Engaging Leader: Leadership communication principles with Jesse Lahey

Hourly workers make up nearly 60% of the United States workforce. They are often people who directly impact customers, such as through customer service or making the products. And improving the engagement of hourly workers can decrease absenteeism and turnover costs, while improving productivity, customer satisfaction, and the overall culture of the organization. And yet they are often ignored in engagement and communication efforts at many organizations — not because leaders don’t care about them, but because they don’t understand how to connect with them. This episode discusses three challenges in engaging with hourly workers, and provides tips for better engaging and communicating with this important segment of the workforce. Resources Mentioned in This Episode Research report by Red e App and Edison Research: Profile of the Hourly Worker Research report by Wilson Group: Hourly Employee Engagement and Reward Systems Article: Part-Time Workers Matter, Too: 4 Tips for Engaging Hourly Workers Article: Engagement Is Important for Hourly Workers, Too Subscription Links iTunes Stitcher RSS Your Feedback If you like our show, please rate us on iTunes. That makes a huge difference in helping more people discover it. We love to know your thoughts about this episode. Please submit your comments below! You can also email comments to Jesse at jesse@engagingleader.com, subscribe to him on Facebook, or follow him on Twitter.

Hourly workers make up nearly 60% of the United States workforce. They are often people who directly impact customers, such as through customer service or making the products. And improving the engagement of hourly workers can decrease absenteeism and turnover costs, while improving productivity, customer satisfaction, and the overall culture of the organization. And yet […]

  As with any important initiative, it’s vital to have the CEO and other senior leaders actively supporting workforce health engagement. These executives can help to: Articulate why the initiative is important to the organization’s purpose and business strategy, Create buy-in from all levels of the organization, Cultivate a supportive work environment, Dedicate resources, and Serve as a model and champion through both their “walk” and their “talk.” Global manufacturer Owens Corning asks its senior leaders to inspire healthy living in employees, and to help employees know that leaders genuinely care about their individual health. Senior leaders use three methods to connect and cascade: *     WORDS: Key messages and follow-up questions for use in town halls, smaller meetings, and one-on-one conversations. *     STORIES: Personal and/or “springboard” illustrations of why health matters and what they could achieve together. *     ACTIONS: Leveraging leaders’ healthy behaviors to influence broader engagement. To assist senior leaders, Owens Corning provided training and a toolkit that includes a template for their personal Words, Stories, and Actions, as well as the Senior Vice President of HR’s completed template as an example. To talk about his company’s strategy for engaging senior leaders in workforce health engagement, our guest is Mark Snyder, Director of Benefits at Owens Corning. Owens Corning is a Fortune 500 manufacturer with about 15,000 employees in 27 countries. Owens Corning is most famous for its PINK® FIBERGLAS™ insulation and its mascot, the Pink Panther. (This interview with Mark was recorded onsite at Owens Corning’s World Headquarters in Toledo, Ohio.) Subscription Links iTunes Stitcher RSS Your Feedback If you like our show, please rate us on iTunes. That makes a huge difference in helping more people discover it. We love to know your thoughts about this episode. Please submit your comments below! You can also email comments to Jesse at jesse@engagingleader.com, subscribe to him on Facebook, or follow him on Twitter.

Thankfulness changes things: in yourself, in your team, and in your impact. As we approach Thanksgiving in the US, and the New Year goal-setting that most of us will be undertaking over the coming weeks, let me encourage you to make it a priority to improve your gratitude over the coming year. In fact, if you make no other improvement this year, practicing gratitude will significantly boost your leadership effectiveness, as well as the personal happiness for you and the people you lead. To help you better practice gratitude, this episode discusses: 3 primary obstacles to a leader’s gratefulness, 3 personal benefits of gratitude for you and your team, 5 leadership benefits of gratitude, and 6 ways to practice gratitude as a leader. Resources Mentioned in This Episode Books by Robert Emmons, Ph.D: Thanks! How Practicing Gratitude Can Make You Happier, and Gratitude Works!: A 21-Day Program for Creating Emotional Prosperity Book: Strengths-Based Leadership by Tom Rath and Barry Conchie Podcast Episode 043: How to Lead a Likeable Business | with Dave Kerpen Additional Source In addition to the sources noted above under Resources Mentioned, Jesse is grateful to Cody Gascho, pastor at Praxis Church, who provided helpful research and information a few years ago in a series of messages about gratefulness. Subscription Links iTunes Stitcher RSS Your Feedback If you like our show, please rate us on iTunes. That makes a huge difference in helping more people discover it. We love to know your thoughts about this episode. Please submit your comments below! You can also email comments to Jesse at jesse@engagingleader.com, subscribe to him on Facebook, or follow him on Twitter.

Thankfulness changes things: in yourself, in your team, and in your impact. As we approach Thanksgiving in the US, and the New Year goal-setting that most of us will be undertaking over the coming weeks, let me encourage you to make it a priority to improve your gratitude over the coming year. In fact, if […]

A few years ago, my local gym posted a photo of a handwritten sign that had been posted outside the hospital room of a Navy Seal who had been severely wounded in battle. “The wounds I received,” wrote Lt. Jason Redman, “I got in a job I love, doing it for people I love, supporting the freedom of a country I deeply love.” I was so inspired by his courage, sacrifice, and perseverance that I told many people about the sign, and even discussed it in a podcast with my oldest son. Earlier this year, a family member saw Jason Redman speak and was so impressed that she sent me his book. I was surprised to learn there is so much more to Jason’s story, and so much that we can learn from him to take our leadership to the next level. Jason’s journey includes not only how he served our country and then responded to a terrible injury. His journey includes a climb to the elite Navy Seals, a humiliating fall from grace due to immature leadership, an even harder climb to re-invent himself and rebuild his leadership credibility, and eventually a civilian leadership role as founder and CEO of a nonprofit organization called Combat Wounded Coalition. Jason is a popular public speaker and is the author of The Trident: The Forging and Reforging of a Navy SEAL Leader. Resources Mentioned in This Episode Non-Profit Website: Combat Wounded Coalition Public Speaking Website: SOF Spoken Book: The Trident: The Forging and Reforging of a Navy SEAL Leader Twitter:@JasonRedmanWW Subscription Links iTunes Stitcher RSS Your Feedback If you like our show, please rate us on iTunes. That makes a huge difference in helping more people discover it. We love to know your thoughts about this episode. Please submit your comments below! You can also email comments to Jesse at jesse@engagingleader.com, subscribe to him on Facebook, or follow him on Twitter.

A few years ago, my local gym posted a photo of a handwritten sign that had been posted outside the hospital room of a Navy Seal who had been severely wounded in battle. “The wounds I received,” wrote Lt. Jason Redman, “I got in a job I love, doing it for people I love, supporting […]

If you haven’t yet realized it, there’s been a communication revolution building, and it has now reached the tipping point for workforce health engagement. People are now using mobile devices more than desktop computers for digital media, with mobile apps dominating the usage. Text messaging has become the preferred communication method for most people. And people use their phones to research health-related content almost more than any other topic. Today we’ll dig into the data behind this mega-trend, and talk about how you can use mobile to improve the knowledge, decision-making, and behaviors of employees and their families, to optimize health outcomes, control medical costs, and enhance workplace productivity. Resources Mentioned in This Episode Speaking or consulting: Invite Jesse to speak to your benefits or wellness team Engaging Leader podcast 118: Engaging Employees in the “Mobile Moment” | with Joe Loya Study by ComScore: New Study Sheds Light on Mobile Engagement Blog post: #GenMobile: Bridging the Workforce Generational Gap Blog post: Mobile Engagement: 5 Ways to Reach More Employees, Faster 5M Framework for communication strategy: Blog post and podcast Off-the-shelf app example: APPrise mobile Microsite example: MblHR Bulk text messaging example: Text the word engage to 31996. (You’ll receive an automated text message within a minute or two, plus occasional updates. Message and data rates may apply. Text STOP anytime to opt out.) Bulk text messaging provider: Slicktext.com (use code ENGAGE for 15% discount) Subscription Links iTunes Stitcher RSS Your Feedback If you like our show, please rate us on iTunes. That makes a huge difference in helping more people discover it. We love to know your thoughts about this episode. Please submit your comments below! You can also email comments to Jesse at jesse@engagingleader.com, subscribe to him on Facebook, or follow him on Twitter.

To create lasting behavior change, it’s crucial to understand how the brain’s habit system works, and then develop specific techniques to leverage the power of the brain rather than fighting against it. Psychologist Art Markman joins us to provide insight and practical advice to create sustainable behavior change in the people we lead. He’s the […]

To create lasting behavior change, it’s crucial to understand how the brain’s habit system works, and then develop specific techniques to leverage the power of the brain rather than fighting against it. Psychologist Art Markman joins us to provide insight and practical advice to create sustainable behavior change in the people we lead. He’s the author of Smart Thinking and Habits of Leadership, and his newest book is Smart Change: Five Tools to Create New and Sustainable Habits in Yourself and Others. Art is on the faculty of the University of Texas and a consultant to companies such as Procter & Gamble, and he writes regularly for Harvard Business Review, Fast Company, and Psychology Today. Jesse and Art talk about various types of behavior change that organizations try to lead, such as making faster decisions, executing on those decisions more rapidly, eating healthier, getting more exercise, quitting tobacco, and focusing more on productive work and less on answering emails. They also discuss several of the eight tips described in Smart Change to help people change. Combining these techniques is much more effective than using them in isolation. * Lead by example. Demonstrate authenticity by engaging visibly in the behaviors you expect from others. * Suggest goals. Use videos, visuals, and everyday actions to show leaders engaging in a behavior in a visible way. * Give the right feedback. Focus the feedback on the process of the change, not simply the outcome. Give positive feedback that reinforces an incremental mindset. * Support habit development. Reorganize the environment to support the new habit. * Take advantage of laziness. For example, make it harder to smoke by forbidding tobacco on campus. * Make good behavior cheap and bad behavior expensive. Subsidize behaviors you want to encourage, and penalize behaviors you want to discourage. (Price alone will not have a huge influence, but change in cost can be an effective tool when combined with other methods.) * Develop support networks. For example, provide an electronic form of community users about the topic or about a related process. * Engage in conversations. Rather than just pushing information at people, have dialogue. Resources Mentioned in This Episode * Book: Smart Change: Five Tools to Create New and Sustainable Habits in Yourself and Others * Website: www.smartthinkingbook.com * Radio Show: www.twoguysonyourhead.com * Twitter: @abmarkman and @2GoYH * Facebook: Art Markman, PhD  and Two Guys on Your Head * LinkedIn:  Art Markman * Human Dimensions of Organizations program: Hdo.utexas.edu Subscription Links iTunes

[powerpess] When you drive a car with a manual transmission, you quickly learn there is a right time and place for each gear. You start in 1st gear, then shift into 2nd gear, and so forth until you reach the highest gear. If you try to shift into the wrong gear, the car will grind […]

[powerpess] When you drive a car with a manual transmission, you quickly learn there is a right time and place for each gear. You start in 1st gear, then shift into 2nd gear, and so forth until you reach the highest gear. If you try to shift into the wrong gear, the car will grind or lurch – or cause lasting damage. The same is true for the different modes of our lives, whether we are working or resting or connecting with others. To lead yourself well, and engage appropriately with those you lead, your day may need to begin 1st gear, after which you shift up into other gears. For the five gears of living and working, each has its own purpose and place. Recognizing that for yourself, creating boundaries that help you shift into appropriate gears, and helping others do the same will help you be more present in the moment, more productive, and more emotionally intelligent as you recognize when other people are in a different gear. * 5th Gear: Get “In the Zone.” This is where we are fully focused, thinking strategically or working without interruption on an important task. Time flies by, you get things done, and progress is made. * 4th Gear: Lead in a Task World. Most adults spend their day multi-tasking with phone calls, emails, chores, and more. Learning how to manage 4th gear correctly is key for maximum productivity. * 3rd Gear: Be Social. Third Gear is all about being social and building friendships. It happens in coffee shops, at dinner parties, and other social gatherings, and it’s the secret ingredient in business that many people overlook. * 2nd Gear: Connect Deeply. How often do you have deep, refreshing conversations? Do you really know how to be present with others? * 1st Gear: Rest and Recharge. Most people struggle to truly recharge (not just crash). Learn how successful people take time to rest and recharge so they can give their families, teams, and friends their best. * Reverse: Respond and Apologize. Most people struggle with backing up and apologizing. Reverse is all about owning your mistakes and moving forward in a healthy way. JEREMIE KUBICEK is co-founder of GiANT Worldwide, a global leadership development company that focuses on transforming and multiplying leaders. He is a bestselling author of Making Your Leadership Come Alive (which we discussed in Engaging Leader episode 68) and speaker to organizations throughout the world on transformational leadership, emotional intelligence, and personal growth. Jeremie’s latest book is 5 GEARS: How to Be Present and Productive When There Is Never Enough Time. Resources Mentioned in This Episode * Book: 5 Gears: How to Be Present and Productive When There is Never Enough Time * Twitter: @JeremieKubicek * LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/jeremiekubicek Subscription Links iTunes

Social media has a powerful effect on company sales and recruiting efforts. But just having a corporate communications person post things on Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter doesn’t actually bring results. On social media, people pay attention to people, not to companies. Employees and partners collectively have an audience 10x larger than the company itself. ~ Technorati Advocacy Study Brand messages are re-shared 24x more frequently when distributed by employees vs. companies. ~ MSLGroup Content shared by an employee generates 8x more engagement than content shared by a company. ~ SocialMediaToday Report 2014 Today we’ll discuss the challenges that have prevented most companies from effectively engaging their employees as ambassadors on social sharing sites. And we’ll discuss one option that seems to be working for Starbucks, Molson Coors, and other companies. Ivan Tsarynny is the co-founder and CEO of PostBeyond, a gamified platform that helps employees of large companies more effectively engage as ambassadors on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn. Launched in April 2013, PostBeyond provides a Pinterest-style library that curates online articles and images that are relevant to company interests. Content is first suggested for the library by employees as well as an automated aggregation engine. If it gets the thumbs-up from corporate, the content is filtered into the library, where employees can share the posts without worrying about crossing liability lines. Resources Mentioned in This Episode * Website:  postbeyond.com * White paper: Employee Advocacy: Where Trust Builds Bottom Line * Guide: Employee Social Media Policy Guidelines * Twitter: @Ivan_Tsarynny and @postbeyond To stay up on the latest news and trends in employee gamification, join the Game Changer group on LinkedIn. Subscription Links iTunes Stitcher RSS Your Feedback If you like our show, please rate us on iTunes. That makes a huge difference in helping more people discover it. We love to know your thoughts about this episode. Please submit your comments below! You can also email comments to Jesse at jesse@engagingleader.com, subscribe to him on Facebook, or follow him on Twitter.

Does the way you lead communicate to your team that failure is not an option? If so, you are limiting innovation and development, encouraging cover-ups and lies, and breeding more-serious mistakes. This is true whether you lead a family, a small organization, or a huge business. “The best way to minimize failure is to embrace […]

Does the way you lead communicate to your team that failure is not an option? If so, you are limiting innovation and development, encouraging cover-ups and lies, and breeding more-serious mistakes. This is true whether you lead a family, a small organization, or a huge business. “The best way to minimize failure is to embrace it with open arms.” ~ Ron Friedman, PhD, The Best Place to Work: The Art and Science of Creating an Extraordinary Workplace Failure has been a frequent topic on Engaging Leader, not because we like to fail, but because if you lead a team that is making a difference, failures will happen. But we’ve never had an entire episode that focused on leading through failure. And so this will be the “failure” episode. In this episode, Jesse shares three stories of failure. In addition, he provides 11 ways to lead through failure that will help your team drive results while reducing serious mistakes: * Face reality and acknowledge the failure. 033: Leading Out Loud: Why Communication is the Most Essential Leadership Skill | with Terry Pearce * Provide encouragement by reinforcing the genius of whoever failed. He’s Brilliant blog post * Take blame and share credit. 016: Engaging Lincoln Part 1: 5 Secrets Nearly Anyone Can Use to Be an Extraordinary Leader Remember that taking responsibility for someone else’s failure can actually help your team 107: Four Seconds: Quick & Counter-Intuitive Ways to Get the Results You Want | with Peter Bregman * Use “I” language to own my contribution, and “we” language to share lessons learned. The Secret Language of Pronouns: How to Drive Ownership and Accountability blog post My Bad, Your Bad?: How to Talk About Mistakes So You Can Move On blog post * Treat missteps, mistakes, and failures as sources of learning – not occasions for censure and punishment. 094: Collective Genius: The Art and Practice of Leading Innovation | with Greg Brandeau * Flexible thinking: Accept that mistakes are a part of purposeful work and innovation. Recognize that many types of mistakes will not negatively affect the outcome. 014: 5 Ways to De-Motivate People (Are You Making Any of These Common Mistakes?) 030: Why Emotional Intelligence (EQ) Isn’t Enough for Superior Leadership | with David Burnham * Mine failures for opportunities.