We’re empowering you to get it done this week by leveraging strengths, overcoming missteps in communication, and building better habits. We’ll also plan for retirement even in our 20s or 30s. Enjoy some (or all!) of these resources.
P.S. We welcome everyone who joined our mailing list after visiting the CSN Booth at the Employee Benefits and Resource Fair. It was a joy to talk with you! We also appreciated hearing from our current subscribers on how they value this newsletter and have benefitted from our sessions. It’s great to know the work we put into this community is helping others survive and thrive in their roles.
:: Image of the Week
If it is to be it is up to me.
Empowerment is summarized in ten words of two letters each.
This quote by William H. Johnsen emphasizes personal responsibility and self-reliance. It suggests that achieving success or bringing about change is solely dependent on one’s own efforts and determination. It encourages individuals to take ownership of their goals and dreams, acknowledging that they are the sole driving force behind their own destiny.
:: CSN’s Book of the Week Recommendation
No Hard Feelings – The Secret Power of Embracing Emotions at Work
A hilarious guide to effectively expressing your emotions at the office, finding fulfillment, and defining work-life balance on your own terms.
How do you stop the office grouch from ruining your day? How do you enjoy a vacation without obsessing about the unanswered emails in your inbox? If you’re a boss, what should you do when your new, eager hire wants to follow you on Instagram?
The modern workplace can be an emotional minefield, filled with confusing power structures and unwritten rules. We’re expected to be authentic, but not too authentic. Professional, but not stiff. Friendly, but not an oversharer. Easier said than done!
As both organizational consultants and regular people, we know what it’s like to experience uncomfortable emotions at work – everything from mild jealousy and insecurity to panic and rage. Ignoring or suppressing what you feel hurts your health and productivity — but so does letting your emotions run wild.
Our goal in this book is to teach you how to figure out which emotions to toss, which to keep to yourself, and which to express in order to be both happier and more effective. We’ll share some surprising new strategies, such as:
* Be selectively vulnerable: Be honest about how you feel, but don’t burden others with your deepest problems.
* Remember that your feelings aren’t facts: What we say isn’t always what we mean. In times of conflict and miscommunication, try to talk about your emotions without getting emotional.
* Be less passionate about your job: Taking a chill pill can actually make you healthier and more focused.
Drawing on what we’ve learned from behavioral economics, psychology, and our own experiences at countless organizations, we’ll show you how to bring your best self (and your whole self) to work every day.
https://www.amazon.com/No-Hard-Feelings-Embracing-Emotions/dp/0525533834
:: Work Culture & Team Development
Leveraging Strengths for a People-First Culture
Rosie Ward and Nikki Lewallen Gregory come together for a lively, in-person conversation that’s part geek-out, part leadership masterclass. This episode is part of our Courageous Leadership series, recorded here in Madison last month at CultureCon, and the energy is palpable.
What’s on the table? A deep dive into how leaders can align their teams with the right roles by truly understanding their strengths and talents. It’s not just about job descriptions or checking boxes. Rosie and Nikki unpack practical tools to help you move beyond “business as usual” and create intentional, people-first environments where teams thrive.
Grab a notebook—you’ll want to take notes on this one!
https://drrosieward.com/leveraging-strengths-for-a-people-first-culture/
Help Your Team Thrive Under Pressure
Your team’s under pressure to perform—fast. The stakes are high, the deadline looms, and emotions are running hotter by the minute. Just last week, your team was cruising along. They weren’t going to win any high-performing team awards, but things were working well enough. Sure, there were a few bumps in communication, and collaboration wasn’t always seamless, but nothing too disruptive.
Then, the tornado hit.
Suddenly, everything feels like it’s unraveling. Casual conversations have transformed into tense exchanges, misunderstandings are piling up, and people are tripping over one another. And, of course, it’s happening just when you need everyone at their best—focused, fast, and flawless. But instead of smooth execution, you’re dealing with constant rework and rising frustration.
Check out this week’s blog from Let’s Grow Leaders to learn how High-Performing Teams Turn Pressure into Progress, One Habit at a Time.
https://letsgrowleaders.com/2024/09/30/high-performing-teams-under-pressure/
:: Mental Health and Self-Care
Is Squad Care the New Self-Care?
“Squad care reminds us there is no shame in reaching for each other and insists the imperative rests not with the individual, but with the community.”
While self-care may be the buzziest term on Instagram these days (with more than 2.5 million hashtagged posts and counting), Harris-Perry argues that sometimes, you just can’t do it on your own—nor should you have to. “Whether it’s through selling bath soaps or encouraging activists to take mental health breaks, celebrating individual self-reliance elides the fact that ultimately care is not something we do for ourselves,” she says. “We rely on others to care for us when we are too young, too old, too ill, too broken, too sad, too scared, too needy, too overwhelmed, or too incapable. Care is why we live in community, why we form families, and ultimately, why we form government.”
Read this article on the concept of crowdsourcing your self-care needs.
https://www.wellandgood.com/why-squad-care-is-as-important-as-self-care/
Related: How to Find Your Self-Care Squad
https://www.mindful.org/how-to-find-your-self-care-squad/
:: Self-Leadership Development
Patrick Lencioni’s Values-Driven Leadership
Patrick Lencioni is co-founder and President of The Table Group and is the pioneer of the organizational health movement. He is the author of 13 books, which have sold over 8 million copies and been translated into more than 30 languages. As President of the Table Group, he speaks and writes about leadership, teamwork, and organizational health and consulting with executives and their teams. Before founding the firm in 1997, Pat worked at Bain & Company, Oracle Corporation, and Sybase.
In his second appearance on the Elevate Podcast, Patrick returned to Robert Glazer’s show to discuss the role company leaders should play in sociopolitical issues, how to set proper expectations with employees and customers about where a company stands on social issues, and why leaning on values is as crucial as ever in leadership today.
Find the link to your favorite platform here: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/patrick-lencionis-values-driven-leadership-robert-glazer-zqawe
“Take chances, make mistakes. That’s how you grow. Pain nourishes your courage. You have to fail in order to practice being brave.”– Mary Tyler Moore
Everything costs
There are three kinds of costs that people get confused about, but understanding them, really understanding them–in your bones–unlocks opportunity. Read this blog post from Seth Godin through a leadership lens, and you’ll quickly understand that we cannot attack or solve everything as a leader; we need to choose where to put our energy.
https://seths.blog/2024/10/everything-costs/
“Be where your feet are.” – Becca Klein
:: Communication
Overcoming Missteps in Communication
Effective communication is an essential building block for success. From interacting with your boss to coordinating with your team, you need to know how to clearly communicate and avoid costly misinterpretations.
Convenience Store News‘ second Future Leaders Learning Lab webinar, “Are You a Good Communicator?” explored practical techniques individuals can use to enhance clarity and coherence in their communication practice. The quarterly webinar series aims to give participants techniques and tools they can use to take their careers to the next level.
Megan Robinson, founder of E Leader Experience, began the session by asking participants to think of a recent miscommunication they had. “The single biggest problem in communication is the illusion that it has taken place,” she said, citing a quote by playwright and critic George Bernard Shaw. “So often we think that we’re communicating when in fact we’re not. We’re having these gaps and the opportunity for miscommunication is ripe and rampant in our professional lives,” she explained. “Something that you said that someone interpreted differently, something that you said that never got landed and never got taken seriously — all of those are opportunities for us to improve our communication.”
To help participants understand what is happening during the communication process, Robinson broke down the communication model. Read this article for more on this topic.
https://csnews.com/overcoming-missteps-communication
She also talked about this in a recent webinar (free but registration required): https://event.webcasts.com/starthere.jsp?ei=1656397&tp_key=58e1433abb
“Wisdom is the reward for a lifetime of listening when you would have preferred to talk.” – Doug Larson
:: Developing Better Habits
Building ‘Atomic Habits’ with James Clear: How to get 1% better every day
If you’re looking to operate at a higher level — be it as an individual or a business — then you need to create a system of habits that allows for consistent, steady improvement over time. Watch two short videos from James Clear, author of Atomic Habits, on team development and prioritization.
“You don’t need more intensity, you need more consistency. Intensity impresses; consistency transforms.” – Shane Parrish
:: Retirement Planning
Advice for Gen Z (and Everyone Else) on Planning for Retirement
Gen Z, listen up: Retirement isn’t going to save for itself. “You have to actively do things to build your wealth,” says The Washington Post’s personal finance columnist, Michelle Singletary. “It’s not like you go get a lotto ticket and become rich instantly. Wealth doesn’t happen that way,” she says.
Luckily, learning a few key basics can lead you to a nice retirement fund. Here are four good tips to keep in mind, regardless of where you are in your working journey.
:: Servant Leadership
Servant leadership: How to lead with the heart | Liz Theophille | TEDxSaclay
What should be the profile of today’s leader in an increasingly competitive context as it is today? How should a leader behave while facing many challenges and still being required to get performant results. Challenges such as budget cuts, more competitive markets locally and internationally … more demanding customers … and a market that demands greater quality and agility in our products and services. Adding to that, employees who may find it difficult to adapt to these changes which are taking place faster and faster … Liz Theophille, a Senior IT leader with a multicultural international experience in many large corporate companies will tell us more about how she applies leading with the heart and servant leadership in her daily work with some concrete examples.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vZ0gave2WJc&t=2s
“The gem cannot be polished without friction, nor man perfected without trials.” – Confucius
:: Upcoming Events
Servant Leadership Monthly Meetings at UW-Madison
Are you familiar with Robert Greenleaf and his ten principles of servant leadership? The next Madison Area Servant Leadership Meetup October 18th from 8:30-10:00 am CST. We connect over Zoom, and welcome people from UW-Madison and beyond in a welcoming environment of learning and sharing our experiences.
Last month, we discussed one of Greenleaf’s principles of Servant Leadership, Building Community. This month, we will continue this topic from a different perspective and ask you to bring some stories about community building you’ve witnessed or initiated. We’re also interested in your observations on how the quality of our communities has changed post-COVID and what we need to do to nurture these relationships. A full agenda is attached, and we welcome everyone to join us, even if you did not attend in September.
“The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others.” – Attributed to Mahatma Gandhi
The Zoom link is below to add to your calendar.
Date: Friday, October 18
Time: 8:30-10:00 am
Join Zoom Meeting https://uwmadison.zoom.us/j/96004032917?pwd=V0Naa2VNWEE3WGF3RHM1WnpVL3ZsUT09&from=addon
Meeting ID: 960 0403 2917
Passcode: 031378
UW–Madison Diversity Forum
Registration is now open to attend the 2024 UW–Madison Diversity Forum — “Threads of Belonging: Navigating Differences and Building Community”— which will be held November 13 & 14 at Union South with options to participate in-person and online. As always, the Diversity Forum, hosted by the Division of Diversity, Equity & Educational Achievement (DDEEA), is free and open to the public.
The 2024 conference will focus on underscoring the importance of bringing our full selves to the collective while engaging with diversity and difference to gain new perspectives and facilitate growth.
Date: November 13-14, 2024
Time: 8:30 a.m. – 4 p.m
Location: Union South / Online
https://diversityforum.wisc.edu/register/
Student Employee Diversity Forum
Please share the following information with your student employees and encourage them to attend!
Whether you are a current UW-Madison Student Employee or not, we all play a part in creating an inclusive Badger community for all. Join your peers in this thought-provoking forum which will provide an opportunity to exchange ideas while engaging in a variety of topics on diversity, identity and inclusion. The forum features a keynote address and workshop sessions on Friday November 15th, 2024. Students can attend all or any portion provided as part of the Diversity Forum. All sessions will take place in person at the Gordon Dining and Event Center.
Date: Friday November 15, 2024
Time: 11:30am – 3:00pm
Location: Gordon Dining and Event Center
Students can learn more at https://studentjobs.wisc.edu/se-diversity-forum/.