Leadership Development

Build strong ties between your organization & employees with Full Sail Leadership Academy updates and insights from our industry blog.

How to Improve Your Workplace: 4 Ways to Get Below the Waterline and Cultivate a Healthy Work Environment

Leadership Development, Team Building

6 min read

Disaster struck in the dead of night. The nine-member crew of Team Vestas Wind spent the night in life rafts instead of their $6 million yacht.

Only seven weeks into a nine-month race to sail around the world, Team Vestas Wind ran aground on the reefs of Mauritius in the Indian Ocean.

Thankfully, no one was injured.

How could this happen? Yachts of this caliber have so much navigational equipment that the backup gear has backups.

The GPS Chart Plotter was tuned out to the most macro level. The sailors only saw what was, in essence, on the surface.

Had the GPS been tuned to see what was below the waterline, tragedy would have been avoided.

It’s one thing to get knocked out of a race by something you couldn’t have predicted. It’s another to sabotage yourself by not paying attention to critical information.

This is true in sailing, business, and life. Little is more important than seeing what’s below the waterline.

Turbulence From Below the Waterline Impacting Your Workplace

Did you know that companies lose an estimated 34% of an employee’s salary on them being disengaged?

Across the business landscape of America, that adds up to a whopping $500 billion annually!

Worker productivity has decreased at a breakneck pace.

Sociologists termed 2021 the year of the great resignation. Record numbers of employees left their companies. The turnover of skilled employees can cost 150% of the employee’s salary.

Clearly, these are issues leaders can’t afford to ignore. What is happening beneath the surface to cause such consternation in the modern workforce?

Some attribute this crisis to laziness. Or flakiness. They assert that the current workforce doesn’t share the work ethic or loyalty that companies had grown to expect.

But Ashley Stahl with Forbes looks at this differently. She counters these assumptions by demonstrating how Gen Z is pursuing a different, healthier way of life.

Stahl highlights several stark contrasts, with two rising to the surface:

Work-life balance: Baby Boomers tended to prioritize their careers over other aspects of their lives. Gen Z wants the flexibility to pursue their passions as well as work.
Value Alignment: Gen Z tends to be more concerned about working for companies that align with their convictions. Many are even willing to sacrifice compensation for this. Boomers typically prioritized paychecks and career advancement.

Can you see how these issues may impact company loyalty, work ethic, and engagement?

But wait, there’s more!

Researchers Stacy J. Rogers and Dee C. May found a positive and negative correlation between marital and job satisfaction.

This is just the tip of the iceberg. Leaders in the workplace must pay attention to this information. If you don’t, you’ll end up like Team Vestas Wind. You’ll run your ship aground and need to be rescued.

How to Improve Your Workplace: 4 Steps to Help You Get Below the Waterline

Learning how to improve your workplace and cultivate a healthy environment for all is a crucial skill. Not only can it save your company from a serious decline, but it can also help you build a better team and a more engaged workforce. If you’re looking for a way to cultivate a healthy workplace environment and get below the waterline, here are four ways you can get started:

1: Improve Your Workplace by Making Business Personal

The people on your payroll are complex, integrated, whole human beings. They have relationships and ambitions beyond their coworkers and job descriptions.

Honor this.

Extra hours and added pressure at work have a ripple effect that stretches into the community and impacts future generations.

That’s one of the reasons Gen Z prioritizes a work-life balance. Or, as Jeff Bezos describes it, work-life harmony.

How can you honor your employees’ lives outside of the workplace?

Ask about their family, friends, hobbies, and more
Craft compensation packages accordingly
- Generous PTO
- Include mental health in “sick days”
- Family leave, including elder care
- Sponsor volunteering in the community
- Match retirement contributions, student loan payments, and philanthropic donations
Host corporate gatherings that are family-friendly
Sponsor intramural leagues
Care about your employees beyond their productivity

Taking steps like these will demonstrate to your team that you care about what’s happening beneath the surface.

2: Create a Workplace that is Safe Emotionally, Psychologically, and Physically

In a famous parable that’s comforting to many, Jesus teaches that he would leave 99 sheep who are safe and accounted for so that he can find the one who has wandered away.

Doesn’t this seem a bit reckless, though? Leaving 99 sheep in a vulnerable position to find one?

Perhaps. But sheep are relational, communal animals. They are impacted by how the shepherd treats other sheep.

One sheep being rescued will make the 99 others feel secure.

This is the kind of influence your leadership has. The way you treat the one impacts the 99. If you’re harsh with an underperforming person, everyone else will be put on notice.

What do you think the impact could be if you applied the “Golden Rule” to an underperforming employee? What if you treated them as you would want a leader to treat you?

Author and business leader Michal Hyatt offers this profound insight: “Sometimes when a team needs a breakthrough, they just need a break.”

No one wants to devote their waking hours to underperforming while being disengaged. When you see these “presenting issues,” that ought to alert you to reconfigure the Chart Plotter to look deeper.

When you see your employees as whole, complex, integrated human beings and have created a safe workplace by treating them as you want to be treated, that will open the door for transformational conversations.

3: Listen to Your Employees Without Judgement to Improve Your Workplace

The Gottman Institute identifies stonewalling as one of the four most toxic issues in communication.

The Gottman Institute

Dr. Ed Tronick demonstrated our deep, innate need for emotional connection in the powerful “Still Face” experiment.

He asked caregivers to engage with an infant in typical social interaction, then suddenly become unresponsive and maintain a “still face” for some time.

The infants became visibly distressed and emotionally dysregulated when their caregivers became unresponsive.

Your team needs to know that you care. If your door – or emotions – are closed, you will most likely exacerbate some of the stressors affecting your employees.

Emotionally engaged listening can be one of your greatest tools as a leader.

Former Navy SEAL Thom Shea teaches that “listening without judgment” is the key starting point to effective, authentic communication.

Listening without judgment is complex because we all bring bias to conversations. As a result, we tend to jump to coaching or offering solutions rather than listening for clarity and understanding.

Authentic communication requires integrity, transparency, and vulnerability that typically do not exist in day-to-day communication.

When this transparency and vulnerability exists, true transformation can occur in the hearts and minds of leaders and team members.

Without transparency and vulnerability, communication is mainly transactional. We communicate to discuss roles, responsibilities, and procedures rather than heart and mind issues.

It allows teams to meet each other where they are and still allows for growth opportunities when we set aside judgment.

And this will allow you to get below the waterline and see what’s actually going on. Most people won’t risk vulnerability unless they feel safe, heard, and understood.

Leaders can’t address the deep issues impacting behavior, performance, and chemistry without knowing what’s beneath the waterline.

Compassion can be the difference maker to keep people engaged and stay on the job longer.

4: Engage Workplace Conflict as a Collaborator

With these critical components in place, you will be well-positioned to leverage the inevitable conflicts in your workplace for what they actually are: growth opportunities.

Personally.

Professionally.

Corporately.

Communally.

As a leader, your influence stretches further than you’ll ever see. Addressing conflict at work can – and will – infuse health and peace into entire communities.

Think about it. What if you could help a conflict-averse husband and father learn how to engage fully with his family?

What if you could help an overly assertive yet relationally unaware intern gain emotional intelligence? How might that boost her career aspirations?

When you engage with your employees as people – integrated, complex, and whole – they will grow to see you as an ally.

Conflict often pushes latent issues to the surface. Don’t neglect this golden opportunity to collaborate with your team for their growth in a multitude of ways.

Workshops to Help You See Beneath the Waterline

Full Sail Leadership Academy has workshops expressly designed to help you see beneath the waterline. Both literally and metaphorically!

Our goal is to get you on the water – and beyond.

We start with classroom instruction, so you’ll gain the understanding needed to spend a day sailing as a team.

We’ll get you out on the water, working together, but we won’t leave you out to sea!

You’ll receive a personalized, post-sailing action plan. We’ll work with you to create measurable goals that your team can achieve over the next 12 months.

With this plan in your hands, your team will have a shared understanding of the issues below the waterline that your company must address.

Can you imagine what a force for good your company could be if everyone was sailing in the same direction?

We can. That’s why we’re here. It’s our mission to make the world a better place by making better workplaces.

Reach out today! We will be honored to guide you to get below the waterline and cultivate a healthy workplace.

May 22, 2023/by Tim Dittloff

4 Ways Skilled Leaders Face Fear in the Workplace and Conquer Comfort Zones

Employee Engagement, Leadership Development

7 min read

How would you feel if you knew a spider was within 10 feet of where you are? It’s more likely no more than three feet away, but still.

If that potential messes with your pulse, you may be among the 15 % of people who are arachnophobic. That is, clinically afraid of spiders.

Fear is fascinating. It mobilizes some and paralyzes others. But no one escapes it. Some even profit from it.

Horror is the most profitable and among the most popular genres of movies.

How many candidates are elected to office due to the fears they promise to protect people from?

How many businesses are stunted because of fear? What about yours?

Fear cannot be escaped or avoided. It must be overcome. Learning how to identify, confront, and triumph over fear in your workplace will empower you to flourish.

Move out of the Comfort Zone into the Growth Zone

No one likes change. Except for a baby with a dirty diaper! And not even them, sometimes.

Our comfort zones pretend to provide safety. But it’s an illusion. Human beings are not designed to live within comfort zones. We flourish in the growth zone.

A ship in the harbor is safe. But that’s not what it is designed for. Neither were you, your employees, or your company.

The truth is comfort can kill.

A body that’s always comfortable doesn’t exercise, stretch, or exert itself – it malfunctions in extreme ways. The CDC reports that $117 billion is spent on annual healthcare costs related to low physical activity.

Researchers at Yale recently unlocked one key to learning: being uncomfortable. Brains that are comfortable essentially shut down their learning centers.

Allowing a culture of comfort to take root is exceptionally dangerous. And expensive.

How Much Are You Paying Your Team to Stay in its Comfort Zone?

Mary Ellen Cagnassola with Money.com reports, “32% of full- and part-time employees said they are engaged with their work, while 18% are actively disengaged.”

A recent Gallup estimated that employee disengagement costs $1,800 for every $10,000 spent on an employee. If these stats ring true for your business, then you’re paying one more “employee” to do nothing for every ten employees on your payroll.

The Washington Post recently reported that in the first quarter of 2022, worker productivity plummeted to the lowest rate since 1947.

Could fear be keeping your employees from engaging with their work?

Fear of failure.

Fear of conflict.

Fear of embarrassment.

Can you imagine the difference engaged, confident, courageous employees could make in your workplace?

Embrace These 4 Steps to Face Fear in the Workplace and Conquer Comfort Zones

Ready to move into the growth zone? Let’s dive in! Here are four steps to help you and your team overcome fear in the workplace:

1. Cultivate a Culture of Safety in Your Company

If you want to eliminate fear from the factors of employee disengagement, you will need to take a paradoxical step.

You must cultivate a culture of emotional and psychological safety among your team.

Safety is essential for overcoming fear. It’s why the best sailors practice the basics over and over again so that they remain safe and can overcome fear. Psychologists observe this in children and see the impact throughout life.

Children who feel emotionally secure and have learned they can trust their caregivers are more willing to face their fears and take risks.

Social scientists see the same dynamic in the workplace. McKinsey and Company found that:

“When employees feel comfortable asking for help, sharing suggestions informally, or challenging the status quo without fear of negative social consequences, organizations are more likely to innovate quickly, unlock the benefits of diversity, and adapt well to change.”

Cultivating a safe workplace environment is about more than techniques. You have to personally care about your employees.

One of the most critical and overlooked components of a healthy workplace is vulnerability, specifically from the leader.

When leaders take the risk of nurturing a safe, healthy workplace culture – because they sincerely desire to see their team thrive – employees will be far more engaged and willing to face their fears.

2. Identify Fears in the Workplace

What a person is afraid of is important. Why they are afraid of it matters even more.

Consider an employee who is afraid of failing. One person may fear losing their job. Another may fear embarrassment. Some people are scared to stand out for any reason – success or failure.

If you don’t know why someone is afraid, you may prescribe the wrong solution.

How can you identify what people are afraid of and why they are afraid of it? The solution is simple. But simple doesn’t mean easy.

You need to make yourself available to listen to your employees.

Vulnerability and trust create a safe place for honesty. These are the essential building blocks for a healthy workplace that encourages people to face their fears so all can flourish.

3. Directly Confront Fears in the Workplace

Should you throw people into the deep end of whatever they fear? Have everyone take one step at a time? Organize a company-wide trust fall?

You may be the only one who can answer this question. But you can’t do it alone. You must collaborate with the employees who will be directly impacted.

Taking risks and facing fears has a ripple effect throughout your organization. Beyond productivity. Beyond your workplace, even.

It impacts interpersonal relationships, families, neighborhoods, and communities.

Confront Fear in the Workplace by Exposing False Narratives

Some people may be shackled by unfounded fear. Consider the person who thinks that if they fail, they’ll be fired.

What if that’s just not true? What if people are bound up and weighed down by a multitude of false narratives that keep them from facing their fears?

You can expose some lies, replace them with truth, and inspire change.

Take Baby Steps to Confront Fear in the Workplace

Most of us need to walk before we can crawl. Do not despise the days of small beginnings.

One person’s fears may seem insignificant to another. That’s ok. Most of our fears develop, evolve, and sometimes dissolve.

The same person who may have been afraid to ride a bike as a child can grow up to love riding motorcycles.

It all starts with taking a single step of facing fears.

Dive into the Deep End to Face Workplace Fears

Immersion therapy is what some people require. Due to how they are wired or their personal experiences shaped them, they must first jump in feet-first to face their fears.

What could this look like for an employee in your workplace?

Those are the questions you must collaborate on with your team to cultivate a sense of trust and safety that will empower people.

4. Celebrate Triumphing Over Fear in the Workplace

Celebrate! How much of your company’s budget is dedicated to celebrating “wins”? What wins are recognized?

The old business proverb rings true, “what gets celebrated gets repeated.”

Life is about more than achievement. The human beings whom you employ matter beyond their productivity.

Honoring people’s courageous steps to overcome fear is not a frivolous use of company resources. It encourages people, improves chemistry, and inspires others.

And it’s expedient. If over 10% of an employee’s salary is wasted on disengagement, imagine what could happen if you prioritized celebrating in ways that increased engagement?

Unless you’re afraid to celebrate 😉

Now, don’t mistake triumphing over fear for “success.” Someone may face their fears and fail, and that’s OK!

You may reinforce some people’s fear if you only recognize the successful attempts. Courage is more valuable than success.

When you nurture emotional safety in your workplace, built on a foundation of mutual trust, your team will have the courage to identify, confront, and triumph over their fears.

We can help you get there.

Triumph Over Fear Through Leading by Example

It starts with you.

Your team must see that you are willing to get out of your comfort zone.

My comfort zone was crossed at 23 degrees 48′ N and -64 degrees West. That’s roughly 350 miles north of St. Thomas in the US Virgin Islands.

And 600 miles south of our destination in Bermuda.

I was in the middle of the ocean with four other sailors. Sailing across expanded miles of the ocean takes great mental, emotional, and sailing skills. At times, the number of hours yet to be crossed looms larger than the biggest swells on the sea. I was in the middle of the ocean with four other sailors.

Skilled leaders will learn to recognize when team members are trapped in their comfort zones and work with the team member to gradually overcome the barriers that hold them back.

The process of confronting fear is more important than the particulars. Personalization is paramount. Each person should be given the respect of charting their course.

When you care about your employees, know what they fear, and understand why, you can work collaboratively with them to chart a course for them to confront their fears.

And that, in a way that honors them and believes in them enough to encourage them to take the risks necessary to maximize their potential.

Address Fears Outside of the Workplace with Full Sail Leadership Academy Workshops

We offer workshops that get teams out on the water. Our workshops address a variety of fears people have.

Growing in confidence and overcoming fear in one area of our lives has a massive impact on the rest. When a team of coworkers shares this experience – the benefits are astounding.

At Full Sail, we are resolutely committed to making the world better by making better workplaces.

Our workshops have been expertly crafted to maximize your investment. We’ll spend time on the water, but we won’t leave you out to sea!

We incorporate a personalized, post-sailing action plan with accountable improvement goals over 12 months.

Reach out today! We will be honored to guide you in creating a healthier, more courageous workplace.

May 10, 2023/by Tim Dittloff

Feedback That Allows Your Team to Flourish

Employee Engagement, Leadership Development, Team Building

5 min read

Kelly Clarkson took the world by storm in the early 2000s. She cruised through a competition that captivated America’s attention.

American Idol mixed the elements of a story that grabbed America by the lapels and demanded we do not look away.

Drama. Talent. Risk. Humor.

Much of the humor came at the expense of people who did not know they had no place sharing a stage with Kelly Clarkson.

Someone somewhere should have told some of the contestants that their future was not as a vocalist.

But no one gave them that feedback. And they suffered because of it.

Providing meaningful feedback is an essential responsibility entrusted to leaders. Leaders are uniquely positioned to guide people toward paths they can flourish on.

Leaders can help people build on areas of strength, growing from good to great.

Most importantly, leaders can help people embrace the reality that their value runs deeper than what they achieve or how they perform.

How can you provide the kind of feedback that causes your team to flourish?

Evaluating Beneath the Waterline

Before you can provide healthy feedback to others, you first need to be able to assess your motivation. John Maxwell convincingly demonstrates how emotional intelligence is an indispensable skill for leaders.

To see beneath the waterline, ask yourself these four questions:

How do you feel about providing feedback to your team members?
Why do you feel that way?
How do you feel about the people on your team?
Do you know why you feel that way?

Some leaders avoid providing constructive criticism because they like being liked.

Others may feel overwhelmed by their responsibilities; they don’t have the margin to provide meaningful feedback.

Of course, some leaders may look forward to having objective documentation to justify discipline or even termination.

In reality, most leaders experience all of this at some point.

The key is – are you self-aware enough to know how you feel and why?

If you aren’t, it will overflow onto your team.

Golden Rule for Providing Golden Feedback

While there is a multitude of forms, processes, and procedures for providing feedback, there is one perspective most people can agree on: we ought to treat others as we want to be treated.

Your feedback will be markedly improved if you apply this principle.

The impact will be felt not only in what you say, but in how you say it, and why.

As a sailboat captain, I help my crew members fulfill their roles to the best of their ability. For the good – and enjoyment – of the entire team.

I also want my crew to be safe. The open water requires constant attention. Currents can impact our course. The wind and waves can try to throw us off course.

What’s beneath the waterline – the things we cannot see – may pose the greatest threat.

The crew cannot see all of this. They must rely on their captain’s feedback to sail successfully.

By doing so we are not only kept safe, but energized. We return to the shore – and our lives – motivated to engage more fully with our loved ones.

A healthy leader can create this kind of culture in their workplace. A culture where everyone is valued, understands their role, is allowed to improve, and is viewed as more than an employee.

When employees know you desire their absolute best, they may even be eager to receive constructive criticism.

Most people want to grow. To improve. They want a trusted coach on their side. Your influence can have a ripple effect in people’s lives that spreads much further than the company’s bottom line.

When you treat your team this way, they will know that you do not equate professional performance with personal value.

Paradoxically, this will most likely improve performance.

Three Components of Healthy Feedback that Cultivate a Healthy Workplace

Healthy evaluation should affirm employees in at least these three ways:

They are talented
They are valued on the team
They are valued beyond the team

They are talented

Every team member brings something to the table. Research has found that building off strengths is more beneficial than correcting weaknesses.

Further, employees need the opportunity to improve and the tools to get there. You may not be able to personally provide direct coaching to each employee. [JS8]

But you should be able to point them to other tools and resources to help them in their journey. Full Sail Leadership Academy is here to help you get there.

They are valued on the team

In his book, Building a StoryBrand, Donald Miller points out that humans are wired to belong to a tribe. A community. An employee evaluation provides a unique opportunity to affirm value.

Most people feel vulnerable when being evaluated. Letting your employees know they are accepted for who they are and not just what they do will fill their sails with wind.

When employees know you care about them, positive feedback will feel sincere and constructive criticism will feel helpful.

They are valued beyond the team

You cannot be a best friend to all of your employees. But that doesn’t mean you can’t take an interest in them beyond the office.

When my crew steps onto the sailboat, I must recognize that they bring bags. Fears. Worries. Hopes. Dreams.

Grandparents don’t stop worrying about their kids just because they’re at work.

An evaluation allows you to acknowledge the whole person in front of you. Recognizing an employee’s life outside work demonstrates that you understand they are more than a cog in a machine.

You can extend gratitude to a spouse or wish them well in a hobby. But don’t confuse this with a “technique.” It’s caring about your employees enough to take an interest in them and affirm their value beyond your company.

Build up your team by providing an unforgettable experience

Cultivating a healthy culture in the workplace doesn’t happen overnight. But there are ways to jumpstart it.

Our upcoming leadership summit is one of those ways. For over 15 years we have intentionally designed this experience to maximize the values that contribute to creating healthy workplaces.

Teamwork. Evaluation. Trust. Fun.

Reach out today to learn how Full Sail Leadership Academy can help you make the world a better place by making your workplace better.

July 18, 2022/by Tim Dittloff

Acknowledging Weakness Charts the Course for A Strong Workplace

Leadership Development, Team Building

4 min read

Human history has sailed through the industrial age. And the information age. What age do we find ourselves living in today?

Professors Cailin O’Connor and James Owen Weatherall believe that we are currently living in “The Misinformation Age.”

Trust is eroding from our culture in painful ways. Life-shattering scandals are exposed so regularly that you start to expect them.

The advent of social media, big tech, and the competition for clicks has pushed fake news and false narratives to the front of our feeds.

Researchers recently discovered that fake news traveled “farther, faster, deeper, and more broadly than the truth in all categories of information.”

It gets worse 😐

false news stories were 70% more likely to be re-tweeted than true stories
It took true stories around six times longer to reach 1,500 people
True stories were rarely shared beyond 1,000 people, but the most popular false news could reach up to 100,000

Many people feel as though they are in the middle of a sea of misinformation without a sail or rudder.

This is where you, as a leader, can – and should – step in.

We live in a society that is understandably skeptical. Of everything. Especially of those in authority. This stacks the deck against a leader before you even start.

And yet, deep in the heart of every human being yearns a desire to trust.

Kids fearlessly jump into the arms of adults. Couples still say “I do.” And Charlie Brown still wants to believe that Lucy won’t pull the football away.

We can’t help ourselves. We want to trust. Your employees, team, and clients – want to trust you. But in this day and age, you will have to earn it.

How?

If you want to build trust among your team, you’ll have to chart a counter-intuitive course. You must be strong enough to acknowledge your weakness and demonstrate vulnerability.

Let’s dive in as we continue our blog series in Current Leadership.

Leading with a Limp

It’s been said that the only character flaws that are fatal are the ones that you are unaware of. No one makes it into adulthood without earning some scars along the way.

Further, one of the distinctions that make us human is our limitations. You can only be in one place at one time. You run out of energy. You have interests and demands beyond your business.

Just like your employees.

Many leaders feel that exposing their weaknesses will undermine their credibility.

The opposite is true.

Most of your employees are probably aware of your scars. They know you limp. They feel the effects. What they may not know is why you limp.

They also limp. In different ways for different reasons. You feel the effects.

What do you think would happen if your entire team learned why people limp the way they do?

Trust would be built.

Now, this is not to be confused with a Strengths First Leadership model. Leaders serve their teams best when they utilize their strengths. Paradoxically, embracing your weakness allows you to lean on your strengths even more.

Vulnerability in the Workplace

In his book, The Advantage, Patrick Lencioni lays out how vulnerability is foundational to building trust in the workplace. And it starts with the leader.

He suggests that leaders take their teams on overnight retreats to have focused, undistracted time together.

During the first night of the retreat, Lencioni challenges the point leader to plunge into the seas of vulnerability by sharing the most challenging thing they’ve been through in their life.

Gulp.

Many expect that when they pull their head up out of the waters, they’ll be met with shame. Instead, most find warm acceptance. Gratitude. Compassion.

And most feel relief.

Taking steps of vulnerability helps explain where some of our limps came from. Money cannot buy the power those “aha” moments provide.

When a leader is transparent about their weaknesses and struggles, it permits the team to be human.

Once the leader charts this course, the team can follow. And they will. Your team wants to trust you and each other. Vulnerability is essential in giving people the confidence they need to take the risk of trusting.

This allows a team to function out of their strengths because they don’t feel like they need to hide their weakness.

Putting Vulnerability to Work

Perhaps an out-of-town retreat isn’t an option for you right now. But you are still eager to build trust in your team through demonstrating vulnerability. What can you do now?

The primary step that healthy leaders must take is caring about their employees beyond what they can produce for the company.

Beyond this, you can make yourself accessible to fully listen to your employees. It’s imperative to cultivate a culture of dignity and respect if you want to build trust.

Brené Brown, a renowned research professor, lecturer, author, and podcast host suggests implementing these 10 practices to create what she describes as a “safe zone” for your team.

Reduce the amount of gossip and talking about one another behind their backs.
Admit when you are wrong, make mistakes, and readily apologize.
Let go of holding grudges from the past.
Understand and appreciate one another’s work styles and strengths.
Be open and practice information sharing.
Take time to learn about each other on a more personal level.
Looks for ways to give credit to others.
Acknowledge and celebrate the successes of others.
Share openly both your failures and successes.
Give your team members the benefit of the doubt before jumping to a negative conclusion.

Here’s what might be the best part about creating a healthy culture in the workplace. Anyone can do it. You don’t need to have the reach or resources of a Fortune 500 company to cultivate trust in your workplace.

Tools You Can Trust

This is what we do. We are passionate about helping leaders steward the remarkable privilege of their position.

If you cultivate a healthy workplace, you will achieve so much more than a healthier bottom line.

Consider how families, friendships, and neighborhoods would benefit from your employees enjoying their workplace.

We believe that we can make the world a better place by making workplaces better.

Our workshops are designed to reach this destination. We offer more than a sailing experience. It’s an exercise in building trust, working together as a team, growing in respect, and even enjoying some quality time together.

Let this be the day that you set sail toward a healthier horizon. Reach out now for a free consultation and learn how we can help you chart these waters.

Building Team Connections & Engagement with Steward Leadership, Strengths & Sailing

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April 19, 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