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April 19, 2021

Stacey Abrams on How to be More Persuasive

Stacey Abrams, activist, lawyer, and politician, is the first Black woman to run for governor for Georgia and come within 55,000 votes of winning. She was instrumental in helping Georgia Democrats to succeed in the 2020 presidential race and the 2021 Senate runoff. Abrams’s strategy for success is to use powerful words for anyone to achieve success.

As the author of a political thriller, Abrams believes the way to be more persuasive is to tell a story and make the narrative about your audience. People tend to be more receptive when they can see themselves in that situation. If the person you’re addressing is a victim of circumstance or can benefit from it, they want to know what you have to say. Abram’s strategy is effective for getting voters to the polls and for anyone in the business sector.

Abrams uses the literary concept of in media res, the Latin term for “in the middle of things.” Get to the issue first, then go back to what the cause was. People respond when you begin with the problem then go back to how they arrived in the situation. Part of her strategy is never to have misconceptions about her audience. By sharing her beliefs with an audience that didn’t necessarily agree with her views, she convinced people to consider what she had to say. She scheduled appearances at Democratic events, but her strategy involved engaging audiences with different interests and ideas.

Stacey appeared at Sci-Fi events, local gun shows, and advertised on country music radio stations. A lot of politicians only seem at events geared toward their political party. Stacey believes that we often tell people they aren’t allowed to hear what we have to say. She wanted people to listen to her message. If they disagreed, they still had the chance to make up their minds. It’s more effective to be persuasive by continuing to get the message out. Don’t speak to the audience once, then go away.

The same principle applies in business. The average person has to see an ad seven or more times before they buy a product. Stacey’s persistence and determination to help fellow Democrats win their elections played a significant role in electing Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock. It’s the storyteller’s responsibility to tell the audience the whole story, not just one chapter.

March 9, 2021

Preventing Burnout and Protecting the Mental Well-Being of Your Employees

Employee burnout is the recent workplace epidemic. It shows up in different correlated signs such as irritation, disrupted sleep, exhaustion, and headaches. These physical, emotional, and mental disruptions are effects of burnout. Having been a burnout victim, Paula Davis has since founded the Stress and Resilience Institute and authoring Beating Burnout at work to give insight on how to avoid the same fate.

Stress at a workplace is subject to discussion, as many believe that it is impossible to have a stress-free- work environment, as is life. However, putting necessary measures in place creates a safe environment for addressing issues before they get out of hand.

Lack of support from leaders, in-effective communication, unreasonable deadlines, unfair treatments, blurred boundaries between home and workplace, unclear job expectations are the major causes of employee burnout in workplaces.

How to Prevent Employee Burnout in Workplaces

We live most of our lives in our heads; making it an inhabitable place is the first significant step to a healthy functioning person. As most of the attributes are mostly intangible, having a degree of emotional intelligence, including self-awareness, curiosity, and courage, are significant prerequisites. Taking the following steps to ensure safe working atmospheres for high productivity;

Encourage Paid Time Off; Employees do not utilize their time off because they know of the many company policies on holiday pay cuts. Reforming such company policies encourage increased productivity, and it’s most likely to motivate them.
Having Wellness Programs and Health Insurances; Perks of being alive is critical for injuries, health disruptions, and even death. Checking on their welfare by emphasizing additional wellness resources, financial wellness resources, fitness programs, etc., fosters an excellent long-term employee-employer relationship.
Having Wellness Programs and Health Insurances; Perks of being alive is critical for injuries, health disruptions, and even death. Checking on their welfare by emphasizing additional wellness resources, financial wellness resources, fitness programs, etc., fosters an excellent long-term employee-employer relationship.
Creating a positive conflict environment: Having hall meetings, period to period surveys about the work setting encourages positive feedback and actionable consequences. Laura Delizonna, a Stanford University instructor, author, and speaker, states that psychological safety is not about being friendly and polite but transparent and authentic. This attribute breeds a constructive ground for the positive feedback.

Employee burnout affects both the employee and the employers alike. Approaching the issues through prevention saves both parties the unlikely aftermath. The meaningful collaboration eventually breeds growth for those involved.

February 15, 2021

The Importance of Humor in a Leadership Position

When asked to name quintessential leadership qualities, most folks will mention strength, courage, wisdom, and compassion. These are all important attributes, but there’s another key social skill that is often overlooked. Humor, or the ability to make people laugh, is the oft-forgotten quality.

A serious leader who never cracks a smile will have a hard time connecting with employees. They’ll struggle to build the warm, human relationships that strengthen a team. Humor is the balm that loosens up the meeting room and allows true connections to take place. Here are four concrete benefits of using humor to boost leadership.Build Trust

Would you trust a person who never laughs? It’s difficult to acknowledge your shared humanity with someone who’s hopelessly serious all the time. When employees see that you’re a full-fledged person just like them, they’ll find it easier to trust you.

Encourage Open Dialogue

If your meetings are too serious, then it can be hard for people to break the ice. Your employees might have questions, concerns, or ideas that they’re too nervous to express because of an overly tense atmosphere. Just by cracking a joke, you can lighten the mood and invite people to speak their minds.

Improve Employee Morale

A serious workplace is rarely a fun place to be. When employees feel they have to check their sense of humor at the door, they’ll be counting the hours until they can go home and return to their normal selves. By making it clear that laughter is encouraged, you’ll make everyone happier to be in the office.

Boost Performance

When you use humor to your advantage as a leader, you create a better working environment. This, in turn, makes your entire team more productive. Collaboration will increase as people truly enjoy working together in the lighthearted atmosphere you’ve created. People will work harder because they’ll be pleased with their working relationships. All this will improve your team’s overall performance.

Running a business is a serious matter. That’s why you should get serious about injecting some humor into the workplace. Not only will it make you a better leader, but it will also make your job (and everybody else’s job) a lot more fun.

For more information, check out Nhcc.us

June 18, 2020

Using Storytelling to Build Stronger Remote Teams

After the outbreak of the coronavirus, working remotely has become the new normal and many businesses are opting to let their employees continue this practice. Communication between leaders and their teams has been extraordinarily comprehensive and, at times, creative. One of the most powerful forms of communication is storytelling, which has been a part of human culture since our beginnings. We’re all hardwired to respond positively to stories, so why not use that to build a stronger team even if they are working remotely?

Storytelling Forges Positive Connections

Most good stories involve emotions everyone can relate to. Use stories as an ice breaker or as a kickoff for a meeting. As we tell stories we become more animated and invested. The more stories the team shares, the more trust the team will build collectively. Telling stories that have an impact, even if it’s just a smile, will allow the team to trust one another, be more open, support each other, and strive to collaborate more effectively.

Use Stories to Combat Isolation

No matter how introverted a person is, isolation gets to all of us at some point. Knowing you have a strong team that is just a click away can do wonders for a person’s mental health. Letting others share their self-isolation experiences in a safe and open environment through storytelling allows them to feel they aren’t alone and others are going through the same frustrations. After assessing everyone’s mental space in a meeting you can reach out to individuals, if needed, to assist them further.

Always Come from a Place of Truth

Even when your team members aren’t in the same room, they can tell when something isn’t genuine. Always keep your stories as authentic as possible to build up trust and comradery even if it’s a simple “For me, a typical day looks like…”. You don’t have to go to great lengths to make your team think you have everything perfectly together. Show your team it’s okay to need help, so you can forge more positive relationships and make your team stronger than ever.

Allow All Team Members to Contribute

Some members of your team may be excited to share their stories while others may be more shy. Create an online environment where everyone is encouraged to speak and no one person dominates the conversation. Everyone should know their input is valued within the team. Allow a different person to share a story each meeting to ensure everyone gets equal opportunity to speak.

September 17, 2019

Ways to Foster Belonging at Work

The human sense of connection is incredibly important: it impacts our health and productivity. While it may seem that belonging only matters in our personal lives, research conducted by the leadership development startup BetterUp indicates that workplace belonging is key to employee well-being and organizational functioning. Exclusion can beget both pain and psychological ailments.

BetterUp found, among other statistics, that employees see a 56% increase in job performance when they feel like they belong. Furthermore, belonging benefits workers’ careers, since those who felt highly connected received twice as many raises and were 18 times more likely to be promoted in a six month period. Cofounder and CEO of BetterUp Alexi Robichaux states that the most important assets to your company are your people. “Belonging should be at the heart of every human capital strategy.”

If you’re not sure how to do that, here are some strategies that came out of their research.

Create Allies at Work

A powerful solution to prevent feelings of exclusion is to add an ally to the team. Having an ally can counteract the 25% productivity loss seen in those who didn’t have one. This can be as simple as having someone who acknowledges and includes you. Peers make for very effective allies, and fortunately, there is no hierarchy to allyship: anyone can be an ally.

Encourage Healthy Interactions

Psychologists Jane Dutton and Emily Heaphy coined the term high-quality connections (HQCs) to describe interactions that have a positive impact on our lives and work. In a high-quality connection, each person reciprocates positive regard and care, and as a result, both feel valued. HQCs play an important role in close relationships but also have the power to unlock meaning in less intimate interactions. These interactions can be brief and emotionally neutral, but the key is that they happen regularly and are not negative.

April 1, 2017

Leading Younger, Junior Employees to Excel

March 22, 2017

3 Ways to Recognize Millennial Leaders in the Workplace

February 15, 2017

3 Ways to Recognize Millennial Leaders in the Workplace

Members of the Millennial Generation are coming of age, joining the workforce and preparing to lead our society as we continue make progress in the 21st century. Millennials have entered corporate America at a great disadvantage in terms of economic adversity, diminished prosperity and political dissonance; thus far, however, they are holding their own.

The time has come to recognize Millennial leadership, and there is a lot to like in this regard. Millennials tend to embrace technology and diversity. They are also connected and in touch with social issues; they seek validation in relation to their opinions and are resourceful for the most part. Millennials enjoy lifelong learning processes and feel very comfortable working in teams.

Here are three observations that business owners and executives can apply for the purpose of recognizing future Millennial leaders:

1 – Spotting Quiet and Natural Born Leaders

Quiet and unassuming leaders have emerged throughout history mostly because their peers have sought their leadership. One of the keys to recognizing these quiet leaders is by taking into account their small accomplishments, which tend to be numerous. Another trait of these leaders is that they listen and read more than others; in the case of Millennials, who are known to be chatterboxes on social media, quiet leaders mostly take time to read updates and act upon them as necessary.

2 – Intelligent Feedback

For the most part, Millennials are not afraid of voicing their opinions on just about everything; this is part of their social process. For this reason, employers should provide their Millennial staff with tools such as Slack and Microsoft Teams, which combine the best of corporate communications with project management and social media features. Reviewing the feedback and messaging threads on these tools can help employers spot budding leaders by focusing on team members who provide constructive criticism, respond to every interaction, analyze with intent, and give praise when it is wise to do so.

3 – Assimilation of Corporate Culture

The norms and expectations of a business enterprise define its culture. Observing how Millennials navigate corporate culture can provide a glimpse into their leadership potential. Employees who seem to embrace corporate culture should be encouraged to participate in planning and operational meetings where they are invited to provide their personal input. If their ideas are in line with company culture, they may be ready to take on a more prominent business role with greater responsibilities.

January 20, 2017

5 Key Tips for Introverts In Leadership Positions

January 18, 2017

5 Key Tips for Introverts In Leadership Positions

Our society has a habit of coveting and catering to the extrovert, leaving the introvert to feel less capable. But the truth is, some of the best thinkers throughout history were introverts. Introverts can be highly effective leaders. The reason introverts often feel they can’t lead is because some of the tips given for leadership don’t cater to them. Here are a few leadership tips for introverts:

1) Tell Your Team What to Expect

While introversion can be a positive quality in a leader, not all employees are used to it. It’s a good idea to let your team members know directly if you are going to do things differently than what they are used to. For example, if you don’t like having meetings as frequently as your team previously did, let your employees know that that’s how the team will be operating. Explain why you think it would be beneficial for you to spend more time on individual work. Let your employees know they can come to you with questions or concerns at any time.

2) Prepare For Meetings

Even if you intend to have fewer meetings that other leaders held, you’ll still want to have a few. If you aren’t prepared for these meetings, you can get overwhelmed and as a result communicate in a way that is not very effective. In order to make the meetings as productive as possible, get ready for the meetings before hard. Write down some thoughts or prepare an agenda. You can even create a presentation to help you stay on task.

3) Have One-on-One Meetings With Employees

If you don’t like having frequent team meetings, make sure you schedule one-on-one meetings with each member of your team. This is a beneficial way for introverted leaders to have effective communication with employees. This will allow you to get input from everyone on your team instead of just from the people who are likely to talk in meetings.

4) Listen First and Talk Second

One of the best leadership qualities associated with being an introvert is being a good listener. Too many people in the business world speak without listening, so introverts have a leg up on the competition in this regard. If you want to be viewed as a respected leader, put those listening skills to use. Actively listen to your employees, your coworkers and your clients. After processing what they have told you, provide guidance and answers that you feel will keep the company moving in the right direction.

5) Notice Your Employees’ Strengths

Chances are you’re not the only introvert on the team. You don’t want your employees to overlook your strengths, so make sure you don’t overlook the strengths of some of your employees who may be wary to socialize or share their thoughts. When you take the time to recognize the strengths of each team member, you will be more able to give them the right tasks. When you assign people the tasks they’ll do best, the company will be able to make more progress.

Being an introvert in the workplace can be tough, and it can be even more difficult when you’re in a leadership position. Don’t ever feel that your introversion makes you an incapable leader. If you follow the steps on this list, you’ll be able to lead your team to success.

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