Author: Kelly Donlon Hoy

The New Year brings tremendous opportunity to make changes within your organization. A simple turn of the calendar prompts us to consider how we can do more, be more, and work more towards the goals we have for the new year or in this case, the new decade.  As you plan and aspire to new achievements this year, you may be facing one lingering question: how do you get others to want to work along with you? You know that a manager is only as successful as his or her team, so how do you kick off 2020 with everyone aligned and aiming for the same things? 

Analyze Where You’ve Been

If you’re trying to look ahead, it’s useful to know where you’ve been.  Take time to evaluate the strengths and opportunities that your team had last year.  Recognize what they do well and what you want them to keep doing. Identify the areas of growth for each person and the team as a whole in the next year.  It helps to know how each person contributes to the overall success of the team.

Paint the Picture of Success

With a clear view of what your team is capable of, share your ideas about goals for the new year. Back your vision with data, and speak with passion when it comes to your plans. The more energized you are, the more they’ll be eager to align and join you in achieving the vision. Show your team how the goals will lead to positive outcomes for each of them and for the team. Make each goals and opportunity tangible with a plan of action of how they are going to successfully get there. The clearer the vision, the stronger the teams’ ability to work for it. 

Remind Them of What They Have Already Achieved

Once you have gained your team’s alignment, they still may wonder if they can realize your vision.  Big lofty goals can sometimes fill team members with fear or trepidation. It’s common for employees to ask themselves if they can really do it. Or to question how they will handle unforeseen obstacles.  Here’s where you can again lead them down the right path. Make a list of past accomplishments and hurdles they have overcome. Remind them of what they have done before. By showing your team how they have performed in the past, you’ll fuel their sense of commitment to continue to perform.  Point out how each individual and the collective team has been successful. Reviewing successes can bolster their confidence and motivate your team to tackle the new priorities, no matter how challenging! 

On Your Mark, Get Set, Say THANKS

One of the biggest drivers of employee commitment is knowing that one’s efforts are appreciated.  Employees are more willing to work hard for leaders whom they trust and whom they believe appreciate their work.  By displaying gratitude for your team and reminding them how much of an asset they are, you will solidify their desire to work hard. How you choose to thank them is up to you. Remember the platinum rule: thank others how they would like to be thanked. For some, that may mean a personal note or a one-on-one conversation. For others, public recognition may fuel their sense of being appreciated. Still others might prefer a small (or large) token of appreciation.  Know how to thank each of your team members in a way that suits them. Be a leader who is known for being grateful, and you’ll see people genuinely give their all for your vision.  

Our team is aligned around one vision for 2020: to serve our clients–existing and new–in ways that help that raise employee engagement. Happy New Year from KDH Consulting!

Do you know anyone who actually looks forward to an interview? If you’re the interviewee, you’re under tremendous pressure to think on your feet and clearly articulate exactly what you want the other person to understand about you. There’s so much at stake—a job, a featured article, a critical networking connection. That’s probably why fortunes have been made writing about “surefire” ways to ace an interview.

But what if you’re asked to be the interviewer?  You’re tasked with getting critical information out of a complete stranger in a short amount of time. And then you have to use that information to write an article or make a hiring decision. Scared yet?

Being able to conduct an interview in an engaging, professional way is a valuable skill no matter what your field. It takes practice but you can get good at it! The ability to ask good questions and to get back good answers is something that can serve you in your personal life as well (think: new love interests, grumpy teenagers or your new neighbors). For digital natives, this particular skill can be especially challenging. After all, when you’re used to texting and tweeting instead of talking, you might be particularly stressed when you hear that technology isn’t an option. 

4 Skill Starters

What steps can you take to ensure that you get the information you need and encourage your interviewee to go beyond what’s written on their resume or in other background material? How can you facilitate a comfortable, open exchange that provides you with someone’s true essence?

For sure, it takes practice! But though my team’s years of experience, we’ve put together our 5 “BEs” for skillful interviewing. Here they are:

1. BE Prepared. Lack of preparation has ruined many an interview—for the interviewer and the interviewee alike. When you’re the one asking the questions, take the time to do your homework. Being prepared will make you feel confident and signal to the interviewee that they are engaging with a true professional—not someone who hasn’t taken the time to ensure a fruitful engagement. Think about the following:

• Date. Make sure you  schedule the interviewer at least several days ahead of when you need to write your article or make your hiring decision. Be prepared to schedule a follow-up discussion in case you don’t get what you need the first time. Meeting over a meal can be a double-edged sword: while breaking bread together can help you get to know one another, it can be challenging to eat, talk and take notes all at once! Early morning discussions may be the best time to conduct an interview, when the person is less likely to be running late or to have an emergency.  End of day can be more relaxed for the person you’re interviewing—but he or she can also be distracted by events of the day. Be willing to flex to accommodate the best time of day for your subject.
• Time. A 15-minute interview needs to be conducted very differently than a 30-, 45- or 60-minute discussion.  The shorter the window, the more prioritized your questions need to be. 15-minute interviews do not allow the subject to go into any depth which may be appropriate in some cases. If you’re interviewing someone for a job and you need them to meet with several people, ensure that they aren’t scheduled back-to-back for several hours, which can be nerve-wracking.
• Place. Will you conduct the interview live or virtually? In-person discussions allow you to read the body language of your interviewee and to manage the conversation if you detect the person is disengaged or uncomfortable. Virtual interviews can work if you’re listening astutely. Video conferences will allow you to “see” one another but not to make eye contact. 
• Notes. Will you take notes by hand or type on on a computer? Can the interview be taped? If you must interview and scribe, the preparation has to be even more planned. It’s challenging to ask questions, listen, and jot down a person’s responses. Plan for time immediately following the interview to review your notes notes and collect your thoughts.

2. BE Curious. You have to engage and be engaged to connect with the person you’re interviewing.   If you are interested in your subject, he or she is more likely to be more open with you.  Be willing to probe further on generic answers with phrases like, “When you said . . . that was interesting. What do you mean?” or “May I stop you there? You said something that I don’t quite understand” or “I’d like you to elaborate on that a bit more.” If you talk to your subject as if he or she is the most fascinating person you’ve ever met, they will become fascinating.1BE Engaged.  Use good verbal and physical cues during your conversation to make the interviewee more comfortable and to show that nothing is more important to you in that moment than engaging with them. Make eye contact, sit up straight, smile. It’s not only rude but it’s distracting to multi-task during an important conversation. Don’t check your phone or iWatch for pop-up messages. If you get a call, unless you’re awaiting critical news, put on your Do Not Disturb. [And give the interviewee a heads-up that you may have to take a can’t-miss call in advance.]  Throughout the conversation, give encouragement by responding with “yes” or “I see—that’s interesting.” Show him or her that you’re engaged and listening the entire time.

3. BE a translator. Most people are not gifted speakers or writers.  Try to translate what you hear them saying by giving rephrasing what they’ve said. For instance, if someone said, “In my last position, I felt like I was always out of the loop,” you might respond with something like “What I hear you saying is that sometimes you felt uniformed? Do you think you were left out of important conversations? Or were lots of people in the dark? That must have been frustrating!” Then be quiet: give them a chance to say “Yes, that’s right” or “No, that’s not what I meant.” 

4. BE gracious and helpful.  Be polite and gracious when you’re interviewing someone. They’ve given you time – in hopes of landing a job or to provide you information about themselves or their company.  Remember to thank them, offer to answer any questions they have, and to review what next steps will be for them: “Expect to hear from us in the next 3 days” or “I’ll send you a rough draft on the interview by Thursday.”

When it comes to being an interviewer, practice may not make perfect, but it can certainly take you from poor to good and perhaps even from good to great. Practice the Five BE’s and the next time your manager needs someone to conduct an interview, raise your hand. You got this.

I bought a new piece of art for my office recently.  Something about the colors in the canvas caught my eye and I liked how it looked against the black accent wall where I hung it.  I snapped a photo and sent it to my best friend Andrea, a professional organizer and the owner of Smartly Organized, LLC. Needless to say, she has a great eye, so I especially value her feedback.  Her reply: “No wonder you like this so much, Kel. The oars are like your employees—pointed in the same direction, but each one unique.”

Wow–what a cool perspective.  And it’s true. I have a small team of individual contributors with diverse backgrounds, and that diversity helps us to create terrific work for our clients. Each member of the team makes a unique contribution, using her skills and experiences to help deliver on a common goal. Without a doubt, if we all had the exact same educational backgrounds and career paths, it would be much more difficult to bring different perspectives to a creative or strategy session. However, with a teacher, a production expert, a copywriter, a salesperson, a marketer, a creative director, and project manager around the table, we’re able to build on each other’s ideas and fuel innovative discussions in a more productive way.

The power of diversity doesn’t end with the team. We also strive to understand the diversity of those on the receiving end of the internal communications we develop.  Rarely are the organizations we work for homogeneous; they too are diverse in their roles, experience and demographics.

For instance, we were recently challenged with creating a strategic engagement plan for a large team that includes employees from multiple vendors and partners.  Team members have varied tenure and come from many different company cultures. Complicating things further is the fact that co-employment arrangements, parent organizations, and regulations prevent certain kinds of information from being shared with everyone.  

Building an inclusive set of communications for this group was certainly a tall order. But we started by focusing on each person’s unique perspective and the ways in which they help the team to achieve its shared objectives. The more we learned, the easier it was to create compelling messaging and engagements to connect them to one other and their shared goals.  As well, we were able to design communications that helped other parts of the organization to understand what this larger team did and how they contributed to the overall goals of the company. We were able to show that team members were, “pointed in the same direction, but each one unique.” You can bet that I’ll be looking up at my new canvas a lot as we help this client.How do you do to tap into the diversity of your employees?

According to your company’s annual survey,  your employees are “engaged.” But are they?  How can you be sure that folks are plugged in and invested in their work and your organization? Here are 5 Sure Signs:

1. They Show Up. Engaged employees don’t like to miss work.  There may be an occasional unavoidable appointment during business hours – or an unexpected family emergency…kids get sick. But when they can’t avoid being out, they let people know: out-of-office notices, delegates to contact in their absence, even a method to reach them in case of an urgent work matter. Just as quickly, when they are back in the office, they don’t miss a beat and get right back on track. 

1. They find faults—and fix them.  This is different than complaining, which is recognizing something troublesome and stopping there. Without being asked, engaged employees identify plans or processes that aren’t working well and offer alternative ways to address them.  

One employee shared with her leader that his monthly video update was too long. Folks weren’t watching the whole thing and missing important messages. Especially challenging was the part where he read a list of names of top performers.  She suggested that he keep up the recognition effort but via email, not video. That simple fix cut the video length in half and viewers were happy to watch to the end.

1. They look beyond their role.  Engaged employees know that they are part of a broader organization.  They have a vested interest in how the organization is doing overall and pride themselves on knowing how the various departments work together. They make it their business to listen to Earnings Calls—often as a team—and work to understand what “the street” is saying and why.

1. They ask questions. At staff meetings, one-on-one meetings, even company wide meetings, engaged employees come ready to listen, learn, and ask questions—not softball questions but hard, thought-provoking questions. When no hands are raised at the end of a presentation, it’s usually not because there aren’t any questions. Rather, it’s a sign that either everyone is utterly confused or no one has the courage or candor to engage. 

The best thing a presenter can do in that situation? Smile and say, “Surely some brave soul has a question for me!” If there is still silence, then he or she should call on someone, by name. But that should be the exception, not the norm. Don’t ignore this symptom.

1. They treat each other well.  Your employees don’t have to be BFFs, but when they show kindness toward one another, it’s a positive sign that they are engaged and invested in their work environment. Engaged employees demonstrate a sense of caring for one another.  You see it when they know about and mark milestones–graduations, birthdays, weddings, loss of family members, retirements. Passing around a card, celebrating with cake or collecting for a special flower arrangement—gestures big and small add up to human connections that lead to engagement.

Employee Engagement is a buzzword because it matters—perhaps more than ever in this age of technology. Yes, you should keep using surveys and other methods to ensure that your team is engaged. But go beyond the obvious and look for the 5 Signs to be sure!

“Your daughter has suffered a ‘mild concussion’,” said the attending physician after examining my 12-year old. We were assured that she would be OK but would have to spend several days at home with no screen time, limited reading and lots of brain rest for a week or two. Off we went to settle into our new, decidedly-not-normal routine.

As any parent of a child with a concussion will tell you, managing the idle time was as challenging as the injury itself. We downloaded audio books, pulled shades and closed curtains, took walks, and tried to manage hours that typically were filled with hectic schedules, multi tasking, and rapid fire information exchange through text, email, and social media.

Sometimes my daughter was tracking with our usual fast pace of communication. Other times, she’d need to catch up. Her responses were delayed, and I could see her struggling to understand or to try to remember a word. More than a few times she would look at me apologetically and say, “I’m sorry, what?” That’s when I realized she literally wasn’t understanding what I was saying to her: It was too much, too fast.

So I slowed my conversation down. I didn’t give her more information than she needed. I watched her reaction closely, to see if she needed me to try again. And I’d break a message down into smaller bits until she said, “Got it.”

Then it dawned on me: sometimes the communications we receive in the workplace can be equally overwhelming. Employees are expected to absorb and act on multiple streams of “important information and news” on a daily basis. Often that information is delivered too quickly and without the right context.

Just like my daughter, employees can sometimes be overwhelmed trying to process it all — especially during times of change or uncertainty. Do you need to slow it down for your team? Here are 3 ways to do that:

1. Keep messages crisp and simple. Remember, it’s not their job to get it; it’s your job to help them understand.

2. Provide the right context. Yours is not the only communication they’re getting; make things easy by helping them to know the why and what of your news.

3. Check for understanding. Did they “hear” you? Are they taking the appropriate actions? If you’re still hearing “I’m sorry…what?” You need to break it down and slow it down until you hear “Got it!”