Latest / The Business of Alignment - Powered by The E1B2 Collective / The E1B2 2022 Recap Show Episode 4: Ed Evarts

Transcript

The E1B2 2022 Recap Show Episode 4: Ed Evarts · The Business of Alignment - Powered by The E1B2 Collective

0:02
Alright, Ed, I appreciate you joining this podcast again.
0:05
I believe you are not. Not again.
0:08
Actually, I've been worse twice but I appreciate you joining the
0:11
podcast today. I believe you are the Number
0:16
seven or eight, as I told kind of the world when I decided to
0:20
do this rollout that I would do my best to try to get anywhere,
0:24
between five to ten guests to do, kind of like a 20/20 to wrap
0:29
up and break down and then looking to 2023.
0:32
So I appreciate you always giving me the advice always
0:37
supporting me and then finally joining me on my platform today.
0:40
So so please tell the world who you are, what you're excited
0:44
about just in In general, and kind of what your background is
0:48
briefly. And then and then we'll dive
0:49
into this 2020 to wrap up and look into 2023 world.
0:55
And you know, whether I'm number one.
0:56
Number eight or number 50, I'm thrilled to be here, Anthony
1:00
chatting with you. And as far as a background goes,
1:05
my name is Ed Everton. I'm a leadership coach team
1:07
coach and business strategist based in the Boston area.
1:11
I've been doing this work for about 15 years prior to being
1:14
independent. I worked for a number of
1:17
organizations based in the Boston area, first and
1:20
retailing. And then in business to business
1:22
services left, my last company in 2008 and transitioned into my
1:28
own independent practice that I continue to do through today.
1:32
And, you know, 2022 like any other year was filled with
1:37
numerous ups and downs. And I think all of us should be
1:41
ensuring that we are observing and learning from our
1:45
experiences. Uses you know, often times
1:46
things happen to us and we don't pay attention to them or we
1:49
don't recognize what might be happening.
1:52
And I think it's always important to pause.
1:54
And one of my new favorite words, reflect on what happened,
1:59
why it happened? And more importantly, what I
2:02
could do differently next time in order to have a different
2:05
type of outcome as a leadership coach?
2:08
And as a business professional, I tend to be very
2:10
future-focused. So while I think the past is
2:13
interesting to reflect on I do need to ensure that people are
2:17
working and taking visible action in order to make
2:22
different outcomes happen in the future.
2:24
So, you know, in 2022 and I think about key lessons and
2:29
things that I work with others on because I don't think it's
2:32
all about me but it's about you and people who are actively
2:35
working in organizations. You know, three things popped up
2:39
in my mind as we had asked that question, one was to ensure
2:44
people are having being a positive relationship with their
2:47
boss. Know your boss is the number one
2:50
gatekeeper for you in your organization and I'm not
2:53
suggesting, you should be best friends.
2:55
I'm not suggesting. You go out for margaritas every
2:57
Friday night, but you do want to ensure that you have a positive
3:01
productive relationship with your boss.
3:03
And there's a number of ways to do that in order to ensure that
3:06
you're making good progress on that front.
3:08
Secondly, is building your own self Awareness on the pluses and
3:12
minuses that you bring your role and relationship.
3:15
I've seen your organization. We all have pluses and we all
3:19
have minuses and we can work to we're you know, blue in the face
3:23
and respected working on those minuses but some of them will
3:26
just always be there. And so just having high self
3:29
Awareness on who you are. What you do well and what you
3:33
need help with is super super critical and then lastly for
3:37
2022. As I look back, Anthony is
3:40
really ensuring that people take ownership for their career.
3:44
Nobody cares more about About you than you, more than your
3:47
spouse, more than your parents more than your children.
3:51
They think about you a lot, but nobody thinks about you more
3:54
than you. And so you have to ensure that
3:57
you are not just riding the wave but you're taking proactive
4:01
thoughtful steps in order to ensure that your career and the
4:05
direction in which you're going, satisfies what you want to do
4:09
and who you are. So I'll pause there, maybe for a
4:12
minute Anthony. I talked a lot about me and
4:15
Auntie 22. No, I appreciate all of that and
4:20
I think some of those we can definitely dive into today
4:23
because I think the actually, let's go this way because I want
4:28
to, I want to touch on this a little bit more than some of the
4:30
others and then, but we will we will touch the others when you
4:33
say build and make sure you have a great relationship with your
4:36
boss, you know, in a positive relationship.
4:40
What are some themes that come along with that you know,
4:43
tactically? Right?
4:44
Like how how would one go about that?
4:46
Work because obviously, you know, my background to a certain
4:50
degree as it pertains to this employees, first mindset and on
4:54
the opposite side of things, I'm really big on making sure
4:58
leadership and organizations are taking responsibilities to make
5:02
sure that the relationship between direct reports and
5:05
supervisor. And/or, boss is productive and
5:09
positive. But from what I'm hearing with
5:11
this, the way you worded it, I'm assuming that there are some
5:15
Tactical Approaches in some different metal framework, set a
5:19
professional, you know, an employee can can do to make sure
5:24
that that relationship is positive and not just have the
5:26
responsibility to be in the hands of the, of the manager of
5:29
the supervisor. So what are your thoughts there?
5:32
So, this is super important for people to be thinking about and
5:35
the first thing I would ask our listeners to do is just to think
5:39
on a scale of one to six. One being very low, a very poor
5:43
relationship. Six being very high, you know,
5:46
we finish each Each other sentences.
5:47
We are great, great colleagues. So 6 is very high.
5:51
Where do I currently fall? And for anybody who really is at
5:55
a 4 or lower, I would suggest that they have work to do to
5:59
ensure that they have a more positive relationship with their
6:03
boss bosses are the gatekeeper for you in an organization.
6:08
If you were thinking about another opportunity, one of the
6:10
first things somebody's going to do is talk to your boss and say
6:14
tell me about Ed what kind of work GE is he what do you think
6:18
of him so forth and so on? So it's so important that you
6:22
have a very positive relationship with your boss and
6:25
I'm sure there are people out there who don't have a positive
6:28
relationship with their boss and they can feel the weight of that
6:32
relationship is bearing down on them because it complicates
6:35
everything that they do in the workplace when you don't have a
6:39
positive relationship with your boss.
6:41
So if you're one of those people who picked 4 or lower, One two
6:45
three or four, you know, the first thing I'd ask you to do is
6:48
to sit down and on a sheet of paper lists out, you know, what
6:51
are some of the positive aspects I have in this relationship and
6:55
what are some of the negative aspects?
6:57
What are some of the issues or challenges that I'm having with
7:00
my boss? And that's just to ensure that
7:01
you just get it out of your head and you've got it down on a
7:04
sheet of paper so that you can look at it and really organize
7:08
it and ensure. You're very confident with how
7:11
you feel about the relationship that you have with your boss?
7:14
The second thing then is to also speak with your boss and this is
7:18
super hard to do. You know, when I talk about this
7:21
to others and on other podcasts, you know, people's eyes roll
7:25
because they're like, well, I'm not going to go talk to my boss
7:27
about this, but in reality because you are the person who
7:31
cares most about you and your career more than anybody else on
7:34
this globe, you have to take the ball and ensure that you start
7:39
the conversation and this is not a controversial conversation.
7:43
This is a conversation You say something like, hey, Anthony, I
7:48
really enjoy working here. I love working for the
7:50
organization and I think you and I could have a better
7:53
relationship than we have today. Would you be, what are your
7:56
thoughts on that? And would you be interested in
7:59
working on it to ensure it gets better and better as time
8:02
passes. That's it.
8:04
And, you know there are multiple answers that your boss can give
8:07
and includes everything from, you know, you're crazy.
8:10
I don't want to talk about this. Get out to thank you, Ed for
8:13
bringing this topic up. Up, I completely agree and let's
8:16
work on it. If it's at first topic where the
8:18
boss is unresponsive disinterested or toxic that
8:24
issue, there is one more of, am I in the right place?
8:28
Nobody should work for a boss and have a work experience where
8:31
their boss or manager is making their life.
8:35
So miserable that they can't sleep at night and are not
8:38
enjoying their work. They need to find an
8:40
organization or find a boss in their current organization, who
8:44
Specs them and ensure that they can focus on the things that
8:48
they can bring their organization.
8:50
So, if you are in a situation where your boss relationship is
8:54
so toxic, you can't get anything done, you got to find a way to
8:58
move on. If you're at the other end where
9:00
your boss is interested, in participating in this type of
9:04
conversation, that's great. And then you just set a time to
9:08
from that brief meeting to Let's schedule something in a couple
9:11
of weeks maybe we can go to breakfast or lunch and let's
9:14
start talking about it and let's both come prepared with some of
9:17
the things we think we can do differently to be more effective
9:20
in. The last thing I would say
9:21
Anthony, is that a relationship with a boss is a relationship
9:25
which means there's two people. It's not you changing everything
9:29
in your boss, not changing anything or it's not your boss
9:32
changing, everything they're doing, that's driving you crazy
9:35
and you not changing anything. Both people need to do something
9:38
a little bit differently in order to ensure that both
9:41
parties are respected and that you can move forward.
9:44
Effectively. So you have to think about if I
9:47
want my relationship with my boss to be better.
9:49
What can I do differently in order to help ensure that?
9:54
Hey Ed, what's the waiting period?
9:56
Right. Because I want to dissect, a lot
9:58
of what you said, but let me ask you this, this direct question.
10:00
What's the waiting period? Let's say, you know, a
10:03
professional, let's say a professional decides, to build a
10:06
relationship with or better build a relationship with their
10:11
with their supervisor. How long should that person
10:14
weight as they try to build that relationship as they try to
10:19
utilize some of the tasks that you mentioned today?
10:21
How long between that first conversation too?
10:24
Things aren't getting better. What's that waiting period?
10:27
To really see if things are going to play out and improve
10:29
before the individual walks away from the company or potentially
10:34
does an internal shift and move to a different team.
10:36
But apartment, what does that look like?
10:39
Well, everybody situation is going to be dramatically
10:41
different and I am a big fan of looking at things like a movie
10:44
and not a snapshot. So this idea of that given
10:47
enough time to, you know, gee did I just hit my boss on a bad
10:51
day? That's a snapshot.
10:53
But if there's multiple, And we're, we're not getting along,
10:55
that's a movie and that means I need to do something about it.
10:59
You know, I've worked with bosses whom I have gotten along
11:02
with throughout our whole relationship and we're talking
11:05
four, five, six years and I've had bosses who on day one.
11:09
We had a conflict or difference where I left saying, wow, this
11:14
is the first day I've reported this person and it's not going
11:17
well, right? So it can happen at different
11:20
times. And for different people, what I
11:22
would suggest that people do is give it A little time and just
11:25
see, is this a movie? And is this how it's going to
11:27
be? Or is it just a snapshot and
11:30
it's never happened again? And now I don't need to worry
11:32
about it but if it is, if it is a movie and the movie can happen
11:35
very quickly within the first couple of weeks or it might take
11:38
a few months, it's important Anthony that you find a way to
11:43
ensure that you bring the topic up with your boss, because your
11:45
boss isn't going to bring it up with you and or what your boss
11:49
is. More thinking about is, how do I
11:50
get Ed out of the organization? Not, how do I improve my
11:54
Relationship with Ed and that's an important difference,
11:57
understand Anthony in this, and that you are going to want to
12:02
think about, how can I improve the relationship.
12:04
That's not what your boss is going to be thinking about, they
12:07
may think about it, I'm not suggesting it's black and white,
12:09
but they may think about it. But most bosses are not going to
12:12
be thinking about how do I improve my relationship with Ed?
12:15
They're going to be thinking about is Ed the right person.
12:18
I need to move Ed out, so their perspective and vantage point on
12:22
the situation is going to be much.
12:24
Much much different. Again that's why you have to
12:27
drive your career and ensure that you are taking steps in
12:31
order to make positive progress because your Vantage Point and
12:35
your bosses Vantage Point are going to be much different.
12:37
So timing is relative to the situation.
12:41
Treat it like a movie. Once you have two or three
12:43
examples, where things may not be going well or aren't
12:46
unfolding the way that you thought you got to step in and
12:50
do something about it. And the last thing I would say
12:52
the sooner you step in the Because you know, if somebody is
12:57
late at work and you never say anything to them, they're always
13:01
going to be late at work but if somebody's late at work a couple
13:04
of times and you have a conversation with them early on
13:07
and talk about the importance of timeliness and what you expect
13:11
from them as a employee and respect to being timely the
13:15
likelihood of them fixing it or you know evolving is greater
13:19
right? So you want to swoop in as soon
13:21
as you can to ensure that the future As we focus on the future
13:26
unfolds in the way that you wanted.
13:29
I love all that edit it. Here's how I wrap this, this
13:32
this point segwayed up here, you know, with my Beyond brand
13:36
company. You know, I've been working on
13:39
and I actually stole this idea. Originally this framework, if
13:43
you will, and then turned it into a service that has been
13:46
doing really well from, I can't remember who put this article
13:51
out, but are you familiar with like first round capital and
13:53
some of the Articles they put out of your ever, heard of that
13:56
I have yes they put a lot of great. 10 from leadership and HR
14:00
and, and things of that nature. And so, they put out an article
14:04
years ago around like manager, user manuals, and I took that
14:10
idea and I built it into a service underneath them on
14:13
Beyond brandishes. We are the, the core of the
14:17
business model is helping managers.
14:20
Think through themselves are user manual.
14:23
If you will a breakdown of what they prefer, desire, And expect
14:30
from their from their team and how to internally communicate
14:33
that in a way that is productive.
14:35
That is honest. That is transparent.
14:37
That is direct. But being also very honest,
14:40
right? And so, certain elements of the
14:41
user manual were like, hey here, my pet peeves.
14:45
Like, I'm going to be very honest with it, I'm working on
14:47
it. I'm trying to get better but
14:48
currently because like the foundation of the user manual
14:52
was around. And this what I loved about
14:54
first round Capital the way these structured it.
14:57
I believe they were pretty much saying a lot of content in a lot
15:00
of advice to the leadership space is very aspirational.
15:03
We're, there's not as much content and not as much best
15:07
practices or Frameworks around. Hey, just communicate how things
15:11
are right now. Not necessarily what you want to
15:15
do in the future or how you're working to get better.
15:18
Give your people some information around what will
15:21
work for you in the present time and be authentic and honest and
15:25
vulnerable about that. It's a one of the categories
15:28
that I've worked on a lot with leaders has been being very
15:31
honest with your team around how they can communicate to you to
15:36
get your attention. Every I believe, every person,
15:40
if they're facilitated, or if they think thoroughly enough,
15:43
can be very honest about. Hey, look, if you're gonna
15:46
approach me with type of conversations, you're alluding
15:48
to today at, if you're gonna approach me with this
15:51
conversation, here's the best way to approach you.
15:53
Here's the best time to approach it.
15:55
Here's what's on my plate. Eight right now.
15:57
Why it may seem like I'm not interested in having this
16:00
conversation. Here's a better time to have the
16:02
conversation. Here's the best ways to
16:05
structure the conversation, that won't, that won't give me a
16:10
threat response, that will trigger me, that will allow me
16:13
to dive in and be a little bit more empathetic and listen to
16:15
you a little bit more closely, so kind of giving the secret to
16:19
your team around. Hey, look, communication is
16:22
important. Positive relationships are
16:24
important. Here are for me right now.
16:26
In this present time is the best way to to to start and to have
16:33
in to build this relationship with me personally, what are
16:36
your thoughts on managers? Kind of creating this roadmap
16:39
this user manual further team members so that so that the team
16:43
members to do what you're asking can do.
16:45
So in a way where they know exactly to the T, how to hold
16:49
the conversation went to have it and what elements of the
16:53
conversation to have in a way that's going to drive the best
16:56
results? Are your thoughts and all that?
16:58
What you are also talking about, Anthony is really the
17:01
educational institution that we have all grown up in in the
17:06
United States. And I think this is true in most
17:08
other countries of the world and our educational institutions are
17:13
highly focused on helping you figure out what to do in life.
17:17
Do you want to be an engineer? Do you want to be a nurse?
17:20
Do you want to be an attorney? Do you want to be an economist,
17:22
right? Then all of the classes you took
17:24
and all the focus has been On what to do.
17:28
Very little time has been spent and certainly there are places
17:31
that do it to some degree today. But very little time has been
17:34
spent on how to do it. You know, how do you be a great
17:38
leader? How do you motivate others?
17:40
How do you communicate with others?
17:42
And, you know, there's the American management association
17:44
and all these companies that provide training on these fronts
17:49
and, you know, trainees great, but it may not be long lasting.
17:52
But you know what you're talking about is how I work as a Leader
17:57
and I think one of the best things a leader can do when they
18:01
either step into a role in already have a team or are hired
18:06
and build a team. You know whatever the situation
18:08
might be that they have a conversation with everyone
18:11
either one-on-one or as a group on how I work you know this is
18:15
what I expect. This is how I best interact with
18:19
others. This is how I like information.
18:22
Some people are visual, some people are audible, right?
18:25
I mean, what is it? How do you work as a leader so
18:29
that we can ensure that we connect well again,
18:32
unfortunately, we don't spend hardly any time on the how I
18:36
work as a leader in organizations.
18:40
We spend a lot of time on what we do but not a lot of time on
18:44
how we do it. So I think you're dead-on and I
18:46
think that focusing as much time as possible on how I operate is.
18:53
Supercritical, let me just tell you quickly from a No experience
18:57
in my 15 years. As a coach, almost every client
19:00
I've ever had has been presented to me as an expert and what they
19:04
do. So Ed is an expert attorney at
19:07
is an expert manufacturing engineer at is a expert
19:11
pharmaceutical engineer. He is an expert in what he does.
19:15
It's how he's doing it, that's problematic for him, he's not
19:18
building relationships, people don't like working with him.
19:22
He's arrogant, right? It's the how you do it that
19:25
becomes problematic. Ematic.
19:27
So if I had a magic wand, I would ensure our educational
19:31
Institution for spending a percentage of their time on how
19:34
to be a leader as much as we spend time on what we do in our
19:39
roles in our lifetime. I love that.
19:43
I love that. What were a couple other of the
19:47
of the thoughts, he and then we'll move on from a, from a 22.
19:50
2022 perspective. What are some of the themes?
19:52
I know you mentioned a few but the Edie's kicking in want to
19:55
make sure I remember them. So what was the, what was the
19:58
second one that you mentioned? I would love to unpack that a
20:00
bit before we move on to 2023. Sure.
20:02
Well, this is a big one and we could probably spend the rest of
20:05
our time together talking about building self-awareness.
20:09
And so really helping people in this is What I do is a
20:13
leadership coach and I'm sure this is what you do in your role
20:16
Anthony at your organization's which is helping people build
20:19
their self Awareness on how others experience them.
20:23
If there's anybody who should know how someone experiences you
20:27
at work, it's you. And again we don't spend a lot
20:30
of time helping people understand how other people are
20:33
experiencing them because that falls under how versus what we
20:37
don't spend a lot of time on how so ensuring that you're looking
20:41
for ways to And how people experience you the good and the
20:45
bad, the pluses, and minuses, whatever it might be, is super
20:50
important for your success. If you don't know how others
20:53
experience you, you're never going to be able to self manage
20:57
those relationships and work. Effectively, there are people
21:00
who don't care, they don't care how other people experience
21:03
them. I'm always right?
21:05
I'm really good at what I do. So just get out of the way
21:07
again. Those might be the type of
21:09
person you don't want to work with and there are others who
21:11
are very interested. Did and how people experience
21:14
then so they can self manage and ensure that they have great
21:17
relationships. Get great work done and are
21:20
heralded for the accomplishments that they have had.
21:23
So really looking for ways to identify how people experience
21:28
you is super important. One of the key tools we use in
21:31
my industry, is called a 360 where we go out and ask people,
21:34
anonymously, and confidentially. How do you experience edit work,
21:39
right? Tell us what you like about it
21:40
and tell you what, you think Ed should be.
21:42
A little bit differently to be more effective.
21:44
I never had that done during my complete, professional career.
21:48
And I know if I had it done at certain times, I would have
21:52
benefited significantly as would my organization rides not, it's
21:56
not all just about me but you know, the organization
21:59
benefiting as well. So you know, lesson two Anthony
22:02
I guess was you know, working to ensure, you build your
22:04
self-awareness so you can self manage more effectively.
22:09
And would you say, you know, outside of a survey world
22:13
rankings? I think, you know, I think
22:14
within these three 60s, a lot of this data can come off and a
22:18
snapshot perspective would you say poster 360?
22:23
You know, really holding some really thoughtful 25 to 45
22:29
minute conversation, with key stakeholders and team members to
22:32
really contextualize the feedback that they gave you
22:35
would be a good idea like to really get some deeper new on.
22:38
It's an understanding. Yes, this is a key activity
22:41
associated with spending more time on how I am experience in
22:45
the workplace and I recommend to clients that twice a year.
22:50
Not often, it's not something you have to do once a month or
22:52
every other week. But, you know, twice a year, sit
22:55
down with peers, sit down with bosses, sit down with direct
22:59
reports, find about half hour and ask them the following
23:03
question. What's one or two things?
23:06
I could do differently to be more?
23:08
It's not 50 things or 60 things, it's just one or two.
23:12
I like the word different because it's not good or bad and
23:15
people don't like judging other people that they feel like
23:17
they're judging you. They might tell you you're
23:18
wonderful and have no issues whatever.
23:21
But you know, what's one or two things I could do differently to
23:24
be more effective who wouldn't want to help somebody else be
23:27
more effective, and it may take a few times of asking it for
23:31
someone to realize that you're serious.
23:32
And you really want to listen, and you really want to learn,
23:35
but if you have those type of conversations, Whether you had a
23:38
360 or not, it's going to demonstrate to people that you
23:42
want to understand more about how they are experiencing you.
23:46
And of course you need to listen and then you need to do
23:49
something about it. Right?
23:50
One of the downsides of employee surveys is really in the taking
23:56
of them is 10% of the activity. 90% is, what's the company going
24:00
to do with all this information? We just shared and of course
24:02
most companies don't do anything right?
24:04
So if you hear something that you're going to do a little bit
24:07
differently, share that With people, if you hear something
24:09
that you're not going to do differently, share that with
24:12
people and tell them why you're not going to do what they
24:14
suggested differently. And I assume you have a good
24:16
reason and but you have to get back to them either way, but
24:20
that's a great way. Anthony of ensuring that you're
24:24
keeping alive, a conversation with people, you work with on
24:28
having them provide you Insight in one or two things you could
24:32
be doing differently to be more effective.
24:36
Yeah, you know that's something that I think even to this day,
24:39
I'm probably the most uncomfortable with regarding
24:42
technology, you know, the surveys that that are supported
24:46
by technology, the program's, the aii, the things that are
24:50
coming out the slack channels, you know, I appreciate and I
24:54
love scale and I've actually gotten more comfortable in these
24:57
last few years, you know, supporting and appreciating your
25:02
quote-unquote, HR Tech stack, your leadership Tech stack,
25:05
right? The technology that supports
25:08
cerveza technology that supports internal Communications
25:11
technology that supports recruiting and all these things,
25:13
right? But what I think I've been most
25:17
excited about there are my career is really having those
25:21
contextual one-on-one conversations but I would like
25:23
to get your one, your tidbit on this though, what I've always
25:28
pushed teams and companies and leaders to understand, is that
25:31
prior to having those conversations, you have to build
25:35
Enough psychological safety, / enough examples to that person
25:42
to show that person that you have a thick enough skin or
25:47
enough, enough desire to to truly hear the good Bad and the
25:52
Ugly. Right and so I think that's one
25:55
element missing in the workplace today we're because I think
25:58
certain companies over index on the technology piece where a lot
26:02
of the things are done in a way where you're not having the
26:05
textual. Conversations.
26:06
You're pulling a lot of data from a lot of technology and
26:09
looking that looking at that big data and making decisions
26:12
without really contextualizing that data in a very humanistic
26:15
way. And I believe a lot of that
26:17
reason is because there's not enough, there's not enough
26:20
psychological safety between just two human beings to say,
26:24
you know what, here's the honest perspective.
26:27
Here's the honest feedback that I'm going to give you and here
26:30
are like three to four different examples of why I feel this
26:33
feedback is true and why I believe it.
26:35
Eight. And I'm again, I think those
26:38
conversations are not being happy because there's not that
26:41
trust. There's not that relationship.
26:42
There's not that psychological safety work being done in prior
26:47
to the 101 prior to the survey being rolled that prior to some
26:51
of the technology, extracting, some of the data.
26:54
And so I am a big fan of data. I'm a big fan of big Tech, I'm a
27:00
big fan of some of these these texts acts that are coming out
27:04
in the Leisure and he tries space But prior to relying on
27:08
the technology, I believe there needs to be good, old-fashioned
27:13
to human beings groups of human beings, small team of six
27:17
building, real relationship. So, when you do utilize the
27:21
technology or the surveys or whatever, you're going to do,
27:25
there's more honest information coming out because they because
27:29
the other person on the other side knows that whomever,
27:33
they're giving that feedback to will actually Understand where
27:36
that be bats. Coming from, take that feedback,
27:38
seriously and have empathy with the feedback.
27:40
What are you? What are your quick thoughts on
27:41
all that? Well, I agree that, you know, we
27:45
sometimes fall too much on Administration in order to
27:48
implement a survey. I guarantee if any of your
27:51
listeners have ever hired a company to come in and help them
27:54
develop and Implement an employee survey, 95% of the
27:58
information that that company brought is in how to do it.
28:02
And, but that's only the 10% of the activity.
28:05
It takes me. Me 5 minutes to complete a
28:06
survey. I don't know all the
28:08
administrative work that went into to build it, but just take
28:11
me 5 to 10 minutes to complete it.
28:13
What I want to know is what are you going to do about it?
28:15
And so, we spend all of our time on taking the data and the
28:19
Consultants, tell us how to take the data.
28:21
And we spend very little time and get very little input on 90%
28:25
of the project. Which is what are we going to do
28:27
with this information? And I think there's three
28:29
answers that we have to give folks in respect to ideas and
28:32
recommendations that they make one is here's Going to do
28:36
differently based on the feedback that we heard the
28:39
second is here's what we're going to do differently based on
28:42
the feedback that we heard but we're not going to do it now.
28:44
We're going to wait till next year or 20 25 and here's why.
28:48
And here's what we're not going to do differently right now,
28:51
right. I need an answer on all of them
28:53
and you know, one of the reasons we don't talk one-on-one with
28:57
people about these types of things and to sound like a
29:00
broken record, goes back to our educational institution.
29:03
We've never trained people. Either on how To give feedback
29:06
that's constructive, or helpful to others and also how to
29:10
receive it, right? We this word relationship means
29:13
that there's two people involved and often times, I'm not going
29:16
to share something with you. That's might be difficult for
29:20
you to hear because I don't know how you're going to respond to
29:24
react to it and I'm worried that it's going to be problematic if
29:28
I do that. So I just simply avoid it and
29:31
that's part of to help us transition.
29:33
Anthony one of my Lessons that I hope to work on and hope to
29:38
focus on is this topic of being brave at work which is how to
29:43
ensure that I can share things that are hard to say or that I
29:48
believe will be hard to hear from others in a helpful
29:52
respectful and professional way. I need to be able to do this on
29:56
a regular basis because if we avoid being honest and candid
30:01
about what we're currently experiencing, we're never going
30:03
to make progress. We're going to be stuck wherever
30:05
we were. And we're never ever going to
30:07
make progress. So, you know, I need to find
30:09
ways in order to ensure that I can say something that's hard to
30:13
say or say something that I think will be hard for you to
30:16
hear in a very helpful way, right?
30:19
I'm only saying it to help you I'm not judging or belittling or
30:23
putting you down and that I do it in a very respectful and
30:27
professional way. I love that.
30:30
I love that. And and and going into 2023,
30:35
what are you thinking about some other categories?
30:39
Sure that you actually didn't mention just now just to kind of
30:41
throw a curveball in this for a minute, you know, what are you
30:44
thinking about some of the things that we actually
30:45
discussed offline? You know, what are you thinking
30:47
about? This looming recession.
30:51
What are you thinking about? The I believe the responsibility
30:55
will leadership at the lower level and minute you know, I
30:58
believe lower level and mid-level managers are going to
31:01
have a pretty big impact in a 2023 world based off of trying
31:07
to sustain retention trying to extract some significant data
31:11
from their small t, no small team of 6 and 12 to to pass on
31:16
to director-level VP level and c-suite level.
31:19
Oil Executives to make thoughtful decisions on how they
31:22
can better retain. How can they, how can they
31:24
better recruit? So what are your thoughts on?
31:27
Kind of, I think the the relationship management piece
31:32
with in small teams of leadership piece on how leaders
31:35
can can extract better data from their teams and then also just
31:39
what are your macro thoughts on, obviously just this ongoing
31:43
conversation of recessions cash freezes hiring freezes.
31:49
Companies in limbo. What are your thoughts and all
31:51
that? Well, just to talk about the
31:54
team management piece. You just mentioned in addition
31:56
to being a leadership coach. I'm also a team coach and all
32:00
employees are on an endless number of teams and meet on a
32:06
regular basis. And most of those meetings are
32:08
under managed under productive and effective.
32:12
Not their fault again. They haven't learned how to
32:15
ensure that if I'm going to have a group of people meet on a
32:18
regular basis, That each meeting leads us closer to where we're
32:22
going and we're not repeating and going over and being
32:24
redundant in respect to what we have talked about and all of
32:28
that are almost all of that Anthony has to do with how I
32:31
lead the meeting. How I set expectations, how I
32:34
ensure that people know who's in charge in the meeting and
32:37
respect to managing it and how we move forward, we don't do
32:41
that. We get together, we talk and I'm
32:44
sure 80% of the people leaving say, why was he even there
32:47
today? Or what did we talk about today?
32:49
So, you know, team leadership is largely relationship-based to
32:54
ensure that we can focus on what we need to focus on in order to
32:58
move forward in respect to your kind of macro question.
33:01
You know, I believe that organizations over the last 10
33:05
to 15 years, a very slowly and quietly been transitioning from,
33:11
we take care of you, too. You need to take care of
33:14
yourself, and no one has said this.
33:16
There's not been a headline in the New York Times, saying,
33:19
Companies have now stated employees now have to take care
33:21
of themselves. They're not doing it any longer,
33:23
but we have been moving away from these Arenas where
33:28
companies take care of you to you.
33:30
Now need to take care of yourself and this goes back to
33:34
this key theme. We talked about a little while
33:36
ago that nobody is going to care more about you than you.
33:40
And you need to be thinking about how you can move forward.
33:43
What your options are for moving forward.
33:45
I know nobody can predict the future but you should know at
33:47
least what some of your options. B, and what steps you can take
33:51
in order to make progress and then this wild world.
33:54
We now live in post covid, where we went from a world where even
33:59
asking to work from home with something you never did, because
34:02
you didn't think it would go over well to.
34:04
I now require it in order to work for your company, it's
34:09
changed and the, the expectations and the roles and
34:12
relationships. And now modified, and enhances.
34:15
This expectation that you are now Now, driving your own career
34:21
and so I was a little bit vague at than answer I think.
34:25
But you know it's really ensuring that people recognize
34:29
that the evolving work. Environment is creating an
34:33
expectation that you are driving your own career.
34:38
I love that. And and let's do this.
34:40
Before we wrap up. What's one bold message?
34:43
You would that you would share with with the employees out
34:46
here? As well as the leaders out here,
34:48
like what's one? Bold, out-of-the-box something
34:51
that, you know, some folks may be afraid to say some folks, may
34:55
be a little bit uncomfortable saying, but something that's
34:57
just a potentially an uncomfortable truth that that
35:00
both both parties need to hear your employees need to hear and
35:04
your leaders need to hear and then and then plug anything you
35:07
want to play. Again and we'll get you out of
35:09
here. Well look life is complicated
35:13
and so you know, I would ask anybody who is listening to take
35:16
a few minutes to sit back and you know, sit down your living
35:20
room, with your feet up or out on a beach, with your toes in
35:24
the sand and ask yourself on a scale of one to six.
35:27
How happy am I? Where I am professionally and if
35:31
it's a five or six that's great and that means that you are
35:35
doing well. And this isn't just about money
35:37
and Just not and it's also not just about title or power but
35:43
it's how happy I am. I am.
35:45
I accomplishing. What a person should accomplish?
35:48
You know, if it's a one two or three that means you may not be
35:51
where you want to be and then the next question, becomes
35:54
really simply what's one or two or three things I can do to get
35:58
myself to that five or six? And again these are complicated
36:02
challenges. I'm not suggesting.
36:04
That's the whole strategy but We need to take baby steps in order
36:08
to make progress and so it starts with.
36:10
All right, I'm going to think about where I am and how happy I
36:15
am where I am. And if you're not happy, the one
36:18
person in life, who should know it is you and then think about
36:22
what's one or two things. I could be doing a little bit
36:24
differently to make progress and it could be something as simple
36:27
as update, my resume and send it to a friend and build an
36:33
accountability relationship. So I take steps in order to
36:36
Enhance my career, right? It's it doesn't have to be
36:38
complex strategies on that front.
36:40
So that's you know, that's something Anthony.
36:42
I think people could do in order to assess where they are and
36:47
some next steps. They might take in order to make
36:49
progress. And do you have anything you
36:52
want to plug any any new things coming up and he focuses any
36:58
potential collaborations Partnerships that you need or
37:00
that you're looking for. If any, if anyone's out there
37:03
listening, are you kind of like a one-man show you?
37:06
Well, I do tend to be a one-man show.
37:08
It's was just kind of how life has evolved, you know.
37:11
I would tell folks that they can go to www.bravotv.com to here.
37:18
Almost 280 conversations about bravery in the Place.
37:21
We are ceasing production of that podcast this month it has
37:26
been on for about three years and this fall I'll actually be
37:30
publishing. My third book be brave at work
37:33
where I'm going to be sharing some of the lessons and
37:35
experiences that my guests as well as others have had about
37:39
how to be braver at work. And if we had more time we would
37:44
talk about bravery in the workplace, but looking to ensure
37:48
that if there is a conversation that you should have that your
37:51
Waiting again, with one or two things you can do, in order to
37:55
increase the likelihood that you have that hard conversation, it
37:58
might be something that's hard to say or it might be something
38:01
that you worry will be hard for the other person to hear but as
38:05
long as you're being helpful and as long as you're being
38:08
respectful and professional the likelihood of it, producing a
38:11
positive outcome is significantly increased.
38:17
I love it. I love it and I appreciate you.
38:19
Thank you for, you know, for allowed me on your podcast, you
38:23
know, two different times there, there were those are great
38:25
conversations. Today was a great conversation
38:28
and I think this was a great, you know, wrap up of 2022 and
38:31
2023 it and in a way that I think is different, so managers
38:36
leaders employees. There's a lot of good things
38:39
here for you today and and I appreciate you and I and
38:43
everything you share today and your time likewise and today has
38:47
been great working with you over the last few years and continued
38:50
success. 100% I appreciate today has been great working with you
38:47
over the last few years and continued success. 100% I
38:51
appreciate