If you lead a business with 25-300 employees, this is for you —

You can have an incredible culture without a full-time culture, people ops, or even HR employees.

Bold? I know.

But, it's tough for many organizations your size to make the financial commitment. And if you do, you likely don't have the strategic expertise to guide them into creating an incredible culture.

Why you shouldn’t offer perfect attendance awards/bonuses?

There are negative consequences to attendance programs. Not just people coming to work when they are sick, but —

-Presenteeism - Lost productivity occurs when employees are not fully functioning in the workplace because of an illness, injury, or other condition. Think bad decisions, spreading illnesses to others, and bringing down the morale and productivity of others.

Did you know that 30%-50% of the hours that we spend in meetings aren't productive? Yikes......😳

We can do better.

Here are 5 tips for making meetings better:

1. Instead of the traditional agenda, consider what QUESTIONS need to be answered in the meeting

If you don't have foosball tables, company picnics, and happy hours at work, don't worry, you're not behind.

A new study finds that young workers place more value on respect from managers than office perks. The research suggests that companies should invest more in training managers to nurture employee well-being.

Being a good leader isn't making EVERYONE happy all the time.

Sometimes being a good leader is:

Giving someone a job

Congratulating someone on a job well done

Celebrating a team win

Disagreements are a regular part of life, but when it comes to disagreements at work, the stakes are high. According to this 2018 Harvard Business Review article, well-managed disagreements lead to:

Better work outcomes

Opportunities to learn and grow

Improved relationships

Harvard Business Review’s article "How to Negotiate Remote and Flexible Work Arrangements with Your Boss" has been one of their top viewed articles.

I'm not surprised. It shows that your employees have remote work on the brain.

Every leader has flaws. Even you. 😉

Some personality flaws have a disproportionately negative impact on the quality and execution of strategic choices. These are far more than just annoyances, as they cast a large shadow across their organizations.

For more than a year, experts have been predicting a mass exodus of employees.

As resignations are rising, understanding the trends can help you to learn how at risk your business is. 🧨

The following are some risk factors:

INDUSTRY

While Finance and Manufacturing resignation rates are holding steady, Healthcare and High Tech are driving the upward trend.

If you're like me, fall makes you want to curl up with a good book. 📚🍂

This makes it the perfect time for me to share with you 3 of my essential reads for the Nurturing Leader.

Who are Nurturing Leaders? They...

...care for their employees as human beings above all else.

Storytelling can make or break your leadership.

Do you agree?

If you’re in the camp that, like me, thinks storytelling is often underrated in business communication, here are 3 ways you can create a culture that values storytelling:

“How are things going?” - A simple question that can change your entire relationship.

Today we are focusing on One-on-One meetings. These are short and frequent check-ins between leaders and employees.

They are one of the best ways to build good communication and enhance your office relationships.

You have to let someone go for the first time?

Yikes. That's uncomfortable. Make it a little easier using these tips:

CONSIDER THE TIME OF DAY. For employees working in the office together, I recommend terminating at the end of the day. This allows an employee to exit the office naturally and without much focus being placed on them. For remote workers this is less important.

With all the talk on appreciating employees, I’d like to point out thing that most people don’t talk about —

That appreciating employees doesn’t happen in a meaningful or genuine way unless you actually feel GRATITUDE for them.

Simply saying “thanks” just because it’s the “right thing to do”, can backfire on you.

Experiencing burnout? Maybe you should have a "Slackout"?

This is a phrase one of my clients used with me and think it's brilliant.

We were discussing ways to cope with burnout and she explained that she was encouraging her team to have a "Slackout".

Don't underestimate how emotionally challenging getting back to the office is going to be.

I was recently asked a few questions about workplace reintegration Post-Covid-19 Vaccine. One of the questions was, "How should leaders handle emotional fatigue in 2021?"

The last time we spoke she was crying.

She didn't want to be seen as "a complainer", but others on the team had seen the way her manager had treated her and more or less forced her to speak privately with me.

She shyly shared with me the abuse she had been enduring:

-The unnecessarily long hours.

-The mental games.

-The lies.

Ever feel you're talking and talking, but no one's listening? Here's a fable from Aesop that puts a little perspective on how to motivate people. Spoiler alert - the answer isn't talking louder or harsher.

🌥️T h e w i n d a n d t h e s u n a r g u e d o n e d a y o v e r w h i c h o n e w a s t h e s t r o n g e r .

Spotting a man traveling on the road, they

sported a challenge to see which one could remove

the coat from the man's back the quickest.

"We need talk".

Having difficult conversations that hold employees accountable is stressful.

Here’s what you can do to keep your cool —

1. Evaluate whether the issue is really worth discussing. Don’t trust your anger. Wait until you cool down to decide to take the next step. If you still find the issue important, go to step 2.

You and your team have been working remotely for quite some time. And in the beginning things were going pretty well. You were checking off all the boxes. Getting all the tactical things completed.

But, now that you’ve been in the mode for awhile and see that you’ll likely be here for awhile longer, you’re starting to become concerned. You’re seeing a lack of problem solving, higher level thinking and creativity. Ultimately, you’re concerned with the lack of motivation growing in your team.