VGM Playbook:
Protecting Your Most Important Asset: Your People
Table of Contents
LETTER FROM THE PRESIDENT..................................................................................... page 3 Clint Geffert, President, VGM & Associates
ON BRAIDED FISHING LINE AND WORKING TOGETHER......................................................... page 4 Mike Mallaro, CEO, VGM Group, Inc.
10 WAYS TO KEEP YOUR EMPLOYEES ENGAGED DURING A PANDEMIC............................... page 6 Arienne Martinez, Director, Training & Development, HOMELINK
PEOPLE INVESTMENT............................................................................................................. page 10 Joel Gallion, President, Bellevue Healthcare
FOUR BENEFITS OF TRAINING YOUR EMPLOYEES............................................................... page 13 Cindy Diehl Yang, MA, VP, VGM Education
CULTIVATING COMPANY CULTURE WHEN IT MATTERS MOST: TANGIBLE STRATEGIES FOR POST-PANDEMIC GROWTH AND PRODUCTIVITY.......................................................... page 15 Dr. Suzanne Bright, CEO, Orca Solutions
VGM Playbook: Protecting Your Most Important Asset: Your People
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Letter From the President Human capital is defined as “the collective skills, knowledge, or other intangible assets of individuals that can be used to create economic value for the individuals, their employers, or their community.” In any business and in any industry, every employee has their own strengths and weaknesses. Each person brings something different to the table and has various perspectives and backgrounds that make companies better. Within VGM & Associates, our employees are encouraged to embrace their individual skills to best serve you, our valuable members. We are always trying to find new and innovative solutions to help you succeed, and that is why we are focusing our third playbook of 2020 on human capital. As we continue to navigate the current COVID-19 pandemic, it is more important than ever that we think seriously about human capital, what it means within each of our businesses, and how we can empower, engage, and recharge our employees and coworkers to continue providing the best services and products to customers in the midst of a pandemic and beyond. In the pages to follow, leaders and experts within VGM and throughout the DMEPOS industry explore this topic by providing insight into cultivating company culture and strategies for growth and productivity postpandemic, as well as how to keep employees engaged during the pandemic. We also hear from a fellow VGM member about why it matters to invest in the people within your company, as well as from VGM CEO Mike Mallaro about working together and utilizing everyone’s individual, unique skills to create a powerful bond that helps us best serve our customers. We hope you enjoy “Protecting Your Most Important Asset: Your People,” the third installment of VGM & Associates’ 2020 playbook series. The final quarter of 2020 will address the topic of data. Thank you for being a valuable part of the VGM family—where you are certainly a part of so much bigger, as we’ve proven together throughout 2020. We will continue to relentlessly work for your success. Kindest regards,
Clint Geffert, President VGM & Associates Clint.Geffert@vgm.com 319.874.6990 office 281.734.3391 cell Follow me on LinkedIn.
VGM Playbook: Protecting Your Most Important Asset: Your People
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On Braided Fishing Line and Working Together By Mike Mallaro, CEO, VGM Group, Inc.
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began my career as a CPA in an accounting firm. One of my clients was a fishing tackle manufacturer whose lead product was fishing line. Fishing line is made by extruding a melted plastic substance to create a thin line that is both flexible and strong. Fishing for bigger, stronger fish requires a different line. I learned from my client that the way to make stronger line is to braid many individual lines together, similar to the way that rope is made. Braided line is incredibly strong and very difficult to break, yet it retains its flexibility.
diversity point to a battery of research findings that show a diverse team usually outperforms a team lacking diversity, in part because bringing differing skills, viewpoints, and life experiences to a team adds a depth and perspective that enhances results. Braiding via illumination, perhaps. The idea of building a client service team to serve an important client, rather than a single account manager, is built on the strength of multiple relationships, multiple points of connection. Braiding of relationships.
The way to make stronger line is to braid many individual lines together.
Creating a community environment is a necessary prerequisite to utilizing the strength of braiding.
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] [
When people work together to solve problems and serve customers, each person usually brings a unique approach and perspective to the task. I’d like to submit that a team is strongest when emulating the braided fishing line. One person with a good customer relationship is a strong beginning, but a web of people building relationships and connectivity and bringing solutions to the customer’s challenges—that’s braiding.
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Bringing differing skills, viewpoints, and life experiences to a team adds a depth and perspective that enhances results.
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There are versions of this “braiding” in many of our modern leadership theories. Strengths-based leadership encourages us to focus on our individual strengths and to accumulate a team of people with complementary strengths to create a strong team. Braiding of strengths, so to speak. Proponents of
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Braiding has much in common with the formation of community. The power of community is about people feeling they are part of something bigger than themselves. Community has an opportunity to exist when there is a sense of belonging. People cannot be part of a community, a work community or any other community, unless they feel that they are welcome and that they belong there. Community also requires a sense of meaning, that the community is somehow a source of good in the world. Creating community also requires the accessional impactful elements, those bonding moments that get noticed and send a strong and memorable message to community members. Creating a community environment is a necessary prerequisite to utilizing the strength of braiding. Said another way, you cannot successfully braid people together for power unless those people first feel a sense of community among one another.
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VGM Playbook: Protecting Your Most Important Asset: Your People
Braiding makes the bonds between people much stronger and much more difficult to break.
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On Braided Fishing Line and Working Together | 4
On Braided Fishing Line and Working Together continued... By Mike Mallaro, CEO, VGM Group, Inc. Braiding makes the bonds between people much stronger and much more difficult to break. Bringing the right people, offerings, and opportunities together on a team at work is extremely powerful. It allows us to serve customers well, to help solve their problems, and make their lives easier. Braided fishing line works to catch and keep the largest, most sought-after fish. So does the braiding of the relationships within our teams and our organization, and between our organizations and those we serve.
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The power of community is about people feeling they are part of something bigger than themselves.
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR Mike Mallaro, CEO, VGM Group, Inc. Mike Mallaro is CEO of VGM Group, Inc. where he led the development of the employee stock ownership plan (ESOP). He began his tenure at VGM in 2001, serving as CFO until becoming CEO in 2016. Prior to VGM, he was CFO of a regional off-price retailer. He also spent twelve years as a CPA in an international accounting firm. Mallaro frequently speaks at regional and national conferences on topics including healthcare trends, financial benchmarks, business plan optimization, and strategic growth. He holds a BBA in accounting from The University of Iowa, as well as CPA (inactive) and CMA designations. He can be reached on LinkedIn or at Mike.Mallaro@vgm.com.
Listen to our latest podcast! vgm.com/industrymatterspodcast
VGM Playbook: Protecting Your Most Important Asset: Your People
On Braided Fishing Line and Working Together | 5
10 Ways to Keep Your Employees Engaged During a Pandemic By Arienne Martinez, Director, Training & Development, HOMELINK
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ow more than ever, employees are looking to their leaders for help navigating the global pandemic. While COVID-19 has had a significant impact on workplaces around the world, each of your employees is affected differently. Working remotely brings new challenges as well as new opportunities. There is distraction. There is worry. There is a need for flexibility. But, there are still customers that need taken care of and work to be done. These are the realities of working remotely. Some parents are still wondering how they’ve managed all summer with needy little coworkers running around the house as well as what the future of the rest of the school year has in store. Others are in a constant battle between worrying about loved ones being safe and feeling depressed seeing the same four walls every day. There’s also a newly found appreciation for those who worked from home previously—how did they stay connected? Maybe they didn’t and this has opened your eyes to changes that need to be made throughout your organization. It seems as though we are all on the same playing field now when it comes to meeting with employees across the country because we all log in to a meeting with a link versus some of us heading into the conference room with a coffee while forgetting there are a few others, invisible, behind the phone.
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Without engaged employees, business as you know it is at risk.
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Without engaged employees, business as you know it is at risk. Here are 10 ways to keep your employees engaged during a pandemic to ensure your customers are being taken care of.
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Everyone hates a bogged down inbox and using multiple platforms— it’s best to pick one platform and stick to it.
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Get on board with the same technology
Technology can be our best friend—and worst enemy. Everyone hates a bogged down inbox and using multiple platforms—it’s best to pick one platform and stick to it. Find a communication tool, collaboration tool, and project management tool to start. Here at VGM, we are embracing the new features that Office 365 has to offer, and it has been eye-opening. Breakout sessions have been a lifesaver in making sure employees are actively engaged during meetings. Most meeting applications like Zoom, Skype, or GoToMeetings are now all equipped with the ability to create separate breakout rooms within a meeting to facilitate small group discussions to brainstorm or problem-solve and then come back together as a group. Employees tend to feel more comfortable in small group settings whereas they may not speak up in a large meeting with everyone staring back at them, virtually of course. There are so many companies making updates to their existing technical tools to make remote working more efficient and manageable. If you already work with Office 365, you’re in luck because new features are being released by Microsoft weekly to make virtual meetings, collaboration, and trainings more engaging. Microsoft has a great support site for all levels of training materials as well. A few best practices: •
Use instant messaging over email when available.
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Send a quick video chat instead of a phone call.
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Think of new creative ways to share information, such as a blog or even a short video. (Our employees look forward to the new format of the CEO updates each month, vlog style!)
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10 Ways to Keep Your Employees Engaged... | 6
10 Ways to Keep Your Employees Engaged During a Pandemic continued...
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By Arienne Martinez, Director, Training & Development, HOMELINK
Don’t be afraid to video chat someone up randomly for a fast call; personal connection is valuable and necessary.
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Create a “camera on” culture
Lead by example. When you have team meetings or one-on-ones with employees, let them see your face and encourage them to show theirs. Even quick calls can turn into video chats. It’s the virtual version of an office walk-by. Over email or phone, it is difficult to understand the other person because you cannot see their facial expressions, reactions, or nonverbals. Don’t be afraid to video chat someone up randomly for a fast call—personal connection is valuable and necessary. If your staff doesn’t have company-issued technology equipped with a camera, suggest having them use their cellphone for the meeting. You may be surprised how many people are willing to do so to partake in some adult interaction again. Implement a virtual breakroom/social space
One benefit to working remotely is you can actually make a fresh lunch instead of heating up leftovers or a frozen meal, but the lack of social interaction with adults can be draining. One way to facilitate camaraderie is to set up a virtual breakroom. Whether you use Slack, Microsoft Teams, or Skype, you can set up a recurring calendar invite to send to staff as an optional check-in with their coworkers. Just be sure to adjust your settings so guests are allowed to join before the host unless you plan on attending each session! Get the family involved too! You can host kid friendly lunch hours where children are welcome to join their parents on a call and meet with other tiny coworkers. Encourage employees to show off their workspaces or do a house tour. We call it “VGM Cribs.” Set clear but flexible expectations
Working remotely is our new normal, but have the expectations of your staff changed? Be sure to discuss
and put in writing what is okay and what is not okay because unclear expectations will cause frustration and turmoil within the company.
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Can you afford to allow more flexibility with working hours or skipping lunch to be off a little earlier?
Can you afford to allow more flexibility with working hours or skipping lunch to be off a little earlier? Now that kids are home, could they work in the morning, take a break, and work a few hours in the evening? What will it look like now with school in session? It is important to start thinking now about different ways you can offer flexibility with scheduling, ad hoc workfrom-home equipment in case it is needed, and even workloads for those that are maybe struggling more personally than others. Be extra empathetic
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We all handle stress and anxiety differently, and it’s important to be understanding during these unprecedented times.
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Ask yourself, “What is the experience of dealing with pandemic anxiety like for them?” We all handle stress and anxiety differently, and it’s important to be understanding during these unprecedented times. Be considerate that your staff is not just dealing with the pandemic, but the side effects as well, which can include loneliness, hopelessness, and even loss of passion or purpose.
This is not the right time for higher expectations; people are having a hard time tackling the new normal and technology that has been forced upon them. Besides, don’t make it harder on yourself to monitor new expectations virtually. Appreciate the work they’re doing and encourage breaks to avoid burnout. This is new for all of us, and while some may thrive, others
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10 Ways to Keep Your Employees Engaged During a Pandemic continued... By Arienne Martinez, Director, Training & Development, HOMELINK are falling short, disconnected from their families, their coworkers, and their second home. So, be extra empathetic; don’t just check in on their work. Ask them how they’re doing, ask how their families are doing, ask about their worries and fears, and be comforting in letting them know they are not alone.
Make time for regular check-ins/walking check-ins
Keep the lines of communication open
Speaking of surveys, it is important to frequently gauge your staff in how they’re doing professionally and personally. Schedule regular check-ins or oneon-ones, and once scheduled, make the time—don’t cancel or postpone. During those conversations, be sure to focus—close out of all other programs to eliminate distractions. Ask employees what additional support they need right now because some employees will require a little more than others. They may even want more frequent check-ins if they were previously used to monthly touch-bases, especially since they’re not passing by your office in the morning to say hello.
Remember, employees can’t see if you’re in your office or on the phone, so it is crucial to be as transparent as possible. Share your calendar or schedule with them and be sure to have some “open” time for questions or requested support. This might mean you need to block off a few hours or so each week to be readily available for support or check-ins.
There is a free scheduling tool out there called Calendly that allows employees (or customers) to schedule a meeting with you without playing phone tag to get each other’s availability. It can also be integrated with Zoom or GoToMeeting as well as your work calendar, so they can only schedule meetings with you during your open times!
Overcommunicate. If you’re going to take a quick break, tell them. If you’re heading into a meeting, let them know. If you’re going to dive into a project and need some uninterrupted time, give them a heads up. Employees appreciate being kept in the loop and understand their boundaries and expectations better.
If you want to feed two birds with one seed and promote employee wellness, take your one-on-one outside on a mobile version! Encourage employees to take a walk with their phone and headphones and have a break from their home office.
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Remember, employees can’t see if you’re in your office or on the phone, so it is crucial to be as transparent as possible.
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This may also be a good time to start or beef up your internal company newsletter. If you have one, are you sending it out quarterly, monthly? At VGM, we now have a bi-weekly newsletter that goes out to all employees. Whether this is in the form of a blog post, email, or file attachment, it is important to stay consistent. Create a template of topics such as news, events, wellness, highlighting work perks, and recognition. You can also include an anonymous suggestion box in your newsletters—let employees know you’re open to feedback and give them an option to list their name in case they want someone to follow up with them. You can easily create surveys or questionnaires in Microsoft Forms or Google Forms.
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Remind employees why they’re here; don’t shy away from your company mission and values.
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Celebrate individual and team wins, no matter how small
Remind employees why they’re here; don’t shy away from your company mission and values. This is a great time to realign and adjust as well but ask for input. Your employees may have different challenges from you which means they probably have a different idea for a solution. Include them and reward ideas that you
VGM Playbook: Protecting Your Most Important Asset: Your People
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10 Ways to Keep Your Employees Engaged During a Pandemic continued... By Arienne Martinez, Director, Training & Development, HOMELINK are able to implement through e-giftcards or extra break time. If you haven’t already, make an electronic copy of your company’s recognition nomination form and encourage self-nomination. It might seem weird at first for employees to brag about themselves, but the staff needs to know that you are interested in hearing what they’re proud of. So, ask what their biggest win was last week and make that a regular celebration. Share team shoutouts with other managers and make compliments visible on a virtual bulletin board like the free version Padlet offers. Equip your people leaders
Managers and supervisors are struggling too; we can’t forget about ourselves during all of this. Check in on them as well. I remember at the start of the pandemic, I was struggling with my own sanity, but I was expected at the same time to remain calm and confident in the company’s plan moving forward. It was tough to put on a brave face every day when deep down I was wondering, “How the heck am I going to pull it together and make remote training and meetings work?”
Maintain normalcy
Deadlines still matter and business needs conducted. We may have a shift in processes as we knew them, but ultimately, we all have customers to take care of. One way VGM has kept things around here normal is by transitioning on-site events to virtual ones. Anyone that knows a VGMer knows we work hard and play harder, so having virtual scavenger hunts, online happy hours, and other social media challenges has been great at keeping everyone connected. Some difficult conversations may still need to happen, so conduct those as you would in office—but recognize the tools that are available to make that easier.
The best thing you can do for your people leaders is provide them with a list of tools and let them choose what works best for their employees. A few best practices we consider at VGM are creating agendas for one-on-ones to ensure even the virtual time is spent efficiently and business is still getting taken care of. Make sure leaders are aware of the fine line between checking on someone and micro-managing. You can disengage an employee very quickly by coming across as lacking trust in them and their integrity. Make sure your people leaders check in and then check out. Working from home brings on new pressures to get work finished up and exceed expectations. Because my office is in the next room, I have found that it’s harder to “log off” at the end of my shift—if I have no plans for the night, I might as well work and get some more things done. However, I learned quickly this was the wrong mindset, and I felt burnout very quickly. Your leaders need to exemplify this and ensure employees are also checking out at the end of the day.
VGM Playbook: Protecting Your Most Important Asset: Your People
ABOUT THE AUTHOR Arienne Martinez, Director, Training & Development, HOMELINK Arienne Martinez is the Director of Training and Development of HOMELINK, a national provider network that contracts with payer sources to provide ancillary services and superior customer service. At HOMELINK, Arienne directs the design, planning, and implementation of corporate training programs aligned with the objectives and strategy of the company. She also manages and develops training professionals. Prior to joining VGM, she served as a Team Lead at Target and received her bachelor’s degree in human resources management. Arienne is currently pursuing her master’s degree in organizational development at Upper Iowa University. You can connect with Arienne via email at arienne.martinez@vgm.com or follow her on LinkedIn.
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People Investment By Joel Gallion, President, Bellevue Healthcare
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say all of the below with a big caveat—we are by no means perfect. We’ve gone through periods where our internal model wasn’t working well, or we didn’t handle specific team situations well. But we’ve learned and grown over the years and have seen far more successes than failures in our team and people development. Bellevue Healthcare (BHC) from day one has valued both the personal and professional growth of our team. It was woven into the framework of how we started. Our founders Peter Norman and Eric Mortensen did everything from delivering and cleaning equipment to all business and customer service operations. We’ve taken that model and, over the last 20 years, have continued to tweak and develop a system and process to invest in our people and their development. These are the keys to our process:
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We are upfront with everyone from the first day that our goal is to promote and advance from within.
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Start with a mentality
We hire for character and fit (chemistry) and are upfront with everyone from the first day that our goal is to promote and advance from within. There are numerous examples of this throughout our organization, from our executive team to most of our store managers. We don’t shy away from having a college graduate start in a truck delivering equipment or working an entrylevel retail or customer service role. We believe this is vital to mutually discovering if BHC is the right fit and setting a path for future advancement. Those who have the right attitude, effort, and empathy–and can buy in to the service-first culture at BHC–can take advantage of those opportunities.
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Advancing education is a key to long-term organizational success and, more importantly, long-term success for the individual.
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Put your money where your mouth is
At BHC, we have an informal education program where we sponsor certain people who have shown great potential within our organization to get advanced schooling or education. To date, we’ve sponsored about 10 undergraduate programs, two MBA programs, and numerous education programs for RT or ATP tracks. There is obviously a cost to this, but we believe advancing education is a key to longterm organizational success and, more importantly, long-term success for the individual. Everyone that we’ve sponsored for one of these programs is still with BHC today. Prove the model
It’s one thing to talk about personal development and advancement—it’s another to have real examples to point people to. As I mentioned above, since investing in our team’s development was built into the framework of our culture, there are very few people in a leadership role within BHC that have not advanced within the organization through some development program. Our lead RRT, for example, started with BHC out of college as an equipment cleaner. Our VP of rehab started as a delivery technician. Those stories go a long way to creating a culture that gets handed down to every person within the organization regardless of their tenure.
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Good leaders attract other leaders—you MUST invest in continuing to develop the leadership experience of your team.
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Make leadership development a part of what you do
Good leaders attract other leaders—you MUST invest in continuing to develop the leadership experience and toolbox of your team. At BHC, we do bi-annual leadership meetings where we bring in everyone who has a leadership role and spend one to two days together focusing on nuts and bolts operational material and team/leadership development. Part of this curriculum is pulled from books, podcasts, or other
VGM Playbook: Protecting Your Most Important Asset: Your People
People Investment | 10
People Investment continued... By Joel Gallion, President, Bellevue Healthcare leadership experts that we invest in so that our team gets exposed to more and more leadership material. We also do regular smaller group leadership programs that our executive team runs on a more regular basis. These expose some of our newer managers to higher level leadership topics. At BHC, we have always seen ourselves more as a high customer service-focused retailer than a medical supply company. Being in the Pacific Northwest, we get to follow companies like REI, Starbucks, Nordstrom, and Amazon very closely. Our goal is to continue to develop a premium culture that is unique to our industry. This can only be done through the investment in our people and their development within the organization.
Culture isn’t something you can do after the fact. It must be ingrained in everything you do, in how your team thinks and reacts, and what they tell others. Make sure everyone within your organization is a storyteller and make sure those stories reflect the values and culture you want to create. By investing in your people and truly caring about their development and success, those stories will propagate and begin to build a culture that will lay the foundation for long-term success.
There are definitely risks involved with this investment. Developing people internally is both expensive and takes a lot longer than acquisition or hiring externally. You must be patient with results and have enough runway to see your investment play out. Two years ago, we started an ATP Apprentice program where we started identifying people within BHC who had aptitude for and an interest in complex rehab. It took a while to develop and find the right people to go through the process, but we are starting to see the results. Over the last six months, we have developed five ATPs from within the organization who were in other roles prior. While this process takes longer than trying to bring in ATPs from the outside, it also ensures we get the right people and, more importantly, people who understand our culture and level of service we strive to provide. Don’t be afraid to fail
We have definitely messed up over the years. If you are in business long enough, this will happen. We’ve invested in people who have ultimately left the company or weren’t a good fit for the role. We’ve miscommunicated and not invested enough. And we’ve brought on the wrong people to start. It happens, but don’t let those missteps keep you from your ultimate vision and from investing in the process. VGM Playbook: Protecting Your Most Important Asset: Your People
ABOUT THE AUTHOR Joel Gallion, President, Bellevue Healthcare Joel has been in the HME industry for almost 17 years, all of them at Bellevue Healthcare where he is currently the President, overseeing operations, expansion, and leadership development. While at BHC, he has helped oversee the expansion of 17 branch offices and has worked to develop BHC’s customer service model. Prior to BHC, he spent three years in the financial services industry. Joel lives in Issaquah, Washington, with his wife Erin; daughters Camden, Delaney, and Ellie; and son Carsen. He holds a BA in economics from Westmont College and an MBA from the University of Washington. Bellevue Healthcare is a full service, home medical equipment, respiratory, and complex rehab company based in Bellevue, Washington. With 17 offices across three states (Washington, Oregon, and Idaho), BHC has a unique model of internal team and leadership development all with the goal of helping those within the organization reach their potential. To learn more, visit www.bellevuehealthcare.com. People Investment | 11
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Four Benefits of Training Your Employees By Cindy Diehl Yang, MA, VP, VGM Education “The only thing worse than training your employees and having them leave is not training them and having them stay,” – Henry Ford, Founder, Ford Motor Company.
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Compared to just 10 years ago, the average tenure of employees has decreased across all groups to approximately four years.
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Realistically, most companies don’t hire unqualified employees, but many of them have employees that could benefit from learning new skills. There are two main reasons that companies give for not investing in training for their teams: •
Employees are too busy to learn something new.
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There isn’t enough money to pay for training.
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It’s vital for companies to train their employees.
To fully understand the benefits of training, let’s highlight four benefits an organization receives from training employees.
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here is often a fear of investing in our employees since employee turnover is a real challenge for organizations. Compared to just 10 years ago, the average tenure of employees has decreased across all groups to approximately four years. However, if you were given the choice between two different doctors— one was trained, the other not—which one would you choose? And what if there wasn’t any upfront cost for the untrained doctor? You still wouldn’t select that doctor.
Investing in your employees’ development is an investment in your company.
1. Improved employee performance
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Employees who feel they are not achieving in their position are unhappy and have a performance quality lower than those who have had the opportunity to link their learning and performance. This is a simple yet powerful way to grow your team members so that they are more efficient with more work getting completed and less lost time and money due to mistakes. Mistakes and inefficiencies can cause your business to lose customers. Investing in your employees’ development is an investment in your company.
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Providing impactful training increases a feeling of value among your employees.
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2. Increased employee retention
It is common knowledge that hiring and onboarding new employees is costly and timeconsuming. Research shows that “training and development motivates employees to remain loyal to the organization and create a cohesive workforce.”1 Providing impactful training to your employees shows them you are committed to empowering them with resources to help them do the best job they can, which increases a feeling of value among your employees.
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VGM Playbook: Protecting Your Most Important Asset: Your People
By working with employees to develop a training plan, managers can help employees feel appreciated.
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Four Benefits of Training Your Employees continued... By Cindy Diehl Yang, MA, VP, VGM Education 3. Increased employee engagement
Engaged employees show increased levels of productivity. By working with employees to develop a training plan, managers can help employees feel appreciated because their talents and efforts are appreciated and considered for career development. Since development opportunities are a motivator for most employees, aligning employee development goals with training opportunities is most effective. Through training, you are engaging your employees and that has a positive impact on an organization’s competitiveness.
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In order to build a leadership team to move your organization into a new era, recruit leaders from within.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR Cindy Diehl Yang, MA, VP, VGM Education Cindy Diehl Yang is the Vice President of VGM Education, one of the most diverse and comprehensive learning systems in the home medical equipment and senior care industries. At VGM Education, Cindy develops successful business partnerships externally and internally where her focus is on constantly building and deepening these relationships to meet employee or customer performance needs. Prior to joining VGM, she served as a Center Director at University of Northern Iowa, Executive Director with the Executives’ Club of Chicago, and as Executive Vice President at the Associated Colleges of Illinois where she was the Chief Operating Officer of ACI’s Center for Success in High-Need Schools. You can connect with Cindy via email at cindy.diehlyang@vgm.com or follow her on LinkedIn.
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4. Development of leaders
“Expose people early and often to the training they will need to become successful leaders,” says Andi Gray.2 In order to build a leadership team to move your organization into a new era, one of the biggest opportunities the organization has is to recruit leaders from within. Providing employees with leadership and management training allows future leaders to understand the impact of their work on an organization’s success.
With these benefits, it’s essential to develop an employee training strategy. VGM Education has the tools and resources to navigate the training process for your organization. Between securing CEUs, monitoring and reporting progress, and finding content that not only teaches your staff but engages them, VGM Education ensures that your employees receive the training they need in one simple system. Contact us at vgmeducation@vgm.com to find out how to get started.
References
1. Cloutier, O. et. al, The importance of developing strategies for employee retention. Journal of Leadership, Accountability and Ethics. 2015; Vol. 12(2): 119-129. 2. Gray, A. Making leadership talent for the future. Fairfield County Business Journal. 2014; 49 (18) 13.
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Cultivating Company Culture: Strategies for Post-pandemic Growth and Productivity By Dr. Suzanne Bright, CEO, Orca Solutions
R
emember Jenga, the popular block-stacking game where players take turns strategically removing blocks from and placing them on top of a tower? As the game progresses, the structure becomes taller and less stable, with players ever-so-carefully trying to make just one more move without causing the tower to tumble.
There is no denying that being a business owner in the age of COVID-19 may some days feel like that game of Jenga. Grappling with so much uncertainty as disruption continues can be unnerving. However, it may also be an opportunity to build something even more solid for the future. As organizations around the world work to find creative new ways to serve their communities and retain clients, another priority has also been revealed for many of these same organizations. More than ever, creating a healthy workplace culture and supporting the psychological needs of employees is critical to running a company that can not only survive this pandemic, but thrive during and after it. With this in mind, here are six strategies for maintaining a strong work culture while so much of the world is in flux.
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When so much of the world feels uncertain, honest communication will go a long way toward quelling employees’ fears.
appreciate knowing how the company is faring, where it is heading, and how they will be impacted. Leaders should consider sharing the “whys” behind decisions, giving employees enough information to feel confident in the decisions of the leaders.
Research shows that this type of transparency improves perceptions of trust and that leaders perceived to have good intentions are more likely to be trusted, even if their decisions ultimately turn out to be wrong.
Trust doesn’t happen overnight; it takes intentional focus and commitment to build a high-trust work environment.
2. Make listening a priority
How are your employees feeling? What is weighing on them? What ideas do they have for the workplace? What matters to them? What do they feel they need to do their work successfully?
Can you say you know the answers to questions like these?
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Set aside time for individuals and groups to talk about their current work experiences and share ideas.
1. Nurture a culture of trust
Trust among leaders and colleagues is foundational to a high-performing culture of success. When so much of the world feels uncertain, honest communication will go a long way toward quelling employees’ fears and building trust in company leaders.
Challenging times call for more frequent and more compassionate communication. Employees
VGM Playbook: Protecting Your Most Important Asset: Your People
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Whether meeting in the conference room or virtually, set aside time for individuals and groups to talk about their current work experiences and share constructive feedback and ideas. Listen with empathy and genuine curiosity. It not only affords you valuable information but also communicates an important message to your employees—that they belong and they matter. Ensuring that employees feel heard is a critical step in building an effective workplace culture, particularly in times of crisis.
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Cultivating Company Culture: Strategies for Post-pandemic Growth and Productivity continued... By Dr. Suzanne Bright, CEO, Orca Solutions 3. Foster a sense of belonging
Large-scale isolation, quarantine, and social distancing has turned the world as we know it on its head. We all—whether introvert or extrovert— have a biologically driven, fundamental need to seek out meaningful social connections and bonds with others, and many of the ways in which we used to connect are currently not available to us.
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When people feel like they belong, they are more productive, motivated, and engaged.
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It is more challenging to create a sense of belonging when fully virtual, but it’s not impossible. It does take some extra effort, especially for a company that has not previously been composed of remote employees. However, an abundance of research indicates that when people feel like they belong, they are more productive, motivated, and engaged. When you as the leader are focused on building trust and truly listening, it can allow employees to feel a sense of belonging, even as they work from afar. If you can look through the lens of belonging as you make decisions, this crisis can become an opportunity for you to emphasize connections and express sincere concern for the wellbeing of those who work for you.
4. Keep your team connected to the big picture
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Engage and inspire your team by reinforcing your organization’s vision.
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Engage and inspire your team by reinforcing your organization’s vision, and highlight and celebrate team members’ contributions toward the goals of your organization.
Acknowledge when employees demonstrate your core values. Provide clarity, focus, and direction grounded in your shared mission. By focusing the team’s energy on the organization’s purpose, leaders can turn fear into engagement and achieve greater results.
5. Empower your team
In a time when the world feels out of control due not only to the pandemic but also to the public health restrictions issued to curb the spread, people can feel a real sense of loss of autonomy. What can you do?
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Avoid micromanagement and instead focus on employee ownership of the work.
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First of all, this is a great time to avoid micromanagement and instead focus on employee ownership of the work. Build a workplace that supports autonomy by encouraging self-initiated behaviors within structures and frameworks. Look for opportunities to provide employees with choices. Seek input from your team and involve stakeholders when making operational decisions.
Research shows that employees who feel they have greater control over their work-related decisions have lower stress during difficult times, and thus, are better able to handle their workload.
Ground your team in your company’s mission, vision, and values. In times of uncertainty, it is easy to lose focus, become overwhelmed, and get blinded by fear of the unknown (Jenga, anyone?).
VGM Playbook: Protecting Your Most Important Asset: Your People
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Cultivating Company Culture: Strategies for Post-pandemic Growth and Productivity continued... By Dr. Suzanne Bright, CEO, Orca Solutions 6. Measure and keep improving your strategy
Surgeon and author Maxwell Maltz once said, “Close scrutiny will show that most ‘crisis situations’ are opportunities to either advance or stay where you are.”
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Keep looking to the future—what are you doing now that you want to continue even after a new normal is established?
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This pandemic, while life- and world-changing, will not last forever. Maintaining a strong work culture for your employees and shoring up the day-today operations are absolutely key. But also, keep looking to the future! What are you doing now as an organization that you want to continue even after a new normal is established? How do you want to be serving your clients and community?
Prioritizing employee connection, empowerment, and well-being while navigating COVID-19 is key to emerging from these uncertain times stronger than ever.
If you have questions about cultivating a highperforming culture of success, feel free to contact us: info@orcalearn.com.
VGM Playbook: Protecting Your Most Important Asset: Your People
ABOUT THE AUTHOR Dr. Suzanne Bright, CEO, Orca Solutions Dr. Suzanne Bright is a leader and expert in the area of creating and sustaining high-performing businesses, schools, and organizations. Dr. Bright has over 25 years of diverse experience in leadership, school administration, business culture, professional development, and coaching/consultation. As the CEO of Orca Solutions, Dr. Bright supports leaders in developing the skills and competencies necessary to lead well and to build and sustain a culture of success. Additionally, she is known for her work supporting organizations through times of change, including mergers and acquisitions and crises. In addition to her extensive national and international work as a consultant and keynote speaker, Dr. Bright teaches university courses at the master’s and doctoral levels in leadership and curriculum and instruction. Dr. Bright’s clientele includes DME companies, O&P providers, complex rehab facilities, non-profit organizations, universities, and public and private K-12 schools. Connect with her by visiting orcalearn.com, LinkedIn, or at sbright@orcalearn.com.
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