Is overwhelm, anxiety, frustration, overdrive or staying in neutral something that is impacting the quality of your life, your leadership, your ability to survive and thrive? Are you being chased by wolves?Is someone you know, lead, love or work for being chased by wolves?
Wolf 1. Career (business or career challenges) that can keep you locked in stasis, hyperdrive or traveling in reverse.
Wolf 2. Communication breakdowns that crush or destroy potential and results.
Wolf 3. Personal challenges and behavioural habits that impede and erode confidence, engagement, empowerment
Wolf 4. Interpersonal conflicts that destroy the personal relationships we need to succeed
Wolf 5. Health crises; a mental or physical crisis that has you stuck and suffering in silence
My focus on finding purpose in the pain let me to discover what I call Q strengths; three core strengths and are critical to winning the race with wolves and to develop a process, a method that has helped that has helped forward thinking executives, managers and teams communicate, collaborate, inspire, lead and live with improved results and improved happiness. I am a trauma survivor and thriver recently did a certification in trauma counselling. I have been helping people successfully win the race with wolves for 15+ years and remain dedicated to being of maximum service.
This week I will be publishing a post a day on anxiety/mental health because I hope that if I open the discussion others will too, and that the ideas and insights I will share will be of service.
Here’s What is New: I am going to have a podcast on Spotify sponsored by a leadership think tank ! More news coming soon!
This month I will be opening a new service that will offer very low fee or no fee coaching to people who fit the right criteria for my work but do not have the financial capacity to hire me. If you are interested in participating in this initiative, please reach out.
http://justcoachit.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/Version-One.png00Irene Beckerhttp://justcoachit.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/Version-One.pngIrene Becker2022-05-02 15:55:032022-05-02 15:55:10Winning the Race with Wolves
Empathy is a hot topic in leadership today — and for good reason. Empathy allows leaders to connect with their team on a deeper level and can give managers or business owners a glimpse into how other folks in their organization feel about themselves and their roles.
As we look to exit the pandemic, organizational leaders must be more intentional than ever about the way they use empathy. Almost everyone was placed under greater strain due to Covid, and now is the time for leaders to show that they care about their followers on a deeper, human level.
But, just empathizing with your employees is rarely enough. You need to turn that empathy into action — here’s how.
What is Empathy?
Many leaders mistakenly believe that empathy is a term that loosely describes “feeling another person’s emotions”. However, this version of empathy — sometimes called “affective empathy” — is too flexible to be leveraged effectively in the workplace.
Instead, try to see empathy as Berkley’s Greater Good program describes it, “Cognitive empathy, sometimes called ‘perspective taking,’ refers to our ability to identify and understand other people’s emotions.” Cognitive empathy requires leaders to consciously consider another person’s perspective and is more effective than emotional empathy, as you have to spend time and effort to consider another person’s perspective.
Cognitive empathy can also be used to make meaningful changes to business operations and policies. When you take the time to think from another persons’ perspective, you’ll be able to see the things that are holding them back or causing them stress. This can be the first step towards making key investments in your team, like upskilling and wellbeing programs.
Upskilling
Upskilling is when an organization sets aside time and financial resources to improve an employee’s skills. Upskilling improves the quality and efficiency of your employees, but it also increases their loyalty and motivation, as your organization’s support can go a long way in helping them achieve their career goals and dreams.
You can start investing in upskilling by speaking with your employees and asking them about their career goals. Based on what they tell you, use cognitive empathy to consider how your organization can help them reach those goals. For example, you might offer flexible working hours to employees who want to earn a degree, or you might pay for pertinent training programs.
Well-being Programs
Your teams’ well-being probably took a knock during the pandemic. The world was flipped upside down for nearly two years, and unthinkable changes occurred across almost all industries. So, as a leader, it’s your job to take responsibility and use empathy to create wellbeing programs that cater to your team.
A good well-being program should start with communication. You need to tell your team why you’re opening a well-being program, and you need to hear from your followers to learn about their needs and stressors. While you listen to your employees, look out for signs of trauma that may be impacting their ability to share their needs openly. This might manifest itself in outbursts from your team members or difficulty keeping a routine. If you notice these signs, consider investing more heavily in mental health support services like access to therapists.
Once you’ve listened to your team and taken note of their needs, you should start moving quickly to put a well-being program in place that suits your budget and your organization. If you’re low on financial resources, remember that a well-being program can be as simple as offering flexible working hours so folks can make it to exercise classes. If you have more cash to spend, then consider allocating a wellness budget to each individual, and allow them to spend it on their own health-related goals.
Working with Difference
Empathy usually has two triggers: recognition of another’s pain, or recognition of another’s differences from ourselves. Hopefully, your well-being program can be put into effect to help others who are dealing with pain in any form. But, how can you use empathy to handle differences in the workplace?
First and foremost, it’s worth noting that not all differences can be overcome via empathy. If someone in your organization breaks clearly from your company’s purpose, then it may be in everyone’s best interest to let that person move on to a new organization with different values.
But, most differences can be negotiated effectively through empathetic thinking. This is particularly important if you lead a diverse team of people that has different values and opinions from you. Start with cognitive empathy, and simply listen to the viewpoints that might be jarring or different from your own. Take a while to think about them, and explain to your team that you need time to consider everyone’s opinion fairly — no one will judge negatively for being considerate.
Follow through on your empathetic practices by creating diversity policies that give you a road map for decision-making and help you operate in a fair, transparent way. These diversity policies shouldn’t aim to cover every possibility but should be clear, agreed upon, and have all employee’s best interests at heart.
Conclusion
As a leader, empathy is the first step towards creating a kinder, more caring workplace. By listening to your followers and considering their position thoroughly, you can start to make organizational changes like implementing wellbeing programs or investing in upskilling. These changes will help employees feel respected and will improve your effectiveness as a leader.
Author Bio: Adrian Johansen is a writer and consultant in the Pacific Northwest. She loves sharing knowledge with others and learning along the way! You can find more of her writing at Medium
http://justcoachit.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/Version-One.png00Irene Beckerhttp://justcoachit.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/Version-One.pngIrene Becker2022-03-08 13:14:182022-03-08 13:14:27Investing in Your Team with Empathy Today
The recent pandemic has indeed changed a lot of old traditions and presented some new trends. One of the rising trends that’s become more and more evident is skills-based employment. For so long, companies have solely focused hiring efforts on educational degrees. This has ultimately led them to miss out on countless skilled applicants. The value of high-quality, capable candidates skyrocketed during the pandemic and led many companies to change the way they approach hiring. Instead of screening out those who lack traditional credentials, valuing skill sets in the employment process is now a much more common practice.
What is Skills-Based Hiring?
The skills-based hiring approach is pretty straightforward. It’s a tactic that focuses on a candidate’s performance and practical skills rather than traditional credentials. So, it’s less of ticking checkboxes for educational background, personal referrals, pedigree, and other requirements. Instead, it’s more about carefully looking into the cognitive, professional, and soft skills that each candidate offers.
Benefits of Skills-Based Hiring
As you might already know by now, skills-based hiring is gaining popularity due to the benefits provided to organizations. Here are some of them:
Broader candidate pool
If you are still one of the companies requiring four-year college degrees, you’re likely missing out. Entry-level positions become even more difficult to fill if you don’t avoid this kind of requirement. Moreover, most college graduates also look for higher salaries to help them cover their education expenses and other investments. For these reasons, it’s better to choose a candidate whose expertise and skills are well-fitted for the role.
Accelerated hiring time
The average hiring time to fill a specific role takes at least 42 days. One of the main reasons it takes so long is because the skills review is delayed until the latter stages of the recruitment process. Hence, recruiters miss out on tons of candidates while focusing on degrees and years of experience. With this in mind, it really makes more sense to focus on competencies and be open to accepting candidates with lower to no formal degrees. This practice helps you tap into a broader talent pool to fill roles faster.
Lower costs
Focusing on candidates with a bachelor’s or master’s degree doesn’t guarantee they have enough competencies to accomplish the job. Consequently, companies need to provide hires with skills-based education or training. Giving more importance to necessary skills will help you save training and onboarding costs in the long term.
Higher retention rates
In LinkedIn research, it was found that employees without a four-year degree stay 34% longer than their degree-holding colleagues. With this, it’s clear that being open to hiring candidates without degrees increases your company’s retention rates. After all, a candidate’s engagement and readiness to give back are the biggest contributing factors to high retention rates.
Greater diversity
Did you know that 62% of Americans over 25 years old do not hold a college degree? Skills-based hiring helps your company develop a more diverse and inclusive workforce. This means recruiting a variety of workers, such as veterans, women, people with disabilities, and people from low socioeconomic status, among others. Requiring a degree in your job posts automatically limits your reach. Focusing on skills and competencies opens the door to a company environment that values and respects people from all backgrounds.
Skills-Based Hiring: The Best Practices
There’s no denying the challenges that arise from shifting your recruitment and hiring process to support skills-based hiring. Luckily, there are plenty of tools that can help. Here are some of the best practices to help you on the journey to more efficient and effective hiring.
Spell out the required skills for every job opening.
Of course, if you want to focus on skills, you have to be clear on what you want. List out the ones absolutely required for the role, and add those they can potentially acquire on the job. Don’t forget to include soft skills! Keep in mind that the skills you include must be those that can be observed, measured, and assessed.
Make sure the job posting reaches a broad talent pool.
This is very important if you really want to reach the broadest talent pool for the job. Posting on your company website plus one to two job sites isn’t quite enough. Hundreds of niche sites and job boards are available these days. One great way to access them is by using an applicant tracking system with built-in posting features.
Utilize technology to pre-screen based on skills.
Now that you have access to such a vast pool of applicants, you might feel overwhelmed. Don’t worry; your applicant tracking system can help! You can design your application to ask various skill-related questions. The ATS can assess resumes based on expertise and other key requirements. With this, you’ll get an ATS-friendly resume from candidates that are surely an excellent fit.
Conduct skills-based assessments.
After you have narrowed down your candidates based on key skills and requirements, it’s time for the next step. You can now start conducting assessments for a more thorough review of skills. 25% of businesses now apply this step so that you won’t be alone in your efforts. Ultimately, doing this as early as possible will help you avoid wasting time on interviews. Remember to have all your candidates take the skills-based assessment, degree holders or not.
Wrapping Up
Switching from the degree-based traditional hiring practice to a skills-based hiring focus is really a giant step forward. Make sure you study all the pros and cons of this for your company. In general, skills-based hiring is perfect for entry-level to middle-skill jobs that rely on practical experience. Overall, it’s an incredible approach that helps cut training and onboarding costs and improves diversity in the workplace.
Hopefully, you feel more comfortable with your hiring process transition. With the tips mentioned in this article, you can surely make it happen!
Kaye Fernsby is a former HR staff who is interested in studying new recruitment processes. She loves giving tips about hiring, interviews, and employment.
