GROW STRONG TEAMS

RETAINING TOP EMPLOYEES

leadership mindset

FLIP THE SCRIPT TO EXPRESS GRATITUDE ON THE JOB

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You’re not alone if you’re struggling to express gratitude on the job. That’s the “bad” news.

Here’s the “good” news though. You have a job, you’re getting paid, and you sidestepped a major financial crisis even though the company you work for struggled during the pandemic.

But still, it’s hard to be grateful when everything in your life in the last year or so feels completely out of your control. So, you unintentionally lash out at your team leader or the business owner who kept you on payroll.

What if you could flip the script and express on-the-job gratitude instead?

APPRECIATION IS A CHOICE

Choosing appreciation means having an awareness of the sacrifices made by the company to keep your role intact.

Even if it meant operating at breakeven, or potentially at a loss to do so. Which ultimately equates to the owner taking a pay cut.

This alone speaks volumes as to the value you hold as a key player to help execute the company mission.

AWARENESS IS YOUR TICKET TO GRATITUDE AT WORK 

The first step to on-the-job gratitude is awareness…

Awareness of what’s going on around you and how you react when things are uncertain or unsettling.

It also includes awareness of your own thoughts, especially the dialogue you allow to run unchecked in your head.

Because, as a human, you are hard-wired towards a negative bias. Always on the lookout for potential threats, problems, and doomsday scenarios.

It’s a throwback to that reptilian brain thinking that kept humans alive early in our evolution…And it no longer serves us today. Instead, it causes undue stress, heightened anxiety, and often locks people into long-term depressive states.

MINDFULNESS IS A PRACTICE

It’s not easy to be mindful all the time…At least until you decide to create a habit of being mindful.

Mindfulness requires intention as well as attention, plus the already mentioned awareness of how you’re showing up.

When you catch your dialogue running towards resentment, scarcity, or what you don’t have (which in most cases is a lack of feeling safe or in control of circumstances), that’s when it’s time to shift.

Not after looking for company for your misery (recruiting other team members to complain to about it).

Not after mentally chalking one up to being “right” about something happening that you didn’t want to happen.

And, especially not after being reactionary towards your team leader, officer, or owner of the company where you work.

REACTING VERSUS RESPONDING

If you focus on being aware of the reaction you’re having when things aren’t working out as you would like them to, that’s when you get to practice being more mindful in responding. 

One simple way to shift is to say “W.A.I.T.” out loud (or to yourself if you’ll “hear” it over the other negative thoughts racing in your brain).

Acknowledge the recurring negative thought as separate from you. Remind yourself that this is a thought, it’s not real. What is real is your ability to think.

Then, proceed to acknowledge that you are the thinker of your thoughts.

For the final step, aloud (or mentally) say, “I chose to move my attention to…” and choose something to replace the reactionary or negative thought.

In this case, an ideal shift would be to move your attention to gratitude to have a job that’s been preserved and is waiting for you every day.

FLIPPING THE SCRIPT TO GRATITUDE TAKES A LITTLE TIME

It’s not about being perfect. It’s more about acknowledging that you’re human too.

You can create a work culture of gratitude and joy, enabling others on your team to feel safe to share their fears, concerns, and feelings.

Effectively, you can flip the script not just for yourself, but for everyone else by modeling transparency and vulnerability.

All it takes is a little patience, practice, and persistence. But perhaps most importantly, it takes you making the commitment to choose gratitude.And, if you or your team needs some guidance on modeling gratitude, feel free to drop me an email so I can share more tips and resources with you.

HOW TO TEND TO THE INTANGIBLES AS A LEADER

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Until you tend to the intangibles your team is wrestling with, being able to open back up for business won’t be your biggest hurdle post-COVID.  

Doing that requires intention and attention to the energy you feel coming from your team members.

Because oftentimes, what they’re secretly worried about is nothing they’ll express out loud.

THE ENERGY OF FEAR 

Your doors are open. Customers are returning slowly but surely.

But your staff is waiting for the other proverbial shoe to drop. The resurgence of cases of the virus may cause another shut-down of non-essential businesses.

Until you address the uncertainty of what “could” happen and the insecurity of having a business to return to work at, fear can and will overtake your group.

Here’s a very specific and simple method you can use to move your team out of fear mode.

A NEW NORMAL 

Although their businesses are slowly opening up, the impact of this pandemic lingers and continues to create havoc. Many are asking, ” what will the new normal look like?” 

MANAGING THE TANGIBLES

As essential businesses, healthcare leaders and their teams navigate, adjust, and craft their plan for the obvious factors. 

Patient volume, revenue streams, and a shift in staffing needs and availability are all on the radar.

Yet, the theme that continues to surface as this pandemic fluctuates daily is the uncertainty, ambiguity, insecurity, and at times fear creating an undercurrent.

An undercurrent that is intangible, but very real. It is creating another level of stress and frustration.   

A SHIFT TO INTANGIBLES MANAGEMENT

As a healthcare owner and leader, you’re accustomed to shifting and adjusting to changes in patient volume, referral sources, reimbursement, and the like.

But you’re less comfortable with the intangible needs of your staff. 

Needs that may not be shared but just demonstrated or felt… 

Signs and symptoms of insecurity, uncertainty, fear,  and other emotions. 

You start asking, 

“How do I help them understand, feel safe, and reduce their anxiety about the challenges we are all faced with?” 

IT STARTS WITH UNDERSTANDING 

First, you need to understand that they are your most important asset. 

Second, fear, uncertainty, reservedness, and hesitation left unaddressed will quickly lead to distrust. 

You may say, “We worked this out and have moved beyond these signs and symptoms,” but I think you all now know the truth.

This virus is continuing to create havoc and trigger signs and symptoms in different ways. 

And third, this is your opportunity, as a leader, to shift this undercurrent, into positive, forward-thinking behavior. 

FORWARD THINKING TO FUTURE-PACE YOUR BUSINESS 

Here is how to be that forward thinker.

You as a leader must be open, vulnerable, and acknowledge your staff’s feelings frequently. 

Create an open dialogue where you are engaging, sharing perceptions, stories, and solutions. 

This intangible undercurrent will shift to openness, collaboration,  innovation, and a fabulous culture that will carry you, your team, and your business forward. 

CONNECTION AS IT’S MEANT TO BE

Remember, this is a beautiful opportunity for you to enhance your leadership skills while creating the culture you want, need, and value. 

It is a simple approach.. go forth and jump in, you’ll like the result.

TEND TO INTANGIBLES TO BUILD STRONG TEAMS

COVID isn’t the biggest problem your business faces if you have no team to help you stay in business.

When you make the choice to lead with vulnerability and tend to intangibles your team members are facing, you create an environment of trust.

If identifying the undercurrent your team is feeling so you can address it is a struggle, let’s hop on a free call to talk about it.

You’ll leave our session with a clear set of action steps to take in order to manage your team’s intangibles. 

HOW YOUR NEED TO BE LIKED STIFLES YOU AS A LEADER

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Your need to be liked as a leader is the number one issue that keeps your business, practice, or workplace from realizing the success you seek.  

A close second is the desire to avoid conflict at all costs.

THE ROOT OF YOUR NEED FOR APPROVAL

A very long time ago, before you were capable of critical thinking, you adopted a personality.

Your experience of the world around you formed your core values. And, the people who raised you instilled a set of beliefs in you which were instilled in them when they were young too.

Some of these beliefs were less than inspiring. 

Narratives like, “You’re not athletic,” “You’re horrible at math,” “You never follow through with anything,” “You’re not book smart,” “You’re always going to struggle in life if you choose to do…”

You get the idea.

Underlying all of those narratives you absorbed from the well-meaning people in your life is the undercurrent of, “You’re not good enough,” or “You’re not worthy.”

And, once you’re old enough to start analyzing the thoughts you think, those tunes playing on repeat inside your head have the power to stifle you as a leader, both personally and professionally.  

Because ultimately, all you want is to be liked, respected, and appreciated for who you are without judgment. At least, that’s how you came into this world.

COUPLED WITH YOUR PEACEKEEPER TENDENCIES 

Fast forward to young adulthood. 

Now you’re at a time in your life when emotions run high as your body chemistry changes. While you want nothing more than to believe you can be, do, or have anything you want, you’re still struggling with your internal dialogue.

Believing you’re not good enough or worthy of what you want causes overwhelming fear when you’re a leader.

Why?

Simply put, leaders are goal setters. High-achievers. Yet those goals they pursue tend to be external. 

So, even if a leader believes they are unworthy and are riddled with confidence issues, they will often reach plenty of external milestones that would lead you to believe they have their act together.

They portray that image so skillfully because they’ve become the peacekeeper. Often going to great lengths to “will” the need for approval and external validation into overpowering their subconscious programming of “not good enough.”

SHOWS UP LIKE THIS WITH YOUR TEAM

Here’s the problem with trying to “out-think” your subconscious or reptilian brain that’s in charge of your survival.

Close to 95% of your day to day activities you perform on autopilot. Which means you have habits and routines that you do without thinking about what you need to do or how you need to do them.

For example, when you wake up in the morning, you don’t think about the steps you take to get ready for work that day. You automatically do them. 

Now, think about all the people you lead or manage on your team. Just like you, they’re working 95% of the time on autopilot.

And, when things don’t go the way someone on your team wants them to, they will also result in their subconscious programming to “survive” or get what they want.

Maybe you’ve attempted multiple times to get a task completed by someone you’ve delegated it to. Yet, that person continues to downgrade the importance of the task because they feel it is beneath them or not in their job description.

Soon, that team member exhibits subtle signs of gaslighting when you push them about the task, or why it’s not been completed. 

They may act moody, make demands, or even state that they’re looking for positions elsewhere in order for you to remove the task from their plate that they don’t want to do.

AND LEADS TO THIS FOR YOU TO SORT OUT

What triggers do you think show up for you next as a leader in that situation?

You get angry. Reactionary. Your first instinct is to tell that team member to do as you ask or you’ll find someone else who will.

Even if this is a key employee who you’d be much better off retaining and developing than letting go because they have an amazing skill set that complements your team.

But, deep down, you realize your fear of feeling unprepared is what you’re really battling with. And, in order to retain and develop that team member who has you all in a fit, you have to deal with your own self-critic first. 

TRY THIS TO GET RESULTS FROM YOUR TEAM INSTEAD  

That’s why it’s absolutely imperative to be the most effective leader that you can be, you need to recognize and acknowledge your triggers.

Knowing that almost every activity you engage in daily is unconsciously chosen, and the job of the part of your unconscious or subconscious brain is to keep you alive is a big help.

Instead of acting on autopilot and demanding someone bend to your will, the better play is to acknowledge what is being triggered by that person’s behavior.

Invite the gaslighting team member to have a chat. Open up a dialogue to build trust by saying you’d like their input about how you’re doing as a leader. What’s going great. What’s going less than great.

Practice this and you’ll find out what they’re really trying to tell you by their avoidance of the task, or their “holding you hostage” behavior when they act out.   

PUT YOUR NEED TO BE LIKED IN CHECK

While it may be a hard-wired behavior that you developed a very long time ago to survive, your need to be liked is an incredible hindrance to leading effectively.

Putting that need in check is how you go from irrational reactionary behavior and gaslighting team members to a more successful work environment.

Doing so is a process. One that starts when you choose to take a deeper dive into the thoughts, beliefs, and experiences keeping you stuck in the unworthy mindset. 
Set up a free strategy session with me and I’ll help you ident