Vocal Fuel

“HIRE THE RIGHT PEOPLE! Personality is everything. Most skills can be taught or trained. Great attitude isn’t a teachable skill and negativity is the single strongest indicator of a failing company culture. Hire the positive people. Hire the kind people. Hire the people who are willing to learn, grow, and receive feedback. Your company culture will improve, productivity will increase, and retention will climb. Most importantly, people will enjoy their time together.”

Leadership is not just being in a leadership position and it is most definitely NOT going to a leadership workshop. It’s not. Leadership is making decisions to prioritize people over profits, policy, power, and process. It is doing the right thing, even when it is the hard thing.

“It doesn’t matter how much time you have or how much money you make if you handle them poorly.”

MP

Salary range should be posted on most job descriptions/job postings.

A little start to your work-week reminder: Energy transfers from person to person. Be responsible for the type of energy you bring and help set the tone for the whole team.

In response to chaos, turmoil, adversity... how does your leader respond? With compassion and kindness or with judgement and assumptions?

Great leaders ask great questions, remember that they don’t always know everything about their employees, and critically think before jumping to flex their authority and assert their position.

Chase your dreams or live your nightmares. For some people, going through the motions IS a nightmare.

Build an amazing team. Help people FLOURISH. Do things differently. Take risks. Put your money where your mouth is. Lead by example. Love people well. Care about the experience.

Today’s motto: You never know if you don’t try. Go get it. Take the risk. Bet on yourself.

🇺🇸 never forget. 💔

Never forget the feeling of what matters. Perspective. Patriotism. Those who went running to help. The everyday heroes. The firefighters, police, paramedics, doctors and nurses... all first responders. Those trapped in the towers. Those trapped in planes. Those in the Pentagon. Those who were brave enough to fight back. Those who knew they were not making it out of there alive. The troops who were deployed and all those who have served in the 20 years since. Those who live with survivors guilt. Those who can’t unsee what they had to experience. The families of each of the 3,000+ people killed on that day and the countless more who have died in relation to the events from that day (lung issues, mesothelioma, Veterans, su***de, etc).

Prayers that our nation can remember how 9.12.01 felt. How we came together. How we cared for one another. How patriotic our country was. How we reached across the aisle and were united. For everyone listed above, we need to do better for them.

As a nation, we have become callous to one another’s needs, concerns, worries. We are numb to the hurt of our neighbors. We live in oblivion to how our words (typed and spoken) impact others. Our priorities are backwards and we point the finger at everyone but ourselves. We have lost collective sight of what is important.

“The wound is probably not your fault, but the healing is your responsibility.” - Denise Frohman

#911

Let’s talk about company culture... the bread and butter that makes or breaks the employee experience and ultimately, the company.

What part of company culture failed at any previous organizations you have worked for?

Communication... making people confused that “soft skills” are not necessarily ‘easy skills’ since the beginning of time.

Let’s face it - the majority of job descriptions mention something about being an effective communicator or strong communication skills. The majority of workplaces report needing more people with strengths in these areas, yet it is one of the hardest skills to perfect.

Management v leadership. Judging by the rates that people quit their jobs - we have a lot of it wrong.

Time may not be on our side, but we always have the option to do things differently... “how we’ve always done it” should never be the precedent.

Often when I meet with employees, they are bothered by closed doors of other organizational leaders. It is important to understand that the welcome of an open door exceeds the physical presence of the door itself... it is the warmth, openness, caring attitude, and consistent communication that represents the accessibility - not the physical door itself.

When new leaders step into dysfunctional workplaces, they have two hurdles to immediately address: 1. Building trust as a new leader (and employee/colleague).
2. REbuilding trust from all of the damage that was done before they got there.

Step 2 is often swept under the rug, but it adds to the longstanding decline of workplace culture, employee attitudes, and employee commitment and turnover.

Creativity should be fostered in environments where leaders appreciate the effort and outcome. Create an environment where people feel safe enough to imagine and watch possibilities you never dreamt of come to fruition.

People should know the standards and expectations before they sign up and they should be engrained during onboarding. Too often I meet with leaders who are frustrated with certain employees, but when it comes down to it, the frustration and expectations haven’t been communicated to the employee.
Whatever standard you’re willing to accept is what you will get, but it MUST be communicated first.

What good is an ‘open door’ if you don’t have an open mind? One of the most important aspects of communication is LISTENING, not just HEARING. Food for thought.

Overthinking is tied to ‘analysis paralysis,’ stagnation, indecision, reduction of creativity and innovation, death to risk-taking, and even a reduction of team cohesion... because overthinking often comes across as MISTRUST!

Leaders need to trust their teams. Teams need to trust each other. Some ideas are going to flop, but they are still better than never getting the guts to try something new.

Hurt people hurt people. Read that again. If you have an employee who has historically been a good worker, who communicates well and is “suddenly” unengaged, abrupt in their communication, and even abrasive to others... it might be a good first step to look back at any recent complaints that weren’t addressed or to sit down and figure out if they are communicating out of hurt. Their actions could actually be REactions. If you aren’t going to try to understand where the root of the problems are, don’t be surprised when turnover rises.