purpose@work: Conversations That Matter (Episode 1)

I am excited to introduce this new video blog (vlog) series: purpose@work.  SIGN-UP for my infrequent newsletter to get the latest Conversations That Matter.  The one thing I am focused on with this series, and all my services, is how to increase employee engagement from this very sad 15% globally (according to Gallup).  There is a lot of research that proves, purpose-driven leadership is a key element in having more inspired employees (even higher than engagement).  ASK ME for my white paper: The Playbook for Purpose-Driven Employee Engagement where I've curated the latest research on the current and future state of engagement.

My first guest aligns in a great way with focusing on customer experience AND employee experience/engagement.  Diane M. Magers, is the CEO of the Customer Experience Professionals Association (CXPA).

Diane serves at the CEO and helps support providing value and community for each and every member and partner. She is a firm believer that it "takes a village" to help everyone succeed. She knows our work as CX practitioners are very tough and extremely important. Anyone who knows Diane would say she's very passionate about customer and employee experience and a driven change agent. Diane has over 25 years experience building and transforming organizations around their customers and employees – from the front line to infrastructure - working in and with brands such as Sysco, Invisalign, and AT&T.

Quick facts about Diane

• She started her professional career as a clinical psychologist
• Her first business venture with a friend started in the basement of his house and the company to $3M and 140 employees 4 years later - the entrepreneurial bug was born!
• She was an exchange student to Australia in high school, which launched her passion for travel

She would love you to contact her to learn more about CXPA: Diane@cxpa.org.

Please reach out to me if you know great leaders that are "walking the talk" in practicing intrinsic motivation in all aspects of their company culture: Bobby@BobbyBakshi.com.

Find Greater Employee Engagement By Embracing The "Impossible"

Recently, my nine year old daughter brought this play on the word "impossible" to my attention: I'm possible.  Wow!  Perhaps you've heard this before, but it was a first for me.  Here are three tips to reframe those things we believe are impossible at work and increasing employee engagement:

• Conceive | Believe | Achieve: Recognize that creation hinges of this principle proposed by Napoleon Hill.  Conceiving is fairly easy, but what you really achieve is what you believe.  You can't expect different results, by using the same thinking or tactics.
• High Self-Confidence: When we use the words "I am" before any statement we make, it's a Star Trek like "make it so" statement.  Be careful what you label yourself.  Have a positive intent for your own highest good and that of those you deal with.  Be confident that everyone can thrive.
• Remember: Think of the many times you've accomplished things you thought were impossible, until you achieved them.  You don't have to be that athlete that broke a record for the first time, and then many were able to break it again after that.  You certainly have experienced this yourself.

The Tesla was not invented by people who believed in the word impossible and neither were most of our greatest inventions.  Most of us can't stretch that far to such game changing examples but we can remember our own experience of turning the impossible to the possible, when we remember I'm possible.

This is the premise of my book "The 101% You" in which I offer a metaphor based on my doing a ropes course exercise: climbing a 50 foot pole, standing on a pizza-sized disc, turning 45 degrees and leaping to catch a trapeze bar.  Learn more about the book here.

Igniting a culture of believing and practicing this concept, of turning the impossible into the possible, with confidence in the "I'm possible," can go a long way in increasing employee engagement and empowerment in the workplace.

QUESTION: Does your company culture believe in and practice turning the impossible into the possible?  Share your experiences by adding a comment here or on Twitter.  Sign-up to receive my infrequent newsletter.

How to Practice Non-Violence in Business Today

Dr. King’s philosophy of nonviolence includes these six principles:

PRINCIPLE ONE: Nonviolence is a way of life for courageous people.

PRINCIPLE TWO: Nonviolence seeks to win friendship and understanding.

PRINCIPLE THREE: Nonviolence seeks to defeat injustice not people.

PRINCIPLE FOUR: Nonviolence accepts suffering without retaliation.

PRINCIPLE FIVE: Nonviolence chooses love instead of hate.

PRINCIPLE SIX: Nonviolence believes that the universe is on the side of justice.

SIX STEPS OF NONVIOLENCE IN BUSINESS

Interpreting Dr. King's philosophy of nonviolence to business today, here are steps you can take to practice these principles TODAY and co-create the promise of "I Have a Dream" (he was talking to each of our individual dreams that add up to the collective global dream of love, freedom and oneness).

1. Check your Facts: Few things can be classified as 100% factual data.  There is far my personal perspective, judgement and opinion that taints true data.  Do the research to validate your assumptions and hypothesis.

2. Hunger to Learn: Company cultures that lead all inquiry from a hunger to understand and be curious thrive.  Challenge opinions to learn, rather than holding firm to your personal agenda.  Meet people where they are on this path.

3. Be Personally Committed: Daily check your assumptions and challenge your own hidden motives.  Prepare yourself to let go of the opinions you hold, toward the highest good of all involved.

4. Welcome Open Discussion: When each person on a team can be open to discussing a disagreement, with humor, grace and intelligence, they avoid humiliating and call forth the good in the other.

5. Stand For the Higher Good: When the other is unwilling to have an open discussion, reinforce the bigger purpose of why your company/team exists.  Be careful not to preach but connect with common ground.

6. Always Make The Relationship Your Highest Goal: Nonviolence does not seek to defeat the other personally but challenges the values and principles at hand.  Better understanding of each other takes you closer to being a 'Beloved Work Community' where great things are possible together.

Thank you Dr. King for inspiring this interpretation.  May we come closer to living your principles in all that we do, one person at a time.

If my contributions here on LinkedIn resonates with you, please sign-up to receive a periodic summary of my writing. Visit www.bobbybakshi.com to learn how I can help your team.

Your "Me" Reflects on the "We" of Your Team

Most companies and leaders emphasize team spirit and collaboration. Few get the true benefits of starting with the individual, one person at a time. It’s like the flight attendant announces “put on your own oxygen mask first before assisting a child or someone else.” You can’t create an effective team without first understanding each person that makes up the team.

The “Me” is reflected in the “We.” It takes each person to be engaged, energized and empowered in order to have a team that works collaboratively toward common goals.

Yes, it takes time to do this and it’s certainly less painful than dealing with dysfunctional teams later. You choose.

Further, most companies establish a company mission statement and have core values.  They are often created collectively by gathering in put from individuals and teams.  That’s great. However, do they take the time to see how the mission and values resonate with each individual? Can they personally relate and authentically make it their own? If you separate a person into “work” and “life” then you are not getting the best of the individual. In order to create a culture where people realize their full potential it’s critical to make space for individuals to get clear about their personal values and purpose, before relating them to the company.

To illustrate with myself, I work at a company with a very important mission in the health care space. I relate to it but that’s not why I am excited to go into work. I’m excited to go do what I do there because I get to further my new career in people development. When I connect with work that way, I am fulfilling my personal need for purpose, autonomy and mastery (thank you Daniel Pink for “Drive”).

Wouldn’t it benefit leaders to have each person arrive at this level of connection with their work, beyond a paycheck? Here is one approach to creating a Me/We culture:

1. Explore “Me”:

Make time, ideally in a day-long team workshop, to allow individuals to get clear about their personal values, what’s most important to them, what factors are deal breakers and their personal why—purpose. Most people need to be prompted to discover their values and purpose. Recalling defining life stories or peak events is a good way to prompt people to learn from their experiences.

2. Clarify “We”:

Most teams have a general sense of how they add value and contribute to the overall company mission. Few teams take the time to articulate this clearly and then embed this team value proposition into how they do everything—prioritizing work, setting the tone on desired behaviors, aligning goals and performance metrics etc.

3. Connect the “Me” and “We”:

Now comes the moment of truth. Having explored personal values and purpose and clarified the team’s reason for being, now each individual gets to connect the two parts and reflect on how closely they are aligned. For instance, if you value autonomy (defined by Dan Pink as “the desire to direct our own lives”) and are constantly told what to do and how to do it by your manager—there is a clear disconnect.

These steps are simple enough but not necessarily easy. Eventually, it’s up to each individual to get honest with themselves to assess if there is a disconnect between the “Me” and the “We.” It takes courage on the part of a leader to open up a safe space for her people to explore their personal why and values and be ok with the outcome. It is far more efficient to have someone wake up to the fact that they are a “misfit” through self-awareness, than for management or HR to have to raise a lack of fit with a person.

The benefits far out-weight the potential downside of this approach: higher employee engagement, greater productivity, and authentic collaboration that allows people to freely co-create solutions.

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