People at Work

The ability to think strategically is something that makes you more promotable and is something you need in order to lead a company. I think most of us would agree on that.

But how do you improve your ability to think strategically?

The short answer is...there’s no shortcut to developing your strategic thinking skills. It takes time, commitment, and, according to Greg Githens, working on specific microskills like curiosity, courage, and dealing with ambiguity. The good news is that strategic thinking is a skill that we can all work on and not just some mystical thing that some people have.

Give this episode a listen to get some ideas on how to improve your strategic thinking starting today.

About our guest:

Greg Githens was born and raised in Ohio but now lives in Florida. He is an Executive Coach who works with senior and mid-level managers in organizations of all sizes.  He is also a seminar leader and speaker who has appeared before audiences on six different continents.  He's looking for an opportunity in Antarctica but his wife says that she'll stay in Florida if he goes.

You can connect with Greg on Twitter @GregGithens and on LinkedIn at linkedin.com/in/greggithens.

Resources:

Greg has a LinkedIn group, "Practitioners of Strategic Thinking Microskills."  Each week, on a rotating basis, the group is reminded of one of the 20 microskills and encouraged to practice that microskill. Everyone is welcome.

Greg's book is available at all major booksellers: How to Think Strategically. Sharpen Your Mind. Develop Your Competency. Contribute to Success.

Amazon.com | Amazon.ca

If you exist alone on a desert island, you can do what you want, when you want, and how you want. However, none of us have this luxury in the business world. We all rely on others to get things done.

When we’re trying to get something done together, differences start to matter. According to Dr. Nate Regier, those differences show up in the way we communicate with one another. In fact, our very personalities are expressed in our communication preferences.

Nate joins me on the People at Work podcast to explain how the Process Communication Model® helps us make sense of this. This is not just another personality assessment tool. It’s a model of personality and communication, that helps individuals understand themselves better and learn behavioural skill sets and self-management competencies.

Not only does this model help us make sense of who we are and grow, it’s vital in helping leaders take care of themselves and people around them. By learning how to communicate better, we reduce stress and enhance compassion. Two key outcomes all leaders should be striving for.

About our guest:

Nate Regier, PhD, is the CEO and founding owner of Next Element Consulting, a global leadership firm helping companies build cultures of Compassionate Accountability®. Dr. Regier is a former practicing psychologist and expert in social-emotional intelligence, interpersonal communication, and leadership. He shares his expertise as a keynote speaker, author, and podcaster. Nate loves to bar-be-que and once won a competition for his Jamaican Jerk chicken wings.

You can connect with Nate on Facebook at facebook.com/NextElement, on LinkedIn at linkedin.com/company/next-element-consulting-llc, on Twitter @NextNate, and on YouTube at NextElement1.

Resources:

Next Element Resources | Next Element Workshops

Emails and messages and meetings...oh my! Nowadays there are so many different communication channels that it can be difficult to figure out which one to use in a given situation. Do you go synchronous or asynchronous? If you go asynchronous, do you send a message, an email, or a video? I wish it was an easy answer, but it really depends on who you’re communicating with and what you’re hoping to achieve with that communication.

On this episode, I was joined by Josh Little, the Founder & CEO of Volley which is an asynchronous, threaded video communication platform. We chatted about how some people are just better suited for asynchronous communication, how to deal with Zoom fatigue, and what the future workplace will look like.

About our guest:

Josh Little is the founder of four tech companies–Maestro, Bloomfire, Qzzr, and Volley–that have collectively been used by hundreds of millions of people.  His work has been featured in Tech Crunch, Mashable, Entrepreneur, Inc., and Forbes.  With two successful exits and third pending, he’s currently on a mission to save the working world from death-by-meetings with his fourth creation, Volley.

Depending on what circle you run in, you may know Josh better for his pickles, performances, or projects–as he is a 5th generation pickler, a classically trained singer, and a mechanically-minded YouTuber.

You can connect with Josh on LinkedIn at www.linkedin.com/in/littlejosh.

There are a few Qs you may be familiar with: IQ and EQ are the obvious ones. Recently I was introduced to a new, and possibly more powerful Q, Spiritual Intelligence or SQ.

SQ has nothing to do with faith or religion. It’s a way to describe that place within each of us where compassion, wisdom, and love reside. Once we’re able to tap into this place, we can achieve a state of equanimity to manage our emotions and respond calmly to others.

Amy Lynn Durham believes we need SQ at work. More human-centric workplaces are created by leaders working on their SQ first, and then creating environments where people are seen, heard, and wanted.

In this episode of People at Work, Amy Lynn shares her own journey to nurture deeper SQ, and how she’s made it her life’s work to help others do the same. She also talks about ways to build SQ, and what it looks like at work when SQ thrives.

This conversation really piqued my interest as a growing human and leader, and I hope it’ll do the same and more for you.

About our guest:

Amy Lynn Durham is a certified Spiritual Intelligence coach and an Emotional Intelligence Practitioner. She has spent years in the corporate world successfully managing hundreds of employees for private and publicly traded companies. Amy designed Create Magic At Work to bring a variety of services and strategies to aid in cultivating teamwork and harmony in order to improve profits and employee morale through coaching and workshops.

You can connect with Amy Lynn on LinkedIn at linkedin.com/in/amylynndurham, on Facebook at facebook.com/CreateMagicAtWork, and on Instagram @createmagicatwork.

Resources:

The Create Magic at Work Book is available on their website.

When you join a new company, you enter into two contracts. The obvious one is the signed employment agreement that outlines your salary, benefits, and the like. The other contract is the implicit agreement that exists between you and your employer.

Few people work for what’s in the signed contract. They show up at work each day because of how it feels to be there, what they enjoy about their work, and how much opportunity they have to grow. In other words, they come because of the culture, not their paycheck.

Bretton Putter has been observing implicit contracts and how they’re upheld across companies of varying sizes and industries. Unfortunately over the past year, many of these contracts have been broken. In particular, those companies building cultures based on physical offices and tangible perks, have struggled to keep their implicit contracts in one piece.

In this episode of People at Work, Bretton talks about what to do if you’ve been caught swimming naked as the tide recedes (paraphrasing Warren Buffett). This is a conversation to prepare us for what lies ahead in the re-framed world of work and those implicit contracts that need repairing. Naked swimmers, now’s the time to get a wetsuit.

About our guest:

Bretton is an expert on company culture development. He’s the founder and CEO of CultureGene, a company culture development company helping companies build strong, functional cultures while transitioning to a remote or hybrid work model. Bretton has written two books on the subject of company culture. Culture Decks Decoded was published in 2018 and Own Your Culture: How to Define, Embed and Manage your Company Culture was published in September 2020. He writes a popular blog on culture-driven companies and is a sought-after speaker.

You can connect with Bretton on LinkedIn at linkedin.com/in/brettonputter, on Facebook at facebook.com/culturegene100, and on Twitter @BrettonPutter.

Resources:

Own your Culture

Culture Decks Decoded

COVID-19 kind of hit the factory reset button on a lot of people’s lives. It caused an immediate change and for many people, it was a time where they paused and took the chance to spend time being introspective.

One of the key things that a lot of people have discovered is a desire to find purpose in their work. A greater sense of purpose was already a driving force for many Millennials and Gen Zers but it was only accelerated by all of the changes in the world.

I had the opportunity to have a chat with Elizbeth Lotardo on the importance of finding purpose in your work, how companies who take the time to find their noble purpose have happier employees and do better financially, and how you can get started with discovering your purpose through using an impact map.

About our guest:

Elizabeth Lotardo is an expert in helping organizations find and live their noble purpose. In this conversation, she shares insights and tips on how you can find more meaning, fulfillment, and joy in the job you already have.

You can connect with Elizabeth on LinkedIn at linkedin.com/in/elizabethlotardo or on Twitter @e_mcleod_.

Resources

Elizabeth's courses on LinkedIn Learning

The genie is out of the bottle. The toothpaste is out of the tube. Pick your metaphor. Workplaces have changed forever, and there’s no going back.

Jeff Harry believes there’s never been a better time to think differently about how you work and lead others, not to mention create thriving work environments. According to Jeff, the way we get there is through play.

Not the kind of play you’d find in board games and virtual escape rooms. He’s talking about any joyful act where you’re fully present in the moment. These are the moments when we’re most likely to experiment, tinker, and try new things. That teaches us to be adaptable, flexible, and resilient.

Experimentation is also the antidote to perfection. Too often in workplaces we place unrealistic expectations and pass heavy-handed judgement on people. When we switch shame for play, we move closer to psychologically safe places where people want to be, stay, and grow (and yes, play).

Right now none of us have the answer to what workplaces will be like and how we’ll work together once we see the pandemic in the rear-view mirror. But one thing is clear, the more adaptable you can be now, the better off you and your people will be (and psst: that means your business will be better too).

So, it’s time to play. Jeff shares how in this joy-filled episode of People at Work.

About our guest:

Jeff Harry shows individuals and companies how to tap into their true selves, to feel their happiest and most fulfilled—all by playing. He is an international speaker, coach, and consultant and has worked with Google, Microsoft, Southwest Airlines, Adobe, the NFL, Amazon, and Facebook, helping their staff to infuse more play into the day-to-day. Jeff believes that we already have many of the answers we seek, and by simply unleashing our inner child, we can find our purpose and, in turn, help to create a better world. 

You can connect with Jeff on LinkedIn at linkedin.com/in/jeff-harry-6991a94, on YouTube at youtube.com/user/jchuche, or on Instagram, Twitter, Medium, or TikTok @JeffHarryPlays.

Resources:

How To Stop Wasting Time Scrolling And Start Finding Joy In Play - Mashable

How Do You Add Play To Grown-Up Life - Even Now - NY Times

A Play Experiment To Remind You Who You Are - Medium

I think that if you asked people what are the key traits of great leaders the most common answer would be charisma or confidence. But is that actually the case?

Tim Spiker’s research has shown that three-quarters of your effectiveness as a leader comes from who you are, not what you did. Tim calls this the Who* Not What Principle. His findings on what parts of the “who” are most important go against the common notion that leaders have to be charismatic, charming, and outgoing. Rather, Tim found that being inwardly sound and others-focused are the two fundamental attributes of exceptional leaders.

I had a great time chatting with Tim. We touched on why tactics-first approaches to leadership development often don’t have long-term benefits, how focusing on the who of leadership takes more commitment but has a longer-lasting impact, and how you can become a leader who is actually worth following.

About our guest:

Tim Spiker is the founder of The Aperio and the Who* Not What Principle, a profound research-based truth that has powered 15 years of leadership development success. Tim’s book, The Only Leaders Worth* Following, reveals that 77% of leadership effectiveness comes from who a leader is and not what they do. Using this principle, Tim helps people become, be, and stay leaders who are actually worth following. Tim currently lives in Atlanta, Georgia with his wife and four children.

You can connect with Tim on LinkedIn at linkedin.com/in/timspiker, or visit his website, theaperio.com.

Resources:

Want free leadership consulting? Visit theonlyleaders.com — sign up for mailing list at top of page and enter the promo code “jostle” for a free hour of consultation.

Being intentional as a leader demands more than deliberate action. And in fact, simply being intentional is not enough.

What we need in leaders today, is extreme intentionality. According to Jayson Krause, this starts with defining the best expression of yourself as a leader, and then consistently delivering that.

On this episode of People at Work, Jayson talks about his own journey to understand his most authentic self. He went from Olympic-level contender in the bobsled to grief-stricken friend, after his childhood friend and teammate lost his fight with cancer.

As Jayson questioned his own legacy and the value he wanted to give to the world, he realized that the only productive place to be is to face possibilities, not succumb to adversity. So he took this philosophy and began coaching other leaders to find their own brand and style of extremely intentional leadership.

Find out what this looks like in practice, how it impacts imposter syndrome, inclusion, and psychological safety, and why this is the healthiest way for any leader to operate.

About our guest:

Jayson Krause is the Managing Director at Level 52 and author of The Science Behind Success: What Every Leader Needs to Know About Mindset, Influence, Culture & Performance. Jayson helps leaders solve their most frequent and painful problems with leader development and coaching. He began his leadership and high-performance path as a Canadian national team bobsled pilot.

You can connect with Jayson on LinkedIn at linkedin.com/in/jayson-krause, on Instagram @level52_inc, or on Facebook at facebook.com/level52inc. You can also check out his podcast, Executive Commute, wherever you get your podcasts.

Resources:

Book | Newsletter | Podcast

One of the most comforting aspects of the pandemic has been the outpouring of support and help for fellow humans. From clanging of pots, to hearts on windows, to food delivery, and having local business backs, it’s been a time of outreach and togetherness, in an albeit isolated way.

This spirit has also been seen in organizations, where leaders have pitched in within their own walls and beyond, to help others. A perfect example is the work that Within People is doing to support leaders during this weird/challenging/scary/uncertain time (pick whichever fits best for you).

Two of their partners, Jeff Melnyk and Laurie Bennett, joined me on People at Work to talk about what they’ve observed in the changing leadership landscape, and how their new tactical guide for leaders is helping.

Mostly, they emphasize the acceleration towards more progressive, human-centred ways of doing business and leading. The problem is that many leaders need help to step fully into this.

Jeff and Laurie (and their team) have carefully crafted very practical ways for leaders to get into this mode. They’re helping leaders authentically live it within their organizations in three areas: humanizing leadership, focusing on purpose, and doubling-down on employee experience.

If you’ve been wrestling with these aspects of your business this past year, you’re in good company and in good hands. Take a listen to the down-to-earth insights from Jeff and Laurie, and be sure to dig into all the goodness of their guide, for you, your people, and your business.

About our guests:

Jeff Melnyk and Laurie Bennett are Founding Partners of Within People.

Jeff believes we should all have the opportunity to do work we love. That changing the world starts with a change within ourselves. And that we can each be pioneers, creating amazing places to work where people are free to realize their dreams. You can connect with Jeff on LinkedIn at linkedin.com/in/jeffmelnyk or on Twitter @jeffwithin.

Laurie works at the intersection of brand, culture, strategy and leadership to help leaders grow companies fit for the 21st century. He grew up in Kenya and speaks passable Swahili (which he admits doesn’t come in all that handy in North Vancouver). You can connect with Laurie on LinkedIn at linkedin.com/in/laurie-bennett-within or on Twitter @lauriewithin.

Resources:

Within People ebook:

www.withinpeople.com/free-leadership-guide-company-culture