All you need to do is hustle harder and work longer hours. But the work harder and longer hours leadership style comes with a risk of burnout and severe consequences. According to a study by the Mayo Clinic, the personal and organizational side-effects of executive leadership burnout include: broken relationships, substance abuse, depression, decreased customer satisfaction, reduced productivity, and increased employee turnover. Leaders are always connected to their operations in a crisis-driven digital workplace, ready to fight the next fire. This reality amplifies the risk of sacrificing success and significance for less important tasks. CEOs, managers, and decision-makers need a creative productivity hack for improving decision-making and avoiding physical, mental, and emotional exhaustion. Is your performance suffering from the Urgency Effect? Most leaders and entrepreneurs are metaphorically running on a treadmill at a speed that makes casual conversation difficult. They live in a world where it is impossible to respond to every email or accept every meeting invitation. Like corporate athletes, these executives have trained themselves to become highly efficient and effective to survive. “What is urgent is seldom important and what is important is seldom urgent.” President Dwight D. Eisenhower Author Stephen Covey in The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, popularized the time management matrix first described by President Eisenhower. This two-by-two grid helps leaders account that in life, we face decisions between what is urgent and important. The following video is a more humorous discussion if you are unfamiliar with this tool. Numerous studies have demonstrated that most of us prefer to work on urgent tasks that can be completed quickly. This likely does not come as a surprise. However, compelling recent cognitive psychology studies revealed that we are also more likely to perform unimportant tasks over important tasks when perceived to be more urgent. Psychologists have described this as the Mere Urgency Effect. If asked, what should you work on, more important or less important tasks? You likely would become annoyed with the obvious line of questioning. Studies on the Urgency Effect revealed that it is more pronounced among individuals who perceive themselves as busy. This is alarming for entrepreneurs and leaders, given the crisis-driven workplace. Leaders can anticipate that they are more likely to sacrifice personal and professional goals for less critical tasks when they are busy—for example, choosing to interrupt a conversation with your family to answer a routine email. Today's leaders need a creative productivity hack for performance improvement to moderate an amplified Urgency Effect. Creative productivity hack for performance improvement The following productivity hack is not new. It comes from the study of contingency management in the behavioral sciences in the 1980s. You have likely experienced the principle without knowing the scientific name. It is called the Premack Principle, also known as the differential probability hypothesis. The Premack Principle is a reinforcement view that the opportunity to engage in a relatively high probability behavior will reinforce the lower probability behavior. Aubrey Daniels This principle has been studied and used to motivate desired behaviors. Simply described, it is waiting to eat our dessert until after eating our vegetables or holding off on shopping for new clothes until we lose the extra weight. This short video provides more information on the Premack Principle. How to apply the Premack Principle productivity hack The following questions can help you apply the Premack Principle productivity hack in the context of the Urgency Effect. Do you know what tasks are more important than others? If you cannot identify what tasks are more important than others with absolute clarity, try using the time management matrix and clarifying your purpose. Are you busier than usual? If you perceive you are busy, you are at risk of working on less important tasks. Urgent and important tasks require immediate action. Ask yourself, is the task more important than the current task you are working on completing? If no, purposely delay working on it ahead of the more important task and identify a way to reward yourself if you follow through. Working on urgent and important tasks is stressful. If you find yourself constantly working on these types of jobs, you should consider trying one of these tips to break the cycle: Tip 1: Invest more time in thinking strategically to anticipate the future. Applying strategic foresight tools, such as scenario planning or the futures wheel, can help you see around corners and anticipate multiple potential future realities. Tip 2: Invest more time in planning: schedule weekly or monthly planning sessions on goals and deadlines with your team. Reflect on how well your new plans work and adjust as needed. Tip 3: Consider if you are delegating effectively. The following article breaks down how to improve your delegating skills. Key Summary Points: Choosing to hustle harder and work longer hours increases your risk of burnout and severe consequences. The contemporary workplace is crisis-driven, and in an always-on digital world, leaders live on the edge connected to the operations anticipating the next crisis. We are more likely to perform unimportant tasks over important tasks when perceived to be more urgent. Today's leaders need a creative productivity hack for performance improvement. You can apply the Premack Principle productivity hack to moderate the Urgency Effect. Visit our executive coaching page to learn more about how we help you achieve your personal or professional goals or partner with you to craft a solution specific to your organization's context and challenges. Getting started is as easy as visiting www.organizationaltalent.com or contacting us via email info@organizationaltalent.com. Organizational Talent Consulting utilizes proven, simple, and transformational personal and organizational development solutions to help our clients learn, change, and apply tools in ways that benefit their unique needs and corporate culture. References: Covey, S. R. (1989). The seven habits of highly effective people: Restoring the character ethic. Simon and Schuster. Daniels, A. C. (2016). Bringing out the best in people. McGraw-Hill Education. Shanafelt, T. D., & Noseworthy, J. H. (2017). Executive leadership and physician well-being: Nine organizational strategies to promote engagement and reduce burnout. Mayo Clinic Proceedings, 92(1), 129-146. Zhu, M., Yang, Y., & Hsee, C. K. (2018). The mere urgency effect. The Journal of Consumer Research, 45(3), 673.

Before the global pandemic's disruption, adapting to the reality of economic uncertainty and ambiguity was already a part of the new normal for leaders. Today, amidst what is described as "exceptional uncertainty" by the International Monetary Fund, the global economy is projected to grow by 5.5% in 2021. A recent survey of over 5000 CEOs worldwide found that 75% project the economy will improve, and their organizations will continue on the pathway to growth over the next three years. As leaders strive to find new ways to grow and remain competitive in a turbulent digital marketplace, they face threats in every aspect of their business. Professional Human Resource Development (HRD) consulting services can offer a pathway to growth during uncertainty for leaders in large organizations and small businesses. Why Hire a Professional Consultant? The heart of consulting is integrity, trust, and ethics. Professional consultants help organizations take measured risks and create value by providing support and advice based on experiences, education, and specific qualifications. They bring clarity and simplicity to inherently ambiguous and complex challenges. Additionally, they identify the root causes of achieving the client's growth goals, introducing proven strategies and processes implemented in a partnership. Typical Pain Points on the Pathway to Growth Although growth-oriented pain points are often considered good problems to have, if individuals and organizations are not growing, they are falling behind. The following are five common pain points leaders face with growth: A lack of "ready now" talent and identified successors for critical roles Low employee morale or engagement Confusion at all levels in the organization Change resistance or an inability to respond to a fast-changing business environment Lack of personal or organizational development What is the role of a Human Resources Development Consultant? Unfortunately, the word consultant brings up mixed emotions around what they do, as evidenced by this UPS commercial: In reality, as projects and client's needs vary, so does the role of the Human Resources Development consultant. As the video comically emphasized, it is important to become clear on what role is needed before hiring a consultant. Often the role of the consultant is a blend of the following: Expert – As an expert, the consultant provides "over the shoulder" guidance and content on-demand. This role works well when the client has the team in place to support the intervention's process and implementation but lacks in specialized expertise the consultant offers. Facilitator – In this role, the content expertise resides with the business. The consultant facilitates a proven process to support implementation. Doer – The consultant in this role executes what is required to achieve desired results. These services are best when the organization has both the content and process expertise but lacks the bandwidth to implement them. An excellent Human Resource Development consultant possesses a heart to serve and has competence and experience in: Business management Change management Coaching Communication Critical thinking Learning and development Organizational development Performance improvement Project management Strategic planning Succession planning What is the ROI of Human Resource Development Consulting? The benefits of working with a professional Human Resource Development consultant include: Enhanced perspective. A professional consultant provides an unbiased and objective perspective. Consultants help leaders get beyond a myopic view which is a more challenging problem from within an organization. Enhanced insights. " A man with an experience is never at the mercy of a man with an opinion" (Leonard Ravenhill). A consultant with experience can prevent business leaders from reinventing the wheel. Reduced costs. Building an internal staff with expertise can be expensive. Engaging a consultant on a project basis means you don't have to keep paying after the project ends. Experience helps leaders avoid costly mistakes. Improved efficiency. Getting it right the first time and using proven processes for implementation reduce project cycle times. Improved performance. Using a consultant enables internal teams to focus on what they do best and ultimately enhances performance. Additionally, it is easy for internal teams to be fully utilized during times of growth, and using a consultant keeps them focused. Confidentiality. Human Resource Development consulting projects typically involve knowing highly sensitive information such as compensation or personnel changes. It is easier for leaders to be transparent, knowing that information will remain private. What does a Human Resource Development consultant do? Human Resource Development is becoming increasingly vital to an organization's success. HRD focuses on developing and improving organizations, teams, and individuals in support of organizational growth strategies. Human resource development supports the values of humanness, global advancement, and unity that the world needs today. Typical services include: Change Management: As the world changes, people and businesses must change too. Any organization can move forward with small incremental changes. Still, building for the future in today's rapidly evolving environment means taking bold chances and making insightful decisions. Coaching: The ultimate goal of coaching is change (e.g., behavioral, attitudinal, or motivational). Coaching focuses on moving toward a client's future, assessing where they are currently, their goals for the future, and exploring and discovering the steps to get to their desired future. The coach-client relationship is based on trust and confidentiality. Organizational Design: The way organizations are structured impacts everything. Organizational design involves aligning strategy, structure, people, processes, rewards to shape the desired organizational culture, decisions, and behaviors. Professional and Leadership Development: Employee development is one of the most critical investments organizations need to grow and improve business value. Leaders, followers, and teams can have a tremendously positive or negative impact on every aspect of an organization. Leaders directly impact employee productivity, commitment, and retention. Leadership can be learned, and a well-targeted development approach is a high leverage and a high ROI investment. Strategic Planning: Many organizations struggle with clear strategies, and existing planning processes are often bureaucratic. Strategic planning enables organizations to stay relevant, agile, and competitive in this fast-paced and turbulent world. Organizations need to understand the implications of strategy for today and in the future. Strategic planning enables organizations to see around the corners. Succession Planning: Few events carry more significant risk to business value than a change of leadership. Effective succession planning enables organizations to gain a clearer view of their talent at all levels within their organization and what will be required to achieve near and long-term strategies. The duration of these services can range from one day to multi-year contracts depending on the project scope and goals. Individual consultants or consulting teams can deliver these services, and as with most work today, these services are often provided in a blend of both in-person and virtual mirroring the work of the organization. References: Appelbaum, S. H., & Steed, A. J. (2005). The critical success factors in the client-consulting relationship. The Journal of Management Development, 24(1), 68-93. Biech, E. (2019). The new consultant's quick start guide. John Wiley & Sons, Inc. New Jersey. Block, P. (2011). Flawless consulting: A guide to getting your expertise used, third edition (3rd ed.). Jossey-Bass. Chalofsky, N., Morris, M. L., & Rocco, T. S. (2014). Handbook of human resource development (1st ed.). Wiley. Flemming, P. and Olson, T. (2018). Management consulting today and tomorrow: Perspectives and advice from leading experts. Routledge. New York. Fukuyama, F. (1995). Trust: The social virtues and the creation of prosperity. Free Press. Hirudayaraj, M., & Baker, R. (2018). HRD competencies: Analysis of employer expectations from online job postings. European Journal of Training and Development, 42(9), 577-596. Hagenmeyer, U. (2007). Integrity in management consulting: A contradiction in terms? Business Ethics (Oxford, England), 16(2), 107-113. Maister, D. H., Green, C. H., & Galford, R. M. (2000). The trusted advisor. Free Press. Schaffer, R. H. (2002). High-impact consulting: Achieving extraordinary results. Consulting to Management, 13(2), 12-18. Weiss, A. (2011). The consulting bible: Everything you need to know to create and expand a seven-figure consulting practice. John Wiley & Sons, Inc. New Jersey.

This just feels like the right thing to do. Studies have revealed that more than half of us routinely use our intuition to make significant personal and professional decisions. There are situations when there isn't the time or reliable data available. However, relying on only a feeling of right or wrong would be a big mistake in today's complex and chaotic marketplace. A recent 2021 Fortune 1000 executive leaders survey revealed that 99% are investing in data initiatives to transform their companies. These investments in technology are producing a deluge of available data within companies. But are these investments leading to better decisions? Leading companies are looking for data to transform their businesses, and 96% of executives report that they are achieving measurable business outcomes. However, these same leaders identify culture as the single most significant deterrent to becoming a data-driven organization. Only 30% of respondents indicated their organization had developed a well-articulated data-driven decision-making strategy and culture. What is Data-Driven Decision-Making? Data-driven decision-making (DDDM) has become somewhat of a buzzword as many leaders and organizations aim to be data-driven. A good working definition for what it means to embrace data-driven decision-making is: Using facts extracted from data and metrics to guide business decisions that support business goals rather than relying on experience, intuition, and stories alone. The following video provides a real-world example from Google of how businesses can use people analytics to make better decisions. Why Competing with Data Analytics is Important? Making data-driven decisions is not the only way leaders can succeed. However, many examples prove the power of analytics. Providing direction during turbulent times. One thing that is for sure is that the world and marketplace are becoming more volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous. Data analytics can provide leaders with new insights and understanding on how to transform their business. Understanding what is not working. Testing and data collection enables leaders to fail fast and learn from making decisions. Leverage technology investments. Technology is influencing every aspect of life and creating new opportunities. Data-driven decisions move beyond insights to action. Reduce costs and increase revenue. Using data enables organizations to optimize operations leading to reduced costs and increased revenue. Predictive analytics goes one step further, allowing organizations to transform during market change quickly. Reduce risk. Data analytics enable leaders to reduce risk in decision-making by making data-driven decisions based on facts rather than feelings. Strategic foresight. Data analytics can help organizations see around corners and plan for mixed realities. It's not about predicting but anticipating potential futures. Continuous improvement. Data enables leaders to learn and improve decision-making continuously. Measures cut through the haze that comes from relying on intuition. The Importance of Data-Driven Organizational Culture "Culture is more powerful than anything else in the organization," and often why good management ideas fail. Upadhyay & Kumar (2020) Only focusing on building analytics capability is ineffective until an organizational culture supports data-driven decision-making. A firm's capacity and performance with data-driven decision-making are significantly moderated by culture. Organizational culture is the shared assumptions that influence employees' perceptions, thoughts, feelings, and behavior within a business. A simplified definition of corporate culture is how things get done within the company when no one is watching. Getting Started by Assessing Your Organizational Culture Company culture must support business strategies for organizations to be successful. Leaders looking to architect a data-driven decision-making culture should start by clarifying their current business strategies and the characteristics of the existing culture. The Competing Values Framework identifies four fundamentally different cultures: Clan Culture creates a collaborative atmosphere similar to a family. The role of leadership is as a facilitator, mentor, and team builder. This culture emphasizes the value of teamwork, participation, and a consensus decision-making style, which may lead to more intuitive decisions. This culture creates value through individual commitment, communication effectiveness, and development. Adhocracy Culture creates an energetic and entrepreneurial atmosphere. The role of leadership is as an innovator, entrepreneur, and visionary. This culture stresses the importance of research and continuous improvement. This culture creates value through innovative ideas, transformation over transactional, and nimbleness. Market Culture creates a competitive, fast-paced, results-oriented environment. The role of leadership is challenger, competitor, and achiever. This culture highlights coming in first, which may lead to a more data-driven decision-making orientation as external data analysis can create a competitive advantage. This culture creates value through capturing market share, meeting or exceeding goals, and profitability. Hierarchy Culture is a top-down formal rule-based atmosphere. The role of leadership is management, supervision, and organization. This culture emphasizes efficient, reliable, and cost-effective performance, which could lead to a more data-driven decision-making orientation as internal data analysis can create improved efficiency and reliability. This culture creates value through promptness, consistency, control, and certainty. The Competing Values Framework⁠ and the Organizational Culture Assessment Instrument (OCAI) provide organizations with a simple validated method to describe a company's existing culture. For more information regarding the OCAI, please go to ww.ocai-online.com. Leadership creates difficult choices. If you want to build a data-driven decision-making culture or need an executive coach, we're ready to partner with you to craft a solution specific to your organization's context and challenges. Getting started is as easy as visiting www.organizationaltalent.com or contacting us via email info@organizationaltalent.com. Organizational Talent Consulting utilizes proven, simple, and transformational personal and organizational development solutions to help our clients learn, change, and apply tools in ways that benefit their unique needs and corporate culture. References: Cameron, K. S. (2006). Competing values leadership: Creating value in organizations. E. Elgar Pub. Davenport, T. H., Harris, J. G., & Morison, R. (2010). Analytics at work: Smarter decisions, better results. Harvard Business Press. MA. NewVantage Partners, LLC. (2021). The journey to becoming data-driven: A progress report on the state of corporate data initiatives. Schein, E. H. (2017). Organizational culture and leadership (5th ed.). Hoboken, New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Stobierski, T. (2019). The advantages of data-driven decision-making. Harvard Business School. Schneider, W. E. (2000). Why good management ideas fail. Strategy & Leadership, 28(1), 24-29. doi:10.1108/10878570010336001 Upadhyay, P., & Kumar, A. (2020). The intermediating role of organizational culture and internal analytical knowledge between the capability of big data analytics and a firm's performance. International Journal of Information Management, 52, 102100

Communication is one of the most central functions of life. Like air, the words leaders speak can give life to a business. But words can also constrain and limit realities for individual employees, teams, and organizations. Leaders that talk about what is wrong and ignore what might be limit what is possible. Fighting the fire of the day is not unimportant but considering the best of what is and what might be is a priority for inspiring a shared vision. Shared vision enables growth, embodies hopes, and gives an organization a sense of purpose. Changing Your Mindset to Change Your Results Many current work processes are designed to identify deficits and problems rather than find strengths. A deficit thinking approach starts with leaders identifying shortcomings and then selecting solutions to improve those shortcomings. The goal is to see all the potential gaps so that continuous improvements can be introduced. While this approach leads to progress, this approach does not identify what you want beyond knowing the solution to the problem. Deficit thinking leadership approaches are failing business and society. This mindset has led to incremental workplace improvements, a flood of low cost, high-quality disposable products, and a lack of innovation. While deficit thinking has been used successfully in many organizations, it is not without risks. Deficit thinking techniques can put people on the defensive, create resistance, a lack of buy-in, and in some cases develop a culture of blame rather than encourage change. How engaged will employees be if they believe leadership views them as problems needing to be fixed? Additionally, when leaders are always approaching employees about what is wrong, eventually, employees associate the leader with being the problem. Even if what the leader has to share is helpful to the business. You know this link has occurred when hearing others say sarcastically, "I am from corporate, and I am here to help." They are saying this because they know they are not being viewed as helpful. Compared with strengths-based approaches, deficit-oriented thinking leads to lower employee engagement, lower levels of performance improvement, and higher employee attrition rates. In learning studies, it has been found that individuals engaged in approaches to identify deficits have lower perceptions of competence and lower intrinsic motivation than strength-based approaches. Strength-Based Thinking I define strength as the best of what is and potential for the best of what can be within a person, team, or organization. Strength-based thinking is not ignoring weaknesses; instead, it is about prioritizing and pursuing understanding, reinforcing, and leveraging the best of what can be. Appreciative framing and appreciative interviews are two strength-based skills that support strength-based thinking. Appreciative Framing: Individuals, teams, and organizations move in the direction that is repeatedly discussed, and questions are asked. Appreciative inquiry assumes that our inquiries define outcomes, and we influence the results by discussing them. Appreciative framing is taking a given focal point for transformation and restating it as an opportunity. The following are some examples: Framed as Concerns Bias in the workplace Customer complaints Missed opportunities Absence of leadership Framed as Opportunities Embracing differences at work Exceptional customer support Seeing new challenges Growing exceptional leaders Facilitating Appreciative Interviews: Every employee and team has strengths. In contrast to deficit thinking, the focus is on what has worked, what is working, and the strengths. An appropriately developed appreciative interview builds on these points to guide the individual and team toward a positive future. Then where you are listening, it is essential to focus on the positive things happening in the story, how they are happening, and what attributes make their dreams and wishes so exciting. Once the focal point of the discussion is framed appreciatively, a couple of my favorite appreciative questions are: What would you wish for if you had three wishes to dramatically improve your organization's health and vitality? (no, you cannot wish for more wishes) Imagine it is five years from today, and everything you had hoped for and hoped for related to the appreciative focal point of the interview has come true. What would you see and hear? Describe the changes with people, processes, places, products, and services. Describe what you or others have done to make these changes possible. Embracing a strength-based approach prompts us to explore new and creative ways of approaching our work, solving problems, completing projects, and more. Instead of our words working against us or limiting us, strengths-based thinking works in our favor. If you are looking for executive coaching or need a change management consultancy, we're ready to partner with you to craft a solution specific to your organization's context and challenges. Getting started is as easy as visiting www.organizationaltalent.com or contacting us via email info@organizationaltalent.com. Organizational Talent Consulting utilizes proven, simple, and transformational personal and organizational development solutions to help our clients learn, change, and apply tools in ways that benefit their unique needs and corporate culture. References: Brown, T. (2009). Change by design: How design thinking transforms organizations and inspires innovation. Harper Collings Publishers. Cooperrider, D. and Srivastva, S. (1987). Appreciative inquiry in organizational life. In R. Woodman and W. Pasmore (Eds.), Research in organizational change and development, Vol. 1, pp. 129–169. Greenaway, K. H., Wright, R. G., Willingham, J., Reynolds, K. J., & Haslam, S. A. (2015). Shared Identity Is Key to Effective Communication. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 41(2), 171–182. Hodges, T. D., & Clifton, D. O. (2004). Strengths‐based development in practice. In P. A. Linley, & S. Joseph (Eds.), (pp. 256-268). John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Hiemstra, D., & Van Yperen, N. W. (2015). The effects of strength-based versus deficit-based self-regulated learning strategies on students' effort intentions. Motivation and Emotion, 39(5), 656-668. Wolff, P., & Holmes, K. J. (2011). Linguistic relativity. Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews. Cognitive Science, 2(3), 253-265.

When you think about the traits of great CEOs and executive leaders, what comes to mind? Perhaps characteristics like driving results, organizational savvy, or championing change do. And not humility. The financial successes of startups and established innovative businesses such as Amazon and Tesla aren't typically attributed to humble leadership. So, maybe CEOs and executive leaders can't be humble and achieve desired results? Why Humility is Important in Executive Leadership Humble executive leadership behaviors reduce costs and increase revenue in startups and established businesses. Four independent research studies concluded that executive leadership could explain up to 45% of an organization's performance. Like a stream and its source, an organization only rises as high as its organizational talent. CEOs and executive leaders provide critical strategic and operational leadership. Across several research studies, humility is a demonstrated lever for sustainable company development, enhancing employee innovation, team empowerment, company performance, and self-improvement. Leadership guru Jim Collins concluded after analyzing 1435 companies over forty years that humility and professional will are the most transformative executive leadership characteristics. What is Humble Executive Leadership? Humble leaders recognize and are self-aware of their strengths and weaknesses. They appreciate others and believe that life is less about themselves and more about the greater good. Humble leaders walk the line between self-confidence and over-confidence. They can be both competitive and ambitious. Humble executive leaders are not weak and indecisive. In addition to these behaviors, humble executive leadership is linked with the following individual personality traits: Conscientiousness Agreeableness Openness to Experience Humility is associated with contemporary leadership styles such as servant leadership and authentic leadership. “Humility does not mean you think less of yourself. It means you think of yourself less.” Ken Blanchard Narcissism, Humility, and Executive Leadership Narcissism and humility are often considered to be on opposite ends of a trait continuum. Research has demonstrated that narcissistic employees are likely to emerge as leaders in groups that lack familiarity. This is of particular concern for human resources and hiring managers because studies have identified narcissism as the dominant predictor of behavior such as sabotage, bullying, sexual harassment, and fraud. Surprisingly, although organizational selection assessments can help identify a narcissistic leader, research has shown that people often perceive them as good leaders. Narcissistic individuals can project an image of effectiveness even though they are viewed as arrogant. If you are curious in finding out if you have potentially narcissistic tendencies as compared to others, the following link is to a free five-minute survey developed in 2011 by Delroy Paulhus and Daniel Jones strictly for educational and entertainment purposes: https://openpsychometrics.org/tests/SD3/ Innovation, Humility, and Executive Leadership Innovation is increasingly essential for organizations to be competitive in today's dynamic workplace. According to the annual PwC pulse survey of over 5000 CEOs, more than 60% are expecting innovation and M&A deals to fuel organizational growth in the future. Research studies directly link humble CEOs with enhanced company innovation. The stated communication and the allocation of the CEO's time will influence the successful adoption and implementation of innovation within a company. In one study involving 90 teams, leadership humility was demonstrated to enhance team innovation through cultivating an environment where employees feel safe to speak up about controversial points of view. A Humble Executive Leadership Encounter I don't know about you, but I admire leaders that demonstrate humility. Possibly it is because of the apparent paradox when a leader with positional power chooses not to use it. Maybe it's like that line from Aaron Burr's character in Hamilton. I want to be in the room where it happens and feel more valued when leaders listen and ask me about my opinion. Or possibly it is because I admire my father, and he modeled humility to me growing up. Whatever the cause, I have very different feelings when I encounter humility versus narcissistic behavior. Humility shows up in the workplace in many different ways. When interviewing with the CEO of a large organization, I was asked if I would like a bottle of water. I quickly said yes. At the time of the interview, I was working for an executive leader within a formal organizational culture. When I would meet with my current leader, I would also be asked if I would want something to drink during meetings. The difference was not being asked. The difference was that my current leader would call his admin to get the drinks. The CEO I was interviewing with got up and went to get me the bottle of water himself, even though he had an admin outside of his office. That simple gesture represented such a different culture to me. Also, later in the same interview, I realized the CEO was asking questions to hear how I would respond but not because he needed my insights. The CEO was listening to understand how I would react and interact with others. It was clear to me this executive leader was humble, and others focused. Executive Leadership Development and Talent Management Executive leadership development has proven positive consequences for organizations. Like behavior and competency development, humility can be developed and embedded within organizational talent management processes. Executive Leadership Assessment & Coaching: Executive assessments are practical tools for creating self-awareness. Feedback is a gift; however, feedback on character gaps is not commonly provided. Executive assessments give a leader a metaphorical mirror that helps them see where to improve. Executive coaching combined with executive assessments offers deep insights into areas that lead to enhanced potential with attention. According to outcome-based research, a coach's timely and appropriate use of executive assessment leads to improved personal and organizational outcomes. Organizational Culture: Executive leadership development investments will underperform without considering the organizational culture. The one thing that impacts everything in the workplace is culture. Companies that talk about and reinforce the value of self-awareness, appreciation of others, openness to learning, and pursuit of the greater good will shape a culture where humility is expected and communicated. Zappos describes being humble as "we before me." The following video discusses the Zappos culture and its importance to the company. Learning, Reasoning, and Practice: Bringing out the best in executive leaders involves training and development. Helping executive leaders understand appropriate humble leadership behaviors and expectations can help organizations avoid costly mistakes. Executive development on humility is primarily developed through role modeling with intentional time for feedback and reflection. Recruiting and Succession Planning: Situational and behavioral interviews are effective means for identifying humble executive leadership behaviors. Additionally, personality traits such as conscientiousness, agreeableness, and openness to experience can be measured through executive assessments and help inform selection and succession decisions. A tool being used by many top-performing companies to measure executive leadership as a part of succession planning is the value and promotability matrix or nine-box grid (see Figure 1). Including humility as a value in the formal review can help organizations get the right leaders in the right seats at the right time. Key Points: CEOs, executive leaders, and business owners play critical roles in an organization's success. Humility is a lever for sustainable company development, enhancing employee innovation, team empowerment, company performance, and self-improvement. Humble executive leadership is not about being weak and indecisive. Narcissism and humility are often considered to be on opposite ends of a trait continuum. Humility cultivates an environment where employees feel safe to speak up about controversial points of view. Like behavior and competency development, humility can be developed and embedded within organizational talent management processes. If you have executive leadership coaching or organizational consulting needs you cannot solve independently, we're ready to partner with you to craft a solution specific to your organization's context and challenges. Getting started is as easy as visiting www.organizationaltalent.com or contacting us via email info@organizationaltalent.com. Organizational Talent Consulting utilizes proven, simple, and transformational personal and organizational development solutions to help our clients learn, change, and apply tools in ways that benefit their unique needs and organizational culture. References: Athanasopoulou, A., & Dopson, S. (2018). 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Frontiers in Psychology, 8, 1115-1115. Maldonado T., Vera D. & Spangler W.D., Unpacking humility: An examination of leader humility and leader personality and why it matters, Business Horizons. Nevicka, B., Femke S. Ten Velden, Annebel H. B. De Hoogh, & Annelies E. M. Van Vianen. (2011). Reality at odds with perceptions: Narcissistic leaders and group performance. Psychological Science, 22(10), 1259-1264. Oster, G. W. (2011). The light prize: Perspectives on Christian innovation. Virginia Beach, Va: Positive Signs Media. Ou, A. Y., Waldman, D. A., & Peterson, S. J. (2018). Do humble CEOs matter? An examination of CEO humility and firm outcomes. Journal of Management, 44(3), 1147–1173. PwC 24th Annual Global CEO Survey. Ren, Q., Xu, Y., Zhou, R., & Liu, J. (2020). Can CEO’s humble leadership behavior really improve enterprise performance and sustainability? A case study of Chinese start-up companies. Sustainability, 12(8), 3168. Zhang, H., Ou, A. Y., Tsui, A. S., & Wang, H. (2017). CEO humility, narcissism, and firm innovation: A paradox perspective on CEO traits. The Leadership Quarterly, 28(5), 585-604.

The leadership topic of high-performing teams is timeless. Leaders that focus on building high-performing teams reap significant rewards and return on their investments. There is much that can be learned from the coaches of teams playing at the world's highest levels of athleticism. José Mário dos Santos Mourinho is widely considered one of the greatest football team managers, winning league titles in four countries. In the Netflix series, The Playbook, Mourinho points out that the hidden talents of exceptional players such as football great Cristiano Renaldo can never be revealed without great teams. Mourinho makes a powerful yet subtle point that great teams and leaders are not selfish. This article explores the current research into the importance of a selfless leadership style and presents questions for any leader to consider that is looking to build a high-performance team. "The concept of a team is one of the most beautiful things." Jose Mourinho What are High Performing Teams? Team potential is more than the sum of the individuals on the team. The value of high-performing teams is widely understood. McKenzie & Company found that a high-performance management team working together toward a common goal is 1.9 times as likely to have above-average financial performance. Leadership guru Ken Blanchard said it this way, “no one of us is as smart as all of us.” What team would you think of if asked to name a high-performing team? Living south of Chicago during the 1990s, my thoughts immediately go to the Chicago Bulls and their domination of six National Basketball Association championships. While there is much debate over the greatest of all-time teams, there is little debate that the 1990's Chicago Bulls were a high-performing basketball team. There is a clear difference between a team and a high-performing team. High-performing teams outperform other teams by consistently having better morale and collaboration and delivering better results and innovation. The following short video provides some valuable insights into high-performance teams through reflections from the Chicago Bulls Last Dance Netflix mini-series. What is Leadership Style? Leadership is a system increasingly impacted by technology and consists of the leader, followers, the situation, and time. Effective leadership is one of the critical qualities of high-performing teams. Leadership style is how the leader influences a team to accomplish a common goal and consists of both the leader's attributes and behaviors: Leadership Behavior – is how a leader responds within the leadership system. A behavior is something that can be seen and described. Leadership Attribute – is an inherent quality of a leader as perceived by others. In today’s turbulent and fast-paced digital marketplace, leaders are challenged to quickly discern and apply an appropriate leadership style that brings out the best in followers. Servant leadership, transformational leadership, authentic leadership, and spiritual leadership are four emerging leadership styles gaining increased attention globally for their proven benefits. While similar, these leadership styles are not the same, and often each leadership challenge requires a blended style approach. To learn more about how these leadership styles compare, check out this article on 4 Emerging Leadership Styles and Why You Should Care. Selfless Leadership and High-Performance Teams Leadership is difficult. Shifting the focus from individual performance to collective team performance among talented individuals will unlock what Jose Mourinho described as hidden talents. Several research studies have linked a selfless leadership style (altruism) with high-performing teams and organizational citizenship behaviors. Organizational citizenship behavior (OCB) is considered in organizational development to be the most prized treasure of performance management. It is a term used to describe positive employee behaviors that are not a part of an employee's formal job description. An example to illustrate this behavior in the workplace is to consider two retail employees working at the same store with the same job description. One employee pushes a cart in the parking lot into the store on their way into work, and the other does not. Neither of them has this behavior as a requirement of their job description; however, the benefit to the business's customers is clear. This is the idea of organizational citizenship behavior. When employees go beyond what is expected, it unlocks performance potential and enhanced results. Knowledge sharing within a team is vital because no one’s knowledge is perfect. In the modern workplace, where employees' jobs involve handling or using information, knowledge hoarding behaviors are incredibly damaging to the individual, team, and organizational performance. How a leader chooses to lead is proven to influence a team climate of knowledge sharing. In one study of more than 1,800 employees across 67 sales teams, it was discovered that leaders applying a selfless leadership style positively influenced knowledge sharing and, ultimately, the team's performance and organization. Leaders that display a selfless leadership style are viewed as positive role models by followers. Selfless leaders show a high degree of moral behavior, virtues, character, and work ethic. According to Jose Mourinho, an example of selfless leadership in Portuguese professional football is that they “sweat their shirt.” They work so hard that they are drenched after playing. Selfless Leadership Development Leaders looking to build high-performing teams require leading the team from being selfish to selfless. The following are a few questions for leaders looking to build high-performance teams to consider: Selfless Behaviors Have I talked about my most important values and beliefs with my team? What have I done to communicate the importance of team trust? What steps can I take to reinforce the importance of purpose? How can I reinforce the need for teamwork and make the possibilities real for others? Selfless Attributes What actions can I take to infuse pride in others? What personal sacrifices am I willing to make for others? How can I demonstrate respect for others? What can I do to create hope for the future within others? If you are interested in learning more about selfless leadership, you will want to check out one of our upcoming webinars on Servant Leadership: Skillsets and Mindsets for Success and Significance. Also, if you are interested in better understanding your leadership style? Contact Organizational Talent Consulting to learn more about a leadership style inventory assessment and personalized executive coaching to elevate your potential. References: Scott Keller and Mary Meaney, Leading Organization: Ten Timeless Truths, New York, NY: Bloomsbury, 2017. Song, C., Park, K. R., & Kang, S. (2015). Servant leadership and team performance: The mediating role of knowledge-sharing climate. Social Behavior and Personality, 43(10), 1749-1760. Sosik, J. & Jung, D. (2018). Full range leadership development: Pathways for people, profit, and planet. Routledge. Walumbwa, F., Hartnell, C., & Oke, A. (2010). Servant leadership, procedural justice climate, service climate, employee attitudes, and organizational citizenship behavior: A cross-level investigation. Journal of Applied Psychology, 95(3), 517-529.

Trust is an essential attribute for establishing value-added relationships with customers, employees, regulators, and investors. In addition to developing trust as a leader, evidence-based research is clear that organizational trust directly impacts the bottom line in many different ways. Corporate trust builds resilience against market chaos, enhances attitudes, intentions, and relationships with key stakeholders. Several research studies link organizational trust with discretionary effort, also known as organizational citizenship behavior, the "holy grail" of performance management. Additionally, organizational trust influences an organization's ability to attract and retain top talent. Today's Unfortunate Distrust Reality A recent 2019 largescale study of over 34,000 participants across 28 world markets found no institution is viewed as competent and ethical. There is an increasing sense of inequity driving down trustworthiness. This same study found that businesses are considered as the most capable but lack ethical behavior. Also, non-governmental agencies are perceived as behaving the most ethically but lack competence. What is also concerning is that many companies this year made significant changes to how they operate, undermining reliability and stability perceptions. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, in April 2020, unemployment rates in 43 states reached their highest levels since unemployment data began being collected in 1976. Additionally, increased opportunistic mergers and acquisitions have led to further changes within organizations. What makes an organization trustworthy? A widely accepted evidence-based understanding of organizational trust is the perception of the organization's ability, purpose, and integrity. Ability – the skills, competencies, and characteristics that enable an organization to influence within a specific area Purpose – organizations moral obligations and responsibility to demonstrate concern for others interests Integrity – the follow through on organizational promises in a manner that is acceptable by others Interestingly, integrity is the most essential factor of all three organizational trust factors. Edelman's recent study found that integrity and purpose account for 76% of a business's trustworthiness and competence only accounts for 24%. Having competent leaders, being financially stable, providing quality products, and being a recognizable brand is not as important to organizational trust as acting with integrity and purpose. Ideas for Restoring Organizational Trust Today's marketplace realities make building and enhancing organizational trust an essential strategy for any business looking to thrive in the future. Companies wanting to restore organizational trust should start by focusing on delivering in the dimensions of purpose and integrity. Improving Equity: Inequities in opportunities and wages are negatively impacting organizational trust. In America, black men earn 88% of what white men make, and black women earn 66% of what white men make. Additionally, almost 47% of the workforce is women; however, few women are in senior executive leadership positions. Conduct an equity audit of wage and employment opportunities. Additionally, establish reporting that can help bring visibility and accountability for continued growth and improvements. Improving Organizational Openness and Transparency: In addition to the usual channels of one-to-one and open-door meetings, it is essential to provide additional channels for open communications. Share results, responsibilities, ideas, opportunities for improvement, company information, and expectations clearly to everyone. Review the organization's privacy and transparency guidelines to be explicit where the company draws the line. Communicate with emotion as well as rationale. Open communication is a two-way street for both employees and leadership to engage. The goal is to create safety by being open and candid to demonstrate caring and respect. Also, remember that communication sent is not communication received. Develop a dashboard to measure how the organization is progressing toward openness and transparency in all communication aspects. Improving Consistency and Predictability: No one can predict the future, so this may seem incredibly challenging to be consistent and predictable in today's virtual, volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous marketplace. A guiding principle to adopt is, to be honest with predictions about the unknown, even if dismal, rather than to avoid predictions or provide unrealistic optimistic predictions. Strategies for consistency and predictability should focus on leadership, teams, and systems: (1) behaving in ways that align with communicated expectations, (2) Increasing access to information for all stakeholders, (3) and establishing a cadence for communications and processes. Clarify expectations before decisions are made by involving others in decision-making processes. Creating a RACI chart for goals and strategies can provide improved clarity. Also, utilize dashboards to increase visibility and understanding of information used in decision-making processes. If you would like to learn more about how you can improve trust at a leadership level check out this article on How Leaders can Move Relationships from Distrust to Trust. Also, if you are looking for help with individual or organizational development to thrive we would like to help (contact us). References: DeWolf, M. (2017). 12 stats about working women. U.S. Department of Labor. Glynn, S. (2018). Gender wage inequality [PDF]. Equitable Growth. Ozmen, Y. S. (2018). How employees define organisational trust: Analysing employee trust in organisation. Journal of Global Responsibility, 9(1), 21-40. doi:10.1108/JGR-04-2017-0025 Sousa-Lima, M., Michel, J. W., & Caetano, A. (2013). Clarifying the importance of trust in organizations as a component of effective work relationships. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 43(2), 418-427. doi:10.1111/j.1559-1816.2013.01012.x Stevenson, H. & Moldoveanu, M. (1995). The power of predictability. Harvard Business Review. https://hbr.org/1995/07/the-power-of-predictability U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. (2020). Home.

An issue on the mind of leaders from the CEO to the front line supervisor is employee retention. Many different factors contribute to increased employee turnover and today's skilled workforce shortage. Employee retention directly impacts customer engagement, sales, company culture, and operating efficiency. Employee turnover is on the rise. More American employees are quitting their jobs than ever since data began being tracked by the US Bureau of Labor Statistics. A survey of 2000 employees in the US and Canada found that 52% of employees have one foot already out the door. It may seem overwhelming knowing where to begin. There is something you can start doing today that will have an immediate positive impact on employee retention. Employee recognition can be a relatively quick, low-cost, and high-impact place for you to start. When starting with recognition, you will also discover many fringe benefits beyond retaining top talent. Why should you start with employee recognition? We all have a fundamental need to want to know when we have done a task right. Today, many employees are knowledge workers and do not receive immediate feedback on how they performed after completing a task. Also, let's be honest; no news is not necessarily good news in today's world. Gallup studied more than 80,000 managers and discovered that recognition is essential to having a great workplace and better retention rates. One of the most significant benefits of starting with employee recognition in addition to improved retention is improved employee productivity. Studies have shown that positive recognition generates discretionary effort. Discretionary effort is when an employee willingly gives more than what is asked or expected. Additional benefits you can expect from implementing employee recognition include improved teamwork, reduced stress, and absenteeism. 4 Essential Employee Recognition Tips The following tips will help you get off to a great start with recognition and avoid costly mistakes: 1. Don't believe that any recognition is better than no recognition. Effective recognition is positive, immediately connected to profitable behaviors, and specific about what is praised. Don't recognize the ordinary, so when you appreciate the excellent, it is more meaningful. Match the recognition type with the individual and the situation. Keep in mind there are many ways to provide recognition, such as saying, "good job" or "thank you," as well as lunch, coffee, a new computer, money, time off from work, and other desired items. Get creative and use variety, so the recognition does not feel hollow. Also, variety helps you avoid the conversion of recognition into an expectation. 2. Know what motivates your employees. Figuring out what motivates your employees, so you can effectively recognize them is crucial. In other words, gold stars may not be the best form of reinforcement for your adult employee. The golden rule does not apply, so instead, consider the platinum rule: do unto others as they would want to be done unto them. An excellent way to get to know what someone feels recognition is to listen and observe what they like doing with their time away from work. 3. Don't reward the wrong behavior. Rewarding the wrong behavior can have unintended consequences. For example, a distribution company rewarded employees for on-time performance and inadvertently encouraged risk-taking and unsafe practices. The leadership of an organization was pleased that the number of employees with active development plans had increased until an audit revealed that only 20% were well-written plans. Knowing the right behavior may sound like a simple step but take some time to give this more thought to avoid a pitfall. 4. Make recognition a daily activity. Great managers daily look for opportunities to recognize excellent performance. In addition to direct observation, consider soliciting feedback from customers or team members. When seeking feedback on an employee's performance, most people do not want to be sent another survey to complete; so, keep it simple and personal for the best feedback. Start each day by focusing on an area of your business. Keep a list of when you find excellent performance and recognize an employee to track your progress. Consider texts and voicemail as options for recognition but do not forget the value of a handwritten note. Effectively using employee recognition brings out the best in employees and boosts retention. If you don’t already have comprehensive employee retention and recognition programs, we’re ready to partner with you to craft a solution for your organization’s specific context and challenges. If you do, make sure they align with your organization’s culture to get the best outcomes—and possibly a significant competitive advantage. References: Baumgartner, N. (2021). Achievers 2021 Engagement and Retention Report. Achievers. Daniels, A. C. (2000). Bringing out the best in people: How to apply the astonishing power of positive reinforcement (New & updated.). New York: McGraw-Hill. Daniels, A. C., & Daniels, J. E. (2004). Performance management: Changing behavior that drives organizational effectiveness (4th ed). Atlanta, GA: Performance Management Publications. Harter, J. (2018, August 26). Employee engagement on the rise in the U.S. Workplace (1999, April 12). Item 4: Recognition or praise.

Efficiency thinking is failing businesses and society. The future of business value creation is designing for both the individual and society using design thinking. Design thinking creates value through aligning the constraints of consumer desirability, technological feasibility, and business and economic viability. Design thinking is not limited to only certain people within organizations. Given the right experiences, anyone will likely be able to apply the human-centered problem-solving skills of design thinking. Developing divergent thinking, observation, and failing fast capabilities are critical for design thinkers. Divergent Thinking Divergent thinking is a thought process or method used to generate creative ideas by exploring many possible solutions. It typically occurs in a spontaneous, free-flowing, "non-linear" manner, such that many ideas are generated in an emergent cognitive fashion. Design thinkers need divergent thinking capability. In today's fast-paced digital marketplace, leaders should set expectations for employees to begin problem-solving by expanding the range of possible ideas rather than too quickly moving to narrow the number of ideas. A good starting point is asking why rather than what, even though this will likely frustrate some people. Leaders looking to develop divergent thinking within employees could benefit from providing improvisational theater training. Researchers from the department of psychology at the University of Michigan have found that the use of improvisational theater training is a low-cost, effective way to increase divergent thinking, uncertainty tolerance, and affective well-being. Observation "Great design thinkers observe the ordinary" (Brown) Observation is not something design thinkers outsource or delegate to others. If possible, it is best to make observations in the natural environment where the consumers use your product or service. Another viable option is using an observation lab, such as the Procter & Gamble Mason Business Center (pictured below). The following are some practical tips to improve your design thinking observation capability. Observation Do’s Get rid of your preconceived ideas Collect observations in different circumstances and from different perspectives Consider whom to observe carefully. Take good notes, quotes, and collect artifacts from the observation Use active listening Capture what surprises you or contradicts expectations Observation Don’ts Expect what you will observe Draw conclusion on small sample sizes and biased observations Rely on one expert Attempt to rely on your memory Ask leading questions Search for information that confirms preconceived assumptions A simple self-guided development approach that you can try right now is to simply take time to pause daily to reflect on an ordinary situation or an object that you would not usually take time to consider. If you are looking for a design thinking-specific learning program on observation, you should consider the IDEO U course titled Insights for Innovation. Failing Fast Design thinking occurs within a culture that encourages failing fast as part of the creative process. The acceptance of failure as learning is fundamental to innovation but challenging to grasp. Fear of failure is common at every organizational level, and it is detrimental to innovation decision-making. Researchers from the Department of Clinical Psychology, at the University of Bergen, in Norway found that mindfulness-based stress reduction meditation training moderates an individual's fear of failure positively. "Mindfulness is described as a process of paying attention, on purpose, in the present moment, and nonjudgmentally to the unfolding of experience moment by moment” (Hjeltnes et al.) References: Brown, T. (2009). Change by design: How design thinking transforms organizations and inspires innovation. Harper Collings Publishers. Felsman, P., Gunawardena, S., & Seifert, C. M. (2020). Improv experience promotes divergent thinking, uncertainty tolerance, and affective well-being. Thinking Skills and Creativity, 35, 100632. Hjeltnes, A., Binder, P., Moltu, C., & Dundas, I. (2015). Facing the fear of failure: An explorative qualitative study of client experiences in a mindfulness-based stress reduction program for university students with academic evaluation anxiety. International Journal of Qualitative Studies on Health and Well-being, 10(1), 27990-27990. Kollmann, T., Stöckmann, C., & Kensbock, J. M. (2017). Fear of failure as a mediator of the relationship between obstacles and nascent entrepreneurial activity—An experimental approach. Journal of Business Venturing, 32(3), 280-301. Roberto, M. A. (2009). Know what you don't know: How great leaders prevent problems before they happen. Wharton School Pub.

The innovation leadership battle is to introduce products and services that customers will use. Even the world's largest organizations have had significant and costly innovation misses, such as Google+, Samsung Galaxy Fold, and the Amazon Fire Phone. The technology sector is full of examples where new emerging technologies catch established organizations off guard. Too often, companies focus on the competition leading to these misses. Leaders benefit from understanding at a basic level how marketing works. In today's turbulent and fast-paced digital world, traditional approaches frequently fall short of revealing the customer's actual desires and needs. Whether you are the CEO or a frontline leader, delivering on your customers' stated and hidden needs and desires is vital to organizational success. Moving Beyond a Focus on Your Competition Although competition can be helpful to invoke change within your organization, the goal is innovating on value, not on your position against competition. Still, organizations frequently focus on the competition too much, leading to misunderstanding customer needs and desires. A better focus is on creating an uncontested market based on a value derived from your customer's implicit and explicit wants and needs. Competent innovation leadership focuses on customer desirability, the feasibility of the technology, and an innovation's potential economic growth and innovation viability. Understanding Your Customers Needs and Desires Products need to meet customer's purposeful and empathetic needs. Using traditional focus groups is helpful but contains some inherent weaknesses. Traditional focus groups effectively uncover stated needs but not indirect or hidden requirements. Customers are not intentionally misleading researchers during focus groups but they cannot effectively communicate the subtleties of their desires in the traditional focus group meeting format. Consider the spaghetti sauce example in the Ted Talk linked below from Malcolm Gladwell. For many years, an organization applied focus groups to understand the needs and desires of customers. However, the company never uncovered that a third of the population preferred chunky spaghetti sauce even though customers were repeatedly asked what they desired. The complexity of communication and the capability of entrepreneurial leaders to detect and understated signs from customers impacts the quality of outcomes attained from focus groups. Entrepreneurial leaders benefit from developing capabilities to identify faint signs of customer's wants and desires. Empathic Research Empathy is described as recognizing and understanding a person's state of mind. Creating products that will meet customer's and potential customer's empathetic needs requires a new approach to the traditional focus group. Empathic research involves seeing subtleties of natural behavior that reveal needs, desires, and behaviors not shared in traditional focus groups. Empathic research is qualitative in nature and based upon focused observation. Compensatory behaviors are one of the most prevalent signs of the need for empathic research. Compensatory behaviors are the use of a product in a manner other than intended, and they are everywhere. For example, consider the typical ironing board something you need but don't enjoy using if you are like me. Because it is unstable, you have to place it next to something to prevent it from tipping over when being used. The act of placing it next to something to prevent it from tipping over is a compensatory behavior. Organizations that realize the most value from empathic research engage customers, noncustomers, and users in the design process utilizing prototyping. In the Ted Talk below, Tim Brown shares a real-world example of the value of empathic research. Kaiser Permanente researched how to improve the patient experience and by applying an empathic research approach realized increased patient confidence and enhanced nurse happiness. In this example, nurses and practitioners applied observational research, brainstorming, and prototyping strategies focused on information sharing. The outcome led to shift changes in front of the patient instead of at the nurse's station. How to Improve the Traditional Focus Group Improving the traditional focus group approach to marketing and innovation means rethinking the how, who, what, and where (see Table 1) of the focus group. Direct observation is how focus groups should be conducted. Focus groups need to include leaders observing consumers. Entrepreneurial leaders need to make direct observations and not delegate this step. "There is no substitute for seeing for yourself" Kim and Mauborgne Whom to observe in the focus group needs to include customers, noncustomers, and users if they are not the customers. What leadership should be observing is customers and noncustomers directly engaging with the products and where is in their natural environment. Key Points Organizations are looking to innovate to fuel growth and every leader needs to understand marketing at a basic level. Products need to meet customer's purposeful and empathetic needs. The complexity of communication and the capability of entrepreneurial leaders to detect and understated signs from customers impacts the quality of outcomes attained from focus groups. Empathic research provides insights into how leaders can improve the traditional focus groups. References Agnihotri, A. (2016). Extending boundaries of blue ocean strategy. Journal of Strategic Marketing, 24(6), 519-528. Brown, T. (2009). Designers-think big [Video]. TedGlobal2009. https://www.ted.com/talks/tim_brown_designers_think_big#t-665462 Dyson, J. (2010). Sir James Dyson: cmypitch.com [Video]. Vimeo. https://vimeo.com/10816801 Gladwell, M. (2004) Choice, happiness and spaghetti sauce [Video]. Ted2004. https://www.ted.com/talks/malcolm_gladwell_choice_happiness_and_spaghetti_sauce Kim, W. C., & Mauborgne, R. (2015). Blue ocean strategy: How to create uncontested market space and make competition irrelevant (1st ed.). Harvard Business School Press. Oster, G. (2008). Divining the need: Compensatory behavior of customers. Regent Global Business Review, 2(2), 14-18. Suarez, F. F., Utterback, J., Gruben, P. V., & Kang, H. Y. (2018). The hybrid trap: Why most efforts to bridge old and new technology miss the mark. MIT Sloan Management Review, 59(3), 52-57. Thomas, J., & McDonagh, D. (2013). Empathic design: Research strategies. Australasian Medical Journal, 6(1), 1-6.

What if half of your company's top performers quit this year? A new report indicates this potential scenario taking shape. A recent survey of 2000 employees in the US and Canada found that 52% of employees have one foot already out the door. Of those planning to leave, 36% are planning to quit for better compensation and benefits. Another 25% are planning to go to find a better work-life balance. While most employers feel the work-from-home environment has created a better environment, the survey revealed that 71% of employees are disengaged. One of the most significant adverse impacts of losing your best employees is how it impacts company culture. An organization's culture exists within the shared experiences and learnings of its employees. As employee turnover increases, the ability of the organization to pass on learnings decreases significantly due to lack of experience, fractured relationships, and limited employee time due to a lesser skilled workforce. Great companies are the outcome of having great employees. Now is the time to act by identifying your organization's best employees, implementing retention strategies, and leveraging talent measurement and data analytics. Identifying Your Best Employees The first step is to identify your organization's high-potential employees. A tool being used by many top-performing companies to identify high potential employees is the value and promotability matrix or nine-box grid (see Figure 1). Employees are rated as low, medium, or high for performance, competence, organizational values, and the ability to be promoted. While this is easy to explain, it can be a little more involved in the application. One recommendation is that your organization align on what is low, medium, and high performance. At a minimum, I recommend implementing talent calibration meetings to align the employees' performance and standardization of rating levels. Beyond differentiating employees, this nine-box matrix helps organizations create personalized development plans and organizational accountability for growing the employee pipeline. In my experience, when implemented correctly, this tool and the additional insight from targeted assessments add immediate company value. Retaining Your Best Employees Employee turnover does not have to be inevitable. What can you do right now that can have an immediate positive impact increasing the chance of retaining your top talent? Consider implementing stay interviews and a targeted coaching program: Stay Interviews Stay Interviews, a.k.a. talk to your employees with the intent to learn how they are doing and what you can do to help. Anyone can administer a stay interview, but my recommendation is the leader because they need to develop trust. The act of listening and then doing something about what is learned will build trust with their team. However, if you have a leader you do not trust, you need to change the leader and have someone you trust to speak with their team. The following are a few of my favorite questions I include in stay interviews: Positive Aspects of Working Here Why were you initially attracted to this opportunity? Do the same reasons exist today? What recognition have you received lately that makes you feel good? What part of your job do you find rewarding? Company Culture What do you enjoy most about working with your leader and the broader company leadership? Based on your experiences and interactions, how would you describe our company culture? Strengths and Opportunities? Positive Improvements If you were granted three wishes and could change your job and this company, what would you wish to change? Looking five years into the future where everything you ever wanted has come true, describe what do you see? If you are an executive or Human Resources leader and want to embed stay interviews within the organization, consider using this interactive meeting activity: Print off pictures of each employee that reports to each one of your leaders. Invite your leaders to a meeting and have the pictures on the walls around the room. Ask each leader to walk around the room without looking at any notes to add the names of their direct reports and one fun fact they learned from their stay interviews with their employees. Coaching All employees want feedback, and your best employees place a high value on feedback and continuous growth and development opportunities. Offering internal or external coaching programs are a great way to encourage employees to stay. Integrating coaching programs into your organization can significantly increase employee retention rates and help your organization succeed. Coaching is not counseling or mentoring. Counseling deals with past or current trauma, mental health, and symptoms, to restore emotional wellness. Coaching focuses on the future and not the client's history. A mentor, unlike a coach, sets the agenda for their client using their experiences to guide the relationship. While that approach can be helpful in reality, we are all created with different strengths and backgrounds. A coach draws out the executive's desire and works to co-create options to achieve the employee's goals with individual and organizational benefits. In addition to positive impacts on employee retention, the benefits of investing in coaching are many; 80% of people who receive coaching report increased self-confidence. Over 70% benefit from improved work performance, relationships, and more effective communication skills. 86% of companies report that they recouped their investment in coaching and more. The GROW model is a popular coaching approach. Given that the ultimate goal of coaching is related to change within the employee, the process centers on using essential questions and client-centered critical thinking to invoke the employee's self-awareness and personal responsibility. The GROW model represents a journey that clarifies the goal that is both inspiring and challenging to the employee. Then the following step involves exploring the current reality considering barriers between the current state and desired future. The next step consists of exploring options based on the principle that imagination creates breakthroughs. The final step is clarifying the employee's will and way forward. It involves defining specific timebound actions with the commitment, accountability, and reporting to lead to transformation. The client ultimately chooses what decisions to make and which steps to take to meet their goals. Talent Measurement and Data Analytics After taking steps to retain your best employees, you will want to leverage data analytics to understand better why employees quit your organization and develop organizational retention goals. Beyond being dissatisfied, there are various reasons identified in scholarly research as to why employees tend to leave a job, such as: Instability in management Poor work environment Pay Benefits Career promotion Job fit Clear job expectations Perceived better job opportunities Influence of co-workers In addition to using measures to understand why employees quit, I recommend you track measures to help your organization understand the value and the cost of employee retention. In addition to the most visible replacement costs, there are others, such as productivity loss, workplace safety issues, and moral issues. Josh Bersin builds on this understanding and explains that employees are appreciating assets that produce more and more value to the organization over time, which helps to explain why losing them can be so costly. Lastly, what if you could assess an employee's flight risk and identify where to focus on retaining employees accurately? What if you could measure how attached your employees are to the organization and how connected employees feel the organization is to them? Through organizational assessments and diagnostics, it is possible to gain better insights to pinpoint strategies. If you are interested in learning more, let's talk. References: Allen, D. (2008). Retaining talent: A guide to analyzing and managing employee turnover. SHRM. Baumgartner, N. (2021). Achievers 2021 Engagement and Retention Report. Achievers. Bersin, J. (2013). Employee retention now a big issue: Why the tide has turned. International Coaching Federation (2009). Benefits of Coaching. Kimsey-House, K., Kimsey-House, H., Sandhal, P., & Whitworth, L., (2018). Co-active coaching: The proven framework for transformative conversations at work and in life. Nicholas Brealey Publishing. Mamun, C. A. A., & Hasan, M. N. (2017). Factors affecting employee turnover and sound retention strategies in business organization: A conceptual view. Problems and Perspectives in Management, 15(1), 63-71.

Have you ever found yourself in a meeting or, worse yet, leading a meeting where the sound of silence is deafening (forgive the 60's Simon and Garfunkel reference)? Questions are presented, updates are provided, and there is complete silence. Limited to no discussion, no debate, and just the noticeable absence of conversation. The evidence is overwhelming that a lack of thorough team discussion negatively impacts outcomes and organizational effectiveness. If you were researching team silence on a WebMD organizational version, the medical advisory would read: Caution: team silence can be a symptom of a severe organizational health issue and should not be ignored. Seek an intervention immediately. To remain competitive in today's complex and digital marketplace, leaders and teams need to communicate effectively. Diagnosing the Silence There are several potential contributing factors to a lack of communication during team meetings. Team members may be unwilling to engage because of: introversion, self-absorption, self-esteem, feeling distant from others, situational unease, lack of talent, a culture that reinforces behavioral silence norms, or a lack of trust. If the team is new, or the reason for the lack of team communication is not well understood, the use of the willingness to communicate (WTC) instrument can reveal helpful insights. McCroskey's WTC instrument assesses an individuals' desire to communicate and provides norms across multiple communication contexts, such as group discussions, meetings, and interpersonal conversations. Understanding the team's willingness to communicate baseline score helps level set communication expectations, understand the severity of the silence, and provide insights for needed intervention. Starting with Trust Although there are several different possible ways to solve a lack of team communication, trust is worth exploring first. According to the 2020 Edelman Trust Barometer, recent trends indicate that trust is declining across society. Merriam-Webster.com defines trust as "the reliance on the character, ability, strength, or truth of someone or something." Trust takes place between team members, and it has to be earned. Trust is essential for teams to work together effectively, feel safe, and have a sense of belonging. The team leader should lead the trust intervention. The intervention should begin with investigating what, if anything, is potentially causing a loss of trust within the team. Patrick Lencioni's book The Five Dysfunctions of a Team is an excellent resource to help leaders assess if trust is absent within the team. In his book, Lencioni also provides many suggestions for improving trust. Team leaders and team members should also measure their trustworthiness. Authors Maister, Green, and Galford, in their book The Trusted Advisor, presented that trustworthiness is made up of four essential attributes: Credibility is the most frequently achieved attribute of trustworthiness. It has rational and emotional aspects related to an individual's content expertise and personal presence. Reliability is based on the frequency of interactions with someone and the consistency for them to behave as expected. Intimacy requires being personal and the willingness to have a courageous conversation. This is one of the key differentiating attributes of trustworthiness. Self-orientation relates to the amount of focus placed on oneself versus the emphasis placed on the other person. A High degree of self-orientation creates significant distrust with others. Assigning ratings to each of these attributes and using a trust equation (see Figure 1) allows you to measure your trustworthiness. Improving team trust provides many personal and organizational benefits, such as increasing the exchange of information in team meetings resulting in improved quality, time, and project cost. If you have questions on getting started with individual and organizational development we would like to help (contact us). References: Cheung, S. O., Yiu, T. W., & Lam, M. C. (2013). Interweaving trust and communication with project performance. Journal of Construction Engineering and Management, 139(8), 941-950. doi:10.1061/(ASCE)CO.1943-7862.0000681 Johnson, C. E., & Hackman, M. Z. (2018). Leadership: A communication perspective (6th ed.). Long Grove, Ill: Waveland Press. Lencioni, P. (2002). The five dysfunctions of a team: A leadership fable. Jossey-Bass. Maister, D. H., Green, C. H., & Galford, R. M. (2000). The trusted advisor. New York: Free Press. McCroskey, J. C. (1992). Reliability and validity of the willingness to communicate scale. Communication Quarterly, 40(1), 16-25. doi:10.1080/01463379209369817 Schein, E. H. (1996). Culture: The missing concept in organization studies. Administrative Science Quarterly, 41(2), 229-240. doi:10.2307/2393715 Jeff Doolittle, MBA has extensive knowledge and expertise in leadership development, talent management, and coaching to grow individuals and organizations. Jeff has experience from start-ups to Fortune 50 public, Forbes 25 private, for-profit, and non-profit organizations across diverse industries. Jeff Doolittle is the founder of Organizational Talent Consulting in Grand Rapids, MI. He can be reached at info@organizationaltalent.com or by calling (616) 803-9020. Visit his blog for more ideas to stimulate individual, team, and organizational effectiveness.