Do your one-on-ones feel aimless? Not sure if they’re making a difference?
There’s some solid science that says you shouldn’t give them up anytime soon. Harvard Business Review reports that employees of managers who don’t have 1:1 meetings are:
4 times as likely to be disengaged
2 times as likely to view leadership more unfavorably compared to those who meet with their managers regularly
One-on-one meetings can offer boosts to retention and productivity. They can align your team to a common goal. But how do you know if you’re doing it right?
Consistency is key. Pick a framework that works for your context and stick to it. Structuring your one-on-ones creates predictability and can take a good deal of emotion out of the equation. Looking for a guide to kickstart your feedback sessions?
Follow this easy, printable PDF from Small Giants Community to keep meetings on track.
The easiest way to have a positive impact on your colleagues is to tell them how much you value them. While supervisors and managers may try to use their words to encourage others, they often don’t do a great job. The good news is, using our words to encourage others is easily done, whether you are working onsite or remotely.
Here are a few simple tips to make your words of encouragement most effective and some common mistakes to avoid:
Be personal and individualized. Statements of encouragement to a team are great, however, they are impersonal. Direct and specific communication to one person makes the affirmation more sincere.
The more specific the better. One of the most common phrases team members don’t want to hear is “good job!”. The phrase is so generic it could be applied to any person at any time. Be sure to tell the employee specifically what you appreciate about them and their work.
Some specific suggestions:
Leave an encouraging voicemail.
Use sticky notes to write short messages of appreciation.
Recognize them during a meeting or conference call and give them an example of something they did well.
Tell them why what they did is important to you, the organization, or your clientele. While it may seem obvious why an employee’s work is valuable or desired, they often don’t understand the true impact of their actions. Framing encouragement in light of the big picture can make it more meaningful.
Keep in mind that words are not equally important to everyone. In a study with over 100,00 employees, less than 50% want appreciation through words. That tells us that 50% of employees want appreciation in ways other than words. Seek information from your employees regarding how they best experience encouragement and how receptive they are to other avenues of affirmation.
How do you encourage others at work?
Excerpt from Paul White from appreciationatwork.com
Reopening and going back to your workplace does not mean going ‘back to normal’– the workplace post-pandemic has forever changed. Here are some Situational Leadership strategies that will leaders navigate “re-boarding” the new processes and expectations for how people will return to the workplace.
1. Reflect and Recalibrate.
Businesses had to react almost immediately to adjust with the demands of the
pandemic. Now is the time to reflect on the lessons learned and the new
strategies that can be applied in the plan towards reopening.
Send a short reflection survey to your team to get feedback on specific processes that worked well and those that didn’t to decide which practices to continue moving forward.
Use targeted, purposeful survey questions to help your team members identify the next normal.
2. Assess the Current State.
Businesses refined and created new solutions and procedures to perform their
jobs during the pandemic.
Now, to get an assessment of the current state, identify and prioritize team members’ tasks.
Take time to determine skills and specific tasks that are now essential due to the changing work environment. Look for ways to leverage support, mentoring and delegation within the team.
3. Engage to Manage the Movement. If
you haven’t already implemented 1:1
coaching practices, now is the time to do so. This coaching is vital to
help team members navigate the fear that accompanies a changing environment.
Establishing proactive communication is essential to cultivate trust and personal connection.
Encourage your team to be accountable to their own performance and establish touchpoints to discuss current priorities, their status and what they need from you. Compare lists and develop a plan for direction and support.
What is one adjustment you can make, something to stop
doing or start doing, to increase your effectiveness as a coach?
Words
matter and words can be misunderstood. You can break a heart or start a war simply based on the words
you choose. We know communication is important – Especially now, as are working
remote and stress levels are high.
Remember,
everyone processes information differently. This gets into some
pretty nutty areas of neuroscience and behavior. For those of you who use DiSC
to aid your communications, attached is a refresher overview of how each style is wired.
For those that are not
familiar with DiSC, knowing someone’s DiSC style helps us communicate better
with them. For example, some people are
good at active listening, while others are not. How we absorb and digest
information is a factor as well. Some process information visually, while
others process through sound or touch. Lastly, perception based on what we want
to hear versus what’s said is also a huge factor.
Conversations can easily be misinterpreted because of a combination of bad communication habits: people are hurried when they speak; they’re distracted and not actively listening; or they simply have a lack of understanding or context to what is being said.
So how do you prevent your team from falling prey to miscommunication? Here are 5 steps:
1. Make sure everyone involved understands and realizes that misinterpretations are human nature. We’re all guilty of it. Just because you told someone something, doesn’t mean they got it.
2. Be aware of yourself and others. The more you know about yourself and those with whom you’re communicating, the more effective you will be in disseminating information to ensure you are aligned with someone else. This is especially helpful for aligning with people who are wired differently than you or who come from a very different background where their understanding of something could have a wildly different meaning from what you meant.
3. At the end of a conversation with someone, repeat what you heard. This allows for feedback on whether you understood the message in the way the speaker intended. You will be amazed by how many times the other person will say, “No, I didn’t mean that. I meant…” You will save time by taking this simple step to being tactically aligned.
4. Leave a few minutes at the end of a conversation or meeting to go over next steps. Allow for questions to provide further clarity or context for those who need it. This is especially important if a lot of different topics or ideas were discussed. Context shifting is a heavy task for our brains, so the more topics, the greater chance there is for tactical dissonance.
5. Account for the digital age we live in and be mindful of how you’re delivering your message. Email is best used to spread information, like recapping action items after a meeting or sharing attachments others need, NOT for in-depth communication. This means no debating, convincing or critiquing via email—save that for face-to-face communication.
The good news is, I truly
believe that our new working environment will help us develop stronger
communication skills if we slow down and use this time to focus on improving
the quality of our messages.
The way we feel can be triggered by outside events.
And
that can change how we act.
And
the way we act can reinforce how we feel.
Of
course, the opposite is true as well, and far more in our active control.
How we act always changes how we
feel.
Two mood-changing actions:
1. This
is a perfect moment for upskilling. For a sprint in learning something difficult to learn. Not
because a teacher or a leader made us do it, but because we chose to. Not only
do we get to keep that skill forever, but
the act of taking control and expending the effort will change our mood.
My upskilling focus? Continuing to add skills and practice conducting activities for
our interactive virtual learning experience sessions.
2. And this is the perfect moment for generous
connection. Going way beyond the
news of the day, we have the chance to create intimate digital interactions
that last.
How are we creating connection at Aha!
Leadership remotely? We are holding virtual coffee breaks. We are designating 20 minutes for casual
conversation via video chat. We are
celebrating wins, exchanging personal updates and even sharing a funny meme or
two. It provides us the positive
connection people crave.
Who says you can’t have cake with coffee? Our intern turned 20 years old this week and here is a picture
of us celebrating with her virtually…pajamas and all! While it may not be her ideal way to
celebrate her new decade, I am sure it will be one she will retell fondly for
years to come. A little coordination
with a family member for the surprise went a long way!
It’s
a significant posture shift, one which might change who you see when you look
in the mirror.
We
might not be able to do anything about external events, but we have control
over our actions. Sometimes, it’s hard to stare right into that opportunity,
because it comes with a lot of responsibility.
As leaders of our teams, our families, people
are watching….what can we model? What
will you learn today? Who will you teach?
For many people, “thanks-giving” is a tradition that happens around the dinner table once a year. But research suggests that leaders should encourage gratitude in the workplace year-round.
The Science of Gratitude: Gratitude can be defined as a positive emotion felt after receiving something valuable. And science has shown that people who are grateful feel happier. They have an improved sense of well-being, higher self-esteem, experience less depression and anxiety, and they also sleep better.
The Gratitude Gap in the Workplace: Despite its compelling benefits, expressing gratitude doesn’t always happen at work. A recent Glassdoor survey found that 80% of employees say they would be willing to work harder for an appreciative boss.
So why is there a gratitude gap in the workplace? Wharton Business School professor Adam Grant believes it’s because people don’t like to admit they need help at work, and many believe thanking someone means admitting you couldn’t do it all on your own.
How to Be More Grateful
Ready to reap gratitude’s many benefits? Luckily, you don’t need any fancy tools or advanced degrees. Here are 3 simple exercises that have been scientifically proven to boost your gratitude levels.
Send a note expressing your gratitude. Writing a letter thanking someone for the positive impact he or she has had in your life is a great way to boost your gratitude. Or, send a text, if you prefer. Take out your phone right now (if it’s not out already), and send a simple text to someone you’re grateful to have in your life and let them know that you are thinking of them.
Keep a gratitude journal – or even just a list. Keeping a journal of people and things for which you’re grateful can increase your feelings of gratitude. If you’re not the journaling type, don’t worry; making a short list works, too. Just jot down 3 things you’re grateful for on a Post-It note. Stick it somewhere you’ll see it often, and refresh it weekly.
Take time for reflection. Simply reflecting on the many aspects of your job — large and small — for which you’re grateful can boost gratitude levels. These might include supportive work relationships, sacrifices or contributions that others have made for you, advantages or opportunities, or gratitude for the opportunity to have your job in general. Going on a short “gratitude walk” is a great way to take time out for this reflection.
How to Increase Gratitude in the Workplace
Offer thank-you cards. During his tenure at Campbell Soup, then-CEO Doug Conant wrote 30,000 handwritten thank-you notes to his employees. This practice, along with others, has been credited with how he created a culture of gratitude and turned around a struggling company. Do 30,000 letters seem daunting? Take a page out of Mark Zuckerberg’s playbook and aim for just one a day. To encourage others to do the same, emulate Starbucks and offer unlimited company thank-you cards for employees to use.
Make a gratitude wall. Create a designated space for employees to share shout-outs and words of thanks. This can be a wall, a whiteboard, a flip chart in a common area…be creative! A public, anonymous display of gratitude is a great way to introduce gratitude into the workplace culture and keep employees feeling appreciated.
Start meetings with gratitude. A simple way to cultivate gratitude at work is to begin meetings by sharing a short statement of appreciation (remember the difference this made in the fundraising center study!). Or, if you want to take this approach to the next level, try having everyone in the meeting share one thing they’re grateful for — it makes a great icebreaker.
When things go wrong, count your blessings. It’s easy to be grateful when things are going well. But gratitude can have an even bigger impact if you’re going through a rough patch. So, next time something goes wrong at work, see if you can find the silver lining. What did you learn from the experience? What opportunity did it offer you? Share these insights with your team. Being able to be truly grateful during times of challenge and change is a great way to stop negative rumination spirals and get people motivated and energized.
Be grateful for people, not performance. Sometimes, gratitude initiatives can feel like old recognition programs warmed over. To avoid this feeling, focus on social worth and think about how people have made a difference. Give thanks for people’s willingness, enthusiasm, commitment, or efforts — not their impact on the bottom line.
Customize your thanks-giving. Practicing gratitude requires thinking about how specific people like to be thanked, and tailoring your gratitude accordingly. Thanking a very shy person at the global quarterly meeting might come across more like punishment than recognition.
Be specific in your gratitude. Saying “thanks for being awesome” doesn’t have the same impact as “thank you for always getting to meetings 5 minutes early to set up the projector; I know that our meetings wouldn’t go as well if we didn’t have you.
Don’t fake it. Authenticity and vulnerability are key parts of gratitude. If you can’t think of anything you’re truly grateful for, don’t try to fake it. Most people can tell when thanks isn’t heartfelt, and fake gratitude is probably worse than none at all.
Lastly, research shows that whether you’re an absolute novice or gratitude guru, everyone can reap the positive benefits of giving and receiving thanks. So, get out there and start encouraging more gratitude in the workplace!
Article Excerpt from the Center of Creative Leadership 2019
