Leadership - EX Journal

Practicing active listening in online conversations

Ruby Kolesky June 23, 2020 Employee experience, Feedback, Leadership Leave a Comment

I think of myself as a leader being placed somewhere on a value based spectrum, with efficiency on one end and empathy on the other. As an individual contributor, I started my career all the way on the efficiency end of the spectrum. I believed that talking to people about their feelings was a waste of time. Turns out, that’s not true at all. Leaders who value efficiency over empathy tend to sacrifice investing time in relationships with their team members. The result? Ironically, team efficiency is negatively impacted. Why? Because team members who don’t have close relationships with their …

Building resilience in the workplace

Karen Rayner June 10, 2020 Health & Safety, Leadership, Wellness Leave a Comment

Resilience is the ability to adapt and recover – to bounce back – following a challenge or problem. Resilient people respond well to a changing environment, deal with obstacles and move on quickly. Resilient companies do the same. As we work on ways to cope with the impact of Covid-19, it’s the perfect time to ask: how do we build resilience at work? Why is workplace resilience important? You can’t plan for everything. Take workplace health and safety as an example. The traditional approach is to analyse possible emergencies, threats and hazards, and to document the things people need to …

Launching in lockdown: Genesis

Karen Rayner April 16, 2020 Engagement, Feedback, Leadership, Wellness Leave a Comment

The world’s changed a lot since we first started working with Emma-Kate Greer and Tamara Sallis from Genesis, an energy company in New Zealand. Genesis has over 1,000 employees spread across the country in a wide range of roles including retail, wholesale operations, delivery and customer service. It’s an essential service provider, so work continues for the Genesis team even under lockdown conditions – the electricity must flow. This week Emma-Kate and Tamara launched Joyous across Genesis, and used the launch as an opportunity to send Covid-19 check-in questions to the entire team. So to see how well the launch …

A simple approach to difficult conversations

Ruby Kolesky February 24, 2020 Employee experience, Feedback, Leadership Leave a Comment

About two years into my career as an engineering team leader I had to have a difficult conversation. The conversation was with Connor (not his real name), a junior engineer, who had recently joined our team. Connor was consistently arriving to work late, taking long lunches, and leaving early. As his team lead I knew that I needed to talk to him, so I arranged a meeting: difficult conversations should always take place in person. Not long before this, I had attended a leadership training course lead by Nick Reid, from Training for Change. So, I used the SCORE approach …

The end of heroes

Michael Carden February 12, 2020 Leadership Leave a Comment

Set a goal so big that your company cannot possibly achieve it alone. At Joyous our goal is to make life better for working people. Why? Firstly, because it’s important. People spend a huge part of their lives at work. The emotional and physical impact of work extends well outside of work hours. If you work in HR, and you want to solve the biggest problem in HR, solve that one. Make life better for working people. Secondly, it is a goal so big that we at Joyous cannot achieve it alone. Which is a very good thing, because it forces …

A hard truth about employee engagement

Jason Lauritsen July 16, 2019 Employee experience, Engagement, Leadership 1 Comment

There was a point in my career, probably 18 or 20 years or so ago, that I would have argued vehemently that creating a workplace culture that engages employees was vital to sustaining a profitable business. I believed in my heart that it was an imperative. At the time, I was an HR leader working at an organization where my CEO really believed (and invested) in the value of people not only as employees but as human beings with lives beyond work. For me, it was the perfect place to practice HR. While my CEO was pragmatic in how he …

CQ: finding culturally intelligent leaders

Laura-Jane Booker July 3, 2019 Diversity & inclusion, Leadership Leave a Comment

For a brief introduction to Cultural Intelligence (CQ) please read the first article in this series: Leading diverse teams: the importance of cultural intelligence. Given the growing multi-cultural nature of today’s global business world, it is crucial to develop culturally intelligent leaders. These are leaders who capitalise on the differing opinions, ideas, and tactics that diverse people and teams offer. It is one thing to have a diverse team with differing backgrounds and experiences, but actually using those differences effectively is another thing entirely. Where do you find high CQ leaders? You’ll be delighted to know that CQ is a …

#EX18 Initiative of the Year: Lightspeed Graphics

Samantha Gadd March 18, 2019 Employee experience, Leadership, Wellness Leave a Comment

“The benefit of entering the awards is that it’s like a disciplined review – it enables you to pause and reflect on the programme with your team on how it’s all working.” Steve Martin, Lightspeed Graphics Lightspeed Graphics’ Operations Director, Steve Martin, said they were ‘over the moon’ when they first heard their name announced as winners of the EX Initiative of the Year at the Humankind Employee Experience Awards, EX18, in November. Because they are a relatively young company (they’re just about to celebrate their 2nd birthday), and they are in a highly competitive industry, winning an award like …

Using eNPS as an indicator of engagement

Kai Crow December 11, 2018 Employee experience, Engagement, Feedback, Leadership Leave a Comment

Employee NPS (eNPS) is based on Net Promoter Score® (NPS™) by Bain & Company, Satmetrix Systems, Inc., and Fred Reichheld. It’s commonly used as a quick indicator of employee engagement because engaged (and loyal) employees are more likely to recommend their workplace. NPS recap NPS measures customer loyalty by asking: ‘How likely are you to recommend this company to a friend or relative?’ The idea is that loyal customers believe so strongly in the company they’re recommending that they’re willing to put their reputation on the line for it. Friends and relatives are typically the people we feel most strongly …

[Infographic] 6 effective leadership styles

Laura-Jane Booker November 30, 2018 Employee experience, Engagement, Leadership, Motivation Leave a Comment

Leadership style can make or break the success of an organisation, team, or project. While different leadership styles suit different situations, effective styles share one common trait – emotional intelligence (EQ). Daniel Goleman (an EQ expert) proposed that there are 6 effective leadership styles, each stemming from 4 key EQ competencies: self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, and social skills. Coercive/Commanding Lead by force Climate influence: This style has a negative impact on the climate and demotivates employees as it eliminates the opportunity for new ideas, reduces accountability for performance, and destroys the rewards system. Of the 6 styles, coercive is the …

Leading diverse teams: the importance of cultural intelligence

Laura-Jane Booker November 6, 2018 Diversity & inclusion, Engagement, Leadership 2 Comments

So you’ve probably heard about emotional intelligence (EQ), a key tool in a leader’s toolkit. But what have you heard of cultural intelligence (CQ)? It’s equally important but it’s a largely unrecognised leadership tool. For those unfamiliar with the concept, here’s what you need to know: Components of cultural intelligence CQ is a person’s capability for successful adaptation to new cultural settings. Leaders with high CQ are culturally competent and have the skills, attitude, and behaviours to function and manage effectively in culturally diverse settings. CQ consists of 4 components. Leaders with high CQ will possess all 4 components. Cognitive …

How effective leaders get results

Laura-Jane Booker October 10, 2018 Employee experience, Engagement, Leadership Leave a Comment

Leaders need to get results: whether revenue growth, return on sales, efficiency, profitability, employee satisfaction, or employee engagement. Quite the task! So how on earth do leaders do it? One way is by influencing the organisation’s climate, which can account for a third of an organisation’s financial performance. How? Glad you asked! Six ways leaders can influence organisational climate Permit Flexibility – give employees the freedom to experiment and take calculated risks to achieve goals without unnecessary restrictions and micromanaging. Flexibility promotes creativity, innovation, and accountability over one’s work. Create Responsibility – give employees control over their own work to …

The plight of the alpha female: why women say they prefer working for men

Sandy Burgham September 26, 2018 Diversity & inclusion, Leadership, Organizational culture 3 Comments

Recently a colleague was relaying a conversation she’d had with another woman regarding how they both prefer working for male CEOs. She and her friend had both experienced working for male and female bosses. “We were just saying that female CEOs are always having to prove themselves… the trouble with alpha females …… they have something to prove …and they show their insecurity” she bemoaned. While I like to think I am a good listening ear, I cut her short. In fact, to be honest, I might have even talked over her and started womansplaining what was going on. Over …