Is your workplace really a reflection of you?

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This week I was in Toronto teaching a group of elementary and high school educators –leaders of their schools and education innovators – how to sharpen their people skills. One of the concepts we talked about was the critical leadership idea that: Your organization or department is simply a reflection of you personally. It reflects both your strengths and your weaknesses.

The irony of this was not lost on me, as I occupied the 10 percent of my high school grad class that made the top 90 percent possible.  I remember once in grade 10 receiving a final mark that was simply an asterisk.  I approached the teacher and asked hopefully, “Is this good?”  He made no comment, but looked at me blankly, shook his head, and went back to what he was doing. So, if my mother were alive, she would have been shocked.  Actually. SHOCKED. To see this marvel come to pass.  Needless to say, I spent the flight there on my laptop, double-checking spelling on all of my slides.

Looking inwards and realizing that your organization or department is a reflection of you is so important in leadership growth. That’s why everything gets better when you decide to grow. And grow you must.

Check out these stats from a study recently published in Forbes:

  • 70% of respondents said they would be happier and 55% said they would be more successful if they got along better with their immediate supervisor.  For workers in their 20s and 30s, this number rose to 80%
  • 31% said they felt uninspired/unappreciated by their boss
  • 38% described their boss as ‘great’ and 58% described their boss as hard-working
  • Depending on age groupings, between 40% and 73% said that the behaviour of their boss sometimes negatively affected their health

Even taking this with a good pinch of salt, because 41.6% of statistics are made up on the spot, we can still see that the behaviour of the immediate supervisor has a major impact on the people they lead.

People join great organizations and leave supervisors who they believe aren’t for them.

Here are some suggested action steps that will help you make a positive difference this week, whatever your role in the organization.  Pick one to try:

  1. Ask someone you work with to suggest one practical thing you could do (or one thing you could stop) that would make their life better
  2. Catch someone you work with doing something right this week and thank them for doing it
  3. Make a list of the qualities of your dream employee or coworker.  Then score yourself on the list.  How do you match up?

Your organization or department is simply a reflection of you!

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Written by Trevor Throness
Trevor is a veteran coach, keynote speaker, and the author of the book “The Power of People Skills” released by Career Press NY in 2017. He’s also written for or been featured in places like Forbes, Inc, The NY Post, The Globe and Mail, Entrepreneur, CEO Magazine, and numerous podcasts and interviews.

Testimonials

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Your team will, too! Check out some reviews from our students.
The PLI program was invaluable to our network.
The range of topics delivered, the open dialogue, experience, and examples that PLI brought to each session were outstanding and provided a path for our Franchisees and Managers to look at leadership, coaching, and connecting with their teams in a new light. Many have implemented these strategies in their bakeries and have seen immediate results.
Michelle C.
COBS Bread
Highly recommend to help your team move forward
We have locations around BC and Alberta, so getting people on the same page can be very difficult... Until now. Our entire management team and location managers take the same great courses and then meet monthly online with our coach to apply it to our situation. People are engaged, the courses are excellent, we love our coach, and we are all learning together!
Jason Fawcett
President, Kelson Group
The result has been a transformation of our culture. 
We decided to implement PLI's strategies across the country in over 150 locations and over 3500 employees.  The result has been a transformation of our culture.  People's lives have been positively impacted - professionally and personally.  Morale is high and sales and profits are up as a result.
Daryl Verbeek
Daryl Verbeek
We’ve learned how to fix ongoing personnel issues once and for all
The roadmap laid out set our business up to quintuple in sales.  We've learned how to fix ongoing personnel issues once and for all, attract top talent, and spend our time focused on results, not internal staffing problems.  I highly recommend PLI to you - it's worked for us!
John DeJong
Satisfied Client
I had no idea that running a business could be this fun!
In less than 18 months of working with Trevor, he has transformed my business from being average to exceptional, where mediocrity is not acceptable, where being great is standard.  Working with PLI has allowed me to realize my dream of not simply owning a job, but owning a business.
Justin Bontkes
Principal, Caliber Projects
Our culture has taken major steps forward this year
Our culture has taken major steps forward this year with Trevor’s help.  He is funny, relatable, and his tools are very very practical and have helped us focus and upgrade our teams throughout our retail network. Trevor recently spoke to an employee group, and one person remarked, “I could listen to Trevor all day.”   We would highly recommend Trevor.
Stan Pridham
Founder, KMS Tools
The results have been remarkable
At first, we resisted, “This just won’t work with a law firm.” But we persisted and the results have been remarkable: our client base and profits have steadily improved, and staff engagement and morale is the healthiest its ever been.
Doug Lester
Partner, RDM Lawyers
Helped our fast-growing business become what it is today
I've experienced PLI's approach first hand and it's been crucial to sustaining our growth.  I can't imagine a business that wouldn't benefit greatly from his help.
Brian Antenbring
Founder, TEEMA
Provided practical ways to make positive changes
Trevor was incredibly well-received by the entire organization. He was able to articulate people issues that many of our franchisees were experiencing and provided them with practical ways to make positive changes. We have implemented the Star Chart tool across the organization and see it as vital to building happy, effective teams.
Aaron Gillespie
President, COBS Bread
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