Gut + Science - Real Talk With Ceos On Culture, Data, And Decision-making

Truth You Can Act On: We're all human. We have to model the behaviors we want to see, but we also have to realize that we aren't going to be perfect models. We are going to fall down; we are going to make mistakes. Share before you're ready. Iterate early and often. Instead of doing something and perfecting it in a vacuum, draft up a bulleted outline or a rough idea of where you want to go with a project, and then share it with the people who will ultimately benefit from these ideas in the end. Get agreements. It's difficult to communicate clearly sometimes. Either we don't want to put in the effort or we assume the other person knows what we need. If you get an agreement, you're not leaving things up for assumption. So, if you want somebody to do something, make it clear what you want. Ask them if they can agree to that and if they say 'yes,’ now you have a common ground to stand on. What fires you up on Mondays? For Max, his purpose in life is to inspire and motivate people in a loving way. Check out your

Truth You Can Act On: 360 Feedback. This is a process that helps us understand how others see or experience us. Get an audience of 20 people or more for a larger sample size, and make it an annual habit. Focus on the difficult relationships around you. Most of us do the opposite, but with the process we learned in this episode, it can be simple (maybe not easy, but that will make us grow). Powerful next steps from feedback have 3 parts: Write down what you are going to do; make a commitment; have a date to check in. Full Shownotes: https://gutplusscience.com/krister-ungerbock/ Book Recommendation: Nonviolent Communication by Marshall B. Rosenberg Sponsors: Emplify – Are you still using pulse surveys? How about annual questionnaires? If your organization relies on either of these, it’s time to discover Emplify. Emplify has created a new way to measure employee engagement. It’s where CEOs who want to know what’s really happening within a workforce go… to get honest feedback… and to understand what needs

Truth You Can Act On: Our 5-9 affects our 9-5. This mindset reminds us, as leaders, to take the whole person approach to the way we see our employees. Health: It's 80% food and 20% movement. When we look at our meal, it should be 75% vegetables and 25% protein and fat. When we think about movement, working out is good, but it is only one of the six ways we need to move. Energy equals money. Let that sink in. So, what are we feeding our people? How do we encourage them to rest? What education are we providing to help them maximize their health and energy? Full Shownotes: https://gutplusscience.com/erica-ballard/ Book Recommendation: The Obstacle is the Way by Ryan Holiday Sponsors: Emplify – Are you still using pulse surveys? How about annual questionnaires? If your organization relies on either of these, it’s time to discover Emplify. Emplify has created a new way to measure employee engagement. It’s where CEOs who want to know what’s really happening within a workforce go… to get honest feedback… and

Truth You Can Act On: Ask for feedback. You need to know what’s going on in your company. As a leader, it’s your responsibility to make sure your employees feel safe enough to provide feedback. Diversity and inclusion should be tied to business outcomes. If we can tie inclusion into overall business strategy and important KPIs, there will be more buy-in from everyone. Tie it to the bigger picture. Unconcious bias. Teach your people about what this term means. It’s all about awareness. Stop checking the box. It all starts with us, as leaders, to encourage diversity and inclusion. Full Shownotes: https://gutplusscience.com/jessica-gendron/ Book Recommendation: Let My People Go Surfing by Yvon Chouinard Sponsors: Emplify – Are you still using pulse surveys? How about annual questionnaires? If your organization relies on either of these, it’s time to discover Emplify. Emplify has created a new way to measure employee engagement. It’s where CEOs who want to know what’s really happening within a workforce g

Truth You Can Act On: We need commitment. Before building and executing a process, it’s imperative to have everyone on the leadership team on board. We need processes. Processes help us hold each other accountable. What processes do you have in place when it comes to developing your employees? How could they improve? Learn how to have tough conversations. Dane tells us the most important thing about these conversations is the timing. As a leader, decide democratically and execute autocratically. Focus on unlocking human potential. How? You have to master what makes people tick and tap into their strengths. People alignment is a must. It’s important to understand the person, the team they’re on, and the leader they’re working with, and then make sure the alignment is there. Full Shownotes: https://gutplusscience.com/dane-delozier Book Recommendation: Investing Between the Lines by L.J. Rittenhouse

Truth You Can Act On: Master your communication process. How are you conducting your communication when it comes to both the masses and employee one-on-ones? Build relationships with your people. It’s important to truly get to know your people. Understand your employees and what they want by building a human-to-human relationship. Conduct alignment interviews. These interviews are an opportunity to build alignment between the employee and manager, and also between the employee and the company. Listen in for David’s three critical topics to cover in these alignment interviews. Evaluate how David’s ‘5-Step Process’ can help you. Ask, listen, thank, and think. Then once you’ve thought about it, go back to that person and respond with an honest answer. Show your employees that you are truly listening and responding to their needs. Full Shownotes: gutplusscience.com/david-butler Book Recommendation: The Slight Edge by Jeff Olson

Truth You Can Act On: Employee engagement and customer loyalty are connected. A customer's experience is almost always tied back to how your employees are engaging with them. So, think about it - if someone wakes up on Monday and they don't feel connected to the purpose of their company or their boss, they probably won’t be super pleasant to customers. Seen. Heard. Valued. Everyone wants to feel this way. And when people feel this way, they get excited about being a loyal customer. It’s not a huge shift, it’s accessible - and it happens one step at a time. Steer clear of ‘flavor of the month’ initiatives. No executive wants to spend time, energy and resources thinking about how they can grow their organization only to have some big announcement and then have it fizzle out. Get everyone on board - aiming for the same bullseye - then reinforce it. Full Shownotes: https://gutplusscience.com/ali-cudby Book Recommendation: The Happiness Advantage by Shawn Achor 

Truth You Can Act On: Educate Your People on All the Options. Bring in live and virtual educational sessions to help your employees make the best decisions on alleviating their financial load. Check Out Refinancing Options. Talk with trusted experts to give you options to share with your employees. Commit to Contributions. Think about the contributions you can make as an employer. Send your employees messages on how much you care about them - as a whole person - and explain why you’re bringing these contributions to the table. Government Options for Loan. Look into these options, or reach out to Joe Weldon, as he is a true expert when it comes to government loan assistance. Full Shownotes: gutplusscience.com/joe-weldon Book Recommendation: Captiva by Randy Wayne White

Truth You Can Act On: Set expectations with employees. When setting expectations, there’s a big difference between being “kind of clear” and being “very clear”. Employees want to know what’s expected of them. They want to know what it means to be successful, and they want to know when they’re falling short. Don’t let them down. Be crystal clear with your expectations—showing them exactly where the bar is set. Care about employees as people. Be intentional about getting to know your people. Learn about their interests, their family, their dreams, and their fears. Be genuine. When you’re employees feel like you care about them beyond the scope of their job, that’s when real engagement begins.   Lead with self-awareness. Develop an awareness of your gifts as well as your shortcomings. Show a desire and willingness to continue learning and growing. Don’t pretend to be perfect (you won’t fool anyone). Instead, be real. Be vulnerable. Doing so will foster intimacy with your team—the foundation for long-lasting eng

With years of stereotypes blocking change, what can an HR professional say to get a seat at the table and help inform the CEO on making the right people, culture, and engagement decisions? To complete our first #Insights series, Santiago Jaramillo (@santiagojara) dives into how companies are more than just vehicles for creating revenue - they should be a place for transformational growth where people can unlock their true potential. You’ll also hear about how the C-Suite and HR professionals can foster collaboration from Craig Anderson, owner of Craig P. Anderson and Associates, and Jennifer Hodnett, VP of Human Resources at Nolan Transportation Group. Long story short: CEOs can give more opportunities to the HR leaders by involving them on the business side. The HR leaders can then lean in to better understand the company’s goals, and ensure that what they recommend aligns. This episode of #Insights, by Emplify, highlights a new way to think about employee engagement, and also how you - whatever your role -

How can we help our employees find purpose and meaning in their work, and engage them as people? This week on #Insights, Santiago Jaramillo (@santiagojara) walks us through how you can define meaning - driven from the top-down - at your organization. The reality is, people find meaning in different ways. For some, it’s working together as a team, for others it could be solving problems or delivering amazing customer service. Listen in as Santiago discusses the five sources of meaning and how you can bring in the right type of people who value it. You’ll also hear about employee engagement from Craig Anderson, owner of Craig P. Anderson and Associates, and Jennifer Hodnett, VP of Human Resources at Nolan Transportation Company. The bottom line is, engagement starts with leaders. If the CEO isn’t part of these efforts and initiatives, it simply won’t work. Imagine saving your company $100,000 just by reducing turnover. Craig tells us his story when it comes to ROI and investing in engagement, and Jennifer disc

This week on #Insights, we’re diving into employee engagement - how it’s evolved [especially in the past couple of years] and how this evolution has impacted the relationship between human resources leaders and the C-Suite. Listen in as Emplify CEO and Co-founder Santiago Jaramillo (@santiagojara) takes us on a journey into the past - because before we can talk about where things are today, we need to understand where we’ve been. Data from workplace review sites such as GlassDoor now tell us that the first six reasons people leave [or stay] at companies have nothing to do with compensation and benefits. Surprising, right? Or is it? You’ll hear Santiago discuss company purpose - and how you can create systems and cultures to engage the full heart and mind of a person. Yes, it’s important to hit company goals and objectives, but it’s equally as important to provide employees new and increased opportunities to grow. Also featured is Eric Christopher, CEO, and Founder, and Julie Barker, VP of Talent at SaaS compa

In this first episode of Insights, we’re exploring some of the biggest issues we face in today’s workplace with Emplify CEO and Co-founder Santiago Jaramillo (@santiagojara).    First, how do you understand what your people actually need? And second, why should the CEO care? It all begins with the employee experience and understanding where that story starts. In this episode, you’ll hear from Roberta Matuson, (@Matuson), President of Matuson Consulting, a former human resources (HR) director who now runs her own firm. Roberta stresses that HR can no longer be an afterthought - if a CEO wants to create a people-first organization then they have to invite HR to the table. [And the seat can’t just be CEO-mandated, it has to be CEO-supported.] How can a CEO empower a team to be more strategic when thinking about the HR role? How does the HR team then, in tandem, support the company goals? Find out on this week’s episode of Insights, a series by Emplify. Connect with Santiago Connect with Nicole Connect with Ro

Introducing #Insights, an original series from Emplify, that explores extraordinary advances in people performance and business outcomes through workplace science and...well, insights. You’ll learn from Emplify CEO and Co-founder Santiago Jaramillo (@santiagojara) as he discusses culture and engagement - and takes a deep dive into the specific questions that are top of mind for people-first leaders. Nicole MacLean (@nicolemmaclean), Director of Relationship Marketing at Emplify, will be your guide as we learn from Santiago on how to breakdown culture myths, redefine employee engagement, and give perspective on how to implement and measure change - helping you achieve real business results. The goal of this series is to give you new ways to think about your people, culture, engagement, and all the other buzzwords that get thrown at you in today’s workplace. Connect with Santiago Connect with Nicole Learn more about Emplify

Truth You Can Act On: What is your higher purpose as an organization? A conscious business is one that exists for a higher purpose beyond creating profits and shareholder value. It exists to make the world a better place. Do you have complete stakeholder integration? By stakeholders, we’re not just talking about employees, customers, and shareholders. We also need to remember our suppliers, the community, and the environment. So, what are you doing to create successes and wins for all stakeholders in your business? Is your leadership consciously aware and strategic in building your organization? Has your leadership bought into your mission? What specific steps are they taking to create wins for your stakeholders? If your company has a higher purpose, your leaders should be motivated by serving that higher purpose. Do you have a conscious culture? A conscious culture thrives beyond the individual founder or leadership team. It grows as the company grows and is based on your company’s core values coming to lif

 Truth You Can Act On: Narrow down your values. Can you list all your core values from memory? If not, you have too many. How can you expect to build a culture around these supposed “core” values if you as a leader can’t even remember them all? Cut them down to the few that describe the uniqueness of your organization the best. Reinforce your culture. It’s one thing to create effective core values, it’s another to actually enforce them. The best way to do this is to establish systems and processes that uphold and promote your culture. What are ways you can reinforce real-life examples of people living out your core values? Solve problems with creativity. Not all problems can be solved with money. Yet for some reason, many organizations seem to try. Instead of throwing money at your problems, give your people a chance to solve them using their creativity and imagination. Full Shownotes: https://gutplusscience.com/matt-jung Book Recommendation: Start with Why by Simon Sinek

 Truth You Can Act On: Take a 360 degree approach. Cross departmental integration and collaboration from every angle of employee and customer experience. Take time to think about this. How are you doing? Are you marketing to employees (and prospective employees) with the same creativity you use to gain customers? If not, reflect on ways to improve. Ask for feedback. Employee feedback is crucial. If you’re not doing it, your putting your organization at a huge risk. Be brave enough to ask for feedback and do it on an agile cadence—we recommend quarterly. That said, asking for feedback is only the first step. Next, be sure to consistently taking action on the data you gather. Use review sites appropriately. Take review sites seriously and interact human-to-human. Look for patterns and seek ways to take corrective steps. No matter what the comment, take the high road in your response—but always respond. Letting negative comments sit unanswered can repel qualified candidates looking to apply. Full Shownotes

Truth You Can Act On: Turnover is OK. Are you scared of turnover? It’s become a big evil word in today’s workplace. But in reality, it’s ok. In fact, it can be good for your organization. If someone’s not feeling their job anymore—if it has become a “necessary evil” and no longer aligns with their goals and dreams—it’s better (for both the employee and your organization) to encourage that person to move on with their life. Prioritize communication training. The most valuable type of training is communication training—we can never do enough of it. This not only includes verbal and nonverbal communication, but also how to effectively communicate using technology. With so many different mediums available, it’s also important to determine how your people prefer to communicate and consume information. Never make assumptions. Engagement is Entanglement. You need to understand why people choose you as a leader. Why do they follow into uncertainty every day? Engagement starts with having this “entanglement” or al

Truth You Can Act On: Understand what makes a good mentor. Think back to a mentor who has truly impacted your career and life journey. All of us probably have a certain name, or multiple names, in mind. It’s easy to go into full-on coaching mode, but listening is huge when it comes to mentoring. Connecting with people and being available to your mentees is also important - it won’t cut it to meet with a mentee every six months. A good mentor also provides guidance to take action; they provide a path for their mentee, by sharing personal experiences and stories. Understand what makes a good mentee. As humans, we are never done learning. And in that case, we should all consider ourselves mentees. You have to be willing to learn - and to be vulnerable and share that. If you commit to the process and have consistent time laid out with your mentor, the relationship will blossom. Lastly, it’s important to be grateful for your mentor - express gratitude, say thank you, and also give feedback so your mentor can lear

Truth You Can Act On: Redefine HR leaders. Your HR leaders must be strategic thinkers. Not only that, but they also need to be involved and aligned with C-Suite decision-making processes. Gone are the days of HR working quietly on administrative tasks in the background. If you want to recruit top talent, HR leaders cannot continue as mere service providers. They must become functional experts. Develop a purposeful employment brand. Most companies spend a lot of time, energy, and money making sure brand messaging is dialed in with clients. But when it comes to job candidates, branding is just an afterthought. Don’t make this mistake. Identify your candidate population, show them they matter, and craft a targeted message that connects with them. Show them who you are as a company and what you stand for. Optimize your onboarding. Don’t confuse “orientation” with “onboarding”. Onboarding starts from the very first touch. Your goal is to make a candidate want to work with you so bad, they are going to make it