Creating a workplace culture where people feel valued involves more than actively showing appreciation. It also involves eliminating behaviors that make people feel devalued.
Addressing Workplace Incivility
Category Archives: Human Value
The Secret Weapon in Combating Employee Engagement Woes: Part 2
Image Credit: AMA Playbook
As seen on AMA Playbook
Check out the second of a three part series we wrote for the American Management Association’s Playbook. Part 2 is on the connection culture element of value.
Cut the Strings: Provide Autonomy in Execution
#47 Provide Autonomy in Execution
Monitor progress and be available to help your direct reports but refrain from “micro managing” unless they ask for specific help. This meets the human need for autonomy that allows people to experience personal growth.
This is the forty-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.
Leadership Advice: Ask, Don’t Order
#40 Ask, Don’t Order
When you want someone to do something, ask him/her, don’t order him/her to do it. Asking creates partnership while ordering reinforces hierarchy. Partnerships connect people to the process whereas emphasizing hierarchy by ordering them is disconnecting. By taking this approach, people are far more likely to trust you when you do need to issue orders in emergency situations.
This is the fortieth 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.
Connection Tip: Respect Other People’s Time
#35 Respect Other People’s Time
When you interrupt someone while he/she is otherwise engaged, show that you respect his/her time by saying, “Sorry to interrupt you. Is this a good time to talk?”
Another way to respect other people’s time is not to linger. If the other person is not very responsive, it may be a sign that he/she is busy and is eager to get back to work. Be sensitive to the other person’s responsiveness or lack thereof as a cue. Many people will not explicitly tell you they are busy because they don’t want to hurt your feelings.
This is the thirty-fifth 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.
3 Lessons from the Life and Leadership of Coach Wooden
As seen on SmartBlog on Leadership.
Most people know the legendary basketball coach for the ten college basketball championships (including four perfect seasons) his UCLA Bruins Men’s Basketball Team won while he was head coach from 1948 until 1975.
Many people know Coach Wooden was inducted twice into the Basketball Hall of Fame as a player and as a coach.
Some know Wooden was awarded the Presidential Medal of Honor.
Few, however, know about the event that constitutes his greatest contribution to the game of basketball.
Connect by Knowing Your Colleagues’ Stories
#21 Know Their Stories
Take time to get to know the people you work with, especially your direct reports. Have coffee or a meal with them. Ask questions to learn about their lives and what’s important to them.
Questions unrelated to work might include “what are your interests outside of work?”, “what do you like to do during your free time?” or “where did you grow up?”. These questions typically open the door for you to ask follow-up questions. This will give you insights into how they are wired, including what they value at work and in their lives outside of work.
Research by psychologist James Pennebaker has shown that when you get people to talk, they feel more connected to you, they like you more and feel they learn more from you.
This is the twenty-first 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.
3 Practices CEOs Can Learn from the Girl Scouts
In most communities, January through April is the time of year when the girls in green are out in full force selling Girl Scout cookies. Can you imagine a world without Thin Mints®, Tagalongs® and Do-si-dos®? Sadly, they were once at risk.
There was a time in the mid-1970s when the Girl Scouts were struggling and their future looked uncertain. Fortunately, Frances Hesselbein came to the rescue. Although she had no daughters, Mrs. Hesselbein had begun her association with the Girl Scouts when she agreed to help with a troop of 30 girls in Johnstown, Pennsylvania that had lost its leader. It wasn’t long before Hesselbein’s experience with Troop 17 developed into a lifelong commitment to Girl Scouting. In 1976 she became CEO of the national organization, Girl Scouts of the USA.
With membership falling, and the organization in a state of serious decline, Mrs. Hesselbein put sound management practices in place. During her twenty-four-year tenure, Girl Scout membership quadrupled to nearly three and a half million, diversity more than tripled, and the organization was transformed into what Peter Drucker described as “the best-managed organization around.” Hesselbein accomplished the amazing turnaround with a paid staff of 6,000 and 730,000 volunteers.
Here are three practices that helped Frances Hesselbein put the Girls Scouts on a track for success.
Connect with the Core
#11 Connect with the Organization’s Core
Remember to make an effort to connect with people who have less power, control and influence because they are the ones who do most of the work when it comes to executing the tasks of your organization. Research has shown that higher status employees pay less attention to those with lower status and they are unaware of it. The famous “Whitehall Studies” in the UK established that workers who are lower in an organization’s hierarchy have less sense of control and suffer from greater stress and this contributes to ill health and higher mortality. The antidote to help people cope with stress is to connect with them and to delegate greater control to them.
This is the eleventh 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.
Affirm People in Introductions
#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.