This ExtraOrdinary Life

How can you unlock the true potential of your people in a way that’s good for them and good for business? Join us on this episode with our guest Santiago Jaramillo, the CEO and Co-Founder of Emplify. Today we’re talking about employee experience, employee engagement, and why ping pong tables in the break room aren’t going to cut it.

Spinning plates

As leaders and business owners, we’re keeping a lot of plates spinning — so much so that we end up neglecting employee engagement. But the secret to keeping that employee engagement plate spinning is to realize that it’s not a plate at all. It’s much more foundational, and embedded inside of each plate itself.

Santiago tells the story of the moment he realized he’d dropped the ball on his company’s employee engagement, and what he did to turn things around.

Unlocking your potential

Emplify uses data to help business leaders make better decisions and create better and more engaging work environments, with the purpose of helping all people unlock their full potential at work. How do we create an environment that allows you to become a better version of yourself?

We spend half our waking lives at work, and that very much impacts our lives. It’s really difficult for somebody to live a fulfilled and meaningful life when much of their time is spent with an energy-sucking force. This impacts friends and family, and from that, the impact ripples out into society. So one of the ways we can influence the world is by creating better, more human work environments.

Good for business

Santiago shares the story of a manufacturing business that would turn over 100% of their team every single year. Those are massive costs. When they interviewed their employees, their employees revealed that their backs hurt from moving heavy metal sheets every day to get them ready for welding, instead of spending their time welding. One $60,000 investment into a forklift later, the team went from being the lowest engaged in the company to the second most engaged team, they produced more, and helped the company earn an extra 3.8 million dollars every year with the same exact labor costs.

The magic of employee engagement is that it’s not just the right thing to do because it’s good for people. It’s also better for business. If done right, it can be very profitable.

Defining engagement

It’s head, heart, and hands: an employee’s intellectual and emotional connection with their work that causes them to strive with their hands after the company’s goals and mission. If their head and heart are all in, then they want to pursue what the company is about with their full and best self.

Have you ever seen someone innovate in a company who’s had their mind and heart checked out? People have to care deeply to come up with new solutions.

Employee engagement vs employee satisfaction

The goal isn’t employee satisfaction. It’s employee engagement. Engaged employees lean in and put their full hearts and minds into the job. Satisfied employees lean back, and do the bare minimum to keep reaping the benefits and rewards of the job.

It’s not about leadership catering to every whim of their employees. It’s about finding what actions we can take to make people’s lives better and help the business win. And to find that solution, you have to carefully diagnose the problem: a problem well-defined is a problem half-solved.

Resources for Santiago Jaramillo

LinkedIn | Twitter | Email: [email protected]

EmplifyGut + Science

We’re at an inflection point in business. People aren’t being fulfilled, engagement is low, and mental and physical health ramifications are challenging people and businesses to find their growth rhythm. The old system doesn’t work.

HumansFirst is about actively bringing more humanity into the workplace to elevate people, help them mentally and physically heal, and then advance and evolve the workplace. And HumansFirst is not just about work — it spills into all areas of life, because we bring all areas of life into our work.

At HumansFirst Club Events:

Each event is about the participants, so there is no “prepackaged roadshow” that the HumansFirst Club takes on tour. Volunteers come in to share and infuse ideas, topics, and ways forward, and that gets the juices flowing so people can participate. And it’s that participation from the people in the room that makes each event unique.

But though the events aren’t designed the same way every time, some common themes do emerge about what’s broken and what can be repaired, which tells us that experiences are very similar across the country.

On the horizon:

The Playground is launching May 21, aligned with a live event taking place in Charlotte, to better serve an audience that is fast becoming global. It’s a virtual place with opportunities for people to come together and continue to experiment and meet other light-hearted people, and start to create what the future looks like.

As for the HumansFirst Club meetings, they will continue, but based on the feedback, people are looking to go deeper on the topics. Extended time will be important, as well as an opportunity to get a larger group of people together, so it may evolve into a one-day event with more time, scope, and scale. Less frequent events but bigger and more engaging.

Where the rubber meets the road:

How can you bring the takeaways from the HumansFirst Club experience back to your organization and your daily work life? That’s where it feels like there is a barrier, or no entry point. That’s why Winning Conversations was designed.

This program focuses on open dialogue, very much like during the HumansFirst Club events, and teaches businesses how to have these structured conversations to unleash the brilliance that’s already in your organization. Because it’s interactive and engaging, it drives adoption, accelerates initiatives, and ties multiple initiatives across your company together.

Do we know what’s going on? Do we know what’s going to happen during the day? How do all the pieces fit together? Winning Conversations helps pull all of that into alignment, and builds this whole process into your organizational rhythms. It’s a very different approach to a highly believed and known problem.

When we get people together, stretch them out of their comfort zones, and align to the reality that’s going on, all of a sudden you’ll see the company values come through, the vision becomes clear, and the people attach themselves to it.

We love being busy, but now we can be purposeful. Given the opportunity, people will amaze you.

Resources for Mike Vacanti: LinkedIn | Twitter | Facebook | Website | HumansFirst Club

Other resources: X-Factor Consulting | Episode 77: Putting Humans First with Mike Vacanti

What kind of energy do you bring into your workplace? Joining us today is Adair Cates, Self-Mastery Coach, Insight Facilitator, and Founder of First Lead You, and today we’re talking about employee experience, employee engagement, and the massive impact your workplace culture has not just on your organization, but on the people you serve. Culture Culture is the energy of the place and the people that you work with. It’s very intangible in a lot of ways, but one of Adair’s favorite questions to ask is: are you the type of person who lights up a room when you walk in or when you walk out? When it comes to employee engagement and experience, it’s become really clear that when people feel inspired, cared for, and connected, they are willing to go to the ends of the earth for the organizations they work for. Conversely, think about how much time, energy, and money is wasted when your employees are unhappy. There’s so much more that can be generated from a positive place. Ripple effects Everything is connected. When the energy of the culture is good, then the energy of the people is good, and they’re going to be productive and engaged. You can tell that a company has a good internal culture by the way they treat their customers: take great care of your employees, and they’ll take great care of your people. Psychological safety What want psychological safety. If you’re a CEO or leader of a team, make sure that everybody feels like they can come to work, be themselves, and be fully accepted for that. If they can’t, they become stifled, and their full creative energy is no longer available to them. So create that psychological safety by listening, believing that people inside your business are the best source of ideas, and taking out your ego. Once you become authoritarian and think you have all the best ideas, your culture will erode. Engagement tools Engagement tools are just that — tools. They aren’t solutions. So you can’t put something like TINYpulse in place and expect it to fix your culture. That’s like expecting a thermometer to bring down a fever. You need to have a solid, positive culture in place, and then measure it so you can make it next-level. You can’t just gather data without doing anything about it. Happy companies One of the organizations Adair was part of won an award for being the happiest company. Their CEOs had read a book called The Dream Manager about helping people achieve their personal goals at work. They implemented this shift in the company and put a lot of energy on helping people achieve their personal goals, and as a result, people were so invested in the work they were doing that they went above and beyond all the time — not just for their roles, but for their team, and other teams in the organization. There was a care and concern to help one another achieve their goals, which benefited not just themselves, but the business, too. They won Happiest Company through TINYpulse. They grew so much that they went from 65 employees to 100. When people feel like they can show up as their full selves, it’s unbelievable what happens. Resources Adair Cates | First Lead You | The Morning Light Show | The Dream Manager | TINYpulse

At any given moment, do you know the pulse of your organization?  On the show today we have David Niu, a serial entrepreneur who, after a “careercation,” founded TINYpulse, which gives clients a pulse on how happy, frustrated, and burned out their employees are before they get that surprise two weeks’ notice out of the blue. We’re exploring the topic of employee experience and engagement, and how to make sure you’re creating a culture where your people can thrive.

The Careercation

Burnt out by his own startup, David uprooted his family and bought one-way tickets to New Zealand. During this vacation, he had two main goals: to unplug and connect with his family, and to figure out what was next.

So he conducted a series of interviews with CEOs about their pain points, and from these interviews, a common theme emerged: the haunting feeling when someone would give them their two weeks’ notice out of the blue.

This became the inspiration for TINYpulse. What if we could take the pulse of our employees - in the moment - so leaders could get on top of issues ahead of time and resolve them collaboratively before they spin out of control?

Think tiny

Instead of one huge survey once a year, what about asking people one simple question at a time? For management, it’s much easier to get a picture of what’s going on as there’s much less noise than if you had asked 30 questions. It’s also easier to find themes and actually do something about it.

Characteristics of companies that flourish

One is the importance of recognition. Whether you use TINYpulse or something else, make sure that there are multiple avenues of giving each other recognition, and that it’s very easy to do.

The second thing is the perception of management transparency. One of the biggest drivers of how happy employees say they are is how transparent they believe management is. So David challenges leaders: given your role, how can you be more transparent?

Cheers for Peers

This TINYpulse feature allows colleagues to appreciate one another in real time. Recognition isn’t just a high five, it’s (1) What am I giving you recognition for, specifically? (2) What is the significance or impact of what you did? (3) How did it make me feel? Not only does this boost engagement and morale and build a culture of recognition, but a manager can also check the cheer scanners and see what’s going on. In TINYpulse offices, these cheers are publicly shared and visibly celebrated.

Values

You’ll know if a set of values are your values if it allows the people you want in your company to flourish and the people you don’t want in your company to self-select out. You should be able to make decisions by these values and hire and fire by them.

Here are TINYpulse’s:

Delight customers. This includes internal customers because if you can’t delight each other internally, you can’t delight customers externally.

Spread positivity. When you walk in the door, you can be positive, negative, or neutral. It’s a free choice.

Lead with solutions and embrace change. If you have something to complain about, offer suggestions on how to solve it.

Improve communications by being direct and transparent.

Go the extra mile with passion. It’s super hard but very rewarding.

Hold yourself accountable. You don’t need to be policed. You have the freedom, but you also have the accountability. Balance it.

Treasure the culture of freedom we have. Everyone who comes after you will take their cue on how to act from you.

Resources

David Niu (LinkedIn) | Careercation | TINYpulse | TINYcon

Our guest on this episode of the Higher Purpose Podcast is … me! Today, I’m having a conversation with my new friend from across the pond, Gary Turner, as I reflect on the journey of this very podcast. What I’ve discovered, how I’ve grown, and why Humans First has become such a big part of it all.

The format of the Higher Purpose Podcast

For this podcast, I just wanted to find people — whoever they are, wherever they’re at, and regardless of title — who are doing amazing things and integrating purpose into their work. And I’ve been blessed to meet and connect with an amazing community of people from around the world. 

I also decided I didn’t want to have interviews, I wanted to host conversations. That was a significant shift. I wanted to have unique conversations with my guests that they won’t have with any other podcast host, or that you won’t hear on any other podcast. 

The Humans First Movement 

The movement began for me through relationships. Marcel Schwantes and I were already connected, and he asked if I knew Mike Vacanti. I said I didn’t, Marcel made the introduction, and what was supposed to be a 30-minute conversation with Mike lasted for two and a half hours.

For some reason, Humans First is a label that just connects like crazy with people. I like to think of Humans First as a multifaceted diamond. You can look at it from different perspectives, and each person will see something unique in the diamond — but we’re all still looking at this same multifaceted gem. 

The Humans First Series on the Higher Purpose Podcast 

There was no plan of doing a Humans First series on the podcast, but then I began to have conversation after conversation with people, and every time, there was this lift. There was energy. It was fun.

And the guests weren’t showing up to say, I have the answer. No: it was to say, here’s my contribution. And I want to sample what other people are offering. Let’s have a conversation. To me, that’s the single biggest difference that I see characterizing Humans First. 

On community 

I’ve identified my zone of genius as Create, Connect, Converse, and so to me, podcasting is a conversation that connects people in the community. 

I don’t know the scale or the scope, but I’m going to begin hosting some in-person gatherings because we need to get in the room together. These are going to be unique meetings that aren’t going to be built around presentation — they’re going to be transformational conversations with like-minded people from around the world. 

Emergence 

Rather than trying to make things happen, for me, it’s all about the flow. The flow of energy, the flow of creativity. When you follow the flow, amazing things happen. 

Last week, I sent out an email to all the folks that have been in this Humans First series of conversations and I said, here’s an idea. And in a few hours, everybody said they were in. We’re in the process now of planning a series where we’ll have four or five people on the podcast at once, and have an unscripted and unplanned conversation that takes a topic and dives into it. That’s what we’re doing very soon! 

I’m electrified, ecstatic, and energized. I’m pretty excited about the things we’re talking about and I’m just thinking, wow, what’s next? What is possible? 

HumansFirst Leaders Connect

Join me for the HumansFirst Book Club, where we do a deep dive into a book a month and often engage the authors in conversation.

Joining us for another session on what it means to live, love, work, and lead in a humans first kind of way is Mark LeBusque. He describes his work as allowing humans to be human, whether that’s in the workplace, outside of the workplace, or in their communities. We talk about the magic that happens when you allow humans to get back to connecting, and why we need to be human beings before we can become human doings.

Adding to this series of conversations we’re having about what it means to approach business from a people first focus is today’s episode with Bob Chapman. Bob is the author of Everybody Matters, and today we’re talking about creating work cultures where people flourish, how that impacts our lives outside of work, and what it means to care about and be a steward for your organization.

With more and more people switching jobs every few years, how can you as a leader cultivate loyalty in a humans first kind of way? Join us on this episode with Heather Younger, the host of the podcast Leadership with Heart, the author of The 7 Intuitive Laws of Employee Loyalty, and, in her words, an employee advocate.

What does it mean to be a brave leader? This is our 10th installment in our HumansFirst series of heart-to-heart discussions on what it means to live, love, lead, and work in a humans first way. Today we’re joined by Kimberly Davis, the author of Brave Leadership and the Founder and Director of OnStage Leadership, and on this episode she talks about showing up as our best selves, making our impact, and leading from the heart.

Is there a magic pill to make your team and organization work? Welcome to another installment in what it means to live, love, lead, and work in a humans first way. Today we have Sesil Pir, an organizational psychologist and a leading researcher on workplaces and workplace culture. She’s here to share her keen insights on the future of work and human resources, and why we need to challenge the status quo of work to suit the way we’re built as human beings.