a slice of STRATEGY Archives - Red Slice | Speaker, Author, Leadership Trainer

Tried and Tested Ways To Motivate Your Employees

Posted on October 10, 2023October 10, 2023 by Red Slice

Enjoy today’s Guest Post about fabulous yet often overlooked ways to motivate your people from the team at Scalefluence!

All of us are aware of the fact that an organization can only be as good as its people. However, this is not limited to hiring the right people but also ensuring that they stick with the organization and remain engaged in work throughout the tenure. As a leader, you must ensure that the more motivated your employees are, the more likely they will stay with the company. It is your job to make them feel seen and motivated, and there are several approaches you can take. Here are a few tried and tested ways you can motivate your employees.

Appreciate them

You must ensure that the employees are engaged and they know that you appreciate their hard work. You can do this by giving them a gift card or an award at the annual party. Awards and recognition go a long way in keeping the team motivated. Alternatively, you can create an initiative to ensure that the culture of the company becomes a matter of pride for each employee. Your team is working hard for you, and you need to show recognition to ensure that they feel confident and motivated at all times.

Celebrate together

No matter how big or small a win is, celebrate it with your team. Make it a point to stay connected to the team members and celebrate their little joys. This will make them feel like a part of your family and encourage them to bring their best to work. Let the team celebrate their joys and success at work.

Understand their purpose

All of us have a goal in life, and we want to achieve something or become someone, and as a leader, it is your job to understand this purpose. You need to find out what truly motivates your employees and understand their “why”. It could be through a map of drivers or even a heart-to-heart conversation. You need to understand your employees to know what is it that they are searching for.

Train them

One way to motivate the employees is to train them and take them towards their goals. This will increase their self-confidence and improve productivity. You need to provide specific training to help improve the job performance, and it will create a win-win situation for you and the employee. Ensure that you have clear goals and you can work with them to accomplish them. Once they are achieved, you can reset the goals.

Bonus time off

All employees enjoy bonus time off and this is something they will always appreciate. Leaders need to understand that when employees relax and reset, it improves their mental health and productivity. You need to give your employees time to reset so that they do not feel stressed or burnt out. Keep a watch on the amount of work they are doing and ensure that they are making progress but aren’t overworked.

Set the right company culture

The company culture speaks a lot about the leadership and whether the team is happy with the same or not. Motivated employees will follow the actions done by their leaders, and you need to be an active leader who leads by example. Allow opportunities that can motivate others and understand what they expect from you. Employees can thrive in the right company culture, and you need to create one that helps everyone grow.

Ask them what they want

Not many organizations do this, but you must ask your employees what they want and try to give it to them. Look for their preferences and try to meet their needs. There are times when they will not be happy to speak about it openly, but ask them again. Give them a safe space to talk about their needs and deliver them. This will have a huge impact on them, and they will feel like they belong to the organization.

Pay for professional education

Encourage the employees to have an always-learning mentality and you can do this by providing them access to online training, classes, and educational benefits. Pay for the professional courses they are willing to take as this will help your company in the long term. Help them identify their weaknesses and the areas where further learning can benefit them. It will show that you are happy to invest in their growth and success.

Set a system that allows growth, engagement, open communication, and advancement. This can be achieved through regular huddles where employees can talk freely, and share their ideas. Let them communicate their problems with the team leaders and ensure that you stay engaged with them. This will set the pulse of your organization. You can have workshops, team outings, or even weekly meetings that can help bring up new problems and brainstorm ideas and solutions.

Image credit : Unsplash

Can’t Get Your Employees Back to the Office? Here’s Why

Posted on August 16, 2023August 16, 2023 by Red Slice

Recently, Delta CEO Ed Bastian talked to BusinessInsider about the real reason there is tension around the return to office (RTO). So simple. So ignored.

Your employees’ work and life patterns have been forever changed. Employees crave flexibility. They are not going back unless it works for them.

The Pandemic showed knowledge workers that it’s possible to be creative, productive, and connected while working remotely or even traveling. Companies didn’t stop innovating or selling goods and services. They even came up with new revenue streams. The lockdown forced many local businesses I know to finally dive into eCommerce because it was the only way to stay alive.

And workers learned how well they could balance personal and professional life working from home. They spend less time commuting. They can better deal with childcare, aging parents, and their own diverse needs – from being introverted to living with a disability – in better ways. It opened employment opportunities to many talented workers who live far from big cities.

They thrived. And so did their work, and so did their businesses.

But the 2023 State of Workplace Empathy Report showed us the ridiculous gap between CEOs and their workforces. CEO on average tend to have come up learning older leadership styles. They of course adapted to the chaos of the last three years because they had to. And that led many workers to believe they had evolved their leadership styles as well.

But they didn’t. Many leaders thought – and still do – that all this flexibility was temporary and they can now go back to their regularly scheduled programming.

They never really evolved. They coped. And that is why they’re flipping back to what they know:

If I can’t see you, if you’re not in the same room, we can’t get any work done or achieve our ambitious goals.

It’s the only way they know how to lead and hold people accountable.

So basically, they learned nothing.

But workers learned a lot. They saw the promise of flexible work. They thrived in being able to fit in morning yoga, afternoon soccer games, and even being able to cover having a sick kid at home WHILE working hard. Many of them improved their mental health, got fit, and reconnected with their families.

Why on earth would they willingly go back to the way things were? Especially if the culture was lacking to begin with.

And so…some leaders, once again refusing to get it, think the answer is to “perkify” the office. Full-service cafeteria! Workout facilities! Cool new office space! On-site laundry!

I’ll be the first to admit, that is all super cool and generous. It’s empathetic to provide your workers with all the things they need to manage their life so they can contribute their highest potential to their work.

But it only works if going back to the office WORKS for your people. And it only works if you have a culture worth going back to office for.

For many people, it still doesn’t. They need that flexibility. What they gained working remotely still outweighs all the “perks” their company can offer onsite.

It’s not about getting people back to the office so leaders can feel more comfortable with how to manage them. What is the real reason you want them back in the office? Be honest!

Is it the investment in office space you make?
Is it wanting to support small local businesses that are struggling because workers are not coming downtown anymore?
Is it your discomfort or misunderstanding of how to collaborate and innovate remotely?

All of these reasons can be addressed with intentional learning, training, and experimentation. You can thoughtfully determine – with input from your people – what actually warrants in-person collaboration. You can also minimize your discomfort through coaching and training or explore industry best practices to learn how to effectively lead in a hybrid world.

Just because you don’t know how doesn’t mean you can’t learn!

But…there is one big reason that you need to be honest about:

Do you trust your people?

If you don’t, either you’re not hiring the right people, mistrust is rampant across the organization (you set the tone), or your leaders have connection and control issues that need attention.

And who wants to come back to an office culture like that?

Culture is an issue that can’t be solved by unwillingly dragging people back to the office. So stop forcing the genie back into the bottle and figure out how to stay flexible, upskill your leadership and enhance your culture.

Photo Credit: Anastasia Nelen, Unsplash

Leadership Skills for Global Expansion: A Guide for Business Executives

Posted on August 4, 2023August 3, 2023 by Red Slice

This is a guest post, by Sam Cortez. She is a freelance journalist and has held previous internships at 20/20 magazine, Marie Claire, the NY Daily News, and Parenting magazine.

Globalization is an exciting strategy that can significantly improve a company’s revenue and brand reputation. It, however, does not come without challenges.

While the company’s structure readjusts to accommodate the new market, its leadership is also required to navigate the new globalized business landscape efficiently.

Since business executives are the primary decision-makers in their organizations, it is recommended that they are equipped with the necessary leadership skills before commencing an international expansion.

What are leadership skills for global expansion?

Most leaders have their education and work experiences in the same country, which means they are more familiar with their home country’s culture and business operations than other nations across the globe.

Meanwhile, companies with a global presence will likely have more than one headquarters. Managing these various offices, along with the cultural diversities, requires a flexible mindset.

Leadership skills for global expansion are a set of soft skills business executives must acquire to effectively handle business operations in countries other than their home countries. They help to manage growth and tackle challenges in the new market.

Below are the skills you need to succeed as a leader of a multinational company:

Strong cross-cultural communication skills

Any leadership role in a multinational company will require working in a diverse workplace with people from different countries and cultures. It is also possible that some people you will be working with speak a foreign language.

Meanwhile, research states that meaning may get lost in the translation process. This may reduce the effectiveness of information communicated about the market.

Since it might be tough to learn and instantly understand a new language, using accurate translation services can help. This allows effective communication with workers and customers in other countries where your firm operates.

Excellent networking abilities

Acquiring networking skills is vital for people looking to work in an international business. Landing a new job is no different from taking a new product to market, except that, in this case, the product you are selling is yourself.

According to experts, over 70 percent of job opportunities are not published; they are landed through networking.

This skill makes it easier for existing leaders to acclimatize to the new work environment. Networking can offer invaluable insights into the new market beyond what any market research report can indicate.

Effective collaboration

Success in international business requires effective collaboration. The leaders across departments and countries must be able to collaborate. The company must also be able to collaborate with partners in the new market.

It requires the willingness to learn new things and accept others’ views on solutions. As a leader from another culture, you may need to rely heavily on others who understand the new market. This does not mean you are incompetent. It means placing the company’s interest above your ego.

Interpersonal influence

Every leader, irrespective of the size or complexity of the team they oversee, must be able to influence others.

This skill is even more important for business executives as they might be in charge of pitching to secure funds or present the company’s goal for a new expansion. You need to know what you are doing before influencing others to come on board.

Workers are best productive when they understand the company’s goals and what they can contribute to achieve them.

Interpersonal influence is a result of good professional relationships, which is only achieved when you can command the respect of your team members. People value leaders that treat every member equally.

Emotional intelligence

Emotional intelligence (also known as EQ) is the ability to understand and manage your own emotions. Emotionally intelligent people can also accurately interpret and influence others’ emotions.

Many modern businesses value EQ above IQ. Over 70 percent of employers believe employees with high EQ are more likely to stay calm under pressure and manage co-workers with empathy.

There are four competencies you will need to improve your EQ:

Self-awareness
Ancient Greek Philosopher, Socrates, advised, “Know thyself.” Self-awareness is the ability to understand your strength and weaknesses. It also requires you to understand the impact of your emotions and strategic decisions on your team’s performance.
Self-management
Emotions are easier to manage when there are no challenges. Self-management, however, is the ability to be able to keep your emotions in check even when there are challenges that seem insurmountable. As a leader, you are the light of your team; your emotion and body language significantly influence their actions during a hard time.
Social awareness
Social awareness is the ability to quickly grasp the emotions and dynamics in your organization and new market.
This is best achieved through empathy, putting yourself in others’ shoes, and understanding why they act the way they do.
Relationship management
This is the ability to influence others. It is crucial for effective conflict resolution. No matter how insignificant, resolving conflicts in your organization as soon as possible is important. Unaddressed conflict can result in gossip and other unproductive activities.

photo: Unsplash

Going Back to Office Life: Do Employees Fare Better at Home?

Posted on November 21, 2022November 21, 2022 by Red Slice

How do your employees work best? Well, it requires leadership empathy to understand your team best and help them thrive. Today’s guest post addresses the hot question right now of going hybrid or not is the recipe for future performance success. Guest Blogger Stephanie Hendricks is a full time freelance contributor to many leading small business growth publications. Including SmallBizTrends, SMBCEO, and Noobpreneur. In her free time, she enjoys traveling the American West in her sprinter van with her dogs.

When COVID first struck, most businesses wouldn’t allow their employees to work from home. For the most part, they simply didn’t want to relinquish control. There were also questions of efficiency.

Although remote work proved extremely lucrative, reducing office costs and other expenses, most companies couldn’t wait to bring people back. Unfortunately for them, some employees got used to the idea of working from home. Economic data indicates that this approach is the best option for both sides.

In this article, we’ll analyze whether or not working from home is actually worth it. Check it out!

Tackling the fears

So far, several studies have analyzed the impact of remote work. Given that most companies had to send their employees home, we have ample data to make some conclusions. Here are some general data:

51% of companies declared they’ll return their workforce to offices within the next year.
53% of workers have had at least one infection in the office since they all returned.
Approximately 20% of employees now have a hybrid schedule.

One of the major concerns for employees is how they would adjust mentally to the newfound situation. Every third person said they were happy to return to the office. Interestingly enough, one-third of the workforce doesn’t want to come back. So, we’re split even in that regard.

Aside from the fear of COVID, there are other reasons why people don’t want to come back. For example, they’ve seen how productive remote working can be. During this period, employees experienced less stress and had more time for family and friends.

There are also less common reasons why some people don’t want to return.

“Employees that work in an esthetically unappealing environment are less willing to return,” according to the Collection, a premium office rental in Los Angeles. According to their data, the quality of the workspace has an enormous impact on employees. After enjoying all this time at home, they don’t want to return to a gloomy environment.

Impact on productivity

The reason why most companies wouldn’t let their employees go home is that they feared losing productivity. And truth be told, some teams really struggled to meet their deadlines. This isn’t particularly surprising, given all the comforts and the lack of control.

But, there were also opposite cases. Some people worked even harder as they had much more free time on their hands. Among others, they felt free and didn’t experience the same level of stress as they would in the office.

Here is some data that would interest you:

According to a smaller Ergotron study, 40% of people worked longer while at home. The National Bureau of Economic Research shows something similar. According to them, the average work day was prolonged by 48.5 minutes during peak COVID. Based on that calculation, a person that has a 40-hour work week would annually work extra 193 days.
Another positive improvement has to do with balancing a job with personal life. According to the same Ergotron study, 75% of people said they’re now more productive at work while having much more time for their family. A few other studies corroborated similar data.
As previously mentioned, remote work also had a major positive impact on stress or, better yet, lack thereof. Out of all the people working from home, 29% experienced moderate job-related stress. This is down from 33% in 2019 when employees were still in the offices. Remote work had a similar impact on extreme stress, and these numbers fell from 17% in 2019 to 15% just a year later.

Other important figures

Based on everything we’ve shown you so far, it seems that remote work is fantastic for employees and companies alike. Here are some other interesting tidbits that favor working from home:

Employees were able to save 8.5 hours every week just because they didn’t have to commute. Annually, this would accumulate to 408 hours saved.
One of the reasons why remote work was so efficient for companies is because it allowed them to eliminate social interaction. For 70% of employees, social interaction is every bit as important as getting their work done.
Aside from having a positive impact on mental health, working from home was better for physical health. People who don’t visit the office exercise 30 minutes more during the work week.
Approximately 62% of employees have to work alone to reach maximum efficiency. That being said, being at home allows them to reach their maximum potential.

What Will Become of the Twitter Brand?

Posted on November 21, 2022November 11, 2022 by Red Slice

By now, you’ve surely aware of the Twitter brouhaha. Billionaire Elon Musk now owns the social media platform.

Musk says his goal is to reinstate free speech and get rid of spambots. But with Musk, you never really know what he’s playing at or if he’s just a quirky rich white guy. As one reporter said on NPR the other day, “We can never be sure what Elon Musk will do. He’s known for saying he’ll do a lot of things and then only doing less than half of them.” The big question mark right now is if he will or won’t let former US president Donald Trump back on the platform. Trump was permanently suspended from Twitter shortly after the Jan 6 insurrection for inciting violence and violating community guidelines.

This post is not about analyzing Elon Musk’s motives. It’s about the seismic shift that happens when a corporate brand reputation (Twitter) collides with a strong and polarizing personal brand reputation (Musk).

Most brands don’t have the issue of being beholden to their CEO’s controversial personal brand. And it presents an interesting conundrum: Which brand will triumph?

Twitter has built a brand based on current events and celebrity interaction. We often hear breaking news on Twitter. We follow wars and uprisings in real time on Twitter. We share hilarious memes on Twitter and get to see how witty or insightful people can be with a limited character count. For me, Twitter is like a cocktail party. You scroll to bump into interesting people and witty repartée. You seek out the hot gossip. You often find out about news events before mass media outlets get their acts together. And you are able to hear from people on the ground in the midst of amazing events or tragic catastrophes.

Elon Musk is a polarizing personal brand. While he has led the success of Tesla and SpaceX, he has often made very controversial statements. His chaotic “would he or wouldn’t he?”battle to get on to Twitter’s board, and then turn around to offer to buy it, and then turn around again and rescind the bid – and then now turn around again to actually buy the platform gives us whiplash. His whims are unpredictable and that makes him a little bit dangerous. Check out a great timeline of events right here. They also impact real people by impacting stock prices and retirement accounts.

Elon says he’s passionate about protecting free speech and getting rid of spam bots, which sounds great, but what does that actually mean? Will content moderation end, leaving twitter to become a cesspool of misinformation and harassment (which it already has issues with)? Musk says he’s cutting 75% of the workforce, which included content moderators, and he already burned the C-suite to the ground, firing the CEO, other key execs, and the Board. He is making it a private company with no oversight. But he also claims that there were fake accounts and numbers inflating the sales price from Twitter SEC filings. And a company whistleblower seems to validate those claims.

On the outside, advancing security and features, eliminating fake accounts, and allowing free speech all sound great. But what happens when we don’t trust the brand of the person making those promises and decisions?

Many Twitter fans are worried. Some, including high-profile personalities and advertisers, are abandoning the platform entirely due to concerns about hate speech and misinformation becoming more rampant, while some are taking a cautious wait-and-see attitude.

When powerful brands collide, who emerges victorious? I have no answer for you here, but it’s something we should pay close attention to as we consider future deals like this one.

More you might like:

How to Parlay Your Personal Brand into Your Business Brand

What is a Brand Strategy?

Photo credit: Alexander Shatov on Unsplash

What is a Brand Positioning Statement?

Posted on November 15, 2022November 11, 2022 by Red Slice

What is a Brand Positioning Statement? Why do you even need one?

Your business or organization can only grow and attract attention if people understand what you’re all about. While there are no official figures, according to one source, in 2021, the average person was estimated to encounter between 6,000 to 10,000 ads every single day.

There’s a lot of noise out there, ya’ll!

To get attention, cut through the noise, and ignite action, we must be able to quickly and clearly explain what we do, who we do it for, and what benefit they get from us.

This is where a Brand Positioning Statement comes in!.

A Brand Positioning Statement is a super useful brand tool that speaks directly to your dream clients or customers in the language and words they understand. A Brand Positioning Statement quickly, clearly, and succinctly describes your business to someone so they can understand if you are right for them or someone they know, and compels them to learn more. The brand positioning statement is also something called your Core Value Proposition and can form the basis of a memorable elevator pitch, too. So you can see why this is a fundamental tool in your brand and marketing toolkit.

A brand positioning statement encapsulates your Brand Strategy into a clear, compelling statement that can inform many other marketing tactics, such as a tagline, press release boilerplate, or advertising copy.

This statement tells me the essentials about your company: what it is, how it is positioned, the target audience, the three core benefits it provides to me as a customer, and even clues me into the voice of the company.

But how do you create a good brand positioning statement?

Well, you know I’m going to say this: It requires empathy! Empathy for your ideal customers: their needs, wants, goals, aspirations, and values.

The tendency is to describe our businesses by talking about us. What we sell, provide, offer. I, I, I, I, I! It’s not about us. It’s about our customers.

But to get a customer’s attention, we need a keen understanding of seeing the business from their point of view: What do they get from our products or services, from their point of view? Also, known as benefits.

How to Craft an Empathetic Brand Positioning Statement

If you’re struggling with explaining the value you offer or if people are not quite sure if you’re the right fit for them, download my free guide The Empathy Edge Brand Positioning Template to leverage the power of empathy to craft the right brand statement that attracts your dream clients. You’ll get:

6 strategies for crafting your empathetic brand statement
18 examples to spark your creativity
3 fill-in-the-blank templates you can customize and make your own.

Through my books, workshops, and client engagements, these tools have helped thousands of entrepreneurs and businesses stand out and attract their dream clients and customers.

Download your free guide now right here and make sure you hit all your 2023 goals – and attract and impact all the right people!!

Photo Credit: Cristina Gottardii, Unsplash

Let’s Talk About A Better Workplace Culture

Posted on September 19, 2022September 19, 2022 by Red Slice

Seth Godin’s daily posts range from the inspirational to the tactical. The mundane to the philosophical. So when a post punches me in the gut, in the best possible way, it gets me thinking. Which is his goal: Stop existing. Start thinking. Disrupt the status quo.

Recently, he wrote a post called But First, We Need to Talk About. The gist is that what we are willing to talk about gets attention, resources, and energy. So when we’re unwilling to talk about end-of-life health care costs or oppressive capitalist systems, we can’t change things. Instead, we pour countless hours of conversation into things like political infighting, Tik Tok crazes, or why Kim Kardashian ever dated Pete Davidson (those last 2 are way far out of my wheelhouse)

The realization hit me: This is why I’m talking about empathy at work and creating better leaders, cultures, and brands. I want us to pay attention, yes, but to actually make a change. Transform.

It started out with helping my clients craft an empathetic and engaging brand story, rooted in purpose. And yes, advising them on where they need to walk that talk in their culture, leadership, processes, or habits. But it’s become a bigger movement to me. One in which we rethink our existing models and narratives of leadership and organizational success.

For too long, we’ve adopted false and binary narratives that you have to choose between humanity and profits. That compassionate leaders cannot also be competitive. That ambition can’t co-exist with empathy and collaboration. That we need to be one person at work and another when we’re off the clock.

Who the hell made these rules? Oh, right, we did. Humans. Our capitalist and industrialized society.

And we blindly bought into this status quo.

Here’s the great news: We as humans have the power to CHANGE those rules. They are not laws of physics that cannot be broken. We made them. We can make new ones.. (TWEET THIS!)

But first, we gotta talk about it.

We have to talk about what is not working, where we are not being inclusive, and how our business practices might be harming our people or the environment. We need to admit that profit had been held up above all other concerns for too long. And that we can have both/and rather than either/or.

Then we need to talk about how we get there. How we re-establish new rules together. How we create a better workplace culture. How we make the entire for-business system better.

Are you ready to talk to your leaders, teams, and customers about the future of work and the empathy revolution? I’d love to help. Let’s chat about a transformative and provocative talk to kick this into action for your organization tomorrow!

100 Decks in Your Pocket! The Empathy Edge now on Deckible

Posted on September 15, 2022September 15, 2022 by Red Slice

It’s rare when a game changing app launches. Today is one of those days!

Deckible, founded by my colleague and serial entrepreneur Nick Kellet, launches today and I’m proud to be a part of this unique lifestyle app. You know Audible for audiobooks? Well, Deckible is that for card decks you keep in your pocket and on the go. When you download the app, you can get card decks on your phone and they are interactive – like journal prompts, videos, audio clips, etc. Decks are extremely popular and now you can take yours on the go It’s pretty cool!

Categories range from personal development, leadership, coaching, spirituality, and wellness to books as decks (a great way to get an interactive summary version of a book you’ve been wanting to read – like mine!), even tarot, inspiration, games, and more. It’s designed for creatives to build community and amplify their work to new audiences. There are hundreds of card decks available now and more to come.

Leading with empathy is one of the most effective ways we can better our workplace, as well as ourselves, and I want to help you on your journey so I created a Book as Deck for The Empathy Edge, if this is your style. In this card deck version, you’ll receive practical tips, big and small, for how to align your mission and values and hire the right people, cultivating a more empathetic—and innovative—workplace culture. As well as the goods on building your empathetic brand in an authentic and proactive way. Plus journal prompts to think through the content and apply it to your organization.

Download the Deckible app now on your phone’s App Store and then grab my The Empathy Edge deck HERE https://bit.ly/EmpathyEdge-Deckible and let me know how you like it!

Are You Confusing Kind Clarity with Harsh Directness?

Posted on September 5, 2022August 30, 2022 by Red Slice

Clarity is kind.

When you clearly communicate in a way others can understand so they can continue the dialogue with you, that is empathy in action.

Whether that communication is giving your 8 year-old his morning routine instructions or sharing information with your customers, being clear is a gift that helps you both realize shared goals.

I remember learning about communication in school. We talked about the “sender” and the “receiver”and where miscommunication can happen. And this stuck with me:

It is the responsibility of the sender to ensure they are being clear in their communication. If the receiver does not understand, it is on the sender to adapt or convey the message in a new way.

Adapt to the receiver. That is the ultimate empathy, isn’t it?!

But I would add….

It is the responsibility of the sender to ensure they are being clear in their communication. But also their responsibility to do so in a way that doesn’t cause harm. (TWEET THIS!)

For years, someone close to me would constantly defend her harsh directness with, “I’m just being honest.” Her words often cut like a knife. Yes, you always knew where she stood – but she’d communicate without any grace or tact.

When did we confuse being honest with being harsh and hurtful?

I recognize the truth can hurt. I often give tough love to clients. But that’s the difference: it’s tough love. I do my best (not always, but I try) to deliver a message in a way that the receiver can take in, hear, and act on.

When you are so direct that the receiver shuts down completely, what good is being honest? (TWEET THIS!) For collaboration. For meeting your shared goals. For strengthening the relationship?

It doesn’t matter if you meant no harm. Remember, impact matters more than intent! I always tell my brand clients this: It doesn’t matter what you want to convey, it matters how your customers interpret it.

I recently posted on social media how “some people claim to be empaths because they “feel deeply.” But then use that as an excuse to communicate exactly what they want, exactly when they feel it. With no regard to the other person.

That’s not empathy, friend. That’s about you and your own needs, through your own lens.

I’ve often said being empathetic does not mean you people-please. That’s submission, not empathy.

But you can make tough decisions and yes, even tell someone “no”- or give a negative performance review or file a complaint with your favorite brand – by thinking through your words and the IMPACT they will have.

How can you communicate with empathy, even if you’re communicating something someone doesn’t want to hear? Here are 3 tips – and they apply face-to-face or in writing:

Articulate: First, articulate what you want to say to yourself. Know what your main points are and what you need to convey. Jot down notes if you need to. This will also keep you on track if things get too emotional.
Prepare: Next, consider what the other person might be thinking or feeling when they go into this discussion. Will they be on edge, scared, or even coming into it happy? What questions might they have? How might they respond? Prepare for those in advance.
Adapt and Deliver: Finally, adapt your words and tone to lead with kindness but confidence in what you are communicating. If you’re delivering harsh news, like a layoff, how might you soften the blow while still being direct? Validate their contributions. Acknowledge their feelings. Let them be heard. Proactively provide resources or information that would help (the preparation step helps with this). And then communicate the points needed so you can both move forward in a constructive way.

Think about doctors delivering life-changing news to people. They often handle it with grace and empathy, but with complete clarity so the patient understands. Emulate that in your own work and give “empathetic honesty” a try!

Photo Credit: rf123.com, vadymvdrobot

What if We Fueled Action with Love and Not Anger?

Posted on May 16, 2022May 7, 2022 by Maria Ross

So much of what’s happening in the world right now is fueled by hate. Division. Us against them. And sadly, some of us are only moved to action when we get angry. Our blood boils, our pulse quickens, and we step into fight mode.

Rage can be a good thing if it fuels progress. And Lord knows marketers use fear, uncertainty and doubt all the time to drive people to purchase.

But does it always have to be that way?

I’ve been reading Bell Hooks’ book All About Love: New Visions, and man, it’s impacting my heart. Hard. It has caused me to question my very definition of love in a gentle, quiet way. Her writing is beautiful, provocative, thoughtful and concise. I wish I could write like that!

A recent chapter got me thinking: What if we strive for change, social justice, human rights, and equity with love not anger? Can love be enough to kick us into action just as much as anger and fear? What if we genuinely loved our enemies, those we fear, the liars, the charlatans, the power-hungry AND still took action? Could that be enough to catalyze massive change?

I’m not talking about being passive or sitting idly by. I’m talking about taking fierce action fueled by love, not anger and pain. When we are angry, we’re so tight, scrunched up, erratic. Could we get further – and be gentler to our own psyches – if we approached social change from love, not hate? Could we listen better, persuade better, and surprise those selfish children in front of us enough with our response that their own fears and facades crumble when faced with our tenacity – and leave them sobbing in our arms?

Could we be more powerful if we met tyranny and hate with love-fueled action rather than anger-fueled action? What if?. (TWEET THIS!)

Do you see this possibility or think it naive? Eager to hear your thoughts on this. DM me on Instagram!

Category: a slice of STRATEGY