Personal Excellence - July 2022

JULY 2022 • Vol. 27 • No. 07 (ISSN 2564-1948)

The Case For Purpose In Career Development - Misty Frost, CEO, Penn Foster / Carrus

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16

The Relationally Intelligent Introvert

Making This A Golden Age

Bandelli & Associates

Narrative Television Network

Personal - Dr. Adam C. Excellence Bandelli, presented by HR.com

July 2022Stovall, 1 - Jim

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10 Rules For Brainstorming Success - Susan Robertson, Harvard Instructor

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Four Best Practices For A Hybrid Meeting Submit Your Articles - Lisa Apolinski, 3 Dog Write

INDEX

Personal Excellence JULY 2022

Vol.27

No.07

(ISSN 2564-1948)

07

The Case For Purpose In Career Development

On the Cover

Why defining your purpose leads to the most fulfilling, long-term career pathways

- Misty Frost,

CEO, Penn Foster / Carrus

Articles 14 A Dream Evolved Wanting more than what you thought you always wanted

- Brittany McCollum, Owner, Black In Business 18 The Pull Of Purpose How stewardship creates both impact and belonging in the workplace

- David R. York, Attorney and Managing Partner, York Howell & Guymon.

23 Commit To A Shared Transformational Journey 4 elements you need to be mindful of

- Richard Hawkes, Founder, Growth River 27 7 Ways To Help Employees Build Stronger Relationships With Their Money Making an impact that will last a lifetime

- Tim Perkins, Co-Founder, nudge

32 Having A Best Friend At Work Matters Building a sense of belonging at work

- Laura Putnam, CEO, Motion Infusion

Top Picks

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INDEX

The Relationally Intelligent Introvert You don’t have to be extroverted to be wired for connection - Dr. Adam C. Bandelli, Founder & Managing Director, Bandelli & Associates

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Making This A Golden Age If you believe this is a golden age, your mind will manifest magic and miracles

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- Jim Stovall, President, Narrative Television Network

10 Rules For Brainstorming Success How to effectively generate creative solutions in any setting - Susan Robertson, Harvard Instructor

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Four Best Practices For A Hybrid Meeting How to get the best of both worlds - Lisa Apolinski, Founder, 3 Dog

Write

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EDITOR’S NOTE Editorial Purpose

Babitha Balakrishnan

Debbie Mcgrath

Our mission is to promote personal and

Publisher, HR.com

professional development based on

Editor, Personal Excellence

constructive values, sound ethics, and timeless principles.

Excellence Publications Debbie McGrath

CEO, HR.com - Publisher

Dawn Jeffers VP, Sales

Sue Kelley

Director (Product, Marketing, and Research)

Babitha Balakrishnan and Deepa Damodaran

Excellence Publications Managers and Editors

Personal Excellence Team Babitha Balakrishnan Editor

Chinnavel

Design and Layout (Digital Magazine)

Chandra Shekar

Magazine (Online Version)

Submissions & Correspondence

Live in the Moment and Enjoy the Present!

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he pandemic-led disruptions changed every aspect of people’s life in an unprecedented manner.

The crisis impacted people in different ways and many utilized this opportunity to set their priorities right. Is it easy to set achievable goals? If you’re in the process of assessing and setting your personal and career goals, check out the July issue of Personal Excellence.

For many people, finding their purpose or “why” leads them to their long-term career pathway. There are a few questions to be asked in order to identify a personal career purpose.

Learn about that and more in Misty Frost’s article, The Case For Purpose In Career Development, where Misty highlights why defining your purpose leads to the most fulfilling, long-term career pathways.

Please send any correspondence, articles, letters to the editor, and requests to reprint, republish, or excerpt articles to ePubEditors@hr.com.

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Personal Excellence

Being an introvert is a great asset for many leaders. Did you know that relationally intelligent introverts are skilled at connecting with people and building strong, long-lasting relationships.? Read Dr. Adam C. Bandelli’s article, The Relationally Intelligent Introvert, which emphasizes that you don’t have to be extroverted to be wired for connection.

How many of us live in the present?

If you believe that there are no opportunities available in the world today, your thoughts will make it so.

And if you believe this is a golden age, your mind will manifest magic and miracles, says Jim Stovall, in his article, Making This A Golden Age. Do you have a best friend at work?

Longstanding data from Gallup shows that those who have a best friend at work are seven times more likely to be highly engaged in their work. Laura Putnam, in her article, Having A Best Friend At Work Matters, talks about the concept of a “work spouse” that leads to positive workplace culture.

In brief, we have hand-picked 10 articles that can help you, as you begin, or continue your journey toward personal and professional excellence. We hope you enjoy reading all the articles and get back to us with your valuable feedback.

Happy Reading!

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(ISSN 2564-1948)

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COVER ARTICLE

The Case For Purpose In Career Development Why defining your purpose leads to the most fulfilling, long-term career pathways

By Misty Frost, Penn Foster / Carrus

C

areers, like people, aren’t made in exactly one way.

We all know people who knew precisely what they wanted in their career right from the get-go, but they tend to be the exception to the rule. In fact, studies show helping employees align purpose with work is essential to increase engagement and create a culture of learning at work.

For many people, finding their purpose or “why” leads them to their long-term career pathway.

Then, it’s up to each individual to learn and to offer training that promotes the continued acquisition of skills throughout each person’s career. The work takes time, but when it aligns with purpose, it becomes energizing instead of taxing.

This certainly resonates, and Simon Sinek’s best-selling book “Start With Why” certainly proves this point. But, figuring out a personal ‘why,’ let alone finding a company or industry whose purpose aligns well with that purpose, can seem daunting.

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July 2022

There are a few questions to ask in order to identify a personal career purpose. ● What Are Your Intrinsic Strengths? ● What Interests Would You Like To Explore? ● What Can You Contribute To The World and How Does This Align with Personal Fulfillment?

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Annual Gallup polls show that many people are not specially engaged in their work. In fact, the most recent statistic showed only 36% of employees are engaged at work. One reason for this could be that their purpose is unrelated to their current position—and it could even be something they never considered doing.

Understanding common career myths and taking an introspective

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The Case For Purpose In Career Development

very telling and help identify an engaging work environment. This information, combined with a clear understanding of personal purpose, can lead to a powerful career path that promotes continuous learning, skills development, and engagement for the long term.

Recommended Resources: ●● Gartner: Employees Seek Personal Value and Purpose at Work. Be Prepared to Deliver ●● McKinsey: Help your employees find purpose--or watch them leave | McKinsey

For employers, it’s important to identify the skills needed to achieve business goals and then invest in people to help build and strengthen those skills. At the same time, since most jobs don’t happen in a vacuum, people, and therefore trust, play an important role in professional development.

look at career ruts can help employees identify the purpose and then engage in training to build the skills needed to get to the career they want. Some common myths about purpose include: ●● Purpose is unchanging ●● Purpose must always be altruistic ●● One’s career purpose is their identity These myths, and many others can stump a person who is trying to figure out what skills to develop and how to develop their career.

Throughout careers, the specifics of career purpose can change over time, while some key overall goals tend to remain steadfast.

Once myths are recognized for what they are, it becomes easier to chart a career path and determine how training can get employees from being in a rut to being engaged.

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July 2022

There are common elements for a company that establishes trust among its leaders and throughout the organization: The team has fun, performs better, and brings forward some new approaches to solving problems for customers.

Not everything works, but the initiatives that do work generate revenue and help organizations become wildly successful market leaders.

Misty Frost, CEO of Penn Foster / Carrus. She is a former global marketing executive, board member, and advisor who strategically empowers companies to build and sustain lifetime product relevance through a keen understanding of global consumer needs and expectations. Her experience in global markets gives her a unique perspective on creating strategic differentiation in the mind of today’s sophisticated customers.

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With the great resignation continuing, as people look for their next roles, or if they are in an interview setting, asking leaders how they build trust and invest in training can be

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Top Pick

The Relationally Intelligent Introvert You don’t have to be extroverted to be wired for connection

By Dr. Adam C. Bandelli, Bandelli & Associates

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any of our clients often ask me if it is possible for introverts to have strong Relational Intelligence. As an extrovert, I have found this to be a fascinating question. The typical stereotypes of introverts are that they are presumed to be anti-social, dislike most people, and are not personable. On the contrary, many introverts love meaningful conversations and relationships. Susan Cain, the author of the book, Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can’t Stop Talking, argues that modern western culture misjudges the capabilities of introverted people. Cain describes how society is biased against introverts, and that, people are taught from childhood that being sociable is to be desired.

Introversion is often considered somewhere between disappointment and certain types of pathology.

Research conducted by organizational psychologists and behavioral scientists supports Cain’s perspective.

Numerous studies have found that introverts deeply value socialization. High-quality personal relationships play a key role in introverts’ overall happiness, well-being, and fulfillment. However, the common misconception is that extroverts are greater at building relationships. That’s because they place more importance on social interactions, are energized and refreshed after being in a crowd, and prefer to work in groups or teams rather than independently.

However, our research at Bandelli & Associates has found that introverts often possess greater levels of Relational Intelligence than extroverts do.

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Relationally intelligent introverts are often highly self-aware, observant, and are excellent listeners.

In fact, one study conducted in 2018 by Newport Healthcare found that introverts tend to make more accurate observations about human behavior than extroverts. Introverts tend to “read” people and situations better. They also tend to think before speaking, meaning they’re less likely to say something at the wrong time or place in organizational settings.

Relationally intelligent introverts are also more curious and inquisitive than extroverts. They ask questions first before having the need to share their thoughts or perspectives with others. And when they ask questions, they actively listen to what another person is communicating. They don’t feel the need to prepare their response as someone is speaking, which is often a bad habit for many extroverts.

Relationally intelligent introverts are highly skilled at putting themselves in other people’s shoes. They have deep levels of empathy and use their EQ to understand their emotions, and those of others when building relationships.

Although introverts may feel more comfortable focusing on their inner thoughts and ideas, rather than on what is happening externally, this does not mean that they are not wired for deep, intimate connections.

Mistaking introversion for shyness is a common error. Introversion is a personality preference, while

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The Relationally Intelligent Introvert

shyness can often stem from trauma or distress.

Our research on Relational Intelligence suggests introversion is not a “second-class” trait but is a great asset for many leaders. Here are five ways relationally intelligent introverts are highly skilled at connecting with people and building strong, long-lasting relationships.

1. Use of energy to Establish Rapport when meeting new people: One of the many differences between relationally intelligent introverts and extroverts is where introverts choose to place their ENERGY. Introverts are completely comfortable being alone.

Silence is extremely calming to them. They also tend to be deep thinkers. They thrive off conversations that provoke thoughts. So, when introverts meet people for the first time, they have a knack for creating a strong initial positive connection because they are selective in the language and word choices that they use.

They understand how to use non-verbal behaviors and eye contact to draw others into a conversation.

And they are comfortable when there are pauses in a discussion. They use this time to reflect on what is being communicated, whereas extroverts dread moments of silence when interacting with others.

2. Active listening and empathy when Understanding Others: One of the greatest Relational Intelligence

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skills that introverts possess is how they learn about people. Relationally intelligent introverts are INTENTIONAL about putting in the time and effort needed to get to know others on a deep level. Because introverts prefer smaller, more intimate gatherings, it gives them greater opportunities to spend quality one-on-one time with people. Introverts are also phenomenal active listeners. Unlike extroverts, who can hear someone with their ears, but not pay attention because they are so focused on what they are going to say next, introverts take time to process and internalize the “what” and “how” others are communicating. This enables them to empathize on a deeper level and emotionally connect with friends, colleagues, and coworkers.

3. Greater thought and reflection about human behavior when Embracing Individual Differences: Relationally intelligent introverts process people and events for longer periods before sharing their thoughts, feelings, and reactions. Because they have less of an impulsive desire to speak before thinking, they take more time to learn and understand what makes others unique. Our research has found that AUTHENTICITY tends to be more important for introverts than it does for extroverts. This is because many extroverts enjoy being the center of attention and can put on facades easily to make their social

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The Relationally Intelligent Introvert

Many introverts are empaths. They feel emotions on a deeper, more powerful way than most extroverts do.

And because introverts tend to have high EQ, and are reflective thinkers, what they share with their friends and loved ones are usually well thought out. Where extroverts talk more than they listen, and can have the tendency to dominate conversations, introverts choose their words wisely. So, when relationally intelligent introverts provide feedback or input to others it can have a greater positive IMPACT on the lives of those they care about. Introverts do not get joy or pleasure from having surface-level relationships, so the people they choose as friends find them to be great listeners who are not judgmental. Introverts accept people for who they are and this contributes to the depth of the relationships they build over time.

interactions more enjoyable. Introverts, on the other hand, tend to have close relationships with a smaller number of friends, so “being themselves” comes more naturally.

4. Invest more time in Developing Trust with people: Researchers have found that introverts typically have very close relationships with a smaller number of friends than their extroverted counterparts. These relationships can span decades because of the commitment and investment introverts make to get to know those they care about. When a relationally intelligent introvert has the desire to build a relationship with someone, they have an easier time being honest, candid, and VULNERABLE. Using these types of behaviors is what quickly strengthens the bonds an introvert has with those they invite into their ”inner circle.”

Although most people are not on the extreme ends of the scale when it comes to introversion or extroversion, historically introverts tend to get a bad reputation. They are viewed as naturally withdrawn, shy, and antisocial while extroverts are seen as charismatic, outgoing, boisterous, and assertive.

It’s time for introverts to be acknowledged and commended for many of the great qualities they bring to developing relationships. While you may not be able to change your personality, you can learn, practice, and apply the skills of Relational Intelligence.

In fact, introverts may be able to pick up these skills quicker than extroverts and it’s why they have the natural ability to build great relationships with others.

Adam C. Bandelli, Ph.D., is the Founder & Managing Director of Bandelli & Associates, a boutique consulting firm focusing on leadership advisory services and organizational effectiveness. He is the author of the book Relational Intelligence: The Five Essential Skills You Need to Build Life-Changing Relationships.

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5. Develop deep, close-knit relationships that enable them to Cultivate Influence on those they care about:

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A Dream Evolved Wanting more than what you thought you always wanted

By Brittany McCollum, Black In Business

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e all have that one ultimate dream that we have always wanted to accomplish. I consider myself an ambitious person, so it would be unacceptable for me to not work diligently toward my goals.

For about seven years straight, I would find myself still happy and fulfilled on this mission. But, then something changed.

Can you relate?

Early on in my career, I made it my mission to change the way employees experience HR, and the way employers leveraged us. When I set this goal, I didn’t realize that it is the very thing that would keep me driven and focused on the impact I wanted to have on the world.

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Previously, I wrote about my approach to HR; establishing ground-up HR departments to set the tone for the way the employee experience would be managed. But my environment was driving me away from that, to having a more comprehensive and total

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A Dream Evolved

care approach to human in general. So, I positioned myself as a resource and started using my skills & expertise to help develop the professionals in my community.

Over the past few years, the disproportionate lack of professional development resources available in communities of color became more and more prevalent. So over that time, becoming a professional development community resource is something that I’ve grown very passionate about.

Did I mention that I am goal-driven? As in I will do everything I say that I will?

You too? Okay... great!

In my quest to become a more valuable resource to the city, I got comfortable in a job where I wasn’t the Head of HR - this was new. This level of comfort allowed me to seamlessly change course a bit on my personal mission, while still seeing my original mission through.

That regulated my emotions instantly. My reminder was this: Don’t ever be afraid of wanting more than what you thought you have always wanted.

I had to understand that that particular path (back up the HR ladder) was not the one I was on anymore.

What I had originally perceived as actions that were taken against me, was now understood as a shift to further align me with the new direction I was headed, in preparation for a disconnected exit (because I’ve worked jobs that I didn’t want to leave and that’s tough).

If you have ever been in this space, or find yourself here now, remind yourself of what your goal is and make sure that you are moving strategically toward it. Stay focused on the path you are on. I learned firsthand that there will always be something quick or easy that can change your situation, but if you let it distract you, you will end up further from your goal.

Remember that you are growing, even if it doesn’t look the way that you are used to seeing it.

Well, things changed where I worked. People left the company. The Head of HR had just resigned and not been replaced.

I, being my ambitious self, applied for the position the moment it opened. Of course, I was excited about the chance to be Head of HR again, who wouldn’t be?

Well, my application was never submitted to the CEO, and the position was subsequently put on hold. As you can imagine, for a short time I felt sabotaged. Like something or someone was getting in the way of me getting what I wanted, and felt I deserved.

But wait...

There was a moment of self-reflection after I publicly asked for guidance, that made me realize that I’m just too used to wanting what I always wanted. It was that comfort level that fostered feelings of something getting in the way of me losing it. But what am I losing? Nothing!

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Brittany McCollum, SHRM-SCP is the Owner of Black In Business. She is an expert in personal growth and HR effectiveness who has helped dozens of professionals attain their goals by bridging the gap between their vision and performance. As an advisor to company executives, students, and other growing professionals for over 7 years, Brittany McCollum, SHRM-SCP brings an influential approach to individual development & progression through her coaching.

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Top Pick

Making This A Golden Age If you believe this is a golden age, your mind will manifest magic and miracles

By Jim Stovall, Narrative Television Network

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e human beings are too often plagued with, what I would call, the Greener Grass Syndrome. This syndrome involves looking back in time and declaring a point in history as “the good old days” or projecting into the future and declaring “someday things will get better.” In reality, the only point in recorded history that matters to you and me is the current immediate moment we are living right now.

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Yesterday is a canceled check, and tomorrow is a promissory note. Today is cash, so we need to recognize its value and spend it wisely. Virgil, the Latin poet, has been quoted as saying, “Today is the great golden age.” Virgil proved to be prophetic as the period surrounding his creative life is considered a golden age of thought and literature. But in Virgil’s life and the history of the world, that period emerged as a golden age because he believed it was.

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Making This A Golden Age

If, on the other hand, Virgil had believed that conditions during his time were not conducive to new thoughts and ideas, or if he was stuck in the mindset that things aren’t as good as they used to be in the past or would be in the future, we would likely have never heard of Virgil or been aware of the wisdom he brought to the world.

There are always a million reasons why we can’t succeed here and now, but here and now is all we have, and it is as fertile and filled with promise as we believe it to be. There are always obstacles and challenges. Somehow we convince ourselves that people living today face obstacles that no previous generation ever had to experience. There have always been wars, pandemics, and financial downturns. My late, great friend and mentor Paul Harvey said, “It’s times like these that remind us there have always been times like these.”

There are always critics, negative thinkers, and naysayers. They confront us daily just as they did during Virgil’s time. If Virgil were alive here in the 21st century, I’m quite certain he would declare the current

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moment in which you and I are living as a golden age.

If you believe there are no opportunities available in the world today, your thoughts will make it so. And if you believe this is a golden age, your mind will manifest magic and miracles.

As you go through your day today, look for the positive elements that make this a golden age.

Today’s the day!

Jim Stovall is the President of Narrative Television Network as well as a published author of many books including, The Ultimate Gift. He is also a columnist and motivational speaker.

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The Pull Of Purpose How stewardship creates both impact and belonging in the workplace

By David R. York, York Howell & Guymon

T

he Capurso Winery is a fifth-generation family vineyard on the outskirts of Verona, Italy. Founded in 1896, it sits on forty pristine acres nestled amid rolling green hills, not far from where Romeo and Juliet (allegedly) fell in love. When visiting the winery in 2019, I had the opportunity to tour the grounds and talk with the daughter of the owner who operates the winery while raising the sixth generation on the property. Marveling at the scenery as well as the longevity of these family vineyards, I asked her, “What is the secret of a five-generation business?”

that beauty drives deep engagement and hard work.

By keeping the two in balance, the Capursos have successfully operated their vineyard for more than 120 years.

She looked at me, thought for a moment, and said, “It is one word.” My mind raced through all the possible catchwords she might toss out: family, vision, commitment, profit, wine (alcohol). She said, “The secret is passion.” She then defined passion to me in a way that revolutionized how I saw both business and life: “It is a beautiful work, but it is also very hard.

You have to both look up and see the beauty, and then look down and do the work.”

Most of the non-steward world operates within an “if/then” mindset. In other words, if I do X, then Y will happen, or if I do A, then the world/others will do B. This mindset renders life mechanical, transactional, and outcome-based. In contrast, businesses that operate with a stewardship mentality have a clear knowledge of who they are, what they value, and what they believe and operate with a “because/ therefore” view of the world. This unique perspective makes life infinitely more relational, intentional, and transcendent. “Because” (that value or perspective that is transcendent) leads to “therefore” (deep personal investment).

As you look at enduring businesses, two essential characteristics begin to emerge: investment and transcendence. Put another way, organizations that thrive in the long run are invariably filled with women and men who are fully invested in something bigger than themselves. They don’t see themselves as disengaged employees driven by profits but as deeply engaged stewards drawn by purpose. For them, the why and the who of these businesses always come before the what or the how of those businesses. At the Capurso Winery, you see these two essential building blocks of stewardship on full display. For them, the transcendent element is the beauty and

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Businesses with a mindset and mentality of stewardship will likely become the most impactful and enduring organizations in the future. Steward businesses, at their core, are all about two essential elements of stewardship: Purpose and people.

Clear Purpose

Transcendence is the driver and the stewards within the business are the agents, investing their energies in something bigger than themselves. The expectations are on the self, not on the outcome: Because we value X as a business, I, therefore, expect myself to do Y. A because/therefore orientation also makes decisionmaking easier. A few years ago, I worked with a very successful family office that had recently sold a major

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The Pull Of Purpose

asset that had been the focus of decades of hard work and effort. It was an asset that carried with it tremendous name-brand recognition and value in the marketplace. As they prepared to launch into the next phase of their business, they ended up settling on three values that they felt had marked their brand in the past and that they wanted to continue to mark it moving forward: Loyalty, integrity and excellence.

Later in the day, they started to debate the merits of a particular investment they had been contemplating for months. The project had substantial upside as well as the potential for very solid cash flow. However, it was going to require expending a large amount of time and effort in a location geographically remote from their current operations. I asked them a single question to help them clarify their thinking: “Can you do this new proposed project with excellence?”

“No,” the CEO of the family office immediately responded. “It’s decided, then. We aren’t going to do the project.” While they could have made significant profits, they realized that they couldn’t execute the project with the excellence they wanted their brand to represent. When viewed through the lens of their three transcendent values, their decision-making

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became clear, straightforward, and simple. By not investing in this project, they were able to keep their energy and resources available for those projects and opportunities that checked off all three of their essential values.

Cohesive People

Within a business, cohesion is the sense of being a united whole with shared connection and commonality. Cohesive businesses have employees who feel they are an important part of the group, they forge bonds more easily, and they treat others with respect. The difference between simply having a job with co-workers and having intention with a sense of cohesion is the addition of purpose. Once you have that clear sense of purpose, you can use that purpose to build deep and meaningful cohesion, which leads to higher retention, more engaged employees, and greater impact.

One of the most important things to understand about cohesion, and why steward businesses focus on both purpose and people, is that there are actually two types of cohesion: social cohesion and task cohesion.

Social cohesion is the emotional connection a group

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The Pull Of Purpose

feels on a relational level—their sense of friendship, closeness, and caring. People in groups with high social cohesion enjoy spending time together and feel a strong attachment to one another. Task cohesion, on the other hand, is the connection a group feels when they work together on a shared purpose or common challenge. Task cohesion has to do with a group’s commitment to completing a specific goal or objective.

From a social standpoint, cohesion can be developed by taking a step back from the myriad differences that divide us and finding shared values, experiences, or associations. Identifying areas where we can agree, or positive experiences we can share, can help develop social cohesion within a group. While social cohesion can be a powerful force, it is not without its potential negative side effects, which can include a desire for conformity (so that you appear to be an integrated member of the group), groupthink, and over-socializing—which can hamper a group that desires to be productive in addition to sociable. Social cohesion also tends to be easy for extroverts but may be more difficult for introverted individuals, which can further limit its effectiveness. Finally, in a diverse world with people from different backgrounds and experiences, social cohesion can be difficult to achieve.

The second way to build cohesion is through task cohesion, which relates to the commitment to achieve a purpose or goal in a collective manner.

Task cohesion can be found in sports teams, military platoons, purposed businesses, visionary nonprofit organizations, and even within certain highly intentional families and groups of friends. There are two potential benefits to focusing on task cohesion in addition to, or even in place of, social cohesion.

First, task cohesion typically results in higher performance than social cohesion. Researchers who have studied high-performing sports teams found that teams with a stronger sense of cohesion tended to significantly outperform those with lower levels of cohesion. Beyond achieving better performance, highly cohesive, task-oriented groups interact more with each other, develop more supportive and communicative climates, are friendlier and

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more cooperative, and have a greater belief that their personal and group goals are being met than low-cohesion groups.

Second, task cohesion can overcome many of the differences that can stymie groups attempting to rely on social cohesion. Instead of straining mightily to find similarities within a diverse group, which can become especially trying in larger numbers, focusing on a meaningful task can naturally bring groups to a high state of cohesion. For example, strong task cohesion often is found in the military, where individuals from a wide variety of backgrounds, lifestyles, beliefs, and perspectives find that working together, especially in perilous situations, brings a sense of cohesion that can last a lifetime.

Businesses that employ a stewardship mentality can reap several powerful benefits. By clearly articulating their transcendent purpose, they can both bring simplicity to decision-making and attract like-minded employees. In addition, that purpose can be used to create enhanced commonality and cohesion within their people, allowing those businesses to get the complimentary benefits of both unity and diversity.

David R. York is the author of the book, The Gift of Lift: Harnessing the Power of Stewardship to Elevate the World. David is an attorney, CPA, and managing partner of York Howell & Guymon, named an Inc. 5000 FastestGrowing Company. He works with closely held business owners and ultra-high net worth clients in the areas of tax and estate planning. He has co-authored two nonfiction books (Entrusted: Building a Legacy That Lasts and Riveted: 44 Values that Change the World), given a Ted Talk, and is a frequent national speaker.

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10 Rules For Brainstorming Success How to effectively generate creative solutions in any setting

By Susan Robertson, Harvard Instructor

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nline interaction or in-person interaction -which is more creative? Both. Or neither. It is solely dependent on how the meeting is structured and managed.

Effective creative thinking requires adherence to specific guidelines. If done casually, without guidelines, it won’t be effective regardless of online or in-person.

A recent study found that online interactions result in less creativity than face-to-face. The reason: when online, people mostly stare at the screen, rather than letting their eyes wander around, which sparks more divergent thoughts.

But the flaw with this study was that the conditions that actually result in creative thinking were not set; not in the online nor the in-person experiments. So, even though the in-person interactions were slightly more creative, neither were very creative at all, in the absolute.

10 Rules for Brainstorming Success – In Any Environment 1. Free them from fear. It’s very difficult for people to share ideas if they’re concerned about negative consequences. A climate that helps people get past the fear is critical. One key principle is to prohibit any evaluation (even positive evaluation) during the idea generation phase. All evaluation occurs only after idea generation is complete.

2. Use the power of the group. Build, combine, and create new ideas at the moment. Don’t just collect ideas that people have already had. The building and combining is where the

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magic happens. Break up into pairs or small groups to encourage even more building and combining.

3. Get outside stimulus. Asking the same people to sit in the same place and review the same information won’t result in exciting, new ideas. Talk to your customers, talk to other experts, explore what other industries are doing. Have the in-person meeting in a park or museum. If online, mail everyone some dollar-store toys in advance, or play music or show unusual pictures.

4. Encourage the crazy. Something often heard at the beginning of a brainstorming: “Every idea is a good idea.” Followed by a collective eye roll because no one believes it.

While it’s not true that every idea is a practical idea, it is true that every idea can offer a useful stimulus for

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additional ideas. Sometimes ideas thrown in as jokes can be the spark that leads to new direction and a winning idea. So allow, encourage, and use every idea, even if only for creative fodder.

5. It’s a numbers game. The more “at bats” you have, the more likely you are to hit a home-run. Drive for quantity. Ensure the session is long enough to generate lots. If you only spend 10 minutes, don’t expect great results.

6. Laugh a lot. Humor stimulates creativity, so let it happen. One easy way - have everyone introduce themselves by answering a fun or silly question. Here’s one used in a session in December – “What’s something you DON’T need more of for the holidays?” The resulting answers were hilarious, and some even started sparking real ideas!

7. Homework is required. Both individual and group efforts are critical for success. Insist on individual preparation. Ensure everyone knows the goal, and ask them to do some homework in advance.

8. It’s not casual. Effective brainstorming requires skillful facilitation, which is a different set of skills from managing other meeting types. There must be a designated facilitator, who is NOT the primary problem owner. The role of the facilitator is to objectively

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manage the process. Ideally, the facilitator should be someone who has no stake in the outcome and can remain neutral to all content.

Designate a facilitator far enough in advance that the person has time to fully plan the session, and potentially study up on how to do it well.

9. If it looks like a duck, but doesn’t act like a duck, it’s not a duck. If you can’t, or don’t intend to, follow the guidelines for successful brainstorming, then don’t call it brainstorming. For example, a meeting that just becomes a stage for one person to spout their opinions isn’t useful. And if a brainstorming is not organized and structured appropriately, everyone will feel how ineffective it is, and they’ll be sure to skip your next session. So, either set up for success, or don’t bother.

10.You’re not done until you decide. Everyone has been in this situation; it’s the end of a brainstorming session, a long list of ideas has been created, and someone volunteers to type up the list. And…. that’s it. There’s no action, or at least none that we’re aware of. It’s demotivating to spend time and energy generating ideas only to feel they went nowhere.

Plan time for selecting and prioritizing the ideas during the session. Spend at least

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an equal amount of time on converging as you do on diverging. Yes, you read that right. If you generate ideas for an hour, also spend at least an hour on selecting, clarifying, and planning. If you leave with a huge list of nebulous, potential ideas, that’s not success. The outcome should be a short list of clear ideas, and a plan for action.

Whether in-person or online, creativity happens when the correct conditions are set. If you’re doing it casually, without guidelines, and without skillful facilitation, it may not be tremendously effective. However, with appropriate focus on the process and environment, and by following these rules, you can effectively generate creative solutions in any setting.

Susan Robertson empowers individuals, teams, and organizations to more nimbly adapt to change, by transforming thinking from “why we can’t” to “how might we?” She is a creative thinking expert with over 20 years of experience speaking and coaching in Fortune 500 companies.

As an instructor on applied creativity at Harvard, Susan brings a scientific foundation to enhancing human creativity.

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Commit To A Shared Transformational Journey 4 elements you need to be mindful of

By Richard Hawkes, Growth River

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n my work with hundreds of teams at a diverse range of organizations, I have found that High Performing Teams are able to commit to a shared transformational journey. They are inspired, energized, and aligned around a shared journey and a sense of “being in it together.”

Creating The Transformational Journey Plan

The first step of the transformational journey is envisioning an “ideal future state.” That means, creating a shared vision for the upper reaches of the team’s potential. The ideal future state is not a static point in time; the future is open, flexible, and fluid.

This may sound paradoxical. But the open-ended, unformed nature of that ideal future state does not prevent a team from actively calling it into being through what they’re doing in the present. Here’s a four-step process for mapping out a team’s shared transformational journey as it moves toward its ideal future state.

Teams need to think about and respond to the following topics and questions: ●● A Vision for a Better Future: what is the ideal future state you’re working toward? ●● The Urgent Need for Change: what is the current state, including the gaps and constraints? ●● Priorities for Tomorrow: Given those gaps and that ideal, what are your priorities from today to tomorrow? How can you get your immediate

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needs met? What initiatives will drive horizontal optimization of your current state? ●● Breakthroughs to the Future: What are the breakthroughs you’re targeting to move from tomorrow to the future? What do we need to learn? What skills do we need to master? What initiatives or ahead-of-the-curve investments will drive vertical transformation?

If your team is not aligned around these four elements, you’re not on a transformational journey together. Once you are aligned around these, the team truly comes into focus. And it removes the anxiety that change often creates.

Event Horizons

High-performing teams do not focus only on far-flung potentials. They also align around individual and team priorities in the near term. Indeed, if you’re clear about the difference between today-to-tomorrow priorities and tomorrow-to-the-future breakthroughs, you can begin to distinguish event horizons— points in time beyond which you cannot yet know what’s coming.

The beauty of that is there’s no point getting hung up on those. Trying to control what you can’t influence just creates worry and unproductive stress. Instead, you can focus on working through the priorities that are clear and present as well as creating the conditions for the next breakthroughs. Those steps that lie beyond the event horizons are by definition beyond the team’s control.

A good example of an event horizon in many people’s lives is becoming a parent for the first

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Commit To A Shared Transformational Journey

At this time, it is easy for people to get distracted by speculating what the new context is going to be like, or how they will respond. However, these speculations are helpful only to a point, and can become timeconsuming, worrying, and a source of needless preoccupation.

time. The transformation can’t be understood until it is experienced, nor can it ever truly be reversed.

In the context of an organization or a team, vertical improvement, transformation, and breakthrough experiences can often create feelings of uncertainty.

That is because the team or company is facing an event horizon, and they can’t see what lies beyond. In the life of an organization, an event horizon might be a major organizational restructuring, an introduction of a new service or product, the launch of a new outside competitor. It might even be a seemingly small event such as a personnel change in the leadership team, or the introduction of new software for managing files.

Transformational change refers to irreversible changes in living systems, including people, teams, and companies, in order to adapt to different challenges in the environment.

Event horizons refer to any significant transformation point in time where you cannot envision how the system will react and adapt in the future. Managing the uncertainty before and after event horizons is the core challenge of leading transformational change.

Disruption refers to radical changes in an environment that make new ways of working necessary.

So, how does a team plan and manage event horizons? The key is to understand the nature of the uncertainty. The cause of uncertainty is different when preparing for an event horizon than it is in the period right after the change (see the definition of event horizon above). Before the event horizon, the uncertainty stems from the team’s inability to predict how the event horizon will change their ways of working.

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When team members are working towards an event horizon, a transformational journey mindset is critically important. Team members will have to be ready to walk the path and stay engaged even when the full implications of the next steps are unknown.

Once the event horizon has taken place, the nature of the uncertainty changes. After the event, it revolves around learning new ways of working needed to adapt to the new context. Sometimes those changes will be minor, but often they will require significant adjustments and learning. It is easy for people to cling to the old ways of working and resent having to change. That can also be unproductive, as the only way forward is to embrace the change, and learn and adjust in the new context.

There is nothing that bonds a team quite like being on an authentic transformational journey. It’s invigorating to share a continuous improvement journey with others on the same team, and to feel the joy of camaraderie and shared aspiration.

This article is adapted from Richard S. Hawkes’ book, Navigate the Swirl.

Richard S. Hawkes is the author of Navigate the Swirl and the Founder of Growth River, an international consultancy that guides leaders and teams to create higher performance in businesses and organizations. Hawkes helps companies identify and resolve constraints to success.

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Four Best Practices For A Hybrid Meeting How to get the best of both worlds

By Lisa Apolinski, 3 Dog Write

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hen the pandemic hit, the shift to virtual meetings was a blessing. Employees could still continue to work. Colleagues were able to collaborate.

Conferences and training could still happen. And virtual connection was better than no connection at all.

But the surge of virtual meetings was not without issues. According to a recent survey, since the start of the pandemic, 50 percent of employees have had one to three hours of virtual meetings per week. And while

complaints were frequent about the amount of time lost starting a meeting due to technical difficulties, still a little over half of the employees prefer virtual meetings, while just under half prefer in-person ones.

Perhaps due to the availability of online meetings, this survey also found that from 2020 to 2021, the number of meetings attended by workers has gone up by nearly 13 percent.

With an even split between wanting in-person and virtual meetings, and with workers spread further across the country (and world), creating a hybrid meeting would seem like the perfect combination.

The trick, however, is to plan on combining these two modes of engagement to have the best outcome rather than a happy (or not so happy) accident. Here are four tips to get the right combo from the start.

Incorporating Virtual Participants In Unique Ways

The idea of combining virtual and in-person does dictate which meeting venue leads and which venue is folded into the mix. Simply putting up a large screen on the side of the conference or meeting would be akin to having people call in on a conference line.

Instead, use a moderator both on the platform and at the in-person location to keep virtual attendees engaged. Have several monitors located around the room, as well as, several camera angles, so the virtual audience can be immersed in the physical environment.

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Four Best Practices For A Hybrid Meeting

Consider running polls with the virtual audience, sharing the poll results with everyone, and then asking in-person participants their reactions to the outcomes for further discussion. This is one time you don’t want to put your ‘virtual baby’ in a corner.

Testing, Testing, 1 – 2 - 3

Going back to the recent survey, the biggest complaint for meeting attendees was the delay of the start due to technical issues that should have been resolved.

This is where practice, practice, and practice come in.

When going for a hybrid meeting model, the weakest link in the proverbial chain is technology. Be sure to include AV and IT at the conference’s location and discuss those hybrid plans, so they can provide guidance on the technology equipment that is necessary to have things run smoothly. Asking for a “practice run” with the AV and IT teams at that location should be on the list of to-dos. The onsite team can act as the in-person attendees, and others can join via the virtual venue.

This testing ensures cameras are at the proper locations, lighting and microphones are placed properly, and the location’s bandwidth is able to handle the virtual surge in attendance. Understand and review the location’s backup plan if something fails as a final safety measure.

highlight how this meeting was different and allowed full participation, regardless of location.

Using Data From Virtual To Drive Better In-Person Engagement

The hardest part of conferences and meetings is the lack of data to make optimization decisions. By having virtual participants, the data capture can be leveraged.

This does not just include how many attendees are online, how long they stay, and how engaged they are with polls and the like. This is a captive audience who can also quickly do a short survey after a session or midway through a conference, to gain immediate feedback on how things are running.

Because these audiences are viewing the meeting or conference from a different angle, they can also observe those in person, and see how they are faring during the conference. It may feel like a little ‘big brother’, but conducting and recording observations can be a great way of seeing if the audience is engaged, tired, bored, etc.

Even as the population goes back to in-person conferences and meetings, virtual meetings will be around for quite some time. By combining both in a calculated and strategic way, there is a great opportunity to get the best of both worlds.

Grabbing On-Demand Content For Later

Live streaming the in-person meeting for the virtual audience provides a great post-conference opportunity. By having several camera angles and both virtual and in-person audience discussions, a post-production video can be developed that captures both engagement venues and combines them in a unique way.

Many conferences will capture in-person testimonials.

Since you have participants already on via a live streaming platform, this could also be a great time to ask a virtual participant to have a 30-second conversation about the conference or meeting during a break. These videos can be curated to make a virtual montage for those online participants and for social media engagement. On demand content can also

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Lisa Apolinski is an international speaker, digital strategist, author and founder of 3 Dog Write. She works with companies to develop and share their message using digital assets. Her latest book, Persuade With A Digital Content Story, was named one of the top content marketing books in the world by Book Authority.

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7 Ways To Help Employees Build Stronger Relationships With Their Money Making an impact that will last a lifetime

By Tim Perkins, nudge

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e’ve all heard of FOMO, but what about FOMMO? The fear of missing money opportunities.

We don’t tend to think of poor financial health in the traditional sense of ‘illness’, but financial unwellness has an impact on overall holistic wellbeing. In fact,

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45% of people globally feel anxious about their financial situation.

And unfortunately, anxiety can lead to avoidance. Poor financial health isn’t always visible on the surface so opening up the conversation around money and

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7 Ways To Help Employees Build Stronger Relationships With Their Money

supporting your people with financial well-being has never been more important.

How Can You Nudge Everyone Toward Financial Wellness?

We’ve outlined 7 ways you can help your less financially stable employees build stronger relationships with their money.

#1 Collate Data to Better Understand Their Needs When you’re faced with a challenge, your starting point should always be data. If you’re finding your financial wellness program uptake hasn’t achieved the results you expected - start by analyzing who is and isn’t engaging. Then deep dive into the disparate needs of the disengaged group to identify their challenges.

#2 Choose an Education-first Model

Once you have identified and understand why your people are disengaged - only then can provide and fill the knowledge gaps. Offering your people an education-first financial wellness solution allows you to be more inclusive. Why? Because an education-first model doesn’t assume what your people know about money management. Instead, it allows individuals to

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self-select topics more relevant to them and provides an experience that is tailored to their knowledge level, guiding people through at a pace that suits them.

#3 Design a Simple and Accessible Solution

When it comes to employee benefits, there’s no need for complexities. You have a short window to engage and onboard your people. Historically, people have been hit with lengthy pension packs that are hard to digest. Or faced with complicated health insurance sign-in processes and little guidance on where to start.

Those days are gone. In a world where attention spans are shortened, the employee benefits experience needs to be simple, straightforward and accessible to all. Employees want personalized and regular communication, single-sign-on, simple signposting, visual guidance (ie. videos), and inclusive technology that’s designed to be accessible to all needs and capabilities.

#4 Take Your People on a Journey

What does this mean in a practical sense? It’s all about communication - being regular and personalized. Find out what they like, what they don’t

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7 Ways To Help Employees Build Stronger Relationships With Their Money

- and tailor accordingly. It will become obvious when a benefit hasn’t landed effectively because no one will be using it.

- we thought this event would be perfect for you.’

You can then follow up with some helpful nuggets of information from the event.

Take your time to introduce the concept and offer training or masterclasses. Check in with your people, highlight useful program features, and issue reminders through multiple channels.

Personalization takes a little more thought than a ‘one size fits all’ approach - but that extra effort will pay off in your engagement results.

You could even line up program or community advocates within each team to help with the adoption.

Try not to launch straight into a product or a solution without any warm-up or education – a launch party is always encouraged!

#5 Offer Access Anytime, Anywhere

Remove any barriers to engagement. The first step is to ask about your people’s preferences, not just for communication, but learning and development.

We’ve found that harder-to-reach groups tend to engage better through personal devices. Ensure your offering is designed to work seamlessly on mobile and consider utilizing WhatsApp, SMS, Slack or MicrosoftTeams (and email, of course). Encourage your people to share and bookmark useful content, so they can come back to it whenever they please.

#6 Provide an Interactive Toolkit

Behavioral psychology tells us that self-selection and incentivizing action are both important elements of positive reinforcement. When it comes to financial wellness, educational tools and badges to reward positive action are excellent ways to address this need. Consider tools that will give your team the ability to plan, prepare and organize their finances, from the unexpected to the expected.

#8 Avoid Advice

When it comes to engagement, dishing out advice is risky because it’s likely to be tied into products and services - so the intention is misplaced. Financial advice is, as defined by FCA, the distribution of a product. The fear is that there’s a conflict between ‘trusted’ advice and the underlining adviser model.

FCA is aware of this and FAMR (FCA’s annual review) identified 13 ways employers can help employees.

The reality is, there are groups of people within your organization that need more financial wellness support. And often, these are the people who are least likely to ask for help.

By utilizing the steps we’ve outlined to reach these people, and starting the financial wellbeing conversation, you’re making an impact that will last a lifetime - as people who receive high-quality financial education continue pursuing even more learning in this area over time.

Tim Perkins is the Co-Founder of nudge.

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#7 Personalization is Key

Although simple, personalization is often overlooked. If you know what your people are interested in, and give them more of the same, then engagement improves.

Though be sure to stay within the parameters of usefulness. Useful is saying, ‘following the completion of your recent retirement planning learning module

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Ensure that each person in your HR department has a standard and consistent understanding of policies, procedures, and regulations.

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Having A Best Friend At Work Matters Building a sense of belonging at work

By Laura Putnam, Motion Infusion

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t a time when companies are struggling to attract and retain employees, many managers are willing to do just about anything to set themselves apart, except when it comes to cultivating a best friend, a “work spouse,” or even romance at work.

Longstanding data from Gallup shows that those who have a best friend at work are seven times more likely to be highly engaged in their work. Yet, despite this data, many managers scoff at this idea claiming that they aren’t at work to make friends or that it’s not their job to ensure that their team members get along.

I’ve worked with over 10,000 managers now in our Managers on the Move program, empowering them to become multipliers of well-being. In this program, we explore the various aspects of well-being, including social well-being. Through data, I show participating

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managers how being connected with others, including co-workers, is not only good for us as human beings, but it’s also good for business. Despite the multitude of benefits, however, I have found that this best friend stat often draws more ire from my participating managers than any other stat I provide.

The concept of a “work spouse” can seem even more out of range. While managers and CEOs can adamantly reject this idea, an Office Pulse survey indicates that nearly three out of 10 (29%) workers already have one.

A work spouse, as characterized by the job search engine Simply Hired, is a “colleague you have a strong friendship with, who is the gender you’re attracted to, and with whom you have a bond that resembles that of a married couple.” In other words, it’s an intimate work-friend.

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Having A Best Friend At Work Matters

Studies show that having these affectionate, yet strictly platonic relationships, can be key to increasing productivity, motivation, psychological safety and achievement at work, not to mention serving as key antidotes to stress at work. Take for example, Condoleeza Rice and George Bush or Regis Philbin and Kelly Ripa. According to the same Office Pulse survey, those who have a work spouse are nearly three times more likely to feel connected to their colleagues, compared to those who don’t.

Dating in the office might also lead to bottom-line benefits. In fact, one accounting firm I worked with, actually encouraged inter-office dating, believing that it helped with the overall company culture.

Here, co-worker marriages were heartily endorsed and celebrated. While considered taboo by many, workplace romance is not only common (33 percent of U.S. workers report that they’re currently in or have been in a relationship with a coworker), but has actually increased by six percentage points since the start of the pandemic, according to a survey by SHRM. To be sure, work spouses and/or dating in the office gets a lot more complicated in the age of the #MeToo movement, and for good reason. But even as we navigate these complexities, every organization and every leader needs to employ effective strategies to ensure meaningful and deep social connections at work. Strong social connections, whether platonic or not, are fundamental to ensuring a positive work culture, and in turn, ensuring that employees are productive, engaged and likely to stay. In the time of the Great Resignation, every organization needs to find effective ways to build a sense of belonging at work.

Here are three ways each can:

Foster Real Friendships

Avoid the lame team-building events or strained happy hours. Instead, offer opportunities for authentic conversations. Consider, for example, one manager who participated in our Managers on the Move program. Afterwards, he began asking his team members more “real” questions in his one-on-ones, such as, “What are you thankful for? What motivates you? If you could go anywhere, where would it be?”

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Address Root Causes

Why don’t coworkers feel connected with one another? More often than not, it has to do with deeper, organizational issues, such as toxicity tolerated, overly competitive work culture, lack of transparency, or ranking systems that pit coworkers against one another. Not only do these competitive structures undermine friendships at work, they also demotivate employees, according to a study out of Wharton.

Build a Culture of Well-Being

Ultimately, a company that fosters belonging at work is one in which the company culture and environment itself support well-being. Individuals are not left to fend for themselves or admonished to practice more “self-care” without organizational or managerial support. Rather, it is a company that supports its managers in providing more “team care” and it is one that develops systems like Microsoft’s Family Caregiver Family Leave, giving employees up to four weeks of paid leave to care for a relative. These organizational and team-based systems are what help people to feel like their company actually cares about them.

While it might be hard to wrap your head around the idea of having a best friend at work or encouraging others to do so, the research is clear - having a best friend at work creates a positive workplace culture where employees feel valued and engaged.

Laura Putnam is a health and wellness expert, international public speaker and author of “Workplace Wellness That Works.” As CEO of Motion Infusion and creator of Managers on the Move, she has spent the past decade using her energy and insights to inspire organizations and businesses to think differently about their employees’ health and well-being.

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Publications

13 Targeted Publications to Reach Your Audience Informing, Educating, Enlightening and Assisting HR professionals in their personal and professional development, the Excellence series offers high-quality content through the publications!

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