Smile and the world smiles with you...

I’ve written often here about ‘hiring for attitude and training for skills’: it’s a popular strategy today, but not so much when I started doing it in the mid 80s. The attitudes I focused on were optimism and flexibility or, as I would tell it, the ability to smile when interrupted. It’s amazing how much of an impact a smile has on people: it’s infectious and creates great customer satisfaction. When people would ask me how I trained employees to smile, I’d answer: “I didn’t; they smiled in the interview, so I hired them”. While that may be over-simplified, it’s mostly right. When you smile at someone, they often smile back; just like when you gesture or maintain eye-contact, they do too. And when you see someone without a smile, they can catch yours.  That’s the key in the service business and it can’t be over-emphasized. Don’t believe me: next time you’re walking past someone or talking to people on Zoom, flash them your best smile; more than likely, they’ll return the gesture. It takes 10 muscles to smile and 6 to frown but the results of the first far outweigh those of the second. And, by the way, smiling and happy people get more done and are more loyal than frowners. Give everyone a smile today.

 Dolly Parton (born 1946): Singer Songwriter, Actress, Author, Philanthropist

Keep the home fires burning...

This week’s theme is about loyalty – what it takes to create and keep it, and what it means to give it. And even though it’s a two-way proposition, it starts with you and me and the employees everywhere who want to give their loyalty to you (their supervisor) and your company.  That’s true in normal times and even more so in these Covid-19 times. Companies spend a lot of time, in those normal times, creating a culture that employees want to be a part of and loyal to, getting people working together, feeling good about themselves and their colleagues, aligning with the company’s values, and thinking about the future together. But with so many people furloughed, laid off, or working from home, it’s difficult to create or maintain that kind of culture and loyalty: it’s like the whole thing is turned upside down. Employees want to keep their own loyalty feelings alive – your job as a supervisor is to let them, help them, support them, talk to them, listen to them, and celebrate them.  When the old policies and tactics aren’t available or working – adapt; now is the time to rethink all the things you used to do to build a culture and get employees to buy 0nto it.  Change your plan and the measures used to see if it’s working. And be the kind of supervisor that employees will want to be loyal to. Get a fire in your belly to help your employees keep their own fires alive today.

Catherine Tift Merritt (born 1975); American singer-songwriter and musician

Everybody look what's going down...

In the midst of this crazy election we’re still dealing with this terrible pandemic. The political noise makes it hard to focus on the continuing problems that companies, and their employees are having with full or partial work from home practices (if they’re still working). I’ve written here often in the past 6 months about these problems – reduced hours or too many hours, reduced commute times or time conflicts between work and family, the effects of isolation from colleagues and supervisors, and the anxiety created by uncertainty. Everyone’s trying hard to make this work but there are too few measures to tell whether or not it is, and no training for managers trying to deal with these challenging dynamics. At the end of the day it comes down to employees having the integrity to do their work and leaders trusting them. Leaders should set goals and measures and communicate these effectively, stay in touch with and care immensely about the problems their employees are having, and offer continuing support; employees need to be open about their problems and concerns, ask questions, manage their conflicting affairs, keep focused, and stay positive. Let’s not lose sight of this continuing struggle amidst the political rhetoric that unfortunately is having little impact on this issue. Keep your focus on the continuing needs of your employees today.

James Hodge (born 1972): Chief Technical Adviser at Splunk

Nobody's right if everybody's wrong...

People often have opinions or beliefs that become challenged by events or actions: what they do in those situations can be a window on their integrity. Whether it has to do with Covid-19, an election, or life in general: if you see or hear something that’s incorrect or inappropriate, you have to do something about it. To say something, to reflect on or change your views, to alter your commitment, to admit to yourself or others that you might be wrong. There’s no shame in adjusting your thinking based on new information.  But people seem to have trouble doing that. They’re invested in choices that are hard to reverse. Whether it’s loyalty to a particular organization or leader, or to a product you’ve always used and liked: changing your view and then doing something about it can be hard. And the longer you wait, the harder it gets. It’s easy to be right; harder to be wrong and then do something about it. But if you want to respect yourself, that’s what you must do. If you want others to respect you, that’s what you must do. Without compromise. Because one of the truest tests of integrity is its blunt refusal to be compromised. Easier said than done, I know. Even so: do what’s right to preserve your integrity today.

Chinua Achebe (1930 –  2013): Nigerian novelist, poet, professor, and critic

There's battle lines being drawn...

People often say what they mean and mean what they say… but are they really who they say they are? During the past week, the airways and social media sites, and my email box have been filled with political ads – some say who the candidates are, but most attempt to tell who their opponents are not. Some of that political rhetoric may be accurate, but it’s hard to tell. Back when I was a kid there was something called “truth in advertising”: imagine that. That simple regulation somehow morphed into “buyer beware”: an ominous trend.  And today we’re unsure if any news is true or fake: a truly sad state of affairs. We should all mourn the death of integrity and honesty in our politics.  Until and unless we hold the politicians accountable to practice what they preach and be what they preach, then we won’t know fact from fiction. If businesses and their leaders acted like that they’d go belly-up and bankrupt – those same financial and moral consequences should be applied to political leaders. If they want to draw lines between themselves and their opponents, let them each simply tell what they’ve done in the past and will do in the future. Period. Then let us judge and decide. Let’s get back to integrity and honesty today.

 David Bednar (born 1952): David Allan Bednar is a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

What it is ain't exactly clear...

People usually think the musical scale consists of 8 notes; musicians know that the sharp and flat notes in between bring it to 12. Life, like music, includes all the regular things we have to deal with, and all the things in between. To experience life (or music) to its fullest, is to understand, take advantage of, and get the most out of everything available to us. And while many know the key elements and challenges they’re faced with every day, to truly make a difference requires everyone to learn about and deal with it all. This is a complex world and trying to understand or deal with it via sound bites, talking heads, casual observations, or text messages deprives us of all that we need to make good choices and informed decisions. Leaders owe it to themselves and their charges to study and learn enough to be effective; those they lead deserve that. When you think you know it all, continue to peel the onion of information a little bit more: get into it, do your homework, and have the integrity to learn the rest. Otherwise you’re apt to be uniformed or just more noise in the confusion. Everything has the equivalent of 12 notes – use them all today.

 Eddie Van Halen (1955 –  2020): American musician, songwriter, producer, and inventor

There's something happening here...

Employees expect their leaders to talk the talk and walk the walk: millennials especially. Some of us might allow a little latitude, wanting to believe that circumstances can sometimes get in the way but, in most cases, that’s some kind of self-serving rationalization. In this social media age, failure to align what we say and do can easily be exposed. This kind of behavioral alignment is not just for leadership people and practices: it also applies to what people say in a job or media interview – these too can easily be checked via social media. At the end of the day, there is no substitute for the integrity that aligns these, nor should anyone overlook or dismiss it when one is different than the other: it’s important to question the reasons and circumstances that may be involved if they’re not aligned. Our words and actions mean something, and anyone who thinks otherwise isn’t being honest with themselves or others. Integrity like this builds trust and respect, the things that bind organizations and communities together. Back in the day, someone’s word was their bond. That should be the same today.

 Katrina Mayer: Writer, motivational speaker, corporate executive, and an ordained interfaith minister