MAY NEWSLETTER 2023

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Building a Culture of Advocacy

If you’ve been following me for any amount of time you know company culture is something I’m extremely passionate about.  

Good company culture changes a job from just a paycheck to having a career you love. Being a part of great culture can put pep in your step and encourage employees to build new best practices.  It encourages your top performers to stay and your mediocre ones to want to improve.  The benefits of having great culture go on and on.

One lesser discussed aspect of company culture is advocacy.  Advocacy and mentorship are not the same thing.  In most companies, mentorship is a formal process.  People sign up to be mentors or mentees and you get assigned someone.  In my experience, the calls are good but the follow up post initial meeting is generally pretty thin.  

While everyone’s intentions are good, these relationships aren’t formed organically.  Advocacy company wide can be a game changer in how leaders build culture.  When leaders create space and time for their executive teams to encourage interaction with people outside their direct reporting chains you can be exposed to incredible talent within the organization.

In order for it to work, leadership has to be on board.  Assuming they are, it could go something like this. Employee Jane is inspired by recent activity from a leader.  They reach out to said leader and ask for a short 30 min coffee chat.  That meeting would result in Jane sharing her story with the leader.  Ideally, the leader is impressed and sees places for new roles or colleagues to be introduced.  

For an organization to understand their talent, you must know your people.  If managers are threatened by people calling outside of their reporting chain this cannot work.

Walk into conflict.  Yes, you heard me right.  Perhaps your boss has lashed out at you or other folks on the team.  And if you are human, that probably didn’t feel good.

Have you taken into consideration that they could be under incredible pressure and could also be shielding you from the stuff being dumped on them?  Good leaders do that- they want to protect their teams and many won’t share what struggles they are going through. 

Here are some tips about what to do next:

1. Take a breath.  Don’t respond right away.  
2. Collect your thoughts and write them down.
3. Offer empathy- “Boss, I can sense you are stressed.  Is there anything I can do to help?”
4. Most managers will immediately recognize they shouldn’t have lashed out at you and will either apologize or apologize and confide in you about what’s up.
5. You have endeared yourself to your leader in a way that sets you apart.  You have an opportunity to build on the relationship and it will change the dynamic of how you work together moving forward.

I coach my clients on this technique and it works every time.

LEX GILLETTE

Lex Gillette is a globally recognized Paralympian who competes primarily in the long jump. He's a five-time Paralympic medalist, four-time world champion, and the current world record holder in the long jump with a leap of 22 feet 1 inch. Robbed of his sight during childhood, Lex Gillette, with the aid of his mother, was determined not to fall victim to a world consumed by darkness. His athletic talents have been featured by ESPN, Sports Illustrated, USA Today Sports, and People Magazine. He is a 2015 inductee in the ADN Hall of Fame. As a keynote speaker, Lex's message is There is no need for sight when you have a vision?. He empowers his audiences to see more than just the physical world in front of them. Prepare to be inspired and motivated, to learn who you really are, and how to become the person you desire to be. It's what Lex does. He ... Teaches ... People ... To ... See.

ANDRéA ALBRIGHT

Andréa Albright is a seasoned entrepreneur, author of 28 books, a YouTube superstar and a woman with a track record of disruptive innovations who is on a mission to create the next movement for authors and evolve the publishing industry.  Andréa is the Founder and CEO of Beverly Hills Publishing?. She leverages her expertise in brand development to help thought leaders and innovators turn their message into a million-dollar brand. Because of this, she considers herself not just a publisher, but a Legacy Maker. Her firm is the first in the industry to combine 7-star publishing, marketing, and PR services to ensure successful book launches that achieve both the tangible and intangible outcomes her authors are looking for.

JUSTIN JANOWSKI

Justin Janowski has helped hundreds of coaches build their dream businesses from the ground up. Driven by his faith, he founded Faith2Influence to help people learn what it takes to turn coaching into a profitable business venture. Justin has guided Christian and non-Christian coaches alike through the rewarding process of optimizing business models, pricing, and sales strategies so that they can scale their income alongside their impact. He has a passion for sharing this process with emerging Entrepreneurs to help them simplify and grow their businesses the right way.

IRIS ZIMMERMAN

Iris Zimmerman is a speaker, entrepreneur, business owner, podcast host, Hall of Fame Fencing Champion and former Olympian.  She is a certified leadership and performance coach that owns Monarch Leadership Group.  Iris co-hosts the podcast Untrained with her colleague and friend, Whitney Otto. Her roster of clients include leaders from sales, healthcare, to startups and small business owners - all trying to find their own growth while simultaneously growing their businesses and teams. Iris lives in Rochester, NY with her family and is dedicated to working with and impacting clients while being present to raise her two daughters to become badasses. 

Lyndsay was featured in Fortune Mag

https://fortune.com/2023/03/30/how-to-handle-layoffs-lessons-from-salesforce-meta/amp

Matt Zaun Podcast 

https://storieswithtraction.buzzsprout.com/1781130/12227079-irresistible-sales-culture

Sell Me Your Story Workshop with Ashley Pereira

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iu_cYvetgQY

Circle Back to You

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jNsfPUZLR80

Creating Video Content

Video is an incredible sales differentiator, and if you haven’t dipped your toe in the water, it might be time to give it a try.  But I’m not going to throw you off the high dive just yet.  Here are a few ways to build up some posting muscle to help you find your water wings. (remember those things?)

Did you know that on the LinkedIn app on your phone you can leave audio messages?  Yep, just like a voice text you can do that.  It immediately ups your game and makes you much more relatable and real.  Try it out next time you want to impress a new contact.  You’ll be surprised how much you can say in 12 seconds!

Once you have mastered the voice message, you can create a profile video.  This is also done only on the phone app of LinkedIn and it’s incredibly powerful.  When you open up your profile on LinkedIn (on the phone app), just click on your face and a pop up will appear that says, “Create my profile video.”  It’s pretty easy, record it and voila, people have a new way of connecting with you.  

I have a general rule that it’s a lot harder to be an a$$hole to someone after you’ve met them, so make it hard!  Let people see who you are and give them reasons to relate to you.  I think you have at least a minute to record, so take advantage of it.  You can say a lot in a minute!

After you have leveled up with both of those golden nuggets, try and create a video post.  My video posts are usually 1 minute.  I speak from the heart.  I keep it focused and try to be concise. Avoid talking about the laundry, your lunch or other inane topics.  Keep it tight, create a call to action and try to make it something you’d want to listen to.  

For bonus points use technology like Loom to send a client a video!  That changes how you are perceived as soon as they hit play!  

So give it a shot… I’ll be watching and rooting for you! 

xo,

H4H