Career – Page 3 – thoughtLEADERS, LLC: Leadership Training for the Real World

Rethinking Gen Z and Millennials in the Workplace

April 27, 2020/0 Comments/in Books, Career, Guest Blogger, Leadership, Training /by Ryan Shaw

Millennials and Gen Z workers are passionate and searching for meaning in their work. It’s time to ditch the lazy and entitled cliches society attributes to these generations.

Today’s post is by Heidi Ganahl, author of SheFactor (CLICK HERE to get your copy).

News flash: the promising new grad you just hired is already looking for her next job.

The numbers don’t lie – Generation Z and Millennial women are only staying at their jobs for an average of 18 months. In comparison, the national average for salaried employees is 4.6 years, according to an Economic News Release from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

The American workforce has changed dramatically since Millennials came on the scene. This phenomenon has left many of us wondering why the ways we engage, reward, and retain employees have not changed with it.

Today, especially with a historically low national unemployment rate, companies cannot afford to lose their ambitious new talent. The costs of turnover and training can add up in ways that go beyond the measure of profit margins. Reputation, recruitment, and employee turnover can add up to about half of an employee’s annual salary. Let that sink in for a moment.

If you want to retain Millennials, your organization’s leadership must give them better reasons to stay.

How prepared is your organization for a sudden crisis?

April 16, 2020/1 Comment/in Business Toolkit, Career, Communications, Leadership, Poll, Strategy /by Ryan Shaw

Our reader poll today asks: How prepared is your organization for a sudden crisis?

Extremely: 10.01%
Very: 27.81%
Somewhat: 36.82%
Not very: 17.56%
Not at all: 7.80%

Crisis management identifies opportunities. It would have been interesting to take this poll a few months ago and see what the responses were. My guess is the “Extremely” and “Very” categories would have scored much higher. We tend to overestimate our capabilities and underestimate the impact of a crisis. The best thing you can do during a crisis, other than dealing with it, is identify where your organization is falling short and fill those gaps either during the crisis or after it passes. The weaknesses exposed in the midst of the chaos are ways you can harden your business and get it ready for the next inevitable, unforeseen challenge. Start gathering lessons learned as soon as the crisis hits and allocate resources immediately to fix those issues. You’ll be glad you did when the next crisis hits.

Do you agree with these poll results? Let us know in the comments below!

– Mike Figliuolo at thoughtLEADERS, LLC

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Leadership Through the Lens of Wellbeing

April 13, 2020/1 Comment/in Books, Career, Guest Blogger, Leadership /by Ryan Shaw

One way to instantly see if your workforce is being effectively managed is to ascertain how they feel about work.

Today’s post is by Dr. Ian Hesketh and Sir Cary Cooper, authors of Wellbeing at Work (CLICK HERE to get your copy).

Starting with the basics, it is without doubt that the relationship workers have with their immediate line managers is the one that can impact most on their wellbeing. The relationship can be the key to happiness, positivity, commitment, productivity and performance. The good news is that this skill can be developed and honed, resulting in optimum working efficiency. Therefore, it is well worth the investment in your leaders, at all levels. We suggest that at its very basic level leadership can be broken down into just three elements. These are, knowing yourself, knowing your people and knowing your business.

One of the most popular frameworks of leadership is that of transforming leadership. Initially coined by James Downton in 1973 following his research into charismatic leadership, it was influenced largely by Bernard Bass, and his instrumental book Leadership and Performance Beyond Expectations. Bass established what it was about leadership that inspired extra ordinary achievement and contributions of extra-role effort. He explored what were the traits that great leaders seem to have; concluding with four major tenets. These leadership attributes, commonly known as the 4 ‘I’s’, are:

Which of the following skills is your team most in need of improving?

April 9, 2020/0 Comments/in Business Toolkit, Career, Communications, Leadership, Poll, Project Management /by Ryan Shaw

Our reader poll today asks: Which of the following skills is your team most in need of improving?

Communications: 34.7%
Decision-making: 9.0%
Problem-solving: 9.7%
People leadership: 13.0%
Strategic thinking: 19.3%
Time management: 14.3%

It’s all about the communication. A significant portion of you listed communication as the most critical skill gap on your team. That makes sense. Many other skills like leadership, decision-making and problem-solving require strong communication skills at their foundation. Even skills like time management have roots in communication — how can you delegate or push back on requests if you can’t communicate clearly? Given this demand for communication skills, the question is: What are you doing about building your team’s capabilities in this arena? The ability to get recommendations approved and convey thoughts in a clear and compelling way is something that can be learned. Are you investing in building your team’s skills? Given the current environment, it seems there’s no better time than the present to start working on it.

Do you agree with these poll results? Let us know in the comments below!

– Mike Figliuolo at thoughtLEADERS, LLC

Did you enjoy this post? If so, I highly encourage you to take about 30 seconds to become a regular subscriber to this blog. It’s free, fun, practical, and only a few emails a week (I promise!). SIGN UP HERE to get the thoughtLEADERS blog conveniently delivered right to your inbox!

Becoming a Net Exporter of Talent

April 8, 2020/0 Comments/in Books, Career, Guest Blogger, Leadership, Training /by Ryan Shaw

Developing your team so well that they begin being poached by others and letting them go to those other teams is exactly how to develop your organization.

Today’s post is by Mike Figliuolo, Managing Director of thoughtLEADERS

Want to build your team? Get rid of the people who are on it. I don’t mean go about firing people in a flurry. Become what I call a “net exporter of talent.”

You need to develop your people to the point that they’re ready for new challenges. Build their skills. Make them more valuable to the organization. Grow them and build upon their responsibilities. And once you can stand back and admire the fruits of your labor, send them somewhere else to work. Actually, if you’ve done a good enough job developing them, others will be trying to poach them from your team.

Madness you say? Don’t be too quick to judge. The benefits of becoming a net exporter of talent are many. Before we get into them, let me elaborate on how to become said exporter. First, recognize almost everyone on your team wants to grow. Your obligation as a leader is to provide those opportunities and help people succeed in them. Once you’ve expanded the skills and scope of your team members, you’re ready to begin.

When you get stressed out, how do you deal with it?

April 2, 2020/0 Comments/in Balanced Lifestyle, Business Toolkit, Career, Leadership, Poll /by Ryan Shaw

Our reader poll today asks: When you get stressed out, how do you deal with it?

I go exercise. 24.38%
I take time off from work. 5.48%
I throw myself into my work and push through it. 28.86%
I meditate. 13.31%
I do something else.24.12%
I never get stressed out. 3.85%

Find a productive outlet. While many of you have productive places to release stress (exercise, meditation, time off or some other activity), an alarming portion of you (29%) simply push through the stress. This can work in the short term, but over time, the cumulative effects of this stress can be tremendous. Whether it’s health issues, relationship challenges, decreased performance, irritability or some other damaging effect, your desire to “push through” can have catastrophic effects. Find an outlet for your stress. Channel it into something productive (outside of doing more work). Your health, your family and your team will appreciate your new habits and you’ll perform better, be happier and be healthier in the process.

Do you agree with these poll results? Let us know in the comments below!

– Mike Figliuolo at thoughtLEADERS, LLC

Did you enjoy this post? If so, I highly encourage you to take about 30 seconds to become a regular subscriber to this blog. It’s free, fun, practical, and only a few emails a week (I promise!). SIGN UP HERE to get the thoughtLEADERS blog conveniently delivered right to your inbox!