Around the office in 80 days...

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What if I told you there was a way to increase employee engagement, customer satisfaction, innovation, alignment and empowerment - for free?

Wait… what?  Yep, it’s true.  

Idea of the month:  Host a Departmental Open House

Invite colleagues from other departments to come visit your department.
Have team members be ready to describe “a day in the life” of your team.

• Share challenges, motivations, goals and metrics that your department is working hard to achieve.
• Encourage questions and suggestions.
• Listen to them, and act on them.

Anecdote: When I worked at Chateau Whistler, a Fairmont Hotel and Resort, we would set up the ballroom as an internal tradeshow.  Employees would travel the aisles with a "passport” and earn stamps after learning about each of the other departments.  It was fun and effective!

BTW - that's why, if you mention to a server in the Wildflower Restaurant that your ski boots are cold or wet, they’ll tell you about the handy ski-check services!  Win-Win-Win

Psst! Ward to learn more from Ward Certified? Check out our Program of the Month.

Picnic?

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Happy almost-Fourth-of-July!

It’s that time of year when the boss gets to wear an apron and BBQ burgers for the team, right?  (Psst! If you’re not planning a summer event for your team, you should – nudge, nudge!)

Often we book those company outings looking at the corporate calendar vs. people’s calendars.  Then we wonder why attendance is low.
This year, plan the dates before you plan the activity. Use software like Doodle to get buy-in on the date and time, then plan away.
 
Tip: By the way, volunteering is a great way to build teamwork, make Gen X's and Gen Y's happy, and help the world.

P.S.- You can buy that apron on etsy.

P.P.S.- Happy July! Check out our new Program of the Month: Presenting with Impact.

All aboard!

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Onboarding a new team member can be hard to do. As workplaces change, the way we bring new coworkers into the office should change as well.

Over the next few weeks, we'll go over 3 Ways to Make a New Coworker Feel like Part of the Team.

Tip #1: Let them join you for lunch.

During their first week, take a chance to get to know them when not working. By finding out more about their background, you might even learn more about how their skills can be most useful in a future project!

It's June, which means we have a new Program of the Month: Check out Teambuilding with Style.

Word of the Day

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Spot the difference:

"Let’s get this done."

"Let’s get this done together."

Yes, just one little word. Together. It turns out that the feeling of working together can lead to greater motivation, engagement, and performance. Even as teams are growing more and more virtual, often leading to individual work, simply using this word can help motivate as a team. The word "together" signals that you belong, you’re connected, and there are others you can trust.

Let’s try it- together. 

Well, I heard...

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Have you ever been on a team and a new person joined that you knew nothing about?

Have you ever been been assigned a new boss or project leader that you didn't know?

What did you do?  

Chances are you made up a story and sometimes that story can undermine that person's credibility.  

If you're a new manager or new to the team, here are some ideas on how to fill in the information gap so that you can start off on the right foot. 

1. Encourage the person above you to send out a note which highlights your accomplishments.
2. Make time to meet with each person on your team.  Have a conversation about your goals and theirs.  This is especially important if you have been promoted over a colleague who also wanted that role. Meet with that person and appreciate their contributions. Offer them important work. Give trust to earn trust. 
3. Pay it forward.  Be sure that when you bring new people onboard, that you share WHY they have been chosen.

Sharing the WHAT and the WHY every time you communicate with your team makes for better results.  

What do a polygraph, a DiSC Assessment, and Wonder Woman have in common?

They were all invented by Dr. William Marston. 

• In 1917, Dr. Marston discovered the link between blood pressure and lying which led to the creation of the prototype for the polygraph and the lasso of truth.

• In the 1930’s, he applied his studies on human behavior to help Universal Studios transition from melodramatic silent pictures to movies with audio and encouraged the need for more natural gestures and facial expression by actors.

• In the 1940’s, he introduced us to Wonder Woman.  Her heroic behaviors show strong will, power, and the use of the behavioral style dimensions of DiSC — dominance, influence, submission, and compliance — to accomplish her missions.

Many of you have enjoyed the benefits of understanding DiSC for self-awareness, teams, managing, and leading.  If you’d like to have a live or virtual DiSC session, let’s chat. 

Want to hear more about Dr. Marston, watch this CBS report. 

“Not even girls want to be girls so long as our feminine archetype lacks force, strength and power. Not wanting to be girls, they don’t want to be tender, submissive, peace-loving as good women are. Women’s strong qualities have become despised because of their weakness. The obvious remedy is to create a feminine character with all the strength of Superman plus all the allure of a good and beautiful woman.”

— Dr. William Moulton Marston

Welcome to My World!

What if I told you there was a way to increase employee engagement, customer satisfaction, innovation, alignment and empowerment - for free?

Wait… what?  Yes, it’s true.   

Idea of the month:  Host a Departmental Open House

Invite colleagues from other departments to come visit your department.

Have team members be ready to describe “a day in the life” of your team. 

Share challenges, motivations, goals and metrics that your department is working hard to achieve.

Encourage questions and suggestions.

Listen to them, and act on them.

When I worked at Chateau Whistler, a Fairmont Hotel and Resort, we would set up the ballroom as an internal tradeshow.  Employees would travel the aisles with a “passport” and earn stamps after learning about each of the other departments.  It was fun and effective!

BTW - that's why, if you mention to a server in the Wildflower Restaurant that your ski boots are cold or wet, they’ll tell you about the handy ski-check services!  Win-Win-Win