May 26, 2026

From Sunday Dread to Workforce Devotion: Turning Culture into Your Competitive Advantage

From Sunday Dread to Workforce Devotion: Turning Culture into Your Competitive Advantage
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Every Sunday night millions of workers feel it--the piercing dread as the weekend fades away. Yep, it’s the “Sunday Scaries” as your team braces for what they must endure in the upcoming work week. But what if learning what is driving that tension and effectively responding is actually your greatest leadership opportunity? Join Mary Baird as we unpack how trust, intentional design, and a compelling employee experience can unlock higher performance, deeper commitment, and lasting loyalty.

Working on Purpose is broadcast live Tuesdays at 6PM ET and Music on W4CY Radio (www.w4cy.com) part of Talk 4 Radio (www.talk4radio.com) on the Talk 4 Media Network (www.talk4media.com). Working on Purpose is viewed on Talk 4 TV (www.talk4tv.com).

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WEBVTT

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The topics and opinions express in the following show are

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solely those of the hosts and their guests and not

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those of W FOURCY Radio. It's employees are affiliates. We

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Radio or its employees are affiliates. Any questions or comments

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choosing W FOURCY Radio.

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What's working on Purpose? Anyway? Each week we ponder the

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answer to this question. People ache for meaning and purpose

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at work, to contribute their talents passionately and know their

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lives really matter. They crave being part of an organization

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that inspires them and helps them grow into realizing their

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highest potential. Business can be such a force for good

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in the world, elevating humanity. In our program, we provide

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guidance and inspiration to help usher in this world we

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all want working on Purpose. Now here's your host, Doctor

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Relise Cortez.

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Welcome back to the Working with a Purpose program, which

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has been brought to you with passion and pride since

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February of twenty fifteen. Thanks for tuning in this week.

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Great to have you. I'm your host, doctor Elise Cortes.

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Most leaders are sitting on untapped human energy and I

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help them unlock it. I'm an organizational psychologist, local therapist,

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workforce advisor and the founder of the Gusto Now movement.

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But the title that I really live by is much

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is much simpler than that. I traffic and energy, not

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the surface level motivation or another engagement initiative, but the

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deeper force what I call Gusto, the life force for

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performance that drives commitment, perseverance, and genuine ownership of a

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shared a mission and the clients we serve Eli and

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marbrous And and we can work together at Gustodashne dot com

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or my personal site at least Coortes dot com. Getting

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into today's program, we have with us Mary Bairtt, who

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has one goal in mind to help people simplify their lives.

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As a senior employee experience strategist, she spent over eighteen

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years experience helping organizations transform how they how their people

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experience work. As the founder of the Simplifiers, she partners

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with clients to help leaders, listen better, fix what's broken,

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and build workplaces where people fall back in love with work.

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She's the author of her new book, Squash the Sunday Scaries,

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a modern playbook to rebuild trust, transform culture, and regnite

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your workforce. We'll be talking about the state of today's workforce,

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the call for improving employee experience to increase business prosperity,

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and take a short tour of a few of the

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flywheel areas she addresses in her book and with her

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clients to help them do just that. She dose it

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today from Dallas. Mary, Welcome to Working on Purpose.

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Thank you so much. I'm so excited to be here

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with you.

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Isn't it nice to be on the other side of

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the mic.

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I love that. So I'm a podcaster and I get

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to interview people all day long, so it is nice

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to be over here.

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And I know and I loved being on your podcast.

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You are real pro my friend.

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Thank you, You're welcome.

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So let's just first celebrate this thing that you brought

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into the world. It's so beautiful and mean. I'm really impressed, Mary,

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I really really am impressed you. As I said to

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you in the text, you really clearly know your stuff

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and you have got to be a gift to your clients.

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And I also love coming to celebrate your book launch

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as well. So this is exciting.

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Thank you so much. You know, if anybody is listening

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or watching this stream right now and has ever written

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a book, you know the obscene amount of work that

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goes into it. But if you're thinking about writing a book,

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holy smokes, let me just say now, it's an obscene

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amount of work.

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It really is.

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But I think it's also worth it because, especially if

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you know certain things that can help unlock friction or

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reduce the kind of challenges in the workplace, I think

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it needs to be talked about.

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I agree, and I always say that to people when

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they come on a podcast. I love saying this to

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man especially, I say, you know that this is what

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you've did by bringing in this book in the world

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is actually harder than bringing a human into the world.

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I know I've done both, and they always kind of

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kind of feel a little, you know, elevated by that.

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I think. So one of the other things I want

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to just also celebrate about you in general, Mary, and

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also the way you wrote your book. It's it's playful

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Mary speak and I love that, and this is this

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is you know, we are in the game with you.

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I love it. You know you've got in there, like

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how Lauren snorts when she gets some of these messages

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from the COO and such, and just it's just fun.

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So and the fact that you're even talking about Sunday scary,

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so let's talk about that. I actually was in the

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gym on Sunday on the bike reading your book and

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and somebody next to me said, interesting, you're reading a

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book about the Sunday Scaries on Sunday.

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Yeah, yeah, well, the Sunday Scaries. I think that that's

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a terminology that people know about pretty prevalent and kind

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of pop culture these days. But if you don't, it's

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that feeling you get in the pit of your stomach

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at a write around eight forty two pm on a

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Sunday night, especially if you don't love your job. You're

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you're realizing, oh my god, I have to go back

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to that place tomorrow morning. And that's insane pile of

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emails in my inbox is you know, mocking me from afar.

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It's that feeling of like dread, existential dread, and and

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it just makes me sad. When I think about it,

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because when I was doing the research for this book

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and realizing how big of a problem is this. Is

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it only a couple of people that have the Sunday

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scaries or is it a massive problem? And unfortunately, sorry

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to admit, it's a massive problem. The Gallop State of

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the Workplace Report of twenty twenty five mentioned that only

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twenty seven percent of managers are engaged at work globally.

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In the twenty twenty six report it's down to twenty

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two percent. So that basically means that nearly eighty percent

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of your managers in your company right now, no matter

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if you work for a small business or a megago

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global multinational corporation, eighty percent potentially of your managers are

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clocking in, clocking out doing solid C minus work and

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you know, dreading coming into their job. And we all

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know that disengaged managers create disengaged teams. So it's poison

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in the wow for a large chunk of your workforce

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and population. It's no good.

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I know, no one. If you'd like to say, yeah, well,

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you are certainly someone who can speak to this. Your

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background is really incredible. I looked again at your LinkedIn

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profile and which is amazed. Eighteen years of experience helping

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organizations to transform how their people experience work and of

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course writing this book, hosting your podcast amazing. Can you

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just kind of just highlight a little bit, just a

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little bit of that experience that you draw from.

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Yeah, well, so in that eighteen years, the very first

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eleven years, I was on the event side, So I

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produced large scale employee engagement events for some pretty massive clients.

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This is when I was down based down in Austin, Texas,

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you know. So it's working with clients like Google and

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Microsoft Meta Intel. We even helped produce the first two

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iterations of teedex Austin way back when. And so on

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the event side, you know, when clients bring me in

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to say, do an awards program or produce an off

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site strategic retreat, it's not just food and beverage and

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colors of linens for me, it's the full experience, Like,

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what are we hoping to create as positive change from this?

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What are we hoping to create as the experience for

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the employees at the event. It's not frivolous in any way,

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shape or form in my mind. And when I, you know,

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started in events, I realized there's so much more to

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employee experience than just recognition and engagement event programs, and

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so that's really where it sparked my whole interest in

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employee experience and rebuilding workplace culture because we spend so

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much time at work and so again, I just breaks

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my heart when I think about the fact that people

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are drudging into work collecting a paycheck, not feeling like

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their work is meaningful or has purpose, or that they're

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being recognized for the work they're doing. And I just,

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you know, that's where I realized, man, we be doing better.

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And so I sold off the event side of the business,

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relocated to England for about six or seven years, and

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that's a whole other story for another time. I pivoted

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the business into leadership development and my own public speaking career,

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and that's where I started to realize that in coaching

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and consulting on that side of the coin, actually there's

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a whole other realm of what's possible to improve the

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employee experience. That's the true genesis of the ex flywheel.

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Which we're going to get into here and just a

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little bit later. So next, what I would love to

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do is I want to give a shout out and

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a call out to our dear beloved Jimmy Taylor, who's

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the executive director of Dallas HR and who wrote your forward.

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I love it that he did that for you. And

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he talks and he's got a ton of experience with

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HR in various organizations, but I appreciate how he talks

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about the emotional impact and toll work can have on people.

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And he also says just kind of what you were

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saying before about this single factor that influences the experience

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of work more than anything else, is that as that

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frontline people manager. And yet people organizations are spending large

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amounts of money in an over complicated way, but really

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what they need to do is just focus on creating

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delivering that the employee experience that we're going to talk

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about here. So I wanted to celebrate that because I

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think he does a really beautiful job setting up the

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rest of the book with that preliminary message.

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Yeah, Jimmy, If you've never met Jimmy Taylor of Dallas HR,

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he is one of the nicest, kindest humans I've met

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on the planet. And that's saying a lot. I've met

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a lot of really incredible people. But he is just

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so passionate about helping people who work in the HR

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industry in the DFW area, and he's absolutely right. You know,

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again going back to the Gallop Pole stats of only

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twenty two percent of your managers are engaged at work.

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They are your culture champions. They set the tone in

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your organization across. So while HR may set the initiatives

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and create opportunities to improve employee experience, the people who

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are your foot soldiers, who are carrying it outright are

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those managers, and so they're the key to really making

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sure that they're engaged, they're plugged in, and they're they're

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having a positive employee experience because that ripples out to

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everyone else.

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So in order to bring this problem to fuller life here,

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I think it makes a lot of sense to talk

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about what you mentioned in the book, and I talked

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about it in one of my books as well, is

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this the crack and the social contract? What broke and why? Now?

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So it could situate that for us, what's going on,

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what's underneath all of this?

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Yeah, So my dad's eighty three now, but you know,

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when I was growing up as a kid, he worked

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in major corporations right, Craft, Xerox, all of these kinds

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of places where back in the day he's a boomer,

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you know, he would have worked someplace thirty forty years,

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gotten the gold Watch at retirement, gotten the pension, and

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you know, the corner office and all of that. There

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is security and stability. If you committed yourself to a

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corporation and your life to it, you would have a

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job to go to from one point to a next point,

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to the next point to next point.

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Right.

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The reality is that's not the truth for most people

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who work in corporate life currently. In fact, the latest

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stat is that how long does a gen Z person

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stay in a job currently one point seven years. And

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I don't think that's because gen Z is like job hopping,

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because that's what it gets thrown out as being is like, oh,

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I'm just going to find a better job that pays

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me more. That may be some of those people, but

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I actually think it's something way deeper, because if you

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launch the stats of layoffs every single week that get

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announced by major corporations into it just dropped seventeen percent

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of their workforce cut them in this last week. Right.

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The reality is, I think a lot of our current

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workforce is getting cut round after round of layoffs, and

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so there is no stability. There is no job security,

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or at least not to the same extent as what

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previous generations have experienced. So we're asking people to be

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fully committed, all in whatever it takes, always on those

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are the great corporate vernacular that's out there, and give

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all to their jobs. When there is no sense of

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security or safety whatsoever, you could just get cut at

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the next round of layoffs. And so for me, if

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not sustainable, that's the bottom line. And if you roll

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the tape back for the last six years, let's say, so,

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I feel like the timeline sort of split in twenty nineteen.

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I don't know if anyone that's listening, if you agree.

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But twenty twenty, obviously the pandemic happened, Things went into

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the lockdown, people were sent home, there were there's a

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hiring you know, a spree at the end of twenty twenty,

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just but seats whoever we can get to work here,

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signing on bonuses, all the things. But then also a

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lot of companies didn't hit the revenue targets in twenty

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twenty because everything shut right. Supply chain shut all the

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things happen. So twenty twenty one, they were trying to

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catch up with the revenue that they missed in the

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year prior, and also the operations expenses that went out

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the door because of the hiring spreeze. There's a lot

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of money going out the door, not a lot of

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money coming in for major corps. So then what happens

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is twenty twenty two, twenty three, twenty four, twenty five,

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my god, twenty six. There has been round after round

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of layoffs for major companies. And if you've ever worked

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at a company where they do one, two, maybe three

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rounds of layoffs per year, you're weary because you're sitting

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there if you've saved your job as a survivor, going, well,

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you know, at least I've still got a job, but

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you now have two jobs or maybe three jobs because

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jobs have been put onto your shoulders without an extra salary. Right,

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But then you're sitting there also going when is it

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going to be me? That survivor weariness is exhausting, and

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how could you possibly expect your people to perform, to

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do whatever it takes to be always on with that

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kind of weariness. It's just not sustainable.

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Beautifully explained. I think I think that really adds, you know,

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the palpabibility of just the enormity of the issue.

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Yeah, work is broken, It's fundamentally broken. And you know,

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I'm sure we'll talk about AI in a bit. I

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want to kind of put the spoiler alert out now.

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I'm actually pro AI because I think I can accelerate

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the work for incredible talent people who know how to

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use it. It can accelerate what they produce, It can

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empower them, for sure. But I don't love how major

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corporations are doing these layoffs and saying, wow, well it's

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in the sake of AI and automation, right, because I

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think you have to keep your great people and you

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have to empower them with training on how to utilize AI.

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It's not a one or the other. It's AI plus humans.

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Right, And that is exactly why I founded the Gust

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Now movement, because that's really all about doubling down on

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humanity in the age of technology, so that humans can

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be extended by technology, not replaced by it. Yes, a

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whole to behind behind the movement right there. So I

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appreciate that you also talk about this. So this is

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what we're up against what the workforce really wants. In

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addition to being able to trust their employer. You say

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that they want meeting and purpose, to be valued, to belong. Yes,

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and that's so. It seems to me so simple. You

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and I have heard you speak, You've heard me speak.

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We talk about this kind of stuff all the time.

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But if you could just add a little bit more

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flavor to why the workforce wants these things.

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Yeah, I think that's basic human psychology. We want to

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feel like our work has meaning, that what we're doing

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actually is helping the end user, the end customer, It

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has some sort of purpose to it, right. And I

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believe that this is true no matter if you are

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a bottle washer, a retail store employee, somebody who works

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on an assembly line, or somebody who works in a

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fancy office in New York City in corporate You want

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to believe that the work you're doing has meaning and purpose,

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it is contributing to the world in a greater way.

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And I also believe that people want to know that

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their work matters, that their boss, their manager, their team

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lead sees them, recognizes their work, and you know, at

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least is encouraging them along the way. And you know,

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I'm not saying that they have to be rob roch

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here all the way and like oh my god, you're amazing,

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you know, and pump people up. It's just this simple

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human need of like, hey, I see you, thank you

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so much for what you did with X, Y and Z.

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Hey what can I do to help you so that

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your day, your week, you're month ahead is a little

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bit easier. It's those tiny, simple moments that make such

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a huge difference. And then back to human basic needs.

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We humans need to belong, we need to feel like

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we're part of a community, we're part of something greater.

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And there's nothing more sad than if you walk into

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an office space and if you were to observe it,

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just to audit, and you see people eating lunch by themselves,

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earbuds in, head down on their phones and not talking

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to anybody else, and if you watch it happening over

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and over and over again, because you know, let's be real,

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sometimes I just need to shut down, put my earbuds

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in and just like take breath. But if I'm doing

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that over and over again, there's something systemically wrong at

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that organization. Because I think people ultimately want to belong,

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there's an error in the room, a vibrancy when you

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see people talking, how lunched together, chatting all of that,

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or there's opportunities for connection at work rather than you know,

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people being isolated and solo.

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Going through the motions. Yeah, all right, well, let's grab

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our first break. I'm your host, Doctor release Cortez. We're

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on the air with Mary Baird, who is a senior employee,

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experienced strategist, and the founder of the Simplifiers, helping organizations

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transform how their people experience work. We've been talking about

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how work is broken. After the break, we're going to

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get into her Simplifiers flywheel concept and start talking through

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how you can do something about that. We'll be right back.

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Doctor Elise Cortez is a management consultant specializing in meaning

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and purpose. An inspirational speaker and author. She helps companies

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visioneer for a greater purpose among stakeholders and develop purpose inspired, leeleadership,

352
00:19:00.480 --> 00:19:04.480
and meaning infused cultures that elevate fulfillment, performance, and commitment

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within the workforce. To learn more or to invite a

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lease to speak to your organization, please visit her at

355
00:19:10.200 --> 00:19:13.480
Elisecortes dot com. Let's talk about how to get your

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00:19:13.480 --> 00:19:22.279
employees working on purpose. This is working on Purpose with

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00:19:22.400 --> 00:19:25.599
doctor Elise Cortes. To reach our program today or to

358
00:19:25.640 --> 00:19:28.359
open a conversation with Elise, send an email to a

359
00:19:28.480 --> 00:19:33.839
lease A Lisee at Elisecortes dot com. Now back to

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working on Purpose.

361
00:19:40.200 --> 00:19:41.920
Thanks for staying with us, and welcome back to working

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on Purpose. I'm your host, doctor release Cortes, as I too,

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am dedicated to help them create a world where organizations

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thrive because they're people thried. They are led by inspirational

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leaders that help them find and contribute their greatness. And

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we do business at Betters the World. I keep researching

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and writing my own books, so one of my latest

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came out is called The Great Revitalization, How activating meaning

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and purpose can radically life in your business. And like Mary,

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I wrote the book really to help leaders understand today's workforce.

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What do they want to need to want to stick

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around and give you their best? And I then provide

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you with twenty two best practices to equip you to

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provide that through your leadership and your culture. You can

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find my books on Amazon or my personal site at

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least cortest dot com. If you are just no joining us.

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My guest is Mary Baird. She's the author of Squash

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the Sunday Scaries, a modern playbook to rebuild trust, transform culture,

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and reignite your workforce. So one of the many things

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that I appreciate about your book one, it's very there's

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just so much practicality, and I love how you instructed

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the very beginning. Hey, you know dog, here the pages,

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take notes in here, et cetera. But one of the

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greatest things and listen, you know whoever's listening to your

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listeners and viewers. This is so important. One of the

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things that Mary says is she says better employee experience

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equals better customer experience equals better business results. This is it.

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It's just so important to get that. So I love

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your whole I will concept so and I love how

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it starts with of course, list start with listening with

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the intent to act. Let's talk through that first important steps.

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Not super deep, because there's so much you could say

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about that, but let's get acquainted with it.

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Yeah. And I'm so glad that you mentioned the paradigm shift,

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because I think a lot of companies for so long

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has been spending money, time, headcount and resources into improving

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better customer experience and doing that not the consequence of

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the employee. That's where that comes back to. Whatever it

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takes always on travel bands during launch periods, so they think, well,

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if I pour into customer experience, then that will create profit. Right,

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And the paradigm is you start at the top of

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the funnel better employee experience. When you actually invest a

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little bit of time, money, resources to improving how they

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experience work, guess what, They're going to be more engaged

405
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at work, They're going to want to deliver a really

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great customer experience. They're going to go above and beyond,

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and that creates the profit and better business results. So

408
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I'm so glad that you said that because that's literally

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the foundation of the book from you know, for all

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things that were built.

411
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Get to line. I totally get it.

412
00:22:12.440 --> 00:22:15.519
Yeah, but employee listening is where you have to start first.

413
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Because again, as a former event planner, we could talk

414
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all day long about cannapiys and brownie bites and what

415
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kind of music we're going to play at an event.

416
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It's all the fluff, right, yes, important details, But if

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you don't start with the base foundation of what is

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broken at your organization. And how you find that out

419
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is by asking your people, you know, whether that's a

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pulse survey or a focus group or even coffee with

421
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the CEO, Like you choose a handful of people every

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week and they connect with that person, and that's the

423
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question you ask, what's broken here? Literally, it's one question,

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and then you know when you build that to trust

425
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and respect over time with people, people are going to

426
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be more honest with you. At first, they're going to

427
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be a little afraid to tell you that, you know,

428
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the sponge in the kitchen sink has not been changed

429
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in three years and it drives me absolutely nuts. Obviously

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you don't care about because you don't even pay for

431
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another sponge that's three dollars, right, Like, it's those micro

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details that send signals to your people of like do

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they actually care about me? Am I important here? Or

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am I just a cog in the wheel another robot

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to create profit for shareholders or not? So you start

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with employee listening first, gather your evidence and your data

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from your people rather than making hypotheses, and start to

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go off onto the flywheel as to where I'm going

439
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to work first to improve the employee experience.

440
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And one really important thing that I want to say

441
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about what you also say in your book and I'm

442
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completely align with because we do similar kinds of work,

443
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is after you've you've listened for the feedback and gotten

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your themes, you're going to go back and report it

445
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back to the to the employee base within nineteen business days. Yes,

446
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that's so so important. Not going to just go into

447
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a hole someplace. You're going to tell people this is

448
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what we heard you say, yes, and you're also going

449
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to say this is what we're going to do about it,

450
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and what's what's coming next kind of thing, and yes,

451
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start working at it. So that's really important that we

452
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don't just collect the feedback and they disquietly disappear.

453
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Yes, you said this, we did this. Here's what's next.

454
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That's the formula. And nothing drives me more crazy than

455
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when I hear that people go, okay, let's do a survey.

456
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We asked twenty eight questions of like what's broken, and

457
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then people tell you and then you did nothing. You

458
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didn't even report the results from it and talk about it.

459
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And you certainly are not talking about here is what's next.

460
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If I'm the employee, that's billed out that twenty survey,

461
00:24:51.640 --> 00:24:54.119
and I've told you exactly what's broken, and I've given

462
00:24:54.200 --> 00:24:56.920
you ideas on how to fix it, and you've done nothing.

463
00:24:57.000 --> 00:25:01.240
It's almost worse than not surveying me, right, And you

464
00:25:01.319 --> 00:25:04.440
have to allocate those resources before you survey. You have

465
00:25:04.519 --> 00:25:06.440
to know that there's going to be things that people

466
00:25:06.440 --> 00:25:08.640
are going to say that are broken, and already have

467
00:25:09.759 --> 00:25:12.480
initiatives planned of what you're going to do to fix it.

468
00:25:13.000 --> 00:25:16.000
Beautiful, So listeners and viewers, just to give you an

469
00:25:16.039 --> 00:25:18.720
idea here, I'm just going to just quickly read through

470
00:25:19.160 --> 00:25:20.920
the flywheel. We're not going to go into all these

471
00:25:21.000 --> 00:25:22.160
but I wanted to give you an idea of the

472
00:25:22.160 --> 00:25:24.839
beautiful breadth that Mary has created here, and then we're

473
00:25:24.839 --> 00:25:26.799
going to talk through a few that really kind of

474
00:25:26.880 --> 00:25:29.079
add to the value of what you talked about in

475
00:25:29.119 --> 00:25:33.839
the show. So the flywheel, she has talent assessments, succession planning,

476
00:25:34.200 --> 00:25:39.200
new higher onboarding, digital experience, recognition and engagement, employee branding,

477
00:25:39.319 --> 00:25:44.799
workplace experience, leadership development, and the listening, which starts first.

478
00:25:45.079 --> 00:25:47.599
So that's what's in that flywheel. It's a beautiful concept.

479
00:25:47.640 --> 00:25:50.119
It's so smart and it's very sharp. So the first

480
00:25:50.160 --> 00:25:53.720
one that I want to talk about, no surprise, is

481
00:25:54.000 --> 00:25:57.480
leadership development. And for a skills based workplace, that's if

482
00:25:57.519 --> 00:25:59.240
we could kind of talk about some of the things

483
00:25:59.240 --> 00:26:01.200
and that there's real pieces to that that I think

484
00:26:01.240 --> 00:26:04.279
are really important that you call out a bit differently.

485
00:26:04.359 --> 00:26:06.759
So if you could sure a bit about that flywheel aspect.

486
00:26:07.119 --> 00:26:09.599
Yeah, And I want to be super clear when I

487
00:26:09.680 --> 00:26:14.440
say the term leadership development, I am talking about all levels,

488
00:26:14.559 --> 00:26:17.400
all departments, So I'm not just saying, hey, just for

489
00:26:17.519 --> 00:26:21.480
people who are directors, plus our leaders in our organization

490
00:26:21.559 --> 00:26:25.119
who get you know, leadership development. Everyone's a leader. Everyone

491
00:26:25.160 --> 00:26:27.759
has the potential to be a leaver leader, even if

492
00:26:27.799 --> 00:26:30.640
they are an entry level person at the very you know,

493
00:26:30.720 --> 00:26:34.279
bottom rung of the org chart or have worked there

494
00:26:34.319 --> 00:26:38.200
for twenty years. And I also believe that when you

495
00:26:38.799 --> 00:26:42.359
show that you are willing to invest in people, that

496
00:26:43.079 --> 00:26:46.599
they show up differently. And I think that's really really

497
00:26:46.640 --> 00:26:49.519
important because I think L and D learning and development

498
00:26:49.519 --> 00:26:51.880
sort of gets a bad rep sometimes of like, oh,

499
00:26:51.920 --> 00:26:55.240
you're assigned me another compliance training. I'm just going to

500
00:26:55.319 --> 00:26:57.880
click the button as fast as I possibly can to

501
00:26:57.920 --> 00:26:59.880
get through it because I got work to do to

502
00:27:00.440 --> 00:27:04.319
right we're not talking about that. We're really talking about

503
00:27:04.720 --> 00:27:07.640
when you you have people in your organization, you say, hey,

504
00:27:08.400 --> 00:27:11.039
what would you like to work on in this year ahead?

505
00:27:11.079 --> 00:27:15.039
What skills would you take interest in developing in the

506
00:27:15.119 --> 00:27:17.200
year ahead? And so you might have heard of a

507
00:27:17.319 --> 00:27:21.079
concept like an IDP, an individual development plan, and a

508
00:27:21.119 --> 00:27:24.240
lot of times it gets to it tasked as like, oh,

509
00:27:24.359 --> 00:27:26.359
could you just fill that out? Like whatever, we just

510
00:27:26.359 --> 00:27:28.519
have to submit it. It's like a corporate thing whatever,

511
00:27:29.200 --> 00:27:32.880
But it can be a tool of empowerment if used correctly.

512
00:27:33.359 --> 00:27:36.599
And in my belief, I think an IDP is the

513
00:27:36.799 --> 00:27:40.799
owner is the individual, not the manager, right right, But

514
00:27:41.039 --> 00:27:44.480
the manager has to know how to use this tool correctly.

515
00:27:45.000 --> 00:27:48.119
And so the manager has to know like, hey, I

516
00:27:48.200 --> 00:27:51.319
understand what the business priorities are for this quarter, this

517
00:27:51.440 --> 00:27:54.960
year whatever, and here's where we're headed. We're you know,

518
00:27:55.039 --> 00:27:56.880
this is where we are now, and this is where

519
00:27:56.880 --> 00:27:59.799
we're headed next. And so I know that my team

520
00:28:00.240 --> 00:28:03.960
developed skill A, skill B and skill C right in

521
00:28:04.039 --> 00:28:06.720
order for us to hit our targets. And then it's

522
00:28:06.759 --> 00:28:09.519
a pattern of the individual coming to the table and

523
00:28:09.519 --> 00:28:12.400
going Okay, here are priorities for the team and for

524
00:28:12.440 --> 00:28:15.480
the business. For this year. Here's how your role fits

525
00:28:15.480 --> 00:28:18.119
into that. Where do you want to develop in this

526
00:28:18.200 --> 00:28:21.519
year ahead? As your accountability partner? This is the boss

527
00:28:21.559 --> 00:28:26.039
saying this, how can I help remove roadblocks run alongside

528
00:28:26.079 --> 00:28:29.839
you so that you can develop these skills. That's a

529
00:28:30.000 --> 00:28:33.000
different conversation than hey, could you fill out your IDP

530
00:28:33.079 --> 00:28:35.839
because it's you know, due to hr by Friday whatever.

531
00:28:36.000 --> 00:28:39.720
Just Yeah. The other thing that I also appreciate about

532
00:28:39.720 --> 00:28:42.559
your approach to when you talk about skill just developing

533
00:28:42.599 --> 00:28:45.039
skills at all, is you talk about, you know, this

534
00:28:45.160 --> 00:28:48.319
idea of isolating a couple of capabilities that do roll

535
00:28:48.359 --> 00:28:50.960
up into the business outcomes. But so it's not it's

536
00:28:51.039 --> 00:28:54.200
more like this idea of you know, small chunks, but

537
00:28:54.319 --> 00:28:56.279
the idea is ongoing. You don't have to go to

538
00:28:56.319 --> 00:29:00.440
a year long, you know program, or even a few

539
00:29:00.480 --> 00:29:03.759
weeks or whatever, but every more frequently you've got those

540
00:29:03.799 --> 00:29:05.519
small chunks. And I think that makes a ton of

541
00:29:05.559 --> 00:29:07.680
sense in our approach to Yeah.

542
00:29:07.960 --> 00:29:11.480
I actually just this week had Ryan McCrae on the

543
00:29:11.519 --> 00:29:14.799
Simplifiers podcast. He's an L and D executive with twenty

544
00:29:14.880 --> 00:29:17.720
years of experience, and he was talking about the concept

545
00:29:17.720 --> 00:29:21.319
of micro learning. It's quick bite sized amounts of learning

546
00:29:21.599 --> 00:29:24.000
and what happens. It's just like riding a bike. You know,

547
00:29:24.119 --> 00:29:26.400
you can't learn how to ride a bike in one

548
00:29:26.480 --> 00:29:29.839
day only doing it for one hour total, right, You

549
00:29:29.920 --> 00:29:31.880
have to try and try and try and try and

550
00:29:31.920 --> 00:29:34.960
try and do it with repetition. So I think that's

551
00:29:35.000 --> 00:29:39.680
what's important. It's tiny bites that reinforce the learning so

552
00:29:39.720 --> 00:29:42.319
that you can learn and then you can teach others.

553
00:29:42.680 --> 00:29:46.039
That's how it becomes really sunk in as a new

554
00:29:46.119 --> 00:29:46.640
skill for you.

555
00:29:48.079 --> 00:29:49.640
So much more we can say about that, but I

556
00:29:49.680 --> 00:29:51.440
want to give as much of a tour here as

557
00:29:51.440 --> 00:29:53.920
we can. So let's move on to another part of

558
00:29:53.920 --> 00:29:55.920
the flywheel, which is recognition and engagement.

559
00:29:56.359 --> 00:29:59.839
Yes, yeah, and so in that space again that comes

560
00:30:00.079 --> 00:30:04.119
and my extensive experience producing events, and one of my

561
00:30:04.400 --> 00:30:08.480
favorite frameworks that I have known for gosh now twenty

562
00:30:08.559 --> 00:30:13.160
years is by Julia Rutherford Silvers, and sadly she's passed on,

563
00:30:13.359 --> 00:30:16.599
but she has something called the six A's of Event Design,

564
00:30:16.920 --> 00:30:18.880
and I'm just going to rattle them off really quick,

565
00:30:18.920 --> 00:30:21.799
because I think this gives you framework for when you're

566
00:30:21.880 --> 00:30:26.039
designing an event experience to think about all aspects of it.

567
00:30:26.160 --> 00:30:29.680
So The six a's are this anticipation, as in, what

568
00:30:29.799 --> 00:30:33.119
is it you're sending to your event attendees beforehand to

569
00:30:33.240 --> 00:30:38.759
drive excitement arrival? So what is it they experience upon

570
00:30:39.119 --> 00:30:44.119
arriving at the event, the off site retreat, the whatever atmosphere?

571
00:30:44.480 --> 00:30:48.680
So talk to me about five senses. What do they taste, touch, feel,

572
00:30:48.880 --> 00:30:52.839
and sense you know at this event. Appetite, So what

573
00:30:52.880 --> 00:30:56.519
are they eating and drinking? And thinking about people's dietary needs.

574
00:30:56.519 --> 00:30:59.000
If you're doing an all day conference, don't load them

575
00:30:59.079 --> 00:31:01.160
up on carbs. They'll be asleep by two o'clock in

576
00:31:01.200 --> 00:31:06.000
the ether. Throe r right at activities, So what are

577
00:31:06.079 --> 00:31:08.160
you doing to get them up and about and moving

578
00:31:08.200 --> 00:31:11.559
around and doing something different to engage different parts of

579
00:31:11.599 --> 00:31:15.079
their brain? And then the last one is amenities. So

580
00:31:15.200 --> 00:31:17.480
what is it that you're giving them at the end

581
00:31:17.559 --> 00:31:19.960
of the day, either if it's a swag bag, a

582
00:31:20.119 --> 00:31:25.440
USB stick, whatever that makes the event special and memorable,

583
00:31:25.720 --> 00:31:28.400
that maybe sits on their desk and reminds them of

584
00:31:28.440 --> 00:31:31.799
the learning moment that they had had. Those six a's

585
00:31:31.880 --> 00:31:35.400
are quite powerful for every single event experience, whether it's

586
00:31:35.440 --> 00:31:40.119
an awards program or a President's Club offside event or

587
00:31:40.440 --> 00:31:43.400
you know, even like doing a walk and connect for

588
00:31:43.519 --> 00:31:46.000
your company. Let me just kind of break this down

589
00:31:46.000 --> 00:31:49.640
if you don't mind. It's super simple. It's a free concept.

590
00:31:49.839 --> 00:31:51.640
We used to do this at the last company I

591
00:31:51.680 --> 00:31:55.000
worked for about you know, once every couple of weeks.

592
00:31:55.079 --> 00:31:57.680
We would meet up at Tuesday at ten am. Whoever

593
00:31:57.759 --> 00:32:01.799
comes as whoever's there, and we walk around the campus

594
00:32:01.839 --> 00:32:05.559
for thirty forty five minutes. We give people conversation starter

595
00:32:05.799 --> 00:32:09.279
cards and pair people up in twos and threes and

596
00:32:09.319 --> 00:32:13.920
that's it. It costs nothing, but it creates such great

597
00:32:14.079 --> 00:32:16.039
value because A gets your people up and out of

598
00:32:16.079 --> 00:32:18.240
their desk, they get their steps in. There's wellness and

599
00:32:18.319 --> 00:32:22.799
that B there's connection and belonging. And see there's conversations

600
00:32:22.799 --> 00:32:25.599
that are starting. That's almost the level of employee listening,

601
00:32:25.640 --> 00:32:29.200
if you will, but where people can express their wants,

602
00:32:29.200 --> 00:32:32.559
needs and desires and connect with their coworkers. These are

603
00:32:32.599 --> 00:32:34.880
powerful things you can do that with the six A's.

604
00:32:36.240 --> 00:32:38.079
Oh my gosh, so much more we could talk about there,

605
00:32:38.079 --> 00:32:40.079
but let's grab our last break here and then I

606
00:32:40.200 --> 00:32:42.039
want to comment on a couple things you said as well.

607
00:32:42.759 --> 00:32:44.799
I'm your host, doctor Relis Cortez. We've go on the

608
00:32:44.799 --> 00:32:47.480
air with Mary Baird, who is a senior employee experience

609
00:32:47.480 --> 00:32:50.880
strategist and the founder of the Simplifiers, helping organizations transform

610
00:32:50.920 --> 00:32:54.480
how their people experience work. We've been talking about getting

611
00:32:54.519 --> 00:32:57.440
into some of the fly FLYWEL factors. After the break,

612
00:32:57.599 --> 00:32:59.759
we're going to dive into a few more and especially

613
00:32:59.759 --> 00:33:02.319
if the going to enjoy what she's giving us around

614
00:33:02.400 --> 00:33:06.400
the idea of the work experience, especially in a hybrid format.

615
00:33:06.519 --> 00:33:07.279
We'll be right back.

616
00:33:22.599 --> 00:33:26.160
Doctor Elise Cortes is a management consultant specializing in meaning

617
00:33:26.200 --> 00:33:30.039
and purpose. An inspirational speaker and author, she helps companies

618
00:33:30.119 --> 00:33:33.920
visioneer for greater purpose among stakeholders and develop purpose inspired

619
00:33:34.000 --> 00:33:37.960
leadership and meaning infused cultures that elevate fulfillment, performance, and

620
00:33:38.039 --> 00:33:41.240
commitment within the workforce. To learn more or to invite

621
00:33:41.240 --> 00:33:44.000
a lease to speak to your organization, please visit her

622
00:33:44.079 --> 00:33:47.319
at elisecortes dot com. Let's talk about how to get

623
00:33:47.359 --> 00:33:56.119
your employees working on purpose. This is working on purpose

624
00:33:56.240 --> 00:33:59.480
with doctor Elise Cortes. To reach our program today or

625
00:33:59.519 --> 00:34:02.160
to open a conversation with a lease, send an email

626
00:34:02.240 --> 00:34:06.960
to a lease a li se at eleascortes dot com.

627
00:34:07.000 --> 00:34:09.159
Now back to working on Purpose.

628
00:34:14.320 --> 00:34:16.039
Thanks for staying with us, and welcome back to Working

629
00:34:16.039 --> 00:34:18.960
on Purpose. I'm your host, doctor Elise Cortes. As you

630
00:34:19.000 --> 00:34:21.079
know by now, this program is dedicated to empowering and

631
00:34:21.119 --> 00:34:23.840
inspire you along your journey to realize more of your potential.

632
00:34:23.880 --> 00:34:26.519
As I mentioned in my last book or my last segment,

633
00:34:26.840 --> 00:34:29.079
the Great Religion came out and I gave to you

634
00:34:29.159 --> 00:34:31.639
a very simple three page assessment that you can evaluate

635
00:34:31.679 --> 00:34:33.679
the extent to which you are meeting those standards. You

636
00:34:33.719 --> 00:34:37.119
can find it at my site gustodeshnow dot com if

637
00:34:37.159 --> 00:34:39.239
you are just now joining us. My guest is Mary Baird.

638
00:34:39.280 --> 00:34:41.920
She's the author of Squash the Sunday Scaries, a modern

639
00:34:41.960 --> 00:34:45.719
playbook to rebuild trust, transform culture and reignite your workforce.

640
00:34:46.639 --> 00:34:49.079
So back on the recognition and engagement piece. What I

641
00:34:49.119 --> 00:34:51.480
wanted to celebrate that I so align with because of

642
00:34:51.480 --> 00:34:54.079
course we do it as well, is I appreciate that

643
00:34:54.159 --> 00:34:59.400
you talk about how when recognition done well, it reinforces

644
00:34:59.639 --> 00:35:03.480
your co these values and its it sparks the feeling

645
00:35:03.480 --> 00:35:06.159
that hey, you noticed me, and you make a super

646
00:35:06.199 --> 00:35:08.920
clear idea and point of what good looks like around here.

647
00:35:09.000 --> 00:35:12.239
And also you're recognizing when people live the company's values,

648
00:35:12.280 --> 00:35:15.440
mission and vision. So that's all the stuff that we

649
00:35:15.480 --> 00:35:17.880
do too. So I think it's such a powerful way

650
00:35:17.920 --> 00:35:20.559
to be able to ignite that that engagement, so wanted

651
00:35:20.559 --> 00:35:21.199
to celebrate that.

652
00:35:21.639 --> 00:35:25.559
Yes, totally. And if you're guiding principles or core values,

653
00:35:25.599 --> 00:35:28.800
if there's like ten or twelve, you definitely have to

654
00:35:28.800 --> 00:35:32.320
simplify down because if I can't tell you them easily,

655
00:35:33.039 --> 00:35:35.360
then no one knows what they are. So I highly

656
00:35:35.400 --> 00:35:38.000
recommend that, absolutely.

657
00:35:38.400 --> 00:35:41.800
So I want to cover two at least two more

658
00:35:41.840 --> 00:35:44.800
from fly of your flywheel pieces here. The next one

659
00:35:45.519 --> 00:35:49.360
is new higher onboarding that feels like belonging. I think

660
00:35:49.400 --> 00:35:52.800
you do a stellar job of really creating and laying

661
00:35:52.840 --> 00:35:55.599
out what kind of experience look like. That really starts

662
00:35:55.599 --> 00:35:58.320
that feeling a belonging connection, like I made the right

663
00:35:58.400 --> 00:36:00.760
choice from the day one. Yeah, speak to a little

664
00:36:00.760 --> 00:36:01.159
bit of that.

665
00:36:01.440 --> 00:36:06.079
Holy smokes, I feel like onboarding is so it's so

666
00:36:06.280 --> 00:36:08.880
obvious what I'm about to say. But so many companies

667
00:36:08.920 --> 00:36:12.159
get this wrong. And we spend so much time and

668
00:36:12.239 --> 00:36:16.360
money and effort and did I say money, lots of

669
00:36:16.440 --> 00:36:19.840
money to attract talent to our company. And we go

670
00:36:19.920 --> 00:36:22.880
through fifteen interviews and all the things, and then finally

671
00:36:22.920 --> 00:36:25.440
we give them an offer, and then on day one

672
00:36:25.840 --> 00:36:29.880
we stumble the finish line. And you know, I can't

673
00:36:29.920 --> 00:36:32.519
tell you how many times I've seen this where a

674
00:36:32.519 --> 00:36:34.679
person shows up on their first day of work and

675
00:36:35.119 --> 00:36:37.360
they don't know where to park, they don't know who

676
00:36:37.360 --> 00:36:40.000
they're meeting the first day, they haven't figured out how

677
00:36:40.039 --> 00:36:43.039
to get their laptop or computer from whoever's giving it

678
00:36:43.079 --> 00:36:46.320
to them. They find their desk and realize it's got

679
00:36:46.360 --> 00:36:50.199
somebody else's name on the name plate and dusty stuff

680
00:36:50.199 --> 00:36:53.039
inside the desk, voice motivating him, and then you know,

681
00:36:53.079 --> 00:36:55.760
when it comes to lunchtime, they have no clue who

682
00:36:55.760 --> 00:36:58.360
they're going to lunch with. No one's pre arranged anything.

683
00:36:58.400 --> 00:37:01.039
They're just sort of left on their own. And all

684
00:37:01.079 --> 00:37:03.880
of these key signal points, where to work, what am

685
00:37:03.920 --> 00:37:06.800
I wearing, who am I meeting? And where am I

686
00:37:06.840 --> 00:37:09.599
going to lunch? Those four are the most important things.

687
00:37:09.639 --> 00:37:12.039
If you can get those figured out for day one,

688
00:37:12.760 --> 00:37:16.000
you're ahead of ninety percent of companies that are out there.

689
00:37:16.920 --> 00:37:19.800
And that's part of employee experience. You can't make a

690
00:37:19.840 --> 00:37:23.360
first impression for multiple times. You only get one chance

691
00:37:23.400 --> 00:37:25.400
at it. And these are the things that make it right.

692
00:37:26.760 --> 00:37:29.599
And I like how what Jimmy Taylor said in his

693
00:37:29.679 --> 00:37:35.079
forward that the quality of that connection with the manager

694
00:37:35.119 --> 00:37:37.760
in those first ninety days and it really sets the tone.

695
00:37:38.199 --> 00:37:41.280
Yeah, yeah, it for sure does. And I even say

696
00:37:41.280 --> 00:37:45.239
that onboarding begins before day one. So there's something that

697
00:37:45.320 --> 00:37:48.480
I would call preboarding, which happens from the point that

698
00:37:48.519 --> 00:37:51.800
a person accepts the job offer all the way up

699
00:37:51.880 --> 00:37:54.679
to the day the first day they log in if

700
00:37:54.679 --> 00:37:57.239
they're a remote employee, or they step inside the office

701
00:37:57.360 --> 00:38:01.960
on day one. That preboarding phase is so incredibly important

702
00:38:01.960 --> 00:38:04.719
to get it right. If you're sending them thousands of

703
00:38:04.760 --> 00:38:07.760
emails and taking them to different forms to fill out

704
00:38:07.800 --> 00:38:10.239
and it's just like long and laboriousm and you're going,

705
00:38:10.320 --> 00:38:12.679
oh my god, what is all of this, Like it's

706
00:38:12.840 --> 00:38:17.599
just too much, right, or the vice versa of too little.

707
00:38:17.760 --> 00:38:19.920
No one's told me anything, And I think I'm supposed

708
00:38:19.920 --> 00:38:21.719
to show up at nine am on Monday, but no

709
00:38:21.760 --> 00:38:24.760
one's told me, so I have no idea. Getting that

710
00:38:24.840 --> 00:38:28.440
balance right in the pre boarding phase makes a huge

711
00:38:28.519 --> 00:38:33.280
difference for that new excited candidate to still actually stay excited.

712
00:38:34.360 --> 00:38:37.440
I'm smiling because you don't know this, but from two

713
00:38:37.440 --> 00:38:40.400
thousand and sixty twenty ten, I was a co founder

714
00:38:40.719 --> 00:38:43.719
of an online feedback portal for HR that would actually

715
00:38:43.760 --> 00:38:47.039
gather intelligence about those experiences along those key points before

716
00:38:47.039 --> 00:38:50.960
people got hired. Yeah, so I totally yes, I completely

717
00:38:50.960 --> 00:38:53.800
believe that. Okay, so now I want to spend Really

718
00:38:53.960 --> 00:38:55.880
is probably most of the rest of the show here

719
00:38:55.920 --> 00:38:59.800
talking about the workplace experience part of your flywheel, because

720
00:38:59.800 --> 00:39:02.480
that's just both of our jams. And I love how

721
00:39:02.519 --> 00:39:05.440
you start this chapter by saying, ask yourself why anyone

722
00:39:05.719 --> 00:39:07.719
would want to wake up early, drive and bumper to

723
00:39:07.719 --> 00:39:10.920
bumper traffic and pay insane toll tags and parking to

724
00:39:10.960 --> 00:39:12.920
work in a less than ideal office when they could

725
00:39:12.960 --> 00:39:16.760
be more productive working at home. Yeah. I mean.

726
00:39:18.159 --> 00:39:21.480
You can tell to tell my viewpoint on things personally

727
00:39:21.519 --> 00:39:23.639
when it comes to that, because it just it drives

728
00:39:23.679 --> 00:39:26.760
me crazy. I have worked in organizations where they have

729
00:39:26.880 --> 00:39:30.000
done return to office mandates. Right, you know, show up

730
00:39:30.039 --> 00:39:32.159
in the next two weeks on starting on this day

731
00:39:32.320 --> 00:39:35.440
or if you don't, well, thank you for working here goodbye. Right,

732
00:39:35.960 --> 00:39:39.679
And the office is not capable to handle that many

733
00:39:39.679 --> 00:39:42.679
people in the office space at the same time either

734
00:39:42.719 --> 00:39:45.679
with meeting rooms or Wi Fi or whatever, and so

735
00:39:45.719 --> 00:39:48.920
you literally show up with your laptop and you're having

736
00:39:49.039 --> 00:39:51.800
zoom calls with the people you're sitting next to. It

737
00:39:52.159 --> 00:39:56.840
makes no sense whatever. So the physical office space really

738
00:39:56.880 --> 00:40:02.880
has to be built for actual success, and that requires

739
00:40:03.159 --> 00:40:06.079
really doing a full audit of the physical office space.

740
00:40:06.119 --> 00:40:09.159
You walk the space and think about what is it

741
00:40:09.239 --> 00:40:12.440
that needs to be updated before we do a return

742
00:40:12.480 --> 00:40:13.320
to office mandate.

743
00:40:14.119 --> 00:40:15.960
And I want to get into that because I think

744
00:40:16.039 --> 00:40:18.119
this is some of the best stuff. You know, the

745
00:40:18.119 --> 00:40:19.719
way that I do the show, Mary, I don't about you,

746
00:40:19.760 --> 00:40:22.000
but it's really curated, so I really don't talk about

747
00:40:22.000 --> 00:40:24.000
things to a great degree. If we've already covered them

748
00:40:24.000 --> 00:40:25.760
on the show. I pull out the things that just

749
00:40:25.840 --> 00:40:28.960
add to what we've talked about. So we're going to

750
00:40:29.079 --> 00:40:30.559
I want to get into that in just a second,

751
00:40:30.599 --> 00:40:33.320
but before we do that, I think it really makes sense.

752
00:40:33.360 --> 00:40:35.599
And I love this whole concept. I've never heard it before.

753
00:40:36.079 --> 00:40:39.519
Heads up versus heads down work. Yeah, I think this

754
00:40:39.679 --> 00:40:41.639
is so powerful. If you could share that with.

755
00:40:41.679 --> 00:40:43.719
Us, yeah, I you know, I was just flipping to

756
00:40:43.760 --> 00:40:45.679
that page as well because I really wanted to share

757
00:40:45.719 --> 00:40:48.760
from it. So in page one ninety six, of the book,

758
00:40:48.800 --> 00:40:51.480
I really talk about this concept of heads up versus

759
00:40:51.519 --> 00:40:55.039
heads down work, and here is my thoughts on it.

760
00:40:55.679 --> 00:40:59.079
In any given time, in any given moment during your

761
00:40:59.119 --> 00:41:02.679
work days, no matter what level they work and no

762
00:41:02.760 --> 00:41:06.039
matter what department, they're going to have a sprinkling of

763
00:41:06.119 --> 00:41:08.880
heads up work and a sprinkling of heads down work.

764
00:41:08.880 --> 00:41:12.480
And heads up work for me is brainstorming with others,

765
00:41:12.920 --> 00:41:16.599
collaboration and code design work that is best done face

766
00:41:16.639 --> 00:41:21.719
to face. It's team building time that actually strengthens connection

767
00:41:22.159 --> 00:41:25.119
and trust and respect that you can't get on a

768
00:41:25.239 --> 00:41:26.000
zoom call.

769
00:41:26.199 --> 00:41:26.400
Right.

770
00:41:27.000 --> 00:41:30.559
It's time for pitching ideas to leaders, and it's also

771
00:41:30.719 --> 00:41:34.199
decision making time. So that's why you need to be

772
00:41:34.360 --> 00:41:37.639
face to face in person in real life. And that

773
00:41:38.119 --> 00:41:42.159
really is that heads up kind of work, right. Everything

774
00:41:42.159 --> 00:41:45.360
else is heads down work focus time. I mean, I

775
00:41:45.440 --> 00:41:47.599
really just need to put my headphones on and put

776
00:41:47.599 --> 00:41:49.960
my head down and focus on whatever it is. Work

777
00:41:50.000 --> 00:41:52.239
on the spreadsheet, work on this graphic design, work on

778
00:41:52.280 --> 00:41:56.039
the strategy, et cetera, et cetera. Heads down work requires

779
00:41:56.119 --> 00:41:59.559
more quiet time. You can't be in an open office

780
00:41:59.599 --> 00:42:02.760
plan with eighty people on zoom calls around you and

781
00:42:02.840 --> 00:42:06.039
try to even have any sort of sense of concentration

782
00:42:06.159 --> 00:42:10.920
on heads down work. So, having said that, I think

783
00:42:11.000 --> 00:42:16.320
that the modern worker now is migrant. They migrate from

784
00:42:16.400 --> 00:42:20.400
one hot spot to another inside your physical office space,

785
00:42:20.719 --> 00:42:23.519
depending on the type of work that they're doing. And

786
00:42:23.559 --> 00:42:26.280
again this is different Boomers. They would sit in an

787
00:42:26.280 --> 00:42:29.559
office and do their work all day long in one office,

788
00:42:29.559 --> 00:42:31.519
maybe go into a conference room for a meeting here

789
00:42:31.599 --> 00:42:35.519
or there, but they stay really stationary. But now in

790
00:42:35.559 --> 00:42:38.079
this day and age, people don't have offices. People don't

791
00:42:38.079 --> 00:42:41.039
even have walls, right, They barely even have a desk

792
00:42:41.119 --> 00:42:43.840
that's their own. It's more like hotelling, where you check

793
00:42:43.880 --> 00:42:46.840
into this desk one day and this other desk another day.

794
00:42:47.320 --> 00:42:51.480
And so for me, I believe that a modern hybrid

795
00:42:51.840 --> 00:42:55.280
office that is built for success is thinking about a

796
00:42:55.320 --> 00:42:59.679
person migrating throughout the day to do their heads up work.

797
00:42:59.719 --> 00:43:02.840
Maybe there's a brainstorm session with their team in the morning,

798
00:43:02.960 --> 00:43:05.559
so it's in a really collaborative space with whiteboards and

799
00:43:06.159 --> 00:43:09.159
posted notes and snacks and all the things, right, and

800
00:43:09.199 --> 00:43:11.960
then they move into a telephone booth for heads down

801
00:43:12.039 --> 00:43:15.079
time just to focus on something where they just need

802
00:43:15.159 --> 00:43:18.400
absolute quiet, or maybe they move to an outdoor space

803
00:43:18.480 --> 00:43:21.639
for that connection point, you know, with their one on ones,

804
00:43:22.000 --> 00:43:25.599
and so they're migrating throughout the day to the right spot,

805
00:43:26.000 --> 00:43:29.840
the right physical office spot that helps them do the

806
00:43:29.880 --> 00:43:32.480
work that they're doing, whether it's heads up or heads down.

807
00:43:34.000 --> 00:43:38.199
Now, imagine listen, listen, listeners and viewers, just imagine the

808
00:43:38.199 --> 00:43:41.679
experience that your workplace, your employer actually went to the

809
00:43:41.760 --> 00:43:45.599
trouble and really thought about trying to create an ideal

810
00:43:45.719 --> 00:43:49.199
workplace experience for you and then created these different stations

811
00:43:49.199 --> 00:43:50.880
for you to go to where people, as you say,

812
00:43:50.960 --> 00:43:54.840
might focus huw to sprint, be social or reset and

813
00:43:55.320 --> 00:43:58.400
as you when you create this environment that you give

814
00:43:58.400 --> 00:43:59.960
them signage and tell them this is where you go

815
00:44:00.199 --> 00:44:01.800
for this. You know, this is this is a way

816
00:44:01.840 --> 00:44:03.599
for you, this is how this is how you choose

817
00:44:03.599 --> 00:44:05.079
where you can do your best work.

818
00:44:05.480 --> 00:44:05.719
Yeah.

819
00:44:05.760 --> 00:44:07.559
I think that is brilliant, Mary.

820
00:44:07.599 --> 00:44:09.960
Thank you. Yeah, And I think that that I've seen

821
00:44:10.000 --> 00:44:14.440
it in action. I've seen inside the offices of Amazon

822
00:44:14.719 --> 00:44:17.960
in their Nashville office and it's very much built like this,

823
00:44:18.119 --> 00:44:22.559
where there are zones for migration. In the Nashville office

824
00:44:22.559 --> 00:44:25.719
of Amazon, they have this really cool art studio space.

825
00:44:25.800 --> 00:44:28.760
I mean, it's like massive where you know, a person

826
00:44:28.800 --> 00:44:30.800
could go in there and they just need to unlock

827
00:44:30.840 --> 00:44:34.559
the right brain side of creativity. Maybe they're stuck. It's

828
00:44:34.599 --> 00:44:37.239
a full art studio that's built with all the art

829
00:44:37.239 --> 00:44:39.599
supplies you could ever imagine your eight year old inner

830
00:44:39.679 --> 00:44:43.119
child would just go so biddy right, and you can

831
00:44:43.239 --> 00:44:45.559
you reserve out the space. You could do it individually,

832
00:44:45.639 --> 00:44:47.960
you can do it as a team, and it's built

833
00:44:48.039 --> 00:44:52.800
for you to get unstuck. That is Amazon money, obviously,

834
00:44:52.960 --> 00:44:55.199
and not every company has that kind of a budget,

835
00:44:55.679 --> 00:44:58.639
but you do have, you know, the elements of that.

836
00:44:58.880 --> 00:45:01.880
Maybe there is a a corner in one part of

837
00:45:01.920 --> 00:45:04.559
your office that's got some art supplies and some doodle

838
00:45:04.599 --> 00:45:07.440
pads that doesn't cost more than like maybe forty or

839
00:45:07.440 --> 00:45:10.199
fifty dollars tops to stock it up, put a sign

840
00:45:10.280 --> 00:45:12.840
up and say hey, this is a creative zone. Use

841
00:45:12.880 --> 00:45:15.480
it as you will. You can do the same thing

842
00:45:15.679 --> 00:45:16.599
for a lot less.

843
00:45:17.400 --> 00:45:19.480
I just it's I don't know. Do you know who

844
00:45:19.519 --> 00:45:21.039
Marissa Hale is. Oh?

845
00:45:21.119 --> 00:45:22.800
Yes, of course, Marissa.

846
00:45:22.800 --> 00:45:23.519
You're a rock star.

847
00:45:24.400 --> 00:45:24.599
You know.

848
00:45:24.679 --> 00:45:28.559
She helps companies designed for those optimized workplaces that are

849
00:45:28.599 --> 00:45:34.440
just really you know, centrally appealing and so to that end,

850
00:45:34.480 --> 00:45:37.159
I also appreciated your idea or your offer, you know,

851
00:45:37.199 --> 00:45:39.280
to even rethink the bathrooms. You know, could you put

852
00:45:39.480 --> 00:45:42.360
something on the backstall door that talks about some upcoming

853
00:45:42.360 --> 00:45:45.159
events or something. Could you have upbeat music that or

854
00:45:45.159 --> 00:45:48.280
at least it's peaceful or something that helps them have

855
00:45:48.320 --> 00:45:50.480
a better experience there. And so you know, what I

856
00:45:50.559 --> 00:45:52.440
like to say is, if you are going to ask

857
00:45:52.440 --> 00:45:55.039
your employees to come into the office, either a hybrid

858
00:45:55.159 --> 00:45:58.719
or full time, you do need to earn the commute today.

859
00:45:59.320 --> 00:46:03.039
A thousand percent yes, And I think that a lot

860
00:46:03.079 --> 00:46:06.599
of these ideas if you actually brought somebody in who's

861
00:46:06.679 --> 00:46:12.679
thinking in these terms again, five senses of this physical space?

862
00:46:12.840 --> 00:46:16.400
What do I need in order to do my best work?

863
00:46:17.000 --> 00:46:20.079
It's not about ping pong tables and pizza parties. While

864
00:46:20.320 --> 00:46:23.280
you know all those things are nice, what is it

865
00:46:23.559 --> 00:46:26.519
actually that I need to do great work? I need

866
00:46:26.679 --> 00:46:29.960
solid Wi Fi. I need spaces where I can put

867
00:46:29.960 --> 00:46:33.039
my head down and really focus. I need a place

868
00:46:33.079 --> 00:46:36.239
that inspires me. You know, if we're talking fluorescent lighting

869
00:46:36.280 --> 00:46:40.639
and beige walls, like shoot me now. So I and

870
00:46:40.719 --> 00:46:44.320
it doesn't have to be like you know, Google or Amazon,

871
00:46:44.719 --> 00:46:48.159
crazy money spending, but it has to be a space

872
00:46:48.159 --> 00:46:52.400
that's designed with intention, right, And you know, those are

873
00:46:52.440 --> 00:46:55.639
the things that I think employees notice. Those are signals

874
00:46:55.639 --> 00:46:58.320
that we appreciate and we go, yeah, actually, I am

875
00:46:58.360 --> 00:47:00.719
proud to work here because I do care about me

876
00:47:01.119 --> 00:47:04.519
no matter how long or short I stay. And this

877
00:47:04.599 --> 00:47:06.800
is really important to Lisa, and I think this is

878
00:47:06.800 --> 00:47:10.800
worth saying with my outside voice. I think layoffs are

879
00:47:10.800 --> 00:47:13.000
still going to happen. Like I don't think we're going

880
00:47:13.079 --> 00:47:15.719
to end that magically in the next couple of years.

881
00:47:15.760 --> 00:47:17.719
I think they will continue to be a part of

882
00:47:17.760 --> 00:47:21.000
the ethos of working in corporate life. So when you

883
00:47:21.159 --> 00:47:23.400
change the paradigm shift and you say, hey, you know what,

884
00:47:23.440 --> 00:47:27.199
We're a company that focuses on employee experience. So for

885
00:47:27.239 --> 00:47:30.679
whatever long you are with us, we are devoted to

886
00:47:30.800 --> 00:47:34.199
you if you can be devoted to us and our customers, right,

887
00:47:34.280 --> 00:47:37.920
and we show you how devoted we are through employee experience,

888
00:47:38.599 --> 00:47:41.599
and you know that that is in turn, and I

889
00:47:41.639 --> 00:47:45.800
think that that's a lot more of an honest transaction

890
00:47:46.199 --> 00:47:50.880
and expectation two ways. Then hey, do whatever it takes,

891
00:47:51.320 --> 00:47:53.960
bust your ass and hit those revenue targets. And if

892
00:47:53.960 --> 00:47:56.599
you don't you're out right right.

893
00:47:56.920 --> 00:47:59.079
Well, actually, that what you just put forward there, I

894
00:47:59.119 --> 00:48:02.440
know that has put forth that idea forever long you're here.

895
00:48:02.320 --> 00:48:05.119
We're going to invest in making you better. Yes, and

896
00:48:05.159 --> 00:48:06.719
we ask that you just you know, give your best

897
00:48:06.760 --> 00:48:09.039
to be able to contribute to what we're doing here. Yeah,

898
00:48:09.199 --> 00:48:12.599
and that's the that ought to be the new contract. Yeah,

899
00:48:12.639 --> 00:48:14.800
so I appreciate that. Okay, so we're almost out a time,

900
00:48:14.880 --> 00:48:16.239
so let me give you a chance to be able

901
00:48:16.239 --> 00:48:18.760
to close the conversation and say, twenty seconds, what would

902
00:48:18.800 --> 00:48:19.920
you like to leave our listeners with.

903
00:48:20.480 --> 00:48:22.679
I'm super excited to have this book out in the world.

904
00:48:22.800 --> 00:48:25.440
I'm continuing a book tour all the way through till

905
00:48:25.480 --> 00:48:28.800
the end of June or so. So if you're curious

906
00:48:28.840 --> 00:48:31.039
about Squash the Sunday Scaries, you can go to the

907
00:48:31.039 --> 00:48:35.480
website Squash the Sundayscaries dot com. And also, I'm really

908
00:48:35.519 --> 00:48:38.239
excited you're the first to hear about this, but I'm

909
00:48:38.280 --> 00:48:42.000
launching a book club for this book in particular, because

910
00:48:42.039 --> 00:48:44.639
you know, here's the thing. We're all busy people, and

911
00:48:44.840 --> 00:48:46.920
you know, to read a whole book and actually put

912
00:48:46.960 --> 00:48:50.039
it into action is really hard sometimes when it's just

913
00:48:50.159 --> 00:48:52.719
you the individual. So my belief is that if I

914
00:48:52.719 --> 00:48:56.280
can pull together a book club of other HR professionals

915
00:48:56.360 --> 00:48:59.760
and people managers who want that accountability, somebody to run

916
00:48:59.760 --> 00:49:02.320
along alongside them for thirty days to help you do

917
00:49:02.480 --> 00:49:05.480
the thing and take action, that's exactly it. So again,

918
00:49:05.519 --> 00:49:09.519
you can find details about that at Squashthsundayscaries dot com.

919
00:49:09.559 --> 00:49:13.119
The first group launches on June fifteenth.

920
00:49:13.480 --> 00:49:15.880
Amazing, Mary, this is amazing. I'm so happy to know

921
00:49:15.960 --> 00:49:18.039
you count you as a friend and help support this

922
00:49:18.119 --> 00:49:21.039
into the world. Thanks so much for coming on working

923
00:49:21.039 --> 00:49:23.360
in perps and writing this book and listeners and viewers

924
00:49:23.400 --> 00:49:25.119
definitely you can go to the site that she mentioned.

925
00:49:25.159 --> 00:49:28.079
You can also check her out at the simplifiers dot com.

926
00:49:28.639 --> 00:49:30.280
Last week, if we missed the live show, you can

927
00:49:30.320 --> 00:49:32.639
always catch it be recorded podcast. We were on air

928
00:49:32.679 --> 00:49:35.239
with Alexandra Levitt, who is the founder and CEO of

929
00:49:35.320 --> 00:49:38.400
Inspiration at Work, which is a woman owned futurist consulting

930
00:49:38.480 --> 00:49:42.119
business with the goal of preparing organizations and their employees

931
00:49:42.119 --> 00:49:44.920
to be competitive and marketable in the future of business world.

932
00:49:45.280 --> 00:49:47.400
She's the author of several books, with her latest one

933
00:49:47.440 --> 00:49:51.239
co author called Make School Work Solving the American youth

934
00:49:51.280 --> 00:49:54.519
employment crisis. Through work based learning, we talked about the

935
00:49:54.559 --> 00:49:57.880
widespread problem of preparing youth for the workforce, how necessary

936
00:49:58.000 --> 00:50:01.280
upskilling is spearheading their direction of education, and the approach

937
00:50:01.320 --> 00:50:03.760
she and her co authors advocate for solving the early

938
00:50:03.800 --> 00:50:06.880
workforce preparation problem. Next week will be on the air

939
00:50:06.960 --> 00:50:10.599
with Sherry Jacobs talking about her book The Unexpected Power

940
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of Boundaries, rethinking the rules, risks, and real drivers of innovation.

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See you then, remember let's continue leaning in and learning

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from each other and finding a way to work on purpose.

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We hope you've enjoyed this week's program. Be sure to

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tune into Working on Purpose featuring your host, doctor Elise Cortes,

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each week on W four CY. Together we'll create a

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world where business operates conscientiously, Leadership inspires and passion performance,

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and employees are fulfilled in work that provides the meaning

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and purpose they crave. See you there, Let's work on Purpose.