THE PEOPLE READER SHEDS LIGHT ON THE GREAT RESIGNATION

FINDING HERSELF THE VICTIM OF A NATURAL DISASTER, MICHELLE MILLSPORTER RECONNECTED WITH THE THINGS THAT PUT A ‘FIRE IN HER BELLY’. THE TEDX SPEAKER AND HUMAN BEHAVIOUR SPECIALIST’S EPIPHANY LED HER TO DEVELOP A THEORY AROUND THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC’S GREAT RESIGNATION AND HOW TO AVOID A REPEAT ichelle Mills-Porter was a multiaward-winning entrepreneur. But she no longer considers herself an entrepreneur today. Her perspective changed after a natural disaster changed the course of her life forever.

During a holiday in Sri Lanka, Michelle was a victim of the Boxing Day Tsunami in 2004 leaving her a refugee far from home. In the face of adversity, it wasn’t her clients, sales figures, or whether her 14 staff were hitting targets that came to mind. What flashed before her was her family, friends, and way of life.

“Sometimes it takes a life-changing experience to recalibrate our core values, and correct our trajectory in life,” said Michelle. “Or at least remind us what is most important to us.”

Before the natural disaster, Michelle ran a marketing company and was the youngest in the UK to gain the Investors in People workplace accreditation. Already a specialist in non-visual and non-verbal communication, her learnings from the tsunami have helped her shed light on The Great Resignation that saw many workers quit their jobs after realising they weren’t happy in them during the coronavirus pandemic, the key to engagement at work and the idea that businesses ask their employees the wrong questions about their values.

– was recently invited to speak at the East Midlands Real Entrepreneurs’ Club dinner on June 8 where she shared her lessons from the tsunami and inspired the room of entrepreneurs.

It’s now almost 20 years since Michelle learned the lessons that would form her new purpose in life. She shared them at the Real Entrepreneurs’ Club dinner:

1. Everyone has a gift of equal value to bring to the party. As a refugee, Michelle found herself in a beautiful micro-community that had no politics, no hierarchy and no competition.

2. When we bring those gifts together and collaborate, we can create something greater

3. We are all driven by an unseen force… and this is our true motivation.

After closing her marketing business in 2005, she concentrated on her recovery, whilst rehoming her 14 staff, and even helping some to break into their dream careers. During her trauma, while injured and ill, she immersed herself in the study of behaviour (whilst also launching the Hikkaduwa Village Fund with her friends and raising £100k in just six months). She worked on learning all she could about human behaviour, communication, and our motivations.

Words by Kerry Smith

With multiple links in the Leicestershire business community, Michelle – a TEDx speaker

When the pandemic hit in 2020, she felt a sense that there was a connection to what she had previously been through in the natural disaster and what others would be going through then – some for the first time.

“When the world stops for you, you have time to breathe; to get off the hamster wheel and remember what’s important to you.” This is the base of Michelle’s theory around what was behind The Great Resignation. “Many people wanted an improved work-life balance, and to be fulfilled by things most important to them.”

Along with some of her chosen Practitioners, Michelle launched a campaign called MMPower 100. They selected 100 people who had lost their job, their way, or their mojo, and delivered their core values and behaviour profiles free of charge. They wanted to empower those who needed it most, helping them navigate the recalibration in their personal values and to reconnect with the things that “put a fire in their belly”.

Michelle and her practitioners now work with organisations large and small, using a suite of illuminating analysis tools that capture our values and behaviours, allowing people to better understand themselves and each other, whilst also increasing performance, engagement, and success for the company. The three main tools are:

Essence

The Core Driving Forces analysis reveals our personal core values, what puts fire in our bellies and what we need to find fulfilment in life. It also identifies the things that will cause us stress with a counteracting motivation to apply.

Clarity

The behaviour profile identifies our most prominent qualities, how others perceive us and therefore, how we can build rapport with others. This profile is balanced perfectly so that every person gets their chance to shine.

The People Reader Covert Tool

An analysis that covertly allows you to answer questions about someone whom you want to build rapport with, or may be having issues with. It produces a report on the things you can do to build rapport and diffuse situations.

How can these lessons shed light on The Great Resignation?

Michelle believes that when the recalibration of our personal values met with an environment that wouldn’t permit the required level of change for fulfilment, that led to people leaving their positions in droves. “The companies I work with that are people-passionate and have elbow room for their development have fared much better than those with a tighter structure.”

What is the key to engagement at work?

Michelle says that she has evidence to prove that when a business leader allows each person’s personal values to be fulfilled, that person is happier, more engaged, and more committed.

Why are we asking the wrong questions about values?

“When we ‘hire on values’, we often impose our company values onto our teams. These are the things we aspire to, not our personal values. They are what we want to be, our mission, and our vision. Not what we are.”

Michelle’s work suggests that people’s personal values are moulded in their formative years, and therefore shaped by their culture, background, upbringing, caregivers, and experiences.

“There is no right or wrong in terms of our values, just differences of perspective. If we are to say we are ‘inclusive’ and then to deny one’s personal values from being realised, we are not being inclusive at all.”

She says the result of her work regularly sees a significant upturn in productivity, engagement and performance, so the boxes are ticked across the board for her clients. The unexpected benefit is the reports that people ‘have never been happier’ and ‘it’s just a nicer place to work.’ This should not go unrecognised as a positive outcome.

No longer considering herself an entrepreneur, Michelle now works as an external Head of People, Executive Coach, and workshop leader. She runs workshops including The Astonishing Benefits of Working with the Neurodiverse; Sky High performance; and People Reading.

“It’s difficult to pin down what I am now. A conduit in service to others, a people reader; I guess it fits perfectly with my own neurodiversity diagnosis.”

Michelle is offering business leaders in Niche’s network a free Essence Core Driving Forces analysis for one member of staff of the leadership team in any company. Contact Michelle on mmp@mmp.uk.com to express your interest.