Planners’ Picks
A collection of resources from CSN planning committee members worth mentioning
Trust is so important to have as a foundation to build upon with your team. We learned last week at our CSN session on Building Employee Trust that only 44% of workers trust their manager. How do we bring that number up? We’ll also tweak your morning routine and turn your leadership inside out in this installment of PP.
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Not everything in leadership needs to be grandiose. Small things can make a big difference in the lives of those you lead.
||| Resources on Building Trust |||
Note: CSN and LTD just hosted an event on Building Trust in Times of Crisis. Here are some resources on building trust in teams.
Psychological Safety Is Not a Hygiene Factor
Psychological safety is not a hygiene factor—defined as something that must be present for a work environment to qualify as adequate, such as a paycheck, benefits, employee physical safety, freedom from harassment, and so forth. Elucidated by Frederick Herzberg, building on Abraham Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, hygiene factors don’t create competitive advantage for a company. They merely satisfy basic expectations that free people up to focus on doing a good job. Creating psychological safety, in contrast, constitutes a high standard, an ambition that allows an organization to be truly excellent and capable of transformation.
“Trust each other again and again. When the trust level gets high enough, people transcend apparent limits, discovering new and awesome abilities of which they were previously unaware.” -David Armistead
Brené Brown on her BRAVING inventory from Dare To Lead
Brené and Barrett talk about trust and how we approach it at her company.
We call it BRAVING trust—BRAVING is the acronym we use for the seven attributes of trust. In this podcast, we really dig into the core elements of BRAVING: boundaries, reliability, accountability, vault, integrity, nonjudgment, and generosity. We talk frankly about awareness, experiences, and hacks that we have found to be helpful in cultivating trust, and we get really personal about how all of these BRAVING elements show up in our own lives and leadership.
How To Lead With Empathy In A Remote Work World
Many things have changed at work in the last year—and as a Head of People, I can say there’s never been a time when I’m more focused on inclusivity and empathy. People have different needs, and I want to be as empathic as possible to each and every employee at my company, Front. Some people are parenting and caring for newborns, while others are alone in their apartments, needing human connection. With this new era of remote work, one thing is for sure: managers need to keep a sharp focus on empathy and inclusivity regardless of whether you are in the office full-time, remote-first, or hybrid.
https://thriveglobal.com/stories/how-to-be-an-inclusive-and-empathetic-leader-in-a-remote-work-world
“Optimism is the faith that leads to achievement. Nothing can be done without hope and confidence.” —Helen Keller
6 Things to Do Before a Conversation About Trust
In his excellent book, The Thin Book of Trust, Charles Feltman outlines the six things we need to do before having a conversation with someone about building (or re-building) trust. See this infographic from Hayley Lewis on the topic.
How transparent should I be with the people around me?
In this episode of Big Questions, Short Answers, Local entrepreneur Jackie Hermes is talking about transparency. Do we need to share every tiny detail—or only let people in on the highlights?
Transparency is the foundation of trust, but it can be tricky to figure out how transparent you should be with the people around you. If you have employees, being honest with them is critical for building strong relationships. When you don’t communicate with the people around you, you don’t give them the chance to understand you, support you or help fix the issue. I’ve learned all of this the hard way, and it’s something I’m still learning.
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/id1585828105?i=1000546756178
||| Resources on Mental Health and Self-Care |||
Put YOUR Oxygen Mask on First. Here’s Why and How
As a busy executive, director, supervisor, parent, spouse, significant other, caregiver (fill in the blanks), you are likely taking care of a million different things right now and burning the candle at both ends. Sound familiar? The reality is that overworked, unhealthy and highly stressed leaders are actually performing lower than they could be. Their unrelenting focus on their work, while it seems to be effective on the outside, is causing a gradual death spiral where things that are MOST important in life, like health, family and other relationships, are dying on the vine. And ultimately, they could be even more impactful as leaders with greater wellbeing.
Optimize the impact of your leadership by first taking care of yourself. Model this with your team, and instill a culture of ‘health and family’ first, where your people also optimize their personal health and wellbeing for higher performance at home, and at work.
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/put-your-oxygen-mask-first-heres-why-how-coach-troy-jacobson
“When we are no longer able to change a situation, we are challenged to change ourselves.” – Viktor Frankl
The Miracle Morning by Hal Elrod: Summary and Lessons
Do you have a consistent morning routine you follow to ensure intentionality and positivity throughout the day? The Miracle Morning by Hal Elrod is a 6-step morning routine using what are called Life S.A.V.E.R.S.: silence, affirmations, visualization, exercise, reading, and scribing. A good book to pick up if you’re looking to upgrade your mornings. Read the whole book, or check out this summary online for the basic ideas behind Elrod’s ideas.
https://dansilvestre.com/miracle-morning/
||| Resources on Self-Leadership Development |||
If You Say Yes to Any of These 3 Questions, Your Leadership Skills Are Way Better Than Those of Most Managers
Leadership is a matter of the head and the heart–it’s about results and relationships. So, if you’re in a leadership role now or aspiring to one, the journey toward leadership greatness never ends. But it does have a starting point. And sometimes the beginning of the journey requires some tough questions you need to ask yourself to raise your own bar. Can you answer yes to any — and hopefully all — of these?
Do You Lead From the Inside Out?
John Maxwell writes and talks about “Leadership from the Inside Out”. His thesis being; “when you’re better on the inside, over time you’ll get greater on the outside”. Inside leadership means that you’re of high character, authentic, trustworthy, and values-based. This is the essence of all great leadership; intrinsic motivation.
The challenge we have is that leadership is mostly an outwardly, visible practice. What we see is what we believe and therefore is what we emphasize. We choose to follow others because of what they do, not what they think or know.
According to Maxwell, Inside Out leaders;
* Value people over position
* Inspire others because they’re inspired by others
* Appreciate and acknowledge others
* Do not abuse power
* Extend grace and forgiveness
* Apologize for their mistakes
The number one criteria for success in business is “the ability to connect with people in order to identify with them and increase your influence”. This takes both the use of a leader’s head and heart. Values-based leadership is sustainable but, we can’t neglect “getting better on the inside” if we want to become successful at it.
||| Upcoming Events |||
New Suicide Prevention Training (2022)
Recognize, Respond, Refer: Suicide Prevention Training for Faculty and Staff is a new, online training now available in Canvas for UW-Madison faculty and staff.
UW-Madison students often look to faculty or staff for support when they are struggling. You do not need to be an expert or mental health professional to notice the warning signs of a mental health crisis and act. This training provides a guide for having conversations and can also increase your confidence in talking with students about mental health and suicide.
The training contains 5 modules:
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- Foundations explains the role of faculty and staff in preventing suicide and includes data on mental health concerns among UW students.
- Recognize focuses on how staff and faculty can observe behavioral changes in students who may be experiencing mental distress.
- Respond reviews strategies for checking in with students and using active listening when engaging in a conversation about suicide.
- Refer assists with decision making on how to best respect a student’s decision on next steps, while also considering the urgency of the situation.
- Re-Engage focuses on following up and supporting students beyond a single interaction.
This training is not a form of counseling or crisis support. Instead, it prepares faculty and staff to be better able to support students in the future. For immediate support, call the UHS crisis line at 608-265-5600 (option 9) or the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 800-273-8255.
We encourage all faculty and staff to participate in the training and share this resource with your colleagues at UW-Madison. If you manage or supervise employees, incentivize their participation by encouraging them to complete during work hours. This training is self-paced. Faculty and staff can start and stop and revisit at any time. It will take about an hour to review all content, depending on how much time you spend in each module.
Click here to join the training: https://canvas.wisc.edu/courses/275497