For those of you who have been regular readers of this blog, you know based on my last post that I’m shifting some of my time from writing to focusing on growing my business.  Thank you for the kind words from many of you in response to this post.

One of the things I’m working on is developing some new product and service offerings for the corporate HR and Training community.  I’m hoping that you will consider doing me a favor in regards to that work.

Could you spare 5 minutes today to complete a quick market research study?  The survey is very brief and is comprised of questions related to business priorities and the utilization of leadership and talent development services within your organization.  Your responses will help me understand more clearly if the path I’m on is the right one.

As a thank you, the first 100 people who complete the survey will have the opportunity to enter a drawing for one of four $25 Starbucks gift cards.

Start the survey by clicking here.

If the survey doesn’t open, you can cut and paste this link into your browser: http://questionpro.com/t/AJPS1ZOSgq

Thank you for your help with this project.  I appreciate your support.

It’s that time of year again.  The annual opportunity to plan, scheme, and build a budget.  Generally, this is the time of year when we think about what new programs or technologies we could add in the upcoming year.  We dream of slick technology or powerful new programs that we could implement if we are lucky enough to be given the budget to do it.  It’s a fun time of year.  Planning and thinking big thoughts is important.

But, this year, while you plan and dream and budget, set aside a little time for another powerful exercise that we often overlook.

Set aside some time this year to ask these questions:

• What should we STOP doing next year?
• What tasks, process, or technologies are taking a lot of our time, but where we aren’t certain of their impact?
• What can we take off of our plate?

Making a major impact on your organization may not be about the new stuff you can add next year.  Instead, the biggest impact may lie in doing less of the things that really don’t matter so you can make room for executing the things that do.

The key is knowing the difference and having the courage to take action on it.

Should.

I should have said something.
I should go back to school.
I should have just said I was sorry.
I should have stood up for myself.
I should talk to my boss about how unhappy I am.
I should have spent my time with my kids when they were smaller.
I should have told her how I feel.

Should is where hollow intentions, unrealized dreams and regrets live. Striking this word from your vocabulary is a great start towards achieving great things in your life.

By replacing “should” with “will” you turn a hollow intention into a commitment. And commitments are where the magic starts. Whenever you have the thought, “I should probably …” that is your conscious or your soul giving you the gift of pointing you in the direction of your happiness. When we replace “should” with “will” and follow that with action, you receive that gift.

The world is filled with unhappy people who talk about what they should do tomorrow and what they should have done yesterday. Chose a different path. Talk instead about what you did yesterday and what you will do tomorrow. Liberate your happiness.

As this year comes to a close, I have been reflecting on what I’ve learned or what lessons have been reinforced for me this year. While I acknowledge that this post is largely self-serving and reflective, I’m posting it as a way to “share my work” with you so that you can take from it what you’d like (or ignore it entirely).

I think that from a learning perspective, this may have been one of my most successful years of my professional life. I have taken risks, a lot of risks, and some have paid off while others have not. Within all of these risks, I’ve learned a lot about myself and have extracted a lot of lessons that I think will fuel my success in the future.

Here’s a list of the things that stand out on my list of lessons learned:

• Collaboration is the killer app.  I love working with and collaborating with others.  It is more fun to create collaboratively than by yourself.  And, you almost always come up with a better product when you put a lot of smart heads together than if you work alone.  It can be messy and crazy at times, but the work product is almost always better.
• Focus is critical to accomplishing big goals.  And, focus is hard.  It requires a level of discipline that is not natural to me.
• Social media is a great tool, but you have to be incredibly intentional about how you use it in context of business.  Because social media is fun and rewarding through immediate feedback, it can start to feel like it’s productive work while it’s distracting you from doing the things you really should be doing instead.  Letting go of my compulsion to blog and be constantly engaged in the social media frenzy was one of the best things I did this year.
• Speaking our truth is the most important thing we can do.  Even when you are afraid and even when you aren’t sure what will happen after you speak it, the truth will set you free.  I forget this once in a while, but it has always proved to be true in my life on every level, personal to professional.
• Being all in on anything without a safety net is both scary and liberating.  It’s like the old story about the leader who burned the boats his army rode in on so that they had not option but to win the battle before them.  It took me a while to realize that I had not only one boat but a few boats docked in my harbor.  I’ve been in the process of setting fire to them, one by one.  In 2013, there will be no boats left.  I will fight my battle all in.  Succeed or fail, no hedges, no back up plan.  (This is closely related to the bullet about focus.)
• Advising others is far easier than knowing your own path.  It is a gift to have mentors and advisers in my life who continue to shepherd and guide me through what has proven to be a crazy and winding journey.  I’m not sure what I would do without their wisdom and kindness.
• Relationships matter.  This shouldn’t be a surprise that I say this because I co-wrote a book about it.  But even I continue to be amazed by the power of relationships in my life.  I have come to know a lot of really amazing people who continue to be amazingly generous and supportive.  It is a blessing.

That’s a wrap for 2012.  I hope that you’ve all been blessed with learning and opportunity in 2012.  Let’s go make some magic happen in 2013.

Happy New Year!

Joe and I started doing a session a year or so ago at Talent Anarchy called HackLab.  The idea behind the session was simple: to teach people how to use the basic principles of computer hacking to create innovation within their work–any kind of work.  Conceptually, it’s about realizing that innovation doesn’t happen like a lightning bolt striking with the sudden revelation of a game changing idea.  Instead, innovation is built over time, one small improvement after another.  Hacking is the perfect model and any one can do it.

When we rolled this out, we weren’t sure how much of an impact it might have, but as we started to teach the concept, we started getting great feedback.  People keep telling us that it has real application for them.  Plus, HackLab is a working session where they practice and often walk away with some great hacks to apply to their work immediately.

So, when I had the opportunity to present an Ignite HR session last fall at The HR Reinvention Experiment, I took the opportunity to introduce that audience to the idea of using hacking to drive innovation.  If you aren’t familiar, the Ignite format is a presentation format where you get 20 slides, 15 seconds per slide and the slides advance automatically.  It’s a fun and challenging format to present.  It forces you to pack a lot of information into a little time and to be really focused with your message.

My session was titled “Creating a Workforce of Hackers” and it outlines how this process works.  If you can spare 5 minutes, I think you might like the idea.  I look forward to hearing your thoughts.

(If the video doesn’t appear below for you, click here to see it.)

A few weeks back, I wrote about my process of finding focus and commitment for my path forward. It’s been a quite a journey to learn this lesson and take my next step. The reason for this post is to share some detail about what I will be doing in 2013 and beyond.  The punch line in terms of where I go next is at the end of this post (so you can skip ahead). I’ll give you a hint: it’s not doing something new, it’s actually doing  fewer things with more focus and intensity.

In the middle of the post is my narrative for how I got here.  I’ve done some really good and really silly things in the couple of years.  I’m going to share some highlights in case there’s something in there that you can learn from or use as inspiration. If it’s too wordy or too self-serving, my apologies in advance. This is my last post on this blog–ever–so I hope you will extend me a little slack.

Over the past twenty months since I parted ways with my last corporate HR job, I’ve tried to juggle a lot of balls. First, I went through a brand development process to fuel the creation of this website, www.JasonLauritsen.com, and to promote my individual speaking, writing and consulting. At the same time, I was working with my long time friend and mentor, Cy Wakeman, to develop and take to market a revolutionary new employee engagement survey tool that incorporated the concepts of personal accountability. This also included working with her to create a new company, Bulletproof Talent, to market and sell that tool. During the same time, the one constant was my work with Talent Anarchy–speaking at conferences all over the country, publishing a book, and continuing to develop new ideas with my co-conspirator, Joe Gerstandt.

That’s a lot of work represented in that paragraph.  But, when I read through it, it sounds a little crazy and confusing. As I would see people out on the road at conferences, they would ask me “so, which hat are you wearing today?” or “what exactly are you doing these days?”  Despite working really hard, I wasn’t making the progress I expected and it seemed that the more I tried to do, the less clear people were about what I was doing and how to do business with me.

I had made the classic new entrepreneur mistake, believing that the more things I tried to do, the more opportunity I would expose myself too.  When, in fact, what I was doing was confusing the market of people who I wanted to do business with, and diluting my focus from any particular business.  The result felt a lot like treading water.  I was tired and while I wasn’t drowning, I was also not really going anywhere in regards to building a sustainable and valuable business.  Thankfully, I have a great team of mentors looking out for me.  Their message was consistent and clear.  I had to make some choices.  I had to focus.

The thought of taking things off of my plate scared me at first.  But, I knew I needed to chose one path, one brand, one body of work to commit to with every bit of energy I had.  To make that choice required a lot of self-reflection.  But, the answer became clear to me pretty quickly.  The work of Talent Anarchy is where my passion lies.  We had been getting some signals that there was greater opportunity to expand Talent Anarchy and I was really excited by that prospect.

So, Joe and I sat down last fall and talked about it.  The result, after a lot of conversation was, “let’s do it.”   If you’d like to read more about what this means, you can jump over to the Talent Anarchy blog for the rest of the story.  In short, Talent Anarchy is expanding to become a training and development company that works with ambitious organizations and leaders to unlock greater potential for speed and innovation through talent.

Burning the Boats

So, starting in January of 2013, I am going full Anarchist.  One brand, one business card, one story to tell about what I do for a living.  While at first, this was scary, it now feels incredibly liberating and energizing.  My time will be fully focused on build Talent Anarchy as a training and development company in order to guide organizations to discover powerful new ways to drive great results through talent.

This transition means that most of this website beyond my blog archives will soon disappear.  When you see my name, it will be next to a Talent Anarchy logo and fireball.  Talent Anarchy will do some collaborative work with Cy and Bulletproof Talent as business partners where it makes sense for our clients.  Talent Anarchy will also look to form other partnerships as well in the future to help bring great solutions to our clients so that we can do what we do best and have partners who can provide the rest.

So, here ends my last post on this blog.  I am so honored by your readership and support.  My intention (assuming that I can figure it out technically) for email subscribers is to move you over to the Talent Anarchy blog so you won’t have to take any action.  If you want to be safe, you can jump over there and subscribe.  All of my blogging going forward will be on the Talent Anarchy blog.  Please come join me there.

And now another new chapter begins.  I am excited to write it and I hope that you will be part of the story with me.

Thank you.

It’s Thanksgiving week in the U.S. which marks the official start of our holiday season.

Thanksgiving is an interesting holiday because its meaning varies widely from person to person and family to family.

For some it’s about eating yourself into a food coma. For others, it’s an awkward day trying to avoid political conversations with your aunt Edna. For others, it’s a day to be resentful that you have to work when most others do not. Then there’s the football and, of course, the eve of the most obscene shopping day of the year: Black Friday.

In all of this, the underlying meaning of the holiday can sometimes be lost.

Giving thanks. 

For me, this time of year represents a reminder to pause very intentionally to reflect, express, and feel gratitude for all of the wonderful gifts and people in my life. Maybe you do the same.

But one day a year, even one month a year, is not nearly often enough to practice gratitude. And I don’t mean that in a touchy-feely, kumbaya way.

Gratitude can change our lives in profound ways. There’s no shortage of evidence that proves this out.

In a piece written by Dr. Randy Kamen called “The Transformative Power of Gratitude,” she references what research has revealed about the positive impacts of expressing gratitude (turns out there are many):

 In 2007, Robert Emmons began researching gratitude through a psychological lens. He found that expressing gratitude improves mental, physical and relational well-being. Being grateful also impacts the overall experience of happiness, and these effects tend to be long-lasting.

Benefits of Gratitude

• Improved physical, emotional, and social well-being
• Greater optimism and happiness
• Improved feelings of connection in times of loss or crises
• Increased self-esteem
• Heightened energy levels
• Strengthened heart, immune system, and decreased blood pressure
• Improved emotional and academic intelligence
• Expanded capacity for forgiveness
• Decreased stress, anxiety, depression, and headaches
• Improved self-care and greater likelihood to exercise
• Heightened spirituality — ability to see something bigger than ourselves

In another article, Forbes contributor Amy Morin outlines seven scientifically-proven benefits of gratitude:

1. Gratitude opens the door to more relationships.
2. Gratitude improves physical health.
3. Gratitude improves psychological health.
4. Gratitude enhances empathy and reduces aggression.
5. Grateful people sleep better.
6. Gratitude improves self-esteem.
7. Gratitude increases mental strength.

Both of those lists are pretty compelling. Who wouldn’t want these things?

And it’s not as if being grateful is unpleasant or hard work. It’s not. In fact, there are some very simple techniques that anyone can learn and practice to get better at it.  Both articles I referenced above share recommendations for how to do it.  A simple Google search for “Gratitude Techniques” reveals pages of helpful resources.

So, here’s my question.

If practicing daily gratitude is this effective and powerful at delivering positive outcomes in our life like health and happiness and it’s a simple skill to learn…

1. Why aren’t we all doing it?
2. Why aren’t we teaching others how to do it?

It seems to me that teaching gratitude should be a pretty powerful technique for improving employee engagement and workplace wellness with almost immediate results.

Why aren’t we all doing this?

Just something to ponder this Thanksgiving holiday.

Thank you for reading this. I’m grateful for you.

There are volumes written about the qualities that make for a good leader. Each one recommending a slightly (or radically) different approach. If you are studying to be a good leader, this is overwhelming and confusing.

The first page of results for a Google search for “Leadership Traits” returns links that range from reasonable to laughable.

• “The Seven Best Leadership Qualities” from Brian Tracy (Seven seems reasonable…)
• “Top Ten Traits of Great Leaders” from the American Management Association (Okay, ten isn’t too bad…)
• “22 Qualities That Make a Great Leader” on Entrepreneur.com (22 seems like a lot…)
• “23 Traits of Good Leaders” on CNN.com (22 wasn’t enough?)
• Then my favorite link, “101 Best Leadership Skills, Traits & Qualities” (What? And this wasn’t even published by the Onion…)

It’s overwhelming. Which cocktail of leadership traits and skills should you mix if you want to be successful?

Well, I have some good news for you. If your desire is to be a leader who creates an engaging work experience for employees, the list is far shorter.

Since employees experience work as a relationship, the role of the leader is to foster a healthy relationship between the employee and their work experience.

To do this successfully, there are really only four traits and skills you need.

1. Love. To create an experience where employees can feel fully connected and emotionally engaged at work, you have to deeply care about people. This means caring more about the person and their wellbeing than what they can do for you or the organization. Knowing you really matter to someone else is the foundation of any healthy relationship.
2. Listening. Communication is the fuel that powers healthy relationships. And the best communication takes the form of conversation and dialogue, a two-way exchange. As a leader, this means doing more listening than talking, asking more questions than providing answers. Remember the advice of Stephen Covey, “Seek first to understand, then to be understood.”
3. Empathy. This one is critical.  Empathy is “the experience of understanding another person’s condition from their perspective. You place yourself in their shoes and feel what they are feeling.” Part of the reason that the work experience goes awry is that leaders and managers forget what it’s like to be an employee or a new hire. Practicing empathy reminds us to ask more questions in an effort to see the work experience through the eyes of each employee. As a result, we can make decisions and take action on the things that really matter to our people.
4. Courage. Being in a relationship with humans can be challenging and you won’t always get it right. Sometimes, you will try to do the right thing and it will go wrong. As a leader, you will make mistakes. You must be able to hear criticism, say you are sorry, and go right back to work trying to be better next time. If you are doing it right, leading people will feel scary and uncertain at times. But, you have to repeatedly find the courage to do the hard, important, uncomfortable things regardless. You must push past your fear because it’s not about you. Your people are counting on you to step up for them.

In my experience, when you find a leader who possesses these four qualities, you will find a group of engaged, loyal people following her. So, if your goal is to lead in a way that truly engages your team, start by focusing these four qualities. The others can wait.

One of the lessons I will take from 2017 is a reminder of the importance of making time to invest in my own learning and growth.

As a speaker and author, my job is to facilitate and inspire learning for others. My work forces me to continuously learn to stay relevant, but I realized that it had been a long while since I’d really allowed myself to be a student.

So, I took advantage of a few opportunities last year to do so.

The experiences helped me not only to learn new things but to challenge my perspectives and opinions in key ways. I was stretched and challenged.

And, I met some amazing people who shared these experiences with me.

It was invigorating.

That’s why I’d like to encourage you to give that same gift to yourself in 2018. And, if you need some ideas, below are two experiences I would highly recommend based on my experience (including how to get a discount on early registrations).

Futurist Camp

The highlight for me last year was attending Futurist Camp. It was an awesome experience.

For starters, it’s hosted by the amazing and incomparable, Rebecca Ryan. Rebecca has taught me so much over the past decade that I can honestly say that just the opportunity to hang out with Rebecca for a few days is worth the price of Camp. She will make you better.

Beyond that, you will learn the skills of Strategic Foresight, the mechanics behind how legit Futurists help organizations and leaders to make sense of and prepare for the future. Whether you are a leader, entrepreneur, consultant, or community activist, Futurist Camp will give you tools to dramatically improve the impact of your work.  And the learning isn’t isolated to camp. For six months following camp, there are monthly webinars and coaching support available to you as you work to apply your new skills.

As if that isn’t enough, Futurist Camp is held at an actual camp. Camp Wandawega in Elkhorn, Wisconsin, to be precise. Class time, meals and discussion are all held outside under a tent or a canopy of trees. There is recreational time built in to each day’s schedule to nourish your body and soul while you nourish your brain. And, the food is amazing (like blow-your-mind amazing).

It’s great learning wrapped in an amazing, unique experience. If thinking better about the future would benefit you, get to camp.

But wait, there’s more.  Use the code WantaWanda2018 to register before February 28, 2018, and receive 20% off the regular registration price!

Click here to register and learn more.

WorkHuman

Last year was my first trip to WorkHuman. This event, hosted by the technology company Globoforce, was one that I’d had on my radar since it’s inception several years ago. As someone who thinks every day about how to make work more a more human experience for employees, just the concept of this event had strong appeal for me.

The 2018 edition of WorkHuman looks like it could be a pretty epic opportunity to learn and find inspiration for those who share my passion for human workplaces. For starters, Brené Brown is speaking. If you aren’t familiar with her work, go watch some of her Ted Talks. Her work is profoundly important and it will change your life. Like Michelle Obama did last year, Brene Brown alone makes this event worth the trip.

In addition to Brene, you can also hear presentations from some people who have had tremendously influenced my thinking including Adam Grant, Simon Sinek, David Rock, and Cy Wakeman. And, that’s just the start of what you’ll find on the agenda at this event. It’s content rich.

WorkHuman is also where I’ll be sharing for the first time a new presentation based on the content from my upcoming book, Unlocking High Performance. So while I do have a little work to do while I’m there, during the rest of the event, I’ll be sitting beside you scribbling notes and chatting about what we learned.  I hope you’ll join me.

Click here to register and learn more.  You can save $100 off your registration by using the code WH18INF-JLA.  And here’s an insider tip, registration prices go up on Jan 1, so don’t put this off.

Invest in yourself in 2018. Set aside at least a little time next year to invest in your learning and growth.

You are worth it. And you deserve it.

P.S. If you have you any great learning experiences you’d recommend highly, please share them with me. I’m looking for some good options for 2018.

It’s that time of year again.

The time for resolutions about how we will make the upcoming year our best ever. If you have the privilege of leading people at work, hopefully, one of your resolutions is to create a more engaging work experience for them.

If you go looking, you will find endless suggestions for how to better engage your employees ranging from simple to “you want me to do what?” And most of them aren’t bad ideas. But, where to start?

My suggestion is to stick to the fundamentals. From my early days playing basketball, I can remember coaches preaching the importance of the fundamentals. If you don’t do these things right, none of the other stuff matters. To this day, when I’m shooting baskets with my son and I can’t seem to make a basket, I remember this lesson.

• Am I squared to the basket?
• Is my elbow in?
• Am I keeping my eye on the target?
• Does my hand follow through?

These are the shooting fundamentals I learned as a boy and they still determine my success in shooting today. When my shot is off, it’s because I’m not doing one of these things–usually eyeing the target.

Engaging employees is the same way. It all starts with the fundamentals.

If you have been following my work, you know that work is a relationship for the employee. To increase engagement is to increase the employee’s feeling of connection with work thus strengthing the relationship.  So the fundamentals of engagement are really the fundamentals of relationships.

To make progress this year, do these three simple things.

1. Spend more quality time together. The vital ingredient of any relationship is time. Without it, there will be no relationship. As a manager, this means carving out dedicated time at least once a month for a one-on-one conversation with each person on your team. This time should be treated as sacred to be protected and preserved. But making the time isn’t enough. When you meet, you must be fully present and engaged with your employee, prepared to be nowhere else but in that conversation. It’s often a good idea to get away from your office to a place with fewer distractions. Maybe you meet for coffee or go for a walk together. Use this time to ask questions and get to know your people and what they care about. Show a sincere interest in them and they will reward you with the same.
2. Say “thank you” more often. There’s been a lot of talk about employee recognition over the past several years and while I think recognition is important, it can also feel overwhelming when trying to figure out how to do it right. Instead of worrying about how and when to recognize each person the right way, start simply by saying thank you more often.  Small acts of acknowledgment and appreciation can go just as far as a perfect act of formal recognition. Put a sticky note on your monitor at work with the works “Say Thank You” to keep it top of mind. Then, block one-hour in your calendar each week labeled “Gratitude” to preserve time for you to reflect and send notes of thanks for experiences from the previous week. These “thank you’s” don’t have to be for exceptional work. It can be even more powerful to say thank you for something that is expected and often goes unnoticed. In my marriage, my wife does the cooking because she’s amazing at it and she enjoys cooking (most days). It would be easy to overlook saying thank you to her for feeding us every day since it’s become our routine. But I know it matters greatly to her when we express our gratitude.  This same dynamic is in play for every single person in the workplace.
3. Ask more questions (and then shut up and listen). We live in a world (not just at work) where people mostly talk at one another. This can leave us feeling isolated, unheard, and wondering if we really matter. As a leader, the most powerful tool we have to address this is questions. Good questions do several things: show interest, invite sharing, and start a conversation. In management, it’s easy to fall into the trap of giving answers and providing directives–talking at our direct reports. When efficiency is prized, this is the fastest way to get people “back to work.” But, it’s killing the relationship. No one likes to be talked at. In this new year, challenge yourself to start every interaction you have with a team member with a question. Then, listen to their response intently and ask a follow-up question. You will be amazed by what you learn. If you aren’t sure what to ask, start with these.
   • How are things going?
   • What’s new this week?
   • How are you feeling about that new project?
   • How’s the family?

To improve engagement with your team or in your organization this year, focus on the fundamentals. And because these are relationship fundamentals, if you want to improve your connection with your significant other, children or friends, the same applies to those relationships too.

Here’s wishing you a prosperous and joyful new year full of strong and healthy relationships.

Last week, the 2018 Edelman Trust Barometer was released. In case you aren’t familiar, this is a report of findings from annual research conducted in 28 countries to understand and trend trust and perceived credibility in institutions globally. The survey includes 33,000 individual responses each year. This year was the 18^th annual report.

The recent results for the U.S., in particular, have been troubling. Last year, trust levels in the U.S. had fallen to an all-time low in the 17-year history of the report. Trust fell in every institution type they track: Business, Media, Government and NGO’s. It wasn’t a pretty picture.

This year’s report is much worst.

Here’s an excerpt from the executive summary of the report that helps illustrate the magnitude of the findings:

“No country saw steeper declines than the United States, with a 37-point aggregate drop in trust across all institutions. The loss of trust was most severe among the informed public—a 23-point fall on the Trust Index—nearly erasing the “mass-class” divide that once stood between this segment of the U.S. population and the country’s far-less-trusting mass population.”

Richard Edelman, whose company produces this report, goes so far as to say in this report that “informed public trust imploded, down 23 Trust Index points to 45, ranking the U.S. lowest of the 28 nations surveyed.”

Trust levels aren’t great in most countries involved in this report, but things are pretty dire in the U.S.

As you dig a little deeper into the findings, a few other interesting things jump out.

First, in an era of “fake news,” we have lost confidence in the media.

“In 22 of 28 countries, media is now distrusted. There is a widespread belief that media is failing to meet key societal expectations—receiving scores of 50 percent or less when it comes to guarding information quality, educating people on important issues, and helping inform good life decisions.”

And, our faith in our fellow human even took a hit this year.

“The credibility of “a person like yourself” declined substantially, and peers are no longer the most-believed source of information.”

But, we are looking for someone to trust and believe in. Among those we are looking to for leaders are the CEOs of businesses.

“There are new expectations of corporate leaders. Nearly 7 in 10 respondents say that building trust is the No. 1 job for CEOs, ahead of high-quality products and services. Nearly two-thirds say they want CEOs to take the lead on policy change instead of waiting for government, which now ranks significantly below business in trust in most markets.”

Overall, the report is alarming and eye-opening. You can download a copy here. It’s worth a read.

What All of this Means for Employee Engagement

As I’ve reflected on these findings, I think they represent both a challenge and an opportunity for employers.

On the one hand, trust is critical in the workplace. The degree to which employees trust leaders, managers and coworkers is a known driver of engagement. In an external environment that might be described as a “crisis of trust,” there are strong headwinds pushing against our efforts to build trust at work. Trust building is more challenging and important than ever.

But, the Edelman report seems to suggest that people are looking for someone to trust. We are expecting CEOs and business to lead in ways that they haven’t in the past. As employers, your people want to trust you. We are all craving someone or something to believe in that won’t let us down. This is a huge opportunity.

Now is the time to get serious about building trust. But how?

The best place to start is by looking in the mirror.

“He who does not trust enough, will not be trusted.”

-Lao Tzu

It’s really hard to trust someone who doesn’t trust you. Are your behaviors or policies sending a message of trust or distrust?

As a manager, when you ask someone on your team to do something, do you trust them to complete it?

Or, do you follow up frequently with questions like, “How is that project coming along?”

While you may think you are showing interest by asking these questions, the person on the other side of these inquiries hears that you don’t trust them to get it done as agreed upon.

When you communicate with your team, do you give them the whole story? Even when it’s not great news?

Sugarcoating or withholding information sends a message that you don’t trust employees to be able to handle the truth. They will find out the full story, they always do.

And, how about your policy manual? Does it communicate trust? Are you asking people to prove they were at the doctor’s office or a funeral rather than taking their word for it?  Do you have an unnecessarily restrictive dress code that seems to suggest that people can’t be trusted to dress appropriately of their own accord?

It might be time to revisit some of your workplace rules that are diminishing trust from day one of employment.

Take some time to see your organization and your leadership behaviors from the employee’s perspective.

Challenge yourself to extend more trust. Trust is reciprocal. By trusting more, you will be more trusted.

To build more trust, go first.

I’ve been speaking professionally now for about a decade. I enjoy telling new people I meet that I’m a professional speaker because they often react as if they’ve just discovered an alien species. It’s fun.

By nature of being a speaker, sometimes I get asked for advice about speaking.

• How did you get started?
• How did you become a good speaker?
• What tips do you have for how to be a good speaker?

Today, I’m going to take a break from talking employee engagement and instead, talk speaking. If you don’t want to be a better speaker or don’t care about the process of public speaking, then you can skip the rest of this post. I’ll be back to employee engagement next time.

I won’t bore you with some huge back story about how I became a speaker because none of that will help you be a better speaker. I will say that I think that I was born with some natural advantages like a good voice and a love of performing in front of people. But, the rest of how I became a good speaker is something anyone can replicate.

Here is the advice I offer when asked for my speaking tips.

1. Speak with passion.

When you are deciding if you should speak or what you should speak about, consider how passionate you are about the topic. If it’s something that gets you excited or makes your blood boil, that’s a good sign. Passion is contagious from the stage. I have been called an “evangelist” many times because I speak about topics that I deeply care about and that passion flows out of me. If you don’t care about your topic, it will be obvious to your audience and they won’t care either.

2. Have a point.

If you are going to stand up in front of a group of people, you should have a reason for doing so. Do you want to persuade or influence them to a particular point of view? Do you want them to take a specific action? Or do you just want to make them laugh?  Be very clear with yourself about why you are speaking and what you hope to accomplish. Your audience is expecting you to take them for a ride so make sure you know where you are going.

3. Tell stories. 

If you are a student of communication, you know that stories are one of the most effective means of communicating information to other people. Stories activate our brains in ways that no other type of communication does.  So, when constructing your speech, if you have a choice between showing a chart and data or sharing a story, always chose the story. People remember a good story.

4. Program your language.

The thing that usually surprises people is that I script out my speeches word for word. When I’m creating new content, I literally write out the entire thing in narrative form. Then, I go back and edit it over and over until I get the structure, timing, and phrasing of the language just right. I then read this written content out loud over and over again until I start to feel as if I could recite it without the script. I then start to transition off script and begin to practice reciting it from memory.

The reason I take these steps is to program the language of the speech into my brain. Through this preparation, I am freed from having to think about what or how I am going to say things. Instead, I can focus on audience and what’s happening in the room. I am able to improvise without being thrown off course. Getting to this point takes time and diligence. This brings me to my next point.

5. Practice. Practice. Practice. 

Most people under prepare for speaking. This is where they fail themselves. People describe getting very nervous when they speak, sometimes struggling to find the right words when they are on stage. While you will always have nerves, by scripting and practicing relentlessly, your confidence will increase and you will be better equipped to manage the nervousness.

6. Know your audience, but be yourself. 

One of the sacred rules of public speaking is to know your audience. Who are they and what do they care about? Knowing this allows you to adapt your references and language to better connect with them (and avoid sounding uninformed). This is important advice to follow. But, regardless of your audience, don’t back away from showcasing your unique and authentic style. Adjust, but don’t conform. What makes you different is what makes you memorable. Show off a little of that in every speech whether it’s through your stories or your style.

There you have it. Jason’s tips for speaking like a pro. I hope you found some nuggets in there to help you become a better speaker the next time out.

Next week, I am headed out to speak at and attend the WorkHuman conference in Austin, TX. While I am always excited when given the opportunity to speak, I’m really looking forward to this event for a few reasons.

1. I’m debuting some new content. The session I’m doing next week is called “Making Performance Management Human-Friendly.” It’s inspired by the ideas in my new book. It will be fun to put this out there and get some feedback.
2. WorkHuman feels like a gathering of my tribe–those people working every day to make work more human for all people. Globoforce, the technology company who created and hosts this event calls it a “movement.”  Here’s how they describe it on the website: “Globoforce pioneered the WorkHuman movement to galvanize leaders worldwide to harness the transformative power of people for the next generation of HR. We celebrate breakthrough organizations building human-centric workplaces where employees achieve their fullest potential – where people feel appreciated, connected, and empowered for who they are and what they do.”
3. Two words: Brené Brown. Her work has been so profoundly important to so many, including me. I’m really looking forward to her keynote.
4. The #MeToo Panel. The planning team at Globoforce put together a remarkable panel of Tarana Burke (who started the Me Too movement in 2006), Ashley Judd, and Ronan Farrow (the journalist who broke the Harvey Weinstein story). Adam Grant will moderate this conversation. I’m excited to learn from this panel and I hope that it sparks a whole lot of sidebar conversations at the event to help us create a deeper understanding of what’s happening in our society right now. I’m also hopeful that it prompts everyone to think deeply about our own role in creating a different future where this type of panel wouldn’t need to exist.
5. Thought and action-provoking content. I left last year’s event with some great ideas to think about, write about, and build on. This year’s agenda looks even better than last year’s. Several speakers and thought leaders who have shaped my thinking over the years through their work will be there including Cy Wakeman, David Rock, Christine Comaford, Tony Schwartz, and Simon Sinek.

If you are going to be in Austin next week for the event, let’s connect for a chat.

If you aren’t going to make it to Austin, you might find it worthwhile to check in on the #workhuman hashtag on Twitter between Monday afternoon and Thursday afternoon. It’s a great way to benefit from some of the learning and insights being shared in real time.

I’ll be back in a week or two to share the ideas and conversations that stick with me from the event.

Last week, I had the privilege to speak at and attend Workhuman. It is a remarkable event hosted by the visionary people of Globoforce. I feel privileged to have been a part of it this year. This is the first of a few posts inspired by the event.

There are far more people talking about human workplaces today than there were even a few years ago. But most of that conversation tends to focus on the positive, affirming, self-actualizing side of being human. We focus on helping employees feel more authentic, happy, healthy and engaged at work.

All important stuff.

But as my wife reminded me after last year’s event, this is only one side of the human story. Where is the conversation about the struggles of life? What about the very human experiences of trauma and grief? What about issues of fear and safety?

We’ve witnessed over the past year what happens within organizations when you ignore or aren’t equipped to navigate these things. Uber, Weinstein, and many others come to mind. It can have disastrous consequences. People get hurt.

Making work human means embracing and understanding the good and the bad. If your organization is all yin and no yang, you don’t have a human workplace. That doesn’t mean you have a bad workplace, but you are out of balance. And it’s likely that you are losing out on a lot of potential contribution and creativity from your people.

Workhuman this year brought a beautiful balance of yin and yang to the conversation.

The big solo keynotes all addressed this balance in their own way.  Brené Brown reminded us of how there can be no courage or joy without vulnerability. And that we can (and must) learn to be more vulnerable. Simon Sinek explained how many organizations fail because they adopt a finite approach (beat the competition) while not understanding that they are playing an infinite game with no finish line. Losing in business isn’t about finishing second, it’s about quitting because you lack the will or resources to continue.

Shawn Achor, a happiness researcher, spoke of how we can unleash potential by finding sustained happiness through connection with others. Even he, the happiness guy, spoke of his own struggles with isolation-fueled depression (ironically while teaching and researching happiness) and how he found his way back to happiness through connection with others.

In addition to these solo keynotes (which would have been an A+ lineup for most conferences), they tackled some really important issues that we must understand and confront if we want our workplaces to be good for all humans.  Salma Hayek was interviewed on stage to close day one and talked about her personal journey and struggles as a female Mexican immigrant as she accomplished so many incredible things. She spoke very frankly about how walls were thrown up in front of her over and over again, many a  product of systemic bias and discrimination that we have yet to truly address in society and within our own organizations.

The pinnacle moment of the event was the #metoo panel that featured Tarana Burke, Ronan Farrow, and Ashley Judd (moderated masterfully by Adam Grant). They tackled in an unflinching way the issues we are all trying to come to terms with around sexual harassment and sexual violence, inequity, and abuse of power within our workplaces and beyond. They called out how we need to be hyper-vigilant to not let this conversation get hijacked or diverted to things that it’s not about (i.e. “People are afraid to give hugs in the office now…”). The panel was moving, motivating, and informative. There is really important work to be done to create true equity and safety in our workplaces. There is a wind at our backs. Now is the time, and we all have a role to play.

All of this, complemented by the breakout sessions, really leaned into and addressed the spectrum of human issues it takes to create a human workplace. It achieved a yin-yang balance that I’ve never experienced at any event in the past.

The experience was a great reminder that we have to be very intentional to find the yin and yang. It’s not good enough to put in a great employee engagement initiative if you aren’t willing to address the leaders who are creating an unsafe or inequitable work environment. A human workplace requires that we find the courage to tackle all of these issues, even when they are profoundly hard and uncomfortable to face.

It also requires that the yin and yang balance exist at the employee level. You can’t expect an employee to bring and contribute their very best every day without making room for the other, less productive stuff to come along. When we are scared or hurting or we feel unsafe, we can’t perform our best. A human workplace has mechanisms to meet you where you are, provide the support you need, and then unleash you to make your best possible contribution that day.

Hopefully, I’ll see you at Workhuman next year. Mark your calendar for March 18-21, 2019 and set aside some budget dollars now.

I’ve been thinking a lot about gender equity in the workplace lately. I’m sure many of you have been as well. There is so much work we need to do.

This is an issue that I’ve been called to for some time but have struggled to find my voice in the conversation as a privileged white man. But recently, a number of things have helped me get unstuck in hopes of finding some small way to nudge us in the direction of progress.

One thing that seems clear to me is that we need more conversation between people with different experiences as a way to deepen our empathy and find solutions. So, that’s what I tried to do with this month’s Employee Engagement Webcast. I was joined by my friend and colleague, Heather Bussing, for what I hope you will find an interesting conversation about gender and work. We hope it inspires you to have more conversations like this in your world as well.  Below is a link to the video.

If you are compelled to engage on a deeper level with this issue or, like me, are motivated to reduce your ignorance, below is a list of resources you might find interesting.

Some things Heather has Written

Sexual Harassment: Boys and Thrones 

Women and Tech – The Pace of Change

Diversity: Why Laws Don’t Fix Discrimination

Why Sexual Harassment Is A Culture Issue

How to Identify Sexual Harassment in Your Organization

Other Informative and Thought-Provoking Writing/Video

The #MeToo Conversation Erases Trans People

Understanding Gender

A Gentlemen’s Guide to Rape Culture

Men gather round: This NFL player turned feminist will teach you how to fight sexism

Ted Talk: Roxane Gay – Confessions of a Bad Feminist

Ted Talk: Jackson Katz – Violence against women — it’s a men’s issue

Other Helpful Resources

Talking About Issues Like #MeToo At Work Is Hard. Here Are 5 Ways to Make It Easier

How to Talk about Sexual Harassment with your Coworkers

Feminist Websites, Blogs, and Resources collected by Standford University. 

Intersectional Resources – reading list for a course on exploring intersectionality (with emphasis on issues Afro-feminism)

Gender inequalities in the workplace: the effects of organizational structures, processes, practices, and decision makers’ sexism by Cailin S. Stamarski and Leanne S. Son Hing  – Academic data and analysis of how our organizational structure and HR contributes to gender bias.

It’s that time of year when videos of famous people giving commence addresses start showing up in our Facebook and news feeds.

Most are full of inspirational platitudes about how these young people can manifest a greater future for us all. These are inspiring speeches, but do they really help these graduates navigate the journey ahead?

This got me thinking. If I could give some practical advice to graduates about how to survive and thrive in today’s world of work, what would it be?

There are so many lessons that I’ve personally learned over the years through my own experience and that of others. It’s hard to narrow down the list but there are a few that feel a bit more important than the rest.  Here they are.

Show, don’t tell.

Talk is cheap. If you want to impress your manager and coworkers, show them what you can do. Take on the tough assignments and prove that you are someone who can get things done and make things happen. You will be surrounded by people at work who can talk a good game, be the person who stands out because you actually deliver when the game is on the line. A proven track record will win over a good sales pitch every time.

Lift others up.

Work today is a team sport. Your success is intertwined with the success of those around you. Be the kind of teammate that makes everyone better. Encourage others. Celebrate their accomplishments. Offer to help. Have their back. As your team grows and improves, so will your performance and opportunities. This is what it means to be a leader in today’s workplace.

Network, network, network.

As I reflect back on my career, every single opportunity that moved my career forward was made possible by a relationship I had with someone. Finding out about a great job, getting a promotion, speaking at a conference…all made possible by someone who opened the door for me. Who you know and the relationships you have may be the most powerful tool available to you to accelerate your career. Make time to build and cultivate your network. This is so important that I co-wrote a book about how to do it called Social Gravity. You should read it now. It will pay off over and over in the future.

Trust your instincts. 

When you get into the workplace, there will be a lot of processes and practices that seem stupid and wasteful. That’s because they are. There will be people in management and leadership who seem incompetent. That’s because they are. You will be able to see the dysfunction because you have fresh eyes. Trust what you see. Don’t let someone convince you that this wastefulness is somehow good or necessary. You will feel compelled to lower your expectations. Don’t do it. That doesn’t mean you will be able to change these things right away. Be patient and keep notes. When the opportunity comes to call out the dysfunction, be ready to do so and have some ideas for how to make it better.

Invest in yourself early and often. 

Be greedy when it comes to experience and education, particularly early in your career when you have the greatest flexibility and fewer life responsibilities. Take advantage of every opportunity you can. If your company offers an overseas assignment, jump at it. If they will pay for your MBA, do it. Experience and education is a compounding asset that will exponentially increase in value over time. Think about it as an investment in your future life. What better investment could you make?

Study organizational politics.

Perhaps the most daunting obstacle you will face in your new career is what we often refer to as office politics. There will be unwritten rules about how things work that will sometimes conflict with the rules that are written down. There will be people who do things to maximize their power at the expense of others. It happens in every organization. The best way to think about politics at work is as the rules of the game. As a player in the game, you must study and understand these rules if you are to survive and thrive. Politics aren’t good or bad, it’s how you choose to play the game that matters. Some people manipulate the rules for self-interest, others for the greater good. Be a student of how things work. Learn how decisions are made and who really has the power. Then use that knowledge to make good things happen.

This list won’t guarantee success. But by keeping these six things top of mind in navigating your career, you’ll give yourself an advantage and likely create some great opportunities down the road.

In my June newsletter, I shared that my wife, Angie, and I had a “retreat” scheduled. For those who may not know, Ang is not only my life partner but is also my business partner. This quest to make work more human is a family affair for us.  

On a walk together in May, we realized that we’d started to lose some of the discipline we once had in regards to preventing the business from consuming our relationship. We weren’t anywhere near crisis stage, but we were seeing some warning signs.

The past couple years have been a whirlwind for us. Not only were we trying to grow a business together, but our oldest son was serving as a Marine including a deployment to Iraq. Angie also ran and was

A photo of all of us in April

elected to City Council in our community. Not to mention trying to keep up with two active younger kids. Somewhere in the middle of all that I wrote a book. It’s been crazy.

I think we’ve done okay keeping our head above water, but the wear and tear of constant motion and stress was taking its toll. It was time to step back for a couple days.

Going through the retreat was a great reminder of how important and valuable it is to take the time to do it. Every team or workgroup I encounter is facing their own whirlwind. Your own team is probably stressed and tired from the grind too.

A retreat is probably in order.

The best retreats accomplish three things: build the relationship, clarify and renew a sense of purpose, and align future efforts.

Build relationship.  

When you leave a retreat, you should feel a stronger connection to the team. This means the retreat should have specific activities and exercises planned to cause people to both get to know each other better and to renew one another.

In one case, I asked each member of my team to write out a few bullet points about what they appreciate about each member of the team. To open the retreat, we went around the table to each person and had the team share what they had written

about each person. It was a simple exercise that ended up being really powerful and moving for everyone involved.  

For Angie and I, we used a series of relationship questions to open up some good dialogue about how things are going and where we might need to make some improvements. One thing we agreed we needed: regular date nights (no biztalk allowed).  

Clarify and renew a sense of purpose.

Before diving into any reflective or planning discussions, spend some time considering why what you do matters. This might involve sharing stories of how your work has made an impact. It might involve dreaming about how your future efforts might change lives. The goal is to create a renewed connection to the purpose of the work your team does every day.

In our case, it’s been easy to get focused on the numbers. How many speaking gigs do we need to book? How much revenue do we need to book? But, that’s not why we do this. We are working to make work more human by helping change people’s thinking–particularly those who lead and shape the workplace. When we motivate these people to shape a better work experience, it has the potential to improve the lives of countless people. That makes the hustle worthwhile.

Align future efforts.

Once you’ve renewed your sense of purpose, you can roll up your sleeves and dig into the work. There are a lot of ways to tackle this. Your team might need strategic planning exercises to help focus your efforts. Or, maybe you need to focus more on “how” you work. In this case, using the “start, stop, continue” prompts to identify what’s working and what isn’t can be helpful.  

While it’s not likely that you will have the time or ability to create any detailed plans in your retreat, you should be able to arrive at a place that helps the team have a shared understanding of what happens next. In our case, we needed both a conversation about how we are working together and what to prioritize. No huge changes needed, just some adjustments and prioritization.

When you feel like your team is really grinding and you begin to see cracks in communication and cooperation, it’s probably time to step back and regroup. The word “retreat” was historically used to represent a command given to soldiers during battle when it was time to withdraw or fall back, usually to regroup and find a superior battle plan. At the very least, retreat means you survive to fight another day.  

Particularly in the pressure-packed world of work today, teams need time to retreat from time to time. And they need leaders who understand the importance of making time to do it.  

One of the lessons I will take from 2017 is a reminder of the importance of making time to invest in my own learning and growth.

As a speaker and author, my job is to facilitate and inspire learning for others. My work forces me to continuously learn to stay relevant, but I realized that it had been a long while since I’d really allowed myself to be a student.

So, I took advantage of a few opportunities last year to do so.

The experiences helped me not only to learn new things but to challenge my perspectives and opinions in key ways. I was stretched and challenged.

And, I met some amazing people who shared these experiences with me.

It was invigorating.

That’s why I’d like to encourage you to give that same gift to yourself in 2018. And, if you need some ideas, below are two experiences I would highly recommend based on my experience (including how to get a discount on early registrations).

Futurist Camp

The highlight for me last year was attending Futurist Camp. It was an awesome experience.

For starters, it’s hosted by the amazing and incomparable, Rebecca Ryan. Rebecca has taught me so much over the past decade that I can honestly say that just the opportunity to hang out with Rebecca for a few days is worth the price of Camp. She will make you better.

Beyond that, you will learn the skills of Strategic Foresight, the mechanics behind how legit Futurists help organizations and leaders to make sense of and prepare for the future. Whether you are a leader, entrepreneur, consultant, or community activist, Futurist Camp will give you tools to dramatically improve the impact of your work.  And the learning isn’t isolated to camp. For six months following camp, there are monthly webinars and coaching support available to you as you work to apply your new skills.

As if that isn’t enough, Futurist Camp is held at an actual camp. Camp Wandawega in Elkhorn, Wisconsin, to be precise. Class time, meals and discussion are all held outside under a tent or a canopy of trees. There is recreational time built in to each day’s schedule to nourish your body and soul while you nourish your brain. And, the food is amazing (like blow-your-mind amazing).

It’s great learning wrapped in an amazing, unique experience. If thinking better about the future would benefit you, get to camp.

But wait, there’s more.  Use the code WantaWanda2018 to register before February 28, 2018, and receive 20% off the regular registration price!

Click here to register and learn more.

WorkHuman

Last year was my first trip to WorkHuman. This event, hosted by the technology company Globoforce, was one that I’d had on my radar since it’s inception several years ago. As someone who thinks every day about how to make work more a more human experience for employees, just the concept of this event had strong appeal for me.

The 2018 edition of WorkHuman looks like it could be a pretty epic opportunity to learn and find inspiration for those who share my passion for human workplaces. For starters, Brené Brown is speaking. If you aren’t familiar with her work, go watch some of her Ted Talks. Her work is profoundly important and it will change your life. Like Michelle Obama did last year, Brene Brown alone makes this event worth the trip.

In addition to Brene, you can also hear presentations from some people who have had tremendously influenced my thinking including Adam Grant, Simon Sinek, David Rock, and Cy Wakeman. And, that’s just the start of what you’ll find on the agenda at this event. It’s content rich.

WorkHuman is also where I’ll be sharing for the first time a new presentation based on the content from my upcoming book, Unlocking High Performance. So while I do have a little work to do while I’m there, during the rest of the event, I’ll be sitting beside you scribbling notes and chatting about what we learned.  I hope you’ll join me.

Click here to register and learn more.  You can save $100 off your registration by using the code WH18INF-JLA.  And here’s an insider tip, registration prices go up on Jan 1, so don’t put this off.

Invest in yourself in 2018. Set aside at least a little time next year to invest in your learning and growth.

You are worth it. And you deserve it.

P.S. If you have you any great learning experiences you’d recommend highly, please share them with me. I’m looking for some good options for 2018.

It’s that time of year again.

The time for resolutions about how we will make the upcoming year our best ever. If you have the privilege of leading people at work, hopefully, one of your resolutions is to create a more engaging work experience for them.

If you go looking, you will find endless suggestions for how to better engage your employees ranging from simple to “you want me to do what?” And most of them aren’t bad ideas. But, where to start?

My suggestion is to stick to the fundamentals. From my early days playing basketball, I can remember coaches preaching the importance of the fundamentals. If you don’t do these things right, none of the other stuff matters. To this day, when I’m shooting baskets with my son and I can’t seem to make a basket, I remember this lesson.

• Am I squared to the basket?
• Is my elbow in?
• Am I keeping my eye on the target?
• Does my hand follow through?

These are the shooting fundamentals I learned as a boy and they still determine my success in shooting today. When my shot is off, it’s because I’m not doing one of these things–usually eyeing the target.

Engaging employees is the same way. It all starts with the fundamentals.

If you have been following my work, you know that work is a relationship for the employee. To increase engagement is to increase the employee’s feeling of connection with work thus strengthing the relationship.  So the fundamentals of engagement are really the fundamentals of relationships.

To make progress this year, do these three simple things.

1. Spend more quality time together. The vital ingredient of any relationship is time. Without it, there will be no relationship. As a manager, this means carving out dedicated time at least once a month for a one-on-one conversation with each person on your team. This time should be treated as sacred to be protected and preserved. But making the time isn’t enough. When you meet, you must be fully present and engaged with your employee, prepared to be nowhere else but in that conversation. It’s often a good idea to get away from your office to a place with fewer distractions. Maybe you meet for coffee or go for a walk together. Use this time to ask questions and get to know your people and what they care about. Show a sincere interest in them and they will reward you with the same.
2. Say “thank you” more often. There’s been a lot of talk about employee recognition over the past several years and while I think recognition is important, it can also feel overwhelming when trying to figure out how to do it right. Instead of worrying about how and when to recognize each person the right way, start simply by saying thank you more often.  Small acts of acknowledgment and appreciation can go just as far as a perfect act of formal recognition. Put a sticky note on your monitor at work with the works “Say Thank You” to keep it top of mind. Then, block one-hour in your calendar each week labeled “Gratitude” to preserve time for you to reflect and send notes of thanks for experiences from the previous week. These “thank you’s” don’t have to be for exceptional work. It can be even more powerful to say thank you for something that is expected and often goes unnoticed. In my marriage, my wife does the cooking because she’s amazing at it and she enjoys cooking (most days). It would be easy to overlook saying thank you to her for feeding us every day since it’s become our routine. But I know it matters greatly to her when we express our gratitude.  This same dynamic is in play for every single person in the workplace.
3. Ask more questions (and then shut up and listen). We live in a world (not just at work) where people mostly talk at one another. This can leave us feeling isolated, unheard, and wondering if we really matter. As a leader, the most powerful tool we have to address this is questions. Good questions do several things: show interest, invite sharing, and start a conversation. In management, it’s easy to fall into the trap of giving answers and providing directives–talking at our direct reports. When efficiency is prized, this is the fastest way to get people “back to work.” But, it’s killing the relationship. No one likes to be talked at. In this new year, challenge yourself to start every interaction you have with a team member with a question. Then, listen to their response intently and ask a follow-up question. You will be amazed by what you learn. If you aren’t sure what to ask, start with these.
   • How are things going?
   • What’s new this week?
   • How are you feeling about that new project?
   • How’s the family?

To improve engagement with your team or in your organization this year, focus on the fundamentals. And because these are relationship fundamentals, if you want to improve your connection with your significant other, children or friends, the same applies to those relationships too.

Here’s wishing you a prosperous and joyful new year full of strong and healthy relationships.

Last week, the 2018 Edelman Trust Barometer was released. In case you aren’t familiar, this is a report of findings from annual research conducted in 28 countries to understand and trend trust and perceived credibility in institutions globally. The survey includes 33,000 individual responses each year. This year was the 18^th annual report.

The recent results for the U.S., in particular, have been troubling. Last year, trust levels in the U.S. had fallen to an all-time low in the 17-year history of the report. Trust fell in every institution type they track: Business, Media, Government and NGO’s. It wasn’t a pretty picture.

This year’s report is much worst.

Here’s an excerpt from the executive summary of the report that helps illustrate the magnitude of the findings:

“No country saw steeper declines than the United States, with a 37-point aggregate drop in trust across all institutions. The loss of trust was most severe among the informed public—a 23-point fall on the Trust Index—nearly erasing the “mass-class” divide that once stood between this segment of the U.S. population and the country’s far-less-trusting mass population.”

Richard Edelman, whose company produces this report, goes so far as to say in this report that “informed public trust imploded, down 23 Trust Index points to 45, ranking the U.S. lowest of the 28 nations surveyed.”

Trust levels aren’t great in most countries involved in this report, but things are pretty dire in the U.S.

As you dig a little deeper into the findings, a few other interesting things jump out.

First, in an era of “fake news,” we have lost confidence in the media.

“In 22 of 28 countries, media is now distrusted. There is a widespread belief that media is failing to meet key societal expectations—receiving scores of 50 percent or less when it comes to guarding information quality, educating people on important issues, and helping inform good life decisions.”

And, our faith in our fellow human even took a hit this year.

“The credibility of “a person like yourself” declined substantially, and peers are no longer the most-believed source of information.”

But, we are looking for someone to trust and believe in. Among those we are looking to for leaders are the CEOs of businesses.

“There are new expectations of corporate leaders. Nearly 7 in 10 respondents say that building trust is the No. 1 job for CEOs, ahead of high-quality products and services. Nearly two-thirds say they want CEOs to take the lead on policy change instead of waiting for government, which now ranks significantly below business in trust in most markets.”

Overall, the report is alarming and eye-opening. You can download a copy here. It’s worth a read.

What All of this Means for Employee Engagement

As I’ve reflected on these findings, I think they represent both a challenge and an opportunity for employers.

On the one hand, trust is critical in the workplace. The degree to which employees trust leaders, managers and coworkers is a known driver of engagement. In an external environment that might be described as a “crisis of trust,” there are strong headwinds pushing against our efforts to build trust at work. Trust building is more challenging and important than ever.

But, the Edelman report seems to suggest that people are looking for someone to trust. We are expecting CEOs and business to lead in ways that they haven’t in the past. As employers, your people want to trust you. We are all craving someone or something to believe in that won’t let us down. This is a huge opportunity.

Now is the time to get serious about building trust. But how?

The best place to start is by looking in the mirror.

“He who does not trust enough, will not be trusted.”

-Lao Tzu

It’s really hard to trust someone who doesn’t trust you. Are your behaviors or policies sending a message of trust or distrust?

As a manager, when you ask someone on your team to do something, do you trust them to complete it?

Or, do you follow up frequently with questions like, “How is that project coming along?”

While you may think you are showing interest by asking these questions, the person on the other side of these inquiries hears that you don’t trust them to get it done as agreed upon.

When you communicate with your team, do you give them the whole story? Even when it’s not great news?

Sugarcoating or withholding information sends a message that you don’t trust employees to be able to handle the truth. They will find out the full story, they always do.

And, how about your policy manual? Does it communicate trust? Are you asking people to prove they were at the doctor’s office or a funeral rather than taking their word for it?  Do you have an unnecessarily restrictive dress code that seems to suggest that people can’t be trusted to dress appropriately of their own accord?

It might be time to revisit some of your workplace rules that are diminishing trust from day one of employment.

Take some time to see your organization and your leadership behaviors from the employee’s perspective.

Challenge yourself to extend more trust. Trust is reciprocal. By trusting more, you will be more trusted.

To build more trust, go first.