Compassion and Service Go Hand and Hand

It's no surprise that culture is the key to driving service, sales, growth, and empowerment in organizations today. Culture can make or break those within the company which in turn impacts client and vendors in the marketplace. We all have our favorite culture needs but have you given any thought to championing for compassion within your organization?

How many companies have you read about that even have compassion as a goal? I still remain stumped and never gave thought to compassion being a key component that organizations are lacking until I read the new book Awakening Compassion at Work by Monica C. Worline and Jane E. Dutton. Below is a guest post from the authors and I would love to hear your thoughts!

If Your Business Competes Through Service, You Need More Compassion at Work
Monica C. Worline & Jane E. Dutton

Try this thought experiment: First, remember the last time you ate at a restaurant with poor service. Second, remember the last time you ate at a restaurant with great service. Which one would you rather return to today?

Many organizations, like those restaurants, depend on delivering high-quality service to build their competitive advantage. But managers and leaders often overlook or undervalue compassion in service encounters as an important aspect of distinctive service quality.

When Sarah’s grandmother died, she spent time cleaning out the house, immersed in memories. Sarah’s children were young and mystified by what was happening. The family stopped at a nearby restaurant for a much-needed bite to eat. Five-year-old Sonia started to cry, missing her great grandmother and the chocolate milk that had been their favorite treat together.

Lindsey’s shift had just started when she took the family’s order. It struck her that the young mother had asked for a dish that hadn’t been on the menu in years. Lindsey brought drinks out and the children were crying. Asking the little girl what was wrong, Lindsey learned of the death of Sonia’s beloved grandmother, who used to make special chocolate milk. After sharing hugs and telling the family how sorry she was for their loss, Lindsey stopped at the manager’s desk. She arranged to get them chocolate milk, and also for the restaurant to take care of their bill. That act of compassion as part of the restaurant’s service made a distinctive impression and won them a loyal customer.

It turns out that wasn’t the end of the story, though. Leaving Lindsey a sizable tip that night, Sarah wrapped the money inside a napkin with a simple note: “Thank you for your kindness and compassion, and the love you showed to complete strangers tonight.” A few months later, Sarah and her family were wrapping up details related to her grandmother’s funeral and they stopped at the same restaurant. Lindsey had just started her shift. She delivered water and menus to her new table, then she stopped in her tracks. Hugging broke out. She welcomed the family by name. She remembered their favorite foods and brought Sonia her chocolate milk.

At the end of the meal, Lindsey showed the inside of her black order pad to Sarah. Taped inside was Sarah’s note from the napkin. It buoyed Lindsey up on every shift, and helped her keep her calm when she encountered difficulty customers. One act of compassion had rebounded, helping bolster both the giver and the receiver.

Research by the Gallup organization shows that genuine expressions of compassion such as this one, when delivered authentically as part of high-quality service, create brand loyalty and forge lasting bonds with customers. These emotional bonds are far stronger aspects of great service than almost anything else organizations can do.

The great news is that research supports the idea that when employees give feelings and actions as gifts to customers, like Lindsey did for Sarah, employees feel better about work as well. Daniel Homan and Lonnie Collins Pratt in their book Radical Hospitality remind us about the power of service as a meaningful aspect of work: “It isn’t just the food that we pass out that nourishes or impoverishes the human heart. … Work is always for the service of others.” Making room for compassion as part of your customer service strategy opens the door for work that is more genuinely meaningful and customers who are more genuinely delighted and loyal.

If you have story of compassion and service quality, we’d love to read about it in the comments.

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Monica Worline, PhD, is CEO of EnlivenWork. She is a research scientist at Stanford University’s Center for Compassion and Altruism Research and Education and Executive Director of CompassionLab, the world’s leading research collaboratory focused on compassion at work.

Jane Dutton, PhD, is the Robert L. Kahn Distinguished University Professor of Business Administration and Psychology and cofounder of the Center for Positive Organizations at the Ross School of Business. She has written over 100 articles and published 13 books, including Energize Your Workplace and How to Be a Positive Leader. She is also a founding member of the CompassionLab.

Their new book, Awakening Compassion at Work, available now on Amazon, reveals why opening our eyes to the power of compassion is smart business.

Given Out Any Treats Lately?

Photo courtesy of aopsan via freedigitalphotos.net

Earlier this week I dropped by the store for a few things and as I was checking out, I hesitated. I had grabbed some cans of cat food and 3 bags of cat treats. This has been a weekly habit for a while and I had to laugh at myself. Our entire family is allergic to cats and somehow we have collected 3 cats over the past few years thanks to the kids. We have acreage so the cats can endlessly roam and explore. They are also spoiled with a cat door into the garage, a soft bed and heat lamp, and of course, canned cat food and treats. Fortunately, they have hearts of gold and keep the critters at bay.

I’m not alone in spoiling our pets and rewarding them with treats. There are more that 70-80 million dogs and 74-90 million pet cats in the United States according to the ASPCA.  That means that 62% of us have at least 1 pet. I’m sure that you know someone (or are one!) that goes a bit overboard on pets by buying them luxury beds, fancy toys, and clothes. According to NBC News this adds up to Americans spending over $60 billion on pets every year. I imagine a large chunk of that is on toys and treats alone.

People have a variety of reasons for spending money on their pets. Rewarding them, showering them with love, training them, or thinking that they are tiny humans. I ‘m a sucker for cat treats because I love the glow in the kitty eyes when I shake the treat bag. Plus, it’s the only way that I can get them to do what I want. Don’t we use similar tactics with our kids or even spouses? We do it because it works.

Pets aren’t so different than people. As a manager, I have enjoyed discovering the gifts in my people and bringing them to the surface. It requires patience and a sincere interest in getting to really know your team. More so, I have been on a journey to see how to reward those around me. Guess what? It doesn’t have to cost a penny. You don’t always need to shell out treats or trinkets with the company logo on them. Most people crave recognition for their work or their skills. They want their gifts to rise to the surface to be utilized and yes, even recognized.

I have a sister that believes her poodle is human – complete with sets of clothing and hair bows to match. When you think about what we spend on rewards for pets it’s astounding. Most of us don’t think enough about how to recognize or reward the people around us. Buying a bag of cat treats is easy, remembering to treat those that we work with, not so much.  Obviously companies shell out billions of dollars a year in rewarding employees however, a large chunk of that expenditure is rewarding years of service, not every day recognition of what are folks doing. What are you doing personally to recognize those around you?

Giving “treats” to those that we have contact with every day is fun, easy, empowering, and yes, inexpensive. If you don’t believe me, think about what you do for your pet every day. A far

flung analogy but it’s true. Think about what you can personally do every day to have an impact on someone that you work with. You don’t need to be a manager to reward, be a person. Let’s get into the habit of treating and rewarding each other.

Ideas on how to recognize those around you

• How about a good old “thank you” face to face or better yet, in front of everyone else?
• Drop off an old fashioned thank you card on their desk or mail it to their home
• Bring in a treat just for a special person
• Recognize someone on LinkedIn or on an internal social media account
• Jump in and assist a coworker with a project or task that no one else wants
• Introduce them to someone that can help them in their career or with their goals. Proudly brag them up
• Ask a team member to be on a high profile project or team
• Surprise them with a unique desk gadget
• Buy them lunch
• Cover their desk with some scratch off lotto tickets
• Everyone has a special hobby or passion. Bring them a gift related to their passion
• Offer more smiles and words of encouragement

Let’s get back to being human. Let’s spend more time and thought thanking others, recognizing coworkers, and offering treats for others. Rewarding doesn’t need to cost anything but your time or attention.  Hey, if you have pets, next time you buy treats for them remember that there are other ways to treat and thank your human friends!

The Word? Fertilizer!

Photo courtesy of Stuart Miles via freedigitalphotos.net

If you had the guts to even set some New Year’s resolutions then congratulations are in order. By now 92% of you that set goals have already flunked. Pretty depressing right? I learned long ago to forgo setting any wild vague resolutions as they consistently vanished into thin air by January 30^th – or before.

This year, I decided to choose a single word for the year to focus on instead of any resolutions. I wanted a word that is unique, represents who I am, and will guide my course for 2017. My word? Fertilizer. Yes, you read it right. You see, I am a garden geek and I love designing and growing gardens. That passion flows into other areas of my life.

Even if you regularly kill plants you probably know the value of fertilizer. A feeding to your plants will boost growth, strengthen the roots, aid in preventing diseases, condition the soil for long term health, and give you an overabundance of veggies that 5 families can’t consume. In short, fertilizer is like magic in the garden.

I am passionate about digging for the gifts of others and nourishing them so that they can bring out their best and grow to have an impact. I aim to be the fertilizer to those around me this year. This simple word will drive me to:

1. Look for the beauty in those that I meet and learn how I can help them to grow their inner beauty to the surface
2. Strengthen the roots of others through opportunities, learning, and forming strong relationships
3. Discover ways to protect friends from “diseases” such as lack of confidence, low self esteem, or uncertainty
4. Uplift others and help them to “weed” out those people from their lives that are unsupportive or mock dreams or aspirations
5. Impact one “plant” at a time growing him/her into a colony of incredible people with positive attitudes and purpose to support growth
6. Support the health of others so that they are resilient and strong in chasing their uniqueness and bold ideas

If I focus on being a fertilizer this year my hope is that I can feed others so that they will grow and glow. My word will remind me what is important and how I can have an impact. In turn, my own growth and sense of giving to others will be accelerated. It is the year of fertilizer.

What will YOUR word be in 2017?

What Do Your Ornaments Say?

Photo Courtesy of Lynn Gardner via Flickr.com

The holiday spirit is among us and you can’t go anywhere without being cheered on by gawking lights and the blaring of holiday music. Most of us have our Christmas trees up and decorated with bling and empty stockings ready to accept candy and gifts.

Not only are Christmas trees a symbol of the holiday season, they all tell an individual story. I enjoy going to parties at friend’s homes to see what their tree looks like.  Moreover, I love to view the trees of those that I don’t know well at all. For me, Christmas trees can reveal so much about personality, hobbies, family, and history. For instance, our tree is a mix of homemade ornaments clinging to life after years of use. We have an assortment of character ornaments that reflect the different stages of toy or TV show obsessions from my four boys. There are ornaments reflecting hobbies and I even squeezed in some girly ornaments to balance out all the boy stuff on our tree. Although our tree is a hodgepodge of ornaments, it really does reflect who we are.

Have you stopped to really look at your tree this year to see if it reflects your personality or family history? Stand in front of it tonight all lit up in its splendor and I bet you will quickly pick up details that you never noticed before. Better yet, look closely at the holiday tree at your next party in the next few weeks and see what insights you pick up. You are your ornaments.

Let’s pretend for a moment that your team has been given a holiday assignment to brighten up the office and share some spirit.  Everyone is given an 18 inch Christmas tree to decorate and display on their desk. There’s a catch. You have to pick a specific colored string of lights that reflects your personality. Second, you have either craft your own ornaments or adorn the tree with items that reflect who you are and what you stand for. Needless to say, Barbie or Superman ornaments are not what we are looking for here.

Give this some thought. What would your tree look like and how will it reflect the real you? Here are some questions that you will need to ask yourself and be willing to bare to those around you:

• Would you be comfortable sharing who you really are and dropping the mask that so many of us wear to work every day?
• Do you feel confident that people would see your tree and agree with who you “are” every day at work?
• What two things jump to mind about you that you would want to really showcase on your tree?
• What two things would you feel really uncomfortable showcasing and why? Do you tend to show these habits at work?
• What “thing” about you would be on the top of your tree because it truly is who you are or want to be?
• Are you more of a showy person as reflected on your tree with tons of glitter and tinsel or are you more simplistic?
• What themes would your tree reflect about you or do you feel more multifaceted than most people?
• Would your heart show on your tree or would it be a subtle reflection?
• How would you display your true passion on your tree?
• What one thing about you would you want to display to others on your tree that you have never shared before?

 Hopefully by now you have a clearer vision in your mind of how your tree would look and what others would learn about you. The “ornaments” that we adorn our tree with are deep inside us and make us who we are. They are our values, morals, passions, and visions of our real selves to those around us.

Here’s a hint of what my tree would look like. I would circle it with bright red lights to reflect my passion for others. I would opt for thin tendrils of silver tinsel to share my flair for creativity. My ornaments would provide quick insight into my passions for learning, teaching, inspiring others to achieve, and empowerment. I’m sure that my love of gardening would also shine through as well. I would still need to place a bright gold angel on the top to guide me.

What would your ornaments say about you this holiday season?

What's in Your Stuffing?

Photo courtesy of Slice Of Chic via Flickr

"The thankful receiver bears a plentiful  harvest " - William Blake

Don’t tell a turkey, but I really don’t like them. We have some that travel in our woods and it’s a bit creepy how these humongous chunky birds roost in trees. They aren’t particularly good looking and they can be very violent and will happily charge at you without notice. They will be pleased to learn that I really don’t enjoy eating them either. To me, turkey tastes bland and dry and perhaps it can be chalked up to the lack of cooking skills in our family tree. I just haven’t met a turkey that I like.

On Thanksgiving Day I am definitely more of a stuffing kind of gal. The taste of moist stuffing that has aged and been nourished by the cooking turkey is a treat. There are so many tasty and unique stuffing recipes and I’m willing to try them all. Meats, veggies, nuts, spices, herbs, berries, breads are all options for personalizing your stuffing. These ingredients mimic the paints that an artist uses to create a unique picture. Cooks create their own work of art that really brings out the best from within the turkey and brings the meal together.

Stay with me for a minute and imagine yourself as a turkey – pretend that it’s not Thanksgiving. We have all been one at one time or another. Our kids probably think it every day! What kind of stuffing would you have inside you? Don’t just reflect on the ingredients, texture, and smell. Really think of what is inside. Does your “stuffing” reflect who you really are? If you have strong values are they truly being reflected outside in your day to day activities? Are you growing and nourishing your “stuffing” so that it is served as the best part of you?

If you are a stuffing lover like me, you want to add the ingredients that really reflect your tastes and that you enjoy. You want your stuffing to reflect who you are and really “wow” others. So I ask you, what are your most effective “stuffing” ingredients?

• Garbage in, garbage out. Strive for adding optimum ingredients and you will be rewarded. Surrounding yourself with people who challenge you will bring out your best
• Join local Meet Up groups to add some spice and companionship with like minds
• Read 30 minutes every day. Ingesting words will impact your written and verbal communication
• Meditate daily. Relax and look within to bring out your best in the form of gratitude, serenity, and calmness in confronting issues and openness
• Volunteer. Appreciate what you have by giving back and adding to others
• Set goals and follow them. Set goals weekly so that you focus on them
• Seek out new learning. There is a plethora of online learning opportunities or TED talk to beef up your mind
• Find a coach to guide you. Cooking the best stuffing is achieved by lessons and practice. Find someone to teach you how to make and bake the best in you
• Change is good. Why not change up your recipe for success? Try something new. Allow yourself to add new or different ingredients
• Be willing to try the recipes of others. Watch and listen to what other people are doing to perform or achieve and mimic some of the best
• Don’t hoard your recipe for success. Share it will others and be willing to guide them through the “stuffing” process

You really are what you learn, do, and give back every day. The best is always inside you as is the stuffing is in our Thanksgiving turkey. Take the time to add premium ingredients throughout the cooking process, allow it to simmer and reach its potential, and take that “stuffing” out this week to allow others to enjoy.

What ingredients will you be adding to your “stuffing” for the remainder of the year? Hopefully you will look at stuffing in a whole new way and Happy Thanksgiving!

Are Waves Dragging You Under?

Photo courtesy of Kevin Dooley via Flickr.com

“My life is like a stroll on the beach…as near to the edge as I can go” – Thoreau

A few days ago I ventured down to my family’s cottage on the beach of Lake Michigan. The cottage is a 100 year old wooden structure perched on a sand dune and we have to winterize it every winter from the raging winds, ferocious waves, and cold. The autumn wind burned my face and the lake looked ominously angry as it usually does in November.

 If you aren’t familiar with the Great Lakes, perhaps you are picturing a small puddle lake with houses dotted around the parameter. Most people are surprised to learn that the Great Lakes consist of 5 lakes and hold some of the largest area of fresh water in the world. The lakes are massive in size and if you sit on our beach and look west, you won’t see Chicago across the way as many think. Lake Michigan takes numerous lives every year due to its unexpected and sneaky riptides. The waves can reach 25 feet in height and the churning waters are no match for large ships. Remember the Edmund Fitzgerald? Lake Michigan swallowed it up and boasts about taking other ships as well.

November is the most dangerous month for massive storms and waves on the lake. Lake Michigan stays relatively warm this time of year when the cold air temperatures hit. This forces the warm air close to the lake to rise and the cold air to drop. Bam! The opposing forces kick up the winds and the energy creates waves as the air blows over the water surface.

The lake water is darker this time of year as the sand churns continuously in the waves. I always feel powerless and small watching the waves. The constant tug of the water and the fierce wind reminds me of who is boss. It reminds me that life is like a furious wave and we all face our own waves every day.

Are you caught in the waves?

• Waves blow you off course and before you realize it, you are drifting alone
• An undertow can’t be easily seen but it will creep up and pull you under. Ever have that feeling when with deadlines and work piles?
• You need to stay on top of the waves to see your end goal and reach it safely
• Remember that waves don’t make themselves, other forces create them. Manage outer forces and you can handle any waves that come your way
• Waves aren’t always destructive. They can serve an important purpose. They take out the old and bring in the new. Storms have delivered us more beach from time to time while preserving the shoreline. Teams need a shake up once in a while to bring everyone back on track
• Waves don’t have rules and they churn forward and backward as well as side to side. This is the type of conflict that you want to avoid in teams because there is no one managing the process or outcome
• Always wear a life jacket in strong waters. Safeguards like strategies, plans, goals, and strong teams are your backups and provide safety
• Waves can move and destroy the heaviest rocks over time. Likewise, your leadership, infrastructure, or culture can erode over time
• Sometimes you just have to stop fighting the force and ride the wave. You never know what may come of it until you work with it, instead of against it

 I welcome you to brave the November winds and waves on the Great Lakes some year. You will leave in awe of Mother Nature and maybe even give more thought about how you can ride the waves or use them for change. Where are the most powerful waves that you have experienced? I would love to hear! What waves are dragging you under this week?

A Halloween Leadership Challenge

Photo courtesy of Danny Chapman via Comflight.com

Happy Halloween! I’m not going to lie. Halloween is my absolute favorite holiday of the year. It even beats Christmas which is too busy, too hyped, and it drags on for months and months. Here in the Midwest the weather this time of year is relatively palatable and trick or treating is a great excuse to take a nice long night stroll.

I have fond memories of trick or treating from when I was young. I’m particularly proud of how cool I thought I was when I scored a huge bag of candy and ran home to change into another costume so that I could go for a second round. It was always enchanting to mingle with the neighbors and see the neighborhood light up into a fantasy world for one magical night. I loved being someone else for a few hours!

As an adult I love watching my kids enjoying the same adventures that I did. I enjoy combing through their candy and picking out my favorite chocolates. I always tell them to bring me back all the chocolate and Twizzlers that they can. Please don’t give them apples or healthy stuff in the pumpkin bag. I don’t like to eat those on Halloween! I will also admit what so many of you are thinking – it’s fun to look into people’s homes on Halloween when they answer the door to ghouls and princesses. Come on…..

My kids have always dreamed far in advance about what they want to be on October 31st. With 4 boys the planning certainly saved last minute panic and money. Thinking ahead about who they want to be has always been an interesting experience to watch as they toss out ideas, sketch pictures accenting details, and spending countless hours researching on the internet. I’ve relished hearing why they want to be a particular character and watching them act the part. For our family, Halloween has been about using our imaginations and putting ourselves into the shoes of someone else for one magical night.

This Halloween season I have a challenge for you. Consider it a leadership growth opportunity. One day a week for the next month pretend that it is Halloween. That’s right. Now, you don’t need to dress up unless you really want to but prepared for strange looks. For just one day place yourself into the shoes of someone else that you lead or work with. Become this person as they go about their day, manage teams, fight fires, and handle difficult clients. Learn what your people really do and how they feel as they go about their day. What challenges do they face? What frustrates them? What obstacles are in their way? How is the culture that they work in? What works for them and do they seem to enjoy their role? The questions are endless as you “trick or treat” in the shoes of another for a day.

Are you ready to up your leadership for the next month by pretending to be one of your staff for a day and utilize a “trick or treat” form of leadership? I would love to hear the results.

Do You Have a Leadership Voice Yet?

One of the best leadership books that I have read this year is a new book by Paul N. Larsen. Find Your Voice as a Leader is a no nonsense leadership guide that speaks directly to the reader, not to the academics. Paul's book offers real life leadership scenarios and offers us guides that offer up thought provoking questions and plans that you can put into place every day. Although I already read this book, I am reading it again and employing Paul's advice in setting some personal leadership goals. 

I am an avid reader and champion of leading and empowering people. I want more in a book than just ideas. I want advice and guidance on how to strengthen my own leadership and put me on the path to having an impact on others in my own way.

I encourage you to pick up Paul's book and begin your own journey to stronger leadership. Leadership should be steady and influential. Leadership is not having the loudest voice in the room but building relationships and finding other ways to flex your leadership muscle. Below is a guest post from Paul Larsen to jump start your journey to using your voice to be a stable and flexible leader.

Best Practices To Be Influential And Not Invisible

Cultivate an extensive and respected network. Networking may be a catch phrase from the 1980s, but the concept is as relevant today as it was 30 years ago. No one person has all the answers or all the ideas, no matter how intelligent they are. Sharing ideas and goals with others is key to being an effective and influential leader.

Sell ideas and enroll support. Even the best ideas will languish if you’re the only one who supports them. An influential leader needs to also be a good salesperson—to garner support from management, investors, team members, and the community. If you sell your ideas persuasively, others will get on board with your vision.

Identify and remove obstacles to the team’s success. Lead as a facilitator. Another essential part of being an influential leader is clearing away any potential obstacles to success before they can get in the way of your team’s efforts and the successful realization of your vision. These obstacles might be funding issues, personality conflicts, or logistic problems. Removing these roadblocks early means your team can sail right through the project without losing momentum over unrelated issues. Entrepreneur magazine refers to breaking down barriers between team members and leaders as being crucial to leadership success.

Be flexible in your leadership style. The best—and most successful—leaders know how to adjust their style to fit the needs of diverse individuals and teams. One of the most influential leaders I’ve ever met was an airline pilot. As captain of a modern jetliner (and father to this author), he possessed the “position and title of a leader.” But he didn’t lead using his “rank” or his ego. He would treat all his airline colleagues as one cohesive team whose purpose was to fly the passengers to their destination as safely and as comfortably as possible. He regarded all the team members with respect and trusted they would be accountable for carrying out their specific job responsibilities. He believed each individual knew best how to perform his/ her unique role, and collectively they comprised a team that was focused and committed. He would listen to their insights and feedback with a genuine spirit of collaboration before any important decision was made concerning the operation of the aircraft and the carrying of its passengers. Thus, he was viewed as a trusted and respected leader, in the air and on the ground and was missed greatly when he retired after 30 years of flying. Adjusting your leadership style to fit all situations and personalities is essential to influencing your team members to produce successful results. And then watch them fly!

As a successful leader you need to be more than just knowledgeable. You need to be able to influence team members, management, and those in the community—to accomplish your vision. Improve your influence by networking well, establishing trusting relationships, clearing obstacles, and being adaptable to your environment.

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Paul N. Larsen, MA, CPPC, is a Certified Professional Performance Coach and an experienced leadership consultant and speaker. He has over 30 years’ business experience with executive and senior-level responsibilities within small and large companies, including being the Chief Human Resources Officer for a $3 billion organization. Paul partners with industry-wide leaders and teams from Fortune 100, start-up, and high-tech environments to find their unique leadership “VOICE” and create compelling and purposeful outcomes for their organizations. He has a proven track record with organizations such as SAP, Electronic Arts Twitter, and Walmart.  Read more about Paul and his latest book, Finding Your VOICE as a Leader at  www.paulnlarsen.com.

Foster The Seeds of Growth

Photo courtesy of reddeergrowboys

The leaves are slowly starting to change with autumn approaching. I have always had mixed feelings about fall because winter will be on its heels. I’m not a fan of winter because I don’t like being enveloped in gray skies and cold. Moreover, I hate being forced to put my garden to sleep until the winter skies clear.

Fall remains one of the best times to plant new trees, shrubs, and perennials. Even better, it’s a great time to find some deals because nurseries are hunkering down for winter. This may surprise you, but now is an opportune time to plant seeds. It’s a fairly effortless task and it will bring a smile to your face next spring when the seeds spring to life.

Numerous seeds need stratification in order to sprout. This means that the seeds need to have a period of cold so that when ground warms in the spring the seeds have a jumpstart from Mother Nature to sprout.  Everything young in nature needs some guidance and care in order to flourish and grow. Check the needs of your seeds before just scattering them and walking away. Invest in their growth.

There’s still plenty of time to do some planting and here are some seeds that would appreciate being planted now:

• Bulbs are always no brainer to plant in the fall where there will be several months of cold for them to snooze in
• Annual Poppies
• Hollyhocks
• Cosmos
• Black-Eyed Susan
• Nicotiana
• Cleome
• 4 O’Clocks
• Bachelor Buttons
• Sweet Pea
• Wall Flowers

The wonderful thing about fall planted seeds is that you can sow them up until the ground freezes in most areas of the country. Grab some packets, pick a breezy autumn day, and plant some beauty.

Sometimes we forget how delicate the young are whether it’s a child, animal, or plants in nature. When I see small children I have flashbacks to when my kids were tiny. Caring for them was such a priority. As they grew they needed guidance, individual attention, mentoring, and at times, monitoring. Unfortunately, not all young people are given the guidance and care that they need to grow into leaders within their communities. If their growth isn’t fostered at home, it may only happen at school or with friends. For most young people, this isn’t enough.

Lately, I’ve read several articles in which leaders share their advice to their young selves. Most of this advice is career focused aimed at people in their late 20’s and beyond. What about those that really need advice when they are young and easily influenced? So many young people are lost or lack sound mentoring or role models, especially those that aren’t on a career path yet. Perhaps they aren’t focused on a career because they remain confused or are more focused on just finding a job to get by.

Leaders today should focus more on our young people working through middle and high school. We can impact kids at that level and offer them hope, guidance, and assist in preparing them for their future so that they can impact the world with more confidence and ownership. Let’s make their future a priority before they are thrust out into the world without skills to cushion any mistakes that they make.

So, I went way back in time dropping myself into my younger body. What advice did I really need then? Here’s what I wish my friends and I had heard when we were young, impressionable, and downright squirrely.

• Quit spending so much time worrying about what others think of you. They are thinking more about themselves and worrying about how they come across as well. This is advice I wish that I had been brainwashed into believing at a young age – it would have saved me a lot of grief!
• Don’t try keeping up with others. There is life beyond these years and you need to move at your own unique pace. 
• Fail young BUT learn from your mistakes. Even better? Learn from the mistakes you see around you. Those are free lessons. As the youngest of 3 girls in my family I can’t even count the lessons that I learned from my siblings. 
• Find an older crowd to hang out with that seems to have their stuff together. I promise that you really do become what you hang around. It’s cool to be smart and a geek. Life will reward you if you lay a sound foundation of friends now. 
• Don’t feel pressured to pick a career and stick with it. Life is a journey and you can’t make sound choices without life experiences to guide you. Don’t let people place you in a mold that doesn’t fit. 
• Work a lot of different jobs when you are young to learn and grow. Volunteer in a variety of areas as well. Doing so will help you determine your work preferences and you will learn if you prefer working with people, data, or things. This will shape who you are and where you will be years from now. 
• Grow up and mature, but always stay a kid at heart. I can’t tell you how many people in their 20’s that I have encountered that live like they are still in college. They drink and party like there’s no tomorrow and share way too much on social media. Poor images are hard to shake and social media is with us forever. Be careful of the image that you portray and hang out with your older and more focused groups. Conversely, always see the world with a child’s eyes and act like everything in life is a new experience. 
• Begin building your brand young. When you get older and go to a school reunion you will find that reputations really never change much. The party guy in school probably still is and lives with that rep. Obviously, the best way to build your image is to be careful how you come across on social media and to those your interact with. 
• Passion is great but don’t spend your life chasing just one dream. Life changes and chasing a dream may leave you dissatisfied and always looking for more.
• Find a mentor early on. Ask for advice and learn from him or her. 
• Never regret your mistakes or what could have been. This has been one of my weaknesses and it’s not productive. 
• Don’t be afraid to ask for help. People really find joy helping others 
• Develop grit and perseverance. Grit is one of the key factors in success. After you get knocked down be prepared to get right back up. 
• Bullies will always be around. They just learn to hide their tactics better. Develop a thick skin.
• Don’t let your job consume you. You are more than a title or profession.
• Live your values and be transparent with others.
• Never stop learning and read for a lifetime. 
• 
  

As a leader you need to make it a priority to reach out to our young people. Volunteer in schools, with youth groups, community events, and within your own home to impact a young adult today. Give them the confidence, young wisdom, and appetite to grow like the tiny seeds that we sprinkle on the ground.

What other advice do you have for our young people? I would love to hear!

Millennials Are Like Young Transplants

As a gardener,  one of the biggest mistakes people make when they plant a new shrub or plant is to either flood it or forget about it. Over time, the plant slowly withers and then dies. Plants are like people. Before we even buy a new gem for the garden we need to learn more about it to make sure that it can thrive under our care and in our yard conditions. You need to know it's mature size, sun or shade requirements, and how much moisture it needs. You can't plop a cactus in the shade and water it generously. You know what will happen!

Leaders need to take the same approach with our young and upcoming leaders. Finding the right talent doesn't end once you hire them and throw them into orientation expecting them to thrive. Today's millennials need guidance, open dialog, and crave your leadership.

If millennials still remain a mystery and you are truly committed to mentoring and empowering tomorrrows leaders, you should pick up a copy of Chasing Relevance by Dan Negroni. Dan will lead you through a journey that explains how our younger people crave our leadership and guidance and really do want to make a difference.

I'm please to share a guest post from Dan Negroni that will help you navigate the path to growing our leaders of tomorrow. 

Don’t Chase Relevance – Find It!

I am stoked about the debut of Chasing Relevance. It took two years of writing, research, content development, speaking, coaching, and training more than 5,000 amazing people by me and my colleagues at launchbox. But our systems, curriculum, and book are ready – ready to bridge the gap between non-millennial and millennial generations in the workplace and marketplace to help your business achieve real, BOLD results.

Here is what we learned: Houston, we have a HUGE problem.

• Thirty percent of organizations lose 15% or more of their millennial workforce annually.
• It costs companies $15,000 to $25,000 to replace each millennial.
• 71% percent of organizations report that the loss of millennial employees increased the workload and stress of current employees.
• Workload and stress combine with disconnection to breed disengagement: Seven of ten employees report being “disengaged” or “actively disengaged” at work.
• The estimated cost of this disengagement is $450 billion.

Yes, millennials are a HUGE problem. They have taken over as the largest generation, and they don’t just want the power – they are the power.

 They will decide what businesses succeed and which ones will be left behind. Those that want any chance of succeeding need to figure out how to win with millennials.

Yet only 22.9% of organizations have a plan in place to engage millennials and future generations.

REAL PROBLEM? Oh yes. But it isn’t a problem that needs to be solved. It’s a problem that needs to be embraced. Yes, I said it… we need to be bold and generous and embrace millennials. Because the way most managers are dealing with it now – mainly complaining – is not working.

What I find most curious is how put-off and deeply frustrated many leaders from previous generations are by millennials. They paint a completely negative picture of “them,” as if millennials are a monolithic group of apathetic, disrespectful, unmanageable brats. They whine that millennials are spoiled, entitled, lazy, disloyal—all they want is power and all they think about is themselves.

Of course, complaining about the next generation is nothing new. But the way this millennial generation grew up? That is new. They had helicopter parents, got trophies for showing up, had days filled with activities, were encouraged to question, had a seat at the table for making decisions, were told they could be anything they wanted to be, and are used to being connected to everyone, everywhere, every minute of the day. 

And the world is different too.  Think of where we’ve been and the changes that have occurred in the last 30 years. We’ve gone from information in encyclopedias and microfiche to a crazy ass digital world where we can get any information, whenever and wherever we want. Millennials grew up “wired” and “wireless” and have never known a world in which technology did not impact, consistently change, and
repeatedly shorten timelines of obsolescence. They know no other way.

Millennials came out of the #womb. And when they did, they disrupted all of the traditional timelines.

SO WHAT DO WE DO?

We follow the patterns of previous generations and complain or throw up our hands in frustration and do nothing. As a result, all we do is chase relevance with them, often never finding it.

My book and our business have a better way and our solutions will change your life, their lives, and your businesses.  Guaranteed.

And here is how you start:

STOP ... AND SHIFT

Stop doing what you are doing and realize that the place where youth and experience meet is the best place on earth. 

The combination of raw, unbridled enthusiasm, curiosity, questioning and unlimited perspective is pure MAGIC when combined the right way with knowledge, time served, learned failure, and history. 

Chasing Relevance answers the question we get asked all the time:  You really think we can connect with the next generation with the huge differences? ABSOLUTELY.

We all need to shift our mindset and trust ourselves.  When we shift our focus to connecting and delivering value to others, we win with our clients, employees, spouses, partners, kids ... we become guides and mentors of the next generation and ourselves. 

We have a choice: Embrace the opportunity millennials offer by pushing ourselves to be better leaders and coaches, or continue to ignore and dismiss the generational divide. The answer is clear: embrace opportunity.

That’s what our book, our business, and this blog will help you do.  

*****

"Need help understanding, engaging, and retaining your millennial workforce?  Dan Negroni, Author, Speaker, Attorney, Kick butt business consultant, coach, and proud Dad of a few Millennials delivers actionable solutions.  Different from all other millennial experts, Dan's empowering business approach at launchbox, creates quick value and seamless connections with millennials and management each on their own terms.   Using unique content and delivery methods that audiences respond to immediately he leverages results from the inside out.   Allow millennials to be your secret weapon and maximize your commitment to them to innovate, create a culture of engagement and grow your businesses today.    To start click here to grab your copy of Chasing Relevance: 6 Steps to Understand, Engage and Maximize Next Generation Leaders in the Workplace or call them at 858.314.9687 for a free Coaching Assessment"