Employee Engagement | Full Sail Leadership Academy

Connecting Company Vision with Employee Passion

5 min read

A child’s first word may be “mama.” Or “dada.” But it doesn’t take long until their favorite word is “no.” When that phase is done, many children love the next word: “why?”

Why’s that?

Ingrained deep in the fabric of human nature is a quest for meaning. A child asks “why” when they are told to look both ways before crossing the street.

A teenager asks “why” when they are told they can’t have access to certain types of social media.

During our workshops, we get asked “why” as we explain the roles of each crew member and how the crew must work together.

Your employees also ask “why.” Though, perhaps not directly.

They ask “why” through the level of their engagement – and disengagement. Both in their work and relationships with coworkers. Including their boss.

We live in a day where people ask “why” as they leave their jobs in historic numbers. Healthy leaders cannot afford to ignore this question.

It provides a remarkable opportunity.

Do you know if your employees understand why their job matters? That is, beyond paying bills and making ends meet.

Do they know why their work matters in the big picture? How does what they are doing bring meaning to their lives and goodness into the world?

The health – and success – of your business hinges on this question.

Vision Leaks out of the Workplace

One of the silent killers of all businesses is low employee engagement. We have found that a lack of engagement leads to a decrease in production, an increase in absenteeism, and overall negativity in the office culture.

How can you cultivate engagement on your team?

There is no one answer. At least, no one constant solution for all employees at all times. The currents change. The wind blows in different directions.

You have to care about your employees. Listen to them. Create a disarming culture through your vulnerability.

As Ron McMillan said in the book, Crucial Conversations,

“Respect is like air. As long as it’s present, nobody thinks about it. But if you take it away, it’s all that people can think about. The instant people perceive disrespect in a conversation, the interaction is no longer about the original purpose—it is now about defending dignity.”

But let’s assume that you have cultivated a culture of respect. What else can you do to increase employee engagement?

Consider a sailboat. You can have the sails up trimmed just right and all the other elements of the boat in place. But how far do you think you’ll sail if there are holes in the bottom of your boat?

Not far.

Why?

Because a boat that has major leaks can’t sail.

Just like a business. But when it comes to business, wise leaders must understand – vision leaks.

An employee’s child gets the flu – a little vision leaks.

A conflict comes up between coworkers – a little vision leaks.

An accident has traffic backed up on the way to the office – a little vision leaks.

All these factors – and more – cause vision to leak. As vision leaks, engagement decreases. When employees aren’t engaged, the bottom line suffers. The ship can even start to sink.

Casting Vision that Connects with the Heart

In our decades of experience, we’ve seen this repeatedly. We’ve felt it personally. Many companies struggle, not because they offer poor service or products, but because they don’t know how to plug the holes.

Too many employees feel like replaceable cogs in a machine instead of like meaningful crew members.

If this only impacted a company’s bottom line, that would be bad enough. But at Full Sail Leadership Academy, we view work as one component of the greater whole of people’s lives.

We are committed to making the world a better place by making workplaces better.

Vision for a Better Workplace

As the ancient proverb says, “without vision, the people perish.” Displaying your mission statement on the wall can help stop some vision from leaking. Printing it on the back of a business card may be beneficial.

But that won’t plug the holes that keep coming. Your employees need more. They deserve more. You can offer more. We can help.

Casting vision is inviting your employees into something transcendent. It’s connecting their intrinsic motivations with the mission of your company.

It’s about the specific role they have in making the world a better place every time they clock in. And that gives meaning to the place where they spend most of their time – the workplace.

We have tailor-made our workshops to help you achieve this goal. Our expert facilitators come alongside you to help clarify the vision for your company.

We create the space you need to jump into meaningful teambuilding experiences with your crew – on our sailboats.

As meaningful as all of this can be, we have found that it’s often not enough. So we developed a follow-up system to walk with you to ensure that you know how to plug the holes that threaten your ship.

The question is not if vision will leak. But – when? Where? How much?

Vision for a Better World

As a leader in your organization, you are in a remarkable position. With the right tools, coaching, and support, you can steward your platform to make the world a better place. Not just your workplace.

By caring enough about your employees to know how to connect their intrinsic desires to your company’s mission, you can take your company to another level.

More importantly, the people on your team will be more motivated and energized to engage in all of life – making the world a better place.

Currents will change. Storms will come. Vision will leak. Employee engagement will waver.

As the captain of your ship, will you make the investment necessary to sail through these seas?

Take the Next Step

Are you ready to take the next step? Reach out today for a free consultation and learn how we can come alongside you.

We have also developed a free e-book on steward leadership you can download.

If you’re ready to dive in, you can sign up for one of our workshops today. When you do, we will work together to make the world a better place by making workplaces better.

May 11, 2022/by Tim Dittloff

Can You Hear Me Now?

Employee Engagement, Team Building

4 min read

Great leaders are often heralded for their public skills. Speaking. Writing. Vision casting. Innovation. All of these are good and necessary.

Yet we all know that they aren’t enough. Just like Katherine famously told Jack in the Broadway play, The Newsies.

“Being a boss doesn’t mean you have all the answers, just the brain to recognize the right one when you hear it.”

In the third installment of our Current Leadership series, we’re going to let the boat rest on the waters and consider how we can listen to our crew and hear the right answers.

Healthy Leaders Care About Their Employees

Nothing can replace caring about your crew. According to a recent study done by MIT, the number one reason for the Great Resignation isn’t about a paycheck.

It’s because of toxic cultures in the workplace.

The best leadership and listening techniques in the world, if not paired with authentic care for others, are manipulation at best. Employees feel that. And they are jumping ship.

When leaders don’t listen, everyone loses. This is why the reality TV series Undercover Boss resonated so deeply with so many.

Each episode had a different, successful boss go “undercover” and work with the regular employees. This experience transformed the boss’ perspective.

Employees were not only humanized, they often demonstrated wisdom and perspective beyond what the boss could see.

As a leader, you need to keep your eyes on the horizon. You have to hold in tension the goals of the company with the needs of the crew. While navigating unforeseen storms and obstacles.

This is why one of the greatest advantages you can give yourself as a leader is listening to your crew. You’re limited. You cannot see or know it all.

But when you care about your employees, believing that they have something to offer beyond what you can see, then you will want to listen to what others have to offer.

Creating Margin for Health in the Workplace

Listening well involves far more than conversation. Leadership expert, Patrick Lencioni, asserts that healthy teams need to have trust. And trust requires vulnerability.

Your ability and availability to listen will not do any good if your employees don’t feel valued.

Our workshops are an excellent tool to cultivate these qualities in your team.

You may be able to lead with confidence in your field. But are you comfortable following? In front of those you lead? How would you feel if you needed to rely on your team to sail on Lake Michigan?

Can you see how an out-of-the-office, team-building experience like sailing would increase trust, vulnerability, and appreciation on your team?

Our workshop can open a door to meaningful and ongoing communication within your team. This may require you to adjust how you budget your time.

Listening well may be more art than science. At least for a leader. You can have regularly scheduled meetings. Or perhaps “open door” hours.

But we all know that our best ideas don’t come on a predictable schedule. The burst of courage required to share an insight or expose an offense may not happen within the 15 minutes between the meeting reminder and the meeting.

Further, different people process things in different ways. Some of your employees are external processors who will only be able to understand what they think and how they feel while talking.

Others are internal processors. They will need the space to leave a conversation, think about how they feel, and circle back.

As a leader, you need to chart these choppy waters. You need to inspire confidence in your team while the wind is beating against them and waves are breaking over the bow of the organization.

You’ll need to manage your margin. Not just time, but energy. And not just for you, but for your organization.

Successful companies traverse many different seasons. Sometimes the wind fills your sails. At other times, there is no wind at all to drive your team forward.

One of the best ways you can discern the season you’re in is by listening to your crew.

Leading within your limitations

People in general, but leaders in particular, don’t love their limitations. You dream big dreams. Like Jim Collins recommended, you have big, hairy, audacious goals.

Taking the time to listen well can feel like an obstacle to your productivity. Like sailing upwind.

Many leaders are under an enormous amount of pressure. How can you keep profits up, achieve goals, cultivate a healthy workplace, listen to your employees, and maintain a healthy work-life harmony for yourself?

For a ship to sail, many people need to fill different roles. The helmsman can’t also be the bowman. But in order to direct the rest of the crew, the helmsman needs to hear the bowman.

This is no easy task. That’s why we all need a Katherine in our lives from time to time. Not to add more to our plate, but to take something off.

Consider this post and offer the reorienting wake-up call that Katherine gave Jack. Maybe the one you need.

Creating the space to care for your team by listening to them well eventually eases much of the self-imposed pressure you feel.

Employees who know they are cared for don’t jump ship.
Employees who know they are cared for are more engaged.
Employees who know they are cared for perform better.

These intuitive, yet verifiable benefits are accessible to every leader. It doesn’t require innate brilliance or inherited billions. It just requires ears that will listen and a heart that cares.

If you cultivate a culture of care among your crew, good ideas will fill your sails and propel you to the horizon you dream of.

After all, being the boss doesn’t mean you’ve got all the good ideas. It’s just being able to know the right ones when you hear them.

Lets Set Sail Together

The team at Full Sail Leadership Academy is eager to listen to you. We are ready to help you take your team to the next level.

Reach out to us today for a free 30-minute consultation and learn how we can help you sail to a brighter future.

March 8, 2022/by Tim Dittloff

Caring About Others in the Workplace (Going Beyond “Techniques”)

Employee Engagement, Leadership Development

5 min read

Have you ever looked out over the water and it seemed as though it was moving in one direction? Or another? Or maybe switching directions even as you watch?

Water currents don’t work that way. Streams flow in one direction. Even though major bodies of water like Lake Michigan may have a shift in current, the water generally flows in one direction.

The water on the surface can appear to move in one direction while the current underneath pulls in the other. A body of water may appear peaceful on the surface and yet it may have a strong undertow.

You can’t measure the force of a current by the surface alone. You need to know what’s happening in the deeper water.

Amid the Great Resignation, many leaders know they need help to navigate these troubled waters. We understand this anxiety and yet still see opportunity on the horizon.

In the second part of our current leadership series, we’re going to consider one of the most critical competencies for any leader: listening.

But we’re not going to focus on category or technique. An ocean of resources is already available for you on that.

We’re going to ask you to take a vulnerable risk. Will you look beneath the surface of your current listening skills and consider your motives?

Engaging the Heart of Your Employees

The greatest resource in your company is the people. Employees are not tools to be utilized to accomplish a purpose. They are human beings with a full life.

Just as it is for a leader, so it is for a team member. Work may be a crucial part of life, but it’s just one part of a bigger whole.

Do you care about the work-life harmony of the people on your team? When you correct an employee, do you consider how it will impact their relationships outside of work?

When you see an employee settling for being good when you know they could be great – do you factor in what may be going on in their home?

Of course, no leader should try to be the best friend or counselor to everyone on the team. No human being has the capacity for that.

Our question to you is simply this – do you care?

You can be filled with vision and insight, know exactly how to chart a course to success, even navigate choppy and turbulent waters with contagious confidence.

But how deeply do you care about your crew?

Reflect on some of your favorite leaders from your life. Maybe a boss, a teacher, or a coach.

Why did they leave a lasting impression on you? Was it their skill, insight, or humor? Or was it something deeper?

Could you sense that they cared about you? Could you tell that they wanted the best for you?

People will not care what you know until they know that you care.

Leadership Beneath the Surface

This is why mastering leadership techniques can fall short. Active listening. Reflective listening. Patience with silence. All of these skills are good. Necessary, even.

But the motivational current underneath the listening skill will be felt by the team. For better and worse.

That current will influence a culture among the team that will carry it in one direction or another. Regardless of how things look on the surface.

Emotional health, trust, and vulnerability cannot be cultivated by outward skill.

As the captain of a boat, there are times when I need to give commands. Even in rapid order. That’s ok – if my crew knows that I care about them. They’ll be more likely to absorb hard coaching if they know that I have their best interest in mind.

But if I bark out the best orders to chart the safest and most efficient course all the while being irritated or annoyed by my crew, they’ll feel it.

And eventually, they’ll jump ship.

Running with the Wind

Acquiring listening skills is easy. Cultivating emotional health is hard.

At first.

But when you genuinely care about the people in your life, the people on your team, you will want to listen. You will yearn to understand. You will desire to know how you can be supportive so that they can flourish.

When that is your motivation, the skills will come easily.

Especially listening.

Actively listening while not actually caring is like trying to sail without wind.

Hoist the sail, direct the rudder, strive with all your might. You’re not going to get far.

When the wind is blowing, though, and you have the tools and the team to harness its energy, magic happens.

Building a Winning Team

What is the “win” for your team? Revenue? Platform? Contracts?

Wherever you are going, the best way to get there is with a healthy team who knows they are cared for.

A recent study by the University of Warwick found that happiness led to a 12% spike in productivity, while unhappy workers proved 10% less productive.

As the research team put it, “We find that human happiness has large and positive causal effects on productivity. Positive emotions appear to invigorate human beings.”

At the Harvard Business Review, Emma Seppälä and Kim Cameron, studying numerous sources concluded this:

“A positive workplace is more successful over time because it increases positive emotions and well-being. This, in turn, improves people’s relationships with each other and amplifies their abilities and their creativity.

It buffers against negative experiences such as stress, thus improving employees’ ability to bounce back from challenges and difficulties while bolstering their health. And, it attracts employees, making them more loyal to the leader and to the organization as well as bringing out their best strengths.”

The evidence is staggering. No doubt it matches your personal experience. When you feel cared for, trust your leaders, and get along with your team – you perform better.

Let’s Set Sail Together

At Full Sail Leadership Academy, we are equipped to support you as you navigate these waters. Reach out today for a free 30-minute consultation and learn how we can help you sail to a brighter future.

If you listen, you’ll hear the wind picking up. Let us help you hone the skills you need so that you can capitalize on the opportunity on the horizon.

February 2, 2022/by Tim Dittloff

How Steward Leaders Identify and Prevent Burnout in the Workplace

Employee Engagement, Team Building

4 min read

Whether on a sailboat, in the workplace, or throughout life, I’ve learned there’s one critical mental health skill everyone must learn to encourage smooth sailing.

We must understand what factors around us are in our control and which are out of our control.

You have no time to debate whether something is in your control while navigating a sailboat through stormy waters. The whole crew’s safety rides on each sailor showing up focused and motivated.

That’s why as a sailboat captain, I must recognize which broader caretaking tasks are under my control.

If a sailor shows up visibly burned out for their time at watch, I must ensure their wellbeing comes first so the entire crew’s wellbeing won’t suffer.

What do you think would happen if I didn’t send that person down below for some rest?

Even one sailor’s lack of motivation, attention, energy, and cognitive function could lead to unthinkable disaster on the water.

Sadly, most corporate leaders never fully acknowledge that the mental and emotional wellbeing of their team falls under their realm of control.

Just like the sailor, one team member’s symptoms of burnout will create a ripple effect across the entire team. Not only will their own work suffer, but it will lead to further slowdowns and spread negativity throughout the entire workplace.

That’s why every true steward leader understands they’re at the helm of preventing burnout in the workplace.

Preventing Burnout in the Workplace is Key to Employee Engagement

You may have heard that employee burnout has reached record levels during the pandemic. Burned-out workers are not engaged in daily tasks, so this truly demonstrates the impact of preventing burnout in the workplace on productivity.

Plus, burnout spreads. Remote work environments prevent one team member from showing up to work visibly burned out and spreading the negativity to others. However, working from home also creates other stressors that workers might find particularly challenging. It all depends on the individual.

The same logic applies to every workplace, age group, and company: Prevent burnout in the first place and organization-wide productivity will skyrocket.

Preventing Burnout in the Workplace is a Steward Leader’s Responsibility

As a leader, it’s your job to prevent burnout in the workplace.

Specifically, preventing burnout in one team member so it doesn’t spread to the entire workplace – much like water that gets inside a sailboat.

I know what you’re thinking. “You’re saying it’s my job to watch every single person’s mental wellness, really now?” Yes. Leaders understand their role as the caretaker of everyone across their team.

It doesn’t mean becoming overly parental in everyone’s personal lives or emotions. It does, however, go back to understanding your own control over their mental and emotional wellbeing at work.

“But I don’t scream and punish people.” You don’t have to. Everyone struggles to meet the organization’s expectations and their own internalized work expectations that you’re responsible for enforcing.

You might be the kindest leader in the industry already, but you also must acknowledge your role as each team member’s psychological caretaker in the workplace.

Change Your Mindset Towards Monitoring Stress and Caretaking in the Workplace

Now you’re probably wondering how a steward leader could manage the mental and emotional wellness of each person across a team.

First, think about the negative emotions within your control as a leader, specifically stress and overworking.

Just like the captain of a vessel must promote downtime and diversion to keep the crew fresh and alert, a corporate leader must monitor the stress levels across their team – both individually and holistically.

Doing so ensures you can prevent burnout in the workplace by plugging the leak at its source, keeping your team productive and enthusiastic.

Start by learning the key signs of burnout so you can identify and gently rectify them as they arise:

Cynical attitude
Overly critical of themselves or others
Irritability
Impatience
Lower energy than normal
Trouble concentrating and focusing
Disillusionment
Unable to sit still or constantly chatting
No satisfaction in their achievements

Sometimes this involves placing a team member in a new role with tasks suited for them. Others, it means talking to them about realistic expectations for themselves and the importance of self-care.

Stewards Use StrengthsFirst Leadership to Prevent Added Burnout in the Workplace

Ideally, you want to avoid creating the conditions that drive someone to burnout in the first place. A steward leader also understands that, like burnout, all types of negative emotion and energy spread.

If a captain pointed out the weaknesses of each crewmate constantly, the whole crew would sail in a state of perpetual fear and despair.

That’s why another critical part of stewardship, and preventing burnout, is adapting a StrengthsFirst mindset regarding yourself and your team.

With strengths leadership, we take time to learn each team member’s unique strengths. Make it your job to encourage each person’s strengths and help them to partner up with people that can offset areas that they are less strong in – anywhere you can.

This type of caretaking in the workplace – placing each team member in the right environment to thrive – is another psychological wellness component totally within our control as leaders.

It’s much easier to set your team up for productivity and avoid any burnout when each person’s working in “their element.”

Take the First Step Learning the StrengthsFirst Leadership Mindset and Transforming into a Steward

Becoming a steward leader with an eye to preventing burnout in the workplace doesn’t come overnight from reading a book or list of tips.

It takes dedication and time to change your mindset and communication style, especially the part that involves switching to the critical StrengthsFirst leadership.

A hands-on sailing workshop on the open water offers the perfect exposure to enhance your current leadership mindset and adapt the steward leader’s approach. That’s what we do at Full Sail Leadership, along with our comprehensive team-building program, to create a generation of steward leaders of all ages.

Join me and the Full Sail Leadership team for a workshop providing experience on the water and knowledge in the classroom. Sign up for a Full Sail Leadership workshop now! Or join us this Spring in the beautiful Florida Keys aboard the historic General Patton’s WhenandIf sailboat.

February 19, 2021/by Tim Dittloff

3 Reasons a Steward Mentality is the Secret to Leadership Development

Employee Engagement

5 min read

A few weeks ago, I was enjoying a weekend sail on Lake Michigan.

Waves of about seven feet tall crashed against the boat while the winds blew furiously and pulled us around.

I enjoy these rare conditions. While treacherous, I’m an experienced sailing instructor and licensed Coast Guard Captain who loves a fresh challenge.

My crew didn’t feel the same way – and I could tell.

Although I considered it an exhilarating experience, my crew felt unprepared, inexperienced, and concerned.

Instead of ignoring the crew’s fears and telling them to suck it up, I decided it was time to head back to harbor.

We had only been on the water for about two hours but as the captain, it was my job to mitigate the crew’s fears and ensure they feel safe.

A crew that feels unsafe and fearful puts everyone on board at risk.

That’s the true job of every leader – whether on a ship or at a Fortune 500 organization.

Leadership development must prioritize stewardship. A steward leader knows it’s his job to create a psychologically safe environment for everyone on the team. Only then is the team prepared to weather the rocky waters and come out the other side stronger than ever before.

Most People Approach Leadership Development the Wrong Way

Today’s leaders rarely consider themselves responsible for the mental and emotional well-being of everyone on their team.

Instead, most leaders create an environment that encourages fear to grow: they highlight worker shortcomings, ignore valuable contributions, and pit team members against each other.

Many times, this fear-based leadership development isn’t even intentional. For some of us, it’s all we know.

Unfortunately, this sets an organization up to fail.

Workers grow distrusting of each other and leadership. Engagement and productivity drop. No one feels valued so no one is invested in the organization’s well-being.

It’s no surprise that employee engagement reached historically low levels recently: 54% of workers are actively disengaged. More than half of workers have no psychological connection to their company, passion, or energy.

What is Steward Leadership?

A steward leader plays a caretaker role – both for the team and the organization. Steward leaders know that people function best when they feel respected, valued, and appreciated.

Steward leadership teaches us to prioritize the well-being of everyone on the team because they’ll feel empowered to care for the company.

Instead of looking at work as a means to an end, teams with steward leaders share celebrations over the company’s success and communicate to fix shortcomings.

Steward leadership development creates a healthy environment for everyone to thrive.

3 Reasons a Steward Mentality is the Secret to Successful Leadership Development

Fear is everywhere today. I’ve seen rampant fear destroy many companies even in the best economic times.

Every ship needs a fearless captain to care for the crew’s well-being so they can do their job without fear. With a steward leader at the helm, everyone aboard the vessel feels safe and prepared to work together in perfect harmony for the good of the team.

1. Steward Leaders are Committed to Their Team’s Well-being

A steward mentality changes how we define success and approach achieving it.

Stewards know a hungry, tired, and irritated crew can’t work together efficiently. If morale is low enough, they might not even get the boat to shore safely when the waters turn rocky.

Leaders with a steward mentality know that the success of their organization relies on the well-being of their team.

Of course, leaders must first ensure their workers’ basic needs are met (within reason): shelter, food, childcare, healthcare, etc. However, steward leaders must also prioritize their team’s emotional and mental well-being as well.

Autonomy, trust, appreciation, psychological safety – these all matter tremendously.

When leaders prioritize their team’s well-being from a holistic approach like this, workers can truly flourish because they feel valued. They feel invested in the organization’s outcome because the organization is invested in their well-being too.

Stewards know the safety of their crew must come first.

2. Steward Leadership Sends Ripples of Strength Across the Entire Team

Steward leadership isn’t a positivity cult where we ignore flaws and force everyone to wear a happy face.

That mentality is dangerous because it means problems are bubbling below the water waiting for a chance to surface and cause widespread damage to the ship.

Steward leaders uphold core principles like honesty, open communication, and respect. All these principles are critical to building strength across the team because they make workers feel psychologically safe.

When a crew member knows he won’t be ridiculed or shouted at for addressing an issue with the boat, he’s more likely to speak up or take charge himself. If, on the other hand, he’s afraid of how his captain and crew will react, he might ignore the problem and hope no one notices – a dangerous situation.

An organization with honest communication and trust is a strong team.

When people know their voice will be respected, they’ll speak up out of respect for the organization’s best interests. Sometimes it’s easy, other times painful – but it’s always necessary for success.

3. Steward Leadership Improves Society as a Whole

Today, most corporate leaders suffer from a serious lack of object permanence.

Our innate sense of object permanence tells us that problems and conditions exist even when we can’t see or experience them at that very moment. Most leaders today, however, prefer to brush off or outright ignore problems that aren’t directly in front of their face.

In a way, this is a coping tool. If we acted on every problem no matter how small, we’d lose sight of our long-term goals and purpose.

However, this mentality also keeps leaders detached from their impact on society as a whole.

Let’s say an employee had an awful day at work at a job where they already don’t feel appreciated. Maybe they experienced a degrading performance review where someone pointed out all their flaws and ignored all the positive work they’ve achieved over the year.

Feeling down, this worker goes home and starts an argument with his wife. His wife feels upset the following day and can’t focus on her job properly.

As caretakers, stewards uplift people’s strengths instead of pointing out their weaknesses unless they become a severe problem. Society needs more of this mentality in general.

Every leader must ask themselves: Am I improving society through my leadership and guidance or am I creating more hurdles to overcome?

Humble Yourself to Serve Your Team as a Steward on the Open Sea

I’ve learned that while aboard a ship navigating the rocky waters, there’s no time for miscommunication, dishonesty, and fear. Lives would be put at risk.

I believe companies and organizations today face the same reality. Leadership development must cast stewardship in the starring role. Steward leadership is the only way to tackle today’s unparalleled challenges and not just overcome them but also grow from them together as a team.

My background in the corporate world and as a licensed Coast Guard Captain lead me to develop hands-on workshops that target the root causes of low engagement and morale. Chart the course for sustainable growth with Full Sail Leadership.

November 23, 2020/by Tim Dittloff