culture
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Trust
Teamwork is a critical employment skill. Yet, many workers – and entire teams – often lack the ability to work successfully in a team environment. With COVID resulting in many working from home and away from their normal team environments, teamwork skills are becoming even more difficult to master. Patrick Lencioni is famous for his work on teams, most notably his enduring book, The Five Disfunctions of a Team. Despite the provocative title, Lencioni really talks about the BEHAVIORS of high performing teams, boiling it down to Trust, Healthy Conflict, Commitment, Accountability, and Results. Trust is the fundamental behavior that must be present for a team to function well. Without…
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Five tips for communicating in uncertain times
During times of uncertainty like the world is experiencing now, leaders are called upon to step forward with decisiveness, empathy, and transparency. It there ever was a time we are living in a VUCA world, it is now. VUCA, of course, stands for volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous and was first conceptualized by the U.S. Army War College in 1987. Leaders who consider the VUCA implications of their environments are better able to plan for success in spite of these factors. In the COVID-19/VUCA world, you must be prepared to communicate boldly and decisively to your team and your various constituencies. Your organization, your staff, and maybe even your community…
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We thrive on validation
Dictionary.com defines validate as: "to make valid; substantiate; confirm." In our various "selves" we are always seeking it. We hope people will recognize our talents and say things like: "You're such a good Mom (or Dad)." "What an incredible athlete you are!" "How did you learn to draw like that?" We REALLY, REALLY seek validation on social media. Those likes and hearts and shares all serve to validate us, don't they? It's true at work, too. Everyone wants their ideas to be recognized as brilliant, or at least as solid. But when the boss fails to appreciate workers, they become demoralized, disengaged, and sometimes even disgruntled. On more than one occasion…
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Help your Team Overcome Burnout
When I spoke at at a recent national conference on the topic of Mission Fatigue, I was surprised by the overwhelming response. Attendees were obviously experiencing some significant work-related stress, so the topic resonated with them. Quite simply, they needed someone to validate their feelings. One attendee even emailed me a few weeks after the session, "It was very beneficial to me to know that I am not alone in my feelings of being overwhelmed . . ." Just like my correspondent, being overwhelmed is common for workers in the nonprofit space. After all, the work is of vital importance and the need is great. That makes us take that…
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Are You Experiencing Mission Fatigue?
I was recently asked to give a presentation for the employees from various nonprofit organizations in the region on the topic of Mission Fatigue. My first thought was, “I don’t know anything about this topic! Why me?” But because I have this issue with saying no, I responded with an enthusiastic “Yes, I would be happy to.” As I thought more about the topic and began working on my presentation, I realized what an important issue this is for nonprofit workers. And the more I researched, the more I realized that indeed, I do have something important to say on the topic. The business world calls it burnout. The medical…
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Don’t be like these board members!
Today's post includes those board behaviors that I hope you never have to witness. By exploring these behaviors before you experience them, you will be better equipped to address them when they occur. In Part One of this series on Governance, we talked about board service in general including the basic responsibilities of board members. Before reading part two of the series, I encourage you to start with the Board service basics. Board member characteristics I hope you never encounter: Absentee: This is the member who is using the role as a resume builder or status symbol or who is serving because of their professional role, but who really isn't interested…
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Workplace Bullies
Bullying in the workplace is a serious problem that doesn't get enough attention. Having experienced workplace bullying, I can attest that it makes work life unbearable. It affects workers, productivity, and culture in significant ways, but is too often ignored. In our consulting work at Leadership Bridges we often (but certainly not always) find that organizations experiencing dysfunction also have a history of harassment and bullying. Pamela Lutgen-Sandvik, Gary Namie, and Ruth Namie, in their article Workplace Bullying: Causes, Consequences, and Corrections, define workplace bullying as "repeated, health-harming mistreatment that takes one or more of the following forms: verbal abuse; offensive conduct and behaviors that are threatening, humiliating or intimidating;…
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The tainted star
We’ve all met them. Many of us have worked with them. And sometimes we have had to fire them. The “them” I am talking about are those star performers who also have issues relating to those around them. If you give this star an assignment they can perform independently, they excel. But once you pair them with others, the trouble begins. You often don’t recognize the signs quickly either. In my experience, these stars tend to be self-starters. they have great skills in project management, research, and follow through. On the one hand, you appreciate how well they perform the tasks and projects you assign them. But conversely they tend…
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Teamwork: The Secret Sauce
The value of solid teams – and teamwork – cannot be overstated. As proof, I point you to the daring rescue of the Thai soccer team and their coach from a flooded cave. It took the effort, wisdom, and planning of over 1,000 volunteers working through the problem, devising a plan, teaching the kids, and tending to the complicated logistics of the seemingly impossible rescue effort. We celebrate the divers and the medical professionals – and should. But even the volunteers feeding the rescuers or driving the shuttles back and forth to the site were vital members of the team that brought these kids to safety. During my career, I have…