Written and Collaborated by Mark Kamin, CEO and Kenda-Le Pernin, Senior Program Leader
What do we mean by magical?
We mean the kind of results you think are maybe possible, but certainly not for your current team, or at least not any time soon. By magic we mean, the current team you have produces extraordinary results starting immediately.
We’re saying to produce that kind of magic, you have to foster great Workplace Relationships.
Vitally important, yet often overlooked, is the unique nature of Workplace Relationships.
Meaningful and beneficial in ways unlike those we have with friends or family, workplace relationships forged in the accomplishment of getting the job done, dealing with adversity, overcoming setbacks, and being collaborative and innovative, transcend our personal feelings for co-workers. The connection we have with co-workers is distinct from choosing to be close friends or not.
Gallup reports that for the past three years employee engagement rates have significantly dropped: 60% of people are emotionally detached, and 19% are miserable at work. 1 The terms “Great Resignation”, “Quiet Quitting” and even now “Quiet Firing” have become commonplace in the larger conversation of the current workplace climate. When we take care of the unique kind of relationships that are possible in the workplace there is a dramatic impact on the issue of employee engagement.
Having worked with hundreds of thousands of people over the past 40 years, we at Mark Kamin & Associates are experts in the field of business’ biggest asset and biggest enigma – human performance. From having worked with over 1,000 companies and well over 100,000 people, we can unequivocally say that people want respect, dignity, the freedom to be themselves (authenticity), to belong to something that makes a difference that fulfills them, to participate in causing excellence, and to be part of a highly connected team.
As a leader or manager, focusing your attention and intention on fostering great, highly connected relationships will have your organization be on the “right” side of the statistics.
We have seen so thousands of times with our clients.
We assert that as a leader or manager it is your responsibility to distinguish, emphasize, and expand the power of connectedness among co-workers in the fulfillment of a common purpose. Unlike anywhere else in life, people are thrown together in the workplace (physical, virtual, and hybrid) who would in some cases not be friends nor even interact with each other. When they do strive together, often people set aside their thoughts, opinions, and feelings about others and become bigger human beings by doing so.
What goes unrecognized is that it is the nature of people choosing to get things to work, and choosing partnership with their co-workers, above all else, that is the crucible point in forging these unique workplace relationships that produce what would otherwise never be possible.
Workplace relationships force people to be big human beings to produce excellence. THAT is magic.
When that is present, anything is possible.
If you are a leader or manager, you MUST mine this for all it is worth. Building a highly connected team is the key to excellence and extraordinary success.
Focus Points for Leaders & Managers:
- Acknowledge what people are doing well and acknowledge where they are screwing up.
- Cause communication everywhere. We define communication as being authentically connected and transcending the workplace imperative of “looking good” and not “looking bad.” Be straight with people.
- Emphasize clear accountabilities. Ensure they are specific, well-defined, and measurable. No high performing team has mushy accountabilities. You must be able to say what it looks like or people cannot perform to task.
- Create an environment of integrity where people honor their word above all else. This is an extraordinary work environment. People have never worked in a team where people ALWAYS honor their word. This creates an environment for focus on getting the job done and the fulfillment, satisfaction, and experience of accomplishment for employees that goes hand in hand with a job well done.
- Speak a compelling future into existence. Create a future that moves people to contribute all they have to give to have that future be a reality. People must be connected to how they are a valuable part of that future.
These focus points may sound simple and maybe even obvious; however, implementation takes real work. Why? Because you are dealing with human beings, and human beings each have their own unique view on life, others, and even themselves. This becomes a huge barrier to successfully creating a highly connected team or workforce.
To even have a shot at causing the experience of team, workability, and performance, leaders and managers MUST deal with people’s lack of facility with communication.
Mark Kamin & Associates provides clear pathways and access for uncovering, and dealing with, the pre-existing filters that shape how people hear one another and get in the way of authentic communication. We transform the ordinary ways people live and work, into people having the kind of integrity that has life and business really work. We provide clear access to being the kind of leader that causes the magic that results from great workplace relationships.
Bring Magical Results To Your Organization
To learn more or speak with one of our premier program leaders and coaches, please contact Mark Kamin & Associates, Inc.
https://mka-world.com/contact/
1 Gallup’s State of the Global Workplace 2022
Erhard, Werner and Jensen, Michael C. and Zaffron, Steve and Echeverria, Jeronima, Course Materials for: ‘Being a Leader and the Effective Exercise of Leadership: An Ontological / Phenomenological Model© Copyright 2008-2016 W. Erhard, M. Jensen, Landmark Worldwide Enterprises Inc. All rights reserved. 19 November 2016
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