140. The Give and Take in a Supportive Company Culture with Bob Glazer

Entrepreneur, author, and renowned podcaster, Bob Glazer, is known for his novel, common-sense ideas for creating business cultures that employees rave about. This is because his ideas focus on multiplying our better impulses, rather than trying to throttle back our worst. This hour, Dr. Lynda talks to Bob about the insights in his new book Elevate Your Team, and we all come away with some pearls we can use everyday to elevate our own working lives.  00:00 Preview  01:46 Intro & Welcome 04:26 Friday Foreword Bob’s newsletter, Friday Forward has over 100,000 subscribers. Friday Forward shares good news on a weekly basis. Friday Forward started with Bob sharing positive news and stories with his team of 40 people. 06:45 Eliminating Unnecessary Fiction There’s a centrist mindset to a lot of important issues. Bob listens to the viewpoints that he doesn’t necessarily agree with. Everyone has the ability to improve our way of thinking. We tend to make vague celebrations of exceptions while ignoring the rule. 11:15 The Growth Wall In the past decade, teams have been optimized to achieve growth at all cost. Teams have hit two walls: Organizations need to grow but the focus should be on the people. 12:57 The Great Questioning People questioned what their mental well being would be like if the working world continued this way. 80% of the people who sought out new jobs because the grass was greener regretted it in the end. If everyone quit during the most difficult moments great success stories wouldn’t exist. Cognitive dissonance is one of the most important things that people should understand. 19:04 Eliminating Two Weeks Notice We sometimes pretend that people are going to stay in jobs forever. Instead of having difficult conversations with underperformers, people tend to make them the enemy. We could consider helping the person find a better fit inside or outside the company. Why can’t we have honest conversations about leaving companies? 20:55 Being an A Player Being an A player is not a fixed state.  You can become an A player and you can stop being an A player depending on the situation. As the organization changes, a reevaluation needs to be done to determine if you’re still the right person in the right seat at the right time. 22:31 Right Seat on the Bus Unicorns can do much more than what they’re being asked to do and they exceed the company’s growth rate. For most people in the organization, there’s a capacity building zone that can help them build their skills to be ready for the next position. In Bob’s book, Elevate, he described capacity building in 4 areas: 31:40 Break 35:04 People are the same People Leaders can encourage positive morning routines. Rather than looking at your phone or tv first thing in the morning, a more productive person could do a few things. More hours does not equate to more productivity. 42:50 Flexible Work Employees that seek our flexibility in the work schedule should also be flexible when critical business issues arise. The gig economy offers an opportunity to work solo. People may not know what they want out of remote work as the data shows that many people are isolated and depressed. 44:54 Core Values Core Values should just be the words on the walls of the corporate office. Knowing your core values and being able to articulate them is key. Bob offers courses on core values that include live coaching. 52:33 What Gets Rewarded? What is actually getting implicitly or explicitly rewarded in the company? Company’s can take a stand on issues but not everyone in the company needs to agree. The company being tolerant might be more important than agreeing with any one stance. 57:26 Closing There’s a cost to hyper growth. The better way is to grow by growing the people. You can find Bob at https://robertglazer.com Bob is also a guest writer on the Goodness Exchange.