Michael Lee Stallard

#10 Introduce People with Affirming Statements – When you make introductions, get in the habit of making a positive comment about the person.  The positive comment must be genuine,  however.  As they say in the southern U.S., “it can’t be Saccharine… it has to be real sugar.” For example, you might introduce Tom by saying “I’d like you to meet Tom.  He’s an outstanding engineer.” or “He’s one of the smartest people I know.” or “He’s an avid runner.”

This is the tenth post in our series entitled “100 Ways to Connect.” The series highlights language, attitudes and behaviors that help you connect with others.  Although the language, attitudes and behaviors focus on application in the workplace, you will see that they also apply to your relationships at home and in the community.

When you communicate a memorable vision phrase that matters, the people you lead will be more motivated to help achieve it.

Recently I was helping run workshops on leadership at Texas Christian University (TCU), a university of just under 10,000 students based in Fort Worth, Texas. TCU is one of the hottest schools in America. It receives around 20,000 applications a year for 1,800 freshman openings.

At TCU, people are motivated by a vision phrase TCU uses as a tagline: “Learning to Change the World.” Although they know the gist of TCU’s official and more formal sounding vision, mission and values, it’s the vision phrase that all can recite.

At TCU, the vision phrase is reinforced by the stories of graduates who are helping to change the world in ways that are consistent with TCU’s values.

Take for example Mack McCarter, founder and a leader of Community Renewal International, a not-for-profit organization that helps rebuild safe and caring communities through the restoration of personal relationships and trust. McCarter and his colleagues have helped transform Shreveport, La., and they are presently rolling out their program in Washington, D.C.

Andy Dalton, a 2011 TCU graduate who is quarterback and a member of the Cincinnati Bengals’ leadership team, is another fine example. Dalton played a part in restoring the team’s competitiveness. In his rookie year he became the Bengal’s starting quarterback and led the team into the playoffs. Before Dalton, the Bengals had seen postseason play only twice sine 1990. This year will be the third consecutive playoff for Dalton and the Bengals. Off the field, Dalton and his wife Jordan run a foundation that helps seriously ill and physically challenged children and families in the greater Cincinnati area. The foundation is projected to touch the lives of 50,000 children by 2014.

Another example is Zach Freeman, a 2013 graduate of TCU’s Neeley Business School with degrees in supply chain management and entrepreneurial management, who founded Veterans Moving America, a “values-based company” that strictly hires American veterans to do residential moving work. Zach, the son of Mike Freeman, Division President of the Americas at WD-40, wanted to create jobs for American veterans.

Here are three ways you can energize people with your vision phrase.

1. Make It Matter

Unless your vision phrase matters, it falls flat. A vision phrase that matters clearly communicates how the organization brings goodness, beauty and/or truth into the world.

Goodness is reflected in organizations that help and serve people. Examples include healthcare services, food and beverage products, lawn care, construction, clothing, lodging, entertainment and travel services, utilities and police protection.

Beauty is reflected in organizations that make the world more attractive. Examples include organizations that produce or showcase works of design, art, music and theater.

Truth is reflected in organizations that help discover what works and disseminates what they’ve learned through research, advice and education. For example, research labs, universities, primary and secondary schools, and consulting firms.

2. Make it Memorable

To be memorable, a phrase that reflects your vision must be brief and aspirational. TCU’s “Learning to Change the World” is a great example. When Chuck Schwab started The Charles Schwab Corporation, his vision was to provide “the most useful and ethical financial services in the world.” Our vision at E Pluribus Partners is  “unlocking productivity and innovation for good.”

3. Reinforce it Often

Because vision leaks, leaders must regularly replenish it. As I wrote in my last article, stories work best, especially those from grateful customers and members of the organization who live the vision. Encourage your employees to be on the lookout for stories that you can share throughout your organization to replenish the vision of how your organization brings goodness, beauty and/or truth into the world.

When you: 1. Make your vision phrase matter, 2. Make it memorable, and 3. Reinforce it often, the people you lead will be more motivated to help you achieve your vision and more satisfied in their work.

#9 Recognize and Affirm Grit – Psychologist Angela Duckworth found that affirming people’s day-in-and-day-out passion, work effort and perseverance helped them develop “grit,” a form of tenacity that makes them more effective workers. Be sure to talk about grit, to look for signs of it in others and affirm them for it.

This is the ninth post in our series entitled “100 Ways to Connect.” The series highlights language, attitudes and behaviors that help you connect with others.  Although the language, attitudes and behaviors focus on application in the workplace, you will see that they also apply to your relationships at home and in the community.

Oftentimes how a leader reacts in a crisis shines a light on his or her values.  Ratan Tata, head of the Tata Group of companies, showed he valued employees and their families as human beings following a terrorist attack on the Tata-owned Taj Mahal Palace and Tower Hotel in Mumbai, India on November 26, 2008, six years ago this week.  Mr. Tata had dependents of those employees who were affected flown to Mumbai and housed for three weeks.  He personally visited the families of all 80 employees who were affected.  He attended the funerals of those who died. Counseling was provided for both employees and their families. Loans outstanding to the affected employees were forgiven, arrangements were made and a trust fund was established so that dependents of those who died would continue to receive their deceased loved one’s salary for life, the education of their children and dependents would be paid for, and the families would receive healthcare and have access to counseling for the remainder of their lives.

Valuing people as individuals, rather than for what they produce, is the heart of a Connection Culture.  As we remember the events on that horrific day six years ago, let us remember the courageous employees of the Taj who lost their lives trying to protect the lives of their guests.  Let us also remember the heart of a leader, Ratan Tata, who shared in the tears of the families and who led not only with skillful hands, but foremost with a true heart.

#8 Develop the Habit of Emphasizing Positives - Psychologist John Gottman first observed that marriages were less likely to survive when the positive/negative ratio of interactions dipped below 5-to-1 (i.e. five positives to every negative). More recently the psychologist Barbara Frederickson found that a ratio of  3-to-1 applied in the workplace. Human beings need affirmation and recognition so get in the habit of looking out for ways to affirm and serve others. Do this by looking for task strengths and character strengths. Task strengths reflect the excellence of someone’s work. Character strengths reflect the way someone goes about his/her work.

For example, you might affirm a colleague by saying “Nancy, that was an outstanding website you created. The navigation design was easy to use, the writing was easy to understand and the color scheme was beautiful.” You might affirm Nancy’s character strengths by saying, “Nancy, I appreciate the way you persevered to make our new website happen. You showed wisdom and humility in seeking the ideas of others and applying the best ideas to the design of our new website. Very nicely done.”

This is the eighth post in our series entitled “100 Ways to Connect.” The series highlights language, attitudes and behaviors that help you connect with others.  Although the language, attitudes and behaviors focus on application in the workplace, you will see that they also apply to your relationships at home and in the community.

Stress is harmful to your health, right?

Not always.

In this TED Talk, Psychologist Kelly McGonigal explains how viewing stress as a positive actually reduces the harmful effects of stress on your body. Reaching out and connecting with others during stressful times further reduces the harmful effects of stress, and can actually shield the body from potentially lethal damage. Connection truly plays a vital role in our health and wellbeing.

Kelly’s informative talk can be viewed below.

During World War II, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt traveled to Seattle, Wash., to meet with 18,000 aircraft workers at Boeing Corporation. FDR brought with him a young airplane pilot named Hewitt Wheless from Texas.

The pilot had escaped death, thanks to the resilience of the bullet-riddled B-17 plane he flew out of harm’s way. His plane had been built at that very Boeing plant.

Do you think seeing and hearing that young pilot thank them for saving his life connected them to a common cause? You bet it did.

Although the work required for America to catch up to the output of the Nazi military-industrial complex was daunting, Americans rose to the challenge by persevering through long, hard hours of menial factory work.

FDR’s visits helped transform welders and riveters into freedom fighters. From 1941 until 1945 American aircraft companies out-produced the Nazis three to one and built nearly 300,000 airplanes.

People remember stories. Effective leaders like FDR identify and communicate stories to inspire people. Here are three key points to consider when using stories to enthuse, engage and energize people.

1. Connect People with Your Vision

Identify and tell stories about the people your organization serves. This keeps people focused on the importance of your vision. Many healthcare organizations do this by sharing the stories of how their work helped former patients and their families. To see examples, check out the videos of patient stories on New York-Presbyterian Hospital’s website. The stories you’ll see don’t always have happy endings but they are very effective at communicating the importance of their work.

2. Connect People with Your Leadership Values

Leaders should be open about telling their own stories to connect people with their leadership values.

Once when I was teaching a leadership workshop in Manhattan, a dozen or so leaders from New York-Presbyterian Hospital were present. I learned that New York-Presbyterian employees knew a story about the hospital’s longtime CEO Dr. Herb Pardes (now retired) that explained why he was passionate about valuing people and being intentional about connecting with patients and their families.

As a seven-year old boy, Pardes was hospitalized for several months with Perthes disease. During this time he underwent medical procedures administered by aloof healthcare professionals. Hospital policies during those years restricted the time young Herb could spend with his family, time that would have reduced the stress, anxiety and sadness he felt. The trauma he experienced from a period of hospitalization that isolated him from warm, supportive and loving relationships transformed Pardes’ life and instilled in him a drive to reform the delivery of healthcare.

The people at New York-Presbyterian knew Dr. Pardes’ story. His passion inspired them and it reinforced why valuing and being intentional about connecting with people is so important.

3. Live Your Leadership Values

Make sure you live your leadership values to reinforce them. Think of it this way: With words and deeds you are adding to or diminishing the narrative of the story that supports your mission and values.

Through his words and deeds, Dr. Pardes sent an unambiguous message about a paramount value at New York-Presbyterian. He was regularly seen making bedside visits to patients and their families. Although many CEOs of huge organizations would see this as inefficient, Dr. Pardes understood that walking the talk sent a powerful message.

In addition to taking time to connect with patients and their families, Dr. Pardes said in interviews with publications and in presentations that he wanted to be sure that the doctors and nurses at New York-Presbyterian are caring individuals and that they are happy at work. He advocated that everyone should have personal and professional mentors and he strived to help his employees balance their personal lives and professional growth. To extend the feeling of connection outward, he encouraged staff members to memorize the names of not only patients but the patients’ family members as well.

Led by Dr. Pardes from 2000 until 2011, the inspired people of New York-Presbyterian propelled their hospital to be recognized as one of the top hospitals in America for patient care, management and consistent profitability.

When you: 1. Connect people with your vision, 2. Connect people with your leadership values, and 3. Live your leadership values, it engages, enthuses and energizes employees so they give their best efforts and do the long and hard work necessary to achieve sustainable superior performance.

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#7  Different Strokes for Different Folks  - This phrase from the past is true when it comes to connection.  People have different predispositions when it comes to their sensitivities to feeling connection or its absence.  People also respond differently to actions in terms of whether it makes them feel connected or not.  Learn about each person and tailor your behaviors to connect based on what you’ve learned about them.  Recognize that it may take time before you get it right. (This practice reflects the Connection Culture elements of Vision, Value and Voice.)

This is the seventh post in our series entitled “100 Ways to Connect.” The series highlights language, attitudes and behaviors that help you connect with others.  Although the language, attitudes and behaviors focus on application in the workplace, you will see that they also apply to your relationships at home and in the community.

Many leaders unknowingly sabotage their careers by wrongly assuming their employees are actively engaged in their work.

This lack of understanding about engagement — enthusiasm, effort and enjoyment at work — will eventually affect the bottom line and make the leader look ineffective.

Here are the facts: The average leader engages only three out of every 10 employees. The best leaders engage six or more out of every 10 employees.

Your customers clearly see whether your employees are engaged or not. Engagement affects the quality of their work, their productivity and responsiveness, all of which affect your customers’ experience.  They feel employees’ enthusiasm and energy — or lack thereof — and recognize the bad results of an organization with overall morale problems. Employee engagement matters.

Research shows how important employee engagement is. Consider these facts:

• Engaged employees are 20 percent more productive than the average employee.
• Organizations with high-engagement scores have customer loyalty numbers that are twice the level of organizations with average employee-engagement scores.
• Organizations with top quartile employee-engagement scores have twice the level of net profits as organizations with bottom quartile employee-engagement scores.

This begs the question: What do the best leaders do differently from average leaders?

Here are three things that will improve engagement among the people you lead and help you become one of the best, not one of the rest.

Connect Employees with Customers

First, the best leaders help people see that their work is important and provides value to others. The key is to connect employees with real flesh and blood customers who share their stories and provide testimonials that express gratitude for your employees and your company’s work.

This surprises most leaders but it’s true. In one study, when a photo of a patient was attached to CT scans, the accuracy of radiologists’ work increased 46 percent. (Yes, 46 percent is correct and not a typo!) Stunning, isn’t it!

Help Employees Achieve their Career Aspirations

The best leaders take time to get to know their employees and find out what their employees hope to achieve in their careers. Armed with this knowledge, the best leaders find jobs, ongoing responsibilities or temporary projects that help their employees progress toward their career goals. Employees appreciate this. They respond with enthusiasm and energy when their supervisor shows he or she cares.

Give Employees Challenging Work that Fits Their Strengths

After you give your employees work that helps them advance their careers, make sure it is sufficiently challenging. If it isn’t, they will grow bored. If it is too challenging they will be stressed out or fail. The right degree of challenge will help them become immersed in their work and their time working will fly by, a state that psychologists have labeled as flow or optimal experience.

When you connect employees with customers, help employees achieve their career aspirations and give employees challenging work that fits their strengths, it engages, enthuses and energizes employees so your organization achieves higher customer loyalty and company profits.

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Michael Lee Stallard speaks and teaches workshops on leadership and employee engagement.  He is the primary author of Fired Up or Burned Out: How to Reignite Your Team’s Passion, Creativity and Productivity (Thomas Nelson).

Follow Michael on his blog, twitter or on LinkedIn.

David Burkus’ new book, The Myths of Creativity: The Truth About How Innovative Companies and People Generate Great Ideas, is among the best business books I’ve read this year.  It provides a valuable review of research and practices related to the process of innovation. It’s impossible to read The Myths of Creativity and not come away with new, useful practices that will improve your ability to innovate.   I highly recommend it.

Readers of this book will gain a newfound appreciation for just how difficult innovation is.  Fortunately, Burkus equips readers with practices to help individuals and organizations overcome the biases and potential pitfalls that frequently derail innovation.  For example, Burkus shows how conflict is a necessary part of the process and represents a risk to innovation if it gets personal.  He then goes on to provide a solution by describing the practice Pixar developed that employs conflict in a constructive way while keeping it from escalating into internal combat.

I liked the way Burkus organized the book into ten myths about creativity including the Eureka Myth, the Lone Creator Myth and the Constraints Myth. I also appreciated that the book is under 200 pages in length, and is easy to dip in and out of.  Today’s readers of business books, many of whom suffer from time poverty, will enjoy Burkus’ straight forward, cut-to-the-chase, high value-added writing style.