What happens when a person leaves? Do you know it in advance? In a prior blog I wrote about the often unknown reasons that blindside employers when a rock star quits. Today, let’s look at taking a more proactive approach: checking in on what it’ll take to keep your stars at your organization.Great people are hard to find. And can be harder to keep. I recently came across a terrific book, Love ‘Em or Lose ‘Em: Getting Good People to Stay, by Beverly Kaye and Sharon Jordan-Evans. I highly recommend it.As a leadership and culture coach I very often work through personnel matters. So when I witnessed the clear and concise thinking from Kaye and Jordan-Evans, I knew I had to share it.Why Employees StayKaye and Jordan-Evans surveyed over 17,000 employees to learn what conditions will keep an employee with an organization. They call these conditions “stay factors”. Note that these are neither industry-specific nor role-specific, they are universal.1. Exciting work and challenge2. Career growth, learning, and development3. Working with great people4. Fair pay6. Being recognized, valued, and respected7. Benefits8. Meaningful work and making a difference9. Pride in the organization, its mission, and its product10. Great work environment and cultureInteresting tidbit: 91 percent of survey respondents listed at least one of the first two items among the top reasons they stay. I love that challenge and learning is at the top. This is one reason I harp on Individual Development Plans to our clients!How To Do A Stay InterviewHow to do a Stay Interview? You simply ask the employee. Some leaders fear that discussing this topic will open a proverbial can of worms and get the employee thinking about leaving. I disagree heartily. The employee is already thinking of leaving at times, possibly on hard days, when they feel overwhelmed or discouraged, if they’re experiencing tremendous stress in their personal lives. It’s likely only a fantasy about leaving, but why not simply communicate directly about it? It’s refreshing, builds trust, and shows you care.There’s no ideal time to do a stay interview. The goal is to do it before an employee has one foot out the door. You can do it during a development conversation, when checking in on their development plan, you can do it at year end or at the new year, any time is fine. If you don’t know what their answers might be to the below questions, then it’s time to do now!Recommended “Stay Interview” Questions From Kaye and Jordan-Evans:·     What about your job makes you jump out of bed in the morning?·     What makes you hit the snooze button?·     If you were to win the lottery and resign, what would you miss the most?·     What one thing that if changed in your current role, would make you consider moving on?·     If you had a magic wand, what would be the one thing you would change about this department?·     If you had to go back to a position in your past and stay for an extended period of time, which one would it be and why?·     What makes for a great day?·     What can we do to make your job more satisfying?·     What can we do to support your career goals?·     Do you get enough recognition?·     What will keep you here? What might entice you away?·     What do you want to learn this year? How might you learn it?Be sure to ask “anything else I might have missed?” and use effective listening (ask “what specifically?” and the other questions in the linked blog). And be careful with your responses: don’t dismiss their ideas/input/answers, be curious as to what it’s like to be them. You don’t know, so be an anthropologist studying a fascinating creature. If done this way the interview will deepen connection, loyalty, trust, and ultimately, boost retention.What You Can Do Now1.    Implement Individual Development Plans – people need to know they are growing and learning. This helps us feel achievement and empowerment at work—which is key. Keep it simple: have the employee and their leader develop it together. If you make it too complex no one will do it!2.    Do regular Employee Engagement surveys so you know how people are feeling.3.    Create a Cultural GAME (Growth, Appreciation, Measurement, Engagement) Plan based on the results from your survey in #2 above. Here’s an infographic.4.    Give Frequent Bi-Directional Feedback so everyone is connected and clear on what’s working and what they’d like to see more of. Here’s an infographic.The Net-Net·     Stay interviews help you understand how your team members are feeling about their work—it’s essential to stop guessing and start knowing what will keep your stars happy·     Do stay interviews across your organization as needed, during development conversations is a good timePut the recommended programs place to maintain and grow the good feelings in your organization. Happy = will stay!Follow me on Twitter or LinkedIn. Check out my website or some of my other work here.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

What happens when a person leaves? Do you know it in advance? In a <a href="https://smarttribesinstitute.com/top-performers-going-to-quit/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">prior blog</a> I wrote about the often unknown reasons that blindside employers when a rock star quits. Today, let’s look at taking a more proactive approach: checking in on what it’ll take to keep your stars at your organization. Great people are hard to find. And can be harder to keep. I recently came across a terrific book, <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Love-Em-Lose-Getting-People/dp/160994884X" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">Love ‘Em or Lose ‘Em: Getting Good People to Stay, by Beverly Kaye and Sharon Jordan-Evans.</a> I highly recommend it. As a leadership and culture coach I very often work through personnel matters. So when I witnessed the clear and concise thinking from Kaye and Jordan-Evans, I knew I had to share it. Why Employees StayKaye and Jordan-Evans surveyed over 17,000 employees to learn what conditions will keep an employee with an organization. They call these conditions “stay factors”. Note that these are neither industry-specific nor role-specific, they are universal. 1. Exciting work and challenge2. <a href="https://smarttribesinstitute.com/the-only-career-advice-you-need-for-2017/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">Career growth, learning, and development</a>3. Working with great people4. Fair pay6. Being recognized, valued, and <a href="https://smarttribesinstitute.com/want-boss-respect-6-things/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">respected</a>7. Benefits8. Meaningful work and making a difference9. Pride in the organization, <a href="https://smarttribesinstitute.com/mission-vision-values/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">its mission</a>, and its product10. Great <a href="https://smarttribesinstitute.com/creating-a-corporate-culture-of-super-accountability-and-generosity-by-executive-coach-christine-comaford/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">work environment and culture</a> Interesting tidbit: 91 percent of survey respondents listed at least one of the first two items among the top reasons they stay. I love that challenge and learning is at the top. This is one reason I harp on <a href="https://smarttribesinstitute.com/the-3-things-all-humans-crave-and-how-to-motivate-anyone-anytime-anywhere/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">Individual Development Plans</a> to our clients! How To Do A Stay InterviewHow to do a Stay Interview? You simply ask the employee. Some leaders fear that discussing this topic will open a proverbial can of worms and get the employee thinking about leaving. I disagree heartily. The employee is already thinking of leaving at times, possibly on hard days, when they feel overwhelmed or discouraged, if they’re experiencing tremendous stress in their personal lives. It’s likely only a fantasy about leaving, but why not simply communicate directly about it? It’s refreshing, builds trust, and shows you care. There’s no ideal time to do a stay interview. The goal is to do it before an employee has one foot out the door. You can do it during a development conversation, when checking in on their development plan, you can do it at year end or at the new year, any time is fine. If you don’t know what their answers might be to the below questions, then it’s time to do now! Recommended “Stay Interview” Questions From Kaye and Jordan-Evans:·     What about your job makes you jump out of bed in the morning?·     What makes you hit the snooze button?·     If you were to win the lottery and resign, what would you miss the most?·     What one thing that if changed in your current role, would make you consider moving on?·     If you had a magic wand, what would be the one thing you would change about this department?·     If you had to go back to a position in your past and stay for an extended period of time, which one would it be and why?·     What makes for a great day?·     What can we do to make your job more satisfying?·     What can we do to support your career goals?·     Do you get enough recognition?·     What will keep you here? What might entice you away?·     What do you want to learn this year? How might you learn it? Be sure to ask “anything else I might have missed?” and use <a href="https://smarttribesinstitute.com/3-practices-become-great-listener/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">effective listening</a> (ask “what specifically?” and the other questions in the linked blog). And be careful with your responses: don’t dismiss their ideas/input/answers, be curious as to what it’s like to be them. You don’t know, so be an anthropologist studying a fascinating creature. If done this way the interview will deepen connection, loyalty, trust, and ultimately, boost retention. What You Can Do Now1.    Implement Individual Development Plans – people need to know they are growing and learning. This helps us feel achievement and empowerment at work—which is key. Keep it simple: have the employee and their leader develop it together. If you make it too complex no one will do it!2.    Do regular Employee Engagement surveys so you know how people are feeling.3.    Create a Cultural GAME (Growth, Appreciation, Measurement, Engagement) Plan based on the results from your survey in #2 above. <a href="https://smarttribesinstitute.com/cultural-game-plan/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">Here’s an infographic.</a>4.    Give Frequent Bi-Directional Feedback so everyone is connected and clear on what’s working and what they’d like to see more of. <a href="https://smarttribesinstitute.com/the-feedback-frame/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">Here’s an infographic.</a> The Net-Net·     Stay interviews help you understand how your team members are feeling about their work—it’s essential to stop guessing and start knowing what will keep your stars happy·     Do stay interviews across your organization as needed, during development conversations is a good timePut the recommended programs place to maintain and grow the good feelings in your organization. Happy = will stay! Follow me on <a href="https://www.twitter.com/comaford" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">Twitter</a> or <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/company/smarttribesinstitute" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">LinkedIn</a>. Check out my <a href="http://christinecomaford.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">website</a> or some of my other work <a href="https://www.amazon.com/SmartTribes-Teams-Become-Brilliant-Together/dp/159184648X" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">here</a>.  Hosted on Acast. See <a href="https://acast.com/privacy" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">acast.com/privacy</a> for more information.

Love 'Em or Lose 'Em

Unemployment in the USA is now at 3.7%.  Great employees are harder to find than ever before—and if you’re hiring, chances are really good that you’re raiding another organization’s rock stars.  So once you get great hires on board, you need to keep them. In past blogs I’ve shared proven tools and techniques our clients use to recruit rock stars, to onboard them, to engage them and to identify the signs that they’re considering quitting. Now let’s focus on what’s happening in their brain when the honeymoon phase is over after being a new hire. Honeymoons End—Then Your New Hire “Goes Native” Based on an informal poll of my leadership and culture coaching clients, reality sets in, and the new job honeymoon is over in the first 60-90 days, depending on the role. This is when a new hire, then, is most at risk of buyer’s remorse, of regretting that they accepted a role at your organization. This is also when a new hire has “gone native”—they are now a part of the tribe and no longer have the fresh unbiased perspective of an outsider. Going native isn’t a bad thing—it happens out of our deep need to belong with the tribe we’ve selected. But if the tribe is in a tricky state, buyer’s remorse could become an epidemic. We’ve all seen influencers that leave the tribe—and take some of the top performers with them. Here’s how to prevent this. Six Questions That Reveal Buyer’s Remorse Think back to your dating history. Most of us have met someone we thought was really cool--until we got to know them better. Then disappointment set in because what was advertised, and what was reality, were different.  Gallup recently released research on the six questions employers can ask to uncover remorse. The primary finding is that when certain policies are promised, but not honored or followed by the organization’s leaders, remorse sets in. Ask yourself the following questions: #1 - Is flexibility consistent or dependent on the team manager? Per Gallup, 51% of employees say they would change jobs for flextime, and 35% say they would change jobs for a flexible working location. In today’s workplace, flexibility matters. Flexibility for hours worked, location worked from, even flexibility in reporting and collaboration. Is it easy to duck out of work for a personal appointment? Does this apply to everyone in the organization? #2 - Are remote workers treated as equals?Remote workers are 30% less likely to strongly agree that they have discussed their development with their leader in the past six months. Are your remote workers treated the same as your onsite workers? Are they included in development and performance motivation programs? Are they included in recognition programs? Does their leader have the same number of one-on-one meetings with them (via webcam) as with onsite workers? #3 - Do leaders know how to manage in a matrixed environment? Per Gallup, 84% of U.S. employees today participate in matrixed teams. And the biggest challenges for workers are prioritizing work and excessive amounts of time in meetings (up to 1/3 of their day!). How are you helping your workers to prioritize? See a prior blog for a tool on this. See the meetings link above too for a technique our clients love to reduce meetings and those that attend. #4 - Do leaders understand gig workers? Per Gallup's recent gig economy perspective paper, 36% of all U.S. workers participate in a gig work arrangement in some capacity.  With freelance workers its essential to ensure they click with your culture quickly. This is where a compelling and clear mission/purpose, vision and set of core values make all the difference. Gig workers must be brought into your tribe quickly and emotionally engage quickly too.  And last, as a leader it’s your job to ensure they are welcomed into the team and experience safety, belonging, mattering from the get-go. #5 - Are development programs personalized in a meaningful way? In a past blog on performance motivation and Individual Development Plans (IDPs) I provided a template to ensure your team feels that their growth is important to the organization.  Are your leaders helping to co-create IDPs with their workers? Are they then having quarterly or worst case annual development check ins? Are they allocating time for workers to develop? #6 - Are employees offered and encouraged to participate in well-being programs and other benefits? A 2016 Society for Human Resource Management survey found a significant gap between the benefits companies actually offer and the benefits employees think their company offers. Why? I find two reasons in my executive coaching work. One: the onboarding process isn’t effectively communicating the actual benefits, and two: annual benefits summaries are not being offered to refresh everyone’s memory. The Net-Net  Buyer’s Remorse occurs when an employee experiences a disconnect and disappointment between what they understood a culture would be and what it actually is. Leaders can tackle and prevent this problem by ensuring the culture is clear, the policies are clear, the above six questions are addressed and the employee experience is consistent. How consistent is your employee experience?  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Unemployment in the USA is now at 3.7%.   Great employees are harder to find than ever before—and if you’re hiring, chances are really good that you’re raiding another organization’s rock stars.   So once you get great hires on board, you need to keep them. In past blogs I’ve shared proven tools and techniques our clients use to <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/christinecomaford/2017/02/11/54-of-americans-say-its-a-good-time-to-find-a-quality-job-are-you-ready/#69470e235c9e" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">recruit rock stars</a>, to <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/christinecomaford/2017/05/31/onboarding-optimized-how-to-make-the-new-job-honeymoon-last/#7127b7dd35bd" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">onboard them</a>, to <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/christinecomaford/2018/07/14/want-to-better-engage-your-tribe-heres-the-secret/#6c886a5a9de4" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">engage them</a> and to identify the signs that they’re <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/christinecomaford/2017/01/08/5-signs-your-top-performers-are-going-to-quit-what-you-can-do-to-retain-them/1" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">considering quitting</a>. Now let’s focus on what’s happening in their brain when the honeymoon phase is over after being a new hire.  Honeymoons End—Then Your New Hire “Goes Native” Based on an informal poll of my leadership and culture coaching clients, reality sets in, and the new job honeymoon is over in the <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/christinecomaford/2017/05/31/onboarding-optimized-how-to-make-the-new-job-honeymoon-last/#7127b7dd35bd" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">first 60-90 days</a>, depending on the role. This is when a new hire, then, is most at risk of buyer’s remorse, of regretting that they accepted a role at your organization. This is also when a new hire has “gone native”—they are now a part of the tribe and no longer have the fresh unbiased perspective of an outsider. Going native isn’t a bad thing—it happens out of our deep need to <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/christinecomaford/2018/07/14/want-to-better-engage-your-tribe-heres-the-secret/#fbba3f49de48" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">belong with the tribe</a> we’ve selected. But if the tribe is in a tricky state, buyer’s remorse could become an epidemic. We’ve all seen influencers that leave the tribe—and take some of the top performers with them. Here’s how to prevent this.  Six Questions That Reveal Buyer’s Remorse Think back to your dating history. Most of us have met someone we thought was really cool--until we got to know them better. Then disappointment set in because what was advertised, and what was reality, were different.  Gallup recently released <a href="https://www.gallup.com/workplace/243650/employees-buyer-remorse.aspx?utm_source=workplace-newsletter&amp;utm_medium=email&amp;utm_campaign=WorkplaceNewsletter_November_110618&amp;utm_content=findout-CTA-1&amp;elqTrackId=524FF64461D3CDF62772740B48420DCE&amp;elq=2450a07d1b0744d5849ddbc487f51fa3&amp;elqaid=381&amp;elqat=1&amp;elqCampaignId=94" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">research</a> on the six questions employers can ask to uncover remorse. The primary finding is that when certain policies are promised, but not honored or followed by the organization’s leaders, remorse sets in.  Ask yourself the following questions: #1 - Is flexibility consistent or dependent on the team manager? Per Gallup, 51% of employees say they would change jobs for flextime, and 35% say they would change jobs for a flexible working location. <a href="https://twitter.com/intent/tweet?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.forbes.com%2Fsites%2Fchristinecomaford%2F2018%2F12%2F01%2Fdo-your-employees-have-buyers-remorse%2F&amp;text=In%20today%E2%80%99s%20workplace%2C%20flexibility%20matters." rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">In today’s workplace, flexibility matters.</a> Flexibility for hours worked, location worked from, even flexibility in reporting and collaboration. Is it easy to duck out of work for a personal appointment? Does this apply to everyone in the organization?  #2 - Are remote workers treated as equals?<a href="https://www.gallup.com/workplace/236192/ways-failing-remote-workers.aspx?g_source=link_wwwv9&amp;g_campaign=item_243650&amp;g_medium=copy" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">Remote workers are 30% less likely to strongly</a> agree that they have discussed their development with their leader in the past six months. Are your remote workers treated the same as your onsite workers? Are they included in development and <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/christinecomaford/2018/01/20/why-leaders-need-to-embrace-employee-motivation/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">performance motivation programs</a>? Are they included in recognition programs? Does their leader have the same number of one-on-one meetings with them (via webcam) as with onsite workers?  #3 - Do leaders know how to manage in a matrixed environment? Per Gallup, 84% of U.S. employees today participate in matrixed teams. And the biggest challenges for workers are prioritizing work and excessive amounts of <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/christinecomaford/2018/05/19/the-cost-of-stupid-meeting/#129d64604103" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">time in meetings</a> (up to 1/3 of their day!). How are you helping your workers to prioritize? See a prior blog for a <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/christinecomaford/2018/02/24/3-daily-actions-that-guarantee-work-life-balance-for-leaders/#265e5c824ee5" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">tool on this</a>. See the meetings link above too for a technique our clients love to reduce meetings and those that attend.  #4 - Do leaders understand gig workers? Per Gallup's recent gig economy perspective paper, 36% of all U.S. workers participate in a gig work arrangement in some capacity.  With freelance workers its essential to ensure they click with your culture quickly. This is where a compelling and clear <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/christinecomaford/2018/08/04/the-game-plan-for-an-engaged-company-culture/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">mission/purpose, vision</a> and set of core values make all the difference. <a href="https://twitter.com/intent/tweet?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.forbes.com%2Fsites%2Fchristinecomaford%2F2018%2F12%2F01%2Fdo-your-employees-have-buyers-remorse%2F&amp;text=Gig%20workers%20must%20be%20brought%20into%20your%20tribe%20quickly%20and%C2%A0emotionally%20engage%C2%A0quickly%20too." rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">Gig workers must be brought into your tribe quickly and emotionally engage quickly too.</a>  And last, as a leader it’s your job to ensure they are welcomed into the team and experience safety, belonging, mattering from the get-go.  #5 - Are development programs personalized in a meaningful way? In a past blog on performance motivation and <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/christinecomaford/2016/10/22/why-performance-management-is-dead-performance-motivation-is-here-to-stay/#5d2160462dfe" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">Individual Development Plans</a> (IDPs) I provided a template to ensure your team feels that their growth is important to the organization.  Are your leaders helping to co-create IDPs with their workers? Are they then having quarterly or worst case annual development check ins? Are they allocating time for workers to develop?  #6 - Are employees offered and encouraged to participate in well-being programs and other benefits? A <a href="https://www.shrm.org/hr-today/trends-and-forecasting/research-and-surveys/Documents/2016-Human-Capital-Report.pdf" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">2016 Society for Human Resource Management survey</a> found a significant gap between the benefits companies actually offer and the benefits employees think their company offers. Why? I find two reasons in my executive coaching work. One: the onboarding process isn’t effectively communicating the actual benefits, and two: annual benefits summaries are not being offered to refresh everyone’s memory.  The Net-Net  <ul><li>Buyer’s Remorse occurs when an employee experiences a disconnect and disappointment between what they understood a culture would be and what it actually is. </li><li>Leaders can tackle and prevent this problem by ensuring the culture is clear, the policies are clear, the above six questions are addressed and the employee experience is consistent. </li></ul> How consistent is your employee experience?  Hosted on Acast. See <a href="https://acast.com/privacy" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">acast.com/privacy</a> for more information.

Do Your Employees Have Buyer's Remorse?

Now more than ever we want to find and feel meaning in our work. And a cornerstone of meaningful work is who we are together, how we show up for one another, how our environment supports this, and how we know we are safe, belong, and matter at work. These prerequisites enable us to expand our identities via our work, and to become a bigger version of ourselves as a result. Does your work environment enable this?Here are 3 ways to create more meaning in your workplace now.1-Your Leaders Create MeaningIt all starts with our leader, with the culture they put in place and continue reinforcing. Let’s unpack this. When we experience trust in our leader Serotonin and Dopamine are released, which makes us feel good because the result is:Oxytocin (a human bonding hormone) levels increase Cortisol (a stress-related hormone) levels decreaseThe result? Increased resilience and emotional agility  in stressful times due to trust of our leader, and ultimately trust of our tribe. This then supports self-regulation, which is our ability to manage our emotional state. Self-regulation occurs in our prefrontal cortex and is only possible when we’re in our Smart State - where high engagement, collaboration, communication, innovation reign—versus being in our Critter State where we’re snared in fight/flight/freeze.2-Your Environment Creates MeaningThere are two qualities of an optimal work environment that helps a tribe become and stay agile: an enriched environment and a reliable environment.An enriched environment is an interactive, stimulating environment which leads to increased surface area of brain cells. The result? Team members making more connections, solving problems faster, figuring things out faster and innovating better.Enriched cultures create a more meaningful and purpose-driven workplace. A more meaningful and purpose-driven workplace yields countless benefits:Two Basic Modes For The Human BrainSMARTTRIBES INSTITUTETrust also creates reliable environments. A brain in a more reliable (trust their leader) and enriched (stimulating) environment will have more branches. So the overall team will have more neural branches too. More branches = more surface area = more connections = more positive meaning is made.More positive meaning results in:More fulfillmentMore contributionMore innovationMore loyaltyMore emotional agilityMore retentionMore engagementAnd to boost meaning we turn to a Tribal Identity rich in purpose. This helps us to feel powerful together, understand where we fit in and how to belong to the tribe, gives us shared beliefs, and increases the potency and power of our individual identity (because we belong to such a cool tribe). 3-Tribal Identity Creates MeaningTribal identity is how we describe ourselves. At Google they are Googlers and are collaborative innovators. In the early days of Microsoft the engineers were awarded lab coats for great achievements, as they were seen as brilliant scientists inventing the future. Some sales teams see themselves as cowboys and cowgirls out on the range rounding up customers. Our team at SmartTribes Institute sees themselves as providing Ritz Carlton-level 5 star client service. What is your tribal identity? Is it compelling? Aspirational? Playful? Engaging?In my book Power Your Tribe we talk about a Cultural GAME (Growth, Appreciation, Measurement, Engagement) Plan and how to harness its power to transform your tribe into a highly engaged, thank-God-it’s-Monday group of high performing, healthy, happy people—to make sure your tribal identity sticks.Yet a GAME plan is only as effective as the emotional experience that surrounds it and is reinforced by it. To boost the emotional experience you’ll want to:Bring profound meaning to your workplaceCraft a cultural identity and employee experience rich in trust Use neuroscience-based techniques that will increase human performance, cohesiveness, innovationYou probably have pieces of your Cultural GAME Plan already in place. Now you can craft or edit (if need be) your organization’s tribal identity and reinforce it with your cultural rituals. Note the lab coats above as an example. Fundamental to a solid GAME plan is a foundation of profound meaning.Let’s check in…Profound Meaning check in:Are your mission, vision, values working as well as they could be? Mission - Our emotional (“we believe”) purpose, why we get up in the morningVision - Where we’re going together (aspirational), and why it mattersValues - Who we are/how we behave as we fulfill our Mission and drive toward our Vision—these must be alive, celebrated, modeled by allYou can’t change a person’s values very easily. Which is why we need to recruit for them. Here’s a link to our values-based recruiting process that our clients love.Tribal Identity check in:Does your culture have a clear identity? If so, what is it?Does everyone throughout your organization agree with it and feel inspired by the identity?Does your identity reinforce safety, belonging, mattering?Does your team have high trust and transparency around performance expectations?Tribal Rituals check in:How do your cultural rituals support your identity and values? Are they enough to motivate belonging and mattering? Example: some of our clients have annual mini golf tournaments in the office where each “hole” is a plastic cup for a given value. Once you get the ball in the hole you share with all present who models this value powerfully and how, and how you’d like to model it more powerfully. Another client celebrates the “super powers” of each employee as their tribal identity is of super heroes. Outside of each cubicle or on their Zoom background you see the person’s “super powers”. Now you know who to come to if you want to cultivate yours.Is it safe to fail in your culture? Do you see “failure” as simply feedback as to what didn’t totally work, or is failure condemned?The Net-NetLeaders, environment, shared tribal identity help us create more meaning at workWith more meaning we are more productive, creative, engaged, collaborative, happyAny organization can create more meaning!Let me know how the above helps you create more meaning for your tribe. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Now more than ever we want to find and feel meaning in our work. And a cornerstone of meaningful work is who we are together, how we show up for one another, how our environment supports this, and how we know we are safe, belong, and matter at work. These prerequisites enable us to expand our identities via our work, and to become a bigger version of ourselves as a result.  Does your work environment enable this? Here are 3 ways to create more meaning in your workplace now. 1-Your Leaders Create MeaningIt all starts with our leader, with the culture they put in place and continue reinforcing. Let’s unpack this. When we experience <a href="https://smarttribesinstitute.com/innovative-leadership-5-leaders-to-study/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">trust in our leader</a> Serotonin and Dopamine are released, which makes us feel good because the result is:<ul><li>Oxytocin (a human bonding hormone) levels increase </li><li>Cortisol (a stress-related hormone) levels decrease</li></ul>The result? Increased resilience and <a href="https://smarttribesinstitute.com/workshops/managing-organizational-change/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">emotional agility</a> in stressful times due to trust of our leader, and ultimately trust of our tribe. This then supports self-regulation, which is our ability to manage our emotional state. Self-regulation occurs in our prefrontal cortex and is only possible when we’re in our <a href="https://smarttribesinstitute.com/critter-state/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">Smart State</a> - where high engagement, collaboration, communication, innovation reign—versus being in our Critter State where we’re snared in fight/flight/freeze. 2-Your Environment Creates MeaningThere are two qualities of an optimal work environment that helps a tribe become and stay agile: an enriched environment and a reliable environment.An enriched environment is an interactive, stimulating environment which leads to increased surface area of brain cells. The result? Team members making more connections, solving problems faster, figuring things out faster and innovating better.Enriched cultures create a more meaningful and purpose-driven workplace. A more meaningful and purpose-driven workplace yields countless benefits: Two Basic Modes For The Human BrainSMARTTRIBES INSTITUTE Trust also creates reliable environments. A brain in a more reliable (trust their leader) and enriched (stimulating) environment will have more branches. So the overall team will have more neural branches too. More branches = more surface area = more connections = more positive meaning is made.More positive meaning results in:<ul><li>More fulfillment</li><li>More contribution</li><li>More innovation</li><li>More loyalty</li><li>More emotional agility</li><li>More retention</li><li>More engagement</li></ul>And to boost meaning we turn to a Tribal Identity rich in purpose. This helps us to feel powerful together, understand where we fit in and how to belong to the tribe, gives us shared beliefs, and increases the potency and power of our individual identity (because we belong to such a cool tribe).  3-Tribal Identity Creates MeaningTribal identity is how we describe ourselves. At Google they are Googlers and are collaborative innovators. In the early days of Microsoft the engineers were awarded lab coats for great achievements, as they were seen as brilliant scientists inventing the future. Some sales teams see themselves as cowboys and cowgirls out on the range rounding up customers. Our team at SmartTribes Institute sees themselves as providing Ritz Carlton-level 5 star client service. What is your tribal identity? Is it compelling? Aspirational? Playful? Engaging?In my book <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Power-Your-Tribe-Resilient-Turbulent/dp/1260108775" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">Power Your Tribe</a> we talk about a Cultural GAME (Growth, Appreciation, Measurement, Engagement) Plan and how to harness its power to transform your tribe into a highly engaged, thank-God-it’s-Monday group of high performing, healthy, happy people—to make sure your tribal identity sticks.Yet a <a href="https://smarttribesinstitute.com/want-to-improve-company-culture-get-a-game-plan/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">GAME plan</a> is only as effective as the emotional experience that surrounds it and is reinforced by it. To boost the emotional experience you’ll want to:<ul><li>Bring profound meaning to your workplace</li><li>Craft a cultural identity and employee experience rich in trust </li><li>Use neuroscience-based techniques that will increase human performance, cohesiveness, innovation</li></ul> You probably have pieces of your Cultural GAME Plan already in place. Now you can craft or edit (if need be) your organization’s tribal identity and reinforce it with your cultural rituals. Note the lab coats above as an example. Fundamental to a solid GAME plan is a foundation of profound meaning. Let’s check in… Profound Meaning check in:<ul><li>Are your <a href="https://smarttribesinstitute.com/leadership-lacking-3-fast-fixes-boost-brains-hearts/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">mission, vision, values</a> working as well as they could be? </li><li>Mission - Our emotional (“we believe”) purpose, why we get up in the morning</li><li>Vision - Where we’re going together (aspirational), and why it matters</li><li>Values - Who we are/how we behave as we fulfill our Mission and drive toward our Vision—these must be alive, celebrated, modeled by all</li></ul> You can’t change a person’s values very easily. Which is why we need to recruit for them. Here’s a link to our <a href="https://smarttribesinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/How-To-Recruit-For-Value-Alignment-and-High-Accountability-2.pdf" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">values-based recruiting process</a> that our clients love. Tribal Identity check in:<ul><li>Does your culture have a clear identity? If so, what is it?</li><li>Does everyone throughout your organization agree with it and feel inspired by the identity?</li><li>Does your identity reinforce safety, belonging, mattering?</li><li>Does your team have high trust and transparency around performance expectations?</li></ul> Tribal Rituals check in:<ul><li>How do your cultural rituals support your identity and values? Are they enough to motivate belonging and mattering? </li><li>Example: some of our clients have annual mini golf tournaments in the office where each “hole” is a plastic cup for a given value. Once you get the ball in the hole you share with all present who models this value powerfully and how, and how you’d like to model it more powerfully. </li><li>Another client celebrates the “super powers” of each employee as their tribal identity is of super heroes. Outside of each cubicle or on their Zoom background you see the person’s “super powers”. Now you know who to come to if you want to cultivate yours.</li><li>Is it safe to fail in your culture? Do you see “failure” as simply feedback as to what didn’t totally work, or is failure condemned?</li></ul> The Net-Net<ul><li>Leaders, environment, shared tribal identity help us create more meaning at work</li><li>With more meaning we are more productive, creative, engaged, collaborative, happy</li><li>Any organization can create more meaning!</li></ul> Let me know how the above helps you create more meaning for your tribe. Hosted on Acast. See <a href="https://acast.com/privacy" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">acast.com/privacy</a> for more information.

Want More Meaning at Work?

Do you often find yourself drifting off after only a few minutes in a Zoom meeting?  Why?  Most likely it’s because we’re not emotionally engaged at an optimum level. And when it comes to group meetings, it’s often due to the Ringelmann Effect. Ringelmann proved that there’s an inverse relationship between the size of the group and the size of each group members’ individual contribution. So if we feel we aren’t, or can’t, truly make a difference, why emotionally engage?  And if we don’t have “skin in the game” it’s easy to slide into checking our email, web surfing, or planning our weekend.  Get The Most From Your Zoom Meetings Now  I recently led a full day workshop on Zoom, with super high engagement—actually, it was even higher that I had hoped! When my client gave rave reviews, I realized it was essential that I share what worked. Here’s what I did: 1 – Start (And End) With An Emotion Check. Have everyone say how they’re feeling by using the Emotion Wheel graphic showing a wheel with emotion names Emotion Wheel, Smart Tribes Institute   This will help the meeting leader “read” the room, and address any proverbial elephants or issues up front. When the air is cleared, people can be present instead of ruminating on what is unsaid or being avoided. Remember to use the Meta Model when someone tells you their emotional experience. If they say they’re feeling __(their emotion here)__ ask what specifically they are ____(their emotion here)____about. Never assume you know what a person is feeling, and why! Compare everyone’s emotional states before the meeting and at the end… this will be helpful feedback for moving forward.  2- Have A Role For Everyone. This will help you counteract the Ringelmann Effect and keep the oxytocin, dopamine, and serotonin flowing . I had a list of all the leaders in my workshop, the departments they worked in, and their roles. So I could easily call out to individuals and ask their opinion on a given topic, relevant to their expertise. Likewise in a meeting, everyone needs a role. If they don’t have one, why are they present? See the effective meeting process our clients love here to help you clarify: · who needs to be in the meeting, and why. If they can’t add value, they shouldn’t be there · how to time box a meeting for optimal results · how to let everyone feel heard without wasting time · and more!  3- 10 Minute Breaks, 10-15 Minute Labs, Frequent Questions Increase Blood Flow To The Decision-Making Center Of The Brain. A 10 minute break every hour will work wonders for engagement. Make sure you ask everyone to get up and move. Give them a question or topic to ponder to keep their prefrontal cortex in visionary/problem-solving mode. Likewise, having people move into breakout rooms to brainstorm solutions or solve problems keeps everyone on their toes. Then their findings are reported out to the larger group when the lab is over. I had 11 labs during 6 hours of content in my workshop. The labs were either solo, large group, 2 person, or teams of 4. Labs were every 10-15 minutes, so everyone knew they had to pay attention.  4 – Summarize Topics To Refocus Everyone, Add Due Diligence To Decisions. Since many of us are working from home, distractions like kids and pets will happen. Be sure to recap what was just covered with a quick summary to bring everyone back. Do the same with decisions made, agreements/accountability/follow up items so all understand who owns what post-meeting and when the deadline is. Remember the brain likes specific deadlines with a date and time (Thursday, 4pm) and also watch out for cognitive bias, so your team doesn’t make unrealistic commitments.  The Net-Net · Use the above tools to keep the brains of your team engaged during Zoom meetings · Honor the brain by paying attention to breaks and emotions · Engage everyone by ensuring the right people are present and an effective meeting process is followed  Christine Comaford is a leadership and culture coach. She hosts the podcast, Crack the Behavior Code, and would love to offer you access to her free mini-course, the Emotional Resilience Mini-Course  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Do you often find yourself drifting off after only a few minutes in a Zoom meeting? Why? Most likely it’s because we’re not emotionally engaged at an optimum level. And when it comes to group meetings, it’s often due to the Ringelmann Effect. Ringelmann proved that there’s an inverse relationship between the size of the group and the size of each group members’ individual contribution. So if we feel we aren’t, or can’t, truly make a difference, why emotionally engage? And if we don’t have “skin in the game” it’s easy to slide into checking our email, web surfing, or planning our weekend. Get The Most From Your Zoom Meetings Now I recently led a full day workshop on Zoom, with super high engagement—actually, it was even higher that I had hoped! When my client gave rave reviews, I realized it was essential that I share what worked. Here’s what I did: 1 – Start (And End) With An Emotion Check. Have everyone say how they’re feeling by using the Emotion Wheel graphic showing a wheel with emotion names <a href="https://smarttribesinstitute.com/emotion-wheel/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">Emotion Wheel, Smart Tribes Institute</a> This will help the meeting leader “read” the room, and address any proverbial elephants or issues up front. When the air is cleared, people can be present instead of ruminating on what is unsaid or being avoided. Remember to use the Meta Model when someone tells you their emotional experience. If they say they’re feeling __(their emotion here)__ ask what specifically they are ____(their emotion here)____about. Never assume you know what a person is feeling, and why! Compare everyone’s emotional states before the meeting and at the end… this will be helpful feedback for moving forward. 2- Have A Role For Everyone. This will help you counteract the Ringelmann Effect and keep the oxytocin, dopamine, and serotonin flowing . I had a list of all the leaders in my workshop, the departments they worked in, and their roles. So I could easily call out to individuals and ask their opinion on a given topic, relevant to their expertise. Likewise in a meeting, everyone needs a role. If they don’t have one, why are they present? See the effective meeting process our clients love here to help you clarify: · who needs to be in the meeting, and why. If they can’t add value, they shouldn’t be there · how to time box a meeting for optimal results · how to let everyone feel heard without wasting time · and more! 3- 10 Minute Breaks, 10-15 Minute Labs, Frequent Questions Increase Blood Flow To The Decision-Making Center Of The Brain. A 10 minute break every hour will work wonders for engagement. Make sure you ask everyone to get up and move. Give them a question or topic to ponder to keep their prefrontal cortex in visionary/problem-solving mode. Likewise, having people move into breakout rooms to brainstorm solutions or solve problems keeps everyone on their toes. Then their findings are reported out to the larger group when the lab is over. I had 11 labs during 6 hours of content in my workshop. The labs were either solo, large group, 2 person, or teams of 4. Labs were every 10-15 minutes, so everyone knew they had to pay attention. 4 – Summarize Topics To Refocus Everyone, Add Due Diligence To Decisions. Since many of us are working from home, distractions like kids and pets will happen. Be sure to recap what was just covered with a quick summary to bring everyone back. Do the same with decisions made, agreements/accountability/follow up items so all understand who owns what post-meeting and when the deadline is. Remember the brain likes specific deadlines with a date and time (Thursday, 4pm) and also watch out for cognitive bias, so your team doesn’t make unrealistic commitments. The Net-Net · Use the above tools to keep the brains of your team engaged during Zoom meetings · Honor the brain by paying attention to breaks and emotions · Engage everyone by ensuring the right people are present and an effective meeting process is followed Christine Comaford is a leadership and culture coach. She hosts the podcast, Crack the Behavior Code, and would love to offer you access to her free mini-course, the <a href="https://form.jotform.com/SmartTribesInstitute/emotional-resilience-assessment" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">Emotional Resilience Mini-Course</a> Hosted on Acast. See <a href="https://acast.com/privacy" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">acast.com/privacy</a> for more information.

Beat Zoom Fatigue in 4 Neuroscience-Savvy Steps

We all want better sales results—so what’s the secret?  It lies in the brain, and knowing how to guide our sales people out of their Critter State, where they are overwhelmed, stressed, in fight/flight/freeze, and into   their Smart State where they have fresh insights, are ready to tackle the day, are motivated and psyched to succeed.  Here are the top 3 reasons you aren’t getting the sales results you want:  CLICK TO TWEET  1-You Aren’t Asking the Right Questions Some of these are harder than others. But you need to ask them. Often, like quarterly at a minimum. What percentage of your sales people are performing at quota?How many stages are in the sales process? What happens at each stage? In which stage(s) do sales get stuck/slow down?What’s your current sales cycle? How long would you like it to be and by when?What percentage of your pipeline do you close? What percentage would you like to and by when?What percentage of sales do you lose to competitors? What are the most common reasons? What percentage would you be willing to tolerate and by when?What are your clients’ and prospective clients’ 5 greatest pain points?What’s your current client retention rate? What would we like it to be and by when?What are your current margins? What would you like them to be and by when?How many qualified leads are generated each month? Through what channels? How many would you like and when?What marketing channels are you currently using (trade shows, direct mail, social, webinars, blogs, infographics, Slide Shares, ads, etc)? Which are most effective?What is the profile of your clients (SBM Trigger, MP Profile, Customer Journey, VAK preference)? How many profiles do we have?  2-You Don’t Have Visibility On Progress and Performance Many clients ask me for help in streamlining their weekly sales meetings. Here are some effective methods.  Weekly Salesperson Status Report – Set a specific date/time that weekly status is due so the Flash Report below is complete. Make it super easy for the salesperson to submit their weekly status, like by editing a Google Doc or some such, and also ensure it is clear that to be on the sales team this is what you require weekly: # new client orders and details ($ amount, product/services, etc.)# new existing client orders and details ($ amount, product/services, etc.)# new prospects and details (expected $ amount, sales stage, next steps)[whatever else you require to track performance and uncover potential problems]  Weekly Sales Flash Report – Here’s what to cover each week with the sales team during a group huddle. Be sure to recap on email post-meeting so everyone remembers what was covered. Summary sales activity per salesperson: how many orders at what stage of sales process, total $ per salesperson per stage, total velocity (movement from one stage to the next each week)Winners for the weekly contest (whatever behavior you are currently incenting: new orders, upsells/down sells/cross-sells, specific product/service sales, fastest to report sales status in the CRM, etc.)  Weekly CRM Update – Make sure all salespeople know what data needs to be entered in the CRM after each sales call. For example: sales stage movement for the week, notes per call/communication with prospect, proposal info and all sales activity info above. Some clients have their customer service reps do CRM data entry for salespeople as a reward once a certain sales performance level is achieved. Some of our clients like to set up a Google doc or other repository to help celebrate sales people (as well as all other team members). On the doc each employee fills in their section listing what treats (under $200) they’d like to receive for terrific performance. Make this public so all can see and use, and you’ll find leaders have a much easier time providing fun and meaningful incentive gifts.  3-Your Compensation System Isn’t Working The below plan is a super simple way to compensate sales people to incent them to: Sell more new businessHand off recurring business to account managementTeam-sell where appropriate and know they’ll be compensated Edit this, make it your own, and see how well it works for you.  Base Commission New sales from new clients at x% (see “Levels of sales people” below)Repeat sales from existing clients at y% (shared between sales person and CSR/account manager)  Year 2 commission at ½ of y%Year 3 commission at 1/3 of y%Year 4 commission at ¼ of y% (sales person should be out of commission sharing here or sooner)     Gross margin expectation at z% — see “Accelerators” section below    Levels of sales people: Entry level person and entry level quota of $ __________. Base: $ _____ Model salesperson: [name here]Mid-level person (reaches quota 75%+ of time), has quota of $_________. Base: $ _____ Model salesperson: [name here]Senior level person (reaches quota all the time), has quota of $_________. Base: $ _____ Model salesperson: [name here]      Levels of CSRs/Account Managers: Entry level and entry level quota of $__________. Model: [name here]Mid-level (reaches quota 75%+ of time), has quota of $_________. Model: [name here]Senior level (reaches quota all the time), has quota of $_________. Model: [name here]  Accelerators 2 accelerators on increases in gross sales above quota – at ­­__% over quota gets __% commission, __% over quota gets __% commission2 accelerators on increases in gross margin – at ­­__% over quota gets __% commission, __% over quota gets __% commission  Team Selling – per sale Effort Allocation must be defined clearly in CRM and entered formally:Partner (shares ½ of all selling work) = 50-50% commission split?Consultant (advisor, stops by client if in town, answers occasional client questions and encourages future communication to be with sales person– gets far less commission but still helpful) = 10-30% ??? of total commission (varies based on specific consultant levels)  Doing the above will help get and keep your sales team in their Smart State—which means greater performance, happier people, less stress for you!”  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We all want better sales results—so what’s the secret? It lies in the brain, and knowing how to guide our sales people out of their <a href="https://smarttribesinstitute.com/hijack-how-your-brain-blocks-performance/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">Critter State</a>, where they are overwhelmed, stressed, in fight/flight/freeze, and into their <a href="https://smarttribesinstitute.com/stop-scaring-team-mediocrity/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">Smart State</a> where they have fresh insights, are ready to tackle the day, are motivated and psyched to succeed. <a href="https://twitter.com/share?text=Here+are+the+top+3+reasons+you+aren%E2%80%99t+getting+the+sales+results+you+want%3A&amp;via=Comaford&amp;related=Comaford&amp;url=https://smarttribesinstitute.com/3-common-mistakes-that-may-be-killing-your-sales/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">Here are the top 3 reasons you aren’t getting the sales results you want:</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/share?text=Here+are+the+top+3+reasons+you+aren%E2%80%99t+getting+the+sales+results+you+want%3A&amp;via=Comaford&amp;related=Comaford&amp;url=https://smarttribesinstitute.com/3-common-mistakes-that-may-be-killing-your-sales/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">CLICK TO TWEET</a> 1-You Aren’t Asking the Right Questions Some of these are harder than others. But you need to ask them. Often, like quarterly at a minimum. <ul><li>What percentage of your sales people are performing at quota?</li><li>How many stages are in the sales process? What happens at each stage? In which stage(s) do sales get stuck/slow down?</li><li>What’s your current sales cycle? How long would you like it to be and by when?</li><li>What percentage of your pipeline do you close? What percentage would you like to and by when?</li><li>What percentage of sales do you lose to competitors? What are the most common reasons? What percentage would you be willing to tolerate and by when?</li><li>What are your clients’ and prospective clients’ 5 greatest pain points?</li><li>What’s your current client retention rate? What would we like it to be and by when?</li><li>What are your current margins? What would you like them to be and by when?</li><li>How many qualified leads are generated each month? Through what channels? How many would you like and when?</li><li>What marketing channels are you currently using (trade shows, direct mail, social, webinars, blogs, infographics, Slide Shares, ads, etc)? Which are most effective?</li><li>What is the profile of your clients (<a href="https://smarttribesinstitute.com/the-3-things-all-humans-crave-and-how-to-motivate-anyone-anytime-anywhere/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">SBM</a> Trigger, MP Profile, <a href="https://smarttribesinstitute.com/customer-centric-marketing-emotional-5-steps-understand-emotions-sales-process/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">Customer Journey</a>, VAK preference)? How many profiles do we have?</li></ul> 2-You Don’t Have Visibility On Progress and Performance Many clients ask me for help in streamlining their weekly sales meetings. Here are some effective methods. Weekly Salesperson Status Report – Set a specific date/time that weekly status is due so the Flash Report below is complete. Make it super easy for the salesperson to submit their weekly status, like by editing a Google Doc or some such, and also ensure it is clear that to be on the sales team this is what you require weekly: <ul><li># new client orders and details ($ amount, product/services, etc.)</li><li># new existing client orders and details ($ amount, product/services, etc.)</li><li># new prospects and details (expected $ amount, sales stage, next steps)</li><li>[whatever else you require to track performance and uncover potential problems]</li></ul> Weekly Sales Flash Report – Here’s what to cover each week with the sales team during a group huddle. Be sure to recap on email post-meeting so everyone remembers what was covered. <ul><li>Summary sales activity per salesperson: how many orders at what stage of sales process, total $ per salesperson per stage, total velocity (movement from one stage to the next each week)</li><li>Winners for the weekly contest (whatever behavior you are currently incenting: new orders, upsells/down sells/cross-sells, specific product/service sales, fastest to report sales status in the CRM, etc.)</li></ul> Weekly CRM Update – Make sure all salespeople know what data needs to be entered in the CRM after each sales call. For example: sales stage movement for the week, notes per call/communication with prospect, proposal info and all sales activity info above. Some clients have their customer service reps do CRM data entry for salespeople as a reward once a certain sales performance level is achieved. Some of our clients like to set up a Google doc or other repository to help celebrate sales people (as well as all other team members). On the doc each employee fills in their section listing what treats (under $200) they’d like to receive for terrific performance. Make this public so all can see and use, and you’ll find leaders have a much easier time providing <a href="https://smarttribesinstitute.com/march-3-is-employee-appreciation-day-do-you-do-these-5-things/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">fun and meaningful incentive gifts</a>. 3-Your Compensation System Isn’t Working The below plan is a super simple way to compensate sales people to incent them to: <ul><li>Sell more new business</li><li>Hand off recurring business to account management</li><li>Team-sell where appropriate and know they’ll be compensated</li></ul> Edit this, make it your own, and see how well it works for you. Base Commission <ul><li>New sales from new clients at x% (see “Levels of sales people” below)</li><li>Repeat sales from existing clients at y% (shared between sales person and CSR/account manager)</li></ul> <ol><li>Year 2 commission at ½ of y%</li><li>Year 3 commission at 1/3 of y%</li><li>Year 4 commission at ¼ of y% (sales person should be out of commission sharing here or sooner)</li></ol> <ul><li> Gross margin expectation at z% — see “Accelerators” section below</li><li> Levels of sales people:</li></ul> <ol><li>Entry level person and entry level quota of $ __________. Base: $ _____ Model salesperson: [name here]</li><li>Mid-level person (reaches quota 75%+ of time), has quota of $_________. Base: $ _____ Model salesperson: [name here]</li><li>Senior level person (reaches quota all the time), has quota of $_________. Base: $ _____ Model salesperson: [name here]</li></ol> <ul><li> Levels of CSRs/Account Managers:</li></ul> <ol><li>Entry level and entry level quota of $__________. Model: [name here]</li><li>Mid-level (reaches quota 75%+ of time), has quota of $_________. Model: [name here]</li><li>Senior level (reaches quota all the time), has quota of $_________. Model: [name here]</li></ol> Accelerators <ul><li>2 accelerators on increases in gross sales above quota – at ­­__% over quota gets __% commission, __% over quota gets __% commission</li><li>2 accelerators on increases in gross margin – at ­­__% over quota gets __% commission, __% over quota gets __% commission</li></ul> Team Selling – per sale <ul><li>Effort Allocation must be defined clearly in CRM and entered formally:</li><li>Partner (shares ½ of all selling work) = 50-50% commission split?</li><li>Consultant (advisor, stops by client if in town, answers occasional client questions and encourages future communication to be with sales person– gets far less commission but still helpful) = 10-30% ??? of total commission (varies based on specific consultant levels)</li></ul> Doing the above will help get and keep your sales team in their Smart State—which means greater performance, happier people, less stress for you!” Hosted on Acast. See <a href="https://acast.com/privacy" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">acast.com/privacy</a> for more information.

3 Common Mistakes That May Be Killing Your Sales 

Thank you for listening to Crack the Behavior Code.Here is a bonus for you!Get an exclusive look at one of the documents from our Culture and Talent Playbook: https://documentcloud.adobe.com/link/track?uri=urn:aaid:scds:US:a5c5d1b8-15b8-42d2-a4c8-0adbd81d16bd Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Thank you for listening to Crack the Behavior Code. Here is a bonus for you! Get an exclusive look at one of the documents from our Culture and Talent Playbook: <a href="https://documentcloud.adobe.com/link/track?uri=urn:aaid:scds:US:a5c5d1b8-15b8-42d2-a4c8-0adbd81d16bd" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">https://documentcloud.adobe.com/link/track?uri=urn:aaid:scds:US:a5c5d1b8-15b8-42d2-a4c8-0adbd81d16bd</a> Hosted on Acast. See <a href="https://acast.com/privacy" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">acast.com/privacy</a> for more information.

Two Myths About Strategy

To learn more about onboarding, click here to visit our Forbes page.Here We Grow! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

To learn more about onboarding, click <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/christinecomaford/2017/05/31/onboarding-optimized-how-to-make-the-new-job-honeymoon-last/?sh=175d236e35bd" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">here</a> to visit our Forbes page. Here We Grow! Hosted on Acast. See <a href="https://acast.com/privacy" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">acast.com/privacy</a> for more information.

Onboarding Optimized

How would your customers describe their experience with your firm?Please take a moment and rate the Customer Experience (CX) that you believe you deliver:Better than all companies in any industryThe best in our industryConsiderably above average in our industrySlightly above average in our industryAverage for our industrySlightly below average in our industryConsiderably below average in our industryNow, what CX would you like to deliver within 3 years?[Credit: Temkin Group Q1 2017 CX Management Survey]Data: Q1 2017 CX Management Survey of 180 organizations with $500 million or more in annual revenuesAccording to Aimee Lucas, Customer Experience Transformist and VP at Temkin Group, 55% of all the companies surveyed want to be best in their industry or better than all companies in any industry when it comes to the level of CX they deliver they deliver within three years. That’s a big crowd wanting to get into a small, small slot.As Aimee and I caught up at the recent North American Employee Engagement Awards it became crystal clear: it’s time to stress the connection between Employee Engagement (EE) and CX. Now.Customers today have a louder voice (think Yelp and other rating sites), have access to more information on you and your competitors, and as a result expect an increasingly awesome experience. And they should.Meanwhile your competitors are launching new products and services faster than ever before, and are consistently raising the bar on CX. And they should.So what’s an organization to do?Arm yourself with these 3 CX-Boosting Strategies!3 CX-Boosting Strategies1) Become A CX Leader — By Focusing First On EmployeesCX leaders (companies whose CX is significantly better than their competitors) have more engaged employees. Here’s what Temkin Group found:[Credit: Temkin Group Employee Engagement Benchmark Study, 2017]Base:  5,552 U.S. consumers employed in for-profit organizationsHow exactly does engagement work? What happens in the brain when we are engaged?Engagement comes from feeling good, from passion for the company, from meaningful work, from attaching part of one’s identity with their job. And this comes down to some neurotransmitters and a hormone. As leaders when we intentionally help the brains of our employees to generate dopamine, serotonin, and oxytocin we create good feelings for the organization. Dopamine (anticipation of reward) and serotonin (feeling good, well-being) and oxytocin (bonding, feeling connected to others) can be created via a number of programs in your Cultural GAME Plan.So how do you become a CX leader and get engaged employees? This is where HR comes in…2) Get HR To Connect EE And CXHR owns the cultural programs, so it’s key that they are first looped into Employee Engagement (EE) so they can help support CX. First a strong mission, vision, values sets the tone for your tribal purpose and code of conduct (oxytocin). Next, acknowledging employees for being models of your values creates social validation (dopamine and serotonin). There are many more ways that you can read about in my many blogs on employee engagement and in #3 below.Next, when HR runs regular SBM Indexes, you can easily diagnose and cure and engagement dis-eases so you can continuously raise your engagement bar. It matters, it’s a reflection of them and what they believe in, who they are, how they show up in the world.According to Temkin Group’s research when HR is significantly involved in CX the organization is 50% more likely to be a CX leader. Wow.Is HR involved in CX at your organization?Credit: [Temkin Group 2016 HR Professionals Survey]Which brings us to the next item to check on our list, specifics for creating EE and CX.3) Clarify Exactly How/Where HR Can Support EE And CXHere are some ways that HR can forge the EE-CX link…Employee communications – rich in safety, belonging, mattering and boosting positive feelingsEmployee training &amp; new hire onboarding – see my blog on how to ensure key emotional touchpoints in the onboarding processPerformance motivation – learn how to create intrinsic motivation in this blogAwards, celebrations, incentives – learn how to celebrate and incent in these blogsEmployee listening programs – learn how to be a better listener in this blogMiddle manager engagement efforts – learn how to engage leaders and the cost of low leader engagement in this blogRecruiting &amp; hiring processes – learn the latest way to recruit with self-revealing questions hereAll of the above examples and blogs will help you keep the brains of your employees in their Smart State, which will in turn help your customers spend more time there too! Smart State = Engaged, Aligned, Tribal, Together. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

How would your customers describe their experience with your firm?Please take a moment and rate the Customer Experience (CX) that you believe you deliver:<ul><li>Better than all companies in any industry</li><li>The best in our industry</li><li>Considerably above average in our industry</li><li>Slightly above average in our industry</li><li>Average for our industry</li><li>Slightly below average in our industry</li><li>Considerably below average in our industry</li></ul> Now, what CX would you like to deliver within 3 years?[Credit: Temkin Group Q1 2017 CX Management Survey]Data: Q1 2017 CX Management Survey of 180 organizations with $500 million or more in annual revenuesAccording to <a href="https://temkingroup.com/about-us/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">Aimee Lucas</a>, Customer Experience Transformist and VP at <a href="https://temkingroup.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">Temkin Group</a>, 55% of all the companies surveyed want to be best in their industry or better than all companies in any industry when it comes to the level of CX they deliver they deliver within three years. That’s a big crowd wanting to get into a small, small slot.As Aimee and I caught up at the recent <a href="https://us.ee-awards.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">North American Employee Engagement Awards</a> it became crystal clear: it’s time to stress the connection between Employee Engagement (EE) and CX. Now.Customers today have a louder voice (think Yelp and other rating sites), have access to more information on you and your competitors, and as a result expect an increasingly awesome experience. And they should.Meanwhile your competitors are launching new products and services faster than ever before, and are consistently raising the bar on CX. And they should.So what’s an organization to do?Arm yourself with these 3 CX-Boosting Strategies!3 CX-Boosting Strategies1) Become A CX Leader — By Focusing First On EmployeesCX leaders (companies whose CX is significantly better than their competitors) have more engaged employees. Here’s what <a href="https://temkingroup.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">Temkin Group </a>found:[Credit: Temkin Group Employee Engagement Benchmark Study, 2017]Base:  5,552 U.S. consumers employed in for-profit organizationsHow exactly does engagement work? What happens in the brain when we are engaged?Engagement comes from feeling good, from passion for the company, from meaningful work, from attaching part of one’s identity with their job. And this comes down to some neurotransmitters and a hormone. As leaders when we intentionally help the brains of our employees to generate dopamine, serotonin, and oxytocin we create good feelings for the organization. Dopamine (anticipation of reward) and serotonin (feeling good, well-being) and oxytocin (bonding, feeling connected to others) can be created via a number of programs in your <a href="https://smarttribesinstitute.com/leadership-lacking-3-fast-fixes-boost-brains-hearts/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">Cultural GAME Plan</a>.So how do you become a CX leader and get engaged employees? This is where HR comes in…2) Get HR To Connect EE And CXHR owns the cultural programs, so it’s key that they are first looped into Employee Engagement (EE) so they can help support CX. First a strong <a href="https://smarttribesinstitute.com/3-things-that-guarantee-engaged-employees/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">mission, vision, values</a> sets the tone for your tribal purpose and code of conduct (oxytocin). Next, <a href="https://smarttribesinstitute.com/guarantee-growth-activate-reward-center-teams-brains-infographic/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">acknowledging employees</a> for being models of your values creates social validation (dopamine and serotonin). There are many more ways that you can read about in my many blogs on <a href="https://smarttribesinstitute.com/how-great-leaders-build-trust-with-4-brain-based-tools/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">employee engagement</a> and in #3 below.Next, when HR runs regular <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/tools-work-sti-march-spotlight-sbm-index-process-christine-comaford" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">SBM Indexes</a>, you can easily diagnose and cure and engagement dis-eases so you can continuously raise your engagement bar. It matters, it’s a reflection of them and what they believe in, who they are, how they show up in the world.According to Temkin Group’s research when HR is significantly involved in CX the organization is 50% more likely to be a CX leader. Wow.Is HR involved in CX at your organization?Credit: [Temkin Group 2016 HR Professionals Survey]Which brings us to the next item to check on our list, specifics for creating EE and CX.3) Clarify Exactly How/Where HR Can Support EE And CXHere are some ways that HR can forge the EE-CX link…<ul><li>Employee <a href="https://smarttribesinstitute.com/the-7-habits-of-highly-effective-communicators-part-1-creating-trust/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">communications</a> – rich in safety, belonging, mattering and boosting positive feelings</li><li>Employee training &amp; new hire <a href="https://smarttribesinstitute.com/onboarding-optimized-how-to-make-the-new-job-honeymoon-last/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">onboarding</a> – see my blog on how to ensure key emotional touchpoints in the onboarding process</li><li><a href="https://smarttribesinstitute.com/performance-management-dead-performance-motivation-stay/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">Performance motivation</a> – learn how to create intrinsic motivation in this blog</li><li><a href="https://smarttribesinstitute.com/march-3-is-employee-appreciation-day-do-you-do-these-5-things/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">Awards, celebrations, incentives</a> – learn how to celebrate and incent in these blogs</li><li><a href="https://smarttribesinstitute.com/3-practices-become-great-listener/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">Employee listening programs</a> – learn how to be a better listener in this blog</li><li><a href="https://smarttribesinstitute.com/the-real-reasons-your-team-is-not-engaged/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">Middle manager engagement efforts</a> – learn how to engage leaders and the cost of low leader engagement in this blog</li><li><a href="https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/tool-works-sti-april-spotlight-recruiting-christine-comaford" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">Recruiting &amp; hiring processes</a> – learn the latest way to recruit with self-revealing questions here</li></ul> All of the above examples and blogs will help you keep the brains of your employees in their <a href="https://smarttribesinstitute.com/hijack-how-your-brain-blocks-performance/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">Smart State</a>, which will in turn help your customers spend more time there too! <h2>Smart State = Engaged, Aligned, Tribal, Together.</h2> Hosted on Acast. See <a href="https://acast.com/privacy" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">acast.com/privacy</a> for more information.

The Surprising Link Between Customer Experience And Employee Engagement

People get into the wrong roles for a number of reasons.Perhaps there was a reorganization and the company didn’t want to lose them, so they were reallocated without consultation or training. Maybe they were promoted beyond their capability without a training plan. Or maybe they were hired to do a project that’s now irrelevant and they’ve not been redeployed to produce meaningful results elsewhere. And then there’s our all-time favorite, the Untouchables.Do you have Untouchables? Also, known as Sacred Cows? These are people who were hired because they are related to (or friends with) the CEO or other powerful team members. Even though their performance is sub-par, they get promoted or allowed to stay on for emotional reasons.[Shutterstock]Case Study: Company XCompany X was a tech consulting firm with a $37 million in annual revenue and approximately 270 employees, about two-thirds of whom were consultants. They were tracking at $137,000 in revenue per employee… ouch! The company was run by a married couple, John and Sarah, who initially contacted us about perfecting their sales process. They felt that their salespeople could be performing much better. What we found was a much bigger issue.Assess: What We FoundThe findings were grim: a fear-driven culture with 53% employee turnover each year. Company X did an exceptional job of technical training for new hires, only to see them leave for higher pay within a year.The two owners of the company had virtually opposite Meta Programs, and this was causing chaos. Sarah (Active, Toward, Options, Difference) would proactively start an initiative, rally the troops to move toward the new goal, then jump to the next option/project. John (Reflective, Away, Procedures, Sameness) would want to analyze before launching the new initiative, so he would kill it or block it, minimize exposure, and set up a procedure to handle the proposal through testing, no matter how much or little, the cost associated risk. The resulting chaos was confusing to the team and sending them deep into Critter State.The glaring gap in the consultant’s training curriculum was in sales. Even though their role was heavily client-facing, the consultants weren’t trained in the basic selling skills and had no incentive to do anything but fix technical problems. They also had no interaction with the sales team — which was sequestered in a different area of the building. The consultants were the right people in the right role — but with no support to perform their best.Harry, the new sales manager, had been with the firm for three months. Shortly after hiring Harry, the company had reorganized to close a failing business unit. Sarah and John had moved their niece, Toni, the VP of the failed unit, into a new role as the VP of sales and marketing — wait a sec! What? Did we read that right? Yep, the niece was given one of the most important roles in the firm after killing an entire business unit. Sounds like a sacred cow to me.There were three problems with this scenario:Harry (who now was sales manager) had no sales expertise — his entire background was in Internet marketing)Toni was an experienced sales manager but wasn’t strategic and had no marketing expertiseThe two disliked each other — Toni was threatened by Harry and Harry thought Toni should have been fired for her lackluster leadership of the failed business unitTo make matters even more fun, Toni’s boyfriend, Taylor, had been hired as director of client care. He had solid experience, but a perpetual mocking smirk when interacting with anyone but Toni.Act: What They DidThe first thing we had John and Sarah do was to create a clear and compelling mission, vision, and value statements. This would help everyone know why they were coming to work, and where they were going together, and how they agreed to behave. They posted these statements in the lobby, and the managers worked with smaller teams until everyone was on board.Next, we established Needle Movers together (first for the executive team and later for everyone) in line with the new mission, vision, and values, and radically increased accountability using weekly reporting and the Accountability Equation. We created a reporting process for the sales pipeline and marketing effectiveness metrics and set up an incentive plan for the consultants to source future sales.We also redefined the roles and responsibilities throughout sales and marketing to get the right people in the right roles. Some people were reallocated, and one or two were let go respectfully. Since the company had a history of high employee turnover it was key to minimize Critter State via thoughtful communication.John, Sarah, Toni, and Harry worked on their on key challenges. Toni got the tools to turn her department around. Harry was moved out of sales management and into the right role — marketing — where he is brilliant and a perpetual learner. He still reports to Toni, who now manages the sales team directly. Harry’s initiatives have made Company X top of mind in their target market. Now that John and Sarah communicate more explicitly, they are no longer creating chaos, and Toni and Harry have developed a mutual respect for each other. Taylor had to be let go. He didn’t want to uphold the company values and had burned too many bridges to be salvageable.ROI: What They GotAbout six months into the change process, things got pretty scary. The consultants became resistant and didn’t want to work on internal projects for which they had no billable hours, and John and Sarah almost pulled the plug and reverted to chaos. Instead, they applied energy management tools, worked through their own resistance, recommitted, and held their team accountable to the direction they had chosen together. The results were not all immediate — patterns occasionally resurfaced and to be readdressed — but overall the results have been phenomenal. They zoomed through the $50 million inflection point and are preparing for $100 million. Their employee retention is now normal for their industry, and employee surveys show that engagement and satisfaction continue to improve. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

People get into the wrong roles for a number of reasons.Perhaps there was a reorganization and the company didn’t want to lose them, so they were reallocated without consultation or training. Maybe they were promoted beyond their capability without a training plan. Or maybe they were hired to do a project that’s now irrelevant and they’ve not been redeployed to produce meaningful results elsewhere. And then there’s our all-time favorite, the Untouchables.Do you have Untouchables? Also, known as Sacred Cows? These are people who were hired because they are related to (or friends with) the CEO or other powerful team members. Even though their performance is sub-par, they get promoted or allowed to stay on for emotional reasons.[Shutterstock]Case Study: Company XCompany X was a tech consulting firm with a $37 million in annual revenue and approximately 270 employees, about two-thirds of whom were consultants. They were tracking at $137,000 in revenue per employee… ouch! The company was run by a married couple, John and Sarah, who initially contacted us about perfecting their sales process. They felt that their salespeople could be performing much better. What we found was a much bigger issue.Assess: What We FoundThe findings were grim: a fear-driven culture with 53% employee turnover each year. Company X did an exceptional job of technical training for new hires, only to see them leave for higher pay within a year.The two owners of the company had virtually opposite <a href="https://smarttribesinstitute.com/how-to-influence-anyone-any-time-anywhere-4-subconscious-secrets/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">Meta Programs</a>, and this was causing chaos. Sarah (Active, Toward, Options, Difference) would proactively start an initiative, rally the troops to move toward the new goal, then jump to the next option/project. John (Reflective, Away, Procedures, Sameness) would want to analyze before launching the new initiative, so he would kill it or block it, minimize exposure, and set up a procedure to handle the proposal through testing, no matter how much or little, the cost associated risk. The resulting chaos was confusing to the team and sending them deep into Critter State.The glaring gap in the consultant’s training curriculum was in sales. Even though their role was heavily client-facing, the consultants weren’t trained in the basic selling skills and had no incentive to do anything but fix technical problems. They also had no interaction with the sales team — which was sequestered in a different area of the building. The consultants were the right people in the right role — but with no support to perform their best.Harry, the new sales manager, had been with the firm for three months. Shortly after hiring Harry, the company had reorganized to close a failing business unit. Sarah and John had moved their niece, Toni, the VP of the failed unit, into a new role as the VP of sales and marketing — wait a sec! What? Did we read that right? Yep, the niece was given one of the most important roles in the firm after killing an entire business unit. Sounds like a sacred cow to me.There were three problems with this scenario:<ul><li>Harry (who now was sales manager) had no sales expertise — his entire background was in Internet marketing)</li><li>Toni was an experienced sales manager but wasn’t strategic and had no marketing expertise</li><li>The two disliked each other — Toni was threatened by Harry and Harry thought Toni should have been fired for her lackluster leadership of the failed business unit</li></ul> To make matters even more fun, Toni’s boyfriend, Taylor, had been hired as director of client care. He had solid experience, but a perpetual mocking smirk when interacting with anyone but Toni.Act: What They DidThe first thing we had John and Sarah do was to create a clear and compelling mission, vision, and value statements. This would help everyone know why they were coming to work, and where they were going together, and how they agreed to behave. They posted these statements in the lobby, and the managers worked with smaller teams until everyone was on board.Next, we established <a href="https://smarttribesinstitute.com/hold-your-team-accountable-heres-how/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">Needle Movers</a> together (first for the executive team and later for everyone) in line with the new mission, vision, and values, and radically increased accountability using weekly reporting and the <a href="https://smarttribesinstitute.com/4-brain-based-ways-improve-team-performance/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">Accountability Equation</a>. We created a reporting process for the sales pipeline and marketing effectiveness metrics and set up an incentive plan for the consultants to source future sales.We also redefined the roles and responsibilities throughout sales and marketing to get the right people in the right roles. Some people were reallocated, and one or two were let go respectfully. Since the company had a history of high employee turnover it was key to minimize <a href="https://smarttribesinstitute.com/hijack-how-your-brain-blocks-performance/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">Critter State</a> via thoughtful communication.John, Sarah, Toni, and Harry worked on their on key challenges. Toni got the tools to turn her department around. Harry was moved out of sales management and into the right role — marketing — where he is brilliant and a perpetual learner. He still reports to Toni, who now manages the sales team directly. Harry’s initiatives have made Company X top of mind in their target market. Now that John and Sarah communicate more explicitly, they are no longer creating chaos, and Toni and Harry have developed a mutual respect for each other. Taylor had to be let go. He didn’t want to uphold the company values and had burned too many bridges to be salvageable.ROI: What They GotAbout six months into the change process, things got pretty scary. The consultants became resistant and didn’t want to work on internal projects for which they had no billable hours, and John and Sarah almost pulled the plug and reverted to chaos. Instead, they applied <a href="https://smarttribesinstitute.com/get-energy-3-minutes-brain-based-way/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">energy management</a> tools, worked through their own resistance, recommitted, and held their team accountable to the direction they had chosen together. The results were not all immediate — patterns occasionally resurfaced and to be readdressed — but overall the results have been phenomenal. They zoomed through the $50 million inflection point and are preparing for $100 million. Their employee retention is now normal for their industry, and employee surveys show that engagement and satisfaction continue to improve. Hosted on Acast. See <a href="https://acast.com/privacy" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">acast.com/privacy</a> for more information.

Right Person, Wrong Role?

Cheryl Farr

lVgmTpZYO7Rr41hS0E1xCheryl Farr, Founder &amp; Chief Brand Officer of Signal.CSK, is our special guest for this insightful episode of the Crack the Behavior Code podcast where we discuss the importance of finding opportunity in times of crisis and much more.Who is Cheryl?Cheryl builds accessible, exciting, audience-engaging brands and brand-driven marketing programs that strengthen brand power and drive real marketplace results. She founded SIGNAL.csk in 2009 to help organizations of all kinds realize and exercise their true brand power. She empowers organizations that value fresh creative thinking, purpose, alignment, and the strategic pursuit of excellence to be strong stewards of their own brands — and their people to be passionate brand leaders and evangelists. Cheryl and her Denver-based team work side-by-side with their clients to expertly align visual and verbal identity, products and services, organizational decision making, and marketing initiatives to meet brand and business goals. Their proven True, Meaningful, DifferentTM and Brand SignalsTM methodologies build brand value by illuminating what their clients can uniquely own in the hearts and minds of their target audiences and reinforcing it across all touchpoints. Hundreds of successful client engagements include Fairmont Hotels &amp; Resorts, where Cheryl helped positon the then-fledgling brand for expansive worldwide growth; Taylor Morrison, the nation’s largest regional homebuilder, for whom she developed its first award-winning active adult brand; and PetSmart, where she led the sensory branding work that innovated the total in-store experience.Find Out More About Her Work Here:LinkedIn: Cheryl Farr | LinkedInWebsite: Home - SIGNAL.csk (signalcsk.com)Facebook: SIGNAL.csk Brand PartnersTwitter: SIGNAL.csk (@SIGNALcsk)  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

lVgmTpZYO7Rr41hS0E1xCheryl Farr, Founder &amp; Chief Brand Officer of Signal.CSK, is our special guest for this insightful episode of the Crack the Behavior Code podcast where we discuss the importance of finding opportunity in times of crisis and much more.Who is Cheryl?Cheryl builds accessible, exciting, audience-engaging brands and brand-driven marketing programs that strengthen brand power and drive real marketplace results. She founded SIGNAL.csk in 2009 to help organizations of all kinds realize and exercise their true brand power. She empowers organizations that value fresh creative thinking, purpose, alignment, and the strategic pursuit of excellence to be strong stewards of their own brands — and their people to be passionate brand leaders and evangelists. Cheryl and her Denver-based team work side-by-side with their clients to expertly align visual and verbal identity, products and services, organizational decision making, and marketing initiatives to meet brand and business goals. Their proven True, Meaningful, DifferentTM and Brand SignalsTM methodologies build brand value by illuminating what their clients can uniquely own in the hearts and minds of their target audiences and reinforcing it across all touchpoints. Hundreds of successful client engagements include Fairmont Hotels &amp; Resorts, where Cheryl helped positon the then-fledgling brand for expansive worldwide growth; Taylor Morrison, the nation’s largest regional homebuilder, for whom she developed its first award-winning active adult brand; and PetSmart, where she led the sensory branding work that innovated the total in-store experience.Find Out More About Her Work Here:LinkedIn: <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/cherylannfarr/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">Cheryl Farr | LinkedIn</a>Website: <a href="https://www.signalcsk.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">Home - SIGNAL.csk (signalcsk.com)</a>Facebook: <a href="https://www.facebook.com/signalcskbrandpartners/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">SIGNAL.csk Brand Partners</a>Twitter: <a href="https://twitter.com/SIGNALcsk" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">SIGNAL.csk (@SIGNALcsk) </a> Hosted on Acast. See <a href="https://acast.com/privacy" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">acast.com/privacy</a> for more information.

Special Episode: Inside Leadership with Guest Cheryl Farr

Christine is known for creating strategies that are responsible for hundreds of billions of dollars in new revenue and company value. Imagine if she was able to sit down with you and SHARE all of her knowledge and insight!Since that isn’t physically possible, this podcast is the next best thing!Christine uses each episode of Crack the Behavior Code to give you a glimpse into her strategic approach to business and leadership. She brings you on a journey to leverage neuroscience-based tools in order to promote behavior change and begin understanding what all humans need (and how you can provide it)!  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Christine delivers amazing content that benefits anyone who is interested in personal or business growth. I was familiar with her writing on Forbes, and she carried that great content and knowledge right to the podcast!

Wow! So insightful!

Christine is known for creating strategies that are responsible for hundreds of billions of dollars in new revenue and company value. Imagine if she was able to sit down with you and SHARE all of her knowledge and insight!Since that isn’t physically possible, this podcast is the next best thing!Christine uses each episode of Crack the Behavior Code to give you a glimpse into her strategic approach to business and leadership. She brings you on a journey to leverage neuroscience-based tools in order to promote behavior change and begin understanding what all humans need (and how you can provide it)!  Hosted on Acast. See <a href="https://acast.com/privacy" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">acast.com/privacy</a> for more information.

Crack The Behavior Code 

Why do people struggle in relationships and with their communication skills?It’s because they don’t use the right words. Well, they might be the right words for you, but are they the right words that the other person needs to hear? Language structures reality. Language sets the tone for respect, kindness, safety, belonging, mattering and more. And it can do the opposite too.Language helps us understand what another person is experiencing, how to support them, how to honor them. And it can do the opposite too.As a Leadership and Culture Coach, I frequently help clients use the most effective words to get the result they want with others. My father was skilled at human relations, and I found the below “course” digging through my late father’s belongings.Here’s the shortest course you’re likely to ever find in Human Relations.The least most important word: “I”The 1 most important word: “We”The 2 most important words: “Thank you.”The 3 most important words: “If you please.”The 4 most important words: “What is your opinion?”The 5 most important words: “You did a great job!”The 6 most important words: “I admit I made a mistake.”What are other important words/phrases you use?One of mine is “together”. It’s a powerful word that helps the recipient know they are safe, they belong, they matter.“We’ll figure this out together.”“Together our team will innovate like never before.”“We can crush the competition together.”You get the idea.When you start to notice the power of words you start to speak differently. Because you now know that language can either boost confidence or bash it, align/enroll/engage teams or tear them apart, create utter devotion and loyalty or cause people to run screaming.How would you like to tune up your communication skills today?Resources Mentioned:Language Structures Reality: https://www.smarttribesinstitute.com/the-7-habits-of-highly-effective-communicators-part-1-creating-trust/Respect &amp; Kindness: https://www.smarttribesinstitute.com/the-7-habits-of-highly-effective-communicators-part-2-get-their-attention-and-loyalty/How to Honor Others: https://www.smarttribesinstitute.com/are-you-honoring-your-5-human-rights-work/The Power of Words: https://www.forbes.com/sites/christinecomaford/2019/04/27/language-that-makes-leaders-look-weak/Growth Assessment: https://smarttribesinstitute.com/assessments/Contact Christine: https://smarttribesinstitute.com/contact/You’re busy growing. Let’s have a strategy session when it makes sense, which means you are…· Committed to getting better results and finding out how awesome your performance can truly be· Ready to make this a priority and get started in the next few months· Allocating budget to improving the leadership, culture and results of you and your company· Able to make the decision to move forward (or can convince the person who can)Ready? Great! Please fill out the form here. If not, check out our resourcesand subscribe to receive news and more tools as they become available, and we’ll work together when the time is right. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

<h2>Why do people struggle in relationships and with their communication skills?</h2> It’s because they don’t use the right words. Well, they might be the right words for you, but are they the right words that the other person needs to hear? <a href="https://www.smarttribesinstitute.com/the-7-habits-of-highly-effective-communicators-part-1-creating-trust/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Language structures reality.</a> Language sets the tone for <a href="https://www.smarttribesinstitute.com/the-7-habits-of-highly-effective-communicators-part-2-get-their-attention-and-loyalty/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">respect, kindness, </a>safety, belonging, mattering and more. And it can do the opposite too.Language helps us understand what another person is experiencing, how to support them, <a href="https://www.smarttribesinstitute.com/are-you-honoring-your-5-human-rights-work/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">how to honor</a> them. And it can do the opposite too.As a Leadership and Culture Coach, I frequently help clients use the most effective words to get the result they want with others. My father was skilled at human relations, and I found the below “course” digging through my late father’s belongings.Here’s the shortest course you’re likely to ever find in Human Relations.The least most important word: “I”The 1 most important word: “We”The 2 most important words: “Thank you.”The 3 most important words: “If you please.”The 4 most important words: “What is your opinion?”The 5 most important words: “You did a great job!”The 6 most important words: “I admit I made a mistake.”What are other important words/phrases you use?One of mine is “together”. It’s a powerful word that helps the recipient know they are safe, they belong, they matter.“We’ll figure this out together.”“Together our team will innovate like never before.”“We can crush the competition together.”You get the idea.When you start to notice <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/christinecomaford/2019/04/27/language-that-makes-leaders-look-weak/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">the power of words</a> you start to speak differently. Because you now know that language can either boost confidence or bash it, align/enroll/engage teams or tear them apart, create utter devotion and loyalty or cause people to run screaming.How would you like to tune up your communication skills today?Resources Mentioned:<ul><li><a href="https://www.smarttribesinstitute.com/the-7-habits-of-highly-effective-communicators-part-1-creating-trust/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Language Structures Reality:</a> <a href="https://www.smarttribesinstitute.com/the-7-habits-of-highly-effective-communicators-part-1-creating-trust/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">https://www.smarttribesinstitute.com/the-7-habits-of-highly-effective-communicators-part-1-creating-trust/</a></li><li><a href="https://www.smarttribesinstitute.com/the-7-habits-of-highly-effective-communicators-part-2-get-their-attention-and-loyalty/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Respect &amp; Kindness: </a><a href="https://www.smarttribesinstitute.com/the-7-habits-of-highly-effective-communicators-part-2-get-their-attention-and-loyalty/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">https://www.smarttribesinstitute.com/the-7-habits-of-highly-effective-communicators-part-2-get-their-attention-and-loyalty/</a></li><li><a href="https://www.smarttribesinstitute.com/are-you-honoring-your-5-human-rights-work/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">How to Honor Others</a>: <a href="https://www.smarttribesinstitute.com/are-you-honoring-your-5-human-rights-work/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">https://www.smarttribesinstitute.com/are-you-honoring-your-5-human-rights-work/</a></li><li><a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/christinecomaford/2019/04/27/language-that-makes-leaders-look-weak/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">The Power of Words</a>: <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/christinecomaford/2019/04/27/language-that-makes-leaders-look-weak/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">https://www.forbes.com/sites/christinecomaford/2019/04/27/language-that-makes-leaders-look-weak/</a></li><li><a href="https://smarttribesinstitute.com/assessments/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Growth Assessment</a>: <a href="https://smarttribesinstitute.com/assessments/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">https://smarttribesinstitute.com/assessments/</a></li><li><a href="https://smarttribesinstitute.com/contact/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Contact Christine</a>: <a href="https://smarttribesinstitute.com/contact/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">https://smarttribesinstitute.com/contact/</a></li></ul> You’re busy growing. Let’s have a <a href="https://smarttribesinstitute.com/strategy-session/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">strategy session</a> when it makes sense, which means you are…· Committed to getting better results and finding out how awesome your performance can truly be· Ready to make this a priority and get started in the next few months· Allocating budget to improving the leadership, culture and results of you and your company· Able to make the decision to move forward (or can convince the person who can)Ready? Great! Please<a href="https://smarttribesinstitute.com/strategy-session/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"> fill out the form here</a>. If not, check out <a href="https://smarttribesinstitute.com/resources/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">our resources</a>and <a href="https://smarttribesinstitute.com/subscribe-2/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">subscribe</a> to receive news and more tools as they become available, and we’ll work together when the time is right. Hosted on Acast. See <a href="https://acast.com/privacy" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">acast.com/privacy</a> for more information.

The 6 Phrases For Better Communication Skills

Once you reach your 40s, or possibly even earlier, you’re likely to have experienced a profound personal hardship, which you had to navigate through while keeping your job. Whether it’s the death of a loved one, a divorce, a life-threatening disease, a significant injury or something else, personal hardship takes its toll on us all at one point or another. Here are some tips to care for yourself and others when these twists and turns of life occur:Check In with Yourself – The Emotion Wheel is a helpful tool to get you in touch with how you’re feeling. Give yourself the gift of being honest when others ask you how you are. When my father passed away and people asked how I was I’d say “really sad” or whatever was true. Then I’d notice people would either try to talk me into feeling better (Don’t do this! Let a person feel what they feel.), or they’d change the topic, or they’d meet me where I was with compassion and kindness. The latter always felt best. When you’re going through a hardship your job is to feel and process it, not to fake it to make others feel better. That approach will only suppress the grief and lengthen the healing process.Ask For Help – Yes, many of us have been taught that this is a sign of weakness (as is vulnerability), but it couldn’t be farther from the truth. People want to help. It feels good. And when they are asked for help, it lights up the reward center in their brain and is deeply fulfilling to them [I suggest you look into the work of Naomi Eisenberger of UCLA if this interests you.]. Asking for help is actually generous to others, as well as to yourself. Saying you can’t do something honors your Organismic Rights to Exist and to Have Needs. It took me a while to let myself reach out to others, and it amazed me how eager they were to help, and how deeply satisfying it was for them.Pad Your Schedule – When you’re in the middle of a personal crisis or profound hardship, you’re not fully present. You can’t be. Part of you is processing the trauma, grief, shock of the experience. And based on the degree of intensity, the part of you that’s temporarily “away” can be a huge part. When my stepson died it was a world-jarring shock—one day he was fine, then boom! The next morning he was gone. A large part of me was pre-occupied with deep grieving for many months. So I worked less, and set deadlines with 2-3x the wiggle room I normally allocated.Get Into Nature – There’s nothing like nature to be life-affirming, especially when we need to remember beauty, grace and the peace of stillness. Even a 30 minute quiet walk in the trees or a park can bring one peace. Ideally you’ll be surrounded by quiet and forest, yet do what you can.Meditate – Learning to cultivate internal peace and quiet provides you with a sanctuary you can always retreat to. Even a mere 5 minutes a day starts to train your mind that it’s not in charge—your higher self, which witnesses the constant barrage of your thoughts, is actually in charge.Watch Movies That Help You Feel – You may need to laugh and lighten up, you may need to cry and let it all out. An executive coaching client of mine once told me he didn’t cry, it just wasn’t something he did. Then a personal hardship occurred in his life and he needed to cry, he needed the release. But he wouldn’t let himself. Then the suppressed sorrow became anger. I urged him to watch one of a variety of movies that would help him cry. Finally he agreed to, and he cried for several hours. He finally let it all out. And he’s been a different, gentler, kinder, more connected person since.Honor The Process – Healing from a personal hardship will take different amounts of time for different people. Honor your and their process, without setting expectations and deadlines (hey! Aren’t you done grieving yet? = not cool!). The seasons take time, so does healing. Chill. Enjoy the process, let it unfold, gather the wisdom from it, as later you’ll look back on it as a transformative time.The Net-NetSooner or later we all have to navigate our work while moving through a personal hardship. Asking others for help, giving yourself internal and external space, and getting into nature help a great deal.Are you navigating a personal hardship right now? If so, what’s helping you?To learn more about the retreat, visit www.beyondyourbrain.com, where you'll find information about our upcoming retreat!Resources Mentioned:Emotion Wheel: https://smarttribesinstitute.com/emotional-wheel/Organismic Rights: https://smarttribesinstitute.com/organismic-rights/Cultivate Internal Peace: https://www.forbes.com/sites/christinecomaford/2012/04/04/got-inner-peace-5-ways-to-get-it-now/#120fe6706672Beyond Your Brain Retreat: www.beyondyourbrain.comContact Christine: https://smarttribesinstitute.com/contact/You’re busy growing. Let’s have a strategy session when it makes sense, which means you are…· Committed to getting better results and finding out how awesome your performance can truly be· Ready to make this a priority and get started in the next few months· Allocating budget to improving the leadership, culture and results of you and your company· Able to make the decision to move forward (or can convince the person who can)Ready? Great! Please fill out the form here. If not, check out our resources and subscribe to receive news and more tools as they become available, and we’ll work together when the time is right. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Once you reach your 40s, or possibly even earlier, you’re likely to have experienced a profound personal hardship, which you had to navigate through while keeping your job. Whether it’s the death of a loved one, a divorce, a life-threatening disease, a significant injury or something else, personal hardship takes its toll on us all at one point or another. <h2>Here are some tips to care for yourself and others when these twists and turns of life occur:</h2> <ul><li>Check In with Yourself – <a href="https://smarttribesinstitute.com/emotional-wheel/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">The Emotion Wheel </a>is a helpful tool to get you in touch with how you’re feeling. Give yourself the gift of being honest when others ask you how you are. When my father passed away and people asked how I was I’d say “really sad” or whatever was true. Then I’d notice people would either try to talk me into feeling better (Don’t do this! Let a person feel what they feel.), or they’d change the topic, or they’d meet me where I was with compassion and kindness. The latter always felt best. When you’re going through a hardship your job is to feel and process it, not to fake it to make others feel better. That approach will only suppress the grief and lengthen the healing process.</li></ul> <ul><li>Ask For Help – Yes, many of us have been taught that this is a sign of weakness (as is vulnerability), but it couldn’t be farther from the truth. People want to help. It feels good. And when they are asked for help, it lights up the reward center in their brain and is deeply fulfilling to them [I suggest you look into the work of Naomi Eisenberger of UCLA if this interests you.]. Asking for help is actually generous to others, as well as to yourself. Saying you can’t do something honors your <a href="https://smarttribesinstitute.com/organismic-rights/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Organismic Rights to Exist and to Have Needs.</a> It took me a while to let myself reach out to others, and it amazed me how eager they were to help, and how deeply satisfying it was for them.</li></ul> <ul><li>Pad Your Schedule – When you’re in the middle of a personal crisis or profound hardship, you’re not fully present. You can’t be. <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/christinecomaford/2018/06/23/become-emotionally-resilient-in-3-minutes-per-day/#793d3234a93c" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Part of you </a>is processing the trauma, grief, shock of the experience. And based on the degree of intensity, the part of you that’s temporarily “away” can be a huge part. When my stepson died it was a world-jarring shock—one day he was fine, then boom! The next morning he was gone. A large part of me was pre-occupied with deep grieving for many months. So I worked less, and set deadlines with 2-3x the wiggle room I normally allocated.</li></ul> <ul><li>Get Into Nature – There’s nothing like nature to be life-affirming, especially when we need to remember beauty, grace and the peace of stillness. Even a 30 minute quiet walk in the trees or a park can bring one peace. Ideally you’ll be surrounded by quiet and forest, yet do what you can.</li></ul> <ul><li>Meditate – Learning to <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/christinecomaford/2012/04/04/got-inner-peace-5-ways-to-get-it-now/#120fe6706672" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">cultivate internal peace</a> and quiet provides you with a sanctuary you can always retreat to. Even a mere 5 minutes a day starts to train your mind that it’s not in charge—your higher self, which witnesses the constant barrage of your thoughts, is actually in charge.</li></ul> <ul><li>Watch Movies That Help You Feel – You may need to laugh and lighten up, you may need to cry and let it all out. An executive coaching client of mine once told me he didn’t cry, it just wasn’t something he did. Then a personal hardship occurred in his life and he needed to cry, he needed the release. But he wouldn’t let himself. Then the suppressed sorrow became anger. I urged him to watch one of a variety of movies that would help him cry. Finally he agreed to, and he cried for several hours. He finally let it all out. And he’s been a different, gentler, kinder, more connected person since.</li></ul> <ul><li>Honor The Process – Healing from a personal hardship will take different amounts of time for different people. <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/christinecomaford/2018/03/24/emotionally-resilient-leadership-starts-with-embracing-energetic-weight-a-case-study/#6f70827a2633" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Honor your and their process</a>, without setting expectations and deadlines (hey! Aren’t you done grieving yet? = not cool!). The seasons take time, so does healing. Chill. Enjoy the process, let it unfold, gather the wisdom from it, as later you’ll look back on it as a transformative time.</li></ul> <h2>The Net-Net</h2> Sooner or later we all have to navigate our work while moving through a personal hardship. Asking others for help, giving yourself internal and external space, and getting into nature help a great deal.Are you navigating a personal hardship right now? If so, what’s helping you?To learn more about the retreat, visit <a href="https://shows.pippa.io/www.beyondyourbrain.com" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">www.beyondyourbrain.com</a>, where you'll find information about our upcoming retreat!Resources Mentioned:<ul><li><a href="https://smarttribesinstitute.com/emotional-wheel/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Emotion Wheel:</a> <a href="https://smarttribesinstitute.com/emotional-wheel/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">https://smarttribesinstitute.com/emotional-wheel/</a></li><li><a href="https://smarttribesinstitute.com/organismic-rights/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Organismic Rights</a>: <a href="https://smarttribesinstitute.com/organismic-rights/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">https://smarttribesinstitute.com/organismic-rights/</a></li><li><a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/christinecomaford/2012/04/04/got-inner-peace-5-ways-to-get-it-now/#120fe6706672" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Cultivate Internal Peace:</a> <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/christinecomaford/2012/04/04/got-inner-peace-5-ways-to-get-it-now/#120fe6706672" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">https://www.forbes.com/sites/christinecomaford/2012/04/04/got-inner-peace-5-ways-to-get-it-now/#120fe6706672</a></li><li><a href="www.beyondyourbrain.com" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Beyond Your Brain Retreat:</a> <a href="https://shows.pippa.io/www.beyondyourbrain.com" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">www.beyondyourbrain.com</a></li><li><a href="https://smarttribesinstitute.com/contact/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Contact Christine</a>: <a href="https://smarttribesinstitute.com/contact/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">https://smarttribesinstitute.com/contact/</a></li></ul> You’re busy growing. Let’s have a <a href="https://smarttribesinstitute.com/strategy-session/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">strategy session</a> when it makes sense, which means you are…· Committed to getting better results and finding out how awesome your performance can truly be· Ready to make this a priority and get started in the next few months· Allocating budget to improving the leadership, culture and results of you and your company· Able to make the decision to move forward (or can convince the person who can)Ready? Great! Please<a href="https://smarttribesinstitute.com/strategy-session/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"> fill out the form here</a>. If not, check out <a href="https://smarttribesinstitute.com/resources/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">our resources</a> and <a href="https://smarttribesinstitute.com/subscribe-2/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">subscribe</a> to receive news and more tools as they become available, and we’ll work together when the time is right. Hosted on Acast. See <a href="https://acast.com/privacy" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">acast.com/privacy</a> for more information.

Working Through Personal Hardship 

Have you ever considered using neuroscience to optimize engagement, performance, recruiting, and retention in your organization? At SmartTribes Institute, we continually strive to apply cutting edge neuroscience tools and resources to modern day businesses and people. If you'd like a taste, check out our upcoming Culture Camp! And, of course, apply the practices in these podcast episodes as well.We’ve all felt how draining fear-based emotions can be. Nothing saps our life force more than panic, overreaction, and unexpected upsets.What if you could choose how you felt with ease? It starts with shifting from resistance to consent. Thankfully, there’s a proven process that walks you through each step along the way. At SmartTribes Institute, we use the Maneuvers of Consciousness infographic for this!Remember: whatever we focus on, we fuel. When we put time and energy into resisting an emotion, we make it stronger. But if we consent to feeling what is, we shift our relationship to what’s happening and begin to loosen up our emotional experience. Once we’ve added more options to our menu of emotional choices, we can maneuver, or change, our consciousness (that is, our current conscious emotional experience) quite easily. Human beings are inherently resilient - some of us just haven’t realized it yet.First, think of something you are resisting. Pick something meaty, like a painful belief; a belittling, angry, or unpleasant person; or a situation you really don’t want in your life. Have a timer handy because you’ll be doing four segments of three minutes in a row. Use the Emotion Wheel infographic for this. Ideally, you’ll do this exercise with a buddy who will sit silently with you and ensure that you use all three minutes for each step below:Step 1. Negative Evaluation State: Have your buddy set the timer for three minutes. During those three minutes, say out loud all the things you don’t like about what you’re resisting: what’s bad about it, what you can’t stand about it, how painful it is, how it makes you feel, why it’s wrong. Really go all out. As soon as the three minutes are up, look at the Emotion Wheel and identify the key emotions you experienced during this state of Negative Evaluation.Then have your buddy break your state. He or she can invite you to shake your body out, ask you a nonsequitur question involving a number, such as “How many stripes does a zebra have?”, or even ask you to count backwards from 10 to 1.Step 2. Curiosity State: Have your buddy set the timer for three minutes. Now get really curious about this situation. How did it come to be? What is interesting about it? What is familiar about it? What good things come from it? As soon as the three minutes are up, look at the Emotion Wheel and identify your key emotions from this state of curiosity.Then, have your buddy break your state by inviting you to shake your body out, asking you a nonsequitur question involving a number, such as “How many spots does a cheetah have?”, or asking you to count backwards from 10 to 1.Step 3. Amazement State: Have your buddy set the timer for three minutes, and actively become amazed that this situation ever came to be. Wow, this is fascinating! What’s amazing about it? How do you feel about it? As soon as the three minutes are up, look at the Emotion Wheel and identify the key emotions you noticed in this state of Amazement.Then, have your buddy break your state. He or she might invite you to shake your body out, ask you a nonsequitur question involving a number, such as “How many grains of sand are on a perfect beach?”, or ask you to count backwards from 10 to 1.Step 4. Full Appreciation State: Have your buddy set the timer for three minutes. Ahhhh...deep breath. Honor everything about this situation: “Yes! This has been so very helpful in bringing me to the next level. Wow.” So much gratitude and appreciation. How do you feel about it as you’re honoring it? As soon as the three minutes are up, look at the Emotion Wheel and identify key emotions you experienced while in this state of Full Appreciation.Then have your buddy break your state. He or she could invite you to shake your body out, ask you a nonsequitur question involving a number, such as “What’s your favorite number?”, or even ask you to count backwards from 10 to 1.Not only does this process help release resistance, but it also allows us to have choices and to increase our productivity. The quicker we can shift out of resistance and into consent, the faster we can focus on what really moves the needle.Once you’ve given this process a try, I’d love to hear about how it worked for you! (And if you're ready for more, check out the Outcome Frame infographic!)Resources Mentioned:Culture Camp: https://www.smarttribesinstitute.com/culture-camp/Emotion Wheel Infographic: https://www.smarttribesinstitute.com/secret-controlling-emotions-control/Maneuvers of Consciousness Infographic: https://www.smarttribesinstitute.com/maneuvers-of-consciousness-shift-resistance/Outcome Frame: https://www.smarttribesinstitute.com/outcome-frame/Contact Christine: https://smarttribesinstitute.com/contact/Strategy Session: https://smarttribesinstitute.com/strategy-session/You’re busy growing. Let’s have a strategy session when it makes sense, which means you are…· Committed to getting better results and finding out how awesome your performance can truly be· Ready to make this a priority and get started in the next few months· Allocating budget to improving the leadership, culture and results of you and your company· Able to make the decision to move forward (or can convince the person who can)Ready? Great! Please fill out the form here. If not, check out our resourcesand subscribe to receive news and more tools as they become available, and we’ll work together when the time is right. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Have you ever considered using neuroscience to optimize engagement, performance, recruiting, and retention in your organization? At SmartTribes Institute, we continually strive to apply cutting edge neuroscience tools and resources to modern day businesses and people. If you'd like a taste, check out our upcoming <a href="https://www.smarttribesinstitute.com/culture-camp/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Culture Camp</a>! And, of course, apply the practices in these podcast episodes as well.We’ve all felt how draining <a href="https://www.smarttribesinstitute.com/areyouemotionallyagile/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">fear-based emotions</a> can be. Nothing saps our life force more than panic, overreaction, and unexpected upsets.What if you could choose how you felt with ease? It starts with shifting from resistance to consent. Thankfully, there’s a proven process that walks you through each step along the way. At SmartTribes Institute, we use the <a href="https://www.smarttribesinstitute.com/maneuvers-of-consciousness-shift-resistance/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Maneuvers of Consciousness</a> infographic for this!Remember: whatever we focus on, we fuel. When we put time and energy into resisting an emotion, we make it stronger. But if we consent to feeling what is, we shift our relationship to what’s happening and begin to loosen up our emotional experience. Once we’ve added more options to our menu of emotional choices, we can maneuver, or change, our consciousness (that is, our current conscious emotional experience) quite easily. Human beings are inherently resilient - some of us just haven’t realized it yet.First, think of something you are resisting. Pick something meaty, like a painful belief; a belittling, angry, or unpleasant person; or a situation you really don’t want in your life. Have a timer handy because you’ll be doing four segments of three minutes in a row. Use t<a href="https://www.smarttribesinstitute.com/secret-controlling-emotions-control/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">he Emotion Wheel infographic</a> for this. Ideally, you’ll do this exercise with a buddy who will sit silently with you and ensure that you use all three minutes for each step below:Step 1. Negative Evaluation State: Have your buddy set the timer for three minutes. During those three minutes, say out loud all the things you don’t like about what you’re resisting: what’s bad about it, what you can’t stand about it, how painful it is, how it makes you feel, why it’s wrong. Really go all out. As soon as the three minutes are up, look at the <a href="https://www.smarttribesinstitute.com/secret-controlling-emotions-control/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Emotion Wheel</a> and identify the key emotions you experienced during this state of Negative Evaluation.Then have your buddy break your state. He or she can invite you to shake your body out, ask you a nonsequitur question involving a number, such as “How many stripes does a zebra have?”, or even ask you to count backwards from 10 to 1.Step 2. Curiosity State: Have your buddy set the timer for three minutes. Now get really curious about this situation. How did it come to be? What is interesting about it? What is familiar about it? What good things come from it? As soon as the three minutes are up, look at the <a href="https://www.smarttribesinstitute.com/secret-controlling-emotions-control/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Emotion Wheel</a> and identify your key emotions from this state of curiosity.Then, have your buddy break your state by inviting you to shake your body out, asking you a nonsequitur question involving a number, such as “How many spots does a cheetah have?”, or asking you to count backwards from 10 to 1.Step 3. Amazement State: Have your buddy set the timer for three minutes, and actively become amazed that this situation ever came to be. Wow, this is fascinating! What’s amazing about it? How do you feel about it? As soon as the three minutes are up, look at the<a href="https://www.smarttribesinstitute.com/secret-controlling-emotions-control/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"> Emotion Wheel</a> and identify the key emotions you noticed in this state of Amazement.Then, have your buddy break your state. He or she might invite you to shake your body out, ask you a nonsequitur question involving a number, such as “How many grains of sand are on a perfect beach?”, or ask you to count backwards from 10 to 1.Step 4. Full Appreciation State: Have your buddy set the timer for three minutes. Ahhhh...deep breath. Honor everything about this situation: “Yes! This has been so very helpful in bringing me to the next level. Wow.” So much gratitude and appreciation. How do you feel about it as you’re honoring it? As soon as the three minutes are up, look at the <a href="https://www.smarttribesinstitute.com/secret-controlling-emotions-control/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Emotion Wheel</a> and identify key emotions you experienced while in this state of Full Appreciation.Then have your buddy break your state. He or she could invite you to shake your body out, ask you a nonsequitur question involving a number, such as “What’s your favorite number?”, or even ask you to count backwards from 10 to 1.Not only does this process help release resistance, but it also allows us to have choices and to increase our productivity. The quicker we can shift out of resistance and into consent, the faster we can focus on what really moves the needle.Once you’ve given this process a try, I’d love to hear about how it worked for you! (And if you're ready for more, check out the <a href="https://www.smarttribesinstitute.com/outcome-frame/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Outcome Frame</a> infographic!)Resources Mentioned:<ul><li><a href="https://www.smarttribesinstitute.com/culture-camp/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Culture Camp</a>: <a href="https://www.smarttribesinstitute.com/culture-camp/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">https://www.smarttribesinstitute.com/culture-camp/</a></li><li><a href="https://www.smarttribesinstitute.com/secret-controlling-emotions-control/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Emotion Wheel</a> Infographic: <a href="https://www.smarttribesinstitute.com/secret-controlling-emotions-control/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">https://www.smarttribesinstitute.com/secret-controlling-emotions-control/</a></li><li><a href="https://www.smarttribesinstitute.com/maneuvers-of-consciousness-shift-resistance/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Maneuvers of Consciousness</a> Infographic: <a href="https://www.smarttribesinstitute.com/maneuvers-of-consciousness-shift-resistance/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">https://www.smarttribesinstitute.com/maneuvers-of-consciousness-shift-resistance/</a></li><li><a href="https://www.smarttribesinstitute.com/outcome-frame/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Outcome Frame</a>: <a href="https://www.smarttribesinstitute.com/outcome-frame/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">https://www.smarttribesinstitute.com/outcome-frame/</a></li><li><a href="https://smarttribesinstitute.com/contact/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Contact Christine</a>: <a href="https://smarttribesinstitute.com/contact/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">https://smarttribesinstitute.com/contact/</a></li><li><a href="https://smarttribesinstitute.com/strategy-session/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Strategy Session</a>: <a href="https://smarttribesinstitute.com/strategy-session/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">https://smarttribesinstitute.com/strategy-session/</a></li></ul> You’re busy growing. Let’s have a <a href="https://smarttribesinstitute.com/strategy-session/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">strategy session</a> when it makes sense, which means you are…· Committed to getting better results and finding out how awesome your performance can truly be· Ready to make this a priority and get started in the next few months· Allocating budget to improving the leadership, culture and results of you and your company· Able to make the decision to move forward (or can convince the person who can)Ready? Great! Please<a href="https://smarttribesinstitute.com/strategy-session/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"> fill out the form here</a>. If not, check out <a href="https://smarttribesinstitute.com/resources/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">our resources</a>and <a href="https://smarttribesinstitute.com/subscribe-2/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">subscribe</a> to receive news and more tools as they become available, and we’ll work together when the time is right. Hosted on Acast. See <a href="https://acast.com/privacy" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">acast.com/privacy</a> for more information.

How to Feel Better in 12 Minutes

How much truth do you tell? The whole truth? The partial truth? The preferred truth?I’ve been noticing how uncomfortable truth can be for people to hear, and I’m getting really curious as to why we lie so often. When did it become “not ok” to say what was really going on?When did we start dancing around our needs, our truth, our beliefs?Did it really make us more safe? Enable us to belong? Enable us to matter?I read Neale Donald Walsch’s Conversations with God – Part 2 recently and liked the way he laid out the 5 levels of truth telling (you’ll see them below).Take The Truth ChallengeSo I invite you to take the Truth Challenge. I think if you spend one week telling only the truth you’ll find it so liberating that you’ll want to do it for another week, and another, and maybe even the rest of your life.I’ve been experimenting with this and have found it tremendously freeing. First, though, a disclaimer: we don’t tell a truth the intentionally hurts another. So if a friend says “do I look fat in these jeans?” you have a choice. If you think it’s true you can say “Yep, sure do” or you can say “The black pants are far more flattering on you” or “You look awesome in skirts” or whatever will be honest but not crush your pal’s self-image.Here are some ways you can tell the truth, ranked from easiest to more challenging:Tell the truth to yourself about yourself. This is where we really admit what is or isn’t working for us, who we really are, what we really need, what is crushing our soul, what changes we need to make, what we truly believe and are willing to stand up for, even to live and die for. I recently told myself that I need more vacations and down time. I love my work so much that I can overdo it. Then I get tired, crabby, not as much fun to be around. So I told my team. They were jubilant and are now holding me to this truth—even when I try to be superwoman—then they say “that’s not how it’s going to be…” They are honoring my truth. I love it.Tell the truth to yourself about another. This is where we cop to who a person really is, what they are and aren’t capable of or comfortable with, where they can and cannot show up for us, whether we feel connected to them or not, whether they have our back or not, you get the idea. I recently re-decided to accept people exactly as they are. I had decided this on August 15, 2005 but I had back-slided (to tell the truth J). Now I’ve recommitted. People get to be who they are, and I get to accept them fully or not hang out with them. Ahh. So much simpler than wishing they would change!Tell the truth about yourself to another. This is about being seen, standing in who you are, being ok not being perfect (whatever that means!). I once had a hospice patient that was struggling with letting go and accepting her dying process. This was surprising to me, as she was the wife of a minister and I had assumed she was at peace with her creator and dying. She wasn’t. So I created a subtle opening one day for her to share her experience (she was a very “together” woman who didn’t speak about feelings much). After some talking around the topic she looked me in the eye, and said she had neither peace about how she had lived her life nor about her rapidly approaching death. That’s when everything changed for her. We worked through this together, and when she did die 5 weeks later she was ready. She was grateful, peaceful, complete.Tell the truth about another to another. This is where I want to stress kindness and acceptance of another’s humanity (read: blind spots) so we can be both truthful and sensitive. We don’t need to tell a truth that doesn’t add value… this “truth telling” can decline rapidly into gossip. Rather when I realized that I had been expecting a junior team member to take on huge challenges that he wasn’t capable of, that weren’t appropriate for him to take on, that were too risky I simply told his leader this. Previously I had been encouraging his leader to stretch him… but once I really looked at him I saw this was a disservice. He wasn’t ready.Tell the truth to everyone about everything. This involves being straightforward, kind, and giving yourself a moment to gather your thoughts before speaking if need be (not entirely popular, especially in the talk-or-be-talked-over cultures). Pausing is a gift to yourself, just like saying “let me think about that and get back to you” is.What would it be like for you to tell the truth—all 5 types–for a week?------Have you ever considered using neuroscience to optimize engagement, performance, recruiting, and retention in your organization? At SmartTribes Institute, we continually strive to apply cutting edge neuroscience tools and resources to modern day businesses and people. If you'd like a taste, check out our upcoming Culture Camp! And, of course, apply the practices in these podcast episodes as well.------Resources Mentioned:Culture Camp: https://www.smarttribesinstitute.com/culture-camp/Beyond Your Brain: https://www.smarttribesinstitute.com/stiretreat/Conversations With God, Part 2: http://www.amazon.com/Conversations-God-Book-Honesty-Courage-ebook/dp/B007JYF2HQ/ref=asap_bc?ie=UTF8Contact Christine: https://smarttribesinstitute.com/contact/Strategy Session: https://smarttribesinstitute.com/strategy-session/You’re busy growing. Let’s have a strategy session when it makes sense, which means you are…· Committed to getting better results and finding out how awesome your performance can truly be· Ready to make this a priority and get started in the next few months· Allocating budget to improving the leadership, culture and results of you and your company· Able to make the decision to move forward (or can convince the person who can)Ready? Great! Please fill out the form here. If not, check out our resourcesand subscribe to receive news and more tools as they become available, and we’ll work together when the time is right. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

How much truth do you tell? The whole truth? The partial truth? The preferred truth?I’ve been noticing how uncomfortable truth can be for people to hear, and I’m getting really curious as to why we lie so often. When did it become “not ok” to say what was really going on?When did we start dancing around our needs, our truth, our beliefs?Did it really make us more safe? Enable us to belong? Enable us to matter?I read <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Conversations-God-Book-Honesty-Courage-ebook/dp/B007JYF2HQ/ref=asap_bc?ie=UTF8" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Neale Donald Walsch’s Conversations with God – Part 2 </a>recently and liked the way he laid out the 5 levels of truth telling (you’ll see them below).Take The Truth ChallengeSo I invite you to take the Truth Challenge. I think if you spend one week telling only the truth you’ll find it so liberating that you’ll want to do it for another week, and another, and maybe even the rest of your life.I’ve been experimenting with this and have found it tremendously freeing. First, though, a disclaimer: we don’t tell a truth the intentionally hurts another. So if a friend says “do I look fat in these jeans?” you have a choice. If you think it’s true you can say “Yep, sure do” or you can say “The black pants are far more flattering on you” or “You look awesome in skirts” or whatever will be honest but not crush your pal’s self-image.Here are some ways you can tell the truth, ranked from easiest to more challenging: <ul><li>Tell the truth to yourself about yourself. This is where we really admit what is or isn’t working for us, who we really are, what we really need, what is crushing our soul, what changes we need to make, what we truly believe and are willing to stand up for, even to live and die for. I recently told myself that I need more vacations and down time. I love my work so much that I can overdo it. Then I get tired, crabby, not as much fun to be around. So I told my team. They were jubilant and are now holding me to this truth—even when I try to be superwoman—then they say “that’s not how it’s going to be…” They are honoring my truth. I love it.</li></ul> <ul><li>Tell the truth to yourself about another. This is where we cop to who a person really is, what they are and aren’t capable of or comfortable with, where they can and cannot show up for us, whether we feel connected to them or not, whether they have our back or not, you get the idea. I recently re-decided to accept people exactly as they are. I had decided this on August 15, 2005 but I had back-slided (to tell the truth J). Now I’ve recommitted. People get to be who they are, and I get to accept them fully or not hang out with them. Ahh. So much simpler than wishing they would change!</li></ul> <ul><li>Tell the truth about yourself to another. This is about being seen, standing in who you are, being ok not being perfect (whatever that means!). I once had a hospice patient that was struggling with letting go and accepting her dying process. This was surprising to me, as she was the wife of a minister and I had assumed she was at peace with her creator and dying. She wasn’t. So I created a subtle opening one day for her to share her experience (she was a very “together” woman who didn’t speak about feelings much). After some talking around the topic she looked me in the eye, and said she had neither peace about how she had lived her life nor about her rapidly approaching death. That’s when everything changed for her. We worked through this together, and when she did die 5 weeks later she was ready. She was grateful, peaceful, complete.</li></ul> <ul><li>Tell the truth about another to another. This is where I want to stress kindness and acceptance of another’s humanity (read: blind spots) so we can be both truthful and sensitive. We don’t need to tell a truth that doesn’t add value… this “truth telling” can decline rapidly into gossip. Rather when I realized that I had been expecting a junior team member to take on huge challenges that he wasn’t capable of, that weren’t appropriate for him to take on, that were too risky I simply told his leader this. Previously I had been encouraging his leader to stretch him… but once I really looked at him I saw this was a disservice. He wasn’t ready.</li></ul> <ul><li>Tell the truth to everyone about everything. This involves being straightforward, kind, and giving yourself a moment to gather your thoughts before speaking if need be (not entirely popular, especially in the talk-or-be-talked-over cultures). Pausing is a gift to yourself, just like saying “let me think about that and get back to you” is.</li></ul> What would it be like for you to tell the truth—all 5 types–for a week?------Have you ever considered using neuroscience to optimize engagement, performance, recruiting, and retention in your organization? At SmartTribes Institute, we continually strive to apply cutting edge neuroscience tools and resources to modern day businesses and people. If you'd like a taste, check out our upcoming <a href="https://www.smarttribesinstitute.com/culture-camp/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Culture Camp</a>! And, of course, apply the practices in these podcast episodes as well.------Resources Mentioned:<ul><li><a href="https://www.smarttribesinstitute.com/culture-camp/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Culture Camp</a>: <a href="https://www.smarttribesinstitute.com/culture-camp/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">https://www.smarttribesinstitute.com/culture-camp/</a></li><li><a href="https://www.smarttribesinstitute.com/stiretreat/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Beyond Your Brain</a>: <a href="https://www.smarttribesinstitute.com/stiretreat/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">https://www.smarttribesinstitute.com/stiretreat/</a></li><li><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Conversations-God-Book-Honesty-Courage-ebook/dp/B007JYF2HQ/ref=asap_bc?ie=UTF8" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Conversations With God, Part 2</a>: <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Conversations-God-Book-Honesty-Courage-ebook/dp/B007JYF2HQ/ref=asap_bc?ie=UTF8" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">http://www.amazon.com/Conversations-God-Book-Honesty-Courage-ebook/dp/B007JYF2HQ/ref=asap_bc?ie=UTF8</a></li><li><a href="https://smarttribesinstitute.com/contact/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Contact Christine</a>: <a href="https://smarttribesinstitute.com/contact/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">https://smarttribesinstitute.com/contact/</a></li><li><a href="https://smarttribesinstitute.com/strategy-session/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Strategy Session</a>: <a href="https://smarttribesinstitute.com/strategy-session/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">https://smarttribesinstitute.com/strategy-session/</a></li></ul> You’re busy growing. Let’s have a <a href="https://smarttribesinstitute.com/strategy-session/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">strategy session</a> when it makes sense, which means you are…· Committed to getting better results and finding out how awesome your performance can truly be· Ready to make this a priority and get started in the next few months· Allocating budget to improving the leadership, culture and results of you and your company· Able to make the decision to move forward (or can convince the person who can)Ready? Great! Please<a href="https://smarttribesinstitute.com/strategy-session/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"> fill out the form here</a>. If not, check out <a href="https://smarttribesinstitute.com/resources/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">our resources</a>and <a href="https://smarttribesinstitute.com/subscribe-2/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">subscribe</a> to receive news and more tools as they become available, and we’ll work together when the time is right. Hosted on Acast. See <a href="https://acast.com/privacy" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">acast.com/privacy</a> for more information.

Are you telling the 5 types of truth?

Humans have one hundred billion available neurons...yet only 15% are activated, according to Heart Math Institute. Why? Because we tend to focus so heavily outside of ourselves.Today, I'd like to talk more about what mindfulness is, and how we might use it.Last week, I mentioned how there was an 8 week study done that showed how meditation can start actually regenerating gray matter in the brain. We can increase our brain and cell function when we meditate. That impacts our ability to envision, plan, and remember. We can also decreases our tendency to have "monkey mind", a wandering brain that is just meandering from thought to thought for no purpose.Dr. Wayne Deyer shares that we have about 60,000 thoughts per day, and about 90% of those are repetitive. What would happen if we only thought those thoughts once? Well, we'd have a huge amount of space! Space for concentration, thinking, sleeping, processing -- when we stop our thoughts, we stop the world.After all, our thoughts come from the ego, and the ego is the voice of fear.I believe we have repetitive thoughts because many of us haven't learned to train our brains. The good news? You CAN train your brain, and you can do it pretty darn fast. If you commit to 5 minutes a day, you'll notice a difference in 30 days or less . Let's give this exercise a try:Sit up straight, in a chair or cross legged.Visualize sending a thick root from the base of your spine down into the ground. This root can also come from the bottom of your tailbone and feet, into the earth. Picture the deep roots you're sending down into the ground. Envision themDraw the energy from the earth into your body - let your stomach distend, as if you're full of earth energy. You'll want to feel it moving up your spine - the base, your pelvic area, naval area, heart, and into the chest. Hold it there until you feel a slight burn, then exhale it up through your throat, to the third eye, and then the crown. Envision it passing through the top of the head. (If you're familiar with the chakra system, you can visualize the energy moving through your chakras.)Essentially, you're inhaling earth energy, holding it, then moving it up through the top of your head.Once you're proficient doing that, try adding "running" energy. Now we're going to add down.On the inhale, pull earth energy up through the top of your head. On the exhale, see white light moving down into the top of your head and through your body.As you practice this, you'll start to notice increased levels of energy. You'll be more able to stand in the weight of your own energy. You'll have more insights, and more connection, and even a greater sense of connection with the divine. The more still you get, the more you'll find answers bubbling up from your subconscious mind.Every great leader I know is able to stop the world by stopping their thoughts. This is one of the best ways to assess your strengths, decisions, and conflicts.How are you stopping the world?To learn more, visit www.beyondyourbrain.com, where you'll find information about our upcoming retreat!Resources Mentioned:Beyond Your Brain RetreatContact Christine: https://smarttribesinstitute.com/contact/You’re busy growing. Let’s have a strategy session when it makes sense, which means you are…· Committed to getting better results and finding out how awesome your performance can truly be· Ready to make this a priority and get started in the next few months· Allocating budget to improving the leadership, culture and results of you and your company· Able to make the decision to move forward (or can convince the person who can)Ready? Great! Please fill out the form here. If not, check out our resourcesand subscribe to receive news and more tools as they become available, and we’ll work together when the time is right. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Humans have one hundred billion available neurons...yet only 15% are activated, according to Heart Math Institute. Why? Because we tend to focus so heavily outside of ourselves.Today, I'd like to talk more about what mindfulness is, and how we might use it.<a href="https://shows.pippa.io/crack-the-behavior-code/episodes/mindfulness-meditation-leadership" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Last week</a>, I mentioned how there was an 8 week study done that showed how meditation can start actually regenerating gray matter in the brain. We can increase our brain and cell function when we meditate. That impacts our ability to envision, plan, and remember. We can also decreases our tendency to have "monkey mind", a wandering brain that is just meandering from thought to thought for no purpose.Dr. Wayne Deyer shares that we have about 60,000 thoughts per day, and about 90% of those are repetitive. What would happen if we only thought those thoughts once? Well, we'd have a huge amount of space! Space for concentration, thinking, sleeping, processing -- when we stop our thoughts, we stop the world.After all, our thoughts come from the ego, and the ego is the voice of fear.I believe we have repetitive thoughts because many of us haven't learned to train our brains. The good news? You CAN train your brain, and you can do it pretty darn fast. If you commit to 5 minutes a day, you'll notice a difference in 30 days or less . Let's give this exercise a try:Sit up straight, in a chair or cross legged.Visualize sending a thick root from the base of your spine down into the ground. This root can also come from the bottom of your tailbone and feet, into the earth. Picture the deep roots you're sending down into the ground. Envision themDraw the energy from the earth into your body - let your stomach distend, as if you're full of earth energy. You'll want to feel it moving up your spine - the base, your pelvic area, naval area, heart, and into the chest. Hold it there until you feel a slight burn, then exhale it up through your throat, to the third eye, and then the crown. Envision it passing through the top of the head. (If you're familiar with the chakra system, you can visualize the energy moving through your chakras.)Essentially, you're inhaling earth energy, holding it, then moving it up through the top of your head.Once you're proficient doing that, try adding "running" energy. Now we're going to add down.On the inhale, pull earth energy up through the top of your head. On the exhale, see white light moving down into the top of your head and through your body.As you practice this, you'll start to notice increased levels of energy. You'll be more able to stand in the weight of your own energy. You'll have more insights, and more connection, and even a greater sense of connection with the divine. The more still you get, the more you'll find answers bubbling up from your subconscious mind.Every great leader I know is able to stop the world by stopping their thoughts. This is one of the best ways to assess your strengths, decisions, and conflicts.How are you stopping the world? To learn more, visit <a href="https://shows.pippa.io/www.beyondyourbrain.com" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">www.beyondyourbrain.com</a>, where you'll find information about our upcoming retreat!Resources Mentioned:<ul><li><a href="https://open.acast.com/shows/5d854e4bbd7d8a2b67020e15/episodes/www.beyondyourbrain.com" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Beyond Your Brain Retreat</a></li><li><a href="https://smarttribesinstitute.com/contact/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Contact Christine</a>: <a href="https://smarttribesinstitute.com/contact/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">https://smarttribesinstitute.com/contact/</a></li></ul> You’re busy growing. Let’s have a <a href="https://smarttribesinstitute.com/strategy-session/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">strategy session</a> when it makes sense, which means you are…· Committed to getting better results and finding out how awesome your performance can truly be· Ready to make this a priority and get started in the next few months· Allocating budget to improving the leadership, culture and results of you and your company· Able to make the decision to move forward (or can convince the person who can)Ready? Great! Please<a href="https://smarttribesinstitute.com/strategy-session/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"> fill out the form here</a>. If not, check out <a href="https://smarttribesinstitute.com/resources/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">our resources</a>and <a href="https://smarttribesinstitute.com/subscribe-2/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">subscribe</a> to receive news and more tools as they become available, and we’ll work together when the time is right. Hosted on Acast. See <a href="https://acast.com/privacy" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">acast.com/privacy</a> for more information.

Why Leaders Need to Stop Their Thoughts

Millennials (the generation born between 1980 and 2000) are perhaps the most social--and yet the most surprisingly isolated--employees in history. And no surprises here: they’re taking over the workforce.  Raised in a very different world than prior generations, millennials grew up surrounded by computers and cell phones. 80% have sent a text message in the last 24 hours, compared to 63% of Generation X-ers and only 35% of Baby Boomers. It’s no wonder they have less experience with face-to-face connection, which makes leading them in the workplace a challenge.   While these employees may seem like an enigma, it’s essential to crack their behavioral code. Why? Millennials will make up 75% of the workforce in the next ten years. Here are a few strategies to understanding their work style.  If you'd like to really take a deep dive into how to transform your business culture (and improve your millennial leadership skills), I'd invite you to attend Culture Camp this March! 1. Use their strong technical skills to your benefit.  Do you ever struggle with leveraging technology to further your company? Millennials are wizards when it comes to communicating via computer, phone, and any form of an electronic device. Studies show most millennials form emotional attachments to their smartphones, and 30% said they couldn’t go more than a few hours without their phones.  Don’t deprive millennials access to these forms of communication. In fact, 53% of millennials said they would turn down a job that denied them access to social media.   However, their love for online communication doesn’t mean they don’t also love working face-to-face. Actually, 60% of millennials would prefer to have some form of in-person teamwork.  Creating a balance between allowing them access to technology while also understanding their desire for in-person contact is key. Outdated technology decreases productivity. Let your millennial employees teach you a thing or two about technology, so your company can be more efficient. This will foster that one-on-one contact that they crave while also improving your technological proficiency.   2. Ensure they work in groups.  An IBM study revealed that more than half of millennial workers claimed to work better in groups than alone. They also believe that they made better business decisions when there were various sources of input. On this front, the younger and older generations are in sync. IBM found no significant generational variation when it came to preference toward working in teams.   So what does this mean for you? Here’s what you can do to make your millennials — and other generations — work well as a team.  Emphasize common ground There will always be differences when it comes to the generations. The overall desire to work on a team and improve the organization will help all your employees feel connected to a common goal. Make sure to clearly communicate your organization’s vision to deepen generational bonds among employees.   Embrace the diversity. Recognize and welcome the diversity within the team. According to Harvard Business Review, diverse teams are smarter and more innovative.   3. Give frequent feedback.  The cliché about younger generations growing up with an excessive amount of praise isn’t entirely off-mark. Millennials were a generation raised by parents who asked for their opinions, answered all of their questions, and praised them when they did a good job. They are used to receiving feedback and instant gratification.  In fact, they expect it.   This means that they are less likely to complete a project without asking for some response along the way. Studies show informational feedback enhances learning capabilities and improved performance. Informative feedback generates activity in the prefrontal cortex, the part of your brain responsible for decision-making and cognitive behavior. Even negative feedback can be helpful — to a point.   So how can you implement feedback in a way that will help strengthen your company? A curated report prepared by the Center For Women and Business at Bentley University researched the impact of multi-generations on the workplace. This report helped us learn what each of these groups wants and need to perform at optimal levels. They found that the millennial generation wants coaches, not bosses.  Build extra sessions to brainstorm and give/receive feedback, rather than expect them to just come back later with a completed project. Providing your employees with this extra step in the process, and the space to ask their questions, will make them feel more confident in their projects. Making employees feel heard will improve their mental and physical health, and they will inevitably end up doing a better job.   Net-Net Use this stuff: Taking the time to incorporate their technological literacies, create strong teams, and give feedback will ensure a better future for all involved.   Millennials are an invaluable asset to your company. Be patient with them, listen to them, and remember that they are the future of your company.How are you leading your millennials?Resources Mentioned:Culture Camp: https://www.smarttribesinstitute.com/culture-camp/PEW Trends Research on millennials: http://www.pewsocialtrends.org/files/2010/10/millennials-confident-connected-open-to-change.pdfBently EDU Study: https://www.bentley.edu/impact/articles/nowuknow-millennials-lead-way-digital-futureListening: https://www.forbes.com/sites/christinecomaford/2017/05/06/3-practices-to-become-a-great-listener/Contact Christine: https://smarttribesinstitute.com/contact/You’re busy growing. Let’s have a strategy session when it makes sense, which means you are…· Committed to getting better results and finding out how awesome your performance can truly be· Ready to make this a priority and get started in the next few months· Allocating budget to improving the leadership, culture and results of you and your company· Able to make the decision to move forward (or can convince the person who can)Ready? Great! Please fill out the form here. If not, check out our resourcesand subscribe to receive news and more tools as they become available, and we’ll work together when the time is right. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Millennials (the generation born between 1980 and 2000) are perhaps the most social--and yet <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/carolinebeaton/2017/02/09/why-millennials-are-lonely/#484f36127c35" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">the most surprisingly isolated</a>--employees in history. And no surprises here: they’re taking over the workforce.  Raised in a very different world than prior generations, millennials grew up surrounded by computers and cell phones. <a href="http://www.pewsocialtrends.org/files/2010/10/millennials-confident-connected-open-to-change.pdf" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">80% have sent a text message in the last 24 hours, compared to 63% of Generation X-ers and only 35% of Baby Boomers.</a> It’s no wonder they have less experience with face-to-face connection, which makes leading them in the workplace a challenge.   While these employees may seem like an enigma, it’s essential to crack their behavioral code. Why? <a href="https://www2.deloitte.com/content/dam/Deloitte/global/Documents/About-Deloitte/gx-dttl-2014-millennial-survey-report.pdf" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Millennials will make up 75% of the workforce in the next ten years</a>. Here are a few strategies to understanding their work style.  If you'd like to really take a deep dive into how to transform your business culture (and improve your millennial leadership skills), I'd invite you to attend <a href="https://www.smarttribesinstitute.com/culture-camp/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Culture Camp</a> this March! 1. Use their strong technical skills to your benefit. Do you ever struggle with leveraging technology to further your company? <a href="http://www-01.ibm.com/common/ssi/cgi-bin/ssialias?subtype=XB&amp;infotype=PM&amp;appname=GBSE_GB_TI_USEN&amp;htmlfid=GBE03637USEN&amp;attachment=GBE03637USEN.PDF#loaded" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Millennials are wizards</a> when it comes to communicating via computer, phone, and any form of an electronic device. <a href="https://www.bentley.edu/impact/articles/nowuknow-millennials-lead-way-digital-future" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Studies show</a> most millennials form emotional attachments to their smartphones, and 30% said they couldn’t go more than a few hours without their phones.  Don’t deprive millennials access to these forms of communication. In fact, <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/iese/2016/09/08/managing-millennials-nine-tips/#244642a0cd8a" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">53% of millennials</a> said they would turn down a job that denied them access to social media.   However, their love for online communication doesn’t mean they don’t also love working face-to-face. Actually, <a href="https://wheniwork.com/blog/how-to-manage-millennials/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">60% of millennials</a> would prefer to have some form of in-person teamwork.  Creating a balance between allowing them access to technology while also understanding their desire for in-person contact is key. Outdated technology decreases productivity. Let your millennial employees teach you a thing or two about technology, so your company can be more efficient. This will foster that one-on-one contact that they crave while also improving your technological proficiency.   2. Ensure they work in groups. <a href="http://www-01.ibm.com/common/ssi/cgi-bin/ssialias?subtype=XB&amp;infotype=PM&amp;appname=GBSE_GB_TI_USEN&amp;htmlfid=GBE03637USEN&amp;attachment=GBE03637USEN.PDF#loaded" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">An IBM study</a> revealed that more than half of millennial workers claimed to work better in groups than alone. They also believe that they made better business decisions when there were various sources of input. On this front, the younger and older generations are in sync. IBM found no significant generational variation when it came to preference toward working in teams.   So what does this mean for you? Here’s what you can do to make your millennials — and other generations — work well as a team.  <ul><li>Emphasize common ground </li></ul>There will always be differences when it comes to the <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/christinecomaford/2017/04/22/what-generation-z-wants-from-the-workplace-are-you-ready/#219cbc9753ef" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">generations</a>. The overall desire to work on a team and improve the organization will help all your employees feel connected to a common goal. Make sure to clearly communicate your organization’s vision to deepen generational bonds among employees.   <ul><li>Embrace the diversity. </li></ul>Recognize and welcome the <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/christinecomaford/2016/06/25/how-leaders-bust-unconscious-biases-in-business/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">diversity</a> within the team. According to <a href="https://hbr.org/2016/11/why-diverse-teams-are-smarter" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Harvard Business Review</a>, diverse teams are smarter and more innovative.   3. Give frequent feedback. The cliché about younger generations growing up with an excessive amount of praise isn’t entirely off-mark. Millennials were a generation raised by parents who asked for their opinions, answered all of their questions, and praised them when they did a good job. They are used to receiving feedback and instant gratification.  In fact, they <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/victorlipman/2016/06/27/how-to-effectively-manage-millennials-5-dos-and-donts/#58ed29424f88" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">expect it</a>.   This means that they are less likely to complete a project without asking for some response along the way. <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0042698913002848" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Studies show informational feedback enhances learning capabilities</a> and improved performance. Informative feedback generates activity in the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prefrontal_cortex" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">prefrontal cortex</a>, the part of your brain responsible for decision-making and cognitive behavior. Even negative feedback can be helpful — to a point.   So how can you implement feedback in a way that will help strengthen your company? A curated report prepared by the Center For Women and Business at Bentley University researched the impact of multi-generations on the workplace. This report helped us learn what each of these groups wants and need to perform at optimal levels. They found that the millennial generation <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/christinecomaford/2018/04/14/leaders-increase-employee-engagement-by-300-with-this-daily-practice/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">wants coaches, not bosses</a>.  Build extra sessions to brainstorm and give/receive feedback, rather than expect them to just come back later with a completed project. Providing your employees with this extra step in the process, and the space to ask their questions, will make them feel more confident in their projects. <a href="https://www.iedp.com/articles/how-the-brain-responds-to-feedback/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Making employees feel heard will improve their mental and physical health</a>, and they will inevitably end up doing a better job.   Net-Net Use this stuff: Taking the time to incorporate their technological literacies, create strong teams, and give feedback will ensure a better future for all involved.   Millennials are an invaluable asset to your company. Be patient with them, <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/christinecomaford/2017/05/06/3-practices-to-become-a-great-listener/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">listen to them</a>, and remember that they are the future of your company.How are you leading your millennials? Resources Mentioned: <ul><li><a href="https://www.smarttribesinstitute.com/culture-camp/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Culture Camp</a>: <a href="https://www.smarttribesinstitute.com/culture-camp/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">https://www.smarttribesinstitute.com/culture-camp/</a></li><li><a href="http://www.pewsocialtrends.org/files/2010/10/millennials-confident-connected-open-to-change.pdf" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">PEW Trends Research</a> on millennials: <a href="http://www.pewsocialtrends.org/files/2010/10/millennials-confident-connected-open-to-change.pdf" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">http://www.pewsocialtrends.org/files/2010/10/millennials-confident-connected-open-to-change.pdf</a></li><li><a href="https://www.bentley.edu/impact/articles/nowuknow-millennials-lead-way-digital-future" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Bently EDU Study</a>: <a href="https://www.bentley.edu/impact/articles/nowuknow-millennials-lead-way-digital-future" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">https://www.bentley.edu/impact/articles/nowuknow-millennials-lead-way-digital-future</a></li><li><a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/christinecomaford/2017/05/06/3-practices-to-become-a-great-listener/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Listening</a>: <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/christinecomaford/2017/05/06/3-practices-to-become-a-great-listener/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">https://www.forbes.com/sites/christinecomaford/2017/05/06/3-practices-to-become-a-great-listener/</a></li><li><a href="https://smarttribesinstitute.com/contact/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Contact Christine</a>: <a href="https://smarttribesinstitute.com/contact/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">https://smarttribesinstitute.com/contact/</a></li></ul> You’re busy growing. Let’s have a <a href="https://smarttribesinstitute.com/strategy-session/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">strategy session</a> when it makes sense, which means you are…· Committed to getting better results and finding out how awesome your performance can truly be· Ready to make this a priority and get started in the next few months· Allocating budget to improving the leadership, culture and results of you and your company· Able to make the decision to move forward (or can convince the person who can)Ready? Great! Please<a href="https://smarttribesinstitute.com/strategy-session/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"> fill out the form here</a>. If not, check out <a href="https://smarttribesinstitute.com/resources/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">our resources</a>and <a href="https://smarttribesinstitute.com/subscribe-2/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">subscribe</a> to receive news and more tools as they become available, and we’ll work together when the time is right. Hosted on Acast. See <a href="https://acast.com/privacy" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">acast.com/privacy</a> for more information.

3 Strategies to Help with Millennial Management Troubles

Often leaders are focusing so intensely on growth that we miss the fact that our team’s emotional experience is suffering. And when they’re suffering, they’re in their Critter State (versus the ideal of being in their Smart State.)  Why? Most likely because safety, belonging or mattering are missing. But how do you know who needs what, and when? When I do culture coaching I use three main tools to find out: SBM Behavior Decoder to help leaders understand what a behavior is communicating SBM Communication tools for the individual SBM Index for the entire organization   Today we are diving into the SBM Behavior Decoder and how this tool can help forge greater emotional agility for your tribe.  You don’t need to ask if a team member needs safety, belonging, or mattering--their behavior says it all. The SBM Behavior Decoder below will help you give them what they need to shift to their Smart State. Click the infographic link and view the Behavior Decoder. SBM Behavior Decoder Infographic What Do Your People Really Crave?  If people are in their Critter State and craving safety, they’ll take safety away from others. They need their outside world to match their inside world. This could manifest in the workplace as someone spreading gossip, rumors, or fear in general.  If people are in their Critter State and craving belonging, they’ll isolate, withhold information, or form silos—they will essentially “leave the tribe.” They feel they don’t belong, so they’ll behave accordingly… and their outside world will reflect their inside experience.  If people are in their Critter State and craving mattering, they’ll take mattering away from others via condescending behavior and making people feel small. They don’t matter, so they make sure that others don’t either. Then their world will make sense.  Discover the SBM Trigger of An Individual  Once you determine what you think your people really crave, based on their behavior, you can begin a dialogue to confirm your findings.  Ask your people - What is most important to you at work? Please list in order of importance: You’re on a team that has a plan, and people have your back. (safety) You’re part of the team, and you have equal value to others. (belonging) You’re acknowledged and appreciated for your unique contributions, and you are making a difference. (mattering)  This dialogue starts the process of becoming aware and once we are aware of what state we are in, we can apply the appropriate tools to manifest change. Next, notice both the “go to” behavior of a person in Critter State, as well as what lights them up. If their “go to” is Belonging in Critter State, you may want to try giving them Belonging regularly to light them up. You could do this by saying “I’m so glad you’re on the team. You really bring a lot to everyone! The team is better with you on it.” Notice also your “go to” and what lights you up, as well as your family members too!  The Net-Net When we give people what they crave, their critter brain calms down, and we can guide them into their Smart State. This is where true rapport, connection, alignment, enrollment, and engagement live. Oh—and high performance, collaboration, and sustainability are the results!  Remember, safety + belonging + mattering = trust. I’ve added links to more information on this topic in today’s show notes for you.Resources Mentioned:The ArticleSmart StateSBM Behavior DecoderSBM Communication Emotional agilitySafety, belonging, or matteringForming silosTrue rapportEngagementHigh performanceContact ChristineYou’re busy growing. Let’s have a strategy session when it makes sense, which means you are…· Committed to getting better results and finding out how awesome your performance can truly be· Ready to make this a priority and get started in the next few months· Allocating budget to improving the leadership, culture and results of you and your company· Able to make the decision to move forward (or can convince the person who can)Ready? Great! Please fill out the form here. If not, check out our resources and subscribe to receive news and more tools as they become available, and we’ll work together when the time is right. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Often leaders are focusing so intensely on growth that we miss the fact that our team’s emotional experience is suffering. And when they’re suffering, they’re in their Critter State (versus the ideal of being in their <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/christinecomaford/2014/01/06/make-your-team-smarter-overnight-5-brain-based-tools-in-pictures-infographics/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Smart State.</a>)  Why? Most likely because safety, belonging or mattering are missing. But how do you know who needs what, and when? When I do culture coaching I use three main tools to find out:  <ul><li><a href="https://smarttribesinstitute.com/sbm-decoder/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">SBM Behavior Decoder</a> to help leaders understand what a behavior is communicating </li><li><a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/christinecomaford/2018/05/19/the-cost-of-stupid-meeting/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">SBM Communication</a> tools for the individual </li><li>SBM Index for the entire organization  </li></ul> Today we are diving into the SBM Behavior Decoder and how this tool can help forge greater <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/christinecomaford/2018/01/06/6-brain-based-leadership-game-changers-for-2018-infographics/2" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">emotional agility</a> for your tribe.  You don’t need to ask if a team member needs <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/christinecomaford/2013/03/13/the-3-things-all-humans-crave-and-how-to-motivate-anyone-anytime-anywhere/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">safety, belonging, or mattering</a>--their behavior says it all. The SBM Behavior Decoder below will help you give them what they need to shift to their Smart State. Click the <a href="https://smarttribesinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/STI-SBM-Decoder-2019.pdf" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">infographic link and view the Behavior Decoder</a>. <a href="SBM Behavior Decoder Infographic " rel="nofollow" target="_blank">SBM Behavior Decoder Infographic </a>What Do Your People Really Crave? <ul><li>If people are in their Critter State and craving safety, they’ll take safety away from others. They need their outside world to match their inside world. This could manifest in the workplace as someone spreading gossip, rumors, or fear in general. </li></ul> <ul><li>If people are in their Critter State and craving belonging, they’ll isolate, withhold information, or <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/christinecomaford/2017/05/13/ending-silos-when-trust-is-toast/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">form silos</a>—they will essentially “leave the tribe.” They feel they don’t belong, so they’ll behave accordingly… and their outside world will reflect their inside experience. </li></ul> <ul><li>If people are in their Critter State and craving mattering, they’ll take mattering away from others via condescending behavior and making people feel small. They don’t matter, so they make sure that others don’t either. Then their world will make sense. </li></ul> Discover the SBM Trigger of An Individual Once you determine what you think your people really crave, based on their behavior, you can begin a dialogue to confirm your findings.  Ask your people - What is most important to you at work? Please list in order of importance: <ul><li>You’re on a team that has a plan, and people have your back. (safety) </li><li>You’re part of the team, and you have equal value to others. (belonging) </li><li>You’re acknowledged and appreciated for your unique contributions, and you are making a difference. (mattering) </li></ul> This dialogue starts the process of becoming aware and once we are aware of what state we are in, we can apply the appropriate tools to manifest change. Next, notice both the “go to” behavior of a person in Critter State, as well as what lights them up. If their “go to” is Belonging in Critter State, you may want to try giving them Belonging regularly to light them up. You could do this by saying “I’m so glad you’re on the team. You really bring a lot to everyone! The team is better with you on it.” Notice also your “go to” and what lights you up, as well as your family members too!  The Net-Net When we give people what they crave, their critter brain calms down, and we can guide them into their Smart State. This is where <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/christinecomaford/2017/05/06/3-practices-to-become-a-great-listener/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">true rapport</a>, connection, alignment, enrollment, and <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/christinecomaford/2015/05/01/the-real-reasons-your-team-is-not-engaged/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">engagement</a> live. Oh—and <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/christinecomaford/2018/01/20/why-leaders-need-to-embrace-employee-motivation/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">high performance</a>, collaboration, and sustainability are the results!  Remember, safety + belonging + mattering = trust. I’ve added links to more information on this topic in today’s show notes for you. Resources Mentioned:<ul><li><a href="https://smarttribesinstitute.com/how-to-propel-employee-engagement-to-skyrocketing-levels/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">The Article</a></li><li><a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/christinecomaford/2014/01/06/make-your-team-smarter-overnight-5-brain-based-tools-in-pictures-infographics/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Smart State</a></li><li><a href="https://smarttribesinstitute.com/sbm-decoder/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">SBM Behavior Decoder</a></li><li><a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/christinecomaford/2018/05/19/the-cost-of-stupid-meeting/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">SBM Communication</a> </li><li><a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/christinecomaford/2018/01/06/6-brain-based-leadership-game-changers-for-2018-infographics/2" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Emotional agility</a></li><li><a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/christinecomaford/2013/03/13/the-3-things-all-humans-crave-and-how-to-motivate-anyone-anytime-anywhere/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Safety, belonging, or mattering</a></li><li><a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/christinecomaford/2017/05/13/ending-silos-when-trust-is-toast/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Forming silos</a></li><li><a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/christinecomaford/2017/05/06/3-practices-to-become-a-great-listener/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">True rapport</a></li><li><a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/christinecomaford/2015/05/01/the-real-reasons-your-team-is-not-engaged/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Engagement</a></li><li><a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/christinecomaford/2018/01/20/why-leaders-need-to-embrace-employee-motivation/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">High performance</a></li><li><a href="https://smarttribesinstitute.com/contact/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Contact Christine</a></li></ul> You’re busy growing. Let’s have a <a href="https://smarttribesinstitute.com/strategy-session/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">strategy session</a> when it makes sense, which means you are…· Committed to getting better results and finding out how awesome your performance can truly be· Ready to make this a priority and get started in the next few months· Allocating budget to improving the leadership, culture and results of you and your company· Able to make the decision to move forward (or can convince the person who can)Ready? Great! Please<a href="https://smarttribesinstitute.com/strategy-session/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"> fill out the form here</a>. If not, check out <a href="https://smarttribesinstitute.com/resources/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">our resources</a> and <a href="https://smarttribesinstitute.com/subscribe-2/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">subscribe</a> to receive news and more tools as they become available, and we’ll work together when the time is right. Hosted on Acast. See <a href="https://acast.com/privacy" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">acast.com/privacy</a> for more information.

Propel Employee Engagement To Sky-Rocketing Levels

There’s a lot of buzz about employee engagement these days. But the sad truth is that engagement stats worldwide are still dreadfully low. And to throw some fuel on the fire, myths about what actually creates engagement are rampant—and are making the problem worse. Here’s what I know for sure is true, from the 1,000+ organizations I’ve helped to boost employee engagement over the past 30+ years. There are three (if not more!) prevalent myths I come across constantly—and it’s time to bust them. Myth #1: Employees Are Professionals—They Aren’t Supposed To Be Emotional At Work, And We Don’t Have To Accommodate Their Emotional State. Myth Busted: Whoa. Based on data from Hoffman Institute, UCLA, and countless other organizations, more than 90% of our decisions and behaviors are driven--are dominated--by our emotional brain. Our intellect, which many employers think rules the day, is only responsible for about 10% of our behaviors. Respecting, understanding and navigating the emotional experience of your team should never, ever, be trivialized.I’ve found that there’s actually a recipe for emotional engagement the in brain: Oxytocin: the key bonding hormone, this helps us feel connected to others, loved, seen, acknowledged. It then contributes to the release of… Seratonin: a neurotransmitter that helps us feel good. When we feel good we choose behaviors that keep us feeling good, like collaborating, being accountable, innovating, and this contributes to the release of…  Dopamine: a neurotransmitter that contributes to reward-motivated behaviors. So we do more of what we think will bring us rewards within our tribe. What does this mean? That how our team feels matters. That emotions at work are crucial to consider. That as leaders we must intentionally work on creating the conditions to activate the recipe above in the brains of our awesome team. Myth buster #2 will help you do this. Myth #2: Employee Engagement Surveys Are Effective Because They Show You Care Myth Busted: A survey is demoralizing waste of time, energy, and money, if you don’t do it right. In my 30+ years as a leadership and culture coach, as well as entrepreneur building and selling 5 businesses and investing in more than 200, I’ve seen a LOT of employee engagement surveys.Per Bruce Temkin of the Temkin Group (see my prior blog on the link between Customer Experience and Employee Engagement citing his research) a super smart analytics guru, there are 3 types of analytics you want to ensure you get: Descriptive: this is where you learn the state of the world. Predictive: this is where you understand how the state of the world will remain the same. Prescriptive: this is what most leaders miss—that the employee engagement survey, if done properly can be a prescriptive tool to show you what you need to change and how. Here’s an example of the descriptive and predictive.  First you’ll see the survey, then an excerpt of the comments. From the above we understand the state of the world—and it will continue unless we take decisive and effective action to change it—that’s the prescriptive work. Here’s an excerpt of the Cultural GAME (Growth, Appreciation, Measurement, Engagement) Plan we created to shift the cultural challenges we learned about from our client in the SBM Index Employee Engagement Survey above. And here are the results that occurred within the first 7 months as the prescriptive work was put in place: Safety increased: 15% Belonging increased: 22% Mattering increased: 17% And the client reported that: Leaders were now aligned around clear needle movers (goals and accountability structures) and simpler ways to get greater results. Teams were building processes that were propelling all teams’ effectiveness to new levels. They now were able to enroll, engage, align our team to optimize performance.  They now get more done in less time, are more motivated, are all speaking the same language, and all continue to collectively raise the bar.  They’re more accountable, aligned, and effective than ever before. Now that’s engagement! Myth #3: Employees Want More Money To Be More Engaged Reality: For very few people, and they are contract workers, this is true. But for the vast majority of employees out there the meaning in their work matters far more, the depth of their connections to your organization’s cause, to their colleagues, to your clients is what will move them more. We all want to be part of something bigger than us, something that really makes a difference , removes pain, solves a problem, something we’re proud of. All workers should insist on this and not settle for less. All employers should strive to create this and not chicken out. The Net-Net Understanding the emotional experience of your team is essential—then you must navigate it Prescriptive must be added to the first 2 types of analysis (descriptive and predictive) is we’re going to create change Make sure your workplace, and work overall, creates the experience of meaning—we all need to know we’re part of something bigger than us that matters What other employee engagement myths do you come across? Let’s bust them together! -----Have you ever considered using neuroscience to optimize engagement, performance, recruiting, and retention in your organization? At SmartTribes Institute, we continually strive to apply cutting edge neuroscience tools and resources to modern day businesses and people. If you'd like a taste, check out our upcoming Culture Camp! And, of course, apply the practices in these podcast episodes as well.------Resources Mentioned:Culture Camp: https://www.smarttribesinstitute.com/culture-camp/Beyond Your Brain: https://www.smarttribesinstitute.com/stiretreat/Safety, Belonging, and Mattering Heat Map Sample: https://smarttribesinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/SBM-Heat-Map-Sample.pngSMB Index Comments: https://smarttribesinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/SBM-Index-Comments.pngSmartTribes Institute: Create a Cultural GAME Plan: https://smarttribesinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/Cultural-Game-Plan.pngContact Christine: https://smarttribesinstitute.com/contact/Strategy Session: https://smarttribesinstitute.com/strategy-session/You’re busy growing. Let’s have a strategy session when it makes sense, which means you are…· Committed to getting better results and finding out how awesome your performance can truly be· Ready to make this a priority and get started in the next few months· Allocating budget to improving the leadership, culture and results of you and your company· Able to make the decision to move forward (or can convince the person who can)Ready? Great! Please fill out the form here. If not, check out our resourcesand subscribe to receive news and more tools as they become available, and we’ll work together when the time is right. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

There’s a lot of buzz about employee engagement these days. But the sad truth is that <a href="https://www.gallup.com/services/190118/engaged-workplace.aspx" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">engagement stats worldwide are still dreadfully low</a>. And to throw some fuel on the fire, myths about what actually creates engagement are rampant—and are making the problem worse. Here’s what I know for sure is true, from the 1,000+ organizations I’ve helped to boost employee engagement over the past 30+ years. There are three (if not more!) prevalent myths I come across constantly—and it’s time to bust them. Myth #1: Employees Are Professionals—They Aren’t Supposed To Be Emotional At Work, And We Don’t Have To Accommodate Their Emotional State. Myth Busted: Whoa. Based on data from Hoffman Institute, UCLA, and countless other organizations, more than 90% of our decisions and behaviors are driven--are dominated--by our emotional brain. Our intellect, which many employers think rules the day, is only responsible for about 10% of our behaviors. <a href="https://twitter.com/intent/tweet?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.forbes.com%2Fsites%2Fchristinecomaford%2F2018%2F11%2F17%2Fbusting-3-massive-myths-about-employee-engagement%2F&amp;text=Respecting%2C%20understanding%20and%20navigating%20the%20emotional%20experience%20of%20your%20team%20should%20never%2C%20ever%2C%C2%A0be%20trivialized." rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Respecting, understanding and navigating the emotional experience of your team should never, ever, be trivialized.</a>I’ve found that there’s actually a recipe for <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/christinecomaford/2018/06/02/emotions-have-energy-what-energy-are-you-sending/#b5090c325457" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">emotional engagement</a> the in brain: Oxytocin: the key bonding hormone, this helps us feel connected to others, loved, seen, acknowledged. It then contributes to the release of… Seratonin: a neurotransmitter that helps us feel good. When we feel good we choose behaviors that keep us feeling good, like collaborating, being accountable, innovating, and this contributes to the release of…  Dopamine: a neurotransmitter that contributes to reward-motivated behaviors. So we do more of what we think will bring us rewards within our tribe. What does this mean? That how our team feels matters. That emotions at work are crucial to consider. That as leaders we must intentionally work on creating the conditions to activate the recipe above in the brains of our awesome team. Myth buster #2 will help you do this. Myth #2: Employee Engagement Surveys Are Effective Because They Show You Care Myth Busted: A survey is demoralizing waste of time, energy, and money, if you don’t do it right. In my 30+ years as a leadership and culture coach, as well as entrepreneur building and selling 5 businesses and investing in more than 200, I’ve seen a LOT of employee engagement surveys.Per Bruce Temkin of the Temkin Group (see my <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/christinecomaford/2017/07/08/the-surprising-link-between-customer-experience-and-employee-engagement/#6926eb8fb512" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">prior blog on the link between Customer Experience and Employee Engagement</a> citing his research) a super smart analytics guru, there are 3 types of analytics you want to ensure you get: Descriptive: this is where you learn the state of the world. Predictive: this is where you understand how the state of the world will remain the same. Prescriptive: this is what most leaders miss—that the employee engagement survey, if done properly can be a prescriptive tool to show you what you need to change and how. Here’s an example of the descriptive and predictive.  First you’ll see the <a href="https://smarttribesinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/SBM-Heat-Map-Sample.png" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">survey</a>, then an excerpt of the <a href="https://smarttribesinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/SBM-Index-Comments.png" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">comments</a>. From the above we understand the state of the world—and it will continue unless we take decisive and effective action to change it—that’s the prescriptive work. Here’s an excerpt of the <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/christinecomaford/2018/08/04/the-game-plan-for-an-engaged-company-culture/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Cultural GAME (Growth, Appreciation, Measurement, Engagement) Plan</a> we created to shift the <a href="https://smarttribesinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/Cultural-Game-Plan.png" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">cultural challenges</a> we learned about from our client in the SBM Index Employee Engagement Survey above. And here are the results that occurred within the first 7 months as the prescriptive work was put in place:  <ul><li>Safety increased: 15% </li><li>Belonging increased: 22% </li><li>Mattering increased: 17% </li></ul> And the client reported that:  <ul><li>Leaders were now aligned around clear needle movers (goals and accountability structures) and simpler ways to get greater results. </li><li>Teams were building processes that were propelling all teams’ effectiveness to new levels. </li><li>They now were able to enroll, engage, align our team to optimize performance.  </li><li>They now get more done in less time, are more motivated, are all speaking the same language, and all continue to collectively raise the bar.  </li><li>They’re more accountable, aligned, and effective than ever before. </li></ul> Now that’s engagement! Myth #3: Employees Want More Money To Be More Engaged Reality: For very few people, and they are contract workers, this is true. But for the vast majority of employees out there the meaning in their work matters far more, <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/christinecomaford/2018/07/14/want-to-better-engage-your-tribe-heres-the-secret/#252d35659de4" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">the depth of their connections</a> to your organization’s cause, to their colleagues, to your clients is what will move them more. <a href="https://twitter.com/intent/tweet?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.forbes.com%2Fsites%2Fchristinecomaford%2F2018%2F11%2F17%2Fbusting-3-massive-myths-about-employee-engagement%2F&amp;text=We%20all%20want%20to%20be%20part%20of%20something%20bigger%20than%20us%2C%20something%20that%20really%20makes%20a%20difference" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">We all want to be part of something bigger than us, something that really makes a difference</a> , removes pain, solves a problem, something we’re proud of. All workers should insist on this and not settle for less. All employers should strive to create this and not chicken out. The Net-Net <ul><li>Understanding the emotional experience of your team is essential—then you must navigate it </li><li>Prescriptive must be added to the first 2 types of analysis (descriptive and predictive) is we’re going to create change </li><li>Make sure your workplace, and work overall, creates the experience of meaning—we all need to know we’re part of something bigger than us that matters </li></ul> What other employee engagement myths do you come across? Let’s bust them together! -----Have you ever considered using neuroscience to optimize engagement, performance, recruiting, and retention in your organization? At SmartTribes Institute, we continually strive to apply cutting edge neuroscience tools and resources to modern day businesses and people. If you'd like a taste, check out our upcoming <a href="https://www.smarttribesinstitute.com/culture-camp/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Culture Camp</a>! And, of course, apply the practices in these podcast episodes as well.------Resources Mentioned:<ul><li><a href="https://www.smarttribesinstitute.com/culture-camp/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Culture Camp</a>: <a href="https://www.smarttribesinstitute.com/culture-camp/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">https://www.smarttribesinstitute.com/culture-camp/</a></li><li><a href="https://www.smarttribesinstitute.com/stiretreat/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Beyond Your Brain</a>: <a href="https://www.smarttribesinstitute.com/stiretreat/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">https://www.smarttribesinstitute.com/stiretreat/</a></li><li><a href="https://smarttribesinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/SBM-Heat-Map-Sample.png" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Safety, Belonging, and Mattering Heat Map Sample</a>: <a href="https://smarttribesinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/SBM-Heat-Map-Sample.png" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">https://smarttribesinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/SBM-Heat-Map-Sample.png</a></li><li><a href="https://smarttribesinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/SBM-Index-Comments.png" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">SMB Index Comments</a>: <a href="https://smarttribesinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/SBM-Index-Comments.png" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">https://smarttribesinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/SBM-Index-Comments.png</a></li><li><a href="https://smarttribesinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/Cultural-Game-Plan.png" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">SmartTribes Institute: Create a Cultural GAME Plan</a>: <a href="https://smarttribesinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/Cultural-Game-Plan.png" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">https://smarttribesinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/Cultural-Game-Plan.png</a></li><li><a href="https://smarttribesinstitute.com/contact/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Contact Christine</a>: <a href="https://smarttribesinstitute.com/contact/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">https://smarttribesinstitute.com/contact/</a></li><li><a href="https://smarttribesinstitute.com/strategy-session/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Strategy Session</a>: <a href="https://smarttribesinstitute.com/strategy-session/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">https://smarttribesinstitute.com/strategy-session/</a></li></ul> You’re busy growing. Let’s have a <a href="https://smarttribesinstitute.com/strategy-session/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">strategy session</a> when it makes sense, which means you are…· Committed to getting better results and finding out how awesome your performance can truly be· Ready to make this a priority and get started in the next few months· Allocating budget to improving the leadership, culture and results of you and your company· Able to make the decision to move forward (or can convince the person who can)Ready? Great! Please<a href="https://smarttribesinstitute.com/strategy-session/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"> fill out the form here</a>. If not, check out <a href="https://smarttribesinstitute.com/resources/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">our resources</a>and <a href="https://smarttribesinstitute.com/subscribe-2/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">subscribe</a> to receive news and more tools as they become available, and we’ll work together when the time is right. Hosted on Acast. See <a href="https://acast.com/privacy" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">acast.com/privacy</a> for more information.

Busting 3 Massive Myths About Employee Engagement

4 Content Marketing Mistakes That Will Wreck Your ROIHere’s what we know: content marketing is a massively effective method of increasing ROI and overall customer engagement.Also: content marketing is not as easy as whipping up some content and tossing it into the oven of the Internet. Careful consideration and strategy is required, and sometimes, even with the best intentions, major mistakes can be made right from the get-go.So let me ask? Are you happy with your content marketing results? If not you may be making crucial mistakes!(If you're feeling generally unsatisfied with more than just your marketing results, you may find our FREE, 4-week mini course on the pillars of the authentic self to be invaluable!)Recently I sat down with super brain Amanda Milligan at Fractl (an online marketing agency specializing in engaging and emotional web content on the web). Here’s her advice:Mistake #1: Content That’s Too BrandedContent that looks like a traditional ad will be responded to like a traditional ad — like you’re just trying to sell and not engage. If your content is presented in a more natural, organic way, people will be more likely to receive it well and not merely consider it an endorsement of your company’s credo.Fast Fix: Form ideas around the overall values and objectives of your company, not the brand itself. For example, if you’re a car insurance company, create content about safe driving, not about how to find the best insurance out there.Place your logo on content once in a noticeable but not eye-catching area. The bottom of an infographic or a single link in an article work well.Use subtle methods of incorporating branding, like fonts or colors, that don’t immediately call attention to the company but are reminiscent of the brand.Mistake #2: Not Getting Your Audience InvolvedIf you’re using outdated approaches to content creation, like anticipating the communication stream only going one-way, you’re in for sub-par results. Consider every content strategy to be a conversation, and be sure to facilitate that back-and-forth. It’ll open doors for new customers.Fast Fix:Comments and other means of feedback can allow your potential customers to interact with your content and thus feel more connected to it. Create channels to facilitate the building of relationships, either through comments or social media.Craft content that’s interactive — allow the audience to click, explore, and participate. You can do this with interactive graphics, quizzes, maps, and other multimedia.Listen to what your audience is saying. They could be telling you exactly what they want to see and learn, but if you’re not paying attention, you’re missing countless valuable opportunities.Mistake #3: Conveying Facts But Missing EmotionContent isn’t all about teaching and informing; it’s about connecting and experiencing. All you have to do is tap into humanity. Tap into what brings us together in real life — the emotions that ignite empathy — and you’ll have content that’s both memorable and impactful.Fast Fix:Don’t think of content as an article or instructographic — think of it as a story. Ask yourself: What does this information actually mean to the person reading it, and how can I illustrate this? That’s when the story comes in.Read your own content. Write down three words about how it made you feel, being as specific as possible. If none of these words are an emotion or they’re too vague (and are instead “informative” and “interesting” rather than say “surprising” and “inspiring,”) start from scratch.Consider incorporating the emotions that often lead to virality in order to give your content an edge right from the beginning.Mistake #4: Overthinking Content And Missing ContextSure, content can speak for itself. But think about it this way: You can write an incredible book and leave free copies all over town, but virtually no one will read it. Why? With so much content available, everything is about curation, meaning getting your content published in the right place can mean everything.Fast Fix:Don’t just think about what sites get the most views — make sure to carefully consider where your potential customers are and target the sites they visit.Create a team of media relations specialists who can build relationships with publishers. This team should be at least equal in size to your content development team.Study how to send out pitch emails. Make sure the headline is eye-catching and to-the-point, and make sure the body of the email succinctly explains:What the content is aboutWhy you’re pitching it to this publisherWhy the audience will enjoy itIf you’re making any of the above mistakes, now is the time to improve your process. Once you’ve identified your pain points and you’re creating the right content in the right place for the right audience, you’ll see big changes in your ROI.How is your content strategy working?------Resources Mentioned:Culture Camp: https://www.smarttribesinstitute.com/culture-camp/FREE mini-course: https://smarttribesinstitute.com/byb-minicourse/Beyond Your Brain: https://www.smarttribesinstitute.com/stiretreat/Content Marketing: http://www.forbes.com/sites/christinecomaford/2012/03/19/double-your-sales-and-trump-your-competitors/Increasing RIO: https://www.custedge.com/why-our-brains-buy-and-how-to-convert-prospective-customers-into-loyal-advocates/Amanda Milligan: http://www.linkedin.com/in/amandamilliganEmotions &amp; Virility: http://blogs.hbr.org/2013/10/research-the-emotions-that-make-marketing-campaigns-go-viral/Contact Christine: https://smarttribesinstitute.com/contact/Strategy Session: https://smarttribesinstitute.com/strategy-session/You’re busy growing. Let’s have a strategy session when it makes sense, which means you are…· Committed to getting better results and finding out how awesome your performance can truly be· Ready to make this a priority and get started in the next few months· Allocating budget to improving the leadership, culture and results of you and your company· Able to make the decision to move forward (or can convince the person who can)Ready? Great! Please fill out the form here. If not, check out our resourcesand subscribe to receive news and more tools as they become available, and we’ll work together when the time is right. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

<h2>4 Content Marketing Mistakes That Will Wreck Your ROI</h2> Here’s what we know: <a href="http://www.forbes.com/sites/christinecomaford/2012/03/19/double-your-sales-and-trump-your-competitors/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">content marketing</a> is a massively effective method of <a href="https://www.custedge.com/why-our-brains-buy-and-how-to-convert-prospective-customers-into-loyal-advocates/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">increasing ROI</a> and overall <a href="https://www.custedge.com/why-our-brains-buy-and-how-to-convert-prospective-customers-into-loyal-advocates-part-ii/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">customer engagement</a>.Also: content marketing is not as easy as whipping up some content and tossing it into the oven of the Internet. Careful consideration and strategy is required, and sometimes, even with the best intentions, major mistakes can be made right from the get-go.So let me ask? Are you happy with your content marketing results? If not you may be making crucial mistakes!(If you're feeling generally unsatisfied with more than just your marketing results, you may find our <a href="https://smarttribesinstitute.com/byb-minicourse/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">FREE, 4-week mini course</a> on the pillars of the authentic self to be invaluable!)Recently I sat down with super brain <a href="http://www.linkedin.com/in/amandamilligan" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">Amanda Milligan</a> at <a href="http://frac.tl/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">Fractl</a> (an online marketing agency specializing in engaging and emotional web content on the web). Here’s her advice:Mistake #1: Content That’s Too BrandedContent that looks like a traditional ad will be responded to like a traditional ad — like you’re just trying to sell and not engage. If your content is <a href="http://frac.tl/case-study/4m-views-1200-links-850-organic-lift-rehabs-com-visual-case-study/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">presented in a more natural</a>, organic way, people will be more likely to receive it well and not merely consider it an endorsement of your company’s credo.Fast Fix: <ul><li>Form ideas around the overall values and objectives of your company, not the brand itself. For example, if you’re a car insurance company, create content about safe driving, not about how to find the best insurance out there.</li><li>Place your logo on content once in a noticeable but not eye-catching area. The bottom of an infographic or a single link in an article work well.</li><li>Use subtle methods of incorporating branding, like fonts or colors, that don’t immediately call attention to the company but are reminiscent of the brand.</li></ul> Mistake #2: Not Getting Your Audience InvolvedIf you’re using outdated approaches to content creation, like anticipating the communication stream only going one-way, you’re in for sub-par results. Consider every content strategy to be a conversation, and be sure to facilitate that back-and-forth. It’ll open doors for new customers.Fast Fix:<ul><li>Comments and other means of feedback can allow your potential customers to interact with your content and thus feel more connected to it. Create channels to facilitate the building of relationships, either through comments or social media.</li><li>Craft content that’s interactive — allow the audience to click, explore, and participate. You can do this with interactive graphics, quizzes, maps, and other multimedia.</li><li>Listen to what your audience is saying. They could be telling you exactly what they want to see and learn, but if you’re not paying attention, you’re missing countless valuable opportunities.</li></ul> Mistake #3: Conveying Facts But Missing EmotionContent isn’t all about teaching and informing; it’s about connecting and experiencing. All you have to do is tap into humanity. Tap into what brings us together in real life — the emotions that ignite empathy — and you’ll have content that’s both memorable and impactful.Fast Fix:<ul><li>Don’t think of content as an article or instructographic — think of it as a story. Ask yourself: What does this information actually mean to the person reading it, and how can I illustrate this? That’s when the story comes in.</li><li>Read your own content. Write down three words about how it made you feel, being as specific as possible. If none of these words are an emotion or they’re too vague (and are instead “informative” and “interesting” rather than say “surprising” and “inspiring,”) start from scratch.</li><li>Consider incorporating <a href="http://blogs.hbr.org/2013/10/research-the-emotions-that-make-marketing-campaigns-go-viral/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">the emotions that often lead to virality</a> in order to give your content an edge right from the beginning.</li></ul> Mistake #4: Overthinking Content And Missing ContextSure, content can speak for itself. But think about it this way: You can write an incredible book and leave free copies all over town, but virtually no one will read it. Why? With so much content available, everything is about curation, meaning getting your content published in the right place can mean everything.Fast Fix:<ul><li>Don’t just think about what sites get the most views — make sure to carefully consider where your potential customers are and target the sites they visit.</li><li>Create a team of media relations specialists who can build relationships with publishers. This team should be at least equal in size to your content development team.</li><li>Study how to send out pitch emails. Make sure the headline is eye-catching and to-the-point, and make sure the body of the email succinctly explains:</li><li>What the content is about</li><li>Why you’re pitching it to this publisher</li><li>Why the audience will enjoy it</li></ul> If you’re making any of the above mistakes, now is the time to improve your process. Once you’ve identified your pain points and you’re creating the right content in the right place for the right audience, you’ll see big changes in your ROI.How is your content strategy working?------Resources Mentioned: <ul><li><a href="https://www.smarttribesinstitute.com/culture-camp/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">Culture Camp</a>: <a href="https://www.smarttribesinstitute.com/culture-camp/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">https://www.smarttribesinstitute.com/culture-camp/</a></li><li><a href="https://smarttribesinstitute.com/byb-minicourse/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">FREE mini-course:</a> <a href="https://smarttribesinstitute.com/byb-minicourse/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">https://smarttribesinstitute.com/byb-minicourse/</a></li><li><a href="https://www.smarttribesinstitute.com/stiretreat/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">Beyond Your Brain</a>: <a href="https://www.smarttribesinstitute.com/stiretreat/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">https://www.smarttribesinstitute.com/stiretreat/</a></li><li><a href="http://www.forbes.com/sites/christinecomaford/2012/03/19/double-your-sales-and-trump-your-competitors/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">Content Marketing</a>: <a href="http://www.forbes.com/sites/christinecomaford/2012/03/19/double-your-sales-and-trump-your-competitors/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">http://www.forbes.com/sites/christinecomaford/2012/03/19/double-your-sales-and-trump-your-competitors/</a></li><li><a href="https://www.custedge.com/why-our-brains-buy-and-how-to-convert-prospective-customers-into-loyal-advocates/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">Increasing RIO:</a> <a href="https://www.custedge.com/why-our-brains-buy-and-how-to-convert-prospective-customers-into-loyal-advocates/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">https://www.custedge.com/why-our-brains-buy-and-how-to-convert-prospective-customers-into-loyal-advocates/</a></li><li><a href="http://www.linkedin.com/in/amandamilligan" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">Amanda Milligan</a>: <a href="http://www.linkedin.com/in/amandamilligan" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">http://www.linkedin.com/in/amandamilligan</a></li><li><a href="http://blogs.hbr.org/2013/10/research-the-emotions-that-make-marketing-campaigns-go-viral/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">Emotions &amp; Virility</a>: <a href="http://blogs.hbr.org/2013/10/research-the-emotions-that-make-marketing-campaigns-go-viral/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">http://blogs.hbr.org/2013/10/research-the-emotions-that-make-marketing-campaigns-go-viral/</a></li><li><a href="https://smarttribesinstitute.com/contact/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">Contact Christine</a>: <a href="https://smarttribesinstitute.com/contact/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">https://smarttribesinstitute.com/contact/</a></li><li><a href="https://smarttribesinstitute.com/strategy-session/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">Strategy Session</a>: <a href="https://smarttribesinstitute.com/strategy-session/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">https://smarttribesinstitute.com/strategy-session/</a></li></ul> You’re busy growing. Let’s have a <a href="https://smarttribesinstitute.com/strategy-session/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">strategy session</a> when it makes sense, which means you are…· Committed to getting better results and finding out how awesome your performance can truly be· Ready to make this a priority and get started in the next few months· Allocating budget to improving the leadership, culture and results of you and your company· Able to make the decision to move forward (or can convince the person who can)Ready? Great! Please<a href="https://smarttribesinstitute.com/strategy-session/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank"> fill out the form here</a>. If not, check out <a href="https://smarttribesinstitute.com/resources/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">our resources</a>and <a href="https://smarttribesinstitute.com/subscribe-2/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">subscribe</a> to receive news and more tools as they become available, and we’ll work together when the time is right. Hosted on Acast. See <a href="https://acast.com/privacy" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">acast.com/privacy</a> for more information.

4 Content Marketing Mistakes That Will Wreck Your ROI

Whether you're new to the show, or you've been with us all along, we wanted to take a moment to review just a few of this season's big takeaways: Emotional agility is a key trait for leaders, as emotions have energy. What we focus on, we fuel!Sometimes leaders focus so much on growth, that they miss out on the reality that their team's emotional state is suffering.Safety + Belonging + Mattering = TrustEmotional agility is a superpower! We can shift our emotional state to achieve the outcomes we want.Reframing is crucial, as our words shape our realities. When we reframe, we can find more useful alternatives and shift our perceptions.We all have rights as human beings, and lack of understanding these rights can cause others to suffer.You can crack your own behavior code (and you have such much power and agency to create change).If you think your team needs to be "fixed"....it's likely your leadership is the problem!And so much more! Listen to all the episodes to get all the details and actionable strategies.------Some Resources Mentioned This Season:Culture Camp: https://www.smarttribesinstitute.com/culture-camp/Beyond Your Brain: https://www.smarttribesinstitute.com/stiretreat/Emotion Wheel Infographic: https://www.smarttribesinstitute.com/secret-controlling-emotions-control/Maneuvers of Consciousness Infographic: https://www.smarttribesinstitute.com/maneuvers-of-consciousness-shift-resistance/Outcome Frame: https://www.smarttribesinstitute.com/outcome-frame/Organismic Rights: https://smarttribesinstitute.com/organismic-rights/Contact Christine: https://smarttribesinstitute.com/contact/Strategy Session: https://smarttribesinstitute.com/strategy-session/You’re busy growing. Let’s have a strategy session when it makes sense, which means you are…· Committed to getting better results and finding out how awesome your performance can truly be· Ready to make this a priority and get started in the next few months· Allocating budget to improving the leadership, culture and results of you and your company· Able to make the decision to move forward (or can convince the person who can)Ready? Great! Please fill out the form here. If not, check out our resourcesand subscribe to receive news and more tools as they become available, and we’ll work together when the time is right. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Whether you're new to the show, or you've been with us all along, we wanted to take a moment to review just a few of this season's big takeaways: Emotional agility is a key trait for leaders, as emotions have energy. What we focus on, we fuel!Sometimes leaders focus so much on growth, that they miss out on the reality that their team's emotional state is suffering.Safety + Belonging + Mattering = TrustEmotional agility is a superpower! We can shift our emotional state to achieve the outcomes we want.Reframing is crucial, as our words shape our realities. When we reframe, we can find more useful alternatives and shift our perceptions.We all have rights as human beings, and lack of understanding these rights can cause others to suffer.You can crack your own behavior code (and you have such much power and agency to create change).If you think your team needs to be "fixed"....it's likely your leadership is the problem!And so much more! Listen to all the episodes to get all the details and actionable strategies.------Some Resources Mentioned This Season:<ul><li><a href="https://www.smarttribesinstitute.com/culture-camp/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Culture Camp</a>: <a href="https://www.smarttribesinstitute.com/culture-camp/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">https://www.smarttribesinstitute.com/culture-camp/</a></li><li><a href="https://www.smarttribesinstitute.com/stiretreat/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Beyond Your Brain</a>: <a href="https://www.smarttribesinstitute.com/stiretreat/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">https://www.smarttribesinstitute.com/stiretreat/</a></li><li><a href="https://www.smarttribesinstitute.com/secret-controlling-emotions-control/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Emotion Wheel</a> Infographic: <a href="https://www.smarttribesinstitute.com/secret-controlling-emotions-control/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">https://www.smarttribesinstitute.com/secret-controlling-emotions-control/</a></li><li><a href="https://www.smarttribesinstitute.com/maneuvers-of-consciousness-shift-resistance/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Maneuvers of Consciousness</a> Infographic: <a href="https://www.smarttribesinstitute.com/maneuvers-of-consciousness-shift-resistance/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">https://www.smarttribesinstitute.com/maneuvers-of-consciousness-shift-resistance/</a></li><li><a href="https://www.smarttribesinstitute.com/outcome-frame/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Outcome Frame</a>: <a href="https://www.smarttribesinstitute.com/outcome-frame/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">https://www.smarttribesinstitute.com/outcome-frame/</a></li><li><a href="https://smarttribesinstitute.com/organismic-rights/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Organismic Rights</a>: <a href="https://smarttribesinstitute.com/organismic-rights/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">https://smarttribesinstitute.com/organismic-rights/</a></li><li><a href="https://smarttribesinstitute.com/contact/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Contact Christine</a>: <a href="https://smarttribesinstitute.com/contact/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">https://smarttribesinstitute.com/contact/</a></li><li><a href="https://smarttribesinstitute.com/strategy-session/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Strategy Session</a>: <a href="https://smarttribesinstitute.com/strategy-session/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">https://smarttribesinstitute.com/strategy-session/</a></li></ul> You’re busy growing. Let’s have a <a href="https://smarttribesinstitute.com/strategy-session/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">strategy session</a> when it makes sense, which means you are…· Committed to getting better results and finding out how awesome your performance can truly be· Ready to make this a priority and get started in the next few months· Allocating budget to improving the leadership, culture and results of you and your company· Able to make the decision to move forward (or can convince the person who can)Ready? Great! Please<a href="https://smarttribesinstitute.com/strategy-session/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"> fill out the form here</a>. If not, check out <a href="https://smarttribesinstitute.com/resources/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">our resources</a>and <a href="https://smarttribesinstitute.com/subscribe-2/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">subscribe</a> to receive news and more tools as they become available, and we’ll work together when the time is right. Hosted on Acast. See <a href="https://acast.com/privacy" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">acast.com/privacy</a> for more information.

Season Highlights

Sometimes leaders call me saying they want help to fix their team. That’s always a red flag for me.A CEO of a west coast food company called me a while back. He said his team lacked accountability and he wanted me to “fix them”. As I asked him questions a disturbing trend appeared: his retention was some of the lowest I’d seen in my 30+ year career.Even his executive team didn’t stick around—the longest tenure there was under 2 years, and the CEO had been around for over 15 years! What was happening here?How’s the accountability in your organization? Would you like it to be stronger? If so, then please do this first:Look at your company’s values – is accountability mentioned and sacred?Look at your team’s emotional engagement – are they enrolled, aligned, engaged?Look in the mirror – does your behavior support accountability? Are you a model of it?I’ve Seen The Enemy—And It’s UsIt’s because a human isn’t a simple being. We all have parts of ourselves, and some are in conflict with one another. A part of you wants to hold others accountable, yet part of you doesn’t want to be the “the bad guy/gal”.Here are the top 7 factors that I find prevent, or at best reduce, accountability:Conflict Avoidance – if we don’t deal with what’s happening, like a missed deadline, then we “teach” everyone that accountability isn’t taken seriouslyOrganizational Values that don’t honor accountability – if it’s not part of our code of conduct, of what we hold sacred, people won’t take it seriously (again!)An Absence of Process – if we don’t follow a standard process to ensure accountability, we’ll have communication misses that will set us back. Do you:Delegate with a clear spec (and ask your direct report to echo back to ensure your communication was clear)Empower them to succeed (give them what resources they need and check in mid-way to make sure they’re ok and on track)Celebration or consequences upon completion (make it feel good to be accountable, and feel bad to not be—remember the human being will always choose the “best feeling” behavior on their behavioral menu… it’s your job to make accountability feel goo)Leaders that don’t model accountability, so the team doesn’t take it seriously – yes, it’s up to us to walk the walk and talk the talk or nobody else willAssumption others won’t be accountable – I see this in cross-functional accountability break downs. One team trashes or distrusts the other, telling their team that the other one won’t come through, and surprise, they often don’t… or if they do they’re perceived as having not come through due to the potent negative PR machine.High staff turnover – back to the prospect at the beginning of this blog—he kept deeming people “disappointing” that he either fired them or they quit to find a better working environment. If your turnover is super high, look at how you’re causing it.Deadlines and projects the responsible party hasn’t agreed to/are unrealistic, constantly changing priorities and incomplete communication overall– sometimes accountability is broken because a person didn’t agree they could deliver the deadline per the spec they were told, or they don’t realize the priorities have changed—they weren’t communicated to them by leadership. So they’re working on the old priorities. Or they’re scrambling, trying to figure out what exactly the priorities are because they’re hearing from other teams that the world has changed. Or they’re irritated and rebellious because they were told to do the impossible and weren’t given a chance to negotiate a more realistic deadline/approach.What Actually Increases AccountabilityThe great news is you can turn around your accountability challenges quickly, due to your own new behaviors:Resolve the challenges on the list above that apply to youForge a powerful group and individual identity around accountabilityGive status in the tribe via public and specific recognitionNoting and sharing each team member’s superpower(s)Make accountability a “good feeling” behaviorIncrease communication and clarity on priorities and performance – use Quarterly Business Reviews or Monthly Business Reviews, Weekly Status Reports, Kanban Boards, SmartSheets, whatever method keeps visibility highEnsure all understand the what, when, why and how of needle movers/KPIsThe Accountability Equation may come in handy too:Assigner’s (Leader’s) Clear Expectations + Owner’s (Team member’s) Agreement + Personal Celebrations/Conversations (for Team Member) = High Accountability and OwnershipThe Net-NetLeaders can either create the conditions for accountability or they can interfere with themCLICK TO TWEETCommunication and organizational values will profoundly boost accountabilityAccountability needs to feel good!How will you create the conditions for greater accountability?Resources Mentioned:The ArticleConflict AvoidanceOrganizational ValuesDelegate Empower High staff turnover Incomplete communicationIdentityIncrease communication and clarityLeaders can either create the conditions for accountability or they can interfere with themContact ChristineYou’re busy growing. Let’s have a strategy session when it makes sense, which means you are…· Committed to getting better results and finding out how awesome your performance can truly be· Ready to make this a priority and get started in the next few months· Allocating budget to improving the leadership, culture and results of you and your company· Able to make the decision to move forward (or can convince the person who can)Ready? Great! Please fill out the form here. If not, check out our resources and subscribe to receive news and more tools as they become available, and we’ll work together when the time is right. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Sometimes leaders call me saying they want help to fix their team. That’s always a red flag for me.A CEO of a west coast food company called me a while back. He said his team lacked accountability and he wanted me to “fix them”. As I asked him questions a disturbing trend appeared: his retention was some of the lowest I’d seen in my 30+ year career.Even his executive team didn’t stick around—the longest tenure there was under 2 years, and the CEO had been around for over 15 years! What was happening here?How’s the accountability in your organization? Would you like it to be stronger? If so, then please do this first: <ol><li>Look at your company’s values – is accountability mentioned and sacred?</li><li>Look at your team’s emotional engagement – are they enrolled, aligned, engaged?</li><li>Look in the mirror – does your behavior support accountability? Are you a model of it?</li></ol> I’ve Seen The Enemy—And It’s UsIt’s because a human isn’t a simple being. We all have parts of ourselves, and some are in conflict with one another. A part of you wants to hold others accountable, yet part of you doesn’t want to be the “the bad guy/gal”.Here are the top 7 factors that I find prevent, or at best reduce, accountability:<ol><li><a href="https://www.smarttribesinstitute.com/are-you-killing-your-career-by-avoiding-conflict/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Conflict Avoidance</a> – if we don’t deal with what’s happening, like a missed deadline, then we “teach” everyone that accountability isn’t taken seriously</li><li><a href="https://www.smarttribesinstitute.com/six-key-trends-successful-leaders-must-address-in-2019/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Organizational Values</a> that don’t honor accountability – if it’s not part of our code of conduct, of what we hold sacred, people won’t take it seriously (again!)</li><li>An Absence of Process – if we don’t follow a standard process to ensure accountability, we’ll have communication misses that will set us back. Do you:</li><li><a href="https://www.smarttribesinstitute.com/tired-of-tasks-being-bounced-back-to-you/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Delegate</a> with a clear spec (and ask your direct report to echo back to ensure your communication was clear)</li><li><a href="https://www.smarttribesinstitute.com/proven-brain-method-engage-team/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Empower</a> them to succeed (give them what resources they need and check in mid-way to make sure they’re ok and on track)</li><li><a href="https://www.smarttribesinstitute.com/5-ways-to-have-more-fun-at-work/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Celebration</a> or <a href="https://www.smarttribesinstitute.com/4-brain-based-ways-improve-team-performance/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">consequences</a> upon completion (make it feel good to be accountable, and feel bad to not be—remember the human being will always choose the “best feeling” behavior on their behavioral menu… it’s your job to make accountability feel goo)</li><li>Leaders that don’t model accountability, so the team doesn’t take it seriously – yes, it’s up to us to walk the walk and talk the talk or nobody else will</li><li>Assumption others won’t be accountable – I see this in cross-functional accountability break downs. One team trashes or distrusts the other, telling their team that the other one won’t come through, and surprise, they often don’t… or if they do they’re perceived as having not come through due to the potent negative PR machine.</li><li><a href="https://www.smarttribesinstitute.com/salespeople-burning-faster-ever-heres/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">High staff turnover</a> – back to the prospect at the beginning of this blog—he kept deeming people “disappointing” that he either fired them or they quit to find a better working environment. If your turnover is super high, look at how you’re causing it.</li><li>Deadlines and projects the responsible party hasn’t agreed to/are unrealistic, constantly changing priorities and <a href="https://www.smarttribesinstitute.com/stupidmeetings/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">incomplete communication</a> overall– sometimes accountability is broken because a person didn’t agree they could deliver the deadline per the spec they were told, or they don’t realize the priorities have changed—they weren’t communicated to them by leadership. So they’re working on the old priorities. Or they’re scrambling, trying to figure out what exactly the priorities are because they’re hearing from other teams that the world has changed. Or they’re irritated and rebellious because they were told to do the impossible and weren’t given a chance to negotiate a more realistic deadline/approach.</li></ol> What Actually Increases AccountabilityThe great news is you can turn around your accountability challenges quickly, due to your own new behaviors: <ol><li>Resolve the challenges on the list above that apply to you</li><li>Forge a powerful group and individual <a href="https://www.smarttribesinstitute.com/become-emotionally-resilient-in-3-minutes-per-day/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">identity</a> around accountability</li><li>Give status in the tribe via public and specific recognition</li><li>Noting and sharing each team member’s superpower(s)</li><li>Make accountability a “good feeling” behavior</li><li><a href="https://www.smarttribesinstitute.com/five-ways-to-get-optimal-outcomes-from-your-team/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Increase communication and clarity</a> on priorities and performance – use Quarterly Business Reviews or Monthly Business Reviews, Weekly Status Reports, Kanban Boards, SmartSheets, whatever method keeps visibility high</li><li>Ensure all understand the what, when, why and how of needle movers/KPIs</li></ol> The Accountability Equation may come in handy too:Assigner’s (Leader’s) Clear Expectations + Owner’s (Team member’s) Agreement + Personal Celebrations/Conversations (for Team Member) = High Accountability and OwnershipThe Net-Net<ul><li><a href="https://twitter.com/share?text=Leaders+can+either+create+the+conditions+for+accountability+or+they+can+interfere+with+them&amp;via=Comaford&amp;related=Comaford&amp;url=https://www.smarttribesinstitute.com/the-7-most-common-ways-leaders-unknowingly-sabotage-their-team/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Leaders can either create the conditions for accountability or they can interfere with them</a></li><li><a href="https://twitter.com/share?text=Leaders+can+either+create+the+conditions+for+accountability+or+they+can+interfere+with+them&amp;via=Comaford&amp;related=Comaford&amp;url=https://www.smarttribesinstitute.com/the-7-most-common-ways-leaders-unknowingly-sabotage-their-team/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">CLICK TO TWEET</a></li><li>Communication and organizational values will profoundly boost accountability</li><li>Accountability needs to feel good!</li></ul>How will you create the conditions for greater accountability?Resources Mentioned:<ul><li><a href="https://www.smarttribesinstitute.com/the-7-most-common-ways-leaders-unknowingly-sabotage-their-team/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">The Article</a></li><li><a href="https://www.smarttribesinstitute.com/are-you-killing-your-career-by-avoiding-conflict/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Conflict Avoidance</a></li><li><a href="https://www.smarttribesinstitute.com/six-key-trends-successful-leaders-must-address-in-2019/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Organizational Values</a></li><li><a href="https://www.smarttribesinstitute.com/tired-of-tasks-being-bounced-back-to-you/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Delegate</a> </li><li><a href="https://www.smarttribesinstitute.com/proven-brain-method-engage-team/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Empower</a> </li><li><a href="https://www.smarttribesinstitute.com/salespeople-burning-faster-ever-heres/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">High staff turnover</a> </li><li><a href="https://www.smarttribesinstitute.com/stupidmeetings/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Incomplete communication</a></li><li><a href="https://www.smarttribesinstitute.com/become-emotionally-resilient-in-3-minutes-per-day/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Identity</a></li><li><a href="https://www.smarttribesinstitute.com/five-ways-to-get-optimal-outcomes-from-your-team/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Increase communication and clarity</a></li><li><a href="https://twitter.com/share?text=Leaders+can+either+create+the+conditions+for+accountability+or+they+can+interfere+with+them&amp;via=Comaford&amp;related=Comaford&amp;url=https://www.smarttribesinstitute.com/the-7-most-common-ways-leaders-unknowingly-sabotage-their-team/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Leaders can either create the conditions for accountability or they can interfere with them</a></li><li><a href="https://smarttribesinstitute.com/contact/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Contact Christine</a></li></ul> You’re busy growing. Let’s have a <a href="https://smarttribesinstitute.com/strategy-session/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">strategy session</a> when it makes sense, which means you are…· Committed to getting better results and finding out how awesome your performance can truly be· Ready to make this a priority and get started in the next few months· Allocating budget to improving the leadership, culture and results of you and your company· Able to make the decision to move forward (or can convince the person who can)Ready? Great! Please<a href="https://smarttribesinstitute.com/strategy-session/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"> fill out the form here</a>. If not, check out <a href="https://smarttribesinstitute.com/resources/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">our resources</a> and <a href="https://smarttribesinstitute.com/subscribe-2/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">subscribe</a> to receive news and more tools as they become available, and we’ll work together when the time is right. Hosted on Acast. See <a href="https://acast.com/privacy" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">acast.com/privacy</a> for more information.

The 7 Most Common Ways Leaders Unknowingly Sabotage Their Team

Emotional agility and resilience give leaders the edge they need to quickly pivot during stressful situations.Emotions Have Energy Thanks to the late great  David Hawkins, MD, PhD, we have proof that emotions contain measurable energy, which can either foster or negate actual cell life. Dr. Hawkins’s groundbreaking work, as explained in his book  Power vs. Force, shows how a person’s log level - the measurable energy level in their magnetic field - increases as that person experiences more positive emotions. Hawkins’s most interesting finding was that cells actually died when the log level was below 200, which is where the emotions of scorn, hate, anxiety, shame, regret, despair, blame, and humiliation reside. Clearly it’s key to regulate and manage our emotional state, not just for our overall well-being (and that of those around us) but also for our physical health and the life of our cells. Taking yourself through the Steps To Consent process is a great way to start caring for all aspects of your health. Steps To Consent: First, note what you are resisting, whether it is an experience, a person, a situation, or even a physical object. Pick something that you want to say “Grrr.. I don’t want this!” to. Use the Emotion Wheel to list all the emotions you are experiencing. Now get present, or consent, to this discomfort. Say, “Ok, here I am experiencing this…”. Feel it without any resistance. Next, determine your Desired State. Reframe by saying, “What would I like instead?” Let’s look at an example of how shifting emotions reaped massive benefits for one of my coaching and workshop clients. You can head to today’s show notes for the Emotion Wheel infographic that will help with this as well.Emotional Agility In Action A market-leading food organization was in a bind. A fake news story on social media had spread like wildfire, and revenues of one of their top brands had plunged 27 percent. Whoa. It was crucial to stop the slide, stabilize, and then start to rebuild. What We Did We were brought in to train a few dozen leaders in optimal teaming and navigating change, rapidly engaging and enrolling large and diverse groups to come together, focus on outcomes, tell themselves and each other new stories about their situation, and get momentum going. Then we shifted our focus to the marketing team, supporting an initiative to reinvent how the organization marketed to consumers. We started the day with an intense emotion-shifting exercise, maneuvers of consciousness. Fifteen minutes into it, half the team had shifted from victimhood and disaster thinking to empowerment and possibility thinking. Fifteen more minutes, and the other half were on board. Now it was time to teach them how to bring our tools to their teams. The Result The brand is safe and growing, and the leaders are stepping into new levels of accountability, meaning, and fulfillment - and they are bringing their teams forward with them. If a disaster ever strikes again, they’ll navigate it gracefully and swiftly. The Net-Net Emotions have energy: what we focus on, we fuel. It’s key to consent to our uncomfortable emotional state, then ask what we would like instead (something, of course, that we can create and maintain). Learning to release resistance increases accountability, emotional engagement, and productivity.   Resources Mentioned:The ArticleEmotion Wheel infographicReframing infographic  Maneuvers of consciousness infographicOutcome FrameDavid Hawkins, MD, PhD Power vs. ForceContact ChristineYou’re busy growing. Let’s have a strategy session when it makes sense, which means you are…· Committed to getting better results and finding out how awesome your performance can truly be· Ready to make this a priority and get started in the next few months· Allocating budget to improving the leadership, culture and results of you and your company· Able to make the decision to move forward (or can convince the person who can)Ready? Great! Please fill out the form here. If not, check out our resources and subscribe to receive news and more tools as they become available, and we’ll work together when the time is right. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Emotional agility and resilience give leaders the edge they need to quickly pivot during stressful situations.Emotions Have Energy Thanks to the late great  <a href="https://veritaspub.com/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">David Hawkins, MD, PhD</a>, we have proof that emotions contain measurable energy, which can either foster or negate actual cell life. Dr. Hawkins’s groundbreaking work, as explained in his book  <a href="https://veritaspub.com/product/power-vs-force-the-hidden-determinants-of-human-behavior-an-anatomy-of-consciousness-authors-official-authoritative-edition/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Power vs. Force</a>, shows how a person’s log level - the measurable energy level in their magnetic field - increases as that person experiences more positive emotions. Hawkins’s most interesting finding was that cells actually died when the log level was below 200, which is where the emotions of scorn, hate, anxiety, shame, regret, despair, blame, and humiliation reside. Clearly it’s key to regulate and manage our emotional state, not just for our overall well-being (and that of those around us) but also for our physical health and the life of our cells. Taking yourself through the Steps To Consent process is a great way to start caring for all aspects of your health. Steps To Consent: <ul><li>First, note what you are resisting, whether it is an experience, a person, a situation, or even a physical object. Pick something that you want to say “Grrr.. I don’t want this!” to. Use the <a href="https://www.smarttribesinstitute.com/emotion-wheel/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Emotion Wheel</a> to list all the emotions you are experiencing. </li><li>Now get present, or consent, to this discomfort. Say, “Ok, here I am experiencing this…”. Feel it without any resistance. </li><li>Next, determine your Desired State. <a href="https://www.smarttribesinstitute.com/reframing/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Reframe</a> by saying, “What would I like instead?” </li></ul> Let’s look at an example of how shifting emotions reaped massive benefits for one of my coaching and workshop clients. You can head to today’s show notes for the <a href="https://www.smarttribesinstitute.com/emotion-wheel/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Emotion Wheel infographic</a> that will help with this as well.Emotional Agility In Action A market-leading food organization was in a bind. A fake news story on social media had spread like wildfire, and revenues of one of their top brands had plunged 27 percent. Whoa. It was crucial to stop the slide, stabilize, and then start to rebuild. What We Did We were brought in to train a few dozen leaders in optimal teaming and navigating change, rapidly engaging and enrolling large and diverse groups to come together, focus on outcomes, tell themselves and each other new stories about their situation, and get momentum going. Then we shifted our focus to the marketing team, supporting an initiative to reinvent how the organization marketed to consumers. We started the day with an intense emotion-shifting exercise, <a href="https://www.smarttribesinstitute.com/maneuvers-of-consciousness-shift-resistance/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">maneuvers of consciousnes</a>s. Fifteen minutes into it, half the team had shifted from victimhood and disaster thinking to empowerment and possibility thinking. Fifteen more minutes, and the other half were on board. Now it was time to teach them how to bring our tools to their teams. The Result The brand is safe and growing, and the leaders are stepping into new levels of accountability, meaning, and fulfillment - and they are bringing their teams forward with them. If a disaster ever strikes again, they’ll navigate it gracefully and swiftly. The Net-Net <ul><li>Emotions have energy: what we focus on, we fuel. </li><li>It’s key to consent to our uncomfortable emotional state, then ask what we would like instead (something, of course, that we can create and maintain). </li><li>Learning to release resistance increases accountability, emotional engagement, and productivity. </li></ul> Resources Mentioned:<ul><li><a href="https://smarttribesinstitute.com/reframing-tool-that-will-empower-your-team-everyday/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">The Article</a></li><li><a href="https://www.smarttribesinstitute.com/emotion-wheel/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Emotion Wheel</a> infographic</li><li><a href="https://www.smarttribesinstitute.com/reframing/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Reframing</a> infographic </li><li> <a href="https://www.smarttribesinstitute.com/maneuvers-of-consciousness-shift-resistance/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Maneuvers of consciousness</a> infographic</li><li><a href="https://www.smarttribesinstitute.com/outcome-frame/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Outcome Frame</a></li><li><a href="https://veritaspub.com/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">David Hawkins, MD, PhD</a></li><li> <a href="https://veritaspub.com/product/power-vs-force-the-hidden-determinants-of-human-behavior-an-anatomy-of-consciousness-authors-official-authoritative-edition/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Power vs. Force</a></li><li><a href="https://smarttribesinstitute.com/contact/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Contact Christine</a></li></ul> You’re busy growing. Let’s have a <a href="https://smarttribesinstitute.com/strategy-session/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">strategy session</a> when it makes sense, which means you are…· Committed to getting better results and finding out how awesome your performance can truly be· Ready to make this a priority and get started in the next few months· Allocating budget to improving the leadership, culture and results of you and your company· Able to make the decision to move forward (or can convince the person who can)Ready? Great! Please<a href="https://smarttribesinstitute.com/strategy-session/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"> fill out the form here</a>. If not, check out <a href="https://smarttribesinstitute.com/resources/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">our resources</a> and <a href="https://smarttribesinstitute.com/subscribe-2/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">subscribe</a> to receive news and more tools as they become available, and we’ll work together when the time is right. Hosted on Acast. See <a href="https://acast.com/privacy" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">acast.com/privacy</a> for more information.

Emotions Have Energy

We all have rights as human beings.  But if we don’t know or acknowledge our fundamental rights, or if we don’t understand them, we’ll often suffer, cause others to suffer, and worst case, self-sabotage (which in turn sabotages those around us that count on us). To live in a state of emotional agility more consistently, we need to build the mental muscles of self-awareness. And one of the best ways to increase our self-awareness is to get in touch with our Organismic Rights. Your Rights As A Human Being The psychoanalyst Wilhelm Reich observed a series of stages through which all human beings must pass on their way to full body maturation, referred to as Organismic Rights. Organismic Rights are our basic human rights that are established during our formative life experiences between approximately 0-3 years old. They determine where a person will have behavioral struggles as they move through life. They govern our behavior and can hinder our performance. The tricky part is we can be totally unaware of their existence!  Imagine a newborn baby entering the world. He or she is forced to adapt quickly. The more fully developed a person’s Organismic Rights are, the more that individual can express themselves with greater aliveness and creativity (and spend more time in their Smart State). The less developed, the more likely they will operate in the Critter State (fight/flight/freeze). What Are Your 5 Organismic Rights? Every child, every organism, is born with these rights: The right to exist The right to have needs The right to take action The right to have consequences for one’s actions The right to love and be loved  In a perfect world every child would have these rights confirmed by the people around them as they grow and develop. But that doesn’t always happen. Our parents, even with the best intentions and most loving parenting styles, could only give us what they had--and chances are pretty high that somewhere along the line their organismic rights got a little wobbly.  Most people struggle at least a little on a few of these.   Organismic Rights – Decoded You can head to today’s show noted for the link to the Organismic Rights Decoder. It’s based on my experience of working over 10,000 hours with humans on changing their behavior. Note that you can use this on yourself or with others too. For example, one of my coaching clients had a direct report that was struggling with accountability. So my client helped the direct report to increase their right to take action. Another client had a partner that would often blame others for their shortcomings. The partner needed help increasing their right to have consequences. See how it works? Rate Your Organismic Rights Now that you see how certain behaviors may reveal some minimal Organismic Rights, please take a moment now and rate your Organismic Rights from 0-5 where 5 is the highest experience of this right. 1.Your right to exist: _ 2.Your right to have needs:  3.Your right to take action: _ 4.Your right to have consequences for your actions:  5.Your right to love and be loved: ____ Consider your ratings. Where would you like to increase your rights? Where do you think your stakeholders at work stand? Your family members? Now revisit the table above. How would you like to help yourself and others to modify their behavior and increase their Organismic Rights? Bear in mind that we’re not trying to blame anyone here. Humans are mostly just doing the best they can with what they’ve got. We’re just wanting to understand ourselves a little better so that we know what we’ve got and can take some appropriate actions to strengthen our alignment with our Organismic Rights. When we can’t say something is not ok, then our Organismic Rights are threatened. It’s ok, and essential, to claim our Organismic Rights to exist, have needs, take action, have consequences for our action, and love and be loved. When we are told (explicitly or implicitly) that having any of these rights are not ok, then our entire humanity is being dismissed. Let’s take a sec and let that sink in. It’s big.  The Net-Net  First, note where you have an opportunity to increase your Organismic Rights. Notice where you get triggered and which rights of yours are low in those situations. Then, work on increasing your Organismic Rights with your leadership coach! Resources Mentioned:The ArticleEmotional AgilityWilhelm Reich Smart StateCritter State Organismic Rights DecoderContact ChristineYou’re busy growing. Let’s have a strategy session when it makes sense, which means you are…· Committed to getting better results and finding out how awesome your performance can truly be· Ready to make this a priority and get started in the next few months· Allocating budget to improving the leadership, culture and results of you and your company· Able to make the decision to move forward (or can convince the person who can)Ready? Great! Please fill out the form here. If not, check out our resources and subscribe to receive news and more tools as they become available, and we’ll work together when the time is right. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We all have rights as human beings.  But if we don’t know or acknowledge our fundamental rights, or if we don’t understand them, we’ll often suffer, cause others to suffer, and worst case, self-sabotage (which in turn sabotages those around us that count on us). To live in a state of <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/christinecomaford/2018/05/26/are-you-emotionally-agile-find-out-now-infographic/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">emotional agility</a> more consistently, we need to build the mental muscles of self-awareness. And one of the best ways to increase our self-awareness is to get in touch with our Organismic Rights. Your Rights As A Human Being The psychoanalyst <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wilhelm_Reich" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Wilhelm Reich</a> observed a series of stages through which all human beings must pass on their way to full body maturation, referred to as Organismic Rights. Organismic Rights are our basic human rights that are established during our formative life experiences between approximately 0-3 years old. They determine where a person will have behavioral struggles as they move through life. They govern our behavior and can <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/christinecomaford/2016/10/22/why-performance-management-is-dead-performance-motivation-is-here-to-stay/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">hinder our performance.</a> The tricky part is we can be totally unaware of their existence!  Imagine a newborn baby entering the world. He or she is forced to adapt quickly. The more fully developed a person’s Organismic Rights are, the more that individual can express themselves with greater aliveness and creativity (and spend more time in their <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/christinecomaford/2014/01/06/make-your-team-smarter-overnight-5-brain-based-tools-in-pictures-infographics/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Smart State</a>). The less developed, the more likely they will operate in the <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/christinecomaford/2012/10/21/hijack-how-your-brain-blocks-performance/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Critter State</a> (fight/flight/freeze). What Are Your 5 Organismic Rights? Every child, every organism, is born with these rights: <ol><li>The right to exist </li><li>The right to have needs </li><li>The right to take action </li><li>The right to have consequences for one’s actions </li><li>The right to love and be loved </li></ol> In a perfect world every child would have these rights confirmed by the people around them as they grow and develop. But that doesn’t always happen. Our parents, even with the best intentions and most loving parenting styles, could only give us what they had--and chances are pretty high that somewhere along the line their organismic rights got a little wobbly.  Most people struggle at least a little on a few of these.   Organismic Rights – Decoded You can head to today’s show noted for the link to the <a href="https://www.smarttribesinstitute.com/organismic-rights/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Organismic Rights Decoder</a>. It’s based on my experience of working over 10,000 hours with humans on <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/christinecomaford/2017/09/16/the-five-factors-of-optimal-teams-and-where-to-focus-now/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">changing their behavior</a>. Note that you can use this on yourself or with others too. For example, one of my coaching clients had a direct report that was <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/christinecomaford/2016/08/14/how-to-get-accountability-in-the-dna-of-your-team/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">struggling with accountability.</a> So my client helped the direct report to increase their right to take action. Another client had a partner that would often blame others for their shortcomings. The partner needed help increasing their <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/christinecomaford/2017/05/24/right-person-wrong-role-or-wrong-person-period/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">right to have consequences.</a> See how it works? Rate Your Organismic Rights Now that you see how certain behaviors may reveal some minimal Organismic Rights, please take a moment now and rate your Organismic Rights from 0-5 where 5 is the highest experience of this right. 1.Your right to exist: _ 2.Your right to have needs: 3.Your right to take action: _ 4.Your right to have consequences for your actions: 5.Your right to love and be loved: ____ Consider your ratings. Where would you like to increase your rights? Where do you think your stakeholders at work stand? Your family members? Now revisit the table above. How would you like to help yourself and others to modify their behavior and increase their Organismic Rights? Bear in mind that we’re not trying to blame anyone here. Humans are mostly just doing the best they can with what they’ve got. We’re just wanting to understand ourselves a little better so that we know what we’ve got and can take some appropriate actions to strengthen our alignment with our Organismic Rights. When we can’t say something is not ok, then our Organismic Rights are threatened. It’s ok, and essential, to claim our Organismic Rights to exist, have needs, take action, have consequences for our action, and love and be loved. When we are told (explicitly or implicitly) that having any of these rights are not ok, then our entire humanity is being dismissed. Let’s take a sec and let that sink in. It’s big.  The Net-Net First, note where you have an opportunity to increase your Organismic Rights. Notice where you get triggered and which rights of yours are low in those situations. Then, work on increasing your Organismic Rights with your leadership coach! Resources Mentioned:<ul><li><a href="https://smarttribesinstitute.com/are-you-honoring-your-5-human-rights-work/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">The Article</a></li><li><a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/christinecomaford/2018/05/26/are-you-emotionally-agile-find-out-now-infographic/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Emotional Agility</a></li><li><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wilhelm_Reich" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Wilhelm Reich</a> </li><li><a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/christinecomaford/2014/01/06/make-your-team-smarter-overnight-5-brain-based-tools-in-pictures-infographics/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Smart State</a></li><li><a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/christinecomaford/2012/10/21/hijack-how-your-brain-blocks-performance/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Critter State</a> </li><li><a href="https://www.smarttribesinstitute.com/organismic-rights/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Organismic Rights Decoder</a></li><li><a href="https://smarttribesinstitute.com/contact/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Contact Christine</a></li></ul> You’re busy growing. Let’s have a <a href="https://smarttribesinstitute.com/strategy-session/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">strategy session</a> when it makes sense, which means you are…· Committed to getting better results and finding out how awesome your performance can truly be· Ready to make this a priority and get started in the next few months· Allocating budget to improving the leadership, culture and results of you and your company· Able to make the decision to move forward (or can convince the person who can)Ready? Great! Please<a href="https://smarttribesinstitute.com/strategy-session/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"> fill out the form here</a>. If not, check out <a href="https://smarttribesinstitute.com/resources/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">our resources</a> and <a href="https://smarttribesinstitute.com/subscribe-2/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">subscribe</a> to receive news and more tools as they become available, and we’ll work together when the time is right. Hosted on Acast. See <a href="https://acast.com/privacy" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">acast.com/privacy</a> for more information.

The 5 Organismic (Fundamental) Rights

Spidey sense. Gut feel. Whatever you call it, it’ll make or break the most important decisions in your life. The most successful executives I coach have it in spades. We're talking about intuition, and digging into what it is and how it actually works.Oprah has it.Steve Jobs had it.Mark Zuckerberg has it but recently didn’t listen to it and paid a huge price.Elon Musk made the same mistake.How—And Where—Intuition Actually WorksHere’s how to make your intuition stronger right now. My friends at NowSourcing have created a handy infographic, be sure to check it out here.First, let’s consider how—and where—humans think. As I outlined in a previous blog, human beings actually have three brains. Since both our hearts and our intestines have neural tissue, we have the heart-brain, the gut-brain and the brain that sits in our cranium (or, if you count the one that sits in our cranium as three—reptile, mammalian, and human neo-cortex—then we actually have five brains!).Where You Think:Reptilian Brain: InstinctAn innate inclination toward a particular behavior in response to a certain stimulusIt’s hardwired in the body from birth to keep us “not dead”Examples: we pull away from something hot, run from danger, etc.Mammalian Brain: Where much intuition, or “gut feeling”, occursA natural, thoughtless process which requires no analysis or deep thinkingUnconsciously developed over time from our experiences and beliefBiases operate here and are unconscious—which is why they can be problematicExamples: trusting someone that’s similar to you, feeling good around someone, etc.Prefrontal Cortex: Analytical thinkingIntentional, organized, conscious thoughtsUsed for planning, problem-solving, decision makingSome biases operate here too, such as making decisions based on a limited data set, or past experiencesExample: weighing the pros and cons of a decision before making it, analyzing potential return on investment before sponsoring a project, etc.Check out these famous examples of intuition—what parts of the brain were involved?44 BCE: Calpurnia, the wife of Julius Caesar, dreams of her husband’s assassination and urges him not to go to the Senate, where he goes anyway and is killedIt’s not magic: Calpurnia was unconsciously reacting to the tensions and signs of political dissent brewing in the Roman Empire [some heart brain, some gut brain, some reptilian and mammalian brain activation]1936: On a hunch, automobile tycoon Charles Howard purchases an underweight colt named Seabiscuit, who goes on to become one of the greatest racehorses in historyIt’s not magic: Howard’s business savvy and military cavalry training gave him the experience to recognize a gifted horse and a sound financial bet [some gut brain, some mammalian and prefrontal cortex brain activation]1962: After being rejected by dozens of publishers, Madeleine L’Engle’s A Wrinkle In Time is picked up by John Farrar of Farrar, Straus, &amp; Giroux, which had not published children’s books before [some heart brain, some gut brain, some mammalian and possibly prefrontal cortex brain activation]Most cultures today worship the intellect—the prefrontal cortex functions—and thus often unintentionally condition children to discount their intuition. So let’s consider Albert Einstein and how when he discovered the theory of relativity he said (to paraphrase) “First I felt it, then I saw it, then I could explain it.” Sounds like a bunch of five brain activity to me!How Intuition WorksYour intuition is much faster than your analytical mind and relies on feelings—note above I refer to the neural tissue we all have in both our gut and our heart.We often hear about women’s intuition and how it’s stronger than men’s. Why? Two reasons: first, the insula in the female human brain is larger than in the male. The insula is often called the seat of intuition in human beings, and it’s where hurt feelings fester and hunches often spring from. Second, our female ancestors needed to ensure not only their own survival but also their children’s. While the males were often single-tasking such as hunting (with their larger amygdalas), the females were multi-tasking. The females were caring for the children, watching for danger as they gathered food, tracking non-verbal cues from others, and organizing environmental input and information.3 Steps To Optimize Your Intuition1-Notice your body’s reactions (changes in heartbeat, breathing, muscle tension).2-Understand that your intuition wants whatever you value most (happiness, health, prosperity)–your intuition could be signaling that even though a decision seems logical, it won’t bring you closer to your core goals.3-Likewise notice that your intuition is wiser than our ego, which may want you to make a specific decision for a certain gain, yet that gain might come at too high a cost—and your intuition will be trying to put on the brakes.So how do you balance intuition and logic?Look at the meaning you are making about a certain situation to check your assumptions.Look at your organismic rights and if they will be honored and expanded by that decision.Check yourself for unconscious biases that might be getting in the way.Follow your intuition when:Working in rapidly changing, high-stakes environmentsPerforming tasks you have done many times beforeBrainstorming or discussing business with partners or coworkersFollow your analytical brain when:Working in compliance scenarios or when under public or regulatory scrutinyDoing something you have never done beforeHiring new talent or delegating work to employees“Have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.” – Steve Jobs, 2005 Stanford Commencement speechThe Net-NetIntuition is a combination of the five functioning brains you haveIntuition can be cultivated and improved by paying attention to the input your brains are offering youYour intuition might just be trying to tell you how to make better decisions—are you ready to listen?Resources Mentioned:The ArticleNowSourcing Intuition infographic 3 Brains blog postBiases Neural tissue we all have in both our gut and our heartOrganismic Rights infographicCognitive Bias CodexEmotional Resilience AssessmentLeadership Experience AssessmentGrowth AssessmentContact ChristineYou’re busy growing. Let’s have a strategy session when it makes sense, which means you are…· Committed to getting better results and finding out how awesome your performance can truly be· Ready to make this a priority and get started in the next few months· Allocating budget to improving the leadership, culture and results of you and your company· Able to make the decision to move forward (or can convince the person who can)Ready? Great! Please fill out the form here. If not, check out our resources and subscribe to receive news and more tools as they become available, and we’ll work together when the time is right. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Spidey sense. Gut feel. Whatever you call it, it’ll make or break the most important decisions in your life. The most successful executives I coach have it in spades. We're talking about intuition, and digging into what it is and how it actually works.Oprah has it.Steve Jobs had it.Mark Zuckerberg has it but recently didn’t listen to it and paid a huge price.Elon Musk made the same mistake. How—And Where—Intuition Actually WorksHere’s how to make your intuition stronger right now. My friends at <a href="http://www.nowsourcing.com/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">NowSourcing</a> have created a handy infographic, be sure to <a href="https://nowsourcing.com/project/habits-of-people-who-trust-their-intuition/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">check it out here</a>.First, let’s consider how—and where—humans think. As I outlined in a <a href="https://www.smarttribesinstitute.com/leadership-role-heres-need-know-brain/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">previous blog</a>, human beings actually have three brains. Since both our hearts and our intestines have neural tissue, we have the heart-brain, the gut-brain and the brain that sits in our cranium (or, if you count the one that sits in our cranium as three—reptile, mammalian, and human neo-cortex—then we actually have five brains!).Where You Think: <ul><li>Reptilian Brain: Instinct</li><li>An innate inclination toward a particular behavior in response to a certain stimulus</li><li>It’s hardwired in the body from birth to keep us “not dead”</li><li>Examples: we pull away from something hot, run from danger, etc.</li><li>Mammalian Brain: Where much intuition, or “gut feeling”, occurs</li><li>A natural, thoughtless process which requires no analysis or deep thinking</li><li>Unconsciously developed over time from our experiences and belief</li><li><a href="https://www.smarttribesinstitute.com/work-unconscious-bias-organization/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Biases</a> operate here and are unconscious—which is why they can be problematic</li><li>Examples: <a href="https://www.smarttribesinstitute.com/what-being-excluded-does-to-your-brain/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">trusting someone that’s similar to you</a>, feeling good around someone, etc.</li><li>Prefrontal Cortex: Analytical thinking</li><li>Intentional, organized, conscious thoughts</li><li>Used for planning, problem-solving, decision making</li><li>Some <a href="https://www.smarttribesinstitute.com/why-smart-people-make-stupid-decisions/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">biases</a> operate here too, such as making decisions based on a limited data set, or past experiences</li><li>Example: <a href="https://www.smarttribesinstitute.com/why-smart-people-make-stupid-decisions/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">weighing the pros and cons of a decision </a>before making it, analyzing potential return on investment before sponsoring a project, etc.</li></ul> Check out these famous examples of intuition—what parts of the brain were involved? <ul><li>44 BCE: Calpurnia, the wife of Julius Caesar, dreams of her husband’s assassination and urges him not to go to the Senate, where he goes anyway and is killed</li><li>It’s not magic: Calpurnia was unconsciously reacting to the tensions and signs of political dissent brewing in the Roman Empire [some heart brain, some gut brain, some reptilian and mammalian brain activation]</li><li>1936: On a hunch, automobile tycoon Charles Howard purchases an underweight colt named <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seabiscuit" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Seabiscuit,</a> who goes on to become one of the greatest racehorses in history</li><li>It’s not magic: Howard’s business savvy and military cavalry training gave him the experience to recognize a gifted horse and a sound financial bet [some gut brain, some mammalian and prefrontal cortex brain activation]</li><li>1962: After being rejected by dozens of publishers, Madeleine L’Engle’s <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/33574273-a-wrinkle-in-time" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">A Wrinkle In Time </a>is picked up by John Farrar of Farrar, Straus, &amp; Giroux, which had not published children’s books before [some heart brain, some gut brain, some mammalian and possibly prefrontal cortex brain activation]</li></ul> Most cultures today worship the intellect—the prefrontal cortex functions—and thus often unintentionally condition children to discount their intuition. So let’s consider <a href="https://www.smarttribesinstitute.com/truth-brain-gets-smarter/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Albert Einstein</a> and how when he discovered the theory of relativity he said (to paraphrase) “First I felt it, then I saw it, then I could explain it.” Sounds like a bunch of five brain activity to me!How Intuition WorksYour intuition is much faster than your analytical mind and relies on feelings—note above I refer to the <a href="https://www.smarttribesinstitute.com/leadership-role-heres-need-know-brain/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">neural tissue we all have in both our gut and our heart</a>.We often hear about women’s intuition and how it’s stronger than men’s. Why? Two reasons: first, the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Insular_cortex" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">insula</a> in the female human brain is larger than in the male. The insula is often called the seat of intuition in human beings, and it’s where hurt feelings fester and hunches often spring from. Second, our female ancestors needed to ensure not only their own survival but also their children’s. While the males were often single-tasking such as hunting (with their larger amygdalas), the females were multi-tasking. The females were caring for the children, watching for danger as they gathered food, tracking non-verbal cues from others, and organizing environmental input and information.3 Steps To Optimize Your Intuition1-Notice your body’s reactions (changes in heartbeat, breathing, muscle tension).2-Understand that your intuition wants whatever you value most (happiness, health, prosperity)–your intuition could be signaling that even though a decision seems logical, it won’t bring you closer to your core goals.3-Likewise notice that your intuition is wiser than our ego, which may want you to make a specific decision for a certain gain, yet that gain might come at too high a cost—and your intuition will be trying to put on the brakes.So how do you balance intuition and logic?<ul><li>Look at the <a href="https://www.smarttribesinstitute.com/the-1-tool-successful-leaders-use-to-radically-shift-their-reality/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">meaning you are making</a> about a certain situation to check your assumptions.</li><li>Look at your <a href="https://www.smarttribesinstitute.com/are-you-honoring-your-5-human-rights-work/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">organismic rights</a> and if they will be honored and expanded by that decision.</li><li>Check yourself for <a href="https://www.smarttribesinstitute.com/decision-making/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">unconscious biases</a> that might be getting in the way.</li></ul> Follow your intuition when:<ul><li>Working in rapidly changing, high-stakes environments</li><li>Performing tasks you have done many times before</li><li>Brainstorming or discussing business with partners or coworkers</li></ul> Follow your analytical brain when:<ul><li>Working in compliance scenarios or when under public or regulatory scrutiny</li><li>Doing something you have never done before</li><li>Hiring new talent or delegating work to employees</li><li> </li></ul>“Have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.” – Steve Jobs, 2005 Stanford Commencement speechThe Net-Net<ul><li>Intuition is a combination of the five functioning brains you have</li><li>Intuition can be cultivated and improved by paying attention to the input your brains are offering you</li></ul> Your intuition might just be trying to tell you how to make better decisions—are you ready to listen?Resources Mentioned:<ul><li><a href="https://www.smarttribesinstitute.com/3-steps-to-access-your-hidden-brain-power/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">The Article</a></li><li><a href="https://nowsourcing.com/project/habits-of-people-who-trust-their-intuition/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">NowSourcing Intuition infographic </a></li><li><a href="https://www.smarttribesinstitute.com/leadership-role-heres-need-know-brain/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">3 Brains blog post</a></li><li><a href="https://www.smarttribesinstitute.com/work-unconscious-bias-organization/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Biases</a></li><li> <a href="https://www.smarttribesinstitute.com/leadership-role-heres-need-know-brain/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Neural tissue we all have in both our gut and our heart</a></li><li><a href="https://www.smarttribesinstitute.com/organismic-rights/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Organismic Rights infographic</a></li><li><a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Cognitive_bias_codex_en.svg" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Cognitive Bias Codex</a></li><li><a href="https://smarttribesinstitute.com/emotional-resilience-assessment/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Emotional Resilience Assessment</a></li><li><a href="https://app.pippa.io/shows/5d854e4bbd7d8a2b67020e15/episodes/Leadership%20Experience%20Assessment" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Leadership Experience Assessment</a></li><li><a href="https://smarttribesinstitute.com/assessments/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Growth Assessment</a></li><li><a href="https://smarttribesinstitute.com/contact/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Contact Christine</a></li></ul> You’re busy growing. Let’s have a <a href="https://smarttribesinstitute.com/strategy-session/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">strategy session</a> when it makes sense, which means you are…· Committed to getting better results and finding out how awesome your performance can truly be· Ready to make this a priority and get started in the next few months· Allocating budget to improving the leadership, culture and results of you and your company· Able to make the decision to move forward (or can convince the person who can)Ready? Great! Please<a href="https://smarttribesinstitute.com/strategy-session/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"> fill out the form here</a>. If not, check out <a href="https://smarttribesinstitute.com/resources/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">our resources</a> and <a href="https://smarttribesinstitute.com/subscribe-2/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">subscribe</a> to receive news and more tools as they become available, and we’ll work together when the time is right. Hosted on Acast. See <a href="https://acast.com/privacy" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">acast.com/privacy</a> for more information.

3 Steps To Access Your Hidden Brain Power

What is your life experience when the work day is complete? Are you spending time doing things that you love or are you too drained to do anything other than recoup before the next workday begins?We spend a lot of time at work and the tools that I teach my executive coaching clients show them how to maximize their efforts, stand in their energetic weight and master executive presence. If you aren’t having fun when you aren’t at work, it may be time to reflect.Life is a balancing act, and work will become less fulfilling if your downtime is void of ease, grace, joy, and fun.These are the three actions that leaders can do each and every day that will put them on the path towards guaranteeing work-life balance.Move The Needle: Focus 70% + of your time on HVAs. There will always be a parade of bright shiny objects trying to distract you. Keep those beasts at bay by tracking your high-value activities (HVAs) and low-value activities (LVAs). Resolve to get to 70%+ of HVAs in the next 60 days. Effective delegation increases the amount of time that you will have to focus on the items that will move the needle.Honor Your Boundaries: Are you honoring your personal life commitments? We all avoid uncomfortable human relations issues sometimes, but what is the cost? It’s exorbitant. As we give our power away and compromise our integrity, we inadvertently teach our brain that not honoring our personal life is acceptable. Set up a new system with healthy boundaries and behaviors that will anchor the fact that a commitment in your personal life is equally as important as a commitment at work.Embrace Mindfulness Practices: Do you have a mindfulness practice? If not, it may be time to start incorporating at least one mindfulness practice into your daily routine. One of the biggest causes of stress is ruminating, or repeating a certain stressful thought. The brain sets off down an old thinking pattern and stays there. Mindfulness practices teach our brain to pop up out of that old pattern and recognize it for what it is: a default and well-worn groove that we have a choice to step out of. Mindfulness meditation re-grooves the brain and builds a new neurological network. Do it enough and, like the studies show, you can train your brain like a muscle to stay calm and present in the face of adversity or good old daily stresses of life. You can see several mindfulness processes demonstrated here.They learn how to manage their energy and focus on the actions that only they can do to move the needle in their organization, they honor their boundaries and personal life commitments, and they know how to stop the world and stop their thoughts on command.Try the three above actions and you’ll find your personal life will be as fun and fulfilling as your work life!------Have you ever considered using neuroscience to optimize engagement, performance, recruiting, and retention in your organization? At SmartTribes Institute, we continually strive to apply cutting edge neuroscience tools and resources to modern day businesses and people. If you'd like a taste, check out our upcoming Culture Camp! And, of course, apply the practices in these podcast episodes as well.------Resources Mentioned:Culture Camp: https://www.smarttribesinstitute.com/culture-camp/Beyond Your Brain: https://www.smarttribesinstitute.com/stiretreat/High Value Activities/Low Value Activities Examples: https://smarttribesinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/hva_and_lva_tutorial.pdfEffective Delegation Process: https://smarttribesinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/effective_delegation_process.pdfContact Christine: https://smarttribesinstitute.com/contact/Strategy Session: https://smarttribesinstitute.com/strategy-session/You’re busy growing. Let’s have a strategy session when it makes sense, which means you are…· Committed to getting better results and finding out how awesome your performance can truly be· Ready to make this a priority and get started in the next few months· Allocating budget to improving the leadership, culture and results of you and your company· Able to make the decision to move forward (or can convince the person who can)Ready? Great! Please fill out the form here. If not, check out our resources and subscribe to receive news and more tools as they become available, and we’ll work together when the time is right. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

What is your life experience when the work day is complete? Are you spending time doing things that you love or are you too drained to do anything other than recoup before the next workday begins?We spend a lot of time at work and the tools that I teach my executive coaching clients show them how to maximize their efforts, stand in their energetic weight and master executive presence. If you aren’t having fun when you aren’t at work, it may be time to reflect.Life is a balancing act, and work will become less fulfilling if your downtime is void of ease, grace, joy, and fun.These are the three actions that leaders can do each and every day that will put them on the path towards guaranteeing work-life balance.<a href="https://smarttribesinstitute.com/hold-your-team-accountable-heres-how/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Move The Needle</a>: Focus 70% + of your time on <a href="https://smarttribesinstitute.com/secret-behind-executive-presence/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">HVAs</a>. There will always be a parade of bright shiny objects trying to distract you. Keep those beasts at bay by tracking your high-value activities (HVAs) and low-value activities (LVAs). Resolve to get to 70%+ of HVAs in the next 60 days. <a href="https://smarttribesinstitute.com/tired-of-tasks-being-bounced-back-to-you/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Effective delegation</a> increases the amount of time that you will have to focus on the items that will move the needle.Honor Your Boundaries: Are you honoring your personal life commitments? We all avoid uncomfortable human relations issues sometimes, but what is the cost? It’s exorbitant. As we give our power away and compromise our <a href="https://smarttribesinstitute.com/want-boss-respect-6-things/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">integrity</a>, we inadvertently teach our brain that not honoring our personal life is acceptable. Set up a new system with healthy boundaries and behaviors that will anchor the fact that a commitment in your personal life is equally as important as a commitment at work.Embrace Mindfulness Practices: Do you have a <a href="https://www.thriveglobal.com/stories/34055-why-all-leaders-need-mindfulness-practices" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">mindfulness</a> practice? If not, it may be time to start incorporating at least one mindfulness practice into your daily routine. One of the biggest causes of stress is ruminating, or repeating a certain stressful thought. The brain sets off down an old thinking pattern and stays there. Mindfulness practices teach our brain to pop up out of that old pattern and recognize it for what it is: a default and well-worn groove that we have a choice to step out of. <a href="https://smarttribesinstitute.com/beyond-brain-mindfulness-leaders/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Mindfulness meditation</a> re-grooves the brain and builds a new neurological network. Do it enough and, like the studies show, you can train your brain like a muscle to stay calm and present in the face of adversity or good old daily stresses of life. You can see several mindfulness processes <a href="https://youtu.be/_X-mADJK2Fs" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">demonstrated here</a>.They learn how to manage their energy and focus on the actions that only they can do to move the needle in their organization, they honor their boundaries and personal life commitments, and they know how to stop the world and stop their thoughts on command.Try the three above actions and you’ll find your personal life will be as fun and fulfilling as your work life!------Have you ever considered using neuroscience to optimize engagement, performance, recruiting, and retention in your organization? At SmartTribes Institute, we continually strive to apply cutting edge neuroscience tools and resources to modern day businesses and people. If you'd like a taste, check out our upcoming <a href="https://www.smarttribesinstitute.com/culture-camp/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Culture Camp</a>! And, of course, apply the practices in these podcast episodes as well.------Resources Mentioned:<ul><li><a href="https://www.smarttribesinstitute.com/culture-camp/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Culture Camp</a>: <a href="https://www.smarttribesinstitute.com/culture-camp/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">https://www.smarttribesinstitute.com/culture-camp/</a></li><li><a href="https://www.smarttribesinstitute.com/stiretreat/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Beyond Your Brain</a>: <a href="https://www.smarttribesinstitute.com/stiretreat/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">https://www.smarttribesinstitute.com/stiretreat/</a></li><li><a href="https://smarttribesinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/hva_and_lva_tutorial.pdf" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">High Value Activities/Low Value Activities Examples</a>: <a href="https://smarttribesinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/hva_and_lva_tutorial.pdf" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">https://smarttribesinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/hva_and_lva_tutorial.pdf</a></li><li><a href="https://smarttribesinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/effective_delegation_process.pdf" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Effective Delegation Process</a>: <a href="https://smarttribesinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/effective_delegation_process.pdf" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">https://smarttribesinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/effective_delegation_process.pdf</a></li><li><a href="https://smarttribesinstitute.com/contact/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Contact Christine</a>: <a href="https://smarttribesinstitute.com/contact/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">https://smarttribesinstitute.com/contact/</a></li><li><a href="https://smarttribesinstitute.com/strategy-session/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Strategy Session</a>: <a href="https://smarttribesinstitute.com/strategy-session/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">https://smarttribesinstitute.com/strategy-session/</a></li></ul> You’re busy growing. Let’s have a <a href="https://smarttribesinstitute.com/strategy-session/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">strategy session</a> when it makes sense, which means you are…· Committed to getting better results and finding out how awesome your performance can truly be· Ready to make this a priority and get started in the next few months· Allocating budget to improving the leadership, culture and results of you and your company· Able to make the decision to move forward (or can convince the person who can)Ready? Great! Please<a href="https://smarttribesinstitute.com/strategy-session/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"> fill out the form here</a>. If not, check out <a href="https://smarttribesinstitute.com/resources/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">our resources</a> and <a href="https://smarttribesinstitute.com/subscribe-2/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">subscribe</a> to receive news and more tools as they become available, and we’ll work together when the time is right. Hosted on Acast. See <a href="https://acast.com/privacy" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">acast.com/privacy</a> for more information.

3 Ways Leaders Can Improve Work-Life Balance

As a leader, in what area of your life do you need to shift from being disempowered to being empowered?We form our own reality based on visual, auditory, and kinesthetic cues. These cues recall our beliefs about the world and ourselves (our identity), which results in either feeling good or feeling bad. If you’re on a sales team that feels bad, chances are you won’t be achieving your quota because your energy will be low as well as your motivation and creativity. Is there anything you can do right now to feel better and be more productive?Stuff happens, and sometimes we need to do a quick “pattern-interrupt” to pause our default and choose a better-feeling alternative. Remember, it is not what happens that matters but rather, what it means that matters. Change the meaning, change the feeling. We need to make more helpful meaning. Reframing is a terrific tool for making new meaning quickly and easily, as well as for editing your belief system in the process.By formal definition, reframing is a way of viewing and experiencing events, ideas, concepts, and emotions to find more useful alternatives. It is a practical and valuable tool to shift perception, including your perception of yourself or others’ perceptions of themselves.Think of reframing as putting on a different pair of glasses. What would you see if you put on a pair of sunglasses with a heavy tint when you were in a dark room? You would see shadows and dark forms you couldn’t identify. What would happen when you took off those glasses? You may see the most beautiful room in the world. When you switch your glasses, what you see changes.Reframing, mentally and linguistically, does the same thing. It changes the story you tell yourself about what happens.Harvard researchers proved a while back that the stories we tell ourselves shape our world. The good news is that we can also create new stories about the decisions we’ve made about ourselves, our abilities, and the world. We have the power to change our experience. Here are two examples.In BusinessInitial story: It’s really hard getting a job fresh out of college these days. The market is crowded, and overqualified people are competing for every single job. No wonder I’m unemployed and it’s tough.Reframe: It’s awesome that there are a lot of people job hunting right now because it gives a person the opportunity to really bring his or her “A Game” to stand out. I’m sending my résumé in creative ways to get an interview, I’m doing more research than I ever have done before to prepare for interviews, and then I’m following up after the interviews using different methods. I am learning a ton!See how the meaning shifts from defeat and deciding that job hunting will be hard (which means it will be because the universe is an exquisite mirror) to a sense of power, can-do, creativity, and agility?In Personal LifeInitial story: I was a girl in a household of boys. My brothers and parents wanted another boy, so I was perpetually left out and labeled as a disappointment. I’ve never been good enough.Reframe: I grew up in the perfect family to learn to see and honor my unique value. I was given great opportunities to be independent and forge my path in life. I also learned to be self-reliant, which has made me strong and fearless.See how the meaning she is making shifts from disempowering to empowering?Resources Mentioned:The ArticleVisual, auditory, and kinesthetic cues (Infographic)Reframing (Infographic)Harvard researchersContact ChristineYou’re busy growing. Let’s have a strategy session when it makes sense, which means you are…· Committed to getting better results and finding out how awesome your performance can truly be· Ready to make this a priority and get started in the next few months· Allocating budget to improving the leadership, culture and results of you and your company· Able to make the decision to move forward (or can convince the person who can)Ready? Great! Please fill out the form here. If not, check out our resources and subscribe to receive news and more tools as they become available, and we’ll work together when the time is right. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

As a leader, in what area of your life do you need to shift from being disempowered to being empowered?We form our own reality based on <a href="https://www.smarttribesinstitute.com/vak-anchoring/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">visual, auditory, and kinesthetic cues</a>. These cues recall our beliefs about the world and ourselves (our identity), which results in either feeling good or feeling bad. If you’re on a sales team that feels bad, chances are you won’t be achieving your quota because your energy will be low as well as your motivation and creativity. Is there anything you can do right now to feel better and be more productive?Stuff happens, and sometimes we need to do a quick “pattern-interrupt” to pause our default and choose a better-feeling alternative. Remember, it is not what happens that matters but rather, what it means that matters. Change the meaning, change the feeling. We need to make more helpful meaning. <a href="https://www.smarttribesinstitute.com/reframing/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Reframing</a> is a terrific tool for making new meaning quickly and easily, as well as for editing your belief system in the process.By formal definition, reframing is a way of viewing and experiencing events, ideas, concepts, and emotions to find more useful alternatives. It is a practical and valuable tool to shift perception, including your perception of yourself or others’ perceptions of themselves.Think of reframing as putting on a different pair of glasses. What would you see if you put on a pair of sunglasses with a heavy tint when you were in a dark room? You would see shadows and dark forms you couldn’t identify. What would happen when you took off those glasses? You may see the most beautiful room in the world. When you switch your glasses, what you see changes.Reframing, mentally and linguistically, does the same thing. It changes the story you tell yourself about what happens.<a href="https://hbr.org/2012/12/your-companys-history-as-a-leadership-tool" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Harvard researchers</a> proved a while back that the stories we tell ourselves shape our world. The good news is that we can also create new stories about the decisions we’ve made about ourselves, our abilities, and the world. We have the power to change our experience. Here are two examples.In BusinessInitial story: It’s really hard getting a job fresh out of college these days. The market is crowded, and overqualified people are competing for every single job. No wonder I’m unemployed and it’s tough.Reframe: It’s awesome that there are a lot of people job hunting right now because it gives a person the opportunity to really bring his or her “A Game” to stand out. I’m sending my résumé in creative ways to get an interview, I’m doing more research than I ever have done before to prepare for interviews, and then I’m following up after the interviews using different methods. I am learning a ton!See how the meaning shifts from defeat and deciding that job hunting will be hard (which means it will be because the universe is an exquisite mirror) to a sense of power, can-do, creativity, and agility?In Personal LifeInitial story: I was a girl in a household of boys. My brothers and parents wanted another boy, so I was perpetually left out and labeled as a disappointment. I’ve never been good enough.Reframe: I grew up in the perfect family to learn to see and honor my unique value. I was given great opportunities to be independent and forge my path in life. I also learned to be self-reliant, which has made me strong and fearless.See how the meaning she is making shifts from disempowering to empowering?Resources Mentioned:<ul><li><a href="https://www.smarttribesinstitute.com/the-1-tool-successful-leaders-use-to-radically-shift-their-reality/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">The Article</a></li><li><a href="https://www.smarttribesinstitute.com/vak-anchoring/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Visual, auditory, and kinesthetic cues</a> (Infographic)</li><li><a href="https://www.smarttribesinstitute.com/reframing/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Reframing</a> (Infographic)</li><li><a href="https://hbr.org/2012/12/your-companys-history-as-a-leadership-tool" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Harvard researchers</a></li><li><a href="https://smarttribesinstitute.com/contact/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Contact Christine</a></li></ul> You’re busy growing. Let’s have a <a href="https://smarttribesinstitute.com/strategy-session/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">strategy session</a> when it makes sense, which means you are…· Committed to getting better results and finding out how awesome your performance can truly be· Ready to make this a priority and get started in the next few months· Allocating budget to improving the leadership, culture and results of you and your company· Able to make the decision to move forward (or can convince the person who can)Ready? Great! Please<a href="https://smarttribesinstitute.com/strategy-session/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"> fill out the form here</a>. If not, check out <a href="https://smarttribesinstitute.com/resources/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">our resources</a> and <a href="https://smarttribesinstitute.com/subscribe-2/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">subscribe</a> to receive news and more tools as they become available, and we’ll work together when the time is right. Hosted on Acast. See <a href="https://acast.com/privacy" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">acast.com/privacy</a> for more information.

One Powerful Tool to Create the Reality You Desire

It is extremely powerful to combine leadership and gratitude. For starters, gratitude helps you feel generally better. Choosing to recognize and acknowledge all the good things in life (which is what gratitude practices help you do), creates a more positive outlook. In addition, when you establish a true gratitude practice you're able to anchor that feeling of gratefulness and positivity into your body. This anchoring creates an emotional reserve you'll be able to call on later.Another gratitude superpower is that it gives you the edge you need to be able to pivot quickly, especially in times of stress or conflict. By pausing and implementing a gratitude practice, you give your mind and body a chance to recalibrate. This will help you realign and refocus. It also helps you find hidden opportunities to be grateful. So, rather than only thinking of gratitude during holidays, we can use the entire year to store up a reserve of gratitude! And as you'll see below, just a little bit of gratitude can go a long way. My executive coaching clients have found that the gratitude practice I teach is really practical and beneficial.Close your eyes.Focus on a blessing in your life - something you're thankful for.See an image of this blessing in your mind's eye.Offer a silent thank-you to the person or object of your blessing.Relax into the feeling of gratitude. Take a deep breath, and feel more gratitude. (Think of turning the volume up.)The latest research shows that 6 doses of feeling 30 seconds of gratitude daily actually enables your neurons to fire together and wire together around gratitude in as little as two weeks! This means that practicing gratitude (and naturally having a more grateful mindset) will become more natural and be achieved more easily.When I first learned, I started doing it. Now, I wake up each morning and automatically and easily think "thank you". It's right there, because I've grown my own personal practice of gratitude. This practice reinforced gratitude as second nature, and also increases myelination. (Grab the handy infographic here: https://www.smarttribesinstitute.com/myelination-practice/)All of these results, in under 3 minutes a day! That's an ROI that's hard to argue with.If you want to learn more about cultivating an attitude of gratitude, check out the annual retreat, Beyond Your Brain at https://www.smarttribesinstitute.com/stiretreat/.Resources Mentioned:Beyond Your Brain Retreat: https://www.smarttribesinstitute.com/stiretreat/Myelination: https://www.smarttribesinstitute.com/myelination-practice/Contact Christine: https://smarttribesinstitute.com/contact/You’re busy growing. Let’s have a strategy session when it makes sense, which means you are…· Committed to getting better results and finding out how awesome your performance can truly be· Ready to make this a priority and get started in the next few months· Allocating budget to improving the leadership, culture and results of you and your company· Able to make the decision to move forward (or can convince the person who can)https://smarttribesinstitute.com/strategy-session/Ready? Great! Please fill out the form here. If not, check out our resources and subscribe to receive news and more tools as they become available, and we’ll work together when the time is right. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

It is extremely powerful to combine leadership and gratitude. For starters, gratitude helps you feel generally better. Choosing to recognize and acknowledge all the good things in life (which is what gratitude practices help you do), creates a more positive outlook. In addition, when you establish a true gratitude practice you're able to anchor that feeling of gratefulness and positivity into your body. This anchoring creates an emotional reserve you'll be able to call on later.Another gratitude superpower is that it gives you the edge you need to be able to pivot quickly, especially in times of stress or conflict. By pausing and implementing a gratitude practice, you give your mind and body a chance to recalibrate. This will help you realign and refocus. It also helps you find hidden opportunities to be grateful. So, rather than only thinking of gratitude during holidays, we can use the entire year to store up a reserve of gratitude! And as you'll see below, just a little bit of gratitude can go a long way. My executive coaching clients have found that the gratitude practice I teach is really practical and beneficial.Close your eyes.Focus on a blessing in your life - something you're thankful for.See an image of this blessing in your mind's eye.Offer a silent thank-you to the person or object of your blessing.Relax into the feeling of gratitude. Take a deep breath, and feel more gratitude. (Think of turning the volume up.)The latest research shows that 6 doses of feeling 30 seconds of gratitude daily actually enables your neurons to fire together and wire together around gratitude in as little as two weeks! This means that practicing gratitude (and naturally having a more grateful mindset) will become more natural and be achieved more easily.When I first learned, I started doing it. Now, I wake up each morning and automatically and easily think "thank you". It's right there, because I've grown my own personal practice of gratitude. This practice reinforced gratitude as second nature, and also increases myelination. (Grab the handy infographic here: <a href="https://www.smarttribesinstitute.com/myelination-practice/ )" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">https://www.smarttribesinstitute.com/myelination-practice/)</a>All of these results, in under 3 minutes a day! That's an ROI that's hard to argue with.If you want to learn more about cultivating an attitude of gratitude, check out the annual retreat, <a href="https://www.smarttribesinstitute.com/stiretreat/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Beyond Your Brain</a> at <a href="https://www.smarttribesinstitute.com/stiretreat/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">https://www.smarttribesinstitute.com/stiretreat/</a>. Resources Mentioned:<ul><li><a href="https://open.acast.com/shows/5d854e4bbd7d8a2b67020e15/episodes/www.beyondyourbrain.com" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Beyond Your Brain Retreat</a>: <a href="https://www.smarttribesinstitute.com/stiretreat/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">https://www.smarttribesinstitute.com/stiretreat/</a></li><li><a href="https://www.smarttribesinstitute.com/myelination-practice/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Myelination</a>: <a href="https://www.smarttribesinstitute.com/myelination-practice/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">https://www.smarttribesinstitute.com/myelination-practice/</a></li><li><a href="https://smarttribesinstitute.com/contact/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Contact Christine</a>: <a href="https://smarttribesinstitute.com/contact/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">https://smarttribesinstitute.com/contact/</a></li></ul> You’re busy growing. Let’s have a <a href="https://smarttribesinstitute.com/strategy-session/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">strategy session</a> when it makes sense, which means you are…· Committed to getting better results and finding out how awesome your performance can truly be· Ready to make this a priority and get started in the next few months· Allocating budget to improving the leadership, culture and results of you and your company· Able to make the decision to move forward (or can convince the person who can)<a href="https://smarttribesinstitute.com/strategy-session/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">https://smarttribesinstitute.com/strategy-session/</a>Ready? Great! Please<a href="https://smarttribesinstitute.com/strategy-session/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"> fill out the form here</a>. If not, check out <a href="https://smarttribesinstitute.com/resources/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">our resources</a> and <a href="https://smarttribesinstitute.com/subscribe-2/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">subscribe</a> to receive news and more tools as they become available, and we’ll work together when the time is right. Hosted on Acast. See <a href="https://acast.com/privacy" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">acast.com/privacy</a> for more information.

Combining Leadership & Gratitude

What pushes your buttons? What makes you lose your equilibrium? Even when we know we should stress less over the small things, get more sleep, or handle a situation better...we're all human. And we all have issues that we can't control, or life events that take us off guard. So how can we protect our health in the midst of all that?Research tells us that there are many ways to improve brain functionality and mental health.For instance, you probably know that practices like meditation and mindfulness are good for you. The question is, are you doing them? All the knowledge in the world does nothing for you if you don't actually practice what you know! Studies have shown that the more you practice mindfulness, the more pronounced its impact is.After sifting through over 19,000 studies, researchers found that many psychological stresses can be eased with mindfulness. Participants could relieve stress, increase sleep, and rebuild their brain's gray matter. They were able to relieve levels of perceived stress and tension by practicing mindfulness. They also were able to improve sleep patterns and decrease depression symptoms. In 8 weeks, a study from Harvard found that it was possible to rebuild gray matter in the brain! The impact of meditation was even better than the results of prescription medication.The mind is a lousy master and an excellent servant.Are you familiar with rumination? Our brains can get onto a "hamster wheel", which leads to obsession and repetitive thoughts. Mindfulness can pull us out of that! We can gain clarity and stillness when we choose to master our minds and thoughts.Mediation is considered a practice because it takes time to reach the automation level. Being able to sit down and actually stop your thoughts is completely worth it though! (When I started, I could only go for 5 minutes. Eventually, I added 1 more minute. Slow growth is completely normal!)Try this simple practice:Breath in for a count of 7.Hold for the count of 7.Exhale for a count of 7.(Count slowly throughout.)You can try breathing in through your nose if you'd like. If your mind wanders, just bring it back. This is an exploration - you can light a candle, sit on a chair or on the floor, or anything else that might feel good to you.To learn more, visit www.beyondyourbrain.com, where you'll find information about our upcoming retreat!Resources Mentioned:Beyond Your Brain RetreatContact Christine: https://smarttribesinstitute.com/contact/You’re busy growing. Let’s have a strategy session when it makes sense, which means you are…· Committed to getting better results and finding out how awesome your performance can truly be· Ready to make this a priority and get started in the next few months· Allocating budget to improving the leadership, culture and results of you and your company· Able to make the decision to move forward (or can convince the person who can)Ready? Great! Please fill out the form here. If not, check out our resources and subscribe to receive news and more tools as they become available, and we’ll work together when the time is right. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

What pushes your buttons? What makes you lose your equilibrium? Even when we know we should stress less over the small things, get more sleep, or handle a situation better...we're all human. And we all have issues that we can't control, or life events that take us off guard. So how can we protect our health in the midst of all that?Research tells us that there are many ways to improve brain functionality and mental health.For instance, you probably know that practices like meditation and mindfulness are good for you. The question is, are you doing them? All the knowledge in the world does nothing for you if you don't actually practice what you know! Studies have shown that the more you practice mindfulness, the more pronounced its impact is.After sifting through over 19,000 studies, researchers found that many psychological stresses can be eased with mindfulness. Participants could relieve stress, increase sleep, and rebuild their brain's gray matter. They were able to relieve levels of perceived stress and tension by practicing mindfulness. They also were able to improve sleep patterns and decrease depression symptoms. In 8 weeks, a study from Harvard found that it was possible to rebuild gray matter in the brain! The impact of meditation was even better than the results of prescription medication.The mind is a lousy master and an excellent servant.Are you familiar with rumination? Our brains can get onto a "hamster wheel", which leads to obsession and repetitive thoughts. Mindfulness can pull us out of that! We can gain clarity and stillness when we choose to master our minds and thoughts.Mediation is considered a practice because it takes time to reach the automation level. Being able to sit down and actually stop your thoughts is completely worth it though! (When I started, I could only go for 5 minutes. Eventually, I added 1 more minute. Slow growth is completely normal!)Try this simple practice:Breath in for a count of 7.Hold for the count of 7.Exhale for a count of 7.(Count slowly throughout.)You can try breathing in through your nose if you'd like. If your mind wanders, just bring it back. This is an exploration - you can light a candle, sit on a chair or on the floor, or anything else that might feel good to you.To learn more, visit <a href="www.beyondyourbrain.com" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">www.beyondyourbrain.com</a>, where you'll find information about our upcoming retreat!Resources Mentioned:<ul><li><a href="https://open.acast.com/shows/5d854e4bbd7d8a2b67020e15/episodes/www.beyondyourbrain.com" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Beyond Your Brain Retreat</a></li><li><a href="https://smarttribesinstitute.com/contact/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Contact Christine</a>: <a href="https://smarttribesinstitute.com/contact/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">https://smarttribesinstitute.com/contact/</a></li></ul> You’re busy growing. Let’s have a <a href="https://smarttribesinstitute.com/strategy-session/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">strategy session</a> when it makes sense, which means you are…· Committed to getting better results and finding out how awesome your performance can truly be· Ready to make this a priority and get started in the next few months· Allocating budget to improving the leadership, culture and results of you and your company· Able to make the decision to move forward (or can convince the person who can)Ready? Great! Please<a href="https://smarttribesinstitute.com/strategy-session/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"> fill out the form here</a>. If not, check out <a href="https://smarttribesinstitute.com/resources/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">our resources</a> and <a href="https://smarttribesinstitute.com/subscribe-2/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">subscribe</a> to receive news and more tools as they become available, and we’ll work together when the time is right. Hosted on Acast. See <a href="https://acast.com/privacy" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">acast.com/privacy</a> for more information.

Why Mindfulness & Meditation Matter in Leadership

The CEO tells the VP Marketing candidate he’d hire her if she lost 20 pounds. She’s “too fat to represent our company.”The VP Operations tells her team if they were competent they would’ve achieved their quarterly goals.The CFO sends the Controller an angry email saying his budget “sucks and is pathetic.”The VP Product Development says “deal with it” when the favorite lead engineer and keeper of the culture quits.What do all these leaders have in common?They aren’t emotionally intelligent. They are sending “nasty-grams” to their teams and causing emotional disengagement and shutdown in others. They have low EQ.And EQ = money, according to Drs. Travis Bradberry and Jean Greaves (see resources below).“The link between EQ and earnings is so direct that every point increase in EQ equals $1,300 to an annual salary. If that’s not enough, EQ accounts for 58% of performance in all types of jobs”.All. Wow.So let’s figure this out in a straightforward way. First, i’ll summarize emotional intelligence and you’ll see a handy infographic in the show notes: Here’s how to start becoming more emotionally intelligent:1. Figure out what you’re feeling. It’s essential to be in tune with your emotions—this is Self-Awareness. Now based on what you are feeling, is it the appropriate time to send that angry email? Right now it’s key to remember that communication is redundant: humans cannot *not* communicate—our facial expressions, body posture, vocal tone/pace/pitch betray us. Even in email or texts our vocal tone/pace/pitch can be detected.You know what it feels like to receive an email when someone is spewing anger or venting frustration. You also know what it feels like when someone handles a challenging situation with compassion, a spirit of collaboration, and overall respect and kindness. People can tell. Your vocal tone does indeed come through in written communication.2. Take a breather. Holding off on sending a nasty-gram until you cool down is Self-Management. We need to shift out of Critter State [fight/flight/freeze or Amygdala Hijack]  into Smart State [clear thinking, behavioral choice, innovation, collaboration, creativity] in order to practice Self-Management. Now is a great time to unpack the visual, auditory and kinesthetic cues that triggered you. And if you’re in Critter State one of the easiest ways to shift out of it and into Smart State is to practice 7-7-7 breathing. Inhale for a count of 7, hold for count of 7, exhale for count of 7. Do 7 times. Ahhhhh. Now you have choice to respond vs. react compulsively. Excellent!3. Consider the recipient. While you are practicing #1 or #2 above, consider what the recipient might feel upon receiving your communication. This is Social Awareness. They are a different person from you, so they’ll likely make different meaning—they’ll interpret your communication–based on their Map of the World and not yours. Many components factor into a person’s map of the world, such as education, where they grew up, socio-economics, religion, childhood experiences, adult experience—which is why we misunderstand one another so often: we all have different maps.This consideration is Social Awareness.4. Focus on the outcome. What is the outcome you’d actually like to achieve? How would you like to make someone feel in order to empower them and move the ball forward? It’s time to craft a message that will get the result you want and make the person feel powerful, effective, enrolled, engaged, whatever positive emotion you want. This is Relationship Management.Let’s revisit the above real-world scenarios. When I was asked to come in and coach these leaders to become more Emotionally Intelligent they had team members ready to quit, some were totally checked out and no longer cared, some were downright hostile due to prolonged mistreatment. So I had my work cut out for me.Once the leaders were in touch with their feelings and had boosted their Self-Management and Self-Awareness, we then worked on Social Awareness and Relationship Management. This transformation took 4-6 months (based on the leader) to become an automatic response.When I asked each of them how they would’ve navigated the scenarios above were they able to turn back time, here’s how the communications were edited (yes, after the fact, but better than repeating the mistake!).The CEO tells the VP Marketing candidate she has great skills and he’d like to explore how she can best represent the company.The VP Operations asks her team what they need to achieve their goals next time. Did she set the bar too high? Were they all too ambitious? Do they need more/different resources? Were there cross-functional dependencies that we all missed considering?The CFO meets with the Controller and works through expectations for the budget, filling in any gaps so what defines “success” is super clear. The Controller feels safe to ask questions and push back on things they disagree with.The VP Product Development sits down with the team and lets them express their grief without judging them. Then she asks what the team needs to heal and move forward, noting that they’ll tackle this together, as a team, all for one, and one for all.How emotionally intelligent are you? Where would you like to increase your emotional intelligence?Resources mentioned:EQ Research: https://www.talentsmart.com/about/emotional-intelligence.phpEmotion Wheel: https://smarttribesinstitute.com/emotion-wheel/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The CEO tells the VP Marketing candidate he’d hire her if she lost 20 pounds. She’s “too fat to represent our company.”The VP Operations tells her team if they were competent they would’ve achieved their quarterly goals.The CFO sends the Controller an angry email saying his budget “sucks and is pathetic.”The VP Product Development says “deal with it” when the favorite lead engineer and keeper of the culture quits.What do all these leaders have in common?They aren’t emotionally intelligent. They are sending “nasty-grams” to their teams and causing emotional disengagement and shutdown in others. They have low EQ.And EQ = money, according to Drs. Travis Bradberry and Jean Greaves (see resources below).“The link between EQ and earnings is so direct that every point increase in EQ equals $1,300 to an annual salary. If that’s not enough, EQ accounts for 58% of performance in all types of jobs”.All. Wow.So let’s figure this out in a straightforward way. First, i’ll summarize emotional intelligence and you’ll see a handy infographic in the show notes: Here’s how to start becoming more emotionally intelligent:1. Figure out what you’re feeling. It’s essential to be in tune with your emotions—this is Self-Awareness. Now based on what you are feeling, is it the appropriate time to send that angry email? Right now it’s key to remember that communication is redundant: humans cannot *not* communicate—our facial expressions, body posture, vocal tone/pace/pitch betray us. Even in email or texts our vocal tone/pace/pitch can be detected.You know what it feels like to receive an email when someone is spewing anger or venting frustration. You also know what it feels like when someone handles a challenging situation with compassion, a spirit of collaboration, and overall respect and kindness. People can tell. Your vocal tone does indeed come through in written communication.2. Take a breather. Holding off on sending a nasty-gram until you cool down is Self-Management. We need to shift out of Critter State [fight/flight/freeze or Amygdala Hijack]  into Smart State [clear thinking, behavioral choice, innovation, collaboration, creativity] in order to practice Self-Management. Now is a great time to unpack the visual, auditory and kinesthetic cues that triggered you. And if you’re in Critter State one of the easiest ways to shift out of it and into Smart State is to practice 7-7-7 breathing. Inhale for a count of 7, hold for count of 7, exhale for count of 7. Do 7 times. Ahhhhh. Now you have choice to respond vs. react compulsively. Excellent!3. Consider the recipient. While you are practicing #1 or #2 above, consider what the recipient might feel upon receiving your communication. This is Social Awareness. They are a different person from you, so they’ll likely make different meaning—they’ll interpret your communication–based on their Map of the World and not yours. Many components factor into a person’s map of the world, such as education, where they grew up, socio-economics, religion, childhood experiences, adult experience—which is why we misunderstand one another so often: we all have different maps.This consideration is Social Awareness.4. Focus on the outcome. What is the outcome you’d actually like to achieve? How would you like to make someone feel in order to empower them and move the ball forward? It’s time to craft a message that will get the result you want and make the person feel powerful, effective, enrolled, engaged, whatever positive emotion you want. This is Relationship Management.Let’s revisit the above real-world scenarios. When I was asked to come in and coach these leaders to become more Emotionally Intelligent they had team members ready to quit, some were totally checked out and no longer cared, some were downright hostile due to prolonged mistreatment. So I had my work cut out for me.Once the leaders were in touch with their feelings and had boosted their Self-Management and Self-Awareness, we then worked on Social Awareness and Relationship Management. This transformation took 4-6 months (based on the leader) to become an automatic response.When I asked each of them how they would’ve navigated the scenarios above were they able to turn back time, here’s how the communications were edited (yes, after the fact, but better than repeating the mistake!).The CEO tells the VP Marketing candidate she has great skills and he’d like to explore how she can best represent the company.The VP Operations asks her team what they need to achieve their goals next time. Did she set the bar too high? Were they all too ambitious? Do they need more/different resources? Were there cross-functional dependencies that we all missed considering?The CFO meets with the Controller and works through expectations for the budget, filling in any gaps so what defines “success” is super clear. The Controller feels safe to ask questions and push back on things they disagree with.The VP Product Development sits down with the team and lets them express their grief without judging them. Then she asks what the team needs to heal and move forward, noting that they’ll tackle this together, as a team, all for one, and one for all.How emotionally intelligent are you? Where would you like to increase your emotional intelligence?Resources mentioned:EQ Research: <a href="https://www.talentsmart.com/about/emotional-intelligence.php" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">https://www.talentsmart.com/about/emotional-intelligence.php</a>Emotion Wheel: <a href="https://smarttribesinstitute.com/emotion-wheel/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">https://smarttribesinstitute.com/emotion-wheel/</a> Hosted on Acast. See <a href="https://acast.com/privacy" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">acast.com/privacy</a> for more information.

Become A More Emotionally Intelligent Leader in 4 Simple Steps

Cultivating the WitnessTo witness yourself, to keep the ego in its appropriate role (the ego is the CEO for the vast majority of humans, like 99.99999999%!), we need to catch it at its tricks.Here’s an initial list. You may want to keep it on your phone and add to it when you notice a new trick it tries to play on you!Also note when the ego tries to take over it’s helpful to use the Feedback Frame on your current life experience (ask what’s working and what you’d like to see more of, be sure to have equal amounts). The ego sees everything as negative. Interesting. Tricks of the EgoThe ego’s only function is to hurt self or others. Catch it when it tries to bum your high/make you feel lousy...Favorite ego behaviors/beliefs:Feel offendedFeel left outFeel others aren’t appreciating or acknowledging youFeel less than othersFeel more than others Feel self-pityFeel self-righteous or justified for inappropriate behavior (“they started it!”)Relentlessly seeks approval/validationRelentlessly seeks to controlJudges self and othersCompetes with self and others Fears the futureDwells on the painful past, regrets it, is obsessed by it The ego wants all of the above to be fixed by someone or something else. The ego does not take self-responsibility.Resources Mentioned:Emotional Agility infographic: https://smarttribesinstitute.com/emotional-agility-in-the-workplace/Outcome Frame infographic: https://smarttribesinstitute.com/outcome-frame/Reframing infographic: https://smarttribesinstitute.com/reframing/Feedback Frame infographic: https://smarttribesinstitute.com/the-feedback-frame/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Cultivating the WitnessTo witness yourself, to keep the ego in its appropriate role (the ego is the CEO for the vast majority of humans, like 99.99999999%!), we need to catch it at its tricks.Here’s an initial list. You may want to keep it on your phone and add to it when you notice a new trick it tries to play on you!Also note when the ego tries to take over it’s helpful to use the Feedback Frame on your current life experience (ask what’s working and what you’d like to see more of, be sure to have equal amounts). The ego sees everything as negative. Interesting. Tricks of the EgoThe ego’s only function is to hurt self or others. Catch it when it tries to bum your high/make you feel lousy...Favorite ego behaviors/beliefs: <ul><li>Feel offended</li><li>Feel left out</li><li>Feel others aren’t appreciating or acknowledging you</li><li>Feel less than others</li><li>Feel more than others </li><li>Feel self-pity</li><li>Feel self-righteous or justified for inappropriate behavior (“they started it!”)</li><li>Relentlessly seeks approval/validation</li><li>Relentlessly seeks to control</li><li>Judges self and others</li><li>Competes with self and others </li><li>Fears the future</li><li>Dwells on the painful past, regrets it, is obsessed by it</li></ul> The ego wants all of the above to be fixed by someone or something else. The ego does not take self-responsibility.Resources Mentioned:<ul><li>Emotional Agility infographic: <a href="https://smarttribesinstitute.com/emotional-agility-in-the-workplace/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">https://smarttribesinstitute.com/emotional-agility-in-the-workplace/</a></li><li>Outcome Frame infographic: <a href="https://smarttribesinstitute.com/outcome-frame/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">https://smarttribesinstitute.com/outcome-frame/</a></li><li>Reframing infographic: <a href="https://smarttribesinstitute.com/reframing/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">https://smarttribesinstitute.com/reframing/</a></li><li>Feedback Frame infographic: <a href="https://smarttribesinstitute.com/the-feedback-frame/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">https://smarttribesinstitute.com/the-feedback-frame/</a></li></ul> Hosted on Acast. See <a href="https://acast.com/privacy" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">acast.com/privacy</a> for more information.

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