Alliance for Leadership Acceleration

​How to Pick a PTO Policy that Works for Your People and Your Organization was originally published on Forbes.com

Everyone loves to take paid time off, but many employers struggle with the optimal way to provide it. Decades ago, PTO policies were relatively simple, but they’ve grown in complexity over the years as work-life balance has become a more prominent and widely accepted concept.
Most recently, during the Covid-19 pandemic, PTO has found itself in an even stronger spotlight as employees working remotely have been hesitant to take time off because, well, they’re already home. And many have felt a need to work harder as they’ve seen so many coworkers laid off or furloughed.

The truth is, picking the right PTO policy for your organization is very important. Although salary and benefits remain the twin pillars of competitive hiring, supporting perks such as flexible scheduling and time off remain critical components as well. Plus, as the pandemic has made abundantly clear, current employees need to regularly take days off to care for their own mental health and overall well-being.

Four Varieties

Generally, there are four broad types of PTO in use by most employers today:

1. Traditional. This is the PTO model that so many people encounter when entering the workforce. It gives you separate PTO allotments for vacation, sick and personal time. Typically, those allotments will increase as an employee gains service time.
2. Earned. Some employers don’t offer any PTO until an employee reaches a certain number of hours or days worked. Others provide only a bare minimum in case of an emergency. In any case, the idea is to incentivize new hires to stick with the organization — though earned PTO can be a tough sell for a job candidate who’s accustomed to having plenty of time off available.
3. Flexible. In recent years, this approach has gained popularity. It provides employees with a “bank” of PTO days from which they’re free to draw on as necessary. A flexible PTO model doesn’t distinguish between vacation and sick time. In a sense, it’s all personal time. One distinct advantage of this approach for employers (and employees, for that matter) is it’s easy to track.
4. Unlimited. This is the latest PTO “craze,” so to speak. True to its name, an unlimited PTO policy allows employees to take off as much time as they want or need without a manager’s approval. Obviously, employers will need to have faith in their employees to use unlimited PTO in a reasonable and responsible matter. (I’ll discuss this approach in greater depth below.)

Recent Developments
Overall, employers’ collective approach to PTO appears to be evolving toward flexibility. Although many organizations still stick to the tried-and-true traditional approach, the flexible model is gaining ground.
In May 2020, HR solutions provider XpertHR published the results of a survey (registration required) of employers in the United States. Out of the 457 responding organizations, 44% used the flexible model for PTO, while 48% relied on the traditional model. So, at least in light of this study, employers may be heading toward a 50-50 split when it comes to traditional vs. flexible PTO. And it would be unsurprising if flexible started to win out in years ahead.

Focus On Unlimited
The other 2% of respondents in the XpertHR survey reported using “other” types of PTO plans, including the earned and unlimited models. The latter approach, as mentioned, is considered a growing trend. Unlimited PTO speaks to the new world of remote workers controlling their own schedules and integrating time away from work on a more regular basis rather than the “two weeks of summer vacation” that so many professionals would customarily take in decades past.
However, converting from the traditional, earned or flexible PTO models to unlimited isn’t a simple matter. For starters, many employers who consider doing so often realize that they have employees with substantial amounts of unused PTO. Workers may expect cash payouts for this time if it’s going to “disappear” under an unlimited PTO approach, but that may not be financially feasible for the organization.

To cope with this, many employers continue to track each employee’s PTO until it's used up then convert the worker to unlimited PTO. The good news is, once all employees are working under the unlimited PTO approach, the administrative burden of reporting and tracking PTO, as well as paying it out if a worker leaves the organization, completely disappears.

And the bad news? Some employers have found that employees take less time off under an unlimited PTO policy because there’s no “use it or lose it” incentive to expend their allotment of days off. Plus, many workers are worried about appearing to abuse the privilege of unlimited PTO. Other employees may be only too happy to max out their use of the policy, which can lead to employment conflicts.

Careful Consideration
One could argue that employers are well within their rights to take an “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” approach to PTO. If the model you’ve been following is working for your organization from a hiring and retention standpoint, as well as for employees from work-life balance and wellness perspectives, that’s great.
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However, like so many other aspects of working, the expectations of top job candidates and valued employees do change over time. If you believe an adjustment, if not a complete transformation, of your PTO policy may lead to long-term benefits for your organization, give that change the due diligence and careful consideration it deserves.

Lean is Keen for Human Resources and Performance Management originally appeared on Forbes.com.

I’ve always been keen on lean — the productivity methodology that minimizes inefficiency and emphasizes continuous improvement. I was first introduced to lean manufacturing in 1997 when I was hired by a company to help them implement lean within their newest manufacturing plant and within their culture. 

Although historians quibble about its origins, many people point to Henry Ford’s assembly line — initially installed in a Detroit-area plant on December 1, 1913 — as one of the first true instances of putting the concept into practice. And most would agree that Toyota truly crystalized lean by researching, refining and ultimately documenting a process associated with streamlining production between 1948 and 1975. Interestingly, the term “lean” itself wasn’t coined by either one — it was established by an American academic at MIT in 1988. 

Applying The Concept 
Lean is all about eliminating wasteful or redundant activities, improving workflow and drawing more value from what you do. It’s often coupled with Six Sigma principles, which use statistical analysis to minimize variations in process execution that lead to waste. 
Because of its success in manufacturing, lean has spread over the years to many other sectors — including HR and performance management. Generally, in this context, lean concepts can be applied to: 

Recruitment and hiring. The process of finding the right job candidate, getting him or her through the application and interviewing process and mutually agreeing to an offer is a long, winding road that too often goes nowhere. Lean concepts can create a more direct route to hiring and, thus, make it less taxing on both parties. 

Orientation, training and upskilling. Every employer’s orientation process involves paperwork and customary tasks. Applying a lean approach may lead to improvements in the experience, enabling new hires to get up and running more quickly. You can reap the same benefits from using lean to develop training programs and upskilling activities. 

Performance management. The process of goal setting, measuring progress and undergoing job reviews is often time-consuming and disruptive. In other words, it’s well-suited for lean improvements that use various performance metrics and efficiency strategies. 

Compensation and benefits. Is there a clearer, more efficient way to show employees the path to pay raises and bonus pay benchmarks? Probably. Many employers also struggle to communicate effectively about benefits. Applying lean philosophies may reveal ways to better educate employees about their benefits — boosting participation, improving wellness and elevating your return on investment. 

How Lean Works 
What does it mean to apply lean practices? Generally, you’ll need to identify your organization’s key HR and performance management processes. It’s possible that these may already have been mentioned above, but there may be others not listed. In addition, you’ll need to determine the value that each one aims to create. 

Next, you’ll conduct a kaizen (continuous, incremental self-improvement) event. Typically, this is a three-to-five-day session that analyzes the specific area’s processes and implements changes. Participants map out how each process functions, documenting and quantifying the value created by each step, as well as the waste in or between steps. 

In addition, a conversion to lean may mean employing the Plan-Do-Study-Act (PDSA) system. It describes the steps in changing a process: 

• Devise small tests of a change (Plan). 
• Conduct the tests on a small scale (Do). 
• Measure results against the present state and consider how it could be further improved (Study). 
• Implement changes organization-wide, monitoring the process for at least 90 days to ensure stability and sustainability (Act). 

The Six Sigma Perspective 
As mentioned, many organizations favor a Six Sigma approach to lean, which is similar but slightly different. Rather than use the PDSA system, Six Sigma traditionally employs “DMAIC,” an acronym for define, measure, analyze, improve and control. It will ask you to follow five stages: 

1. Define the problem you’re trying to solve. Don’t just look at it from a management perspective. Listen to the voices of your employees regarding HR and performance management issues and identify specific goals. 

2. Measure key aspects of the process. Target metrics that will enable you to measure progress toward the stated goal, then collect the relevant data. 

3. Analyze the data, looking for cause-and-effect relationships. Here, you’ll put on your investigator’s hat and look for the root of the defect you’re seeking to eliminate. 

4. Improve the current process. Six Sigma will recommend data analysis techniques for using the information gathered and reconfiguring the process in question. You can then set up tests to establish whether the improvement is real. 

5. Control the process going forward. You’ll be guided through steps to set up systems for monitoring the improved process once you’ve implemented it. 

Some organizations combine lean and Six Sigma to deploy an approach that seeks to leverage the introspective, interactive nature of the former with the more data-driven insights of the latter. 
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A Substantial Undertaking 
Make no mistake, a lean and/or Six Sigma initiative is a substantial undertaking. You’ll need to carefully research the specific approach you wish to follow and obtain buy-in from everyone on staff before launch. Thereafter, be prepared to commit time and resources to the effort. 
Despite the challenges, many employers have markedly improved their operations thanks to lean/Six Sigma principles. You may be able to not only simplify your organization’s human resources (HR) and performance management workflow but also demonstrate to employees that you’re invested in improving their working lives and productivity. 

Do your Mission and Vision Statements Need Freshening Up? originally appeared on Forbes.com.

You’d be hard-pressed to find an employer whose organization didn’t undergo change in 2020. For so many, it isn’t a matter of whether change occurred but how much and what kind.

When you look back on all that’s happened and where your organization stands, you might even find that the very mission and vision driving your existence has veered, slightly or severely, from its pre-pandemic path.
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That makes now a perfect time to review and perhaps revise your mission and vision statements. If you’ve yet to create one or the other (or both), don’t worry. It’s never too late to do so.

Why Vs. Where
Let’s begin by explaining the difference between the two. A mission statement is your “why” — it clarifies who you are, what you do and who you do it for. On the other hand, a vision statement tells interested parties where you’re headed and what you want to accomplish. In short, a mission statement explains why you’re here while a vision statement tells people where you’re going.
 
Most organizations begin with the former and eventually move on to the latter. If you’ve yet to create a mission statement, think carefully about — and discuss with your leadership team — why your organization exists and what differentiates it from competitors and/or similar employers. Some employers that have existed for years may find that writing or revising the statement renews commitment to their original purpose. Others may find that what they do has changed and so their mission statement needs to as well. Simply sitting down and discussing some fundamental questions can lead to insightful discussions and even healthy debate about precisely what it is you’re trying to accomplish.

Customers And Concision
There are various best practices for creating or revising mission and vision statements. Perhaps the most important is “know thy audience.” This primarily refers to your customers, clients or whatever market segment you serve.

Another important and challenging aspect of creating a mission statement — and especially a vision statement — is concision. On the one hand, you want to fully express yourself in a distinctive and memorable manner. On the other, you don’t want to present readers with a long paragraph that will cause their eyes to glaze over. Work with your team to find a consensus about the right length.
A vision statement is a bold and inspiring description of your desired future state, therefore it is aspirational and may never be fully achieved. It should generally be much shorter in word count than a mission statement.

For instance, the vision statement of social media platform LinkedIn is: “Create economic opportunity for every member of the global workforce.” Meanwhile, its mission statement is “[To] connect the world’s professionals to make them more productive and successful.” In this case, the organization’s mission statement is only slightly longer than its vision statement. Your mission statement could be significantly longer, but for your vision statement, aim for a sentence or two.

Tone And Endurance
Finding the right tone for your mission and vision statements is tricky but important. Think of it like a song: You want it to be not only catchy and uplifting, but also representative of your organization’s style and culture. And, all the while, you must maintain concision and clarity. This is a pop tune, not a classical concerto!

In addition, strive for distinctiveness. You want your mission and vision statement to set you apart, especially when you are in an industry where many organizations look similar on the outside. To this end, you may need to do some research into the statements of your competitors.

Last, but not least, aim to create mission and vision statements that endure. Although the process for creating them might be enjoyable, you don’t want to have to reinvent the wheel every year or two. That said, when circumstances or strategic plans markedly transform an organization’s purpose or direction, be prepared to act.

Reintroducing Yourself
And that brings me back to my original point: Given how drastically life changed for everyone in 2020, now may be the ideal time to freshen up your mission and vision statements — or create them from scratch if you’ve never done so. You might even use the finished products to reintroduce yourself to your audience and community.

Although skeptics might say that mission and vision statements are only so many words on a page or plaque, those words can serve as both a succinct description and rallying cry for your organization. Don’t underestimate their importance or let them slip into irrelevance.
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Original post by Lynda Silsbee, Founder of the Alliance for Leadership Acceleration and Member of the Forbes Coaches Council

 ​To Achieve Greater Agility, Optimize Your Leadership Brand originally appeared on Forbes.com.

My last article addressed the concept and importance of employer brand, which I defined as "the distinct impression that job applicants and employees have of your organization as a place to work." Every employer has an employer brand in addition to its overall brand — that is, the image and reputation of the organization in the marketplace.

Well, believe it or not, there’s yet another type of brand that applies to certain individuals within every organization. It’s leadership brand. This is the distinctive set of characteristics that you exhibit as a leader and the reputation you carry as a result.

Now wait a minute, you might say, I don’t have a leadership brand — I’m just me. On the contrary, if you’ve been in a leadership role for any amount of time, every one of your decisions and interactions has created and contributed to your brand.

The objective now is to identify that brand and optimize it. When looking to do so, many leaders strive to become more agile. In a world that, as we learned the hard way in 2020, can change so suddenly, the ability to respond to crises quickly and decisively is a much-sought-after leadership trait. And it’s one that you can achieve.

The Three Archetypes
In the broadest sense, leaders fall into three archetypes:
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1. The artist. These leaders are independent-minded and usually bent on innovation. As is an artist’s wont, they prefer work autonomy and bring ideas to others for execution. Artists usually favor looser organizational structures and fewer rules to work by.
2. The player-manager. This type of leader is all about collaboration. They like to have a loyal team of people around to brainstorm ideas, hash out details and work with closely.
3.  The boardroom boss. This would be the traditional type of leader who seeks to identify viable strategies, put them into action plans, measure the results and, preferably, reap the rewards. They will tend to adhere to strict rules, set roles and predetermined processes.

Not every leader will fall neatly into any one category. People are complicated. The archetypes’ purpose is to provide a starting point from which to identify your leadership brand and, from there, find ways to maximize the positives and deal with the negatives as they arise.

Enter The Derailers
About those negatives, they have a name: derailers. Organizational psychologists use this term to describe behaviors that slow down decisional agility and, over time, damage leadership brand.

Derailers tend to vary, depending on leadership archetype. For example, let’s say you’re “the artist” — an independent innovator who likes to mostly work alone, generate ideas and strategies and delegate as much of the day-to-day as possible.

These types of leaders often run into the derailer of being perceived as arrogant. They might sometimes overestimate their own abilities and seem self-absorbed or inconsiderate. They often push their own agendas and show little interest in others’ points of view.

This is not an easy persona to cop to! No one wants to think of themselves as arrogant, but if you’re constantly at odds with others and want to improve the situation, there are things you can do:

• Learn to assert your opinions more tactfully.
• Recognize people when they make important contributions.
• If you make a mistake, admit it.

All these things will neutralize the situation and enable you to act more agilely because you’ll encounter less friction — even though making decisions may take longer.

Let’s say you’re more of a player-manager. In this case, you might struggle with a derailer called “approval dependence.” In times of stress, these leaders don’t like to rock the boat and might avoid confrontation. After all, they want to not only lead their teams but also be part of them. They may be less willing to support an unpopular idea or stand up for (or to) their team regarding a controversial issue.

If this sounds like you, work on recognizing how often you agree simply for the sake of agreement. As difficult as doing so might be, give people the feedback they need. Engaging in constructive conflict will build trust, respect and loyalty. In turn, you’ll be able to apply more agility to your decision-making — especially when dealing with a crisis. This is because you’ll be better able to ask the tough questions and get to the truth more quickly.

Then there are the boardroom bosses. A typical derailer for them is risk aversion. These leaders are usually deliberate and cautious, which others might perceive as being indecisive. They might be slow to react and favor the status quo when there’s a need for urgency or more radical change.

If you’re naturally risk-averse, learn to hear and change your self-talk — especially in situations that cause you to worry about doing the wrong thing. Avoid binary thinking or catastrophizing, steering clear of analysis paralysis. Set limits on data gathering, and establish firm deadlines for final decisions. Remember, particularly in times of crisis, making no decision is often worse than making a bad one.

Overcoming risk aversion is perhaps the purest example of becoming more agile. The overly cautious leader will encounter a mountain and spend hours or days at the base trying to figure out how to climb it. More agile leaders will find their way to the top while climbing.

The funny thing about derailers is they’re often strengths that have gone to extremes as others see or experience them. Even an unflattering trait such as arrogance could just be strong self-worth and confidence, which, in and of themselves, aren’t bad attributes at all.

More Important Than Ever
Many leaders may fulfill their roles for years without incurring serious challenges. Of course, that all changed in 2020 as the pandemic has put the agility of nearly everyone in a leadership position to the test. The experience, no doubt, has reinforced the importance of eliminating impediments to your ability to lead and strengthening your leadership brand as a result.
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Original post by Lynda Silsbee
Founder of the Alliance for Leadership Acceleration and Member of the Forbes Coaches Council

Identifying And Enhancing Your Employer Brand originally appeared on Forbes.com.

When most people see a brand, they know exactly what to expect from its products or services. Generally, this is a good thing. Think of any well-known brand, and you know that people go to them confident that the brand will deliver on its promise.

Conversely, when people have a negative impression of a brand, the organization in question is usually in trouble. It will likely need to undertake serious and costly efforts to rectify the situation or face disastrous financial results — even complete failure.

The same principle applies to your employer brand. This is the distinct impression that job applicants and employees have of your organization as a place to work. An employer brand reflects your reputation, popularity, visibility and viability in the employment marketplace.

Why It Matters

An employer brand may not get as much attention as the more widely known definition of “brand,” but it’s critical to every organization’s success.

A 2015 study by HR tech company CareerArc found that “75% of job seekers consider an employer’s brand before even applying for a job.” (That percentage is likely even higher today.) And a 2011 report by LinkedIn found that organizations with a strong employer brand enjoyed a 28% reduction in turnover. In short, a robust and positive employer brand will:

• Help you draw a wider pool of applicants, and
• Increase the likelihood that people stay with your organization.

Having more job candidates to sort through may sound like more work, but it generally shortens (and improves) the hiring process because a larger number of applicants increases the odds that you’ll find a strong fit.

The benefits of employee retention are well-known: Tenured workers build valuable knowledge over time and tend to be more committed to an organization’s success. Best of all, they enable you to avoid the expense of constantly having to rehire for certain positions.

Size And Shape

If you ever want to put an organizational leader on the spot, ask them the following question: “So, what’s your employer brand?” It’s not exactly the easiest question to answer given the many contributing factors involved. Nonetheless, every organization’s leadership should be able to identify its employer brand so the strengths of that brand can be enhanced and weaknesses minimized.

Putting a size and shape to your employer brand will entail a multifaceted approach. A good place to start is with one or more executive- or management-level meetings to discuss the concept and get everyone’s impression of what your employer brand looks like.

When managers of various departments or units interview job applicants, what sorts of things do they hear? Do candidates seem genuinely excited about the prospect of working in your organization? Or are they unsure or even misguided regarding what you’re all about?

Another excellent source of understanding your employer brand is your employees. There are a couple of ways we recommend harnessing this data. First, you could conduct a formal survey of your workforce, asking them to rate your organization in areas such as clarity of mission, ease of hiring process and state of your workplace culture.

You could also ask questions such as:

• In your own words, what is our purpose and mission?
• Would you recommend us to a friend or family member looking for a job?
• How would you describe our organization to someone who’s unfamiliar with us?

You might be surprised by some of the answers you receive; employees may not share the same perceptions of the organization’s objectives and culture as leadership does. Your ultimate goal, of course, is to get everyone on the same page regarding your brand so you can ensure consistent messaging with everyone outside the organization and within.

An additional source may be exit interviews. Sometimes people are more honest and open when they know they’re about to walk out the door.

The Puzzle Of The Employee Value Proposition

Once you’ve gathered a substantial amount of information about your employer brand, you can initiate efforts to enhance that brand. Generally, when organizations undertake this task, they’ll want to confront the sometimes imposing and wide-ranging concept of the employee value proposition (EVP).

In a nutshell, EVP is the total value that you offer employees in return for their time and effort. You may think that quantifying EVP is as simple as the sum of compensation plus benefits. However, today’s EVP calculations generally involve four components:

1. Compensation
2. Benefits
3. Career-building
4. Culture

The first two points are relatively self-explanatory. The third one, career-building, describes all the ways you enable employees to not only earn a paycheck but also fulfill their professional ambitions. This typically includes a sound approach to performance management that allows them to advance upward in the organization, as well as ongoing training, upskilling, and perhaps even a fringe benefit helping them pay for college or continuing education classes.

The fourth point, culture, is what you offer in terms of a safe, inclusive and motivating working environment. This includes a clear mission, strong values, a supportive atmosphere on-site or in virtual interactions, and a productive approach to teamwork.

Original post by Lynda Silsbee
Founder of the Alliance for Leadership Acceleration and Member of the Forbes Coaches Council

Leadership And Other Lessons: What The Pandemic Teaches About Crisis Management originally appeared on Forbes.com.
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The onset of the Covid-19 pandemic this year put business and organizational leaders on the spot unlike anything else in recent memory. Even if you were following the story of the virus’s spread, governmental decisions to shut down certain sectors of the economy came shockingly swiftly. Many business leaders had to make monumental decisions in real time — right away — knowing the impact on their employees would be extraordinary.

How’d you do? If your organization’s transition to the new normal has been less than smooth, don’t spend too much time dwelling on the negative. Most organizational decisions aren’t perfect — and those made quickly and amid a panic-inducing public health emergency will almost always require some adjustments.

As the crisis moves along, leaders need to avail themselves of this remarkable opportunity to pause, recognize and in some way record the lessons learned. Here are a few to keep in mind.

Stay Informed
You can’t prepare for everything. There was no shortage of articles about crisis management before the pandemic. Most advise identifying potential disasters and preparing your organization as best you can for the usual suspects, such as natural disasters, a public relations setback or even civil unrest, which has been a very real risk to some businesses this year.

But a pandemic that shuts down a relatively healthy economy and puts millions of people out of work? There was no playbook for that. Leaders were essentially on their own to determine the risk level to their organizations and act quickly and accordingly.

At the same time, however, the Covid-19 crisis didn’t come completely out of left field. Concerns about the virus had been building in the news for weeks, and public health officials have been warning both government and business leaders for years about the possibility of a pandemic.

Lesson to remember: Keep up with the news with an eye on developing stories that could affect your organization and industry. Discuss credible threats with your management team and advisors. If a consensus exists that a contingency plan is necessary, develop one.

When The Time Comes, Lead
Crises cause confusion; it’s what they do. When a catastrophe strikes, you may naturally want to research the details, meet with your management team and very carefully decide what to do next. There’s nothing wrong with that, but keep in mind that leaders lead. Although accessing accurate information is critical, beware of the possibility that the very information you’re seeking to make a good decision could keep you from acting decisively.

In other words, indecision is something to actively battle against. If you spend too much time pulling together data, and worry too much about making the wrong decision, the situation could move along so quickly that you end up making no decision at all — which is often worse.

One way many leaders cope with this pressure is by applying an approach called the OODA loop. U.S. Air Force Colonel John Boyd developed this to help fighter pilots deal with the sudden, chaotic life-and-death engagements they typically face in combat. Those four letters stand for:

• Observe: Gather information from credible, reliable sources.
• Orient: Process that information using your education, training and experience as a leader.
• Decide: Make a decision based on the two Os above.
• Act: Carry out that decision using clear, concise directives.

The reason it’s called the OODA loop is that the process doesn’t end there. After acting, you start again at the beginning by observing the consequences of your decisive action, orienting yourself to how it has affected the situation, and so on.
Lesson to remember: Whether it’s OODA or some other method, choose and develop a process for making decisions in a crisis and carrying out your role as a leader.

Practice Compassionate Communication
Crises tend to create a vacuum in which everyone’s attention is drawn into the catastrophe itself, and employees’ ability to function normally and productively is greatly diminished or even incapacitated. Think back on the first few weeks of the Covid-19 pandemic. Some workers couldn’t function; others could do nothing else but bury themselves in their jobs.

This is precisely when leadership must step in to communicate clearly about what’s going on. It’s not easy. Accurate information is typically in short supply at the beginning of a crisis, and you and your management team may not have had time to develop a clear action plan. Yet an identifiable and trusted leadership voice is critical.

Also important is the regularity of communication. If employees don’t hear from you often and at predictable intervals, that vacuum mentioned above can find renewed power and start pulling people’s minds into it. Initiatives such as daily email updates and weekly or biweekly meetings help provide workers with clear direction and reassure them that you and your team are working on solutions to the crisis.

Finally, it’s worth noting the importance of compassionate communication. A leader who conveys the right tone — that is, a caring voice — will quell many of the unfounded fears that arise in difficult times and help employees stay focused on getting done what they can. Regularly emphasize that you care about workers’ well-being, not just their productivity. Encourage them to take the time off that they have available. Remind them of any mental health benefits that your organization may offer.

Lesson to remember: During hard times, we all tend to look up to someone who can provide guidance and comfort. An important aspect of every leader’s job is to play this role for your team members during a crisis.
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Heed Its Lessons Well
The Covid-19 crisis represents one of the greatest tests of leadership in modern history. Take a moment to commend yourself on rising to this incredible challenge as best you could when it first developed. By recognizing and heeding its lessons going forward, you’ll be enriching your own leadership knowledge and, in turn, be better able to contribute to your organization’s success.

Original post by Lynda Silsbee
Founder of the Alliance for Leadership Acceleration and Member of the Forbes Coaches Council

We have been working from home for about 6 months due to the pandemic. However, even working from home can have an impact on our health. With the constancy of sitting, these Work From Home Fitness Tips go over why we need to move, workstation tips, and movement priorities for glutes, posture, and hipflexors. 

We do not claim rights to this presentation, please contact us for credit. 

The Challenge And Promise Of Generation Z originally appeared on Forbes.com.

Every generation develops certain characteristics, at least partly in response to the historical events of its time. Generation Z is no exception. Born just before or soon after 9/11, awakened to childhood consciousness during the Great Recession of 2008, and now coming of age in a time of a pandemic, these young people have had a remarkably complex journey.

For employers, Gen Zers already represent a significant and growing part of the workforce. They're estimated to make up 24% of workers in the United States in 2020. That percentage will rise as the last of the baby boomers retire and Gen Xers start joining them.

Gen Zers may present a challenge to the organizations that hire them. This is a generation acutely aware of, well, everything. They grew up hard-wired to the internet. They're also a generation that, sadly, could harbor little trust in the financial security of any job after many watched their parents struggle to rebuild after 2008. And now many more are caught up in the tsunami of joblessness triggered by the COVID-19 crisis.

On the bright side, they hold incredible promise. Data is their friend; they adapt to new technology as easily as most of us change shirts, and they want to make a difference in the world. Your organization, when it's ready to start hiring, will benefit from their presence — if you understand what makes them tick.

Champions Of Mental Health

Let's back up and outline how the generations working today are generally defined. According to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation:

• Baby boomers were born from 1946 to 1964,
• Gen Xers were born from 1965 to 1979,
• Millennials were born from 1980 to 1999, and
• Gen Zers were born after 1999.

Looking at those ranges of years, think about the internet. Baby boomers didn't have it; Gen Xers did, but generally not until early to mid-adulthood. Millennials grew up with the internet but in an earlier, less-refined version. From a young age, Generation Z didn't just have the supercharged version of the internet that we know and use today; they had social media, which has, for better or worse, been a defining force in their lives.

Imagine the awkward moments and stages of your childhood captured for posterity in pictures and videos, shared with anyone on the internet who cares to look, and preserved for all eternity. Such is the reality that Gen Zers grew up in. Their identities have been shaped by not only real-life family and friends but also by thousands of disembodied voices online.

The silver lining to this perpetual state of hyper-self-awareness? It's that Generation Z doesn't stigmatize the concept of mental health. Living in a world of likes, downvotes and ghosting isn't easy, but it's driven them to recognize the telltale signs of anxiety and depression and, for many of them, to take action through open discussion and therapy.

They'll bring this state of mind to the workplace, and it will behoove their employers to recognize the importance of supportive, nontoxic environments and robust benefits programs that include mental health services. Otherwise, employee retention may suffer. A 2019 Harvard Business Review study found that 75% of Gen Zers had left jobs for mental health reasons — both voluntarily and involuntarily.

Frighteningly, the psychological impact of social media may pale in comparison to how the COVID-19 pandemic will affect them. Many Gen Zers have lost jobs. Others have seen internships canceled. Still, others are seeing their high school and college experiences drastically and negatively altered by the crisis.

Tips On Hiring And Employment

So, what can employers do to draw the best job candidates from this generation and provide them with a positive and productive work environment? Here are a few tips to consider:

1. Offer competitive mental health benefits. As mentioned, Generation Z prioritizes psychological well-being more highly than previous generations. Your health care plan may already cover many mental health services, but be sure to keep an eye on the quality of your providers and the cost of coverage.
   
   If you don't already offer an employee assistance program (EAP), consider adding this feature. In a nutshell, EAPs connect employees with external providers who can provide counseling and other services related to a wide variety of personal or work-related problems.
2. Appeal to their sense of higher purpose. Young people of every generation tend to want to make a difference. Forty-seven percent of Gen Zers surveyed by business consultancy Deloitte stated that they want to make a positive impact on their communities.
   
   Appealing to this sense of higher purpose may be as simple as updating and enhancing your mission and vision statements to emphasize all the good you do. You may also want to offer paid volunteer time and hold charity events to allow Gen Zers to fulfill their desire to help others.
3. If possible, help with their student loans. Many employers have been offering financial assistance, as a benefit, to employees shouldering high amounts of student loan debt. Unfortunately, this perk may fall by the wayside as organizations struggle with the economic impact of the pandemic.
   
   If you can offer it, student loan assistance will more than likely appeal to Generation Z as their ability to pay for higher education will be affected by the altered economy during and after the crisis, and they will enter the workforce with substantial student debt.

Some Good News

Like millennials before them, Gen Zers already seem to be getting labeled "job-hoppers," but here's some good news: A 2020 survey by tech company Zapier found that Gen Zers plan to stay at their jobs for an average of six years. One hopes that's at least six years and could be much longer for good employees supported by their employers.


Original post by Lynda Silsbee
Founder of the Alliance for Leadership Acceleration and Member of the Forbes Coaches Council

A message from the founder of Alliance for Leadership Acceleration and creator of the LEAP®, Leadership Acceleration Program, Lynda Silsbee.

This past week or so has been a struggle, with many of us not sure what to say or do. It’s important that we take a stand and educate ourselves. Personally, I’m using this time to listen, learn, engage, and work to do better as a leader. Our informal mission at Performance Dimensions Group is to improve the world of work one leader at a time, and we need stronger leadership and change now more than ever. The COVID19 lockdown has been stressful for everyone and we’ve finally begun to ‘unlock’. Just as we think about returning to work, we are confronted with the reality of terrible brutality and injustices resulting in the deaths of Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, and George Floyd (and far too many others before this). My tears from mourning have turned to tears of anger, inflaming a desire to do something with my own privilege. This outcry for action comes from a movement for racial equality and justice that has spanned generations, our silence and inaction are no longer acceptable.
 
But where do we start? What can we do? I started by asking my black colleagues and friends. Consistently, they have told me to become informed racial inequality and educate myself on anti-racism. Even though I thought I was doing enough in the past, becoming more intentional about this process has shown me where I can grow. On this journey of becoming informed, I'm sharing the following resources and information, which have been very helpful and educational.

• Anti-Racism resources for white people: A large collection of information, articles, books, videos, organizations to follow that was documented and compiled by Sarah Sophie Flicker and Alyssa Klein in May 2020.
  bit.ly/ANTIRACISMRESOURCES
• Online Racial Equity Workshops: A collection by EventBrite from experts on a wide variety of topics.
  https://bit.ly/BLM_eventbriteEducation
• Business leadership “The Future of Work” Summer Series from the Bellevue Chamber: A series of excellent topics from a broad cross-section of thought leaders. 
  https://www.bigmarker.com/series/future-of-work-leadership-co/series_summit 

As a small business, we also want to share our commitment to action moving forward. As a call out to those remaining on the sidelines, any action taken is a step in the right direction. It will not be enough to do on our own and we invite you to join us in being a part of the change to a world where all people are guaranteed equal rights. We will get there faster if we do it together! Here are our commitments to help us build a better workplace for us and our clients:
 

1. We commit to educating ourselves and seeking out resources that will help us better understand the issues surrounding inequality, injustice, and racism. 
2. We commit to donating financially and pro-bono consulting time to help support the change we want to see in the world now. We are researching which organizations to start with and welcome suggestions or collaboration.
3. We commit to bringing in more consultants on our team from underrepresented minorities.
4. We commit to speak out and speak up to amplify the voices of those seeking equity and justice.
5. We commit to talking less and listening more. We must give time and space to those whose voices have not been heard.

Our mission is to help our clients create GREAT places to work – together we can be the change we want to see in the world! I am thankful to those around me who continue to engage in the difficult conversations, ask tough questions, and draw attention to the ways we can be better.

"Employee Engagement Is No Laughing Matter" originally appeared on Forbes.com.

Few employers would argue that there are no hard costs to disengaged employees. But it's usually not easy to pinpoint exactly how much money an organization loses to workers who aren't committed — with some degree of passion — to their work.

A 2017 study put some dollar signs to the problem and the results might not only surprise you, but also reinforce the importance of taking employee engagement seriously.

Billion-Dollar Problem

The study in question is called DNA of Engagement: How Organizations Can Foster Employee Ownership of Engagement. It was performed by The Engagement Institute, which represents a collaboration of various firms, including The Conference Board, Sirota-Mercer and Deloitte. The study gathered responses from 1,500 participants from U.S. businesses.

The results were daunting, to say the least. The study estimated that disengaged employees cost businesses somewhere between $450 and $550 billion a year. Fortunately, there lies some hope within other insights gleaned from the data. Specifically, 95% of respondents recognized when they're becoming disengaged. And employees tend to assume most engagement initiatives should come from leadership.

Questions and Answers

I've worked with proven tools and techniques for more than 25 years to assess organizational and leadership effectiveness, so I'm always happy to discuss ways to take active steps to increase productivity, employee morale and engagement.

Let's start with the fact that most employees know when they're becoming disengaged. This is a good thing. Why? Because if they know it, they can tell you — and you can do something about it.

For this reason, conducting employee engagement surveys is a good idea. Ask the right questions and you should be able to pick up on policies, procedures and projects that are dragging down morale and leading employees on the path to disengagement.

Employee surveys are generally best conducted anonymously to help ensure the honesty of responses. On the downside, this means you'll be unable to identify specific disengaged workers. But you can still detect negative trends and ask for suggestions on how to correct them.

Of course, the shortest and most direct route to determining whether any given employee is disengaged is to simply ask. I don't mean barging into someone's office or confronting anyone in the hallway. Rather, as part of the performance management process, instruct supervisors to ask gentle but pointed questions to determine whether a worker is:

• Truly engaged;
• Mildly disengaged (simply going through the motions), or;
• Actively disengaged (a dangerous state in which the person could willfully misbehave or seek to do harm to your organization).

For both approaches — conducting surveys and discussing engagement as a part of performance management — regularity is key. Ideally, conduct an employee engagement survey once a year and have supervisors check in with their employees several times a year (perhaps quarterly) to discuss progress toward employment objectives and whether their engagement is waxing or waning.

Big-Picture Solutions

Now let's get back to another one of the DNA of Engagement survey's interesting findings: that employees typically operate under the assumption that engagement initiatives should and will come from leadership. This, too, is good news — mainly because it clarifies any confusion that may exist about where engagement efforts start.

Some employers may believe that it's the employee's job to find his or her own motivation and do a great job no matter what. In an ideal world, sure, maybe this is true. And, under fortunate circumstances, you might encounter employees who are purely self-motivated and go above and beyond the call with little prompting. However, by and large, workers rely on leadership to help them find their way forward and to recognize and reward their accomplishments.

So, make sure employee engagement remains a constant priority for your organization. You can do so in several "big picture" ways:

1. Establish a clear mission. Every organization should have a clearly worded and actionable mission statement. Without one, employees tend to feel like their work has little value beyond a paycheck every couple of weeks — and that's not a recipe for long-term success or the retention of good workers. Help employees understand how their work advances your goals. Discuss your mission statement regularly in meetings big and small.
2. Communicate clearly. Once employees understand the big picture — your mission statement — they need consistent guidance on how to fulfill their respective roles in accomplishing that mission. Doing so means linking strategic planning with job duties, so work assignments make sense and each employee can envision their own journey ahead with the employer.
3. Leverage technology. It's the solution to everything, right? Well, no, but there are certainly ways to deploy technology to improve engagement. For example, choose technology tools that are simple and appealing to the type and demographic of employees in each department or work group. Assuming you can put effective security measures in place, a BYOD — bring your own device — policy can help employees communicate naturally using tools they're familiar with. Also, use unified communication software to eliminate silos and help employees feel less isolated and more connected to their coworkers and the organization.

No Silver Bullet
​
More than likely, there will never be a "silver bullet" to employee engagement. Every employee is a little bit different from the next, and employers face an ongoing challenge to hire the right people, onboard them properly and then keep them engaged for as long as an employment arrangement makes sense for both parties involved.


Original post by Lynda Silsbee
Founder of the Alliance for Leadership Acceleration and Member of the Forbes Coaches Council