Month: December 2021

This month we grabbed the last of the apples on the trees. Because they had been out in the cold and escaped prime picking, they were not the prettiest. In fact, they were ugly. But once we got them inside to warm up, and cut away the bad parts, we squeezed out some good juice.

2021 was an ugly year for a lot of people. It started with a ton of hope, and became a rollercoaster of change, uncertainty, and frustration. But, there’s still plenty of learning and goodness we can squeeze from this year.

I’d like to say that I kept my accomplishment log up to date, that I wrote down each highlight, and made a note of every lesson learned.  I did not. 

Instead, at the end of each year, I grab my current notebook and do these 3 things: 

1) Calendar Review

I review my work calendar, accomplishment log, and write down each moment that stands out as a major moment of goodness, achievement, or success on one page, and moments of pain, learning, annoyance or misery on another. 

I repeat this review with my personal calendar and a quick flip through the photo reel too.   

2) Pick your favorites

I go through my positive list and star my top items (no more than 10). On my negative list, I look for items I can eliminate or do less of the following year.   

For instance, in 2019 I did not like going to kid birthday parties multiple weekends a month – so I told my kids to make a list of their friends who they care about so much they’d be willing to spend their own money on a present.  That became our 2020 kid party list.  And I bought the presents 😊  

3) Fuel your goals

For the star items on the positive list, I look for patterns or types of wins I can repeat.  This helps me with goals for the next year.  For example, I loved our full-week spring break trip as a family last year with plenty of time for swimming and relaxing in the warm weather, so next year I am looking to book something warm, at least 6 days, and with a pool.  On the work side, I loved getting to present my ideas at conferences, and want to do more of that in 2022.  

Bonus action for the high achievers: 

I’m a big audio book fan and use my solo time in the car and on walks as learning time.  Apparently, this practice isn’t new. I read Born to Win by Zig Ziglar last year, and he calls listening to non-fiction books on tape during the commute “Automotive University”.  I love that analogy!  It’s such an upgrade from news radio.

At the end of each year, I go back through my Audible, my Kindle, and my library account, and write down each book I read and any key takeaways, even if it’s fiction and I enjoyed the escape.  If I can’t remember any takeaways, I just search for a summary online to jog my memory.   

I wasn’t sure of the value of this practice when I first started, but after 5 years of recording my books, I find myself flipping to these annual book summaries multiple times a year to find where an idea came from, for recommendations, and to avoid repeats. 

Just try it!

If you’ve never put pen to paper for a personal year end review, it can feel like a lot, but I promise you that it’s an investment of a few hours that pays dividends in your growth (and happiness!). You can take it one step at a time:

• Set a timer for 45 minutes and do action #1. If you didn’t finish, you’re in the weeds. Go back for another 20 minutes to finish the year, and just look for the highlights!
• Repeat timer for actions 2 & 3.

It’s an easy way to benefit from all your 2021 experiences, and set up 2022 to be better than ever.

I know we’re pushing hard to end this year on high note. With the end in sight, stress levels running high, and frustration mounting toward all the imperfect people and processes at work (and everywhere else) – I have good news for you!

​While we’re also imperfect humans, we DO have control over how we show up each workday.

Here’s 7 actions that can take you from wishing for a better week to winning the week: ​​

1. If a meeting is a waste of my time, I can speak up or leave the (virtual) room.
2. I can take the time to send clear, actionable e-mails that don’t require virtual ping-pong
3. I can show my work. Whether it’s through a Kanban board or status report, my colleagues and leaders know what I’m working on, where I’m nailing it, and where I’m stuck.
4. I can connect with others. I don’t need to wait for a company social event, or scheduled wellness walk, or planned happy-hour. I can send a chat message, text, or pick up the phone today.
5. I can lead great meetings. I can set clear objectives, invite the right attendees, practice inclusive facilitation, and ensure actions have owners.
6. When attending meetings, I can get curious and ask short questions that help further the conversation.
7. I can take control of my calendar with the blocks I need for real work, not accept every meeting that comes my way.

These actions do more than help us as individuals. They help us shift our work culture toward the positive, and productive.

Put it in action

If this list feels like one more thing on a mile long do list, pick one and practice it the rest of the month, then pick another for January, and another for February, etc.

By summer, you’ll master all 7, and those feelings of frustration and lack of control will be silenced by a better way of working.

Last post I covered having your employees’ back and treating them like the high performers that they are.

Today, we’re concluding this series with two actions that are massively important for leading work in a post-COVID world that will forever have remote work in the mix.

3) Support employees with the flexibility they need 

If you are an office professional, then you likely have been working remotely during the pandemic.  As a result, we’ve all figured out the work that is best done at home, and the work that is best done in-person. As a leader, if you are clear about when you NEED your employees in the office and WHY, then you can really leave the schedule details up to them.

But what about those employees who didn’t perform well remotely? Do we honestly think mandating a specific number of days in the office will fix what’s broken? Instead, have a conversation:

• Was being home too much of a distraction? 
• Is it difficult to stay on task when no one is watching? 
• Do they need the social interaction of a corporate office to stay motivated and moving?

Or, perhaps it was a performance issue that existed before. You observed consistent seat time when in the office, and you didn’t take the time to focus in on the outcomes and address the issue that really had nothing to do with location. Yikes, that hurts (and I’m guilty too!)

We all have to be held accountable for our results, not just effort.  Measuring performance by the number of hours someone spends at a desk or in meetings is like sitting on your peloton everyday but not breaking a sweat.

If your goal is better health, you gotta sweat, and if your goal is launching a project, you gotta work!  If you create the expectation that results matter, then flexibility isn’t a perk, it’s just the way. 

“I have a Dr. Appointment in the morning so I’ll be online at 10am tomorrow.” Hope it goes well! 

“My kid has a concert this afternoon, I’ll send you the deck tonight.” Sounds good!

“I’m flying to DC on Friday, and planning to work half day on the plane. Go for it!

Agree on the core working hours, flex as needed, and your employees will focus on doing the work, instead of appearing to work. 

4) Care about your employees and colleagues as a whole person

While we like to pretend we can fully separate our work and personal lives, we know that the opportunity to bring your whole self to work helps us thrive.  For instance, my kids aren’t with me at work, but I’m still a mom. When the school calls to let me know my kiddo is sick, I know I can tell my colleagues and they’ll immediately say “go!” and “how can we help?”

Knowing they care about me and my family situation makes it easier for me to tell my family that I need to take a work trip or tend to a work emergency after hours. Care given is easily reciprocated, and it is a massive contributor to a positive work environment.

Caring about our employees and colleagues means caring about ALL the joys and ALL the sorrows that they are willing to share with you.  If you can’t think of something unique about each of your team members that you can’t find on a resume, then you either aren’t listening OR you may not be sharing enough about you.  

I received some excellent feedback early in my career as a project manager; you can’t just swoop into a new team, new project, or meeting and get straight to business every time.  As much as I valued efficiency, I couldn’t build trust without relationship.  And without trust, I couldn’t ask for anything outside of the status quo and expect to get it.

“The trust we have in people and in organizations comes, in part, from believing that they do care.” – Stephen M.R. Covey, The Speed of Trust

So how do you do this? 

Ask about weekends, ask about trips, ask about family, celebrate life events, give employees time and support during bereavement, fiercely protect their time away on vacation, and make sure you share some of you, too.  This is more than a box to check, this is about really caring about who they are and how they are doing. 

If you don’t care about the person doing the work, why would they care about the work they are doing for you?   

As you set out to improve your work environment, know that each small step brings growth and positivity for you and your team. You don’t have to nail each action right away, but today is a great day to begin.

Leaders of knowledge workers across corporate America are wasting an inordinate amount of time debating return to office plans, the optimum hybrid schedule number of days in the week, and how far away a person can live from the mother ship. Instead of fixating on the location of the laptop, let’s turn our energy toward creating a positive work environment for all of us who are showing up, virtually or in-person to our jobs each day to do great work. 

Let’s start with 2 actions that will create a work environment that is positive – regardless of location.

1) Demonstrate that you have your employee’s back 

As leaders, we’re all faced with moments where we have to go out on a limb and take a risk.  It could be a decision, solving an issue, or providing a recommendation to a senior leader.   We know good leaders empower their people. As empowered people, why do we hesitate when we’ve got the ball?  Why do we analyze every detail until we’re 100% sure? 

Because we don’t want to mess up!

We battle in our minds about the right thing to do, AND the personal impact a wrong decision may produce. To eliminate HALF the worry, we simply need to know our boss has our back, meaning that they’ll support the decision we made, they’ll defend us when we aren’t there – even if it wasn’t the right call.   

I experienced this last month when we had a product feature roll out that surfaced some odd data that frustrated our employee users. As we quickly dove into the issue to understand where this odd data was coming from, we learned that a fix would require a large effort, so the immediate decision on the table was simple – leave the feature on while we worked to fix it, or turn it off.  After weighing all the info, I made the call to turn it off and recapped the situation to our senior leaders.  Later on, my boss thanked me for handling it, and let me know he supported my decision.  I knew in that moment, that he had my back, and that if the decision was questioned when I wasn’t there, he would stand up for me. 

Imagine if the opposite would have happened and I was hung out to dry? Would I take a risk again?

Maybe.

But I probably would have sought more input, delayed the decision, and ultimately prolonged the pain of the issue when it could have been resolved right away.

2) Treat people like the high performers that they are 

In middle school, I learned what happens when you treat 14 year-olds like adults.  They can rise to the level of your expectations.  No one knew this better than my band teacher.  Band was an elective, and our teacher made sure we knew where the door was if we weren’t there to do our best.  We were expected to act like the talented musicians that we were, and to grow better with each rehearsal. 

There was no other option.

And the results – including both applause and competition trophies, made the hard work worth it.  Was everyone in there a model student?  No, far from it. The class clown, the kid with the perfect comeback, the kid who couldn’t sit still, the constant flirt – they were all in band, but you’d never know it because we expected to rise above those behaviors – so we shut up, sat up, and became the people we were expected to be – if only for 60 minutes a day.

Fellow high achiever, we can set a high bar as well. For most of teams we lead, we can set clear expectations and know they will be met without nagging or micromanaging. We can trust (and verify) the expert employees that we hired will do their jobs well. And we should trust that they come to us when they need help.

These 2 actions can be put to work today to create the positive environment we all desire.

Click here for part two!