People at Work

There are always some bumpy times when a company is growing quickly. Usually the problem boils down to either the wrong people, the wrong processes, or both. If you have a capable person who just isn’t compatible with your organization and becomes disgruntled then you run the risk of that spreading to other employees. On the other hand, if you drown intelligent, creative people in strict processes you could be hurting their ability to make positive change in the organization.

It’s all a tricky balance and it’s why growing a company isn’t easy.

In this episode, I had a chat with Josh Mathias about why hiring people whose values are aligned with your company’s values is more important than their skill set, and how important it is to make sure processes don’t limit the creativity and capability of your people. Give it a listen to learn some of the lessons he learned along the way as he grew from labourer to Managing Director at The Hythe Group.

About our guest:

Josh Mathias is MD of The Hythe Group. He joined the company aged 22 as a labourer and took a break so he could return in a commercial role. Josh loves cooking - particularly outdoors, which is lucky because—until today—indoor dining hadn’t been allowed in the UK for months! He likes to cook anything that’s challenging.

You can connect with Josh on Twitter @JoshMathias9 and on LinkedIn at linkedin.com/in/josh-mathias-544112101.

There’s more than meets the eye with each and every one of us. Yet, we often make assumptions about others based on what’s visible to us. And that can lead to misunderstandings, compounding stereotypes, and division.

Laura Kriska believes that to be successful in relating to somebody else, we have to grasp not only the visible, but the invisible. This takes work, patience, and skills like listening and attentiveness. Plus, it demands that we check our biases and assumptions, so that we build an internal infrastructure that’s based on curiosity, respect, and an open mind.

In this latest episode of People at Work, Laura talks about why this is so important, especially in the workplace. As leaders, we have significant power and opportunity to bring about change. Learning from her own hard knocks, Laura has some powerful ideas and practices to bring people together, rather than force them apart.

About our guest:

Laura Kriska is an internationally recognized expert and leading consultant on cross-cultural relations with more than 30 years of experience bridging gaps in diverse workplaces. Laura has worked with Fortune 500 companies on four continents, helping thousands of business leaders and professionals build trust across Us versus Them differences based on nationality, ethnicity, race, religion, age, or any factor of identity. Her latest book The Business of WE provides a practical roadmap for creating trust with others who are different from ourselves.

You can connect with Laura on LinkedIn at linkedin.com/in/laura-kriska-0a93902a, on Twitter @LauraKriska, on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/LauraKriskaauthor, and on Instagram @laurakriska_author.

Resources:

Learn more about The Business of WE at www.businessofwethebook.com.

When your team members wake up in the morning, do they want to come to work?

It’s worth reflecting on that question. The answer could tell you a ton about your own leadership, the degree of intellectual stimulation on offer, and the quality of your workplace culture and relationships.

If you don’t like the answer you get, then it’s time for change. Because if you don’t make sure the answer is positive, someone else is eagerly waiting to make up for what you’re lacking.

Employee retention isn’t a burden for leaders. It’s exactly the opposite. Dr. Bev Kaye has been thinking about this opportunity for leaders for over 40 years. She thinks of retention as caring for people rather than simply trying to keep them.

Bev joined me on People at Work to get to the heart of the matter. She shares a few key tips for leaders that don’t involve rocket science. It’s simply about human-to-human relating, that starts with noticing employees and what matters to them. Now more than ever, you’ll want to hear a resounding “Yes” when your people open their eyes every day.

About our guest:

Dr. Beverly Kaye is recognized internationally as one of the most knowledgeable and practical professionals in the areas of career development and employee engagement and retention. Bev is a transplanted Jersey girl who has made her home in Los Angeles with her husband, Barry, and near her daughters, Lindsey and Jill.

You can connect with Dr. Kaye on LinkedIn at linkedin.com/in/bevkaye and on Twitter @BeverlyLKaye.

Resources:

Download a free excerpt from the sixth edition of Dr. Kaye’s international bestseller, Love ‘Em or Lose ‘Em: Getting Good People to Stay at https://bevkaye.com/books/love-em-or-lose-em/

If we moved to widespread remote work under regular circumstances, things might look and feel a bit different. But, almost overnight we turned dining rooms into offices and blew up the ring light market against the backdrop of a global health crisis.

Those who lived through that shift might be able to relate to Zoom fatigue, cats as co-workers (or alter egos), and the cementing of sweat pants as office attire. More promising, the commute is gone, we’ve got extra time for ourselves, and we don’t have to contend with co-workers not making a fresh pot of coffee after taking the last cup.

But, the shape of remote work isn’t what it should be. It could be so much better. And realistically, it needs to be. Dr. Aaron Barth of Dialectic recently partnered with us on a research study to understand the impact of remote work on inclusion.

What we found were some obvious barriers to inclusion, but also a set of contradictions that remote workers are feeling. These sentiments centre on performance, manager relationships, sick time, and added responsibilities. In some cases, we’re seeing positive gains, but overall there’s short-term thinking that’ll have long-term negative effects for people and organizations.

Aaron talks about these contradictions in this week’s episode of People at Work. The current state of remote working needs work. There are alarm bells ringing and this isn’t an office building fire drill.

About our guest:

Dr. Aaron Barth has led comprehensive research on unconscious bias and inclusion training. He has a moral interest in making people’s day-to-day lives better through critical thinking and supporting companies with their DE&I strategy. Aaron is also the founder of Dialectic’s diversity, equity, and inclusion Learning Snippets.

You can connect with Aaron on LinkedIn at linkedin.com/in/aaronbarthphd/, on Facebook at facebook.com/dialecticwork, on Twitter @dialecticwork, and on Instagram @dialecticwork.

Resources: 

Dialectic's Learning Snippets

Jostle + Dialectic's remote work research study

Be honest: how many of us get more excited about the box than the contents, like when we were little? Probably very few. But what if we could bring the joy that children get from creating spaceships, forts, and lemonade stands out of cardboard boxes, into our adult working lives?

Nir Bashan thinks we should and we must. He’s a creativity expert who’s rejecting traditional business thinking in favour of creativity. It’s not that we don’t need analytics, it’s just that alone they don’t serve the long-term health and prosperity of organizations or their people.

According to Nir, we’ve traded our creativity that we were born with for analytical skills at work. Nir joins me on People at Work to talk about what this means today and what we need to change for the future.

Creativity isn’t reserved for artsy types. Creativity has a firm place at the helm of business and Nir is here to show us how. Give the episode a listen and see whether you can bring cardboard box thinking into your work life today.

About our guest:

Nir Bashan has taught thousands of leaders and individuals around the globe how to harness the power of creativity to improve business outcomes and create more meaning in their work. Nir has spent the last two decades working on a formula to codify creativity for business and he’s written about it in his book, The Creator Mindset. Nir is also a lifelong West Ham United fan. Come on you Irons!

You can connect with Nir on LinkedIn at linkedin.com/in/nirbashan, on Instagram @nirbashan, on Twitter @Nir_Bashan, and on Facebook at facebook.com/nirbashan1.

Resources:

Nir’s book, The Creator Mindset, is available anywhere books are sold!

Clammy hands, dry mouth, body slightly shaking… exactly what happens when you hear the words “I’d like to give you some feedback.” Even worse when they’re paired with “annual performance review”.

Maybe that’s a slight exaggeration, but if you’ve ever had a job, you’ve likely experienced the agony of poor feedback. If you’ve ever managed a team of people, you’ve most definitely experienced the discomfort of delivering negative feedback.

Libby Robinson is out to change that. Believing that we’ve been doing feedback wrong for many years, Libby advocates for a more proactive approach. It’s not that people don’t want feedback. They just want it on their terms.

In this People at Work conversation, Libby shares the research and neuroscience behind a new way of thinking about feedback: when people seek it out, it’s far more pleasant for everyone.

Libby’s so committed to doing feedback right, that she’s built a free app called Backfeed+ to facilitate it. If you’d like to join her in the quest to blow up traditional performance reviews and awful feedback, listen in!

About our guest:

Libby Robinson is the Managing Partner of Integral, an award-winning leadership, executive coaching, and advisory company working with Fortune 1000 companies globally. A former Wall Street Banker, aerospace engineer, and National Champion Equestrian, Libby has worked for 26 years with senior leaders globally, helping to bring more mindfulness, resilience, and greater capacity to brilliant and ambitious leaders. Libby’s latest venture has been to launch BackFeed+, a new app that helps individuals and organizations get better, faster feedback using a method backed by the latest neuroscience data about how individuals receive feedback with less stress.

You can connect with Libby on LinkedIn at linkedin.com/in/integralcoaches.

Resources:

Learn more about Backfeed+ at www.backfeedapp.com.

Observe a group of children being curious and you’ll see joy, engagement, experimentation, and more on display. That’s because they’re free to try new things, make mistakes, and learn to trust what others have to say and do.

Robin Barone saw a parallel between child-like curiosity and the ingredients for a healthy and vibrant place of work. Pivoting from children’s book author to workplace consultant, she now teaches leaders how to use curiosity to build workplace culture.

For Robin, there are two distinct buckets of workplace cultures: those that embrace curiosity and those that don’t. Those that do, use curiosity to make the uncomfortable more comfortable, and she believes that we get there by building trust.

Listen in to hear Robin’s take on how else curiosity can help workplaces and people in them perform at their best. We can all aspire to bring more childlike wonder into work! Even better if it builds trust and helps us relate better with others.

About our guest:

Robin Barone is an educator, writer, and traveler who has visited over 60 countries and lived abroad. Prior to founding Diplomat Books, Ms. Barone worked in finance where she was known for her ability to formulate win-win solutions.

You can connect with Robin on Instagram @whereisrobinusa.

Resources:

Visit https://curiosityconversations.co for details.

As always, this episode of People at Work is brought to you by Jostle. Head over to www.jostle.me to start your free trial today.

I like solving puzzles so I’ve always enjoyed escape rooms. I looked at them as a fun way to pass time with friends but I never really noticed the parallels between escape rooms and work issues until I spoke with Christina Eanes.

Deadlines, stress, communication, productivity, emotional intelligence...all part of work, and all part of escape rooms. On this episode I chat with Christina about how she uses skills learned and practiced in escape rooms to help leaders with self-development. We focus on the importance of perception, emotional intelligence, and communication. We also chat about how being self-aware of your energy and understanding what creates and consumes energy for you can help improve your productivity.

About our guest:

Christina Eanes is a former FBI violent crime analyst and senior manager, now author, speaker, podcast and YouTube channel host, and self-improvement guru. Christina has done 500+ escape rooms in 20+ countries.

You can connect with Christina on Twitter at @ChristinaEanes and on LinkedIn at linkedin.com/in/christinaeanes.

The job of a leader is to help those on their team grow and be successful. This is why I was excited to chat with Cherie Curtis. Cherie went from volunteer intern to CEO at Revelian so she knows a thing or two about what people need in order to advance in their career.

Cherie explains that helping your people grow starts with genuinely caring and getting to know them. And by selflessly focusing on what they need to grow. She also gives some tips on how to spot people who have high growth potential with the three main components being problem-solving ability, emotional intelligence, and initiative.

If you’re a leader looking to help your people grow or if you’re looking to grow in your own career, this episode is worth a listen.

About our guest:

Cherie Curtis is an Organizational Psychologist and President of Criteria, an assessment company dedicated to helping organizations make better talent decisions using objective, multidimensional data. Cherie has been recognized as the nation’s top leader in the 2016 AIM Leadership Excellence Awards and was a finalist in the 2015 Qld Telstra Business Women’s Awards.

You can connect with Cherie on LinkedIn at linkedin.com/in/cheriecurtis, on Twitter @CriteriaCorp, or on Facebook at facebook.com/CriteriaCorp.

Most companies that grow quickly experience some form of growing pains. It’s almost inevitable. But having a strong foundation of core values and a focus on company culture from the start can help make those growing pains a little less painful.

On this episode I had the opportunity to chat with Morgan Browne, President & Co-Founder of Oakwyn Realty. Morgan is on a mission to flip real estate upside down and provide a collaborative atmosphere where realtors feel safe and work together.

And it’s working.

Oakywn has gone from 10 agents to 500 agents and they’ve managed to hold onto that collaborative atmosphere due to their consistent focus on their core values.

Give this episode a listen to learn about the core values that enabled their success, as well as some of the growing pains they did face along the way.

About our guest:

Morgan Browne is a fierce and passionate partner at Oakwyn Realty. Co-founding the company in 2014, Morgan has nurtured Oakwyn Realty into Vancouver's fastest-growing realty brokerage. Morgan’s can-do attitude and passion for building make it possible for Oakwyn’s forward-thinking and expansion plans.  Driven to make a difference in the Canadian business community and embracing change in the real estate industry.

You can connect with Morgan on LinkedIn at linkedin.com/in/morgan-browne-97bb1710.