It Ain’t the Same as Last Time

There are two stories in the bible (Luke 8: 40-51) that speak of two different types of healing. Both utilize faith in two distinctly different ways. The first story talks about the woman who had been bleeding for 12 years. The second deals with the death of a 12 year girl. Both faith encounters with Jesus were different, yet the outcome of getting the problems solved were the same. Both results required believing in the power of God and not fearing it could be accomplished.

Sometimes when you face a problem and your faith has been used in one way to allow the Lord to solve it, the next time you have an issue, the answer may not come in the same manner. Stop limiting God’s power by thinking that whatever issue you’re facing now will be solved in the exact same way as the last time.

Just believe and allow God to work on your behalf without you fearing or attempting your own intervention.

Employee Empowerment – Does it Exist?

If I have learned nothing else in my many years of working and business consulting it is that change is inevitable.

The industrial age of the early to mid 1900s fostered the philosophy of employee longevity. It was not unheard of for people to stay at organizations for more than twenty years and retire to a modest pension. Men and women had distinct roles within the workplace and family. Men were the primary financial providers for their families. If a woman did work outside the home, it was usually in an occupation of service such as a teacher, secretary, or nurse. Those that stayed home were expected to raise the children, do house chores, and greet their husbands with dinner, a big hug, and kiss. I remember reading an email several years ago that poked fun of an article of the 1950s that gave women specific instructions on what she should do prior to her husband coming home from work. It indicated that the children should be washed and quiet, the dinner cooked and ready, and she be freshly clad in a pretty dress, lipstick and perfume when she greeted her man with a kiss at the door upon his arrival home from a long hard day at work. The women that passed around this email and discussed it during their work hours laughed profusely at the mire thought of such an article being written in the first place. Many were also angry that this information from the past reflected numerous females like our mothers whose ideology on appropriate family raising and marriage reflected the same thoughts as the article.

During the 1970’s there was no such thing as the Internet, cell phones, CDs, DVDs, or digital cameras. Employees were expected to come to work at a certain time, do what they were told and leave with a paycheck that might take care of some of their bills. Women were beginning to feel more empowered; however, the corporate positions that are now enjoyed by numerous females, along with the pay that goes with high-powered positions rarely, if at all, existed prior to the years of our generation.

Although technological changes of the 21st century have occurred and made working conditions more flexible allowing employees to work from home, travel the world with portable communication devices and other business conveniences, there still remains a lack of understanding in many organizations as to the needs of their employees outside of a fancy laptop, corner office, and corporate perks. Basics such as employee empowerment, motivation, respect, and team involvement in business affairs that foster leadership growth, higher employee retention, and overall job satisfaction many times go unanswered, especially in small to midsize businesses.

-          If you are a leader that is responsible for employees, what is it that you do to motivate your employees?

-          If you’re a leader or a frontline employee, what has been your positive or negative experience in feeling a sense of empowerment in your organization?

Homelessness – My Personal Story I’m Thankful for!

Homelessness – My Personal Story I’m Thankful for!.

Homelessness – My Personal Story I’m Thankful for!

Walking to end homelessness in Los Angeles – 11-13-10

On November 13, 2010, my husband Micheal and I had the privilege to walk with over 5,000 others from all over the Southern California area in a United Way sponsored event that rallies against homelessness.  It was awesome to watch people sporting t-shirts from their various organizations such as UPS, Southern California Gas, East West Bank, Fannie Mae and other corporate sponsors, blending together in a sea of tennis shoes and water bottle drinking, move from the Coliseum at Exposition Park, walk around the USC campus.  We were a part of Supervisor Mark Ridley Thomas’ 2^nd District, who has been working for this cause for some time in the Los Angeles area.

Homelessness is a subject close to my heart because I’ve lived it with my family more than once, when it was not a popular topic of discussion in 1986.  For the sake of not allowing this blog to become a book, (for which I am writing about these homeless experiences in detail), I will give you a brief look into my homeless experiences in the following paragraphs.

Those were the beginning of dark days in which through a set of unfortunate circumstances (my ex-husband’s drug and alcohol abuse) we lost our apartment and were forced to move into a little, roach infested day rate hotel until I took my children, called my mom in Cleveland, and secretly moved back home.  After several weeks, my ex (then my husband – “Sing” –his nick name) followed me to Cleveland, cleaned up his act for a time and we stayed there for a year until deciding to move back to California, in the late Fall of 1987.

Upon returning to Los Angeles, where we had drove across country, I had been promised my previous job by the employer I’d left the year prior.  However, by the time we got back to L.A., things had changed and the job was not available.  With little money, we got a small room for a couple of days, went to the County Welfare (CW) office and applied for emergency food stamps and cash.  We had arrived at the CW early in the morning when it opened and were forced to stay all day with only snack foods to eat, while we waited for our paperwork to be processed.  Once given the food stamps and emergency cash, we were able to stay at the hotel a couple of more days.  As a result of making some calls, we found a homeless shelter home on 118^th street near Central Avenue where we stayed for about a month.  Although I had gotten a temporary job as a secretary, we hadn’t saved enough to move into an apartment and had to leave the shelter.   With the little money we’d saved, Sing devised a plan that he thought could possibly help us continue forward with hopes of getting an apartment.  We would sell eggs!  When I first heard him say this, my mind was blank.  Sell eggs!  How could we sell, why would we sell and then where?  Since our 1976 Honda station wagon had open seating in the back, the idea was to fill up the back with cartons of eggs and go door to door and sell eggs for $1.00.  I was too tired to argue or disagree.  At that point, we had been sleeping at night at the beach, in Santa Monica. We’d cover our car over with cardboard with a little peep hole so we could take turns watching out.  The children were in the back seat and the eggs would sit behind them in the trunk area.  Most of our belongs were in storage but we had packed enough clothes and items to keep us going for a couple of days.  We have no address so we couldn’t get any more food stamps or checks, so I thought, OK, we must do something, so I’ll agree to try this crazy idea.  So, we found an egg distributor near downtown L.A. and purchased several boxes of eggs to try it out.  The next thing was to test where we could sell them for a $1.00.  Sing was excited and had the gift of selling. Our first stop was at a local liquor store in south central Los Angeles.  He left us in the car, went to the back of our wagon, pulled out a few cartons of eggs and proudly walked and disappeared around the corner from view to the front of the liquor store. The kids and I sat anxiously and watched, hoping he’d work his magic.  In my heart, I began praying that he would sell at least one carton, and we would leave without too much embarrassment for which I was already feeling.  About five minutes later, I watched in amazement as he walked proudly back towards our car empty handed!  Without stopping at the driver’s side where I thought he’d get back in to drive us away, he smiled and went to the back of our wagon again.  Looking at our son with a broad smile, he said, “Come on son, give Daddy a couple of more cartons of those eggs and come with me!”  From that moment, we were in the egg selling business, excitingly selling to people all over the place.  By the end of a couple of days, we had a regular route, apartment buildings, liquor stores, and random people.  At that time, eggs were selling for more than a $1.50 in most grocery stores.

Soon, we were able to get a small kitchenette in Gardena.  I again got a temporary assignment as a secretary in Century City, and the children were enrolled in school in Gardena.  After living in this roach invested place for several weeks, my ex-husband had re-started his drug habit and again, in which he’d take the money we’d saved and go get crack cocaine.  Since the children were in school during the day and I was at work, it left him with the car and a lot of time on his hands to do wrong.  As a result, we were evicted because we could no longer pay the weekly rent to stay in the kitchenette. Again, we were homeless, living in our car.  I was tired and exhausted from thinking of how to get out of the situation without loosing my children.  Yes, I had thought about calling the authorities but loosing my children to the system due to what I felt was a temporary situation was too hard for me to bear.  I knew that it would be difficult to prove my love, commitment and ability to take care of my children in a court. A judge would not understand that this homelessness was a temporary situation.  My decision to wait and keep my faith in God was hard but I believed that somehow, everything was going to be alright.

We stayed in our car in local areas around Gardena, Ca. as it was a safe area.  Each morning, we would go to the back of Vons grocery store and get the food from the dumpster that was thrown away each morning. The food items were not spoiled and were packaged, and clean, consisting of day old bread, deli meats and other items which had expired that day.  We had a small cooler in the trunk, with ice and we’d put lunch meat, water, and other perishables in it for daily use.  We’d wash up at McDonalds.  Sing would drop the kids off at school and me at the temp job I had in Gardena/Torrance area.  During the day, he’d scout around in the neighborhoods for items that were put out for large trash pickup.  If he saw things worthy to sell, he’d pick up the items and sell them to second hand shops for cash. In the evening, he’d pick up the kids, and then pick me up.  Depending on how much money we had, we would either BBQ in the local park or eat sandwiches and fruit from our cooler.

One of the things that is so profound in this entire experience is that my faith in God was strong enough to believe that He would help us get a place.  I was hurt because of my children, because of the decisions I had made to marry a man that had turned to drugs and alcohol in a desperate attempt to numb his pain.  Because of this, our family suffered more than ever.  My brain was exhausted, and tired of trying to figure out what to do.  When you live in a situation like this, your mind goes through a devastating process.  Depression and hopelessness can overcome you if you’re not grounded in faith in the Lord to know that things will get better.

What happened?  Did we get a place?  The short end to the story is yes, after a couple of weeks of living on the streets of Los Angeles County (Santa Monica, Gardena, and L.A.) on the day after Thanksgiving, 1988, we were admitted to Rio Hondo Temporary Home in Norwalk, Ca.  Where my original hope had been to be able to have a shower and a night to stay so we could think of our next move on the following, God worked it out that we were able to stay four months, save money and move to a rented home in Los Angeles.  Within several months, I got training on how to use PCs, got a job at Coca Cola.  Within three years, I was able to finally leave my ex-husband, and purchase a home in Norwalk, Ca through a set of events that will be further discussed in my book – “From Homeless to Home Owner”.

There are so many details that will be shared further in the book.  The Lord has commissioned me to write it because it is my belief that it will bring strength to those that may be going through difficult times or homelessness right now.  What I want people  to understand is the following:

-          Homelessness is a real problem that now touches every class, race, religion, and ethnicity in the U.S. and abroad.

-          Homelessness should not be viewed as something that happens only to drug addicts, (I’ve never taken drugs or abused alcohol, although I was married to a man that did have those problems and was the direct cause of what happened to our family).

-          Anyone can be a victim of homelessness when they lose a job, family or assets through no fault of their own.

-          You can recover from homelessness if your belief system is stronger than your circumstances.  For me, my strong belief in God kept me sane, for you, it may be something else.

-          Never forget where you come from and how you got better.  At that time, I had no formalized education and no permanent job.  I was on welfare assistance, and in a relationship that was not healthy; however, my goal was higher and my belief was strong in God.  Although I was mentally drained and tired, I never gave up hope that the Lord would bring us out!

-          Realize that the experiences you have in hard times are not only for you, but should be used as a testimony for those that are coming after you.  In sharing these events today, I realize that the hurt is still inside me.  Yet, it is my belief that the testimony that I share with others about my own personal experience will allow those that meet and talk with me to know, that yes, I’ve been there, more than once.  Yes, I and my family suffered as a result of homelessness. BUT, we’re devine survivors.  I now look back on those years as a great lesson that we had to go through to always remember to be thankful.  I’ve been blessed beyond measure since that time.  Through that experience, I was able to purchase a home, get out of a toxic relationship through divorce, and go back to college. During the senior year of my Ph.D. program, the Lord blessed me to meet the most awesome man of God in my life, Dr. Micheal K. Williams, Sr.  We were married in Oct, 2007, and from that point, our lives together have been a wonderful adventure!

Engage Your Team by Doing Simple Things

The word “engagement” is broad, yet simplistic.  To describe it in common terms invokes the words ‘employee motivation’ in my mind.  Think of the worse job you’ve ever had.  Then, ask yourself, why was the position the worse?  Was it the work, the environment or as many people say, your boss.  You see, many people leave their jobs due to leadership, not money, not recognition, but leadership.  That tells you how important the right leadership is to employees.

Each person wants to feel as though they are valued when working.  From the trash collector to the president of an organization, most folks like to feel as though their work makes a difference in some sort of way.  In many companies, employee motivation takes on the shape of extrinsic rewards such as bonuses, extra perks or contests.  Although these may be good incentives, most of the time extrinsic rewards are short lived if teams are NOT intrinsically motivated in the first place.  If an organization’s culture lacks trust, or the workers are leaving in groves, or have behavioral problems across departments, then passing out gift cards for a job well done will not please people for too long.

So, what can leaders do to show they care and want their teams engaged?  The following tips come from a list of information I created last week for one of my clients.  I will share a couple here in this blog but these will eventually become a part of a book I’m writing.

Engagement Tips for Successful Leaders:

1.  If you’re a manager that is very busy all the time and never has time to come out of your office.  STOP!  Make time at least two to three times a week to walk the floor of your department and chat with your team.  If you’ve never done this before, you will need to first let everyone know your intentions by sharing your plans in a weekly staff meeting, otherwise, they will view it as you spying on them.  You may say something like:  “I’ve been thinking about changing MY habits of staying in my office.  I realize that we’re all busy but I want to get to know everyone a little better or at least ask if you need my help with anything.  Therefore, I plan to walk around and just ask how you’re doing.  I’m not spying OK, I’m really trying to be a better leader and I need you to help me with that.”  People are usually forgiving, especially when you have admitted that you’re attempting to do better.  Whatever you decide to say, make sure it is genuine and you’re consistent with your new habit because your team will be watching.

2.  During staff meetings, play an icebreaker game that allows people to know about their team mates.  One of my clients shared with me a game he did with his team:  He asked everyone to send an email to him that stated what their first job was.  He then took the list of people and jobs, switched up names with the job list.  During the staff meeting he asked everyone to guess who had worked where by matching the correct person with the correct job.  This activity allowed the team to have fun, and learn more about their team mates.

There are many things you could do to engage your team.  Always remember that the point of leadership is to LEAD and DEVELOP others.  Look for ways to do so by asking your team members what they would love to learn or be a part of.  Put money in your budget to assure they have development on some level.  Be honest and genuine with your team.  You are human not God so you have shortcomings and make mistakes too.

 

Dr. Sally

Executive Leaders Need Help Too

It has been my dream to coach executive leaders in organizations across the United States.  From my experience working with such clients, there seems to be a common thread that runs throughout the executive world and that is that people in high status, high paying leadership roles need development too.  Never think that because a person is considered a CEO or makes six figures in his/her field, that they are automatically capable to assume leadership responsibilities of managing people or that their teams are engaged and willing to follow them to the ends of the earth.  Sometimes, it is just the opposite.  Due to the fact that some successful professions require many hours of dedication to whatever cause they are advocating each day, the teams executive leaders manage may be left to figure out things for themselves more often than not.  In addition, if the executive has not experienced good leadership from their superiors in the present or their past business relationships, most likely, their style of leadership will follow the same tactics used by their previous or present bosses.

In today’s organizational world, self managed teams are becoming more accepted; however, there is still a need for executive leaders to provide some quality interaction with their teams to assure things are getting done in a timely and cohesive manner.  When a person achieves top status in a position, along with the many perks comes additional requirements to effectively interact with cross-functional teams including those that may be virtual.  So, how is it possible to keep these types of employees engaged and willing to put in the extra (often unpaid time) should it become necessary?  The leader must motivate their team AND know how to do it effectively!

One of the hottest topics that Organizational Psychologists are writing about today is ‘employee engagement‘.  This term now dominates many books and is a very interesting topic many people are exploring!  But, are executives and leaders able to handle the motivation of 200 employees, daily?  What about their ability to motivate themselves in the face of having to do more with less resources? These are questions that can only be answered by the individual who is first willing to acknowledge that he/she may have a deficiency in these areas. After the discovery points to the fact that assistance is needed, the next step is understanding exactly what should be done to change the deficit and the cost.  The word cost not only refers to financial costs, but also the leader’s time, willingness to invest in self and others, and the benefit.  These are important aspects to consider because if, for example, financial costs are invested in executive coaching services (whether internal or external), the cost goes beyond money.  The leader must spend time evaluating their situation, map out a strategic plan in how to best tackle it, and then work daily to obtain maximum results.  For example:  Let’s say that an organization has conducted a corporate-wide employee survey to find out the overall satisfaction of employees towards work and management.  This is known as a 360 feedback survey. Let’s state further that the results from the 360 come back that most employees are dissatisfied with their immediate supervisor and upper management of the organization; however, people are satisfied that the work they perform is important, .  Based on the results of the survey, the CEO decides to enlist the services of an external coach for its top executives for the purposes of helping them drive employee engagement up within their teams.  The CEO hopes this strategy will  drive up annual profits.  I’ll call this concept “Happy employees produce higher quality work.”  The external coach contract states that coaching sessions to each of the top executives will cost $3000.00 per day for 6 weeks.  This means that the coach will come in, interview the top corporate executives, help each put a strategically developed plan in place that will help drive up employee motivation and profits.  Total compensation for the 1 coach for 6 weeks is $18,000.00 not including other expenses such as travel, lodging, etc.  The contractual agreement also states that once the coach begins, all executives must make time to commit to the ‘employee engagement’ cause that the CEO believes is needed.  However, at what cost will the CEO’s engagement plan be successful?

Think about this for a moment and ask yourself the following questions:

1.  Did the CEO get the buy in of the executives or employees before making this decision?

2.  Will the cost of commitment to this idea cause other important projects to slack?

3.   Will it mean that management staff will have to stop or start activities related to the engagement that he/she has never done and really don’t want to do or see the benefit of doing?

What are your thoughts?