Creativity at its Finest: Why Creative Leaders Benefit the Workplace
Leaders are visionaries—they are passionate about their beliefs, they set clear goals to be achieved, and they never give up on their desires, even if completed in unconventional ways. We have witnessed creative leaders throughout history; look at Steve Jobs and the way he changed technology, Ghandi and his nonviolent approach to human conflict, The Beatles and their rock music that challenged the mainstream. All these leaders were innovative and wanted to make a change in their respective industries.
When we look at creative leaders in the past, we remember how and what they did to achieve their dreams. All these creative individuals gained popularity by igniting a spark in others; these leaders knew how to speak to a person’s soul rather than blatantly sale their mission. People felt personally connected with or intrigued by their words and ideas because these leaders defied the ordinary.
There are commonalities when we look at past leaders deemed as creative: they all provided a clear message of ideas, they essentially created the persona of an expert to their supporters, and they were able to maintain a dedicated and steady audience.
A growing issue in businesses and organizations today is employee retention. How do businesses keep their employees engaged and interested in their company? If we compare creative leaders with ordinary business leaders, we can see that the same tactics in the former works for the latter—being passionate goes a long way. It is believed that creative leaders have the ability to build teams, build collaborative work environments and provide the motivation to allow employees to think outside the box and take risks at work. This new concept is called, “Creative Intelligence.”
Statistics compiled by The Corporate Executive Board Company states that small businesses suffer greatly from their quality of labor because “replacing one person on a small team could be equivalent to replacing 10% or 20% of the workforce,” which makes employee retention very important for these businesses.
Business leaders must have a clear mission and know what kind of employee they wish to seek who will also fit well into their company culture. If they can not establish a clear message as to what they want represented, then why would anyone want to represent them? In this day and age, people are more motivated to do work for companies they believe in, so wouldn’t executive leaders want to find the perfect candidate who strives to make the company better? One way business leaders can do this is via assessment tools, which screens prospective candidates by using various tests to determine their skill levels and overall work ethic.
Progressive leaders should strive to use Creative Intelligence in the workplace. Their employees will be more engaged in their work and satisfied. Retention will be reduced and bottom line number will grow.
*e-VentExe is a full service Human Resource consulting firm that specializes in HR compliance, policy development, employee retention, training and development and assessment tools.
ElderCare Crisis in the Work Force?
This month’s guest blog is brought to you by Stuart Furman, President of the Southern California Legal Center! Stuart’s law practice focuses on elder law issues and safe solutions for estate planning and long-term care. Contact Stuart at sfurman@socallegalcenter.com.
I now have two jobs. Work and Caregiver.
My family does not have some divine exemption from becoming a caregiver for parents. I am 56 years old and my wife is 63. We along with my two siblings are providing caregiving services for three remaining parents. Does it affect my work? Does it affect all of our work and personal lives? You bet it does! Will caregiving affect your company’s employees? You bet it will!
The numbers of working caregivers is rising hyperbolically. About 25% of the baby boomers are currently caregiving for their parents in some form. Due to increased life expectancies, it is more common for employees to have to care for parents than in the past. This typically rears its head around age 50 as their parent(s) would then generally be in their 70s or older.
There are significant studies published that indicate the dollar cost to a company in lost productivity of full time working elder caregivers averages $2,211 per employee per year (between &17.1 and $33.6 BILLION per year). Also consider costs due to employees losing focus, undue stress and strain on a marriage and relationships with kids, and even the loss of home time to just relax and recharge.
Is this significant enough that companies and HR departments need to aggressively address this phenomenon?
The answer is simple…YES.
What does this mean for your company?
A substantial percentage of your company’s workforce is already providing ElderCare to their parent(s). This care is emotionally and physically draining and causes a whole buffet of side effects, including loss of concentration when at work, frequent workday interruptions, higher employee turnover, increased use of Family Leave Act for the time off, conversions from full-time to part-time employee status, valued employees quitting to become full time caregivers, and much more. Consider liability exposure due to the work of a less than attentive employee. This is compounded by the increase in personal stress, which can cause an increase in illnesses and use of more health care benefits.
By NOT addressing these eldercare issues in the workplace there IS a clear correlation to your company’s bottom line.
Proactive HR
For an HR department, it is in the best interest of the company to have the employees, and your company, NOT FEAR the ElderCare role but rather BE READY AND PREPARED FOR IT. The ElderCare need will occur, it is only a question of when, for how long, and how much it will cost your company by not aggressively addressing this issue.
When we work with HR departments to institute ElderCare Crisis programs addressing employees as caregivers, the effects of such caregiving on the company can be reduced. There is comfort and a sense of solace with the employees in understanding what is ahead of them and that there are answers and help. Notwithstanding that there are no laws directly requiring organizations to have ElderCare programs in place, the economics of failing to address this problem mandates implementation of a program to address the employee ElderCare tsunami.
In concert with other programs that assist employees, we provide the tools for your employees to navigate the ElderCare challenges.
I look forward to talking with you about how to manage this impeding crisis and how to effectively manage it.
FOMO at the Workplace
Fear is an emotion almost everyone feels. Common phobias include fear of heights or spiders, but what about fear of missing out, otherwise known as FOMO. We all know someone who suffers from it and needs to be constantly in the loop at all times. Although FOMO has been in the mainstream through social media with people updating statuses and posting photos of activities and events, many experience FOMO at a young age. For example, as a child were you ever scared of falling asleep before the clock struck midnight on New Year’s Eve? Let’s fast-forward a few decades when you entered the workforce—have you ever had a manager who exhibited FOMO at the workplace? Or an employee who is constantly on his/her cell phone or texting or facebooking or tweeting or blogging at work?
FOMO is not only limited to social media outlets, it can also be found in businesses and organizations. There are those managers who live for their job; they do not want to miss any aspect of their project because they were assigned or better yet, created the assignment. They treat their project as though it were their child: they want to be the only one who provides nurturing and is solely responsible for its development. They juggle many projects at once and wear many hats within the company because they fear someone may do it wrong, or they may simply want to feel superior. These individuals may be categorized as perfectionists, strong-minded, or hardworking. However, in pejorative terms, they can also be seen as egotistical, power-hungry, or greedy.
How does having FOMO in the workplace affect leaders and the overall morale of the company? When leaders designate too much responsibility on themselves, stress levels soar. They must delegate tasks and assignments to others. This will not only be beneficial for their well-being, but it will also positively enhance their leadership style and allow their employees to contribute and learn via practical and physical engagement. The employees’ will feel more motivated to work, which in turn increases productivity and overall capital growth.
We can compare this type of leader with the one who does too little. Think of the CEO who only wants to have fun at all times and attend retreats and trips. Sure, these leaders have paid their dues, but having a lax leader can leave a company running astray in multiple directions. Leaders strive to be the very best, but when FOMO ensues, it’s a different story. Be that “superstar” leader others admire as depicted in the Manager’s Oath (check it out here: http://thehumanbalance.com/2013/06/13/from-scout-to-manager-the-managers-oath/)!
Turning away from leadership roles, we can also see employees exhibiting FOMO. Email and technology are ingrained in our culture; emails and the internet can easily be assessable via smart phones. You may have witnessed a co-worker in a meeting who is constantly on his/her phone (or the culvert may be you!) checking emails or browsing the internet. And why do employees do this: it is because they want to know what is happening outside of their workplace and they do not want to miss out on anything.
Sure, some can say they are being more productive by multitasking, but that brings us back to the point mentioned above of putting too many things on one’s plate. If anything, it may be more of a cost than a gain—employees distract themselves by checking their phones rather than actually completing projects.
FOMO can happen in all forms. It starts at a young age and affects us throughout our lives. Everyone has some form of FOMO here and there, but if we just stop what we’re doing and live in the moment, then FOMO wouldn’t be such an issue.
If one of your leaders and/or employees is experiencing FOMO and there is no help, consider leadership/team training and programs. After all, a company is as only good as their management.
*e-VentExe offers HR Outsourcing, employee training and development programs geared towards the company’s needs.
Successful Business Leaders Share One Purpose
Every successful business leader has one single-minded purpose, create customers.
Businesses aren’t born until they create customers;
they die when they stop.
I love writing about the qualities and behaviors of effective leaders. But, all the clarity, alignment, collaboration, and vision in the world won’t mean a thing if you don’t create customers.
Peter Drucker said,
“The purpose of business is to create a customer.”
Danger:
Internally focused leaders are worse than useless, they’re destructive, when they lose touch with creating customers. Process improvement is futile, for example, if you aren’t creating customers.
Leaders who don’t spend personal time with potential customers inevitably lose touch with the purpose of business.
Leaders don’t drive business, prospective customers do.
Connect:
When was the last time you spent time with potential customers? I’m not talking about customer surveys.
When was the last time you –
- Had coffee with a potential customer, not…
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