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“Your ability to work on cross-functional teams, in matrix organizations, or across organizational boundaries is enhanced by knowing lots of people. Part of working in an organization demands that you find time to create and maintain the relationships you need to be successful.
With today’s hurry-up pace, we’ve lost the notion of making time for other people. Events designed to get employees together after work no longer hold the same interest. We eat at our desk, decline invitations for coffee, and rush to get off work.
There is something about an invitation to have coffee that signals genuine interest in connecting with the other person. And those connections forged over coffee, tea, or lunch impact your ability to get things done in the organization.
I’m not talking about a huge time investment here. Thirty minutes, once a week, and you could make new connections or deepen your relationship with fifty colleagues in a year’s time (p. 57-58).”
From: Axtell, P. (2015, 2020). Make virtual meetings matter: how to turn virtual meetings from status updates to remarkable conversations. (eBook) Naperville, IL: Simple Truths.
Questions for reflection:
- How can you make more time for others in your daily life?
- Why is maintaining these connections important for personal success?
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“For years now, groups have sought to forge culture by filling offices with ping-pong tables, beanbag chairs, and happy hours. Despite this, engagement levels in these places barely budge. But there’s a better way, and it’s built on a simple distinction: Fun comes in two varieties, shallow and deep.
Shallow fun is the sugary, amusement-park enjoyment of doing pleasurable things together: games, laughter, and music. It affects groups like an adrenaline shot: It adds energy, then quickly wears off.
Deep fun, on the other hand, happens when people share ownership over the experience of group life. That is, they have power, make decisions, and hold responsibility.
Deep fun happens when you design your own workspaces, when you get involved in rethinking your group’s onboarding process. It happens when your project team organizes its own off-site retreat, and when team members are given the freedom (and the funds) to give colleagues $25 gift certificates in appreciation for a job well done. And deep fun pays off: One study found that organizations that commit to deep-fun methods achieve more than four times the average profit and more than two times the average revenue of companies that focus merely on shallow engagement (p. 66-67).”
From: Coyle, D. (2022). The culture playbook: 60 highly effective actions to help your group succeed. (e-book) New York: Bantam Books.
Questions for reflection:
- Have you seen shallow fun in your career?
- How have you seen deep fun represented in your career?
- Why is deep fun important for building teams?
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- “What distinguishes the best-performing teams from the poorest-performing teams is a climate in which people feel safe in being open.
- Creating more openness on your team starts with you opening up to your team.
- When you are willing to admit mistakes, you are often seen as more capable, intelligent, and even more credible. People relate to and are more connected to people who seem more human.
- Admitting mistakes, saying you are sorry, asking for help, asking for input, and asking for feedback not only improves your relationships with those you lead but also gives permission for others to humbly do the same.
- Team norms give those you lead permission to take risks and respectfully express how they feel; to passionately disagree, to provide bold, direct, and honest feedback; and to courageously contribute ideas.
- Supporting, encouraging, and mining ensure that openness is embraced and adopted by those you lead (p. 125-126).”
From: Rogers, M. G. (2020). Do you care enough to lead? a 5-part formula for creating loyal and results-focused teams and organizations. (e-book). Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Questions for reflection:
- What can you do as a leader to create a space in which your team feels safe in being open?
- How can being open improve your reputation as a leader?
- How could more support and encouragement improve your overall team dynamic?
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“What is character? Character is most clearly exhibited in people who have a strong sense of right and wrong. They do not take the unethical shortcut and are conscientious to ensure that no one is being cheated, including the company. Character is morality or uprightness; a person of character lives by ethics he or she embraces.
Another element of character is represented in a person’s compassion for others and concern with the meaningful areas of life, such as faith, family, country, community service, and caring for others. Lastly, a person who has character is someone whose life is marked with virtues (p. 84-85).”
From: Causey, C. (2021). Candor: the secret to succeeding at tough conversations. (e-book edition). Chicago: Northfield Publishing.
Questions for reflection:
- How do you define charater?
- Why does character matter in leadership?
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- “Developed leaders help you carry the leadership load.
- Developed leaders multiply your resources.
- Developed leaders help you create momentum.
- Developed leaders expand your influence.
- Developed leaders keep you on your toes.
- Developed leaders ensure a better future for your organization.
- Developed leaders multiply whatever investment you make in them (p. 361-374).”
From: Maxwell, J.C. (2020). The leader’s greatest return: attracting, developing, and multiplying leaders. (e-book) Nashville: HarperCollins Leadership.
Questions for reflection:
- How can you expand your influence?
- What steps can you take to enhance your development as a leader?
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“How can you achieve stellar 1:1s? The answer is preparation. It’s rare that an amazing conversation springs forth when nobody has a plan for what to talk about. I tell my reports that I want our time together to be valuable, so we should focus on what’s important for them. Here are some ideas to get started:
- Discuss top priorities: What are the one, two, or three most critical outcomes for your report and how can you help her tackle these challenges?
- Calibrate what ‘great’ looks like: Do you have a shared vision of what you’re working toward? Are you in sync about goals or expectations?
- Share feedback: What feedback can you give that will help your report, and what can your report tell you that will make you more effective as a manager?
- Reflect on how things are going: Once is a while, it’s useful to zoom out and talk about your report’s general state of mind – how is he feeling on the whole? What’s making him satisfied or dissatisfied? Have any of his goals changed? What has he learned recently and what does he want to learn going forward (p. 115-116).”
From: Zhuo, J. (2019). The making of a manager: what to do when everyone looks to you. (eBook) London: Portfolio Penguin.
Questions for reflection:
- Have you had any stellar 1:1s? What made them stellar?
- Why is it important to have these conversations?
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