by Beth | Jun 23, 2021 | Company Culture
This year, as I am interviewing people for my clients, I am asking candidates about their vacation plans. I am super pleased to find out that people are taking time off this year! Thank the stars!
As the world is opening up and people are leaving their houses for the first time in over a year, there is this feeling of restlessness and “I have to get out of here for a while!”
Vacations have always been important: whether you go somewhere exotic or have a “stay-cation” and spend the week at the pool working on your tan lines. But especially this year, vacation is more important than EVER.
Not only are people burnt out, a huge amount of people are leaving their jobs. If you want to keep your best employees, my advice is always to let them go on vacation. And when they are gone, make sure that you are covering their work so that they can completely unplug.
We know that innovation comes from experiences outside the office. So, if you are worried that no work will get done, some of the BEST work happens when you and your team unplug.
They get a killer tan, and you get solutions to big problems.
Win/win.
by Beth | Jan 6, 2021 | Company Culture
As we begin each New Year, many of us take the opportunity to re-group and redefine goals for our businesses. This time is often filled with renewed energy to get our lives and work in order. As a part of your New Year’s goals, it might also be time to fire that one employee that is not contributing to your company’s vision.
The impact of an unengaged employee on your business can be catastrophic. Decreased productivity, lowered company morale, and miserable working environments have been common complaints by my clients as they come to the decision to relieve an employee, especially when coming out of a disaster year like 2020! I say start the New Year fresh!
A past client of mine had an employee who consistently gave her ultimatums. The threats were often “If you don’t do this, then I will quit.” Who wants to work with an individual who is constantly threatening you? The team was struggling to work with the individual, my client was unhappy with the performance of the individual, yet the concept of firing and replacing this person seemed daunting and ill-timed. When my client finally became fed up, they did indeed fire the employee. I won’t sugar coat the transition. It was hard, uncomfortable and came at a terrible time, but my client knew that this was the right decision for the company.
In addition, the busiest day of the year for applicants looking for a job is the second Tuesday in January. Think about this: the people who are fed up with their work environments are also looking to make a change. So, if you want to start the New Year with someone who REALLY wants to work for you, get going! Now is the time.
by Beth | Oct 28, 2020 | Company Culture
To say that life is strange in 2020 is an understatement. The virtual workplace is a struggle! Do you log into Zoom and see Zombies disguised as employees? Those lifeless bodies that stare off into space? Does it feel like your company culture is dead?
Now that we are 8 months into the pandemic, we are starting to hear about concepts like “pandemic fatigue” and “Zoom fatigue”. People are so tired of not getting together in person, not having that daily interaction with others, and staring into a screen is causing our beloved employees to look and act ghostly!
If you look around the virtual Zoom room and see zombies on your staff, it is time to take stock of your current company culture. The pandemic has made relationships so strained, and when your people are looking ghostly, check in on them more often.
Now that some of the daily adjustments to the workplace have been made, take the time to address the humanity of your employees. Start your department meeting with updates from your people, both professionally and personally. Encourage your people to take time off, to log off at a reasonable time at night, and take care of themselves. A virtual happy hour is definitely better than nothing. A little appreciation in these trying times will go a long way toward employee health and well-being. And yours too!
And if that doesn’t work, try chocolate. (the real stuff- not virtual!)
by Beth | May 6, 2020 | Company Culture, Employee Hiring
When I bought my restaurant, the first problem I had to solve was how to manage workers that worked opposite hours from me. By the time my night staff left the bar at 3:30-4:00 a.m. my janitorial staff was usually arriving to get the place clean for the next day. This meant that I had someone in my building for whom I was responsible almost 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
So, how do you manage people that you never see? This question is coming at nearly all of us these days, and many people have not faced this issue before.
Here are some tips:
- Start your day with a 15-minute virtual team huddle. Have everyone give you their top 2 priorities for the day and something that they are grateful for. Ask them what they need from you that day, and then provide it. Have a longer meeting once a week to follow up and provide guidance.
- Ask questions. For example, if someone approaches you with a problem, ask them this: What do you think we need to do about that? Or how would YOU solve that problem? Remember: they know more about their job than you do, so solicit their input.
- Focus on WHY not HOW. Give your team the reason why you are working on a particular project instead of directions on how to get it done. Let them take the ball and run with it!
- Give parameters. I used to say to my managers this: “If you can justify your decision based on our core values, then I will back you up 100%.” This gives your team room to expand and innovate. They need to know that you have their back.
- And finally, don’t make excuses for people who aren’t performing. Everyone these days is frazzled and discombobulated and juggling more than usual, but your top performers are still getting the work done. If you have someone who isn’t, make the hard call for the rest of the team.
The biggest break-through that I had about managing a remote team of top performers is that I needed to trust them to do their work and do it well. Maybe they didn’t do it the way that I would have, but if the outcome is the same or better, what difference does it make?
I recently had a Zoom call with several of the people that worked for me back then, and they are all in high-powered jobs and leaders in their organizations. I am convinced that their success beyond working for me lies in the fact that I literally could not micro-manage them. I had to trust and have faith that the job would get done. And you know what? It did.
Happy Leading Remote Teams!
by Beth | Feb 12, 2020 | Company Culture, Employee Retention
If you are frustrated with employees who are disengaged and not producing at a high level, you are not alone. There have been several studies recently about the number of disengaged employees at work and how much distraction it causes, like this one: https://www.achievers.com/press/achievers-survey-finds-that-despite-disengagement-65-of-employees-plan-to-stay-in-their-jobs/
What can employers and managers do to change the level of engagement at work?
First things first: watch your language. Stop referring to your employees as “head count”. “Butts in seats”. “Bodies”. “Staff”. “Talent”. “Humans”. All these words are de-humanizing, and not designed to create solid working relationships, or make employees feel valued in their positions.
Instead, say this: My team. My village. My tribe. My community. My connections. My people. My colleagues.
Do you hear the difference?
When you engage with your people and make them feel as important as they truly are to your organization, they will engage with you, their Leader. It’s astonishing what a small shift in language, and perhaps even mindset, can do for a company.
Happy hiring, my people!
by Beth | Jan 15, 2020 | Company Culture, Employee Hiring, Firing Employees
Firing someone, even if it is the best thing for all parties is awful. It feels terrible. Even if you knew it was coming, and even if it wasn’t a surprise to your employee, it still feels totally horrendous. You have a pit in your stomach, and your overall feeling is enough to make you want to hire someone as fast as you possibly can to fill that hole.
Don’t.
Why not, you ask? “I need to fill this seat Beth!”, said a panicky client. Because that is when you make hiring mistakes, when you hire from a panic place rather than a place of reason and overall calm.
According to Robert Plotkin, who wrote How to Prevent Internal Bar Theft, “Hiring the wrong bartender can be staggering. It’s better to operate short-handed for a period of time and rely on your existing staff to cover the bar than hiring someone unqualified or inappropriate for the establishment. It will be more advantageous in the long-run to delay hiring another bartender until the right candidate can be found.”
In addition to Robert’s thoughts on the topic, Warren Buffet says “Money flows from the impatient to the patient.” I believe this to be true in any area of life. In any situation where big decisions must be made, we all operate and make decisions better from a place of measured calm than from panicked overthinking.
So, when you have the unfortunate experience of firing someone, I want you to pause. Take a big deep breath. Let the emotions settle down. Call a team meeting and rally the troops. Let everyone know that it will be okay, and that you are committed to hiring the very best candidate you possibly can. And, then wait at least two weeks before you do anything.
Our instinct as humans is to replace a person in our lives as fast as we possibly can. In the end, learning why that person no longer serves you and your organization is the better path, and proceeding from a place of calm will serve you best in the end.
