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Happy Thursday! This week’s theme has been strengths – what are they, how do you use them, how do they play out on teams?

It starts with identifying your strengths. Hopefully, by now you’ve taken advantage of the free StandOut assessment that I told you about earlier this week. If not, go do it now!

Next is using your strengths. To learn 4 strategies to intentionally use your strengths, attend a free workshop I’m doing TONIGHT at 6:30pm MT. Zoom link here. I’ll be doing 30 minutes of Q&A afterwards so we can dig into your particular situation.

“But, Bijal, how does this work on a team?” is a question I’ve gotten. The key lies in AWARENESS & COMMUNICATION. Each team member needs to be AWARE of their strengths and then the team needs to have a frank DISCUSSION about them. Focus on the process of how individual strengths can play together nicely on a team to help you reach goals, tackle obstacles, AND enjoy the journey. Now it’s not all warm and fuzzies and only taking on the tasks you like…it’s about strategically scanning the short-term and longer-term horizon for the team, current and upcoming projects, goals, and discussing as a team who will tackle what with a strength-based lens.

For instance, yesterday I led a 90-minute workshop for a leadership team. Through a frank discussion, they realized 1 person loves “white-space planning” and creating, but admitted he hated the iterative back and forth that happens afterwards. Then a colleague volunteered that she has a strength in that next step of their process, and would welcome the opportunity to connect with others while improving an idea. Boom! They are off and running and super engaged with what they are doing because people feel good when they are doing something that is a strength of theirs.

Now, it doesn’t always work that cleanly, and there are varying levels of nuances to it. (Like what if no one on the team has a strength related to a critical task? The short answer: How can the team do that task differently to leverage a team member’s strength. The long answer: there’s a process to figure that out, but it’s too long for this email. Email me if you are interested.)

The key takeaway from today is to start the conversation with your team to understand what their strengths are – what are the tasks & activities that they look forward to. You’ll be pleasantly surprised to learn that some of the tasks you loathe are ones that others relish! 

Be well!

Happy Wednesday. A big virtual high five to those of you that took advantage of the free StandOut assessment and shared your results. Of course, no assessment can encapsulate the whole you in a 15-page report! But you can use it as a stepping stone to understand what your unique gifts are to your team, company, family, really the world. 

Take a moment to consider: What could you accomplish if you could increase your motivation and effectiveness? If you could bust through obstacles like a superhero? Instead of just “powering through it” or going through the motions, using your unique strengths will provide you with a different “how”, to actually enjoy the process more, feel less frustrated, and be a catalyst to reach your goals.

Here are a few practical suggestions to help you interpret your report followed by a couple of additional resources I’m offering this week:

• Highlight the phrases in the report where you internally say “yes, that’s me!” And know that not everything will resonate with you in your report. AND (this is key), sometimes what is a resounding “no” is just as valuable as the “yes, that’s me!” moment. Both provide pointers to your strengths.

• Pay attention to the verbs on each page. As I’ll cover in my workshop on Thursday (see below for details), your strengths are action items…what you look forward to DOING, what you DO with joy & energy.

• Most people miss that page 3 in their report is the ranking of all 9 strength roles. If your #3 (and #4, etc) roles have bar lengths that are pretty close to your #2, pay attention. You likely have strong strengths in those roles as well.

I truly believe we can change the world if more people stepped into their strengths, so if all of this is sounding too theoretical and you want 1:1 help honing in on your strengths, I’m offering free 20-minute laser coaching sessions for the month of May to discuss your results, but just for all of you on this email distribution list. Book your time with me here.

So to recap, Step #1 is knowing your strengths. Step #2 is knowing how to use your strengths.

This step is a bit more complicated because our monkey brains will often get in the way, but I’ll walk through a simple process in a workshop I’m doing for The Solve Network this Thursday night from 6:30 – 8pm MT. They have opened up the workshop to my guests, so I encourage you to register if you are curious about how to shift to a strengths mindset. You’ll walk out of the workshop with 1) your list of strengths -whether you took the assessment or not; and, 2) four ways to use your strengths immediately. Register here (scroll to the bottom of the page to register.)

Have an awesome day, and remember to step outside for some fresh air to recharge your mind and spirit.

Happy Tuesday. I must admit I woke up today and thought it was Sunday! Doh! Has this WFH made the days blur together for anyone else? But then I had my bulletproof coffee, and got squared away. Ok, I hope you got some value from my posts last week where I touched on what the future of work will look like, early lessons learned for companies, ideas on organizational and personal succession planning, and shifts in talent development. 

This week’s theme will be STRENGTHS. What are your strengths, how do you identify strengths, how do you put them to work for you especially during times of uncertainty, and how do you lead your teams using a strengths-mindset. 

My perspective is that since people’s fear response is already on high-alert with what’s going on in our world, we need to do whatever we can to up-regulate psychological safety for ourselves and those around us, IRL or virtual. When people have an opportunity to do more of what they are great at (aka their STRENGTHS), they feel more positive emotions, and who couldn’t use more of those right now? They also will be more creative, more engaged, and just generally show up more often with their best selves.

How does one get into this flow by using strengths?

Step #1 is knowing what your strengths are. Some of you have worked with me or already know your strengths. If that’s you, go ahead and write down 5 of your strengths on a post-it, and see how many times you can use them this week. Put a checkmark next to each one as you use it. And I’d love it if you sent me an email at the end of the week with a picture of your post-it, so I can continue to encourage you.

If you cannot explicitly state what your top 5 strengths are, have I got a deal for you. The StandOut strengths assessment is being offered for FREE right now by the creator Marcus Buckingham for a limited time. You can take the free assessment here. Once you have your report, PLEASE do not let it sit in a drawer somewhere. Come attend a workshop I’m offering this Thursday 5/7 from 6:30-8pm MT on how to put your strengths to work for you. You’ll walk out of the session with your list of strengths and know exactly how to use them. Register here.

Wishing you all a great Cinco de Mayo! I’m looking forward to making my signature watermelon-basil margarita tonight J

Happy Friday! Today’s topic is succession planning. Do you know if your company has a succession plan? If succession planning has been on the back burner for your team or company, now is the time to do a quick & dirty talent review. Here are more ideas on succession planning from HP and Vir (a major biotech company), plus a question to ask yourself about your own career planning.

HP: 

• Process: We normally have a rigorous process but we can’t do that this year. This year the CHRO/CEO will probably do a down and dirty talent review that we take to the board. No big exec meeting and process.

• Skills: We are asking ourselves whether we have the people with the skills we need right now.

• Focus: We have pivoted the HR team to focus on employee engagement. (Bijal’s trivia question: which role in a company has the greatest impact on an employee’s engagement level? Answer below.)

 Vir:

• Process: If we followed our normal talent review / succession planning process this year, it would feel tone deaf. We aren’t going to do that.

• Focus: Instead we are looking at how we want our leaders to show up.

On a personal level, have you stopped to do your own strategic planning for the future? If not, now is the time to use this opportunity to reflect…what changes related to work and life would give your life more meaning, fulfillment, stability? If you want a suggested structure and a safe space to explore, please reach out.

And to answer the trivia question: which role in a company has the most impact on an employee’s engagement? Most people guess the CEO or head of the department, but research from Gallup shows that the employee’s Team Leader (manager, boss, or other title depending on the company) exerts the most influence (70%). They have the most consistent interaction (or should) with the employee, including 1:1 conversations to touch base. How often should the Team Leader be doing a 1:1 check-in? What 5 questions should the Team Leader ask for the most engagement?

Have a great weekend!

Happy Monday. Hope you had a nice weekend. I attended an inspiring and practical virtual panel Friday with CHROs from Unilever, Twitter, HP, Hilton and VIR Biotechnology discussing work during and beyond this COVID-19 period. Thought their ideas and plans might be helpful to you in your work, for your teams, or for your clients. And I’ve added to some of their thoughts with my organizational psychologist background. Enjoy and let me know if this is helpful. I took pages of notes, so I’ll continue to mine my notes for more themes and takeaways.

Panelists:

·         Jennifer Christie, CHRO, Twitter

·         Tracy Keogh, CHRO, HP

·         Leena Nair, CHRO, Unilever

·         Steven Rice, CHRO, VIR Biotechnology (a leader in generating therapeutic and preventative options to address COVID-19)

·         Matthew Schuyler, CHRO, Hilton

Lessons learned so far with the impact of COVID-19 on their business:

1. Lean into your values, both the company’s and your own. Bijal’s take: A company’s values are even more important now because employees want to feel part of something bigger, especially when they cannot see and interact with their coworkers the same way. Plus, tap into your own values as a role model, for your own sanity, and to gut check actions before taking them. 

·         Action item: boil your values down to 3 words. Put those words on a post it, set a reminder on your phone with them in caps, but keep them front and center, to guide your actions, responses, policies. If you don’t already know your 3 key values, let’s hop on the phone and get you your 3 core value words pronto!

1. Mobility will change. There are some workers who will not go back to an office. How will you adapt as a leader? Bijal’s take: Don’t be caught unprepared with this societal shift.

• Action item: Reflect and jot down your strengths as a leader while working remotely. List out how you can you leverage those strengths if a % of your team is permanently WFH. For those of you who have taken the StandOut strengths assessment, ask yourself what the best version of you would do in this situation when using your top 2 strength roles. If you haven’t taken StandOut yet, you can take it for free for a limited time here.

1. Change management will look different. We learned that our leaders and employees are much more agile than we anticipated. They are able to change the way they work dramatically in a very short period of time. In the past, we focused on the small, vocal resisters. No more. The vast majority of people can change quickly. Bijal’s take: After managing large scale changes for my clients for a decade, I learned that the #1 reason people resisted change was because they didn’t feel leadership understood their particular situation.

• Action item: Don’t pretend the change won’t be hard; instead, acknowledge the suck as a leader and let them know how the company will support them.

1. Leaders must set the pace for work. Your team members will follow your lead. Bijal’s take: yes, set the pace (the “what”), but the “how” is also important. Empathize, be human-centered.

• Action item: If you feel you could use a refresher on emotional intelligence, email to take an emotional intelligence assessment and work with me 1:1 to up your score. Your team will thank you! Remember, at the end of the day, people will remember how you made them feel, not your words.