As we know, the world of business can change rapidly. And as we’re being drawn into the demands of the everyday, it can be easy to lose sight of the organization’s values.

But it’s when we become overwhelmed and stressed and challenged that we need to lean into those chosen values the most.

Otherwise, we risk running an organization that is based on empty promises.

We need to continue to prioritize the values to not only foster a positive workplace culture but also drive long-term success. To truly make values thrive, we must actively create an environment where they are not just words but rather they are integral to every aspect of the business.

So what can leaders do to help create an environment where values thrive?

Review your core values

We need to start at the beginning. We need to start with reviewing the core values because before values can thrive, they need to be well-defined and still relevant. Start by revisiting those core values. Are they still...

As leaders, we rely on obtaining frequent and transparent feedback from our team members both for personal and organizational growth.

Constructive feedback not only helps us make better-informed strategic and operational decisions, but it also helps foster a culture of open communication.

And as most leaders know, it’s a lot easier said than done.

So what are a few things leaders should consider when working at drawing out more quality feedback from your team?

Have You Built Trust?

Trust is the foundation of any successful feedback exchange, and team members must feel secure and confident in sharing their thoughts and concerns with you.

If team members are worried about your reaction or if they're worried about what's going to happen to them after they share what they have to share with you, then they're just not going to do it. Or they might do it a couple of times and then be like, “What's the point?” So you really want to make sure that you are not contributing...

In one of the recent episodes, I talked about ensuring that your new leaders were both technically proficient as well as effective.

And in response to that, I was asked, what about cultural differences and background in the team or with the new leader and what about levels of experience and skills and the difficulty to reconcile them?

Again, thank you so much for the question!

Because I felt that these were two complementary topics, I chose to address them separately. In Part I, which was the previous episode, I answered “What about levels of experience and skills and the difficulty to reconcile them?”

And, now, for Part II, let’s answer what can new leaders do to help address varying levels of experience and skills and the difficulty in reconciling them within a team?

Begin with an assessment

Start by addressing the various levels of experience and skills within the team by reviewing who is in your team. The needs will be different. The time commitments will be...

Recently, I talked about ensuring that your new leaders were both technically proficient as well as effective.

And in response to that, I was asked, what about cultural differences and background in the team or with the new leader and what about levels of experience and skills and the difficulty to reconcile them?

First, thank you so much for the question.

Second, let’s talk about it!

I feel that there are really two distinct topics here, and, therefore, I’ll divide them in two parts.

So for Part I, let’s answer what can new leaders do to help address cultural differences and backgrounds between themselves and/or the team?

Start learning

Like many leaders, I am not a DE&I expert. Although I do my best to educate myself in terms of diversity, equity, and inclusion, it is not my specialty. And the risk, of course, as we know it, is in the unknown unknowns. As in what do I not know that I don't know?

Personally, to get help with that, I have turned to hiring...

Like many leadership skills, having the ability to build trust begins with recognizing the importance of this activity and understanding the necessity to behave in a manner that will contribute to the development of that much desired trust and credibility.

Yes, some believe that having positional power automatically entitles them to this precious attitude, but I feel that this is actually compliance and not really trust. And to have a truly highly-functioning team, it's essential to build trust, not just have compliance.

So what are some strategies that can help us build trust?

Open Communication

It all starts with open communication. Share information about the decisions and the associated actions. Be clear about your intentions, about the goals.

That doesn't mean being careless and justifying everything by saying it’s “speaking the truth”. We can't just come in and say whatever and start blaming and finger-pointing and throwing people under the bus because...

If you’ve been in a leadership position for a while, maybe even if you’ve just been in the workforce for a while, you’ve probably heard some version of “avoid jargon”, “eliminate jargon”. 

As a leader, though, should you be discouraging all jargon talk?

What do I mean by “jargon”? For me, it’s words or expressions typically used by a certain profession or organizational environment that may be difficult to understand for those outside of that environment.

Whether to discourage it or not depends on the situation. When I try to make that decision, I consider a few things:

Be Clear on Why You’re Using Jargon

There are some valid reasons as to why we use it. It can bring a team closer by having this shared language. Depending on the circumstances, it might also make them feel almost like they are part of a special club (and sometimes that is actually the case) where they all use this common terminology that few...

It’s 3 a.m. You’re wide awake. You’re having a “conversation” in your mind with a colleague, a boss, a client. Again. The same one. Seemingly on repeat for the past few days, weeks, or months even.

Barring some intractable factors, it appears it’s time to transition that hard conversation from inner monologue to outer dialogue.

The thought of it is potentially making your heart race, your palms sweaty, your mouth dry, and even causing you to be a little nauseated.

When asked, most will say that they don’t like conflict. And that’s fair. I, myself, do prefer my conflict in works of fiction.

But all that internal turmoil, the time spent spinning, the miscommunications due to avoidance is not only unhealthy, it also frequently builds up and makes the situation worse.

Yes, conflict can be intimidating. And with a mutually agreed-upon approach, it is possible to elevate it to a healthy and productive conversation. As the Corgibytes ...

Most of us love a good personality assessment. They’re usually fun, can help us understand ourselves better and, at times, may even have implementable tips for us.

To be clear, I’m not talking about the suspicious ones that pop up in social media feeds and may or may not be gathering security question information.

I’m talking about the DiSC assessment, MBTI (Myers-Briggs Type Indicator), CliftonStrengths (formerly Clifton StrengthsFinder), and others in the same vein.

It seems every organization I’ve ever worked at had me take one of these as part of the onboarding. I took the test, enjoyed reading the results, and that was as far as it went. The organization didn’t seem to care much about it.

A REVELATORY TOOL

Although I have no first-hand knowledge of how these assessments were created, I’m pretty sure it’s safe to assume that Isabel Myers, Katharine Briggs, Donald Clifton, and others did not invest so much...