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Promoting Accountability and Trust in the Workplace

Accountability and Trust in the Workplace

Trust and accountability are the essential components of a productive workplace that enables people to grow. Many companies underestimate the importance of the two, which ends up undermining the performance and satisfaction of employees.

Accountability in the workplace is what helps people to build meaningful relationships, establish a sense of ownership, and make them feel responsible for their actions, behavior, and success.

In this blog post, we will look at the importance of accountability and trust in the workplace and what employers can do to foster the two to ensure an open and proactive communication among colleagues.

Let’s dive right in, shall we?

The downsides of no accountability

Failing to establish a sense of accountability comes with a wide array of drawbacks. It creates an environment that erodes the team’s morale, leading to a lack of punctuality, responsibility, diligence, and so fort.

To understand the value of trust and accountability, we need to view a team or organization as a complex network. People interact with each other regularly.

Their work often relies on the work of their colleagues, which means that in order for this network to operate efficiently, all the participants need to have a sense of shared responsibility and respect for their peers.

Lack of accountability often has a snowball effect, causing the entire network of professional relationships to become increasingly inefficient and stressful. As a result, this may lead to a variety of problems like:

  • Low team morale
  • Lack of clarity in terms of priorities
  • Lack of employee engagement
  • The inability to meet individual and team goals
  • Lack of trust
  • High turnover

Issues that harm accountability

3 common issues that harm accountability

Okay, so if lack of accountability is so taxing to team’s morale and productivity, why not do something about it? The problem is that businesses are different—they have different organizational designs, processes, cultures, and backstories. Therefore, every business must find an individual solution to the lack of accountability.

On the bright side, there are numerous studies that can show us what the most common reasons for low accountability are. Let’s take a look.

1. Unclear expectations

A study published by Gallup suggests that about half of employees actually understand the full spectrum of their responsibilities and what their companies expect of them. Sounds pretty unsettling, doesn’t it?

This problem often lies at the root of an unaccountable environment. People simply can’t feel entirely responsible for what they do if they have little real understanding of what is expected of them.

And while some may assume that less clarity in terms of a person’s responsibilities at work may actually foster autonomy and independence, it’s also fair to say it may as well wipe out any inkling of ownership that they may have had.

2. Fear of failure

AMA Enterprise has recently surveyed the management and employees of 500 U.S. businesses. The study uncovered what appears to be the single biggest reason why people avoid taking extra responsibilities at work—it all has to do with the fear of being held accountable for mistakes and failures.

It appears that punishing employees for poor performance remains a common practice in way too many modern-day companies. It’s easy to see how this irresponsible attitude can seriously undermine people’s psychological safety at work. As a result, people avoid taking on extra responsibilities and challenges—there’s simply no real incentive for that.

Lack of engagement

3. Lack of engagement

Employee engagement has seen a serious nosedive in the last decade. Fortunately, we’ve seen a very moderate uptrend in the last few years, but the numbers are nowhere near what they should be. A recent study published by Gallup suggests that about a third of the workforce is engaged. However, if we switched our perspective for a second, it would appear that the other two-thirds of the workforce could be actively disengaged.

Using these numbers as context, it makes sense that a large number of employees have to reason to want to take extra ownership and step their responsibilities up, given that they feel unheard and disengaged.

To some, the idea that people don’t feel heard at work may sound like a non-issue, but this phenomenon is unfortunately much more widespread than it should be. Research suggests that approximately 34% of employees around the world feel like they are unheard at work, and their contributions are not taken into account. Naturally, this can seriously harm their engagement and the desire to be accountable at work.

What can you do about it?

Now that we’ve touched on the problems that cause low accountability and trust, let’s explore some solutions that can help fix the issue.

1. Define what people are accountable for

As we’ve discussed above, lack of clarity in terms of employee responsibility can be a huge issue for workers and can seriously harm their engagement and accountability. This is a great first step to take. People need to understand what they’re expected to do in order to deliver on these expectations.

Naturally, many businesses have so-called evergreen responsibilities—things that they’re focused on at all times. However, there’s still a great deal of diversity in terms of the individual responsibilities of every individual employee. It’s always a good idea to spend some time outlining and communicating them to the people that work in your company.

Doing this is an example of high-level accountability—when the organization takes on the responsibility of communicating its expectations to the people involved in order to make their lives at work better and stimulate engagement and ownership.

Give and receive feedback

2. Give and receive feedback on a daily basis

The next important thing to do once you’ve ensured that your employees have a clear understanding of what their responsibilities are, is providing them with continuous feedback.

People rarely have to be told to give their thoughts on things—we excel at that. The important thing about feedback is the way it’s provided. Simply cutting to the chase and telling people what you think about their performance point-blank isn’t going to be productive in most cases and in the long run.

The first and essential element of feedback is giving it in a mindful and empathetic manner. Start by acknowledging their effort and the things they’ve succeeded in. This will help the person understand that what they’re experiencing now isn’t straight criticism—it’s guidance.

In fact, a global survey conducted by Deloitte found that both Millennials and Gen-Z value learning at work at lot. Learning comes next after fair pay and advancement. Therefore, providing people with negative feedback in an unconstructive way will simply dissuade them, detracting them from actually learning.

Consider using a framework for providing feedback like the sandwich technique—the main idea behind it is to wrap your negative feedback in praise. Okay, but why is this necessary? Let’s take a bird’s-eye view of the reasons a person may have to receive some harsh feedback.

  • They’ve taken on extra responsibilities but couldn’t deal with them as expected.
  • They’ve started a new project, but fail to understand all of its intricacies, which made them not perform as well.
  • They’re stressed out, which makes it hard for them to focus on work, which makes them less motivated.

This is by no means an exhaustive list of the reasons why people may be underperforming, but what it aims to underline is that employees very rarely choose to not deliver. There’s always an underlying reason—and it has to be both acknowledged and taken into account. So, to employ the sandwich technique, offer praise for their achievements. Next, slide in your criticism. Afterward, close it off with more praise to give them the motivation to do well in the future.

However, never forget to enable your colleagues to give you feedback as well. This will help them feel heard, which is extremely important in the modern workplace.

Providing people with regular and well-presented feedback will only encourage motivation, ownership, and accountability.

Encourage risk-taking

3. Encourage risk-taking in the workplace

Unfortunately, whenever an issue occurs, or a project is scrapped, it’s the employees that have to take the blame. This fear of being punished will eventually lead to people playing the blame game to avoid being criticized.
Finger-pointing isn’t really productive, neither is it conducive to a healthy work environment. Instead, consider building a culture that celebrates collaboration and transparency.

In fact, managers should promote calculated risk-taking. Responsible risks are at the foundation of out-of-the-box thinking. To do that, consider defining what smart risks are in your organization and reward smart failures.

4. Lead by example

To build a sense of accountability and trust in a company, everyone should be equally responsible for the success of the product and the organization as a whole. A manager should act as a pacesetter for the people he or she works with. They should lead as an example of performance and culture for the team. Lead by example by:

  • Having accountability in terms of deadlines and promises.
  • Being responsible for your colleagues’ success and ensuring that they have what they need at all times.
  • Respecting everyone’s time.
  • Coming to meetings prepared and on time.

Give employees clear roles

5. Give employees clear roles in driving key results

It’s extremely common that organizations expect their employees to be accountable and passionate without actually providing them with the challenges and commitments to fuel accountability.

In fact, employees very rarely feel like their role contributes to the company’s goals in any way. Naturally, this makes them disengage from work. Often, this may lead to a sense of indifference towards their responsibilities since nobody really cares about the product of their work anyway.

Reassess your employees’ responsibilities and try to spot roles that have no real connection to the organization’s key performance indicators. If you happen to find such gaps, it’s essential to realign these employees’ tasks so that their actions can have a clear effect on the overall success of the company.

And in doing so, make sure to ditch micromanagement—it only defeats the purpose of helping your colleagues be more accountable and trust their colleagues more. So, fundamentally, you should learn to trust them first.

The bottom line

What many leaders fail to realize is that lack of trust and accountability is a behavior that tends to cascade from the top of the organization. Environments that rely on finger-pointing do very little to build a proactive corporate culture and motivate employees to deliver and take on extra ownership.

Lead by example, trust your colleagues, encourage intelligent risk-taking, and ensure that people have a clear understanding of what they’re responsible for. Last but not least, provide employees with regular feedback, but again, refrain from blaming them, instead celebrate their successes and provide them with valuable recommendations.

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These 5 Companies Embrace a Culture of Collaboration. Here’s What We Can Learn From Them.

Culture of Collboration

“Well, we’re just like a big family.”

Have you ever gotten this answer in a job interview when you ask about the organization’s culture?

It’s not only cringe-worthy, but it’s also a sign that there isn’t a strong culture in the organization. If the hiring manager’s idea of great work culture is a ‘family’ who throws the occasional pizza party – run.

What you really want to hear is that the organization has a culture of collaboration. Why? Because a culture of collaboration is beneficial to your success and the goals of the workplace as well.

What is a culture of collaboration?

A culture of collaboration is when collaboration is persistent – it is integrated into how people regularly work. Employees at every level, in every department, are encouraged to work together to achieve the best outcomes.

Collaboration in the workplace is inevitable. Sooner or later, you will have to work with others – whether they’re in your department or not. Being able to effectively collaborate drives workplace performance and makes successful outcomes more likely. It’s essential to make sure that the work environment supports and promotes collaboration.

What does a collaborative organization look like in the real world?

To get a feel for what a culture of collaboration in the workplace looks like, let’s take a look at 5 companies that set a great example. Each company gives us a main takeaway that we can go on and implement in our own workplaces.

Udacity

1. Udacity – Collaboration starts with connection.

Udacity is an online education platform that helps train people for the predicted career needs of the future. Despite the immense growth that Udacity has seen, they still understand the importance of setting aside time for employees to have fun together. Every week they make time for corporate team-building activities and events that help employees connect and engage through letting loose and putting work on the back burner.

The team that connects and bonds and actually likes each other, will work better together. Think back to your school days – how much better was it when you were put in a school project with classmates you actually liked vs. the annoying kids you didn’t? Not only was the process better, but the outcomes were probably a lot better too.

Help your organization achieve a culture of collaboration by encouraging them to connect on a personal level. Through team-building events such as weekly happy hours, movie nights, or game days, you can do this. If your team is virtual, check out our list of virtual team-building activities here.

Facebook

2. Facebook – Participation at every level is key

You’ve probably heard of social media pioneer Facebook. Turns out, Zuckerberg has some insight into the benefits of a culture of collaboration in the workplace.

At Facebook, Hackathon events are held regularly. Employees throughout the organization come together to build something that they want to see on Facebook. Something that will believe would have a significant impact on Facebook and its users. The one rule – you can’t work on something related to your day job. Split into diverse teams, a mix of departments and levels, the team presents their outcome and everyone votes on which ideas are the best.

The Hackathon encourages team members who wouldn’t ordinarily interact to come together and collaborate in a meaningful way. At the Hackathon, interns who have only been there a few months will work with experienced engineers to put something together. It is evident that Facebook encourages new team members to engage with and participate in their culture of innovation and collaboration in a meaningful way.

By using the framework of Facebook’s Hackathon, you can develop industry-specific events for fun that also allow employees across the organization to get involved and indulge their passion for their field. Perhaps an advertising firm could host events where teams only have one hour to prepare for a pitch meeting for a product they were assigned an hour before?

There are a few takeaways from Facebook’s Hackathon events that you can incorporate into your organization:

    • Improving relations between departments and levels is important. Organizations must know how to merge their talent, data, and resources to achieve outstanding outcomes. Some of Facebook’s most significant innovations have come from its Hackathons.
    • Getting new team members immersed in the collaborative culture is crucial. Showing newbies how things are done helps them absorb the culture and know how to participate.

Pixar

3. Pixar – Space matters

You might think that the rise in popularity of open-plan offices would be because of their ability to encourage collaboration and communication. A lot of research has been conducted on the open-plan workplace, and it isn’t as beneficial as one might think. One study conducted in 2018 found that increased distractions can impair a culture of collaboration and increase stress. The researchers determined that having a mix of quiet workspaces and open concept areas improves work conditions and encourages a culture of collaboration.

These findings have been backed up repeatedly. Another study found that there was a 70% decrease in collaborative face-to-face interaction in open-plan offices, with employees instead turning to email and instant messaging.

When Steve Jobs redesigned beloved computer animation studio Pixar’s office, collaboration was the main thing on his mind. Jobs brought everyone under the same roof – animators, executives, editors, etc. The idea was that random encounters and interactions would lead to great ideas being born. He also made room for solitude so that those who need it could have the time to themselves as required. There are plenty of open-space collaborative spaces that encourage people to meet up, chat and collaborate as well.

The takeaway here is that space affects an organization’s culture of collaboration. We need to design space in a way that caters to the needs of employees. Setting up an open-plan office and putting everyone in the same area may not be the best idea. Instead, think about how each team works, which teams work together more often, and their need for solitude. Humans are complicated, and we need options. An ideal office space should reflect this as well as encourage meaningful interactions.

Virgin Pulse

4. Virgin Pulse – Aligning individual goals to company values.

Virgin Pulse is a digital health and engagement company. Through data, their goal is to help companies cultivate healthy lifestyle habits for their employees. With a mission to help other companies promote happy and healthy employees, it makes sense that they would want that for their own too.

One way Virgin Pulse promotes employee happiness is through cultivating a culture of collaboration. One of their company values is ‘One Team, One Dream.’ Virgin Pulse encourages employees to embrace the belief that they’re all in this together through consistent collaboration and communication. Each year the company has an event where employees worldwide attend to hear about the latest product news and the year’s business strategy. Employees get the chance to understand and get excited about the company’s vision, network, and build connections.

When employees are aligned with the company’s goals, they’re more likely to work together to achieve those goals. This is integral to a thriving culture of collaboration.

Greenhouse Software

5. Greenhouse Software – Incentivize collaboration

Recruitment software giant Greenhouse Software knows a thing or two about what to look for in a great employee. At Greenhouse, collaboration is one of the main priorities and core values. Each year, Greenhouse hosts the “Gnomie Awards,” where they recognize employees who embody Greenhouse’s values.

It’s pretty simple – by rewarding employees for collaboration, they encourage employees to be collaborative. It becomes a goal to work towards and something to be proud of. Recognition for collaboration doesn’t have to be an awards ceremony; in fact, it should be a regular occurrence too.

Rewarding and applauding your employee’s teamwork will help them seek out opportunities to work across departments. This embeds further collaboration into the culture of the organization. Pepsi Co is another example of a company that incentivizes collaboration – they base 40% of an employee’s annual bonus on how well they’ve helped their peers better their careers.

Here are some bonus tips on how to reward and acknowledge collaboration:

  • Reward the whole team
  • Make collaboration an element of annual performance reviews
  • Don’t just thank and reward the team for collaborating when the outcome is good. Acknowledge the employees for their collaboration as they go. Make it persistent.
  • Find out what your team’s appreciation language is.

There is no one-size-fits-all approach to driving a collaborative culture. From a local city council to a Fortune 500 giant, every organization will need to do things differently. However, by learning from practical examples, methods can be extracted and applied to your company.

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11 Useful Tips on How To Collaborate Effectively if Your Team Is Remote

Remote work collaboration

Team leaders need to be prepared to deal with all manner of crises and changing circumstances. This could include the total upheaval of your operations and a transition to remote working. Leaders need to develop a business continuity plan in case they need to rely on remote work collaboration.

While some businesses have been offering remote and flexible solutions for years, this could be brand new territory for you. It’s not all doom and gloom, in fact, studies have shown that offering remote working attracts top talent and can increase productivity.

In order to get the most out of your employees, you’ll need to adjust the way you do things for remote teams. Effective communication becomes vital because you lose social cues from body language.

Let’s take a look at some of the best tips on how to collaborate effectively if your team is remote.

How To Collaborate Effectively If Your Team Is Remote

How To Collaborate Effectively If Your Team Is Remote

Whether you have a fully remote team or you offer flexible working solutions you’ll need a team that can collaborate well. By allowing your team the opportunity to work from home the talent pool increases and you’re more likely to attract top-tier applicants.

Remote working is one of the most sought-after benefits so it’s worth considering if you can offer this. In order to to get the most out of your team here are some tips for team leaders to implement.

1. Invest in the right software and hardware

If you’re expecting your team to use their own home setup you need to consider the limitations they may have. Not everyone has superfast broadband, 8GBs of ram, and two monitors, so how can you assist them? For added security, you may want to consider investing in a VPN to protect company data.

As a result of remote working, you’ll need to invest in software for your team to use. This could include a messaging system, a collaborative workspace, and project-specific software. For example, a design studio may need to provide access to Adobe Creative Cloud.

2. Implement the Agile framework for projects

To help combat the lack of office-based communications, the Agile framework can help to formalize processes and monitor progress. After all, being agile is key to success for remote work collaboration.

The Agile framework is great for large projects because it breaks things down into two-week “sprints.” Assign a “Scrum Master” to ensure Agile principles are adhered to and answer questions the team has.

As a result of Agile principles, your team can refine its processes to make future sprints more productive. It helps staff to work out their deliverables and their daily priorities.

3. Make use of daily standups and meetings…

Daily standups are quick meetings usually held at the start of the day. They’re named this way because typically staff stand up to increase the sense of urgency. Although your staff may not stand up while remote, the idea still remains. A short 15-minute daily meeting for employees to explain what they’re working on and ask any questions they have.

Pro tip: No question is too small.

Make sure any other meetings you hold have a clear purpose. Give them a strict start and end time and stick to it. Don’t let meetings overrun and if people are late to meetings – start them anyway.

4. … But don’t overdo it.

It can be easy to rely too heavily on meetings but holding too many can be overkill. People don’t tend to like meetings so limit how many you have. Before calling a meeting consider if one is necessary. Ask yourself what staff need to be included and if the input is needed from the whole team.

Avoid total control and encourage autonomy

5. Avoid total control and encourage autonomy

Managers will need to let go of the reigns for a remote team to be productive. This will need a level of trust and faith in your team. The good news is productivity tends to improve with remote working because people don’t take it for granted.

It could be worth installing a work tracker if you want to monitor your team’s progress. However, this might not be a welcomed addition by all your employees. Consider using it when a team member’s productivity starts to decline. Otherwise, allow your team the autonomy to work how they want.

Communication for Remote Work Team Collaboration

Communication is at the heart of every team and this will be the biggest change a remote team has to face. When a team is remote there is greater reliance on online communication like instant messaging and emails.

Not only is there a lack of body language but also words can be easily misinterpreted over text. Employees need to consider how their words will be read and adapt accordingly. If someone takes something the wrong way it can lead to problems between staff members.

6. Create training resources for effective written communication

Put together some training resources to improve your team’s remote work collaboration. It may seem a little overkill but some simple training will ensure the entire team is on the same page. Some things to include in your training are:

  • Informal vs formal communications: Your people will differ in how they communicate. People’s tolerance for things like humor can vary widely. Establish communication preferences and encourage your team to adhere to them.
  • Clear instructions: When sharing instructions it will be better to overshare than under. Make sure that instructions are clear and leave little room for misunderstanding.
  • Ask questions: If anything is unclear your team needs to ask questions. Creating a culture of “no question is too small” will help.
  • Double-check: Ask staff to reread their communication to ensure that tone and intent are coming across correctly.
  • Body language: Describe how body language informs conversation and how things change without it. Focus on how to communicate clearly and avoid misinterpretations.

Communications need to be ultra-clear

7. Communications need to be ultra-clear

A lot of things are lost when your team isn’t in the office. It’s not as easy to tap your colleague on their shoulder and ask for some advice. There can be a delay between asking a question and getting an answer. There is a loss of useful office tools like whiteboards, TVs, and information around the office.

With this in mind, it’s important to make sure any internal communication is clear. Staff also need to know where to go to get answers to any questions they have. You could consider investing in some online technology to create a knowledge hub or online whiteboard.

8. Create communications best practices

As remote work team collaboration relies on effective communication it will be worth creating a list of best practices. That way your team has something to refer back to and it will help develop the language your team uses. Here are some ideas of what to include:

  • Common phrases: Include company and team-specific phrases and what they mean.
  • Acronyms: Useful acronyms that the team uses. These could include NNTR (no need to respond), TAT (turnaround time), KPI (key performance indicator).
  • Communication channels: If the team has separate channels for particular projects or team subsets, make sure they know what each one is for.
  • Guidelines: Create guidelines on when emails should be sent, how long to wait for a response, and anything else relevant to keep things running smoothly.

Team Building for Remote Work Team Collaboration

Although team members who work remotely might not get to meet each other, it’s important that know each other. To that end, it’s worth focusing on team-building activities to help develop deeper collaboration and a social aspect of work.

If your team is fully remote and spread across timezones this becomes more difficult, but it’s still possible, and entirely necessary.

9. Virtual team building activities

There are lots of different things you can try to get your team connected and working together. From simple things like a quiz night or an art contest to larger-scale online escape rooms and remote work bingo.

Let your team members suggest ideas and even run the workshops if they have a good idea. Each week you could select someone to run the pub quiz and rotate team members so everyone has a chance to work together.

In the end, this sort of social collaboration helps your team to work better with each other. Productivity increases as your team become more comfortable with one another.

Celebrate personal and professional triumphs

10. Celebrate personal and professional triumphs

Team leaders should take the time to share employees’ news with the wider team where appropriate. This can be great for team morale and it acknowledges people’s lives outside of work. Naturally, you’ll want to share news of someone’s promotion but it can be good to share smaller news as well.

In the event that a team member receives excellent feedback from a client, share this with the team in a specific celebration channel. Alternatively, you could include personal milestones such as someone completing a marathon. Use your best judgment with what people want to be shared and always double-check with them if unsure.

11. New hires may need additional help to connect with the team

When you bring a new member into a remote team it can be quite daunting especially if the role includes a lot of collaboration. The rest of the team will already have their communication norms and the new employee will have some catching up to do.

It could be worth asking one of your outgoing members of staff to take them under their wing. Run some get to know you team building activities and encourage the new hire to get involved.

Conclusion

Start by implementing these tips on how to collaborate effectively if your team is remote. You’ll learn as you go and develop routines that work well for your employees. Allow them the opportunity to suggest processes and refinements. As working from home will mean less in-person collaboration your staff will naturally work the way that works best for them.

Focus on getting the best out of each individual while sticking to company procedures. Some people will thrive under remote working conditions but others might struggle. Keep that in mind when conducting performance reviews and work together to create an effective remote work collaboration system.

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The 5 Perils of Multitasking

Perils of multitasking

In the race to do more in less time, many people pride themselves on their ability to multitask. It is so common, in fact, that it is often listed as a skill on resumes.

But is multitasking really a skill?

There are some instances where you can actually multitask, consider the times that you have listened to a podcast while cleaning as an example. Chores are certainly more bearable with a true-crime podcast playing in the background. Pairing a repetitive or familiar task with something entertaining is a great way to pass the time doing simple or familiar tasks.

And then, there are situations where you really shouldn’t multitask. Here are 5 perils of multitasking:

1. Things Take Longer to Do

You are lying to yourself if you think that you are saving time by multitasking. The truth is, multitasking actually increases the amount of time spent on a single activity because there is a time cost of switching between tasks.

Have you ever been pulled away from a project only to come back and ask yourself “Okay, where was I again?”

The time it takes you to get back into your zone is the cost of switching between tasks and MIT neuroscientist Earl Miller explained that constant change of focus makes our brain less functional, not more.

If you want to see this in action, time yourself writing out your name on a piece of paper. Now, time yourself writing your name but writing every second letter on two separate lines, alternating between them. How long did that take you? Chances are that it took you at least double the time. You still wrote your name but switching between lines after each letter cost you time and focus.

Illusion of Satisfaction and Productivity

2. Illusion of Satisfaction and Productivity

There is a certain satisfaction you get when you feel as though you are doing five things at once, like you are some sort of super human being. Some companies even reward people for their ability to take on multiple projects or clients at the same time and not realizing that the quality of work could drastically improve if employees were allowed to focus.

State University showed that multitasking actually met an emotional need of feeling as though you’re being productive and contributing, but the same cannot be said for meeting your cognitive needs. Spending less time focused on a task means less attention and thought is put into it, making multitasking less effective when it comes to completing a single task well.

Even spending 25 uninterrupted minutes on a task can significantly increase your productivity. Consider the “Pomodoro Method” as a way to focus. This method involves the use of a timer to focus for a set period of time with the promise of a short break as a reward. Knowing that there is a designated time that you can check your phone or scroll gives you permission to stay on task without the fear of missing out.

3. Less Invested in Tasks

When you multitask, both quantity and quality of your work will suffer. Ping-ponging between tasks is exhausting, research has shown that the additional energy required to do these extra tasks causes your brain to use more glucose (fuel) than would otherwise be needed to complete the task.

This is inefficient and your body knows it.

You’re never fully present in any one activity when you’re switching between tasks. That lack of presence tends to translate to lack of interest which further translates to lack of investment in the completion of the task at hand. What you are left with is less than interesting work on a task that you simply can’t wait to finish as opposed to feeling pride in a job well done.

Stress due to multitasking

4. Causes Stress

The science is in, multitasking causes additional stress. Neuroscientist, Dan Levitan, explains that when we multitask, we secrete more cortisol and adrenaline. A brain-scan study showed that, instead of information being processed in the hippocampus to be remembered, information is sent to the wrong parts of the brain.

It may not seem like it at the moment but you are working twice as hard and getting half as much done. There is a stress induced negative feedback loop where you realize that you’re not getting as much done even when taking on additional tasks so you feel the answer is to take on even more tasks to try and feel accomplished.

This is a recipe for burnout and unnecessary stress.

Multitasking may hurt your brain

5. Hurts Your Brain

Yes, you read that right. Contrary to popular belief, you’re not exercising your brain by making it do more. Multitasking has actually been shown to lower your IQ! A University of London study compared the cognitive function of someone multitasking to someone who had stayed up all night.

The University of Sussex also performed an interesting study that reviewed the brain scans of people who regularly spent time on multiple devices at once, think of texting on your phone while in a video meeting. The studies were quite surprising and concluded that multitaskers had less brain density in the area of the brain responsible for empathy and cognitive and emotional control.

While it used to be a commonly held belief that this kind of damage was temporary, more studies are showing longer term effects of continuous multitasking.

Breaking the Habit – Managing Multitasking

Having your attention going back and forth between multiple tasks is a recipe for disaster and only creates the illusion of productivity. The continuous state partial attention will not allow you to focus on one thing to give it the attention it deserves.

How does one break the multitasking habit especially when it is so widely believed to be a good thing? The most obvious way to resist the urge to multitask in the first place. You can reduce opportunities that enable or tempt you to multitask by:

Turning off your cellphone for set times in the day or at least disable notifications.

  • Closing extra tabs in your browser when not actively working in them.
  • Consider using the Pomodoro technique and set a timer while you work.
  • Set a regular time to check your email to avoid checking throughout the day.

This is easier said than done, of course.

Implementing even just one of the suggestions will help you break your multitasking habits. As you gain momentum and watch your productivity levels increase, you will be even more encouraged to focus on your work… one task at a time.

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7 Things to Quickly Overcome the Imposter Syndrome

imposter syndrome at work

Have you ever felt like you don’t really deserve your achievements? Or maybe that you just got lucky to be in the position you’re in today? Oh, here’s another one—perhaps you’re afraid that your colleagues will find out that you’re an imposter enjoying the benefits of an unfairly earned role? These are common signs of imposter syndrome kicking in.

And before you get too worried about it, we want to underline that it’s not technically a syndrome—it’s a psychological pattern, which means that it’s fairly easy to deal with.

Today’s blog postis all about identifying and exploring this bias. We’ll look into its most common symptoms, the people that are most susceptible to it, as well as an array of techniques to help you manage it effortlessly.

Let’s dive right in, shall we?

Imposter syndrome—the symptoms

The truth is that imposter syndrome can manifest in different people in different ways. Here are a couple of widely known symptoms suggesting that you may be suffering from this psychological pattern:

  • You feel like a fraud—you’ve landed a great job, you’ve received praise for your work, you may have even been awarded for your success, but instead of feeling happy, you feel like you’re part of a great conspiracy. You feel like none of your achievements are earned through merit; it’s all just a sham.
  • You discredit your worth—you helped someone, provided them with a valuable service or guidance, but you refuse to receive praise or money for it.
    You have little to no confidence in your abilities or expertise—you’ve worked hard to learn and get better at what you do, but you refuse to see the value in your knowledge and skills.

Imposter syndrome

Imposter syndrome—the people

It’s essential to underline that all people can be subject to this inability to internalize their success, regardless of gender or race.

Valerie Young, an expert on the imposter syndrome, outlined five archetypes for people suffering from this self-directed bias in her book, The Secret Thoughts of Successful Women:

  • Perfectionists—people who set their standards extremely high and occasionally fail to deliver on their expectations. Despite typically being high performers and successful professionals, every failure for them feels like a personal disaster that ends up wiping out any inkling of confidence and self-worth.
  • Experts—the people that are extremely passionate about learning and constantly expanding their skill sets. They hold themselves to a very high standard and typically won’t apply for a job if they don’t meet all the criteria in the job description. People that are part of this archetype are often uncomfortable asking questions in public in fear of being perceived as ignorant.
  • Natural geniuses—they’re gifted individuals that are used to learning and doing things with ease. However, when a task demands extra effort, they often feel like an imposter and feel shame if they haven’t achieved it effortlessly.
  • Soloists—people who fall into this category care a lot about who performed a task, sometimes more than how it was performed. They feel a constant urge to do things alone and are often ashamed of asking for help.
    Supermen or superwomen—they feel the urge to constantly push their boundaries to prove to themselves that they are not imposters. To them, it’s imperative to be successful in all facets of life.

However, you don’t necessarily have to identify with one of these archetypes to experience the imposter syndrome. Fundamentally, we should keep in mind that this is a behavior pattern, and every single person can fall prey to it when they least expect it. Don’t believe it? What if we told you that even extremely successful people such as Tina Fey, Tom Hanks, Maya Angelou, and Michelle Obama have had to deal with imposter syndrome at a certain point in the past?

“No matter what we’ve done, there comes the point where you think, ‘How did I get here? When are they going to discover that I am, in fact, a fraud and take everything away from me?’” — Tom Hanks.

How to deal with imposter syndrome

How do I deal with imposter syndrome?

Now that we have a better idea of the ways this pattern can manifest itself, we can explore a variety of things that can help us manage it. More importantly, some of the recommendations below will help you learn more from your experiences and use them as a source of better self-understanding.

1. Start with a reality check

The first step you should take is to scrutinize your negative thoughts just as harshly as you scrutinize your own worth when these thoughts arise. You know, those thoughts that make you believe your coworkers think you’re a fraud, and that you deserve none of your accomplishments.

Before you let these ideas have any impact on you, recognize them as ideas and think of the reason they came to your mind. Take a step back and assess whether there’s any reason to take them seriously.

It’s also important to keep in mind that our emotional state can significantly affect the way we think and feel. Often, the anxiety associated with starting a challenging project can manifest as self-doubt.

Whenever you feel this way about an upcoming challenge, remain mindful of the fact that this is just the way your brain reacts to it. You are the same knowledgeable and valuable person in your team—and nobody can take that away from you.

2. Reach out

Another fairly simple way of dealing with imposter syndrome is to open up to a friend. It’s essential to surround yourself with people that are there to help you when self-doubt strikes. Getting the support that you need in these situations is paramount.

Also, consider opening up to a colleague you trust. If your self-doubt is work-related, they should have a better understanding of your field, as well as how hard you’ve worked to earn your accomplishments.

3. Keep track of your achievements

Reminding ourselves of our achievements isn’t really something we learn to do at work. On the contrary, we’re often too focused on the things we mess up.

Consider creating a list of achievements and skills that you’re particularly proud of, the things that make you a valuable part of your organization—things that make you irreplaceable.

If you want to take this a step further, consider creating a work journal. This practice has a wide array of benefits that range from improved creativity and confidence to reduced stress.

Keep track of your achievements

4. Accept that you’re human

One of the things that foster professional self-doubt is perfectionism and overworking. While there’s nothing wrong with holding yourself to a high standard, it should be practiced in moderation.

To continue being a valuable part of your collective, it’s essential to maintain both your physical and mental health in check. Nobody wins if you end up burning out in the middle of an important project.

Your goal is to accept that you’re human and that you’re more than a cog in a machine. Sometimes, you simply can’t perform to the extent you’re expected to. And you know what? That’s totally fine.

Make an effort to steer clear of the all-work-no-play paradigm. Take the time to practice self-acceptance and self-compassion—and make sure not to feel guilty while doing so. Think of it as an investment in your future productivity.

5. Choose confidence

Being confident isn’t something you’re born with—it’s a mood, it’s a belief that you can succeed in what you’ve set out to achieve. Choose to believe in yourself.

Do small things that will help you revamp your self-confidence—volunteer your expertise, help your colleagues, do whatever it takes to make yourself believe that you’re a knowledgeable and valuable professional.

6. Say your name aloud

Yes, talking to yourself in a supportive and affirmative manner is extremely helpful. And before you brush this off as weird, there’s a huge body of research that supports this claim. A study published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology called “Self-Talk as a Regulatory Mechanism: How You Do It Matters” suggests that positive self-talk influences a person’s ability to manage their thoughts and feelings during stressful periods—this also includes people that are very vulnerable to social anxiety.

There are so many kind things you can tell yourself. Give it a try and see what works best for you. Anything goes. At the end of the day, you’re only saying these affirmations to yourself. Plus, it’s okay to do unconventional things in the privacy of your own self, especially if they help you feel better.

Need a couple of suggestions? Try these for starters, and feel free to tailor them to your individual needs:

  • “I’m a valuable asset to my team.”
  • “I’ve earned my accomplishments, and nobody can take them away from me.”
  • “I know what I’m doing.”
  • “I may make mistakes once in a while, but that doesn’t discount my worth.”

Oh, and don’t forget to add your name to these affirmations. Practicing this regularly will alleviate some of the effects of your imposter syndrome and help you manage it more efficiently.

7. Don’t compare yourself to others

Comparing yourself to others seems like a natural thing to do, especially due to our extensive use of social media.

Most of us will, at a certain point, feel like all of the people around us have it together more than we do. Well, we’re going to state the obvious—it’s not true. If other people’s LinkedIn profiles make you feel like an imposter, don’t fall for it. It’s a game of smoke and mirrors. People’s social media presence will almost never give you the full picture of how a person is really doing.

Whenever you realize that you’re comparing yourself to someone else, remind yourself that you only see what they want you to see. Everyone, absolutely everyone, feels vulnerable at a certain point in their lives. Everyone will, at some point, be consumed by self-doubt.

Imposter syndrome isn’t just about your self-confidence. It’s also about the way you evaluate yourself—and comparing yourself to others is beyond unhelpful and unproductive. As we mentioned above, setting the right standards is critical in dealing with self-doubt.

The take-home message

Opening up about your self-doubt isn’t easy. To many, admitting that they feel as if they don’t deserve their accomplishments is an arduous task, which makes getting help extremely complicated. The first step towards getting better is being honest with yourself. The second step is to share it with a person that you trust.

The modern workplace has created a culture that values overachievers. Yet, the same culture does very little to create a safe, healthy, and open environment where people can speak out about their problems. As a result, people have no choice but to suffer in silence and often disregard their own wellbeing.

Instead of being ashamed of how we feel and glorifying burning out, let’s focus on accepting ourselves and moving forward with a healthier attitude toward our own worth.

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When Morale is in Tailspin, Transparent Leadership Really Turns the Tide

Transparent Leadership

Guests wait up to three months for an available table at Canlis Restaurant in Seattle. Their four-course meal is served at tables that sit alongside floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking Lake Union and the Cascade Mountain Range.

On any given night, the parking valet welcomes two hundred guests to dine. Without fail, he remembers each and every one of their names, and identifies them to their car, entirely from memory.

How does that stack up to your ability to remember names?

More significantly, how does this employee’s dedication stack up to the rest of today’s workforce?

“I am absolutely done with my current job….I have ZERO motivation to do anything. I seriously spend most of my days online shopping, reading blogs, reading the news, etc. I do the bare minimum to get by without someone actually noticing I’m not working like 50% of the time….I ignore my entire email inbox until 4:30 and then frantically respond to everything before I leave for the day,” writes a reader to the popular advice column, Ask a Boss.

According to a Gallup poll, this reader represents the norm. Almost 70% of the workforce in the US admits to sleepwalking through their work days, and 14% are actively disengaged.

How to account for the disparity between a parking valet with a passion for his company, and an idle, unmotivated average? Mark Canlis, owner of Canlis fine dining, offers an explanation:

“What if we could serve our guests by serving our staff? What about that as a business model? …To the degree that you as a boss won’t learn vulnerably in front of your staff, they will not respect you. Your employees know that you don’t know it all. And they want to see the times when you don’t know it. And there is great strength in that sort of vulnerability.”

Leadership

What characterizes this transparent leadership Canlis has made part of its company culture?

It’s a style of leading that seeks to create openness within an organization through remaining vulnerable, acknowledging blunders, listening, disclosing information and serving employees.

Transparent leaders have clear core values that they personify in their professional role, and disseminate throughout the company.

It’s a style of leadership that engages personally with employees, and empowers them to develop their potential.

Let’s look more closely at these facets of transparent leadership, to understand how a company creates a work environment where a parking valet is committed to memorizing more names in a single evening than there are countries in the world.

Essential Qualities of a Transparent Leader

Part I: Essential Qualities of a Transparent Leader

“As a leader you always want to know the answers to all the questions. You always want to be in a position to tell people, ‘Well this is what is going to happen, this is where we are going’,” says Igor Epshteyn, CEO at Coherent Solutions, a software company in Minneapolis.

Leaders readily acknowledge that behaving with transparency requires a conscious effort. It goes against established ideas that a leader is indisputable.

However, habitually behaving with openness and candor is well worth the effort. It generates a loyal and innovative team.

Here are eight ways that leaders cultivate a transparent environment in the workplace.

1. Acknowledge Vulnerabilities

With the outbreak of the 2020 pandemic, it felt disarming for Epshteyn to communicate to his company that so much was out of his hands. However, he found that acknowledging his vulnerabilities, while emphasizing that he was doing everything he could, increased loyalty from his base.

“We didn’t know the answers to a lot of questions. When people working with you understand that you’re doing the best that you can, they pay back with loyalty, and it becomes one big loyal team, with clients and employees.”

Even when we’re not faced with a world-wide pandemic, every leader knows well that there’s much he cannot control.

A transparent leader isn’t hesitant to acknowledge this. “One of the things we always say around here is that there’s very little we can do to affect the number of people that come in through the front door….we need to realize that we’re called to do our best and then trust God for the rest,” says Canlis.

Similarly, Nolan Farris, Chief Sales Officer of the employment website Indeed, was faced head-on with concerns from employees as the company strove to scale in size.

When they approached him to ask if they’d succeed in their efforts, he said: “If we focus on what we can control, and we maximize our productivity, all of these things will come.”

A team appreciates a leader who is honest about her limitations, but who still works as hard as she can. As Epshteyn says, they pay back with loyalty.

2. Disclose Whatever You Can

Have you ever had someone keep a secret from you, just so they could lord it over you that they knew something and you didn’t? The corporate equivalent is a boss hidden in a corner office behind a sound-proof door, discussing big, important matters with a few select individuals.

Transparent leaders don’t hold onto information as a means of maintaining their authority. Granted, there are certain things a boss will know that employees do not, or know before others, and plenty of personal employee information that’s hopefully always undisclosed.

However, transparent leaders share information as far as they can.

“Sometimes leaders have information that they can’t share. Communicating in transparency means you just have to say that. There’s been many times where I’ve had people ask me very pointed, specific questions in regards to something that I definitely know about, and the response has to be, ‘Well the truth is, I can’t tell you,’” says leadership coach and team builder Lorenzo Flores.

This type of candor communicates that the leader doesn’t need to reign above the rest of the team.

When a leader releases this need to be the “holder of all the big secrets”, it allows their other qualities to come to the forefront, such as charisma, enthusiasm, and team building skills. These are the qualities people value and appreciate in a leader in the first place.

Overcommunicate

3. Overcommunicate

Have you ever forgotten to tell someone something really important simply because you got busy and it slipped your mind?

In a company with multiple departments, it is very easy for significant developments to take place in one department that aren’t ever told to another.

However, for company cohesion, it’s necessary for important decisions and breakthroughs to be communicated throughout the company. This makes everyone feel like they’re in on the play, and not benched on the sidelines.

Oftentimes, failures to communicate occur due to poor or non-existent systems. Quarterly meetings, combined with weekly emails (that are required reading) is one way to maintain fluid communication.

Epshteyn says that within his business, it’s important to communicate from the top down, but also across different departments. When people make a decision in one department, others need to know about it as well.

4. Eat Some Crow

Employees want to see a united front with the leaders in their organization. It creates cohesion and stability within the core.

However, when a boss or manager gets away with making a mistake or relaying inaccurate information, it communicates to everyone that seniority and status matter more than honesty.

Even if it entails stepping on someone’s toe or having a little mud thrown in her face, a transparent leader calls out blunders and errors—and the little things count just as much as the big things!

“The truth is the truth. You debate opinions, you don’t debate facts. From a transparent standpoint, I have no problem calling out if someone else is right or wrong, because you know what? I will own it myself if I am wrong,” says Flores.

Employees appreciate an environment where everyone, regardless of title or position, gets called out on the carpet from time to time. When mistakes are pushed under the rug, it festers and creates resentment.

Acknowledging blunders also demonstrates the humanness of the leader. This kind of transparency makes a leader more relatable.

“Employees are impressed by a leader when they see somebody growing in front of them,” Canlis observes.

Let down the mask

5. Let Down the Mask

“This current generation sniffs things out faster than you could possibly imagine–they don’t want to be pitched, they don’t want to be angled. They just want authenticity out of a person, and that’s pretty old fashioned,” says Canlis.

In this social media age, it’s easy to carefully curate our lives and paint an idyllic picture of who we are and what our lives consist of. Everyone sees smiling faces and beautiful vacations, but never the messy kitchen, dirty laundry, or children in the middle of a meltdown.

Any veteran of social media is fatigued with this facade, and wants to know the person behind the artifice.

Farris celebrates that his company has been “in on” his personal life. “These people want to rally behind someone who is relatable…it’s been fun to build a business at the same time that we’re growing our family. I mean, my employees have seen my family grow.”

A transparent leader understands the value of letting employees glimpse behind the curtain to see the “real” you. As Farris says, people want a leader they identify with.

6. Flaunt Faults

“One of my top-tier superpowers is knowing what I suck at….no one can be great at everything,” says Ty James Largo, owner of Aw Collective.

A transparent leader has enough self-knowledge to understand the areas where he needs to improve, or skills he simply will never have. –And enough confidence to admit this to others as well.

Epshteyn readily acknowledges he’s no Tony Robbins when standing in front of his company. He’d much prefer to send emails and communicate in small groups.

“I don’t consider myself to be a very good communicator…..more and more I’ve been pushed by my team to communicate more. It’s been evolution and growth; it’s not something I have in me naturally….people, when they see that you are sincere, open and honest, they forget little details. They don’t pay attention to the nuances of what you said.”

A team appreciates seeing a leader’s flaws and understanding they’re not perfect. This, too, makes a leader more relatable.

Do the little things

7. Do the Little Things

It’s so common for someone to ignore an email, or say they’ll get back to us, and then forget. And plenty of people are so busy they can’t ever seem to show up on time for anything.

Even with the tiny details, transparent leaders behave conscientiously, and keep their word.

Responding to emails, being punctual, and following up on things they say they’ll do communicates that the leader values each and every person, and has time for them. It’s so true that the little things matter just as much as the big things.

It communicates respect—and respect is never a one way street. The leader, in turn, is esteemed and regarded by the team.

8. Poo-Poo Position and Title

“I don’t think of myself as a leader. It’s like we’re a big collective and we’re doing this all together.”

Eileen Fisher, owner of the eponymous women’s clothing company, has achieved great success, but with remarkably little structure within her company.

She admits to “not really” having a CEO, and isn’t too concerned with other positions, either. “I couldn’t tell you what most people’s titles are, I’m always surprised when I hear them. People are on a first name basis, mostly.”

So how does her company function? She has a small group of central leaders and “there is something in the way we work together and listen that is part of the secret.”

This listening and lack of leadership has earned her success: Eileen Fisher has an annual revenue well above one hundred of million, and an employee turnover that is less than half of its competitors.

Maybe her formula for success isn’t such a secret. With Fisher, it’s clear she’s concerned primarily with getting the job done well. A title or position, if it stands in the way, doesn’t matter.

Although it’s unrealistic for most organizations to entirely jettison traditional corporate structure in the way she has, every leader can learn a lesson in transparency from Eileen Fisher.

It’s Open and Shut

It’s counterintuitive that by opening up, being vulnerable, and exposing weaknesses, a leader actually becomes more effective at leading a company.

But adding these traits doesn’t mean a leader takes away any of the qualities that brought her to the leadership position in the first place.

By behaving with transparency, a team recognizes that a leader is not only qualified, but an open, relatable person as well. And they respond with dedication.

Part II: A Transparent Culture Embodies the Company’s Core Values

“Part of the ‘why’ about starting this business had to do with my own discomfort. Any clothing that restricts me adds to my discomfort. That’s such a huge priority, to design clothes that are comfortable, that are simple, that are timeless, that last,” says Fisher.

A transparent leader has crystal clarity around the “why” of his organization. These core values drive all of the decisions within the company.

“It’s really important to be careful where you put your identity. It’s easy to wrap your identity up into a couple things that maybe it shouldn’t be, and that’s not going to help the business,” says Canlis.

He aims his focus on his company’s core values. “For us, our values, in order, are: trustworthy, generous, and other-centered….that’s who we’re hoping to become.”

Identifying and clarifying core values is central to running a transparent company. Integrating these values starts with leadership.

In order to really embody its core values, a company systematically incorporates them into recruiting, assessing employee performance, and creating work environments. This takes time and dedication.

By making it unambiguous what a company stands for, a leader creates a culture of transparency.

Core Work Values

1. Identifying Core Values

Core values are fundamental to creating a transparent work culture, but how does a company create them in the first place?

One approach is to assess the team that you’ve already built.

Epshteyn identified his values using a method outlined in the Entrepreneur Operation System.

“You select the core group of people who you think belong to your organization, and you try to assess what these people have in common. And based on that, you come up with a set of core values.”

A company’s core values are also a reflection of the vision a leader has for her company.

In an industry where the work culture is known for being high-pressure, competitive and hostile, Canlis envisioned flipping the coin, and creating a fundamentally different work environment for his restaurant.

Eileen Fisher envisioned a company where the environment felt fundamentally collaborative.

“What we’re trying to do with this different kind of leadership is to have the leader facilitate the process so you get the team or the craft team in the room together, to ideate together…it’s more about kind of again the holding the space for the team.”

2. Modeling the Company Vision

It’s easy for a company’s core values to be little more than idealistic sentiments recited at quarterly meetings.

However, in order to create an environment where employees feel like the standards are known and predictable, it’s crucial that leaders really live these values.

Does the company promise an “unparalleled working environment?” Then what is the boss doing to make that happen? Does it pride itself on “world-class customer service?” Then setting up protocols and systems to evaluate performance is critical.

When a leader consistently behaves per a certain set of values, the expectations are clear.

In order for the values to really disseminate through the company, it’s not enough for the boss or the owner to imbue them: all leadership, including management, needs to be on board.

As Canlis says: “When you’re making a switch…you’ve got to figure out if your management is doing this, first and foremost. If they’re not, you can’t go any deeper than that. Are they living the values? Are they leading the way?”

Recruiting the Right Team

3. Recruiting the Right Team

“First and foremost, the success of Indeed has come from good hiring. We’ve been able to establish a really good foundation. Hiring is everything–making sure you have the right characters in your play,” says Farris.

Bringing on the right people in the first place is central to ensuring the whole team is in synch with the company’s mission and values.

Prospective employees need to understand the “why” of the business, in order to determine if they fit with the organization.

“When we invite someone into the organization, we say ‘This is what we’re hoping to become, what about you? What do you want in life?’ Of course, there is a professional aspect, but what we’re really trying to get to is the personal aspect. ‘Who are you becoming as a person?’” says Canlis.

Epshteyn has developed a library of questions that help determine if a prospective employee is aligned to the core values of Coherent Solutions. As a business scales, having a system like this in place ensures a consistent practice of hiring talent who are all on the same page.

4. Holding Employees to High Standards

Holding Employees to High StandardsWhen a company sets its core values, they know they’re shooting for the moon.

“When we committed to Vision 2020, our sustainability goals, we decided we wanted to be 100% sustainable. Of course we knew that wasn’t realistic, we just knew if we committed to 100%, we were going to get further faster,” says Fisher.

In the spirit of transparency and setting clear expectations, a leader needs to assess his or her employees according to the standards set by the core values. –While at the same time appreciating that they won’t always be reached.

When overseeing his team, Canlis notes the need to make the distinction between an employee who’s having a case of the Mondays, and one who’s consistently missing the mark.

“There’s not a lot of room not living the values. There’s room for failing at them and wishing that you hadn’t. That’s a key distinction. I expect all of the staff to fail at the values regularly because they are set awfully high. That isn’t so concerning. That is a simple process of holding up a mirror to someone and saying ‘Hey, I don’t know if you noticed, but you’re not living up to what we all agreed to.’”

Establishing this kind of accountability ensures the core values really are lived in the day-to-day work environment.

When an employee persistently doesn’t live up to the values, it’s time to show them the door.

“That’s a key distinction: is the person living a particular way, is that who they are and who’re they becoming, or are they just having an off day and they failed to meet the standards….the former just don’t belong,” says Canlis.

5. Creating a Value-Imbued Work Climate

An organization’s core values determine the way in which work gets done.

A team member at Canlis, where a core value is “other-centered”, is concerned with her employees, and how to improve their days. An employee at Indeed, where one value is “determination”, brings a focused, eye-on-the-prize energy to his work life.

How does a company imbue the climate with the values in such a way that they’re really expressed in the everyday work environment?

As we’ve discussed, hiring the right people and assessing employees play central roles.

Additionally, Farris points out, ensuring that everyone in the company is on the same page means hitting them with the same message, day after day.

“Appreciating that we work in a company with a social mission of helping people find employment…is incredibly important and is something we take to heart and regularly revisit and communicate and over-communicate to reinforce across our teams.”

In another turn, when Amy Hall, the head of social consciousness at Eileen Fisher, felt that the company needed to have sustainability more deeply embedded throughout the organization, she organized a series of workshops within all the departments (designers, advertisers, sales, and stores) in order to align everyone with the mission and value.

Although there are many approaches, the objective of incorporating the core values into the workday of every employee is the same–and it’s a central component to creating a transparent work environment.

Realizing the Vision

Realizing the Vision

Incorporating core values into a company requires a concerted effort from all leaders in the organization. Plus, it entails implementing systems so that values are practiced consistently.

Although this is a lot of work, it creates powerful alignment to direct the company toward its vision.

This alignment creates a culture of transparency, where standards around work and behavior are clearly understood.

Part III: Transparent Leaders Empower Employees

Eileen Fisher hasn’t received many resignation letters since she started the company in 1984. Most of her staff has stayed with her for decades.

“It’s a community, a family in a way. People feel that they’re really a part of it. They’re invested in the success, what is working, what is not working….it makes people want to be there.”

This sense of ownership, in part, is because the employees do in fact own the business. Eileen Fisher follows an ESOP ownership model, and 40% of the company stock is owned by employees.

What else is in the secret sauce to developing loyalty and dedication?
Egalitarian leaders acknowledge that the skills and work power of its employees are the fuel that allows a business to scale and succeed.

“They do all the work, it’s only fair to share, which I think all companies should have to do. I really do,” says Fisher.

Epshteyn agrees. “The people IS the growth of the company. We spend an equal amount of time focusing on employees as we do on our clients.”

Transparent leadership is an employee-centered approach. It seeks to utilize what every team member brings to the table, and also to cultivate personal and mentor relationships with employees.

1. Utilizing the Talent Pool

A transparent leader readily acknowledges that those on his payroll may well be smarter, more capable, and more incisive than he. That is why he hired them.

“The whole process of growing is the ability to surround yourself with people who are much smarter than you are. You have to listen, to understand. Most of the decisions are not easily made….we have to make sure we listen to the key players in the different areas. You have to include them in the decision making process,” says Epshteyn.

This collective approach to decision making allows for the pooling of a wide array of talents and skill sets.

Listening Beyond the Basics

2. Listening Beyond the Basics

A leader certainly needs a strong vision for where he or she wants to take the company, and some idea of how to get there. However, this makes it easy to slip into a pattern of thinking she has all the answers.

When a leader doesn’t acknowledge or listen to her employees, work performance suffers. Any employee whose ideas are shut down and ignored can’t bring his A-game to the table, no matter how brilliant he may be.

Active listening—things like making eye contact and using engaged body language–is certainly in the skill set of a transparent leader. Even more so, a transparent environment is one in which the leader understands just who the employees really are, and treats them as distinct individuals.

“I have a good understanding for people and culture…it’s a manager’s job to understand who they are managing…Everyone in the group comes from a different place, they were raised or educated in different areas, speak different languages. Everyone has their own life experience,” says Farris.

This kind of listening, where the individual is seen and acknowledged for who they really are, gives everyone a sense of place.

3. Know Your Employees

We spend more time at work than we do with our families and friends, as we know all too well. And it turns out that many employees are actually pretty lonely at work.

Water cooler banter apparently isn’t sufficient for creating camaraderie in the workplace. In fact, this kind of real-life conversation occurs less frequently as workplace interaction becomes more virtual.

When people are lonely at work, performance declines. This indeed helps to account for the nearly 85% of the workforce who’ve reported to Gallup that they’re, at best, sleepwalking through their day.

Transparent companies with an employee-centered business plan have systems in place for simply getting to know one another.

Know your employees

For example, the team on the Department of Growth and Appreciation at Canlis regularly takes employees to lunch. Not for recognition, just to talk. The agenda for the lunch is to answer two questions: “Tell me your story,” and “What is it like working at Canlis?”

This policy may seem like a superfluous waste of time, but Canlis finds that it really makes good business sense. “The lunch opens up a wealth of conversation. And you can’t imagine how the details of the business get taken care of magically while the people are having lunch together.”

When employees get to know and like each other, daily work performance improves.

4. Coach and Advance

A transparent leader doesn’t see employees as a means to achieving her own end. Rather, team members are individuals with their own limits, goals and visions. A transparent leader is enthusiastic about enabling and encouraging them.

“Managers are lead blockers….a manager’s job is to ensure their people have a clear path to their personal success and their professional success,” says Farris.

Farris is eager to share what he has learned in his career. Everything he has picked up, he believes, is knowledge to pass on to someone else.

He also has the courage to have difficult conversations with employees about work performance.

“I do not shy away from providing feedback: good, bad or ugly….I’ve worked hard at ensuring employees know where they stand, the things they’re doing well and the things we’re working on together to see them down the yellow brick road.”

Transparent leaders also enable team members to grow. The Department of Growth and Advancement at Canlis has a function of discussing where team members want to be in their careers, then actually taking the steps to make it happen.

Reap Loyalty

Reap Loyalty

“Loyalty is something that does not go one way. You have to be loyal to your people,” says Epshteyn.

It isn’t hard to imagine that a work environment where an employee is listened to, known, and allowed to grow is also one in which they’re going to do their best work.

Transparent leadership that focuses on the employee is key to creating a rich, rewarding work environment.

Nothing Murky About It

If your boss required it, would you be up for the lofty task of memorizing two hundred names in an evening?

What if this boss took the time to know you, coached you, took your advice, and answered your emails to boot? That might affect your answer!

Transparent leadership certainly inspires most to strive for peak work performance. And, as the saying goes, anyone who shoots for the moon lands among the stars.

A transparent work environment, that is to say, is not simply friendly and supportive. It also genuinely improves the productivity of the business.

Incorporating methods of transparent leadership takes work, time and strategy. What would you change about your organization to make it more transparent?

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8 Easy Ways to Increase Focus at Work (and reduce stress!)

Increase focus at work

If there was a way to increase your focus at work, how big of a difference would it make to your productivity during the workday?

Think about it. How often do you find yourself dead center in the middle of an intense work period, when suddenly, your phone goes off or your email dings and that iron-clad focus vanishes into thin air…and becomes increasingly harder to find post distraction?

It’s something we’ve all experienced at one time or another, and it can have a heavy impact on productivity and stress levels throughout your working hours.

Losing focus can happen in an instant, and though it can seem like “no-big-deal” in that moment, it can make a big difference over time. Focus is a skill that’s developed through intentional habits. Most people aren’t naturally born with the ability to direct their attention towards one thing for long periods of time. Pair that with our high-tech world that thrives on the need for instant gratification stemming from our use of the internet (especially from social media), and it’s only natural we’d now find it difficult to concentrate on one specific task for a set amount of time.

2 Main Factors That Affect Your Focus At Work

Our ability to focus at work can be influenced by a number of factors, however, they nearly always fall into one of two categories: environmental and personal.

Environmental

Environmental factors are those that make up the physical and social environment around you. These include the state of your workspace, the people around you, external events (meetings, presentations, workplace events, etc), and the technological distractions you experience, such as your phone or computer. Though not all these aspects are fully within your control, they can often be planned for in advance.

Personal

Personal factors are directly related to you as an individual. Some examples of personal factors that affect focus include your current emotional state, attention inhibiting diagnosis (ex. ADHD), negative or positive self-talk, personality type, and work style. All these things are individual to you and can be developed and strengthened over time to help improve your mental clarity and focus.

Ways To Increase Focus At Work

8 Ways To Increase Focus At Work

Increasing focus in the workplace is a skill that will take time to develop. When you take action to plan for and manage the distractions you face throughout your workday, you’ll find higher levels of concentration beginning to form, while also increasing productivity and reducing stress in the workplace!

Here are our top 8 ways to increase your focus at work:

1. Organize Your Workspace

Organization in the workplace helps set you up for success by making your workspace predictable and easy to manage. Predictability in the workplace boosts focus by removing the obstacles, which allows you to efficiently move throughout your tasks without getting distracted by something you saw or another task you had out on your desk.

2. Create A Daily Schedule (and follow it!)

Often, we create a weekly work plan without thinking twice about making it smaller and more digestible. When you break your week down and create a schedule for each day, you’re able to dial in the efficiency of your workday and promote productivity. This also gives you the freedom to create a schedule that works best for you and your internal clock. If you focus better in the morning, plan for your uninterrupted work to be done during the first portion of the day while giving yourself permission to take several breaks in the afternoon while completing your less intensive tasks (or vice versa). Another way to optimize your daily schedule is to switch between tasks that require low levels of attention and those that need higher amounts. This will naturally provide your brain with time to rest between the more demanding tasks.

Take Breaks

3. Take Breaks

Breaks are essential to productivity and focus. If you go without taking breaks throughout the day, you’ll often find yourself suffering from high levels of mental fatigue and foggy processing. The longer you go without a break, the more likely it is for the quality of your work to decrease. Giving your mind time to recoup at regular intervals will not only lead to greater focus during working periods but it’ll also provide you with a moment to gain some perspective when working through a particularly challenging project.

4. Eliminate Distractions

In a workplace where we’re surrounded by technology, distractions are common. Create uninterrupted working periods by setting your phone to ‘do not disturb’, muting your desktop notifications, and silencing anything else that will steal your attention if alerts go off. If you have an office, you can even put a ‘Do Not Disturb’ sign on your door to keep colleagues from disrupting you during your working periods.

Avoid Multitasking

5. Avoid Multitasking

When you split your attention into multiple tasks, you’re never fully investing yourself into one singular activity and can distract yourself from the others when one gets challenging. Often, this leads to less work being completed and makes for a more stressful work environment because it creates the illusion that you’re much busier than you actually are. In fact, in a Stanford University study on multitasking, researchers found that habitual multitaskers appeared to struggle with navigating among multiple threads of information, while also being less able to filter out distractions and focus on material that was highly relevant to their end goal.

6. Use A Timer

If you catch yourself checking the clock constantly throughout the day, use a timer to help you remove the anxiety or stress surrounding how fast (or slow) time is going. When you incorporate a timer as part of your work routine (like the pomodoro method), you’re effectively supporting your uninterrupted working time in 2 specific ways…

First, you’re allowing your brain to naturally shift into work mode due to the specific window of time you’ve given yourself to complete the task.

Secondly, it will reduce the desire to look at the clock as there is no anxiety surrounding time because you’ve already determined and set an end time to the work period, effectively making it a predictable and measurable portion of your workday.

7. Respond To Your Brains Cues

If you catch yourself stuck on a difficult aspect of your task, or if you’re finding you’ve lost the flow of your process with no sense of end in sight, try switching to another task that has a high potential for successful completion. Give your mind a break and reinforce your confidence by checking off another item on your list. Quick wins and small rewards are great tools to help you combat resistance and motivate you to return to the original task with a better mindset.

8. Find Your Individual Working Style (and plan accordingly!)

Everyone requires different things to help them focus and move through their workday with success. Consider the following:

  • Do you find rewards appealing? Consider adding them into your day to encourage task completion.
  • Do you need to pre-plan your task to feel confident enough to take it on? Get all your notes in order and make a basic outline to reference as you move through it.
  • Do you need to chunk your work into smaller (or larger) portions? If you’re a person who needs frequent breaks, split your tasks into smaller portions that are easier for you to digest without becoming overwhelmed. If you’re a person who needs to go through a task from start to finish in one sitting to maintain your focus, plan for longer breaks at the end of each task.
  • Do you need silence when you work, or does music help you concentrate? If you need it to be silent, make a plan for how you can achieve that taking your current work environment into consideration. Do you need noise-canceling headphones? Is there a specific playlist that helps you focus (instrumentals or soft white noise?)
  • Do you need more uninterrupted time to work through those more intense objectives, but have a busy office and colleagues that love to stop by for chats? Consider adding a sign on your door to keep people from interrupting, or have a visual schedule for your colleagues to know when you’re available.

This can be digital, like a shared calendar with unavailable times marked, or a physical one by your office space.

Consider what supports your concentration and build it into your work environment.

Working Style

Conclusion

Focus is a skill that can be developed with the right knowledge. When it’s missing from your work habits, it can reduce productivity, create a more stressful environment, and leave you feeling exhausted (and potentially behind schedule) at the end of each workday.

When you include windows of time each day where you are completely focused, you are naturally building up your mind’s tolerance to distractions and strengthening your ability to concentrate and stay on task for longer periods of time.

Evaluate your work habits, consider what you need to help increase your focus at work, and implement it one step at a time.

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A Simple Guide to Daily Work Management Steps

Daily Work Management

Striking out on your own as an entrepreneur or building your own business is stressful. It’s a work in progress and always will be. To make the most out of your growth, you’ll need to implement an effective daily work management protocol.

Daily work management is the process where business leaders break down their management system into a series of daily tasks. By referring back to these steps it helps the entire business to self-regulate, reflect, and grow.

It’s not just people starting out that could benefit from daily work management. If you are a business leader who’s looking for ways to increase productivity and include voices from every level, this is for you as well. Let’s take a look into what daily work management is and what steps are involved.

What is daily work management?

Put simply, it’s a management system that takes a daily approach and involves every department, and requires input from all staff. There are three main areas of daily work management and these are visual management, leadership routines, and accountability practices.

These three elements should play an important part in your business’s operational governance. A daily work management system helps your team to overcome problems with the 4Ms of production – man, machine, material, and methods.

Any leader knows that the beast of business is hard to tame but daily work management steps are a proven model to overcome challenges. It’s a sustenance technique and focuses on problem-solving. Many leading businesses have implemented daily work management steps to facilitate their growth.

Daily Work Management Steps

Daily Work Management Steps

What steps you’ll want to include depends on what type of business you are and the size of your team. While solo entrepreneurs can benefit from looking at demand data and accountability, they won’t have much use for Gemba walks.

Take a look at the steps below and see how they can fit into your daily workflow. If you have employees then remember that this system works best when it’s collaborative. Everyone should have a voice from the entry-level production staff to senior-level leaders.

1. Demand data

Ultimately the people businesses answer to are their customers or clients. Begin your day by reviewing the demand. What is it your customers want from you? A great tool for this is Pivot Tables which is an interactive tool for tracking data.

Pivot Tables let you summarize data quickly. Use them to make comparisons, monitor trends, and discover unanticipated questions. Consider implementing this tool to make the most out of your customer’s data and always stay ahead of demand.

2. Takt time

Once you know your demand you can work out your takt time. Takt time is basically the pace your production needs to run at to keep up with demand. To work this out, all you need to do is take the working time available (what your staff is working minus any breaks) and divide this by the customer demand.

This is not to be confused with cycle time which is how long it takes to create a product. Takt time is not something that can easily change. It is dependant on demand and the working time available.

3. Visual management board

A visual management board is something that’s widely used in production and factories. It has useful data about production progression compared to projections. A production board can be used to record any hindrances that affect the team’s output.

In order to make the most out of visual management boards, leaders shouldn’t use them as a way to intimidate their staff. It should be used as an effective tool to encourage employees by sharing the bigger picture performance of the business.

Daily accountability

4. Daily accountability

Daily accountability meetings are where every employee has the chance to speak and make suggestions to improve the business. Through accountability meetings you’ll learn of any hindrances and if there are any ways to improve productivity. There should also be the opportunity for staff to ask for help if they need it.

Your meetings could be in the form of daily stand-ups which are short meetings held at the start of the day. Refer to the production board and keep staff informed of what’s going on with the business. Other types of meetings may also be relevant such as safety briefings, cleaning, or equipment checks.

5. Leader standard work

Leader standard work is the set of processes that team leaders of all levels use to monitor their team. It’s a way to check in on the day’s progress and how well your team is performing. Make sure they’re following the correct procedures and it’s a great way to find future leaders to develop.

6. Gemba walks

Gemba walks are something a leader can do to learn more about the processes they may not be involved in. It allows bosses to find exceptional people, observe their staff, and gain a deeper understanding of things that do or don’t work well. A good idea is to record your findings to help improve the processes or eliminate any wasted resources.

Collaborative coaching

7. Collaborative coaching

Businesses will thrive when there is a culture of collaboration. By encouraging employees to share their knowledge and skills with one another the overall productivity will tick upwards. Nurture collaboration by rewarding creative problem-solving. This will help employees to think smarter and contribute to company growth.

8. Response planning

Leaders need to take action early to avoid any loss of production due to unforeseen circumstances. This can be achieved by implementing things like job rotations or cross-training. Businesses need to be flexible enough to move staff to cover shortages if they occur.

9. Process confirmation

This method is how managers check the integrity of their processes. Is the work being done as set out in company procedures and is it up to the expected standard? Process confirmation can help to expose any areas which are falling short and even expose potential hazards.

Conclusion

These daily work management steps are great for helping your team to build habits, review your processes, and make sure the business is growing. It can expose vulnerabilities and help to create a system of response to ensure business continuity. Not all steps will be useful for your business but consider implementing the ones that will.

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Management Through History: How We Got Here, And Where We’re Going

Management Through History

Times have changed in the world of management. And definitely for the better! Better for employees, better for managers, and better for the organization. And as it’s still evolving, the future is looking pretty bright.

Rita Gunther McGrath describes the history of management in three eras – execution, expertise, and empathy. Execution refers to the period of science and bureaucracy, where mass production, specialization, standardization, and quality control thrived. When employees were seen more like machines who output than human beings who contribute. Expertise is the period where knowledge starts to accumulate, and motivation is understood better. Empathy is where we’re at now. We’re expecting managers to create complete and meaningful experiences for employees. It’s a pretty good place to be, considering where we came from.

Let’s dive a little bit deeper into the significant influencers and periods that represent the evolution of management and how we got to where we are today.

Management: A History

Scientific Management (late 1800s)

Frederick Taylor is often seen as the father of the Scientific Management period. Emerging in the late 1800s, Taylor focused on the system of management rather than the employee. Taylor believed that production efficiency could be attributed to specialization and division of labor. Employees were seen as specialized and replaceable components.

Let’s just say morale was probably pretty low in the average worker!

The Hawthorne Experiments (1932)

In 1932, Elton Mayo, a Harvard psychologist, conducted experiments at the Hawthorne Works of Western Electric Company. The study was on how characteristics of the work setting affected performance. When productivity increased, no matter what setting they altered or tinkered with, the researchers had to look a little deeper. Mayo realized that when researchers were present in the factory, workers were more productive. This was because they enjoyed receiving attention from the researchers and participating in the study. They were having such a great time that they wanted to cooperate with the researchers and produce the results they believed were desired.

This became known as the ‘Hawthorne effect’, which suggests that the attitude of workers toward managers influences their performance. Researchers began looking into managerial behavior and leadership, and the human relations movement was born. This movement advocated for supervisors to be trained to supervise, so they are able to motivate their teams and increase productivity.

The Hawthorne experiments paved the way for progress. Departing from studying management as a science, organizations and their managers started to recognize the importance of human characteristics.

Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs (1950s)

In 1954, Abraham Maslow expanded on his hierarchy of needs in ‘Motivation and Personality’. The theory categorizes human needs into a pyramid, asserting that lower-level needs must be satisfied before humans can be motivated to fulfill their higher-level needs. His work had a major impact on how managers viewed employee motivation.

Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs

Maslow’s hierarchy applied in the workplace:

  • Physiological: To fill the physiological needs, employees need appropriate salaries.
  • Safety: Safety needs can be met by providing employees with job security, a safe and hygienic work environment, and benefits.
  • Social: Social needs are met by teamwork and opportunities to socialize.
  • Esteem: Meeting an employee’s need for esteem can be met by managers who appreciate and reward employees when deserved.
  • Self-actualization: Self-actualization needs can be met by giving employees jobs that challenge them and utilize their skill-set

Learning Organization (1990s)

The Fifth Discipline BookIn the 1990s, Peter Senge came along and developed the learning organization concept. He viewed the workplace as an organism. In his book, Senge describes the learning organization as a place with a group of people who create what they want to create: “where people continually expand their capacity to create the results they truly desire, where new and expansive patterns of thinking are nurtured, where collective aspiration is set free, and where people are continually learning how to learn together.”

These are the following characteristics that appear in learning organizations:

  • Present continuous learning opportunities.
  • Members utilize learning to achieve their goals.
  • A connection between individual performance and the organization’s performance.
  • A culture of questioning and conversation is fostered, making the workplace safe for employees to share openly and not be afraid to take risks.
  • Embrace creative tension as a source of energy and renewal.
  • Members are consistently aware of and interact with their environment.

Learning Organization

The key to achieving this type of organization is within Senge’s five disciplines of creating a learning organization:

1. Shared Vision

A shared vision is when all employees are on the same page about the company goals and understand where the organization needs to go. The belief here is that employees who share the vision for the organization will actively participate in getting it there.

2. Mental Models

Mental models explain the assumptions and generalizations that people have which guide their behavior and decisions. In order to change mental models that may hinder someone, people need to be willing to reflect on their own behaviors and beliefs.

3. Team Learning

Team learning has two elements:

  • Effective teamwork leads to results that are greater than what an individual could have accomplished on their own.
  • Team members must be willing to change mental models and be open to learning from their teammates.

4. Personal mastery

In a learning organization, workers should be proactive – consistently continuing to learn and achieve. This isn’t about explicitly achieving for the organization – though that is an assumed residual benefit. It’s about defining what is important to us, seeing reality accurately, and pursuing continuous learning and improvement from there.

5. Systems thinking

Systems thinking in the workplace refers to looking at the organization holistically rather than as small unrelated parts. It implies that one should consider how their actions, behavior, and role affect those around them and the entire organization.

In a learning organization, the argument is that a better appreciation of the system will lead to more considerate and appropriate actions.

Daniel Pink (2009)

In his book ‘Drive’, Daniel Pink goes beyond the traditional motivational theories that support the idea that extrinsic factors (such as high pay and good benefits) motivate people. While they definitely play a role (no one wants to work for peanuts, no matter how great your boss is), intrinsic factors are actually responsible for human initiative. Intrinsic factors include autonomy, mastery, and purpose. For example, suppose you’ve ever had to deal with a boss who loved to micro-manage you at work. In that case, you probably know how vital autonomy and trust are.

Let’s get back to the future.

So, now that we have an overview of what has happened in the organization over all these years, how do we meet the needs of the current workforce today? How can we be good managers that the employees of tomorrow will actually want to work for?

Here are 4 ways you can be a great modern manager:

1. Be a leader

This might sound obvious, but it’s actually been a long-running debate on whether managers should also be leaders. The debate states managers delegate activities and direct a group of people, while leaders guide followers. This is just… silly. If you’re a manager of a team in the modern workforce, you need to lead. If you have been placed in a position of power without having earned followers, influence, and respect – success is unlikely.

Good managers are leaders who inspire, coach, and empower their employees. This is necessary for the modern organization, where every employee contributes to its success and long-term viability. Therefore, employees need to be inspired and encouraged to embrace their own entrepreneurial spirit.

Be a Leader

2. Be inclusive

When important decisions need to be made, many managers believe that their insight is the only one that matters. This is holding them and their organization back.

Participative decision-making (PDM) is the opportunity for an employee to give their input on work-related matters. Employees at every level will have specialized knowledge about their work and how it’s best performed. So if a decision revolves around them in any minute way, why wouldn’t they have a voice? It makes them feel valued and respected.

Here’s some tips for implementing PDM:

  • Discuss as a group (not just one-on-one employee-manager)
  • Provide details and adequate information
  • Foster an environment where people feel encouraged to share and appreciated when they do
  • Make a decision together and implement it

3. Be vulnerable

It’s easy to assume that as a manager you should always hold it together. But employees need to get to see you be vulnerable in order to build deeper connections and trust. Embracing vulnerability in the workplace is essential for communication, collaboration, and discovery.

Be innovative

4. Be innovative

There will be times when the Managers of today and tomorrow must throw caution to the wind and challenge the status quo. Recent history has made it clear that the successful business of the future is the one that is capable of disrupting business-as-usual practice and exploiting opportunities today. This culture of innovation doesn’t come from nowhere: this culture must permeate the whole organization from the C Suite to the humble team manager.

Convention is not a manager’s friend. Insanity is the definition of doing something over and over and expecting the same results. By doing so, they will also encourage their team to be bold and unafraid of offering forward-thinking ideas.

As Andy Warhol once said, “Time changes things, but you actually have to change them yourself.” How you manage your team can make a huge difference. Try out these tips to be a manager of the future – you’ll be amazed at the impact you can have!

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Striking Pay Dirt With a Landscaping Business

Landscaping Business

Are you ready to turn over a new leaf? Does the grass look greener in the world of self-employment?

Starting your own landscaping business offers an undeniable perk: the opportunity to spend your days in the great outdoors. Not to mention setting your own schedule and being your own boss!

Not all of us are gifted with green thumbs. Most homeowners have neither the know-how nor the time to design and maintain their lawns. This means that work for landscapers is never in short-supply.

As with any new line of work, worming your way into a career in landscaping comes with its own set of challenges.

From landing your first clients, to marketing, to expanding your equipment and skill-set, here are several things to keep in mind when starting a landscaping business.

Breaking Ground

A methodical approach to building a landscaping business from scratch takes two to three years. It requires patience—and probably a second income!

When setting out, carefully consider things like seasonal demand, the equipment you need and what services you offer. Most importantly, set your mind on landing those first handful of clients.

1. Seasonal Work Cycle

The demand for landscaping work varies dramatically from season to season.

In colder climates, landscapers find their work dries up completely for three to four months in the wintertime! Even in warmer climates, such as South Carolina, available work tapers around November. Come spring and summer, however, mother nature ensures that every landscaper has plenty of work—and even more besides.

In your first years of running a landscaping business, anticipate the busy spring season. If you’re working a second job, adjust for the spring burst by squeezing landscaping clients in on weekends and weekday evenings.

Setting aside a portion of spring and summer income makes it possible to cover living expenses when work slows down during the winter. Taking up other jobs, such as hardscaping or snow plowing, during this time also solves cash flow issues.

2. Offer What You Can

Even if you’re as green as grass with respect to some facets of landscaping, such as building rock walls or installing sprinkler systems, don’t let this deter you.

The skills you already have provide a place from which to start—services such as mowing, weeding, pruning and watering are always high in demand. At the same time, keep your eye on your objective: be it landscape design-build (designing and building yards) or hardscaping (building patios and rock walls), or something else.

According to Dan Erickson, a landscape designer in Virginia, the base equipment needed to start a landscaping business are a mower, trailer, truck, clipper and leaf blower. A push mower, that can get around trees and through narrow fences, allows for the flexibility to mow all sorts of lawns.

Erickson found that when clients were happy with his lawn maintenance work, they asked him to do other things, such as hardscaping and tree-cutting. This offered a prime opportunity to expand his skill set. Learning on the job is the fastest and most effective way to learn.

Client Hustle

3. Initial Client Hustle

“Landscaping companies usually grow by word of mouth and recommendations; professional contacts. They rely on publicity to grow a brand,” says Andrew Pototschnik, the lawn care marketing expert.

This is especially true when starting out. Landing those first five or six clients means hitting the pavement and getting scrappy. Blake Albertson of B&B Lawn care recommends reaching out to all of your family, friends and contacts.

Don’t be too picky about the kind of work you’ll take on. Building up a satisfied client base who’ll recommend you is the main part of the game at this point.

As these first clients are the seed to your budding landscaping business, nurturing and cultivating them is crucial to healthy growth. Water and fertilize them with quality work and dependable behavior.

In order to be duly compensated, bid carefully on your first jobs, taking into account the size of the yard, and any equipment needed, including things like gas, gravel, mulch, plants, and sod. Writing up a bid that details charges communicates your services clearly, and ensures you and your client are on the same page.

Get the Word Out

Get the Word Out

Once you’ve covered the basics, it’s time to find more clients! Building your brand and reputation around consistent, quality work is central to a successful landscaping business.

As your business develops, also consider your niche or competitive advantage. What services or qualities do you offer that other landscaping companies don’t? Perhaps you have an expertise in rose bushes, hardscaping, or tree-cutting. Or you pride yourself on speedy work, punctuality, or next-day service.

Positioning yourself strategically within the industry allows you to reach clients in need of your specific service.

In order to reach the right clients with advertising, take some time defining the market you want to service with your landscaping company. Is your objective commercial or residential properties? Also define details like the location and demographic you prefer to serve.

In addition to word of mouth, here are some ways to spread the word about your landscaping business and the services you offer.

1. Website

A website is as fundamental as a business card. It needn’t be anything fancy, so long as it details all your services, the locations you’ll travel to, a brief bio, feedback from satisfied clients and photographs of completed work.
Plus, provide a phone number and email for people to contact you.

2. Online Ads

Facebook and Search Engine ads are an efficient way to use marketing dollars, as they enable you to specify details like the region, age, and even annual salary of the people who see the ad. You know you’re getting your message in front of the right people.

Newsletter

3. Newsletter

Sending a newsletter to your current clients keeps you in contact with them throughout the year. It can include work you’re especially proud of, or new services you offer. Customers always appreciate helpful advice, so including yard care tips gives your business an edge.

4. Social Media

Utilizing free social media advertising, such as Instagram and a Facebook page, keeps your followers current on your landscape projects. Using stories allows you to give everyone a glimpse of a regular day on the job.

5. Nextdoor App

Free neighborhood apps such as Nextdoor allow you to advertise your services exclusively to your community and the neighborhoods surrounding it.

Dan Erickson credits this app to his business growth. He went from a lawn maintenance company of just himself, to a landscape and hardscaping company with several employees.

6. Houzz

The popular home design website, Houzz, allows landscape professionals to build a page to showcase their experience and services. As Houzz receives 25 million unique views each month, it’s an effective way to reach your target audience.

7. Car Magnets

Custom magnets for your truck are a simple way to broadcast your services wherever you go. They’re affordable, and easy to create and apply.

8. Print Ads

The days of print ads aren’t entirely over! Advertising your services in the city newspaper, neighborhood publications, and church bulletins gets the word out to the local community. Be strategic about these ads, placing them at the right time of year, and within the neighborhood you aim to serve.

Picking three or four marketing strategies that are within your budget and doing them consistently should be sufficient to broaden your client base. A satisfied client keeps a landscaper on board for three years or longer, so marketing is worth the effort.

Ask your clients how they found out about you, and then periodically adjust your marketing plan toward the advertising that is the most effective.

Client Satisfaction

Keep the Client Satisfied

Landing a base of satisfied clients is the prize rose for any landscaping business. Even with top-notch equipment and brilliant marketing, a landscaping business won’t get liftoff if the clients aren’t happy.

A healthy client relationship entails being responsive, communicative, and punctual. It sounds pretty simple, but in the daily life of a landscaper, that’s easier said than done!

1. Show Up When You Say You Will

This sounds like a no-brainer, but landscapers find it’s hard to gauge just how long certain jobs take in a given day. For this reason, Blake Albertson has a policy of providing windows as to when clients can expect him to come by, such as “in the afternoon” or “in the morning.”

Making a commitment to a specific time means the client may be left waiting around…and he or she may be pretty upset when you finally show up!

2. Know the Client’s Vision

Each lawn is a reflection of the personality and taste of the owner.
Develop a relationship with each client, and understand his or her hopes for their lawn. This allows you to offer boutique, individualized service.

3. Be Responsive

Even though a landscaper juggles all sorts of tasks during the day, from laying mulch to mailing invoices, responding to clients needs to be at the top of the to-do list. Addressing concerns and inquiries within 24 hours assures the client of your dedication and keeps issues from festering.

Following these three simple principles, along with consistently providing quality work, yields a flowering of happy, satisfied customers.

A Booming Business

A Blooming Business

Growing your landscaping business from something you do on the weekends into a full-time occupation is a gradual process of adding new services, increasing education, hiring employees, and buying new equipment.

1. Growing Into a Full-Service Landscaper

From installing sprinkler systems, to building fire pits, to pond construction, to laying patios, to installing outdoor lights, there are endless services you can offer as a landscaper!

The direction you choose to grow and specialize in depends on the demands of your market, and your skill set and preferences. If you live in a heavily wooded area, learning to cut trees can be a lucrative skill.

Or if you love working with wood, learning to build gazebos and pergolas might be a fulfilling direction to take your business.

2. Keep Learning

Many of the skills needed for landscaping are learned and improved on the job. However, formal education is a central component as well.

Understanding the climate you live in, all of the local plants, trees, flowers and bushes, and the nutrients in the soil, are crucial components to becoming a quality landscape designer.

Talking with local landscaping companies is a way to learn about services, equipment, and the best neighborhoods to find work.

Growing beyond a landscape designer and into a landscape architect requires licensing and a bachelor’s degree. So you’ll have to hit the books if this is your aim.

Distribute the Workload

3. Distribute the Workload

Even though you’re eager for clients at the beginning, all landscapers quickly realize there’s a limit to the amount of work he or she can take on.

At some point, expanding your landscaping business entails bringing on additional help. Hiring an employee who’s reliable, does quality work and interacts well with clients is an asset to any business. (But you may not find this person on the first or second try!) Making this employee a valued member of your team is important to the growth of the business.

Assistance with marketing and clerical work gives you free reign to focus on the primary aspect of your business: landscaping! If you’re short on office space, a virtual assistant, who answers phone calls and responds to emails, can take off some of the workload.

4. Adding Equipment

As your services and expertise expand, so will the equipment you use in daily landscaping.

Look closely at numbers before purchasing expensive equipment like sod cutters, chain saws, or a dump truck. How much income do you anticipate to make out of this equipment, compared to its cost? In order to scale with minimal debt, buy things you can pay off right away.

For projects like excavation with a pond installation, consider renting a backhoe, or hiring someone else to do the excavation.

Reaping Success

Reaping Success

In a world where much of the workforce spends eight hours a day behind a computer, a career in landscaping is a real breath of fresh air.

Being a landscape designer allows you to work with your hands, get dirty, and experience the beauty of the yearly seasons—every single day!

The key to building a solid landscaping business is starting small. Adding additional clients, new equipment, employees, and new skills, brick by brick, builds a solid foundation and a sound company.

For someone who loves the outdoors, owning your own landscaping business is ideal, and well within the reach of anyone who pursues it.