Surprise Your Team & Bring The Joy!

Embracing our differences in the workplace   I, like many, am thankful the election is over. I am happy to see yard signs disappear, text messages dwindle, and most of all—vitriolic commercials cease. This campaigning season seemed like a toxic game of tug-of-war from start to finish. I did, however, notice at least one positive thing emerge from this election cycle—a reminder that we are different.   Even if we look alike, talk alike, live near one another, have similar hobbies, even come from the same family, we sometimes and dare I say even often, have different beliefs, goals and desires. We are passionate about different things, called to different things and make different decisions, like which presidential candidate deserves our vote.   That’s just fine. I’ll say it louder, for those in the back. That’s JUST FINE. We can disagree and still have a relationship. We can be friends, we can be neighbors, we can be brothers, and we can still work well together.   In fact, in the workplace, our disagreements and differences are what makes us successful as a team. You’ve heard the common colloquialism, “variety is the spice of life.” Well, it’s stew season and never have I so appreciated the sweetness of carrots, mixed with the crunch of celery and the acidity of an onion, all simmering in chili powder, cumin and garlic, alongside chunks of satisfying beef. Stew can’t be a bowl of only carrots, or only beef. It loses the symphony of flavor. Similarly, the flavor of life is in each of our differences. If we were all carrots, the stew would taste terrible. When we embrace and even maximize our differences, we get a tasty meal, and a successful business.   Fostering this culture in the workplace starts with the leader. As Patrick often says, “more is caught than taught.” It takes a strong leader, like you, to be the one who sets the example for your team in how to work alongside, engage with and show love to one another, especially during a disagreement.   Consider modeling the following things:   Being unoffendable: As the leader, you need to be confident enough to know that other’s ideas, thoughts and opinions are not a threat to you. When someone thinks differently than you, it’s an opportunity to learn. If you don’t understand, ask questions until you do. If you find yourself in a conversation in which you are strongly disagreeing, walk away and come back later. You may find that you can let things go, or you may find that you can better address them later, after you have taken the time to think about it. Being unoffendable doesn’t mean that you allow people to say things to you that are hurtful, but it does mean that you don’t always respond right away. Take big breaths often. Give yourself the time and space you need to decide what needs to be addressed and what needs to be let go.   Thinking like family: Family members cannot up and leave one another. They are bound by blood. This means that reconciliation is necessary and practiced often. If there is conflict on your team, sit down with those involved and model talking it through with love and empathy. The answer to a problem is not to “ghost” someone by avoiding him or her, but rather to engage that person with questions, trying to reach that point of understanding. If the team thinks of themselves as brothers and sisters, the security of familial ties will propel them toward one another instead of away when challenges arise.   Assuming the best: It’s easy to assume that another person is intending to hurt you, when it’s simply a misunderstanding. Teach your team that it’s better to assume the best. Assume what you would want others to assume about you. When you don’t know, ask questions. You’ll quickly realize that you might have made it worse in your head than the reality. Someone didn’t return your email? It doesn’t mean that they didn’t like your idea. It’s more likely that the email was overlooked, or the response is requiring more thought or time than you had expected. Give other people more time, space and grace. Usually there’s much more going on under the surface with people than what meets the eye.   Communicating often then communicating some more: Communicate until you’re blue in the face, until you’re sure you’ve said the same thing ten times, until you really get your team rolling their eyes. Then you know that they understand. When plans, goals, concepts and requests are communicated poorly, it leaves room for confusion which then leads, unwittingly, to frustration. Unfortunately, many people can mistake feeling confused as feelings of inadequacy which causes them to shut down instead of asking questions. This then leads to feelings of resentment and avoidance. Strong communication from the get-go can help avoid unnecessary conflicts.   If you accidentally offend, apologize quickly: You will probably offend people. It’s mostly a fact of life. If it’s brought to your attention, be quick to apologize. You can also model addressing tension within the office. It’s always best to tell someone if he/she hurt or frustrated you. Ask questions. You could say something like, “Can you tell me more about your decision to xyz?” or “Is there a way that we could do xyz differently?”  If your team sees you apologizing, addressing things and quickly reconciling, they are likely to do the same.   This takes practice. It’s not easy to create this culture in the workplace but it is effective. Once those on your team feel like they can be genuine and still be accepted, cared for and loved, they will bring their best selves to the workplace—their great ideas, their great experiences, their excellent talent. This will lead to greater success for your team and your business.   ###   This blog is based loosely on the IOL Podcast #151: Global Community Builds Unity with Dave Strash. Check it out!   This blog was written by Ashley Buenger:

Your Work Culture Matters We’ve worked hard over the years to make CCB Technology a great place to work. It has taken time, energy and intentionality.   It didn’t happen overnight.   We have had some tough years, especially the ones during what has now been coined as, “The Great Resignation” in 2021 when a lot of employees were quitting their jobs for greener pastures. Some of mine quit too, good ones. And I began to have moments of panic: What if we couldn’t find more good people? What if they all quit and left me? Of course, they didn’t, but I remember days in which I worried each person who walked into my office was there to lay a letter of resignation on my desk. Those were hard days. But I can honestly say that even through it, we held strong and even grew closer and tighter knit as a company. We hired more people, we fostered their growth, and now they’re the new “good people.”   When I was white knuckling my grip on the company, and super stressed out, I had other employees around me remind me how to foster positive culture. Now that things have settled a bit and we’re back to more stable times, I can see that we’ve grown as a company and I’ve grown as a leader.   Here’s a couple things that I’ve learned through the tough years and the good ones:   Make it Fun  I’ve been taught this by a lot of other people around me. You can basically take any mundane and boring day or task and make it fun, just add a bunny costume. Or call people into your office and hand them a pizza box full of confetti. Or hold an in-office facial hair competition. Get creative, get goofy and get borderline weird—like Peter Rabbit weird.   We always say, “no one drifts into excellence.” It’s a choice. Being fun is a choice too. It doesn’t just happen. You have to make room for silliness, for laughter and for joy. When your employees are having fun, jump in too.   Give Things Away I like to give my employees gifts. Try a “$100 handshake day” where you put money in your palm and give it to an unsuspecting employee by shaking his or her hand. I also love bringing in special treats or ordering pizza for the entire office. Give away gift cards, golf outings or fancy dinners. If money is tight, you can give things that don’t cost much, like public affirmation to a great employee, a hand-written card saying thank you, a silly song for someone that you wrote on the guitar, or just take company time to share in happy hour in the parking lot. Any gift shows your employees that you are thinking about them, care about them and want them to know that they’re appreciated for the work they do.   Freakin’ Promote People Screw the whole, “employees have to work for 3 years in the company before getting promoted.” If you have a good person who is talented and shows potential, freakin’ promote them! If you have work that you need done, and we all do, and you want to grow your business, like most of us do, then take good people and give them more responsibility. I recently stepped out of my role as the President of CCB and handed those reigns over to an amazing employee and he’s knocking it out of the park. You’ll never regret showing your employees that you trust them, you see what they can do, and that you’re willing to help them become better.   I’ll be the first to admit that sometimes I can put my head down and just work. I can forget that company culture matters or feel like there’s not enough time or energy to get the work done but then I find myself burnt out, angry and annoyed. And no one likes that. Take the time to create a great culture and the work will get done, trust me.