Fear can lead to reduced morale and decreased job satisfaction. If you are a team leader and you do nothing to help, you may be inadvertently pouring fuel on the fire. In this post, we will give you a motivation strategy to help you develop happy employees — even during hard times.

In fact, if you use just a few of these new ideas, you can improve employee engagement. You can help your team feel that they are a part of a unique team culture and build loyalty and… dare I say… more of a family atmosphere.

Most Wealth Is Created During Hard Times.

Before I get into the tips to motivate your team during a recession, let’s explore the opportunities that a bad economy creates. Recessions (and depressions) often terror in the minds of most people.

I’m a history buff. I remember learning about The Great Depression in school, in movies, and from my Granddad. Each of these sources depicted the depression as an awful time when everyone became poorer. However, a few people become unbelievably wealthy during the Great Depression.

Show Notes:  How to Motivate Your Team Members in Uncertain Times (https://www.leadersinstitute.com/team-motivation-teams-learn-faster-when-theyre-having-fun/)

Can team-building activities increase productivity in a recession? When the economy slows, company leaders have to be cautious with every expense. They often put off hiring new employees until more certainty develops.

When we do this, though, team members end up having to do more to make up for the lack of personnel. Eight-hour days may increase to nine or ten-hour days.

Interestingly, these team members will develop natural efficiencies. They will figure out shortcuts. People naturally find ways to do more with less. But, eventually, there just aren’t enough hours in the day.

When this happens, how do you keep morale high? How do you help your team members stay positive and forward-looking? As time goes on, morale can drop.

At this point, leaders will look for a fun way to build morale. They may investigate organizing a team-building activity. So, in this situation, can team-building activities help increase productivity? Can we avoid the expense of adding new personnel?

Also, is this process more difficult in a down economy? The answer to that question is… “Well… It depends…”

Don’t Confuse “Morale Building Team Activities” with “Productivity Building Activities.”

Team Building is almost a generic term for both “morale building” and “productivity building” activities. But confusing the two can be a costly mistake.

Let’s first cover how these two types of activities differ.

By the way, each has a purpose. Each of these types of events should be used. The problem occurs when leaders want to improve productivity but schedule a morale-building activity.

Although people will often call both of these types of activities “Team Building,” the activities themselves get totally different results. Both are needed to create a team culture. But quite often, leaders will schedule one type of activity, hoping to get the needed result from the other. They will often be sorely disappointed.

Show Notes: Can Team-Building Increase Productivity in a Recession? Well, It Depends (https://www.leadersinstitute.com/can-team-building-increase-productivity-in-a-recession/)

In this episode, I'm going to cover how you can make you and your company very unique in the marketplace. We will go through a very simple process that... once you do it, will have customers flocking to you. The process starts with identifying what your unique selling point or unique selling proposition is. Then, you want to build your marketing around that one main point.

Want potential customers to flock to you? Create a Unique Selling Proposition (USP) that customers can’t get anywhere else. You should have one single unique selling point that sets you apart from your direct competitors. Then, design marketing messages that outline this specific benefit to your ideal customer. When you do this, you with create a significant competitive advantage in the marketplace.

In fact, if you do this really well, your customer base will actively promote you to new customers!

If you want to create a successful company, creating a fantastic USP is the starting point. An effective USP will help you develop a more effective marketing strategy. It will help your sales team close more deals and increase revenue. You’ll also improve your market share without incurring additional costs.

This simple first step is, by far, the best way to create a competitive edge over every other competitor in your industry.

Show Notes: Create a Unique Selling Proposition (USP), and Customers with Flock to You (https://www.leadersinstitute.com/leadership-comes-from-your-unique-selling-proposition/)

Do Managers Need to Develop Good Coaching Skills? And If So, Why Do Managers Need Coaching Skills?

Keep in mind that to be a success in business, consistent performance improvement is critical. You may be good at one or more of the key skills we outline below. but these ideas are ones that you have to improve on a regular basis. Think about improving your team performance, like becoming a world-class athlete. You can take a class once and improve your skill in a sport dramatically. However, if you never practice that skill, you will never become a world-class athlete.

The same is true with your coaching approach. You can attend management training courses. Each will help you improve your communication skills and grow in emotional intelligence. But good coaching occurs when managers develop skill improvement over time. You can’t be a great coach by giving positive feedback one time. So, set goals to develop a habit of continuous learning.

Good coaches will spend a day or a week focusing on each of the ideas below. Then, once they create new behaviors in each area, they go back and focus on each area again and again. The more you study these ideas, the more times you will develop an entirely new approach in each area.

Show Notes: The Five C’s of Management-Do Managers Need to Develop Good Coaching Skills? (https://www.leadersinstitute.com/five-cs-management/)

The pandemic that started in 2020 was devastating to team morale and miscommunication. Team members had a lot of fear. Everyone was unsure about what was happening and what the future would bring. What made it worse, though, was that since everyone was remote, the number of silos increased. (They increased dramatically!)

The Pandemic of 2020 Caused a Huge Number of Communication Silos to Develop.
For instance, let’s say that a company only had 20 employees in 2020. This company had an administrative team with a handful of people. It also had a sales team with about the same number of team members. The remaining employees were in service and marketing.

Prior to the pandemic, the group was already seeing miscommunication between their four silos. Marketing and sales might create a promotion that increases service calls. However, they would often forget to tell the service manager. So, even with just four silos, challenges occurred.

Then, in 2020, the company had the entire team work remotely. Now, instead of four silos, the company had 20. Over time, the company replaced some team members and add new ones. The new team may have never even met their coworkers face-to-face.

So, fear is at an all-time high. And at the same time, trust is at an all-time low. People that were hired during the pandemic have no sense of teamwork with their coworkers. They have been in their silo for a year or two.

To break these silos and get your team back to a cohesive group, you want to do three things.

1. First, You Have to Rebuild the Trust of Your Team (Both with Each Other and with You.)
2. Second, Your Team Has to See the Value that Being a Part of that Team Provides.
3. Finally, Make Your Office a Fun Place that Team Members Want to Come to.

This process has a specific order, by the way. If you just add a pool table to your office, but the trust level is low, it is a waste of money. Work to develop the trust first. Then, create the collaborative environment. And only then do you focus on the fun part. (It will be even more fun when you get to it.)

Show Notes: Team Building Ideas to Tear Down Communication Silos (https://www.leadersinstitute.com/effective-team-building-event-ideas-will-tear-down-communication-silos/)