Humility at Work

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A modest or low view of one’s own importance is also described as modesty, meekness and unassertiveness.    This sounds like the things long therapy sessions are made of.  Then why has humility become a trait attributable to the best organizational leaders?  How To Be Humble at Work | Indeed.com For the simple fact that humility also means that you’re free from egotism and arrogance, that you look to others for good ideas, that you understand how your actions can affect those around you and that they may have a better way of doing things than you do.  Contrast that with the leader who always thinks her ideas are the best, is not interested in what others have to say, and lacks the curiosity to explore better ways of doing things.

One characteristic of humble people is that they are open to and ask for the opinions and ideas of others. When you do this, you can learn more and discover new perspectives, and you may find that the workplace becomes a more innovative space. 10 Ways to Be More Innovative and Creative at Work | The Muse Innovation can leapfrog you in front of your competition and focus the team on a common goal.

Workplace humility is also likely to contribute to increased productivity as employees want to do well, collaborate with each other more and desire to produce high-quality work, whether it’s focused on a product or service. Humble people are also more likely to seek resources and give others the help they need to complete their tasks without thinking about the credit they should receive.

A humble work environment contributes to an employee’s job satisfaction. Leaders who practice humility by asking employees for their opinions, accepting ideas for how to better serve customers and acknowledging team members who have made a difference can make an employee feel empowered and validated. In turn, when employees have these positive feelings about their leadership and the company where they work, they tend to be more satisfied with their role, stay longer and have positive things to say about the organization they represent.

An organization may experience lower employee turnover when humility is a part of the company culture. Increased employee loyalty comes from having members of your team who appreciate the chance to be heard, feel like they are an important part of the organization and know that their work and ideas matter to the company’s success. Employees who are happy at work often choose to stay employed at the organization for longer, and may even refer other high-quality candidates in their network to the company’s open positions.

Humility often leads to collaboration because employees and managers alike realize the strengths of those they work with. You can better appreciate the experiences, education and skill set your coworkers have that balance your own, which can help grow your professional relationships into ones that improve output for the business and make the work environment more pleasant.

The goal is confident humility. Confident Humility: A Way to Lead so Everyone Wins | by Alana 🌴 | Personal Growth | Medium Not the type of humility that has you giving away credit constantly for the work you do, but the kind of humility that has you saying “ thank you.  It was a lot of hard work, but the team had some great ideas which got the project over the line” Constantly downplaying the role that you have and what you have accomplished, is a recipe for someone picking you first in the lay line.  Confident humility Confident Humility: Paradox of Successful Leadership – TechTello allows you to be open to others thoughts and ideas, work collaboratively and still feel a great deal of pride for the work you have accomplished.

The Future of Hybrid Work

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I was on a Mediterranean cruise recently where the average age looked to be 75+, the majority of the people were retired and I engaged a few in conversation about the status of work.  The vast majority said that work will be back to the pre-Covid normal within 5 years, meaning that employees will be required to return to the office 5 days/week.  The prediction stunned me as most of the colleagues I speak with, albeit, they are much younger than the cruise crowd, believe that hybrid work is here to stay, myself included.  We believe this is a fundamental shift in the employer/employee relationship that will drive increased flexibility in how and where we work for years to come.

It would seem that we are in good company given that a recent Robert Half survey https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2021/05/hybrid-working-your-office-future
indicated that  one-third of professionals (34%) currently working from home due to COVID-19 would quit if required to be in the office full-time. Nearly half of respondents (49%) said they prefer a hybrid work arrangement, where they can divide their time between the office and another location. Hybrid Work Is Here To Stay. Now What? (Back to Work, Better) (hbr.org)

According to the 2021 Work Trend Index, The Next Great Disruption Is Hybrid Work—Are We Ready? (microsoft.com)over 40 percent of the global workforce considered leaving their employer last year, meaning a thoughtful approach to hybrid work will be critical for attracting and retaining diverse talent. Over 70 percent of workers want flexible remote work options to continue. Employee expectations are changing, and we will need to define productivity much more broadly — inclusive of collaboration, learning, and wellbeing to drive career advancement for every worker, including frontline and knowledge workers, as well as for new graduates and those who are in the workforce today. All this needs to be done with flexibility in when, where, and how people work.”

I could not find supporting data anywhere suggesting that my new cruise friends were correct in their contention that employees would be “required” to return to work in an office 5 days a week.  That got me to thinking about the rate of change and how much some of them have experienced in the last 75-85 years. According to Futurism A Look at How Much Humanity Has Advanced Over the Last 100 Years (futurism.com)

World Literacy Rates

  • 1917: The world literacy rate was only 23%.
  • Today: Depending on estimates, the world literacy rate today is 86.1%.

Travel Time

  • 1917: It took 5 days to get from London to New York; 3.5 months to travel from London to Australia.
  • Today: A nonstop flight gets you from London to New York in a little over 8 hours, and you can fly from London to Australia in about a day, with just one stop.

 

Coca-Cola

  • 1917: On July 1, 1916, Coca-Cola introduced its current formula to the market.
  • Today: Today, Coca-Cola has a market cap of about $178 billion with 2015 net operating revenues over $44 billion. Each day, over 1.9 billion servings of Coca-Cola drinks are enjoyed in more than 200 countries.

Billionaires

  • 1917: John D. Rockefeller became the world’s first billionaire on September 29.
  • Today: There are approximately 1,810 billionaires, and their aggregate net worth is $6.5 trillion. For context, Rockefeller’s net worth in today’s dollars would have been about $340 billion. Bill Gates, the world’s richest man, is worth $84 billion today.

Traffic (Horses to Cars)

  • 1917: In 1912, traffic counts in New York showed more cars than horses for the first time.
  • Today: There were approximately 253 million cars and trucks on U.S. roads in 2015.

Innovation

  • 1917: The major tech invention in 1917? The toggle light switch.
  • Today: The major tech invention of today? CRISPR/Cas9 gene editing technology, which enables us to reprogram life as we know it. And we are making strides in AI, robotics, sensors, networks, synthetic biology, materials science, space exploration and more every day.

Speed Limits

  • 1917: The maximum speed limit in most cities was 10 mph.
  • Today: The maximum speed limit in (or around) most cities is about 70 mph.

So, perhaps rather than a prediction they were making a plea, for the rate of change to slow down, for things to revert back to “the way they used to be”, however unlikely that may be.

Employee Well-Being Redefined

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sherrie suski 2021 wellbeingWe typically define well- being in terms of emotional, physical, social and financial wellbeing and while employee wellbeing has always been the purview of HR professionals, it has been taken to a stratospheric new level moving into, what some are calling, the 13th month of 2020, January 2021.  

Never in most of our lives have our employees needed more care, empathy and information that they do today.  At every turn they are struggling with at least one, if not, multiple of the above areas that define wellbeing.  They no longer get the immediate feedback that was part of their everyday office life, where a simple smile, or gesture of reassurance was more than welcome on the days that were difficult.  They had opportunities to use the gym, stay physically active, to socialize with family and friends and to feel some sense of control around their financial future.  If any one of the above areas is in question, it can cause employees not to be able to bring their best selves to work, but when all four have been impacted and the same time, some fee they are driven to distraction by what feels like an out-of-control life.  

Employers need to step up and step in at every opportunity and this is NOT just the purview of the HR function.  This is every people leader’s role.  Your employees need to know that you care, and they need to know that you are there for them, as a beacon in the night, assuring them that life will return to normal and that you are there to support them with whatever resources are at your disposal should they and their families need them

Emotional Support

  • Make it simple for people to connect and do their jobs no matter their circumstances
  • Gauge employee sentiment via a pulse survey to understand where people are struggling
  • Bring to light information and opportunities that are specific to them so employees can thrive amidst uncertainty
  • Employee needs haven’t changed, just evolved.

Valuing every person, every day goes a long way in honoring employee needs and understanding motivations.

Physical Support

  • Offer a wellness platform, like Vitality,  that all employees can engage with virtually
  • Create contents that employees can participate in on socially distanced teams or individually
  • The COVID 15 is no joke.  Being overweight can increase health risks, so help employees to shape up by offering education on healthy eating

Social Support– 

  • Nurturing new hires to accelerate their productivity
  • Providing employees access to relevant learning and development to foster their growth
  • Enabling meaningful manager feedback and coaching to boost performance
  • Increasing motivation by recognizing employees when and how they want to be spotlighted
  • Keeping a pulse on how employees are feeling

Financial Support

  • Offer financial planning courses on subjects of interest to wide ranges of employees
  • Talk openly about the benefits of Living Trusts, saving for retirement and the benefits of a 401(k)
  • Ensure employees, if you are able, that their job is secure.  The stress created form an uncertain financial future is keeping many people up at night.

HR leaders have an opportunity and an obligation to get this right.  Now is the time to reach out to your employees and ensure they know that you care about them not only as employees, but as human beings.

Putting Words into Action

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There is never a time more appropriate for putting our words into action than in the midst of unforeseen crises and disasters. We all speak of our employees being our biggest asset, of creating a workforce that is engaged and more productive.  We know that when we treat our employees well it builds loyalty, a great culture and better metrics at the bottom line.  But how many of us really show our employees, in a meaningful way, that we care about them as more than just employees? That we care about their lives and families outside of work?

I am proud to work for a Company that does just that in a bigger way than I have previously witnessed.  The unfortunate, recent, back to back hurricanes have devastated parts of Houston, Texas and many parts of Florida.  While many companies put out words of encouragement to stay safe, how many really went the extra mile, went above and beyond?

Here are just a few of the more meaningful ways you can show your employees that you care and, hopefully set an example for other companies to follow:

 

Full Pay

Ensure your workforce that they will continue to be paid full pay for all the hours/days they are unable to get into the office to work due to the storm or subsequent damage or flooding.  Many employees live very close to their paychecks and losing even 1-2 days of pay creates an undue hardship and stress on the family.

 

Insurance

Many employees do carry renter’s or homeowner’s insurance, as well as car insurance, but may not be able to easily afford the deductibles.  Some have purposely chosen policies with lower premiums and higher deductibles in the hopes that they would not run into a situation where they needed them.  Most of these deductibles are in the $100-$500 range.  Think about what it would mean to your employees if you were to offer to reimburse them for their deductibles?

 

Housing

We are fortunate enough to be a property management company with homes all over the US.  We offered all of our employees under evacuation orders, vacant homes to move into, on a short term basis, in other geographical areas out of harm’s way.  Even if you are not so fortunate as to have vacant homes to offer, you can offer to pick up the cost of hotels for the time that the employees are forced to evacuate.

 

Donations

It probably goes without saying that others want to help in times of need.  Set up a Red Cross donation through payroll deduction.   Make it easy for the rest of your workforce to assist those in need.  When we set this up last week, we have over 20% participation with 45 minutes.

Take this opportunity to put your words into action and show your employees that you do truly care about what they and their families are going through and you are here to help.  It’s time we learn to take care of one another out of and in the workplace!

Let leaders lead

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Most who enter the Human Resources disciplines due so out of a desire to help others and to help the organization to align their employee workforce with the goals of the company to further productivity.  Often times, however, we forget to let our leaders lead.  Especially as an organization grows, HR functions need to adopt a “train the trainer” approach more than a train everyone approach.  Although enlightened organizations put their full support and resources into HR functions, the team still has a responsibility to be able to scale the organization without adding significant numbers of HR team members.  Efficiency is key.

Train- the- trainer

A train-the-trainer model allows experienced trainers to show a less-experienced individuals how to deliver courses, workshops and seminars. http://work.chron.com/train-trainer-model-5463.html Usually, a new instructor first observes a training event led by the course designer. A train-the-trainer approach can build a pool of competent instructors who can then teach the material to other people. Instead of having just one instructor who teaches a course for a long time, you have multiple instructors teaching the same course at the same time. This ensures that employees get timely training to complete tasks according to company policies and procedures.

Identify SME’s

SME’s or subject matter experts exist in all corners of the organizations and at all levels.  It is a fairly good bet that your excel gurus are not sitting in the corner office.  Tap those resources!  Find out how has a skill set that the rest of the organization could benefit from and engage the SME to deliver the training. This serves two purposes.  One, it enhances your pool of trainers and two, it gives well deserved recognition to a group of people who might be overlooked otherwise, further engaging them in the business.  

Step out of the way

The inclination is to teach every class to every audience, but the real goal is to get the training out to a broad audience in a timely manner.  Like a proud parent, you need to teach your junior trainers your techniques, ensure that they know their material, do a few dry runs with them and then let them launch.  Will it be perfect, no. Will it improve with time, yes and will you gain far more by engaging your workforce then trying to do it all yourself, a big YES!

Training is not a one and done.  It is a process over an unending period of time that, done correctly, not only teaches a new skill, but also engages and inspires a workforce to do greater things both in their work and personal lives.

Employee Testing

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Almost all organizations engage in employee testing of one type or another.  What many organizations don’t understand is almost all of them open you up to some type of potential liability should you be challenged.  Selected and administered well they can be valuable tools in your candidate assessment process, but handled poorly they can cause you a whole host of problems.

Pre-Employment Physicals

Few can argue that Pre-employment physicals or drug screens are a bad idea.  Even with many states, including California, legalizing marijuana, you may still preclude its use while at work, the same way you can insist that your employees not come to work drunk or impaired by the use of prescription drugs.  Just because a substance is legal, does not mean it is OK be under the influence while at work.  Give prospective candidates notice that you will require them to take a pre-employment physical.  Many will simply choose not to apply.

Background Screening

Background screening is another “test” that few will argue with other than those who feel they have some antiquated right to privacy.  Background checks will check driving records, misdemeanor and felony convictions.  How you use this information gets a little trickier.  While you can turn down a candidate who will be driving a company vehicle if they have DUI convictions because you can show a direct correlation between the offense and the job requirement, what about the person who is a 2 time convicted child offender and you have offered him/her a position within an development department?  Can you show a relationship between the offense and the job requirement?

Skills testing

Skills testing can fall into multiple categories.  There are on the job skills tests that are easy to validate.  If the job requires someone to install HVAC systems and you ask them to install an HVAC system, the relationship and applicability are clear.  This type of testing can also include basic grammar and math skills.  The reasoning is that those that can construct a basic sentence with proper grammar and understand basic math are going to be better at their jobs whether they are being hired as an AP Specialist or a Customer Service rep.  These relationships to job proficiency are fairly easy to understand, but be prepared to defend your decision, even with validated tests.

Aptitude Tests

Aptitude tests are a gray area and only a handful of companies are using them.  Their theory is that if they hire only those that score exceptionally well on the aptitude tests that they will be able to train them faster, they will catch on more quickly, they will be more creative in terms of finding efficiencies within their jobs.  If you use Aptitude testing, be sure it is only one aspect of your hiring decisions.  It would be easy to come under fire for adverse impact if you established a cut off whereby you would not accept applicants.

Personality Tests

Quite a few companies use personality tests and there are many different versions, Myers-Briggs, DISC, Predictive Index. Personality tests can be helpful especially when you choose one like Predictive Index where you can create the profile for the job and then compare the profiles of the candidates to the job profile.  These can be especially helpful when you have a team of people to hire.   You want variety on your team, but complimentary personalities.  There is no right or waring, pass of fail with a personality test.  Each personality has its own pros and cons.

Define your testing strategy up front and ensure that you understand what you are hoping to accomplish with each one and how you will use the results.

How Can You Become More Effective At Your Job?

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When individuals have been working a job for a while, it’s easy to just find a daily groove, and go with the motions. But going with the flow doesn’t always mean we are being as effective as we can be in our positions. The reality is that some employees fall into their normal workflow, and are not entirely sure what else they can be doing in order to improve their effectiveness at their job.

I’ve spent some time pondering ways that employees who are looking to avoid stagnation can start to develop their skillsets at work. There are a few major steps that one can take to become more effective at their job.

 

Determine the Purpose of Your Work

The first step to improving is to understand exactly what you are trying to improve. Effectiveness in any job can only be achieved if there is a full understanding of what the job is. The easiest way to do this is to conduct a thorough analysis of your current position.

  1. Look through the formal documentation that is available for your position. Determine what the objectives and main priorities are on the job description. If you have access to the the rubrics for performance reviews, review those as well. They will give you an accurate picture of what is expected of an exemplary employee.
  2. Seek out any available training that is available for your job. Training materials are a great resource because they go beyond just telling you what you’ll get rewarded for. Training materials will also give you best practices and provide some (hopefully helpful) instruction on how to do your job well. Seeking out training materials also shows initiative to your superiors. (Bosses love when their employees show dedication to betterment.)

After you’ve reviewed those documents and materials, you should be armed with a better understanding of what you should be accomplishing and working towards in your current position.

 

Turn Up the Positivity

This may feel cheesy to some, but there really is something to be said about adopting a good attitude within the workplace. Positivity can go a long way in terms of productivity.

  1. Studies have shown that people who are consistently positive have a better ability to handle stress, work related challenges, and general adversity.
  2. Maintaining a positive attitude also helps you to see things more clearly. If you’re less stressed, you can make more rational, and beneficial decisions.

Be sure to check back next month to determine what else you can do to become more effective at work.

 

Resources: Mindtools – 1 , Mindtools – 2, Positively Presents