Now displaying: May, 2021
May 27, 2021
Show Notes
- [0:00:48] Episode Summary | Intro
- Standing Energy
- What Happens In Between F.I.T.ness Check-ups?
- [0:02:10] Recap of Last Episode’s Quarterly F.I.T.ness Check-in
- If you’re only having conversations every three months, or annually, something is wrong.
- [0:03:46] People Want Regular Feedback
- Team Members Want Clarity & Shared Understanding
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- Even if they’re low maintenance, and keep their head down, working hard...they still want and need the feedback.
- Why Weekly vs Less Frequently
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- Generally, the more frequently you meet, the shorter your meetings will be overall.
- If you schedule weekly, and you have to miss one, you’re not losing alot, whereas if you miss a monthly, you could be letting major agenda topics slide by for too long.
- Don’t Make Your 1:1s All About Task LIsts & Project Management
- Stick to Your Time Frame
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- Don’t be afraid to push agenda items off to the following week’s 1:1.
- It’s not the end of the world if you can’t meet for one week.
- Don’t Make it so Clinical That it’s Not Meaningful
- [0:11:45] On Misfit Pairings of Employee & Role
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- It’s so important to have and stick to an agenda for 1:1s.
- [0:13:20] Manager’s Guide to 1 on 1s
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- https://ciircles.com/1on1/
- 1:1s are about establishing connection with your direct report:
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- Establishing Empathy
- Understanding Goals
- Laying Growth Path
- Providing Clarity
- ...not just about the tasks & projects.
- Invest Time and Energy in Your Team
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- [0:16:28] The Hard Truths
- It’s hard, it takes time, but it’s your job as a manager and/or leader.
- Do it right and you have allies in the business, do it wrong (or not at all) and you have opponents.
- [0:17:58] Is There an Ideal Number of Direct Reports?
- 20% of your time should ideally be spent on nurturing your communication and connection with your team members.
- [0:19:28] Don’t Let Your 1:1s be Manager Driven
- Let Your Team Members Set the Agenda
- You Will Have to Train Team Members on How the 1:1 Works
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- Communicate and Enforce What the 1:1 is For, The Purpose & Goal
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- Some will take to this really quickly, for others it will take time and experience.
- 1:1s Are a Great Way to Practice Collaboration
- Active Listening & Taking Notes is Powerful for You and the Employee’s Rapport
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- Actually caring, and listening is a very good thing.
- [0:26:12] Think About the Best Manager You Ever Had
- Odds are that one of the things that made them the best was that they genuinely cared about and believed in you.
- You May be a Diamond in the Rough
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- Let’s be honest, there are those who establish routine communication and good rapport so well, so regularly, that they may not need an explicit weekly 1:1.
- Be the Manager Who Remembers Your Team Members’ Children’s Names
- [0:28:33] Parting Words | Recap
May 20, 2021
Show Notes
- [0:00:42] Episode Summary | Intro
- Music to Get You Going
- Brief F.I.T.ness Recap
- [0:04:00] Measuring F.I.T.ness
- Organizations Change, Businesses Change, People Change
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- You Have to Evaluate That
- Recommendation: Quarterly F.I.T.ness Check-ins
- Catch Issues or Tensions Before They Fester
- Check-ins Directly Combat Ambiguity
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- “With my team, one thing I always say is: if anything in this meeting is surprising to you, then I (the manager) haven’t done a good job.” - Jeremy
- Your Check-ups are a Confirmation of Alignment or Misalignment
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- They should not be where you identify proper or improper alignment for the first time.
- Everyone Either Has or Knows of a Review Horror Story
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- Be the cure, not the symptom.
- Don’t be nearsighted in your reviews.
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- Let team members know they aren’t being evaluated solely by this one quarterly check-up.
- Frequency is a Delicate Balance for F.I.T.ness
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- Regular check-ups not being about money/salary help enforce empathy, and strengthen your goal as a manager to make your team members better at their jobs.
- Keep it Short, Keep it Simple
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- On Scoring 1-5
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- The phrasing is more important than the number.
- You Want Challenge
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- Boredom is the enemy of challenge.
- Caution: too much challenge can cause burnout or defeatism.
- You Want Success Over Failure
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- But when failure occurs, you want individuals to have the liberty to fail forward.
- Identify Trends
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- Recurring instances of over or under achieving are worth acting on.
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- Has there been a dip in motivation or progress?
- Why is this person excelling so far beyond that of their expectation?
- Is this person in the right role?
- It Begins and Ends with Clarity
- [0:24:02] Words to the Wise
- Tricky Instances to Be Aware of
- Elaborating on ‘The Middle is the Best’
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- You want to be in the middle in the evaluation scoring.
- Identify Tensions & Note Your Wins
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- Encourage others to canonize and share their wins!
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- Especially during the F.I.T.ness check-ups.
- Next Time on AIB
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- “What Do You Do Between the Check-ups?“
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- Spoiler: 1on1s (Stay Tuned)
May 19, 2021
Show Notes
- [0:00:47] Episode Summary | Intro
- F.I.T.ness Overview
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- Faculty
- Initiative
- Temperament
- A Place for Alliteration
- [0:04:45] Understanding Why Team Members May Be Unhappy in Their Role
- They may be in the wrong place, doing the wrong work, or have the wrong temperament for the type of work they’re doing.
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- You have to be flexible as an organization, hopefully without differing straight to letting the employee go.
- Though it’s important to acknowledge not every individual will be a fit for your culture and organization.
- [0:08:00] Does X Person Have the F. I. and T. to be on Your Team?
- Analyzing & Measuring Faculty, Initiative, and Temperament
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- Determining F.I.T. May Mean Something Different to You and Your Organization
- For Our Company, We’ve Found Temperament to be the Most Important Measurement
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- You Have to Determine What’s the Right Temperament Your Team
- Temperament is the Hardest to Teach...and Change
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- It’s Also the Most Sensitive Topic
- [0:16:26] Recommendation: Hire Slow, Fire Slow
- Take Time to Determine F.I.T.
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- You Can Train Over Most F.I.T. Challenges
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- You Should Be Trying to Help Team Members Through the Obstacles
- What Do They Have Going on in Their Lives, How Can You Help?
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- Even if we don’t want to admit it, personal life can and will bleed into work.
- Empathy and communication are key.
- You HAVE to ask questions about connection, collaboration, and clarity.
- [0:20:24] How Do We Measure & What Does F.I.T.ness Look Like in Practice?
- Recommended (Recurring) Quarterly Check-in
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- But keep the conversation going in between quarterly check-ins.
- F.I.T.ness Changes
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- It changes, sometimes for the better, and sometimes for worse.
- F.I.T.ness is never static.
- Confirm F.I.T. on the front end: during hiring and onboarding.
- [0:25:34] Closing Thoughts
- F.I.T. Operates with the ‘C’s and ‘P’s, Not in A Vacuum
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- Clarity
- Collaboration
- Connection
- Passion
- Purpose
- Progress
- If you don’t take the time to figure out your ideal F.I.T., you’ll end up putting square pegs in round holes.
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- This ultimately hurts the new hire, and the team at large.
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- The ripple effect here doesn’t stop when you let someone go.
- By acknowledging and keeping up with F.I.T. you can minimize the repercussions of not getting it right...because you’re not going to always get it right.
- Companies & Culture Change Over TIme
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- What’s F.I.T. Today May Not be F.I.T. Tomorrow
May 6, 2021
Show Notes
- [0:00:43] Episode Summary | Intro
- Regional Seasonal Allergy Woes
- Last Episode Recap
- Takeaways on Motivational Drivers
- [0:03:25] What Are the Cornerstones of Motivation?
- Deep Diving on The 3 ‘C’s:
- Connection
- Clarity
- Collaboration
- How they all work off of and benefit from one another.
- Collaboration as an accountability tool.
- Whatever you’re trying to accomplish, identifying the cornerstones you’re lacking will allow you to intentionally focus on and develop them.
- [0:13:27] Practical Breakdown of How the 3 ‘C’s Actually Interact with Each Other
- Each overlapped ‘C’ (on the venn diagram of fulfillment) creates a ‘P’ (Passion, Purpose, Progress)
- Clarity + Collaboration = Progress
- Collaboration + Connection = Passion
- Connection + Clarity = Purpose
- What you’re doing has to matter...to YOU.
- You have to love what you’re doing.
- What you’re doing has to make an impact you can quantify.
- [0:21:45] “Does a Tree Falling in the Forest Make a Sound if No One is There to Hear?”
- Measure AND Celebrate Your Wins
- Don’t jump into “the next” before acknowledging what just was.
- Nobody can feel Progress if you simply move right onto the next thing.
- [0:23:25] Lifecycle of a Business Related to the 3 ‘C’s
- In the early days you don’t need everything.
- It helps to start strong in one or two ‘C’s.
- You WILL need them all over time, by the individual and as an organization.
- Like anything living, it ebbs and flows, and it has to be nurtured.
- [0:25:25] How Switching From In-office to Distributed can Shift Your Clarity, Connection and Collaboration
- When we first went distributed, our Clarity shrank and suffered FAST.
- Now that remote work is the norm for us, Connection is the prime challenge.
- Focus on those challenges; those tensions will reveal creative ways to approach them head on with confidence.
- Recommended Quarterly Check-in Review
- Regularly ask your team things like:
- “Where can we grow as a team?”
- “What does our team need to be more successful?”
- “How can we improve things for you?”
- [0:28:44] Parting Words
- Food for Thought Until the Next Episode
- Next Time we’ll Start in on a New Series Topic:
- “What makes great teams & team members?”
- “How do you protect your business by having the right people in the right roles for your organization?”
May 6, 2021
Show Notes
- [0:00:56] Episode Summary | Intro
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- Previous Episode Recap
- Difference Between Engagement & Fulfillment
- [0:03:00] Drivers of Fulfillment:
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- Unpacking the 3 ‘P’s
- Passion:
- ‘I love the work that I do.’
- Purpose:
- ‘The work that I do matters.’
- Progress:
- ‘I’m having an impact on the work that matters.’
- Progress is NOT to be Confused with Productivity
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- Which ‘P’ Means the Most to You?
- How to Assist Employees (and Anyone) with Passion, Purpose, and Progress
- [0:12:18] Ways in Which We Help Our Team See Progress Now
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- Coming to terms with your business or management mistakes by failing forward.
- Be a Cheerleader!
- Course correcting too soon or too often can prove catastrophic to the goal of fulfillment.
- Letting employees drive their own progress.
- Do you need all 3 drivers to be fulfilled?
- [0:17:03] The 3 ‘P’s & Symbiotic Professional Relationships
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- How/why James & Kevin have succeeded as business partners thru Passion, Progress, and Purpose.
- Clarifying your business & personal Passion, Purpose, and Progress can (and will) yield positive results & shared understanding.
- [0:21:36] You Can’t Simply Define Fulfillment Broadly for All
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- It’s Different for Everyone
- What drives you might not drive anyone else.
- [0:22:29] Analyzing the 3 ‘P’s in Your Employee 1:1s & Reviews/Assessments
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- Your employees don’t have to be at an 11 out of 10 on Passion, Purpose, and Progress.
- It’s a shifting scale, and that’s not necessarily a bad thing.
- [0:25:41] How Do We Impact & Help Your Team See Your Passion, Purpose, and Progress?
- Next episode:
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- The Three ‘C’s
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- Clarity
- Collaboration
- Connection
- Clarity + Collaboration = Progress
- Collaboration + Connection = Passion
- Connection + Clarity = Purpose
May 6, 2021
Show Notes
- [0:00:57] Episode Summary | Intro
- Jeremy’s Banjo Aspirations
- Last Episode Recap
- Fulfillment Theory Quickstart Guide
- [0:03:42] The Ultimate Goal
- Helping Our Teams Find Fulfillment
- Employee Engagement
- It Changes With the Season
- “You can have engagement without fulfillment, but you can only have fulfillment through being engaged.”
- When Time Tracking Breaks Down
- Time tracking is what most businesses monitor toward engagement, but it’s the opposite of what employees want and need to feel engaged.
- Engagement is More Than the Work You Can See
- Why Common Attempts at Engagement Fall Flat
- Burnout Awareness
- Engagement Gimmicks & Initiatives
- Sustainability
- Getting Engagement Wrong
- Early Failings of Our Own Business
- Fun Doesn’t Directly Translate to Fulfilled
- Fulfillment HAS to be Purposeful
- Fulfillment & Engagement
- Two terms that are too often mistakenly used to explain the same thing.
- You can be active and busy and not be fulfilled.
- Engagement is an output of fulfillment.
- [0:15:16] What is Fulfillment & How Do We Track That?
- The Components of Fulfillment
- The 3 ‘P’s
- Passion:
- ‘Do I love the work that I’m doing?’
- Purpose:
- ‘Do I feel like the work that I do matters?’
- Progress:
- ‘Do I feel like the work I am doing is making an impact?’
- [0:21:32] Issues & Challenges with Progress...and Fulfillment
- Hindsight is 20/20
- How We’ve Failed Certain Employees in the Past
- Robbing Individuals of Progress
- You’re not helpless when you know what drives your team.
- How these things can be applied to your personal life and relationship as well.
- [0:27:12] Paying it Forward with AIB
- We’ve made a lot of mistakes in order to get here.
- Learn from us to hopefully not make those same mistakes.
- Celebrate wins, but when you fail, fail forward by learning from it.
- [0:29:45] Parting Words & Next Time on AIB
- Diving into Motivational Drivers of Fulfillment
- Why They’re Powerful
- And Why They Really Work
May 6, 2021
Show Notes
- [0:01:03] Episode Summary | Intro
- “We’re back! ...All things considered.”
- The Pandemic Pivot
- From In-office to Running the Business Remotely
- Thanking (and coincidently) we chose this for ourselves pre-pandemic.
- Acquiring and Consolidating a WordPress Plugin
- [0:05:51] Why We Took a Year and a Half Off
- Missing Podcast Voice
- Adventures in Businessing’s (AIB) new direction and new purpose:
- Leadership, team building, and the Ciircles fulfillment theory.
- [0:12:21] Breaking Down the Transition From In-office to Fully Distributed
- From operating out of one town, to having employees around the world.
- In defense of colocated working...and why it wasn’t feasible for us anymore.
- Growing Pains
- “We experienced a crash course on distributed working.”
- With AIB, we want to help other businesses make these sorts of transitions.
- [0:17:22] Ciircles.com, the New Home of AIB
- What is Ciircles?
- Intentionally Misspelled
- “Ciircles? Why two ‘i’s?”
- Subscribe to the newsletter!
- [0:21:53] Unpacking Fulfillment Theory
- Work Isn’t Linear
- Fulfillment is Driven by 3 Major Drivers of Motivation:
- Passion
- Progress
- Purpose
- “When these drivers are triggered, your team members are fulfilled, and we all want to be fulfilled.”
- [0:25:50] What’s Next?
- Summarizing what to expect from the next 3 episodes of AIB
- Why you should keep tuning in, whether you’re a business owner, leader, or team member.
- Thank You! And Welcome Back!!
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