Instructor Blog: Getting Back Into Gear

It has been a cold winter. Getting back into gear after such a long break is hard. Below are some strategies that I hope will help you get back on track.

Don’t wait for inspiration or “mood” Getting a great music playlist and quiet work space might do the trick, but it might not. In the coziness of winter, the desire to get moving may never arrive. The law of inertia states that an object not in motion will remain still until it is acted on by an outside force. In other words, a ball does not roll on its own. You may not be sparked into action when your textbooks arrive in the mail or when you are loaded into your next courses. However, procrastination now will lead to unnecessary stress when portfolio projects are due. Recognizing that inspiration may not strike may itself help you break through any reluctance to crack open the books.

What is your motivation? Spend a few minutes thinking about short-term and long-term motivation. Long-term, performing well in your courses will lead you to much stronger career. Short-term, think of your past experiences as courses ended. Were you stressed and wishing you had begun working on major projects sooner? Or were you feeling at ease and proud of yourself for working diligently throughout the session? Most portfolio projects contain a reflection portion for thinking of what advice you would give new students. Look back at what you wrote and take your own advice. No one knows what works for you as well as you do!

Anticipate distractions It is impossible to eliminate all distractions. Keep a notepad or calendar next to you when you are studying and working on assignments. When you remember something important that you need to do, you will be able to jot it down quickly and then get back to work. Even something simple as getting up to switch the laundry can break your concentration. Starting early is a great way to build in an extra cushion for what will come up, whether it is a sick child or a good friend unexpectedly in town.

Count the cost While it might seem harmless to get a slow start easing back into school, the approach can be more damaging than you think. Employers look for employees who are self-motivated and enthusiastic. Practicing the ability to break through inertia will be invaluable in life and in your career. Life is moving forward. Don’t get left behind!

DEAR REWORKER: I WAS DITCHED BY AN EMPLOYEE FOR A "DOCTORS APPOINTMENT"

Dear ReWorker,

I manage field sales reps. I flew in for a scheduled \”field ride\” with an employee and upon arrival she let me know that she had a \”doctor\’s appointment\” and wouldn\’t be available for the field ride.

I sat around the city all day long until meeting the employee for dinner at 6:00 that night, then I caught a flight that next morning. I never questioned the whereabouts or the all-day doctor appointment (maybe it is something serious, who knows?). Instincts tell me that the employee didn\’t have a \”doctor\’s appointment\” and is either working an additional job or has an interview with another company. Does that employee have to take an official day off?

Sincerely,

Stood Up

+++++

Dear Stood Up,

You are the nicest manager on the planet. You have a scheduled all day appointment for which you must fly in, and your employee waits until you arrive to tell you that–oops!–she has a doctor\’s appointment and won\’t be able to make it? And you\’re wondering whether to count this day towards PTO? The employee\’s behavior was 100 percent unacceptable. If it was a sudden emergency, she should have made that clear. Since she met you for dinner, we can pretty much rest assured that it wasn\’t a sudden burst appendix.

So, even if it were for a medical reason, a full day off counts as a sick day. She still gets paid but she has to use her paid time off bank.

But, the bigger question here is what to do about her total lack of respect for you. Youflew in to go on a ride along and she blew you off. It really doesn\’t matter what it was for (given that it wasn\’t an emergency). She should have told you before you purchased the plane ticket.

And this is the problem. You need to talk to your employee about her behavior, because it was unacceptable. I wouldn\’t get hung up on why she was gone, just that she was gone.

If she has medical appointments, that\’s fine, but she needs to notify you in advance. If she wants to take a vacation day to find a job, learn to dance or pretend she\’s a pirate, that\’s also fine. What is not fine is ditching a co-worker, which is what she did. The only exceptions would be for something that falls under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) or the Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA). As her manager, you would know if she qualified for either.

So, your job: Tell her the behavior was not appropriate, she will be docked a PTO day, and if she ever cancels out for a non-emergency again, she\’ll be fired. Harsh? You bet. Realistic? That\’s why they call it work.

Your ReWorker,

DEAR REWORKER: I WAS DITCHED BY AN EMPLOYEE FOR A “DOCTORS APPOINTMENT”

Dear ReWorker,

Sincerely,

Stood Up

+++++

Dear Stood Up,

So, even if it were for a medical reason, a full day off counts as a sick day. She still gets paid but she has to use her paid time off bank.

And this is the problem. You need to talk to your employee about her behavior, because it was unacceptable. I wouldn\’t get hung up on why she was gone, just that she was gone.

Your ReWorker,

FROM THE EMPLOYEE MOTIVATION DESK: WHAT MOTIVATES YOU (MIGHT NOT MOTIVATE ME)

Like many of you, I spend a lot of my time thinking about workplace motivation. This is the first in a series of posts on how we can better understand workplace motivation.

Motivating employees and organizations makes up a large part of talent management. People use the word motivation (like, “I’m not motivated today…”), but many people in organizations don’t specifically understand what motivation is. If you ask a number of people, in a variety of different professions, from different cultures and different generations, you are quite possibly going to be greeted with a host of different definitions: money, happiness, attention from the opposite sex, peace.

Since there are so many different understandings of motivation, perhaps it is best to start by defining what motivation is not.

It isn’t simple and it isn’t impersonal.
It isn’t random.
It isn’t something managers should dismiss or take for granted.

The initial intent of this post was a “Top 5 Things” about workplace motivation so I started writing a list of motivational factors and stopped at sixteen and realized that was the wrong tack. So, I did what Gen X’r would do: a google search. That returned 29.5 million results in less than .4 seconds. It isn’t that complicated…or is it?

So, how does one start to discuss workplace motivation?

Seeking Pleasure or Avoiding Pain?

Sometime around 350 B.C., Aristotle started the conversation about workplace motivation when he wrote “the aim of the wise is not to secure pleasure, but to avoid pain.” Sitting right there in those words lay the majority of the thinking around motivation at work. It is this sentence that drives us to crave deep details about the why we work or don’t work.

If you ask people what they love about work you will often hear about things that are more emotionally positive (i.e. salary, benefits, co-workers, managers). When you ask people what they dislike about work, you will hear about painful factors at work (i.e. salary, benefits, co-workers, managers). As a fairly observant reader, you will notice the lists are often eerily similar- but it is where they diverge that creates the interest. No doubt you know people that could change jobs and get more money and better benefits. Similarly, you know people that tolerate horrible bosses and distrustful co-workers because they get a “sweet deal.”

Motivation is Personal (And Isn’t Just About Money)

So, where does that leave us? Simple – there is no one simple way to understand motivation. Motivation is personal; it is about working with and for people you trust and respect. But it is also about synergy. It is about working in an environment that accounts for physical satisfaction, social needs and emotional desires. It is about every manager adopting the mantra of “always be developing.”

A manager has a direct and profound influence over workplace pleasure and workplace pain. Management and motivation focus on continually striving toward meeting the physical, social and emotional needs of the employees. Impactful management goes beyond having a menu of benefits and trips and perks and remembers that while productivity and execution often result in financial compensation, retention and workplace motivation is driven by working in a climate where people are happy, being developed and being invested in.

So, for the sake of simplification, here are five points to consider about workplace motivation:

If you are the boss, the environment you intentionally (and unintentionally) create drives motivation.
Motivating employees isn’t just carrots and sticks – not just about huge compensation packages but about the whole package – workplace satisfaction.
People aren’t motivated by the same things (just like you can’t build a house with only one tool).
Having a cool office with tons of perks is great, but interpersonal relationships by the people in charge are essential.

Motivation is personal. The fifth one is blank for you to personalize.

If you have thoughts on workplace motivation – what works, what doesn’t, and what’s at the core of this discussion in the first place – please leave a comment below.

Four Types of Bad Team Players

Being a good team player is an employability skill that nearly all employers require and it’s not hard to figure out why. Have you ever been part of a dysfunctional team? Perhaps you had to tackle a big cross-departmental project at work and your team spent the time aimlessly tackling unimportant tasks. Or maybe you had a school assignment and your group struggled to get it done between bickering about the topic. Equally as bad, maybe one person (you?) got so frustrated he or she did the whole project by themselves. If you’ve ever faced this or a similar situation then you know the importance of good teamwork and being a team player

But, not all team projects have to be difficult and just by correcting bad teammate behavior in yourself, you could dramatically improve the experience next time. To help we’ve listed the four most common types of dysfunctional team members. Do you recognize yourself in any of the descriptions below?

The Talkinator – It’s easy to get excited when starting a group project, but this type of person often forgets the word “group” in this situation. Working together is dependent on everyone being heard and feeling encouraged to share their idea. If one person dominates the conversation then resentment may build in other group members, resulting in them opting out of participation.

The Wallflower – The opposite of the Talkinator, a wallflower is a teammate that sits on the sidelines and doesn’t participate. Being part of a group project is an active duty role. If you’re a shy person or an introvert try to participate in another way, take notes during meetings, ask questions or vocally agree with someone. Also if you’re part of a group that has a wallflower type, try engaging them directly during meetings by asking them what they think of an idea or start off by having everyone go around the room to provide a status update on their part of the project.

The Snail – These are the people who are slow to change course or just plain resistant. When working on a group assignment it is important to be flexible. Priorities, focus and even deadlines can change and these elements are often out of the control of the group. By not adapting this person can slow progress and create frustration in the group. If you have a snail on your team, try talking to that person about their concerns. You may be able to help them understand the need for change or they may raise valid points of objection.

The Heel-Digger – A variety of opinions is great during a group project, as long you can eventually reach a consensus. But sometimes you’ll find a team member that believes he or she is so right that they refuse to agree with the group and waste time arguing. This person has yet to learn the lesson of picking the right battle so you might have to do it for them. Don’t let one person hold up progress on inconsequential matters. However, if your team is arguing about something that impacts the entire project, work hard to understand everyone’s point of view and find a compromise.

Bryant & Stratton College Online aims to help students maximize their employability for career success through its Employability Series and Career Resources. This set of core competencies is integrated in to the College’s online degree programs, to complement occupation-specific training and help graduates get hired.

Interested in learning more about the online degree programs offered by Bryant & Stratton College Online? Call 1.888.447.3528 to speak with an admissions representative.

A NEW STUDY FINDS BAD MANAGERS AREN\’T THE MAIN REASON EMPLOYEES QUIT

Good management is important. We all know this. In fact, multiple studies have shown that not getting along with a manager is often the strongest influence on employee engagement—and eventual departure. Or, at least, that\’s what we thought.

According to new research from IBM on why employees quit, the old HR adage \”people don\’t leave companies, they leave managers\” is being called into question. After surveying 22,000 people, IBM found out the following:

14 percent leave because they are unhappy with their manager
40 percent leave because they are unhappy with their jobs
39 percent leave for personal reasons (e.g., spouse relocation, child care, health, etc.)
20 percent leave because they are unhappy with the organization
18 percent leave due to uncertainty in the organization, following a change

Even with the ability to pick multiple reasons for leaving, only 14 percent named their boss as a reason for leaving. Of course, this doesn\’t mean that we don\’t need good managers. But it does mean that HR and the senior staff should think more holistically about why people quit before pinning it on individual managers. Let\’s take a closer look.

40 Percent of People Are Unhappy With Their Job

Is it the work? Is it the pay? Is it the coworkers? All of these things can weigh in on an employee\’s mind. If we don\’t have interesting, challenging work and growth opportunities, people will go elsewhere. If we allow toxic employees to torment their co-workers, people will go elsewhere. While the work needs to get done (and some work just will never be interesting), we need to make sure that we\’re offering the best that we can.

39 Percent Leave for Personal Reasons

Can you fix personal reasons? Maybe and maybe not. If a spouse is in the military and gets transferred, your employee will need to move. If you can\’t bear to see the employee leave, consider the option to let people work remotely. If the employee doesn\’t accept, then you\’ll know it\’s probably a bigger issue with the role than \”personal reasons.\”

Childcare is also an important consideration when it comes to personal departures. Subsidizing daycare, allowing more flexible schedules and part-time work, and ensuring that overtime never comes as a surprise will make it easier to retain working parents.

20 Percent Are Unhappy With the Organization

Unhappiness with the organization, or sensing organizational uncertainty, is an issue that stems from the top. Are leaders being honest with employees, or are they making unexpected and unexplained changes?

While it\’s easy to say, \”people leave because they don\’t like their managers,\” that answer often lets everyone else in an organization off the hook. By facing the fact that there are several other reasons people quit their jobs, company leaders can improve retention by evaluating a range of potential issues. If you want to retain your best employees, it\’s time to start looking at the big picture.

A NEW STUDY FINDS BAD MANAGERS AREN\’T THE MAIN REASON EMPLOYEES QUIT

14 percent leave because they are unhappy with their manager
40 percent leave because they are unhappy with their jobs
39 percent leave for personal reasons (e.g., spouse relocation, child care, health, etc.)
20 percent leave because they are unhappy with the organization
18 percent leave due to uncertainty in the organization, following a change

40 Percent of People Are Unhappy With Their Job

39 Percent Leave for Personal Reasons

20 Percent Are Unhappy With the Organization

A NEW STUDY FINDS BAD MANAGERS AREN\’T THE MAIN REASON EMPLOYEES QUIT

14 percent leave because they are unhappy with their manager
40 percent leave because they are unhappy with their jobs
39 percent leave for personal reasons (e.g., spouse relocation, child care, health, etc.)
20 percent leave because they are unhappy with the organization
18 percent leave due to uncertainty in the organization, following a change

40 Percent of People Are Unhappy With Their Job

39 Percent Leave for Personal Reasons

20 Percent Are Unhappy With the Organization

Explaining cousins

From time to time I’ve noticed fellow bloggers expressing confusion about distant cousins. They will write something like “my second cousin twice removed (whatever that means).” As a professional historian who also assists with genealogical research, I am here to end your confusion.

People who share the same mother and/or father are brothers and sisters. People who do not share a parent but share at least one grandparent are first cousins. (Often, when we say “cousins,” we are referring to first cousins.) People who do not share any grandparents but share at least one great-grandparent are second cousins. People who do not share any great-grandparents but share at least one great-great-grandparent are third cousins. Tracing the human line back to Adam and Eve (or at least as far back as Noah), all people on earth are cousins to some degree, whether they are first cousins or thousandth cousins.

As for the distinction of “once removed” and so on: my first cousins’ children are my first cousins once removed. My first cousins’ grandchildren are my first cousins twice removed. My second cousins’ children are my second cousins once removed. My second cousins’ grandchildren are my second cousins twice removed. And so on. In other words, the levels of removal are differences in generation, even if (as is the case with me) you are closer in age to your first cousins once removed than you are to their parents, your first cousins.

The generational removal can go the other direction as well, but only if the kinship is not closer. For example, the parents of my first cousins are my uncle and my aunt, not my first cousins once removed. But, since the grandchildren of my first cousins are my first cousins twice removed, I am also their first cousin twice removed.

I hope this information is helpful. J.

FROM THE EMPLOYEE MOTIVATION DESK: 3 THINGS ALL MANAGERS HAVE TO KNOW

Great managers understand what makes teams function and they leverage this knowledge to drive performance and execution. They are always investing in the development of their employees, individually and collectively. To become talent managers and leaders, working to understand motivation is pretty darn important, and tough.

Theories aside for the moment (and you will certainly see different theories integrated below), here are three basic aspects to work motivation that everyone really does need to consider:

1. Can They or Will They?

When an employee is stuck, ask yourself the core question that drives all behavior- “Can this person do what it is I am asking them to do?”

Motivational challenges, many times, are not motivational challenges- they are skill gaps. Your reaction to a struggling employee has to be based on the right thing. If someone is unable to do something because they don’t have the skill, they need training (obvious, right?). Whether this comes from you, your L & D leader, or a partnership of both (which is awesome!), objectively, and consistently, evaluate your talent.

Managers often give stretch assignments to force a skill gap and then coach to close the gap. Motivating employees requires that managers are always checking on how people are doing and making those decisions.

However, if someone genuinely has the skill and isn’t performing… NOW we have a motivational problem. While we will get into more specific ways to motivate people in future writings, a simple best practice is to create a culture of feedback and not let unmotivated people linger without having focused discussions. If unmotivated people linger, that is no longer the employees responsibility, the manager needs to own the fact they permit it to occur.

2. Motivation is Mathematical

This brings us to the second point: understanding how motivation is constructed and deconstructed. Simply put, motivation can best be understood using simple math.

Choice x Effort x Persistence (where each variable equals 0 or 1)

You identify motivation problems when one variable is absent.

Choice

This is complex but great managers empower employees by teaching them that actions and behavior are under their control – it’s their choice. When employees understand ownership and autonomy they take charge of situations and accept responsibility for less than optimal outcomes, rather than look to throw someone under the bus.

Effort

Once employees choose to engage, they invest effort in the work. Effort is best understood as learning strategies (i.e. time management, project management, communication). Many times people disengage from projects because they use ineffective strategies (or none at all) that waste time. Invest in teaching employees different strategies to be more productive (Evernote, Dropbox and Todoist have made my life much easier).

Persistence

Many times, people become demotivated and slow down or quit midstream. An obstacle (time, lack of skill, other people) often act as barriers to productivity.

Here’s a challenge: as a manager, examine motivational challenges in these terms. If you do, you can strategize how to prevent them from repeating.

3. Considering Emotionality

Motivation is personal and things that are personal are often emotional.

Managers create emotional environments that drive motivation (one way or another) not necessarily by being “nice” but by:

Being clear;
Setting expectations and goals that align vertically;
Having vision and purpose for their functional area (or they do the opposite which usually results in low morale and high turnover); and
Consistently delivering feedback.

When managers are clear and consistent, employees understand their work environment. When this happens, employee buy-in increases, they choose to engage and are more likely to persist when obstacles appear. In others words, effective managers remove the emotional roller coasters and create an emotionally stable organization that positively influences employee behavior.

Where do you stand? Consider the following questions:

Do you create an environment of high expectation and clarity, but also of support?
Do employees come to you when they are confused or make mistakes?
Have you created an environment where employees can take ownership or do they fear you?

Very few things are simple and direct. Hopefully, this jumping in point helps set a foundation for upcoming posts on motivation. If you have thoughts or questions or comments, please leave a comment below.

Staff Spotlight: Career Services Advisor, Mike Lester

When he’s not offering students career advisement, you can often find Mike Lester donning a large, furry sabertooth tiger costume and wandering the halls of First Niagara Center during Buffalo Sabres games.

That’s right, from time to time, the man behind Sabretooth’s mask is one of the Career Services Advisors at Bryant & Stratton College Online.

Mike has been with Bryant & Stratton for nearly two years and has been with the Career Services Department the entire time. Mike’s job function features a great deal of outreach to various businesses to help identify new career opportunities for students across the country. Of all the features of his work here, Mike notes that the most rewarding part of his job is helping students to not only obtain employment, but to ensure our graduates are starting a career in the field of study they pursued.

“It’s not easy landing employment these days and counseling a student that is able to land a position within their field is a rewarding experience,” he said.

Not all of Mike’s time is spent working with businesses and students or helping to cheer on the Sabres, he is spending time at home with his wife Laura and their nine-month old daughter, Mackenzie. As you might expect, Mike is a big Sabres and Bills fan but he also has a penchant for many outdoor hobbies. Among his favorites are fishing and camping, two activities that allows him to spend quality time with his family.

What is your favorite story related to your time at Bryant & Stratton When I started one of the first people I had the opportunity to work with was a December 2013 MRC grad, Yen Klikna. Yen worked in management with the Harris County Toll Department in the Houston, TX area. From the start Yen was engaging and clear in her goals, without any practical experience in her field, however, it was difficult to find her a coding position. The effort that Yen put in provided extra motivation. I was able to work with Yen, as she volunteered in her field while working full time. It was a difficult process but Yen was able to secure a full time opportunity within her field in March of 2014. Recently Yen accepted a new position as a Certified Biller/ Coder with Surgery Associates of Houston.

What advice would you give to current or future students? School is structured and as a student you typically understand what’s expected. Finishing school is a great accomplishment but finding a job is a sometimes uneasy and difficult process with numerous ups and downs. Your results are typically the byproduct of the effort you put in. While in school it’s never too early to start looking for positions and the Career Services Department at Bryant & Stratton is prepared to advocate for you as you approach a still unsettled future.

DEAR REWORKER: HOW CAN I GET MY EMPLOYEES TO BE ON TIME?

Dear ReWorker,

We have a small business with only four employees. We need our employees to be on time because our clients come to us. If our staff doesn\’t arrive at the designated time, we often have clients waiting for them out in the parking lot.

We introduced a vacation policy for the first time, and employees can now earn paid time off by clocking in on time. Each pay period of timeliness gets them half a paid day, which means they can earn 12 paid days off each year, just by clocking in on time. But we heard someone say, \’Well, if I\’m late once during a pay cycle, I won\’t earn paid time off , so why should I show up on time for the rest of the period?\’ I\’m at a loss as to what to do next.

Sincerely,

Tired of Tardiness

___________________________________________________________________________________

Dear Tired of Tardiness,

You think you\’ve been battling a tardiness problem, but what you\’re actually facing is a disbelief problem. Your employees don\’t believe that it is important to be on time, so they aren\’t. The carrot you handed out—the vacation—is just an indication that you are begging them to do the job they should do anyway. (Although, I think you should definitely be offering vacation.)

So, my advice? Make them believe you. How?

Sit down with each member of your existing team and say, \”You need to be on time. We\’ve tolerated late arrivals in the past, but that is changing. Starting next week, the new policy will be: a formal warning for the first lateness, a one day suspension without pay for the second lateness and if you\’re tardy a third time, your employment will be terminated. However, if you\’re on time for three months in a row, we\’ll erase one lateness from your file.\”

Then present the employee with two printed copies of the new policy, and ask them to sign both. Keep one for your files, and send the other one home with them.

They will not like this. Not one bit. Someone will likely test you out, and here\’s the critical part: You must follow through. You need to give them the unpaid suspension day, and you might need to fire an employee who pushes a third day, so start searching for new employees before you embark on this process. If you do not do this, your problem will continue because your employees won\’t believe you.

Now, I\’m not normally this strict, but because your employees\’ behavior has a direct effect on clients, you need to make rectifying the issue a priority.

One more tip, though: When hiring new employees, consider the salary and benefits that you offer. Usually, a better salary and benefits package (like the vacation you started offering) will attract higher-caliber employees. If your current employees rise to the challenge, make sure you increase their salaries as well.

This will be painful for a while, but ultimately, you\’ll have a better staff, and your clients will appreciate it.

Your ReWorker,

FROM THE EMPLOYEE MOTIVATION DESK: LEVERAGING FEEDBACK TO INCREASE MOTIVATION

“I would like to give you a little feedback” is often received with a shudder or some other physical manifestation of anxiety. The history of feedback is routinely polarizing. We get feedback on a great job or we get feedback on a really poor job. Sadly, when we get feedback on doing great work, it is usually called “praise” and feedback on clusterbombs is called, well…feedback.

Feedback is perceived, in many places, as the great demotivator. This is possibly why so many people shy away from it — asking for it or even just hearing it. Weirder yet, do you ever think that people who ask for feedback are secretly craving compliments? What an organization that craved feedback would be like? Here are a few thoughts on feedback that might make your life easier and create a more motivating environment:

1. When Has the Line Been Crossed?

Ask yourself these questions:

What are you willing to walk by?
Where are your lines for acceptable and unacceptable behavior?

Everyone has a different filter. When your line is crossed, connect with that person and discuss: what they are doing that is unacceptable, why it is unacceptable, and the implications of this behavior.

Your managerial obligation is to be consistent and fair. If you don’t know where to start to understand your filter, take a good long look at your organization’s core values. They are there for a reason. Please exercise caution around this principle. I shared this principle with a former manager who misunderstood the principle and couldn’t let anything pass without comment. Her filter ended up being stifling and took the personality out of the environment. Everyone resented her and became fearful to have their own, independent thoughts.

2. Feedback Should be Developmental

Feedback should be developmental and given to everyone. Managers frequently either praise or criticize extremes, and that middle ground is often overlooked. That middle ground is where the ripe coaching opportunities exist.

Great managers are great coaches. They look for every opportunity to make their teams and the individuals on those teams great.

Any manager on the planet should be able to recognize and make the time to reward strong performance. The vast majority of managers should also be able to point out when clusterbombs occur.

Great managers that want to motivate teams seek every opportunity to make people better. Their feedback is genuine. If you do this regularly, and you honestly want to build teams, feedback not only sits well, it inspires.

3. Embrace Gamification

We are, as Eliot Aronson wrote, social animals and today social media is pervasive. We go on yelp to find restaurants, Pinterest to repin decorating ideas and we “+1” on Google+.

If your organization has a system to provide feedback through gamification strategies like badges, use them. When organizations start to leverage these tools, they become part of the cultural fabric. It takes a creative minority dedicated to positive change to become a critical mass. Find a group of people dedicated to embracing this technology and leverage it to change your feedback culture. People want feedback. It is the context that drives that desire.

4. Be Cool About Giving Feedback, But Be Straight About It

If I were to oversimplify the role of a manager, it is about setting expectations/goals, monitoring performance, providing support and feedback. Repeat.

A simple rule I coach people on: be straight with your employees. If somebody really did a poor job, you have to tell them they did a poor job. But be cool about it. Tell them exactly what they did poorly and coach them to understand what they could have done differently. Even the best employees, the superstars, can grow. Even Muhammad Ali had someone working his corner.

5. Use Technology to Make Feedback More Intimate

If you are a remote manager and have to give difficult feedback but can’t meet in person, harness technology other than a phone. Use a video conferencing system like Skype or BlueJeans to have a meeting where you can make the conversation more personal.

Motivation, to a great extent, stems from clarity. Managers create that clarity by setting distinct expectations as well as delivering consistent feedback.

Feedback shouldn’t be scary. Feedback should be desired. It should be delivered regularly as a way to continue to inspire and motivate your team because teams (and individuals on those teams) are more motivated when they feel invested in. Delivering productive, constructive feedback is one core way to invest in the development of your team.

WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO CREATE A \’CULTURE OF FAILURE\’?

In my last post, I discussed the importance of failure in company culture. In order for people to take risks and push the envelope, they need to have a certain level of comfort with defeat. In other words, you don\’t only need to walk before you run to succeed—you also need to be okay with stumbling every once in a while.

But what does this \”culture of failure\” look like, and how is it achieved? Embracing failure isn\’t about patting people on the back when they miss the mark—at its core, a culture of failure is about feedback that helps you make the mark next time. If you want to progress as an individual or as a company, you need to be willing to identify your weaknesses and maximize your strengths.

However, even the most self-aware people are limited in their ability to identify these strengths and weaknesses on their own. They need help—and, based on my experience, they want help. If you look at recent research on the millennial generation—which, in many ways, I believe strongly reflects the desires of every generation—you\’ll find that almost everything points back to the desire for growth and development, for continuous feedback. Most people are craving conversations that push them to the next level. The question is, how do you get there?

Build Structured Communication

Creating a culture of failure comes down to communication—communication between employees and managers, between managers and VPs, between VPs and the C-suite. As director of talent management at Cornerstone, I\’ve focused a lot of my time and energy on fostering the type of communication that leads to a company and workforce not only open to risk-taking, but prone to it.

At Cornerstone, we train managers to provide their employees with \”stretch projects.\” The key to these projects\’ success, however, doesn\’t lie in giving the assignment—it lies in the conversations that occur before and afterwards. Prior to the project, the manager asks the employee, \”What\’s your likelihood for success? What\’s your expected failure rate? What are your obstacles?\” After the project, the manager debriefs with the employee to identify successes and failures on both ends: \”What were the unforeseen obstacles? Was the task as clearly communicated as possible? Were the challenges identified individual blocks, or systemic blocks? And if they were systemic blocks, who should have gotten on your side?\”

Teach People to Ask For Feedback

With structured communication, employees will begin to feel more comfortable taking on stretch assignments. First, because they know the goal isn\’t success—it\’s growth. And second, because when they fail—and, usually, they are bound to \”fail\” in some sense—they will have a deep understanding of how to succeed the next time around.

The second benefit of structured communication—and another step toward fostering a workforce comfortable with failure—is that it will teach people to be comfortable with feedback. When most people ask for \”feedback\” today, I\’ve found that what they truly expect is congratulations. Why? It\’s not that they don\’t want to improve—it\’s just that they aren\’t used to hearing constructive criticism, and are therefore unsure of how to handle it.

Structured communication familiarizes both employees and managers with receiving and providing tough feedback. After a few stretch assignments, employees will learn to be their own best advocates and managers will learn how to truly coach their employees. Instead of asking, \”How did that go?\” employees will learn to ask, \”How could that have gone better?\” And instead of a nonchalant \”Good job!\” managers will be able to provide both congratulations and criticism.

Prioritize Growth

Last but not least, it\’s not enough to simply encourage employees and managers to communicate or discuss feedback. It needs to be a formal part of your culture, embodied by your values. Because as I\’ve learned during my career, there are two truths about culture: 1) Culture can be made and 2) Whether you consciously make it or not, culture will happen.

If you aren\’t mindful and strategic about integrating failure into your company culture—through formal communication, trainings and leadership by example—you won\’t realize the eventual success that comes from risk-taking. It is critical to prioritize manager feedback, employee reviews, and general stretch assignments. As a CLO or CHRO, you can beat the drum of \”failure is a good thing\” all you want—but unless you formalize this belief, and immerse your workforce from the start in a company that encourages feedback and growth, you won\’t see a true cultural shift.

An excuse I hear all too often is, \”I want to give feedback—it\’s just that I\’m too busy.\” The hard truth is that at the end of the day, your employees are the only thing you should always have time for. If you\’re too busy for them, then you\’re failing to invest in the future of your personal career, team and company. Like all good things, this is easier said than done—but as I\’ve learned throughout my career, your biggest failures will take you farther than any small success.

WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO CREATE A \’CULTURE OF FAILURE\’?

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1	2	3	4	5	6	7
8	9	10	11	12	13	14
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M	T	W	T	F	S	S
1	2	3	4	5	6	7
8	9	10	11	12	13	14
15	16	17	18	19	20	21
22	23	24	25	26	27	28
29	30	31

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Seeking Pleasure or Avoiding Pain?

Motivation is Personal (And Isn’t Just About Money)

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40 Percent of People Are Unhappy With Their Job

39 Percent Leave for Personal Reasons

20 Percent Are Unhappy With the Organization

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40 Percent of People Are Unhappy With Their Job

39 Percent Leave for Personal Reasons

20 Percent Are Unhappy With the Organization

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40 Percent of People Are Unhappy With Their Job

39 Percent Leave for Personal Reasons

20 Percent Are Unhappy With the Organization

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1. Can They or Will They?

2. Motivation is Mathematical

Choice

Effort

Persistence

3. Considering Emotionality

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1. When Has the Line Been Crossed?

2. Feedback Should be Developmental

3. Embrace Gamification

4. Be Cool About Giving Feedback, But Be Straight About It

5. Use Technology to Make Feedback More Intimate

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Build Structured Communication

Teach People to Ask For Feedback

Prioritize Growth

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Build Structured Communication

Teach People to Ask For Feedback

Prioritize Growth

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