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July 9, 2017 By Lynda Foster

The One Thing Employees Want to See Most from Their Leader

A few years ago, a leader in one of our classes… let’s call him Tom, was having a tough time with employees on his team.  During coaching sessions, I noticed that there was a common theme to the team member’s feedback about his behaviors towards them.  They were consistently saying the same things like, he didn’t give them credit for their ideas when he presented them to corporate.  From their perspective some thought he was inconsistent – they would be called out for something they thought was minor and then other times he would completely overlook something they would have thought was a major infraction.  Still other comments were around the perceptions that Tom was constantly late to meetings he had set with them and when he did show up he was on his phone checking email the whole time.

Leaders at work - Show RespectYes, employees would like to make more money, for the most part.  Yes, they would like to have more flexible work hours.  Certainly they want benefits if possible.  Yes, to all those things AND there is one thing that they want the most from their boss.  You probably guessed it already, RESPECT.

The research is in and the information may be helpful for us to review.  This article from Inc. magazine was the first source I used for this one.  When employees feel they are respected by their leaders the positive outcomes include:

  • 56 percent better health and well-being
  • 72 times more trust and safety
  • 89 percent greater enjoyment and satisfaction with their jobs
  • 92 percent greater focus and prioritization
  • 26 times more meaning and significance in their work
  • 1 times more likely to stay with their organizations than those that didn’t
  • 55 percent more engaged at work

If you’re a manager, you may not feel like one all the time, but you are a leader.  If you coordinate projects, you are leading others.  When you are influencing decisions you are leading.  Rather than focusing on people respecting or not respecting us, perhaps we need to look inside ourselves and wonder what things we are and can be doing to let the people that we work with feel respected by us.

Here are some quick thoughts on how to show respect to others you lead at work:

  • Listen to understand, not to be understood. Listen for information, not confirmation.
  • Encourage others to share their perspective and ideas.
  • Be on time to meetings.
  • Be aware of your resting face and body language as people are talking to you.
  • Treat people the same regardless of their experience, background, race, religion, size, age, or gender.
  • Treat others as they wish to be treated. Don’t assume you know.  Ask them how they would like to be treated and try just asking them one question, “What types of things make you feel disrespected at work?”  They’ll tell you, I am sure of it.

If you’re someone who doesn’t feel like you’re respected at work, the above will probably go a long way to getting more respect if you give more of it.

Here are some quick tips on how to gain more respect:

  • Listen to understand, not to be understood. Listen for information, not confirmation.
  • Do things that communicate you respect others like being on time and asking for their opinions on things.
  • Under promise and over deliver.
  • Be authentic which does not mean being rude.
  • Focus on ways to create solutions. Don’t play the blame game.
  • Seek and share knowledge.
  • Recognize and praise others for their work. Don’t act like you have a set number of “appreciation coins” in your pocket to give out in a year.

If all of this talk about respect has made you dying to hear Aretha Franklin’s song, Respect.  HERE IT IS!

Oh, you know you want to SING IT OUT LOUD and dance around right now!  Oh yeah…just do it!

 

 

Filed Under: Blog Tagged With: Charlotte, cortex consulting, Cortex Courses, Cortex Leadership, Leadership Training, Lynda McNutt Foster, respect, Richmond, Roanoke, Virginia

April 8, 2017 By Lynda Foster

Getting Ignored at Work? Try this.

Yes.  Everyone is busy.  Some say we are living in a “culture of busy” In fact, there are studies that prove just how busy we think we are.  Busy has become a badge of honor.  Who are you, anyway, if you have tons of time, unless, of course, you have lots of money to go with it?

Stand out at work - CortexIt’s funny though, people have time for things they value.  In fact, studies are showing that the number of hours we are working, as a society, are going slightly down.  The number of Americans working from home has risen by 41 percent.   We are no longer competing for each other’s attention, for something at work with other work projects, it seems from the research, but instead, the toughest thing we are competing against is having people choose what we want over something they could do with their family, friends, or even alone on their favorite apps.

If you aren’t getting what you want at work, there’s probably one reason for it.  That reason is captain obvious after you learn it, and invaluable once you learn to appreciate and work with it, instead of against it.  People don’t get what they want from you because of this same reason the exact same way you aren’t getting what you want from them.

The one reason you might not be getting what you want at work is that you could be seen as someone else’s spam.  Yep.  Spam.  Like those annoying messages that pop up in your email box that get in the way of the important things you need to focus on.  Being spam to someone else at work simply means you have not moved into their zone of relevancy right now. It’s not good and could be the one reason why you are not getting what you need or want at work right now.  It may not even be personal. It may just mean that you and what you need or want is not part of someone else’s top priority list.  When your message falls into someone’s “spam folder” and you need to be seen or heard, the best thing that can happen is for you to know it and quickly do something about it.

You can apply this if you are a technician, a manager, a sales person, an entrepreneur, or a government employee.  We all need or want someone’s attention in order to get what we need or where we want to go and falling in that person’s “spam” category can delay your forward momentum.

There are 3 ways to determine whether you are spam to the people at work that matter the most.  By that I mean, the person you report to and those that you need in order to get your work done and perhaps, get promoted, or land that big sale.  Those people could be people on your team, vendors that you collaborate with on projects, and even, perhaps, the best customers of your organization.  Being considered “spam” could mean you don’t get that promotion, that assignment you wanted, that raise you thought you were up for, the account you needed, or even the next job you apply for.

Want to know 3 things that could signal you are spam to someone at work?

  1. They don’t get back to you.  Ever.  Yes, it now can take multiple touch points to get someone’s attention even if you have a great relationship and are seen as valuable.  You are spam at work, though, if you never get an answer back.  They don’t return your calls, your text messages, your emails, the notes you left on their desk, your FB message, you name it.  The person you need or want to communicate with simply ignores your requests for a response from them for longer and longer periods of time.
  2. They promise you things and never follow through.  They say you are important, yet when you really need something to do your job or complete a project, they don’t actually get it to you.  They are nice and polite, yet you are not the one they choose when the stakes are high.  In fact, they avoid you when everything is on the line.  Polite does not equal important in business.
  3. Your opinion is unimportant.  You are never asked for it.  A whole meeting, or series of meetings, can go by and your input is not requested.  Decisions are made for your team and that greatly affect your position and you are not included in the conversations you thought you would be.

How do you go from spam to the top of the list at work?

Let’s start with the why first.

People pay attention to things they derive as having value to them.  You want to be considered a value to your team, to your boss, to your organization and most importantly to the clients, customers or citizens your organization serves.  Why is your value important?  Value is equal to higher levels of compensation…that’s money directly in your pocket.  Another reason you want to be seen as valuable is that workers who are valuable have more freedom and choices in the workplace.  The more valuable you are the more you gain the position and right to say what happens to you.  I know, hold down the house!  You have to earn the right.  Yes, other people have and you will as well.

If you argue with that notion think of it this way.  Even if you leave your organization and open your own business you will have to earn freedom and choice by satisfying lots of clients or customers.  Satisfying those customers is the only way to grow that company. Until you grow it you will be working your rear end off!  If you want to leave where you are at you are going to need to find another job, maybe.  Well, another organization is then going to deem whether you are valuable or not.  Guess what, that’s where that spam to people like citizens or customers outside of your organization come in.  Every time you interact with someone outside of your organization they could be the person that is, works for, or is related to or a friend of your next potential boss.

Yes!  That person you were rude to.  That person you argued with about something on FB and you told them they were an idiot.  They could be someone you need in the future.  That person YOU considered as spam, could suddenly be on the other side of the table one day, visible or invisible, making the decision on whether you get that dream job.

Now, let’s figure out what you can do to move up on someone else’s priority list.

  1. Be curious. Ask more questions.  People do not consider something spam when it is relevant to what they want.  In fact, our brain filters everything based on relevancy.  Get a little creative.  Watch who they do consider valuable and observe why they might think that about those people.  Don’t do the same things over and over again if they are not working.  Develop new methods based on research and curiosity.
  2. Be competent.  Before you communicate with someone significant, be sure you are prepared and know your stuff.  You don’t have to be Einstein…no one likes a know it all.  What I’m saying is that you need to zoom in on the most important deliverables and nail them to get noticed.
  3. Be respectful.  Remember the “everyone is busy” thing we talked about earlier?  Respect people’s time.  Don’t come ill prepared to a meeting or interaction and then think the other person is cool with you not knowing the answers you needed to have for them.  Act with respect to those that have earned their positions in the company, whether you think they have or not.  Let them finish their sentences.  Don’t think you know what they are going to say before they say it.  Refer to rule number 1.

Moving into the category of truly valuable to others at work, and out of their spam file, takes lots of time, focus, and energy.  You want to be seen inside and outside of your organization as trustworthy and reliable.

You want to know why I am convinced you can do it?  Because you wouldn’t even be watching or reading this if you weren’t!  Go forth and conquer your day!  You are valuable and with this information you can move straight to the top.

 

Filed Under: Blog Tagged With: Cortex Courses, Cortex Leadership Consulting, Lynda McNutt Foster, Spam, Spam at Work, Stand out at work, virginia at work

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