Our teachings are founded in neuroscience – what we’ve come to term the ACE model of employee engagement and leadership and include: awareness, alignment, communication, and creativity, which lead to lasting employee engagement. Now, these skills were once termed “soft skills”. However, according to the Price Waterhouse Cooper 2017 Annual Global CEO Survey, 77% of CEOs are concerned that key skills shortages could impair their company’s growth. And they say it’s the soft skills like creativity and emotional intelligence, they value most and are the hardest to find.
The ACE Model
awareness + alignment = insightful companies
communication + = innovative collaboration
(lead to lasting) employee engagement = intentional culture
By this point, you have certainly heard of mindfulness in the workplace. Google and Intel are doing it. But, what does it mean to be mindful? To be mindful is to be conscious, awake – aware of what is happening now, in the present moment.
Ok, then what does it mean to be aware? Awareness is knowledge, or an understanding, of the whole – not just particular biases or schemas. Just like every person, every business has strengths and vulnerabilities and knowing what those give you power. Knowledge is power.
Awareness is knowledge, or an understanding, of the whole – not just particular biases or schemas. Just like every person, every business has strengths and vulnerabilities and knowing what those give you power. Knowledge is power.
No matter how connected you are to your employees, you may not know everything that is happening so it’s good to have systems in place where you can continuously get the pulse of your employees’ engagement. The bigger you get, the more important it is.
A good example of how awareness can impact leaders is when we worked with a company that hired us to help them roll out a new program. The new software would enable employees to see their individual progress on goals, as well their teams and the company as a whole. This is a great way to aid awareness, but not why we are telling you.
Rather, what we found when we administered a company-wide assessment was that employee morale was very low and the leadership team was not aware of it. We quickly learned before we could help them with the rollout, we needed to address key “safety and trust” issues.
Awareness is 50% of the solution, and you definitely want to avoid avoiding or operating from a place of denial because that can only work in the short-term, not for lasting success.
And, even prior to awareness of your employees, there is awareness of yourself. As a business leader, we understand that you are self-aware. You’ve had to be in order to get to the place you are in. How do you continuously practice this practice so you remain conscious of your internal biases and schemas?
There are multiple ways, but one foundational one is mindfulness. Mindfulness is one of the key skills to help create an integrated brain, leading to optimal functioning not only on an individual level but systematically as well. When your employees and leaders are operating from this state, you will establish thriving teams that systematically innovate and collaborate with one another.
Quick Tips to increase awareness at work and overcome high turnover and achieve greater productivity and less burnout:
• Employee assessments such as Strengthsfinder
• Create opportunities where teams interact to co-create goals, objectives, and values of the company
• Regular employee engagement surveys (Here is a quick 3-minute assessment you can take to begin to get a pulse on engagement within your company.)
This Week’s Action Steps:
• How do you practice self-awareness?
• What tools do you have in place that assist you in keeping a pulse on the level of your employees’?
