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5 Ways Leaders Can Support Employee Goals

5 Ways Leaders Can Support Employee Goals | Arc Integrated

Here at Arc Integrated, we help leaders, teams, and cultures all over the globe with assessment, executive coaching as well as training and consultation. January marks the start of a new year and with it, companies and teams are setting their goals for the upcoming year. 

Surprisingly, 92% of people never meet the goals that they set for themselves for the year. Naturally, one of the topics that has been coming up lately is how we, as leaders, can effectively support employee goals. 

In today’s article, I will be going over just that, with my top five tips on how you as a leader can support your employees’ goals.

Tip #1: Make It Personal

A common negative connotation when it comes to the workplace is “we don’t want to get into the lives of the employees too much.” The reality of the situation is some of the most highly performing teams, cultures, and organizations have very solid personal relationships. One of the ways in which you can develop a personal relationship with an employee is by understanding their:

  • Strengths
  • Visions
  • Goals

It’s important to note that these three themes are all beyond the workplace; they could surround their health, financial future, or even their education. This also helps the employee show up to work feeling like they can truly be themselves. 

Leaders who are true to themself, admit and learn from mistakes, and focus on development stimulate employees to initiate their own growth.  When your employees feel appreciated and heard, the better they will perform. In fact, 79% of employees will quit due to a lack of appreciation. Overall, the more we can engage with and understand the human element of our employees the more we can support them in their needs and goals. 

Tip #2: Provide Accountability

Providing accountability to your employees is a really clever technique in being able to support them in their goals. You can do this by helping them implement SMART goals: Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Results-oriented, and Time-bound.

Check-Ins Provide Accountability for Employees

A really good example of this is by setting up a monthly check-in on the goal that they are currently working towards and how that goal is progressing. You may also ask about the steps they have in place in completing or achieving their goals and how you as a leader can help. This way, you are not only creating accountability through the meetings on their own, but you are requiring them to take actions through the steps towards their goals.

Reward Systems Are Great for Providing Employee Accountability

A reward system is another way in which you can provide accountability. If you have a team and set up reward checkpoints, the entire team can all share rewards upon completion of each goal being met. 

Consider Accountability Partnerships for Your Employees

Finally, I encourage you to create some type of accountability partnership. It could be as simple as just two members of a team working together and supporting each other. Through this partnership and support, your employees can share their goals as well as their consistent progress with each other.

Tip #3: Allocate Time

Allocating time is a really important tip that leaders can take to better support their employees. You as a leader should support the fact that employees can spend time (sometimes maybe even at work) working towards their workplace goals.

An example of this could be at the start of 2022 if you were to share with your team that you will allocate 90 minutes a week in order for everyone to work and progress on their individual, personal goals. Depending on your team’s schedule, you can set up specific time frames in order to work on their goals.

A question you may be asking yourself while reading this tip is:

“Can I really afford to allocate 90 minutes per week, towards work that is unrelated to the company?”

My answer to that thought is that the more that we can support the accomplishments and goals of our employees, the greater engagement that can create as well as improvement of the company culture. This ultimately leads to the benefits largely outweighing the risks. So much so in fact that employees who are disengaged miss an average of 3.5 more days per year, are less productive, and cost the US economy $292 to $355 billion per year. 

Tip #4: Include a Social Component

The reality is that in today’s day and age, we are radically motivated by social pressures. This might be more evident now than at any other time in our history due to the emergence of online social channels. Although this sounds entirely like a bad thing, this is not the case. It can also be used for good!

If you incorporate a social component into a goal accomplishment, it can be used as an effective tool. This could mean that the team meets weekly or monthly, to focus on helping and supporting each other with their personal goals. This is a way to use social pressures in a positive way.

Another way is to have some kind of social check-in process. It does not matter if you use something simple like an excel spreadsheet or your team uses online software, as long as you are creating transparency around each person’s goals. With this technique, everyone is able to see each other’s personal goals along with how they are currently progressing towards them.  

Tip #5: Help Your Employees Find The Obstacles

At first glance, the idea of finding obstacles might seem a bit paradoxical. There is a term in psychology called mental contrasting. It refers to the idea that we: 

→ Set our intentions towards a goal

→ Reflect on why we want to do it and why it’s important to us

→ Identify what are the obstacles that might stop us from reaching our goal

The final reflecting process on the obstacles that potentially can stop our goal progression is at the core of mental contrasting. When done effectively, this increases the likelihood that we will reach the goals we’ve previously set.

As leaders, if we can be helpful through dialog, meetings, and encouragement in helping our employees find these obstacles, it will in turn increase the likelihood that they accomplish their goals.

If you are curious about how you or your organization is doing with leadership, I highly recommend taking our free leadership quiz as it relates to retention engagement and performance. It takes around three minutes to complete and is really helpful!

Also, If you found this article interesting and want to learn more, feel free to watch the video version of 5 Ways Leaders Can Support Employee Goals.

Be well,

Michael

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Learn more about Arc Integrated:

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The Risks of Stalling Communication

The Risks of Stalling Communication | Arc Integrated

Communication is a core part of any human experience and a big part of emotional intelligence, yet it’s something we all struggle with. Regardless of the amount of technology available to us to help us communicate, under-communication is still a constant challenge for many at work.

Stalling communication can prevent employees from reaching their full potential, and it can be harmful to your business. Effective communication skills, strategies, and tools in a work environment can optimize performance, boost morale, and help your team stay competitive.

In order for a business to thrive in success, a solid communication system and good relationships are needed. If you feel your team does not have that, you will face many risks. In this blog post, I’m going to share a few risks of stalling communication with your team.

Risk # 1 – Your Employees Will Resign

Recent studies have shown that 80% of the U.S workforce reported stress due to poor communication and that 63% have considered quitting due to poor communication. Not only that, but that number has doubled since the previous year, and if leaders aren’t making effective changes, that number will only increase.

The Gallup’s State of the American Workplace reports that 90% of employees said good communication is key to a positive working environment. That means that employees value good communication more than ideal pay and are less likely to quit if their workplace was more effective at communication. Many even consider great communication as an employee benefit.

So if you don’t have great communication in your workplace, or if you’re not providing your team with effective communication, you are putting yourself at risk of losing your team.

Risk # 2 – It Creates Unnecessary Stress in The Workplace

High levels of stress in the workplace are a big sign that there are communication issues. The same study mentioned earlier says 70% of employees feel overwhelmed because of broken communication. Stalling communication can create the feeling that every task is urgent, causing you and your team to feel rushed, overwhelmed, overworked, and mentally drained. This is why communication is essential, it can bring a sense of stability and structure and dismiss any workplace tension.

Especially since many of us are working from home, stalling communication will only create a stressful work (and home!) environment for everyone. Your team will feel worn out, impacting their spouse or parents and it has the potential of affecting their entire day. Sometimes employees may feel guilty for carrying the stress and negativity with them as they interact with others. Remember, stress stays with you as you go on with your day, and it becomes a challenge to be productive.

“Communication is the real work of leadership.” – Nitin Nohria

Risk # 3 – It Leads to Unmet Needs and Expectations

Employees enjoy working in environments where they can build relationships with their colleagues and share their ideas and perspectives openly. Creating an environment where your teams feel comfortable and they can communicate with others is essential for them. If you’re not making that environment for your team, they won’t effectively perform their jobs.
Stalling communication can cause many unmet expectations. Teams will miss deadlines, appointments, and overall, people won’t know their roles and won’t know how to prioritize their tasks. When employees have trouble figuring out their priorities, they choose the wrong task and disappoint their superiors.
This can lower morale and their motivation to perform well, causing them to create a less productive workflow. It will also impact their ability to meet deadlines and deliver projects that can jeopardize your business’s reputation.

Risk # 4 – It Creates Tension and Relationship Breakdowns

When there is a lack of communication and people don’t know what is going on, rumors and gossip will begin. This kind of drama is like cancer to any team, organization, or business. It is human nature to try to figure out unanswered questions and fill in any blanks we see. Stalling communication can leave many gaps that your team will attempt to fill with speculation.

Rumors and gossip can easily create tension and resentment as they stem from fear and sensitivities. It will affect how your team interacts with one another; any positive relationships might start to feel strained. They might think they can’t ask for guidance or feel comfortable sharing their ideas and perspectives.

Sometimes they might feel a sense of uncertainty about seeking assistance to solve the conflict; they might fear it will affect their job security. It is very common to feel a sense of insecurity or lack of fulfillment in completing your tasks. These negative emotions can slow down productivity and morale in the workplace. Remember, lack of communication ruins everything because instead of knowing how the other person feels, we assume. The best way to keep assumptions and suspicions at bay is to improve communication.

Being a good leader means you can notice these things within your team. You can avoid these risks I’ve mentioned by breaking down any communication barriers. Try to find the root cause for stalling communication. Consider these questions as a place to start:

  • Are you not being transparent with your team?
  • Is the absence of a team member creating a distraction amongst everyone?
  • Is there gossip that is undermining company culture, creating hurt feelings, starting arguments, or portraying people in a negative light?
  • Do the people you are leading feel comfortable working together?
  • Is there any sense that people feel hesitant to come forward with their ideas, challenges, or opportunities?

As a leader, it is your responsibility to be aware that employees have different communication styles and preferences. Some feel comfortable using emails to communicate on projects, while others prefer more face-to-face interaction.

Having effective communication with your team is a skill a good leader should have. If you feel this is a skill you don’t have or need improvement on, then let me and my team help you. As a leadership coach, I can guide you to become more effective in recognizing conflict and communicating with others. Schedule a FREE call with me and let me help you be a better leader.

You can also learn about different strategies you can implement to create long-term changes in your personal and professional life from my book CHANGES. Grab the FREE Changes Playbook here.

Be well,

Michael

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2019 Highlights – 2020 Preview – Arc Integrated

Arc Integrated - 2019 Highlights - 2020 Preview

Arc Integrated – 2019 Highlights – 2020 Preview

Greetings and Happy New Year!

I hope that the first few weeks of 2020 have been a success.  It was an exciting year in 2019 and there are some wonderful upcoming releases and events from Arc Integrated in 2020.

As I look back on the last year, here are some the highlights of 2019:

  • Traveled the country serving a wide variety of leaders, teams, organizations and events.
  • We continue to learn the client that we serve best. We have been doing our very best work while serving organizations and leaders that are driven to create and maintain cultures with purpose, accountability, sustainability, empathy and collaboration.
  • In May I launched my book – CHANGES: The Busy Professional’s Guide to Reducing Stress, Accomplishing Goals and Mastering Adaptability.
    • It hit best seller status in three categories!
  • I also launched the audio book a few months later.  If you’re not yet an Audible user, you can get a FREE audio version of the book here.
  • Earlier in 2019 I graduated from a 9 year martial arts program which continues to influence ways in which we train, facilitate and coach teams, leaders and organizations on how to be their very best. Stay tuned for some more posts about how martial arts influences the work we do and how some of the philosophies get incorporated.
  • There have been a number of podcast interviews done in 2019 which set the stage to do many more in 2020! These interviews have acted as massive resources for our clients. If you’d like to browse our list of interviews- https://www.arcintegrated.com/about-us/
  • Later in the year I went through a certification program called XCHANGE.  This has been the most powerful professional certification I have received in my career thus far. I’ll be doing an upcoming blog post about this approach and how we are incorporating it into our work with clients.
    • This training led to a number of work engagements, including an all employee company retreat, an executive leadership summit and a industry wide collaborative.
  • We continue to have an impact on the lives of the leaders and organizations we are honored to serve. Here’s what one of our client’s said in 2019 –

“Our Executive Leadership Team has worked closely with Michael for the past year and the results of this engagement have had a profound impact on our company. We utilize the many of the strategies that we have learned from him on a daily basis as what he has to offer is practical and implementable Individual and group coaching has helped us to improve our communication skills and function on a higher level as a leadership team.”

– Stand for Animals Executive Team

As well look ahead to 2020, here are some of the exciting things we have in store:

  • Continue to travel, internationally, serving a wide variety of organizations, leaders, teams and conferences!
  • The launch of the CHANGES CARDS. Available for order now (discounts for bulk!). Available on Amazon by end of Q1
  • Releasing my book in hard cover
  • Developing the Changes Journal.  There has been much feedback about the valuable exercises within the book.  Because of this, we’ll be releasing a book with just the exercises and places for reflection, so people can optimize their work.
  • Speaking a lot more! There are a number of events already lined up. We have been getting great feedback about the high levels of engagement and experiential nature of Michael’s events. To inquire about Michael’s availability in 2020, schedule a time to chat today!
    • See some previous speaking reels as well as testimonials here – https://www.arcintegrated.com/consultation/speaking-engagements/

What I’m most excited about are the surprises.  I am consistently in awe of how much can change, every year.  Certainly not all surprises are welcome, but I continue to learn the value of perception and how all experiences can be teachers.

Looking forward to a year full of growth, success, excitement and education.

Wishing you all the same.

With Gratitude,

Michael

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Being an Emotionally Intelligent Leader

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Corporate Training, Personal Development and Equine Therapy

Corporate Training, Personal Development and Equine Therapy

Corporate Training, Personal Development and Equine Therapy

Based on the title you may be thinking that these things are totally un-related, but you’re here, so thank you!  I lead a group therapy session a couple of times a week with about 10 attendees and the topic of animals and our connection to them recently came up.  We discussed different kinds of therapy approaches, like dog therapy, or equine therapy for example.  The same day I had a friend bring this topic up, which I figure is enough for me to write down some thoughts, since this is something I have experience with.   The interesting part is corporate training, personal development and equine therapy, are in fact, connected.

A few years ago I went through the process of getting certified through the Equine Assisted Growth and Learning Association (EAGALA).  This association is the international leader in equine training specifically for mental health and personal development purposes.  What this means is that they certify psychotherapists and horse professionals, to work together to facilitate different kinds of experiential learning. These experiences can be for the purposes of individual development, individual therapy, group therapy, couples therapy or corporate/group training.

So the question may be, what one thing has to do with the other?  For someone that has never seen this process unfold, it may not seem like a relevant fit.  The way horses and horse professionals can help to work through challenges with individuals or a group, is essentially through observation.  For example, a typical Equine Assisted Psychotherapy (EAP) or Equine Assisted Learning (EAL) session, consists of the facilitators (therapist and horse professional) giving the individual or group a task to accomplish with the horse.  This task could be to help move the horse through a gate, move the horse around an object or help a horse move in a direction without touching it. There are many activities/tasks that can be implemented but they are all ground activities, not requiring the participant to ride the horse.

During and after these activities both the therapist and horse professional make observations of how the person or people are engaging with the horse and each other.   What shows up here is powerful.  Just like in experiential education, when giving a group a task to accomplish together there are markers that form organically – personality styles, communication style, natural leaders/followers, conflict and/or resolution of conflict etc.  What is most interesting about the EAP/EAL process is that the horse acts as a mirror for behavior and engagement.

During my time training as an EAGALA practitioner I was astounded by how fast things came to the surface through this process.  For instance, when watching a family interact with an animal and attempt a task, it became immediately obvious what kinds of challenges the family had in their communication with each other.  In this example it was easy to see which member wanted to control and override the input from other members of the family.   This created conflict of course and made it more challenging for the family to accomplish the assigned task.  Part of the feedback came from the horse as it experienced the intensity from one individual.  Part of the feedback came from other members as they became frustrated with the challenge of the task, which the horse also reflected.  It was powerful to watch.

So how did their communication styles come up you ask?  This is the value of working through an EAP/EAL program. The response you get from a horse is authentic, immediate and not bound by the same kind of bias that people have.   In addition, the horse professional helps to make observation of behavior of the horse while the therapist observes how the person is engaging.

Horses are able to pick up on the subtleties of behavior and intention because they are sensitive prey animals.   So this means that if there is fear, anger, ease, curiosity or frustration – the horse will give feedback to these emotions/behaviors.   Because the horse is so sensitive it gives immediate clues and reactions to the behaviors and intentions of individuals and groups.  Some of these behaviors would be easily recognized while others are more subtle, which is why it is helpful to have a horse professional present. In the therapeutic context, understanding and processing behaviors and emotions can impact personal development and resolution of some of the challenges.

At this point you may be asking if this type of intervention has any credibility from research. The answer is yes, it absolutely does.   For example, one study found that well-being and reduction in psychological distress immediately improved after EAP and held stable after six months.   For a more detailed look at research as it compares to traditional therapy approaches, consider this article that acts an overview and comparison.

So how does this therapeutic approach have anything to do with corporate training or leadership?  This is where EAL enters the picture.  EAL differs from EAP in that EAL focuses more on education and learning rather than a therapeutic approach of resolving mental health issues or challenges.

In an EAL setting valuable skills can be obtained that would certainly impact the effectiveness of an organization.  For example, often times EAL is done with teams on an organization in order to improve communication skills, leadership or team building.  This process is still facilitated by a mental health professional and horse professional, but the intention is different.

In an EAL session with a team of professionals for instance, a simple task will be given to the team to accomplish with the horse.  This task results in emerging behaviors and communication styles that will then be valuable for the team to later process.  For instance, within a given task there may be leaders that emerge, communication that happens (or doesn’t), response style of collaboration or anger. In addition, there may be partnerships that naturally form on the team that previously did not exist or resentments that manifest that perhaps hadn’t previously.

The same question may emerge regarding efficacy of this particular kind of experiential education.  One of the more interesting pieces of research on EAL has to do with Emotional Intelligence, a current point of focus in many leadership and team building approaches.   This research is a great review of the field of EAL as well as Emotional Intelligence. The research found positive results for EAL as an intervention for improving Emotional Intelligence.

So, as we’ve seen, horses, therapy and leadership are in fact related!  For more information about EAL and EAP, I recommend visiting the EAGALA website – http://www.eagala.org/.  For more information on Emotional Intelligence as it relates to leadership, consider this article by Daniel Goleman.   If you are interested learning more about this topic or discussing a potential workshop to build team or leadership skills, please contact us!

Keep Learning,

Michael

P.S. If you are curious to learn more about personal development, workplace challenges, interpersonal dynamics, goal achievement and a wide variety of other topics, sign up today! www.www.arcintegrated.com/newsletter.  It’s totally free.

You’ll also receive a FREE tip sheet with Five Strategies to Build Motivation!

 

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