Blue Bridge Leadership

Executive Coaching, Career Coaching, Training, Leadership Development, Professional Development

Off the Wall Christmas Contest for Work

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In a previous post, I talked about giving out an award (even for zany reasons) as a means of recognizing and appreciating others. Here’s an off the wall Christmas contest, based on a game I played many years ago. It’s called “Guess the Christmas Carol.” Okay, so perhaps it’s not business-y enough to deserve a real award, but hey! Who cares? It’s fun! And…perhaps it’s another good way of building work relationships.

Directions: Guess the Christmas Carol. (Hint: Replace many of the words with synonyms). I’ll give you the answer to the first one. See how many you or your colleagues can figure out. 

  1. Approach everyone who is steadfast. (Answer: Oh Come All Ye Faithful)
  2. Ecstasy toward the orb.
  3. Listen! The Foretelling spirits harmonize.
  4. Hey, Minuscule urban area southeast of Jerusalem.
  5. Quiescent Nocturnal period.
  6. The Autocrat troika originating near the ascent of Apollo.
  7. The primary carol.
  8. Embellish the corridors.
  9. I’m fantasizing concerning a blanched yuletide.
  10. I apprehended my maternal parent osculating with a corpulent unshaven male in crimson disguise.
  11. During the time ovine caretakers supervised their charges past midnight.
  12. The thing manifests itself at the onset of a transparent day.
  13. The coniferous nativity.
  14. What offspring abides thus?
  15. Removed in a bovine feeding trough.
  16. Valentino, the roseate proboscises wapiti.
  17. The slight percussionist lad.
  18. Father Christmas approaches the metropolis.
  19. Seraphim we aurally detected in the stratosphere.
  20. The Creator reassures you, lively fellows.

So reader, can you come up with your own? If so, share with the rest of us!

Gratitude and Appreciation: 10 Easy Employee Recognition Strategies

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Winston Churchill said it best: “We make a living by what we get. We make a life by what we give.” This brings to mind employee recognition, though the topic is certainly relevant to anyone you encounter.

Here are 10 easy, no or low cost ways to recognize others and demonstrate your appreciation:

  1. Take her out to lunch.
  2. Offer to do one of his unpleasant tasks that he would normally have to do.
  3. Ask him questions about his personal interests and aspirations.
  4. Send her a thank you card via mail, expressing your gratitude for what she does. Be specific.
  5. Put up a “You’re Awesome” bulletin board, where staff can pin up words of thanks to their colleagues. Works for the family too!
  6. Employee Olympics, anyone? What kinds of events or competitions could you create? What kinds of medals and awards would you give?
  7. Ask the team to give him a standing ovation for a job well done.
  8. Rotate weekly who gets the “Trophy of Awesomeness” (or whatever you want to call it), based on who went above and beyond the call of duty.
  9. When did hand-written, honest to goodness, thank you cards go out of style?
  10. If all else fails, an afternoon off would certainly do the trick.
What do you do for employee recognition? Put your ideas in the comment box below.
And stay tuned for 10 more strategies next week.
P.S.  If you enjoyed this post and would like to stay current on topics such as personal and organizational leadership, employee engagement and satisfaction, and personal and professional growth and development, be sure to subscribe to my newsletter (with free ebook) and blog. 

The Loser-Leader Who Lost It

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So I like to call myself a leader. Leading my coaching clients. Leading my groups. And perhaps the most difficult–leading my kids. Now whether I’m a good leader or a not so good leader is debatable. And clearly I will not have that kind of debate with my children because I’d probably lose.

Case in point:

I was driving my kids to school a few days ago, cranking up the volume, trying to drown out the sound of my bickering children in the backseat. Can you believe my daughter had the audacity to touch her brother, much to his chagrin?

“Stop touching me!”

“You eat stink bombs.”

“Shut up!”

“But you do!”

Poke, poke.

Unable to drown out the music, the screaming, and name-calling, I pulled the car over and threatened them with their lives. And no, I was not calm. I’m sure I had eyes of fire and the contorted face of a madman.

Was I proud of my behavior? Well, it stopped the screaming, all right, albeit temporarily. But was it worth the damage? Could I not have simply stated, “We will sit in this parking lot until you’re done fighting. And if you’re late for school, too bad.”

But I let my temper and frustration get the best of me.

What about you? In your leadership areas, do you sometimes fall off the wagon, letting your nasty rage rip through the hearts of your people? Maybe it’s not so bad. You just occasionally make a snide remark, pinch up your face, or shoot laser beams from your eyes.

What do you stand to lose?

Is there a better way to communicate your displeasure, your disappointment, your frustration? What strategies do you employ when you feel you’re about to lose it? Put your ideas in the comment box below.

A Twinkie Lesson in Recognition and Appreciation

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She’s been given life, and the only favor I wanted was her Twinkie. Luscious, puffy golden sunshine cake surrounding creamy white goodness.

But no, do you think she could share her delectables? My daughter transformed into a hyena, snapping her jaws at me, protecting the treats she received from a recent church party.

Does she not realize I’ve given her the best gift of all—her very own life? Does she consider how I’ve bathed her, fed her empty belly, read her Green Eggs and Ham so many times that now I’m even willing to eat the month-old greenish ham in the fridge?

Yeah, right. No parade. No banners shouting out my motherly goodness. I was only asking for a Twinkie, the one that lay like a shining, yellow star atop a heap of Milky Ways, suckers, and licorice. Just a small treat, an expression of her gratitude for all she had.

Sometimes, it’s not the main things—like our jobs or our homes or life, itself—but the little things that make us feel valued, appreciated, and significant.

Do you demonstrate your appreciation toward others?

Do you express how much you value your family, colleagues, and friends? Do they know their significance?

Sure, your employees are grateful for their jobs. But could they be longing for something more from you—a written thank you note, an afternoon off, a cheering word, accolades for a job well done?

What about your spouse? You pay the bills, you’ve remained faithful, you come home for supper every night—yes, all big things. But what about the little tokens of appreciation—the kiss hello, the massage of aching shoulders, the taking over of chores?

Often, it’s the little things that count.

It wasn’t so much the Twinkie that I wanted. What I really wanted was the sacrifice from my daughter, demonstrating how blessed she felt, so much so that she was willing to part with the crowning jewel of her candy pile.

But she didn’t. Being eight years old, she has much to learn. We all do, I suppose. So what did I do? I did what any good mother would do. I stole it when she went to bed. Inhaled it right up. Like I said, she has much to learn, and it’s my privilege—no, my job—to help her along the way.

9 Steps for Creating a High Performing Coaching Culture

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Want to be more empowered, effective, and successful? Get a coach. Want those same attributes to define your company’s culture? Well, that’s another story.

Based on research conducted by the Center for Creative Leadership, “[L]eaders are confident that coaching cultures benefit the business in ways that include: increasing employee engagement, job satisfaction, morale, collaboration and teamwork. Yet, these same leaders recognize that their organizations may be out of step in their current use of coaching compared with the potential of coaching.”

So what we have here is the belief that while building a culture of coaching can and does bring huge benefits to companies, rarely do leaders implement the practice, despite having been trained in coaching skills. According to BlessingWhite’s research, “Few [companies] have succeeded in creating cultures where coaching of employees is a regular, fully supported, and rewarded managerial practice….They like to coach, know they should, but don’t get around to doing it with any regularity.”

Training, implementation, and sustainability—the key elements critical for success.

But how does an organization build this kind of culture, anyway?

According to extensive studies done by The Center for Creative Leadership, Personnel Today, Coaching Today, Business Management, BlessingWhite, International Coach Federation, and others, organizations must follow these nine steps in order to integrate coaching into an organization, sustain the coaching, and see the long-term positive results from creating a coaching culture.

9 Steps:

  1. Find a sponsor or champion of the coaching initiative—a highly respected top executive with much influence. This creates buy-in.
  1. Find leaders within the organization who can role-model coaching skills.
  1. Link coaching outcomes to business goals. Coaching cannot be a stand-alone initiative. It must be aligned with the strategic goals of the company, with measurable results.
  1. Train top leaders in coaching skills. Be sure that the training doesn’t just teach about coaching but actually trains leaders through hands-on practice and feedback.
  1. Utilize external coaches. Any kind of culture change is a long-term process that benefits greatly from an unbiased, objective outside observer. An external coach will provide observation, insight, feedback, and accountability to stick with the changes desired.
  1. Coach the managers and teams. Says BlessingWhite, “It’s common for managers to need coaching on coaching.” This goes for teams too. So, even if managers have been trained how to coach, they still need coaching from an external coach on their coaching, to ensure the implementation and sustainability of these new behaviors that drive culture change.
  1. Recognize and reward. Because coaching shouldn’t be seen as a stand-alone imitative (do it, then forget it), role models of good coaching should be recognized and rewarded, and the benefits frequently highlighted. In fact, some leadership companies believe that coaching is so important for high performance, that it should be tied to compensation.
  1. Incorporate coaching with other processes. For example, coaching must be integrated with processes such as talent management, job competencies, and learning and development. This way, coaching becomes fully engrained into the culture and moves from being merely a skill that is utilized on occasion to the regular way of doing things.
  1. Regularly measure and evaluate. Like anything else that is important, coaching should be measured and evaluated on a regular basis. How is it working? What business results are seen? Where is coaching not being applied with diligence? How is it being tied into the overall vision and strategy of the organization?

While the above nine steps require much effort, time, and financial resources, the benefits of higher performance, effectiveness, engagement, satisfaction, and teamwork are worth it. Creating a sustainable culture of coaching is an investment with huge dividends for companies eager and motivated to see its power and results.

So I’m curious, has your company built this kind of culture? And if so, what have been the specific results? I’d like to hear your ideas in the box below.