Workplace

How a sense of Purpose impacts Job Satisfaction

November 13, 2019 by Michelle Ray

Have you considered the importance of linking your organizational vision to the meaning and value of all job functions? One of the most important things that we need to realize is this new reality: As far as today’s workforce is concerned, there is a direct correlation between job satisfaction and purpose. Not only does the work need to feel purposeful to your employees, it needs to be evident that there is a connection between day-to-day tasks and the big picture. When people can see the relationship between their contribution and your overall mission, engagement levels and job satisfaction are likely to increase significantly. This will positively influence your workplace culture and your business.

Leadership needs to establish clear direction and purpose. This is a key consideration for career seekers and an expectation for today’s workforce, as well as those coming into the workplace in the next five years. Employers should be cognizant of their influence when establishing and articulating the vision. The concept of clarifying values and the organizational mission… what are we doing, why are we doing it? What’s the purpose of it? How does this work matter? How does this work matter in the world, not only in our immediate community. Therefore, if we want to have a team that is highly satisfied and very engaged in what they’re doing, then being aware of what we do and why we do it and how meaningful it is will make a huge difference in keeping our workforce happy and satisfied.

This article is a transcript of https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vOyQyyLy18M&feature=youtu.be on YouTube.

Michelle Ray (Twitter) is one of the best international leadership keynote speakers in Vancouver. She helps you discover your potential through presentations, coaching and consulting. With over 20 years of experience Michelle has worked with hundreds of companies around the world. She is taking bookings for speaking engagements and can be contacted at MichelleRay.com

Authentic Leadership and the difference between Hearing and Listening

October 30, 2019 by Michelle Ray

How often have you found yourself in a conversation with a leader or manager where you are not being heard? There’s probably nothing more unattractive, in my view, than a leader who lacks the capacity to listen. And listening and hearing are two very different things.

An authentic leader is always paying attention, doing a lot less talking and a lot more listening. Interestingly, the capacity to listen also means that someone may share a viewpoint that is very different to yours. In these situations, great listeners to not react. They recognize and acknowledge, either verbally or through positive non-verbal cues, that they have heard the other person. When you possess the ability to listen to that viewpoint, even if it is different, it can be advantageous in your relationship dynamic to let that person know that you want to hear more about an opinion that’s different to yours. For example, you may ask: “tell me more about your perspective”, or “I would like to understand more about your point of view”, even if you disagree. You can expand on these types of questions by feeding back what was said, keeping in mind that your intention is to show genuine interest, rather than react to the other person’s opinion.

Perhaps we don’t give daily consideration to these examples of authentic listening. However, when you do find yourself in a situation where there’s a roomful of people who do have different opinions to you, the concepts of listening to understand, rather than refute, as well as the difference between hearing and listening may serve you well in the future. An individual’s capacity to genuinely listen is an attractive character trait. In addition, it is worthwhile keeping in mind that the same letters that are in the word listen are also in the word silent.

This article is a transcript of https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-lfpDIL0PfM&feature=youtu.be on YouTube.

Personal Transparency and Successful Leadership

September 25, 2019 by Michelle Ray

In so many situations where I’ve found myself meeting leaders, working with leaders, I would say that probably one of the biggest struggles that they encounter is this question of how transparent should I be? How much should I reveal about myself?

I believe that transparency doesn’t mean that we reveal every single detail about our lives but it’s about consistency and being that person at work that is the same as that person at home and when you’re transparent, you’re very comfortable within your own skin. You’re willing to practice humility, you’re okay with admitting when you’ve made a mistake and that persona is something that is very genuine and again it’s another trait of authentic leadership because people can feel that you’re open to talk about anything.

And you’re open to be candid about times where things might not have gone so well for you, whatever time that might have been in your career and again, it’s just revealing that part of yourself that humanizes the relationship and please remember, that’s what people are craving from you. They wanna be able to feel that they can talk to you and connect with you and you will achieve that when you remember the importance of being transparent as a leader.

This article is a transcript of https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1qiY64IHgGg&feature=youtu.be on YouTube.

Predictors of Job Satisfaction and your Leadership performance

September 4, 2019 by Michelle Ray

One of the most talked about topics is the idea of looking at the predictors of job satisfaction.

So what are those predictors? Well one of them that comes to mind immediately is, of course, who is the leader? Because we want to be happy with where we’re working, and we want to be working with a leader who really shows that they care. Again, if we find ourselves in a situation where the leader is not helpful or keeping us engaged or showing interest in what we’re doing, it naturally leads to us feeling disaffected and disconnected to our work.

So one of the most important things that every organization needs to do is think about who is in that leadership role and how that contributes to the job satisfaction and the success of each team member because they have such an impact, and this happens especially when you have a lot of contact with your team members.

So it’s very important to realize that your role as a leader is gonna make a difference in terms of people feeling happy, productive, and satisfied in everything they do at work.

This article is a transcript of https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=USt0WLyNIgY&feature=youtu.be on YouTube.

Self-awareness in Authentic Leadership

August 28, 2019 by Michelle Ray

So, as a leader, one of the most important things that we want to keep in mind is how people are evaluating our behavior, they’re evaluating how we come across, and everything is based on perception.

So, if you wanna be seen as the authentic leader, the person who is genuinely communicating with their team, genuinely communicating and showing that you care, then it’s very important for you to be self-aware and understand that when you are interacting with others, what kind of state of mind are you in?

What is your emotional state in that moment, when you make the decision to connect with one of your team members, when you’re sharing some news with them. When they come to talk to you about a problem that they might be experiencing, it’s so important to be conscious of how you’re coming across, to be mindful that there’s a time and a place for everything.

And if you’re in a state where you’ve got so much on your mind and one particular time of the day might not be the best for having a very important conversation about business or about the performance of a team member, remember it all starts with your level of acuity, your self-awareness.

This article is a transcript of https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=40MYQce3hjE&feature=youtu.be on YouTube.

Why leaders need to stay Focused on Long Term Results

August 21, 2019 by Michelle Ray

Are you a leader who cares about long-term results? And when I say long-term results, I’m not just talking about the bottom line and having a healthy bottom line. I’m talking about being a leader who really takes the time and recognizes that effort and hard work that goes into achieving great results, that it’s okay to have setbacks.

It’s okay to make mistakes, and it’s okay to not just be checking all the boxes to see whether or not you’re covering what needs to be done but also that you have your eye on the future, that you’re conscious of being that visionary and that it’s okay if, perhaps, you don’t necessarily have the results you want in the short term but that all those setbacks will ultimately lead to an extraordinary long-term payoff, and it may not necessarily only be profitability.

It can be the way that your team responds to you, that they feel a part of the culture, and this is all because long-term results are also associated with building trust. We can’t automatically get our team to trust us. It takes time for them to really genuinely believe you as a leader. So all of that will pay huge dividends as long as you are focused on being the absolute best that you can be, the best genuine, caring, authentic leader that you can be.

This article is a transcript of https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VSPCIwiKX2g&feature=youtu.be on YouTube.

Integrity is the key to Authentic Leadership

July 31, 2019 by Michelle Ray

Integrity is definitely one of my favorite words.

If you possess this quality, you are an authentic leader because people can see that you are true to your word. You shoot from the hip. You say it the way it is. You are a person who means what you say and people get that feeling from you. You’re not giving platitudes for the sake of giving platitudes. You are trustworthy. You really are a person who is a person of your word and I don’t know how many leaders I have had in my life who have possessed this quality but, when they do, it’s really easy to work for a person who possesses a high level of integrity because it’s very attractive.

It’s something that I felt very comfortable with and I know that for you as a leader, your team are gonna feel more and more comfortable with you when they can see that you are genuine and that you are consistently practicing integrity in all of your interactions. Be the authentic leader who practices integrity.

This article is a transcript of https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7dzhH0pOwY0&feature=youtu.be on YouTube.

Lead with the Heart

July 10, 2019 by Michelle Ray

This article is a transcript of https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-N0huZf8w28&feature=youtu.be on YouTube.

Why diversity and inclusion matters in the workplace

June 19, 2019 by Michelle Ray

We do live in a world that is so rich with cultural experiences, with people who are traveling the globe, and are seeking these experiences. And it’s important to understand that when it comes to how people are seeing the world outside of work, how they are seeing the world within the workplace, that really, that delineation is becoming less evident.

In other words, inclusiveness matters whether we are not working or whether we are around our colleagues. We want to have these rich experiences. It’s important to give workers the opportunity to see different sides of the world. And that is all about what’s going on in your workplace, not necessarily outside of your workplace.

You see, people want these experiences, and they’re expecting it. And especially when you think about the generations coming into the work force, it really matters to them to be a part of a workplace that celebrates diversity and inclusion, and as I said at the outset, where there will be a time where we will no longer need to identify it as a topic and a necessity. It’ll be a matter of course.

This article is a transcript of https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UbLnFz7Db8w&feature=youtu.be on YouTube.

Workplace

Footer

Head Office