Suggestions for Making Your Holidays Happy

There are two short work weeks ahead as many companies close on December 24 & 25 as well as December 31 & January 1st for the Christmas and New Year’s Holidays.    School systems and courtrooms are essentially non-operational for these two weeks.   You may be getting the final items on your gift lists, packing luggage to travel or preparing to host several family members.   The holidays can get stressful when the “to do list” feels overwhelming, yet this time of year can be full of treasure.  Don’t hesitate to self-care while you are actively involved in the midst of giving to others.

Here are a few possibilities to enjoy the holidays… if one applies, utilize the suggestions:

• Embrace the spiritual nature of the holidays; if you are not faith-based, revel in a greater communal spirit that is present or intended when people wish you a joyful holiday, Happy Hanukkah, Happy Kwanzaa, or Merry Christmas.
• As you finish your shopping list, get a pedicure or a massage to ease your muscle tension.
• Enjoy sleeping in at least two mornings of your holiday break.
• Volunteer at a shelter or participate in the serving or cleaning up of a meal catered to those who may be homeless or struggling to make financial ends meet.
• If you are traveling to visit with family or your in-laws, spend 1:1 time with your favorite relative or a close friend who lives in the area to unwind… and maybe confide if need be. 
• Remember to pack a book you’ve been wanting to read or plan to attend a movie you can’t wait to view (there have been at least $100 Million in pre-sales for Star Wars 7).  
• If you’ve been banished to a guest room with single beds, find time to cuddle with your sweetheart during daytime hours.
• Recognize you may add a couple of pounds to your body weight when you are enjoying the talents of friends and family who love to bake or cook.   Set aside time for physical activity each day to combat significant weight gain during the holidays.
•  Don’t focus on finding the perfect gift; enjoy the gratitude expressed when someone thanks you for the effort to choose her/his gift.
• If you remain in the Lauderdale area, sink your toes in the sand for a beach day.

Thanks to my clients for entrusting me with your concerns.  Wishing each one of you a joyful holiday!

The Benefits of Perseverance

Patience may be a virtue, but perseverance is a trait to strive for.  A working definition of perseverance is being steadfast with my personal actions in spite of difficulty or delay in achieving success.   Perseverance requires staying the course and holding true to my values and beliefs while facing challenges.  

The front page, the entertainment page and the sports page have some great examples of perseverance from the past month in particular.   Let’s start with the front page… Bernie Sanders and Carly Fiorina with their pursuit of presidential nomination from their respective political parties.  Despite very low poll numbers at the beginning of the presidential campaigns, both candidates have been slowly climbing in the polls despite initial reviews from pundits that their campaigns would never generate serious consideration for the Party nomination.  Sanders is attracting huge crowds as he traverses the country while Fiorina has shined in each Republican Party debate and quadrupled her support in polls.

The sports page:   Roberta Vinci.   Told by her doubles’ partner that she was concentrating on singles (they had been the world’s top ranked doubles team for three years), Vinci found herself ranked at 29th in the world and a huge underdog to Serena Williams for their match at the US Open.   After losing the first set, Vinci told herself, “Have fun, keep the ball in play and run, run and run.”  She won the next two sets, and her victory over Williams is considered one of the greatest upsets of all-time in Women’s tennis

The Entertainment Section:  Jon Hamm.  Nominated for the eighth time as the lead character Don Draper from the TV series Mad Men, he received a standing ovation from the audience when Tina Fay announced Hamm had won his first Emmy.   Hamm’s early life was somewhat similar to the character he portrayed as Hamm lived with surrogate parents from the age of ten when his mother passed away.  After college graduation and a one year stint teaching at his high school alma mater, Hamm spent a decade in Los Angeles working as a set decorator and waiting tables to earn income until he finally was winning larger acting roles.

I have enjoyed working with clients that demonstrate perseverance in a variety of circumstances.  One client had been conflicted about terminating his long-term relationship because his partner was using crystal meth.   The client remained in love with his partner, but upset at the friction created whenever the partner was under the influence.   The client learned to distinguish his responses between those that were co-dependent, reinforcing the drug use, and were interdependent, that focused on supporting the relationship and partner’s attempts to reduce and eventually cease using.   The couple is now enjoying the benefits of a sober home life.

A client in his twenties had been working for a small company of about 75 employees since he arrived as an intern five years ago.   During his tenure, he had been promoted to a project manager function which required long hours and consistently responding to customer complaints.   He was informed that he could not grow further because the Department Manager positions were filled, and struggled whether to pursue other options.   He received an offer from a Fortune 1000 company and now has a salary and benefits such that his wife is able to stay at home with their two young children rather than enroll them in day care while she also returns to the workforce.      

The most heartwarming example of perseverance is related to parents who learned that their elementary school aged child had academic challenges related to comprehension and contemplated repeating a school year.   The parents openly communicated with the child’s teachers about school performance, and they diligently spent time reading books with the child and investing in software designed to improve the child’s comprehension and retention abilities.   The child has now entered middle school in mainstream classes and typically brings home A’s and B’s in almost all of his classes and assignments.  

Life can throw curveballs our way.   Learning to persevere against challenges takes resiliency and often results in happiness and satisfaction.

For Employers: Help for a Struggling Employee

Imagine that you enter your office one morning to find your CFO informing you that the company safe was depleted overnight by more than $100,000 cash without any explanation.    Most leaders would be auditing their books immediately as well as collaborating with their security team or the local police to determine how the money was stolen as well as how to recover it.   Sadly, when a valued employee ends her/his tenure at a company, there is not a similar level of investigation, but simply an internet posting to replace the position 

The Society of Human Resource Management (SHRM) cites employee turnover typically costs an organization about 150% of the departing employee’s base salary to effectively replace the position.   Why so much for turnover as compared to the cost ($10K - $20K) for hiring an employee for a new position?  The costs of departing employees includes temporary labor, replacement training, management staff time coping with the changes, lost revenue and lost customers whose connection to your organization was tied to their relationship with the departing employee.  The company will be adversely affected briefly while re-assigning duties for the departing employee during the recruitment process and followed by three to six months for the new hire to assimilate to the functions of the job.

So why do employees leave?   Many persons incorrectly assume it was a matter of pay.   A famous scene from Mad Men occurs when Don Draper’s protégé Peggy Olsen is seeking recognition, mentoring and autonomy, but he incorrectly presumes financial reasons and attempts to resolve the dilemma by stating, “That’s what the money is for.”   Compensation is often listed near the bottom of the top ten reasons that an employee remains with her/his organization.

Kim Ruyle, Inventive Talent Consulting, emphasizes that employee engagement is a mindset in which employees take personal stakeholder responsibility for the success of the organization and apply discretionary effort aligned with its goals. If you want to retain employees, engage them!

Numerous studies cite the key to employee retention is the relationship between the employee and the employee’s manager.  Employees who perceive loyalty FROM their immediate supervisor are usually aligned with company mission, dutifully complete assigned tasks, and inform managers of problems to mutually solve.

Marcus Buckingham and Curt Coffman, the authors of First Break the Rules, challenge great managers to spend more time with their best employees.   Too many managers focus their time on their least productive people rationalizing that mindset with the belief that struggling employees need instruction and control.  The underlying message becomes “the better your performance becomes, the less time and attention you will receive from me, your manager.”  

Great managers learn from their most proficient employees, gather their feedback to customize team policies and procedures, and showcase their employee’s talents to other senior leadership. Occasionally, a long-term valued employee will encounter a personal or professional challenge which is adversely affecting the employee’s performance.  A guiding principle of an Employee Assistance Program (EAP) is to provide short-term consultation from an expert clinician or Organizational Development specialist to address the reasons for the work challenges and then identify specific objectives to overcome the work challenges and resume expected performance outcomes.   For small business owners who have not included an EAP within their benefit structure, Management Consultations often cost a few hundred dollars, which is a great Return on Investment, compared to the replacement costs cited above.

Sharon Armstrong, author of The Essential Performance Review Handbook, notes that happy employees are ones who stay with a company for an extended period, and that saves time and money.   Are you ensuring that your employees are likely to be retained by emphasizing quality managerial skills to increase your financial bottom line?