Gut + Science

Truth You Can Act On:  Healthy Teams . You may have superstars sitting next to each other, but they don't work well together. Sound familiar? As a leader, don't be a referee. A healthy team consists of  people helping each other be bigger than themselves. Get Uncomfortable. Yes, you heard that right. As Chris says, getting uncomfortable is vital to your organization. Talk about how you're feeling,...

Truth You Can Act On:  Know Why Your People Work. It's a great exercise to do as a team or at your next one-on-one. You should also know why YOU work. Understand the 17 Components of Employee Engagement. There are 17 different things that bring people to work. Email Nikki at nikki@emplify.com if you want to learn the definitions of all 17 components.  Gain Data Quarterly. It's important to be agil...

Throughout this season of #Insights, we've made an effort to go beyond the buzzwords, digging deep to understand how to truly build a winning employee engagement strategy. Along the way, we talked with industry experts about how to deconstruct these buzzwords and get to the root of the issues. Now, it's time to break down the buzzwords. What do we do once we've identified them? How do new understa...

Let's be honest: Some of us love getting feedback. While others hear this phrase and have nightmares. The same goes for the giver. It always feels good to give someone feedback for a job well done, but when it comes to delivering critical feedback, it can riddle even the strongest leaders with anxiety. In this episode, you'll hear from Chris Bittinger ( @c_bittinger ), President of Open Pivot, Inc...

This week on #Insights, we're tackling the buzzword "employee wellness." You know, things like ping pong tables, relaxed dress codes, kombucha on tap! Wait, are those things actually wellness related? According to Liesel Mertes ( @lieselmertes ), Founder of Handle with Care HR Solutions, wellness is about what an employee experiences during disruptive life events. It seems simple, but why are orga...

This week on #Insights, we're digging into that set of buzzwords 'talent war' and understanding what it means to have employees who are connecting their work with their head, heart, and hands. As leaders, our goal isn't to provide satisfaction for our employees. It's to help them unlock their own potential. One-on-ones are a small step in that direction, according to Bobbie Shreiner , President of...

In this first episode of Series 2 of Insights, we're diving into how to actually build a winning employee engagement strategy [while killing the buzzwords]. Spoiler alert: It's much bigger than a paycheck.  So, what are we missing? What is it that people - the talent - are craving?  In this episode, Carla Taylor, a leadership and development coach, discusses Ikigai, the reason for being. You'll al...

As leaders, it's important for us to model behavior that is healthy for our people.  Listen in as Gut+Science host Nikki Lewallen ( @nikkilewallen ) and Nicole MacLean ( @nicolemmaclean ), Director of Marketing Relationships at Emplify , discuss the importance of rest - and how it directly impacts employee engagement.  If you haven't scheduled that vacation yet, maybe this episode will give you so...

Truth You Can Act On:  70/30 . 70 percent of our time should be spent on what fires us up, and 30 percent of our time can be spent on 'the other stuff.' Review your calendar and make it a practice.  People want to follow relational, trusting CEOs . It's all about our ability to communicate and build relationships with our people. If you truly get to know your people, this will ultimately drive tru...

Truth You Can Act On: We're all human. We have to model the behaviors we want to see, but we also have to realize that we aren't going to be perfect models. We are going to fall down; we are going to make mistakes. Share before you're ready. Iterate early and often. Instead of doing something and perfecting it in a vacuum, draft up a bulleted outline or a rough idea of where you want to go with a...

Truth You Can Act On: 360 Feedback. This is a process that helps us understand how others see or experience us. Get an audience of 20 people or more for a larger sample size, and make it an annual habit. Focus on the difficult relationships around you. Most of us do the opposite, but with the process we learned in this episode, it can be simple (maybe not easy, but that will make us grow). Powerfu...

Truth You Can Act On: Our 5-9 affects our 9-5. This mindset reminds us, as leaders, to take the whole person approach to the way we see our employees. Health: It's 80% food and 20% movement. When we look at our meal, it should be 75% vegetables and 25% protein and fat. When we think about movement, working out is good, but it is only one of the six ways we need to move. Energy equals money. Let th...

Truth You Can Act On: Ask for feedback. You need to know what's going on in your company. As a leader, it's your responsibility to make sure your employees feel safe enough to provide feedback. Diversity and inclusion should be tied to business outcomes. If we can tie inclusion into overall business strategy and important KPIs, there will be more buy-in from everyone. Tie it to the bigger picture....

Truth You Can Act On: We need commitment. Before building and executing a process, it's imperative to have everyone on the leadership team on board. We need processes. Processes help us hold each other accountable. What processes do you have in place when it comes to developing your employees? How could they improve? Learn how to have tough conversations. Dane tells us the most important thing abo...

Truth You Can Act On: Master your communication process. How are you conducting your communication when it comes to both the masses and employee one-on-ones? Build relationships with your people. It's important to truly get to know your people. Understand your employees and what they want by building a human-to-human relationship. Conduct alignment interviews. These interviews are an opportunity t...

Truth You Can Act On: Employee engagement and customer loyalty are connected. A customer's experience is almost always tied back to how your employees are engaging with them. So, think about it - if someone wakes up on Monday and they don't feel connected to the purpose of their company or their boss, they probably won't be super pleasant to customers. Seen. Heard. Valued. Everyone wants to feel t...

Truth You Can Act On: Educate Your People on All the Options. Bring in live and virtual educational sessions to help your employees make the best decisions on alleviating their financial load. Check Out Refinancing Options. Talk with trusted experts to give you options to share with your employees. Commit to Contributions. Think about the contributions you can make as an employer. Send your employ...

Truth You Can Act On: Set expectations with employees. When setting expectations, there's a big difference between being "kind of clear" and being "very clear". Employees want to know what's expected of them. They want to know what it means to be successful, and they want to know when they're falling short. Don't let them down. Be crystal clear with your expectations—showing them exactly where the...

With years of stereotypes blocking change, what can an HR professional say to get a seat at the table and help inform the CEO on making the right people, culture, and engagement decisions? To complete our first #Insights series, Santiago Jaramillo ( @santiagojara ) dives into how companies are more than just vehicles for creating revenue - they should be a place for transformational growth where p...

How can we help our employees find purpose and meaning in their work, and engage them as people? This week on #Insights, Santiago Jaramillo ( @santiagojara ) walks us through how you can define meaning - driven from the top-down - at your organization. The reality is, people find meaning in different ways. For some, it's working together as a team, for others it could be solving problems or delive...

This week on #Insights, we're diving into employee engagement - how it's evolved [especially in the past couple of years] and how this evolution has impacted the relationship between human resources leaders and the C-Suite. Listen in as Emplify CEO and Co-founder Santiago Jaramillo ( @santiagojara ) takes us on a journey into the past - because before we can talk about where things are today, we n...

In this first episode of Insights, we're exploring some of the biggest issues we face in today's workplace with Emplify CEO and Co-founder Santiago Jaramillo ( @santiagojara ).    First, how do you understand what your people actually need? And second, why should the CEO care? It all begins with the employee experience and understanding where that story starts. In this episode, you'll hear from Ro...

Introducing #Insights, an original series from Emplify ,  that explores extraordinary advances in people performance and business outcomes through workplace science and...well, insights. You'll learn from Emplify CEO and Co-founder Santiago Jaramillo ( @santiagojara ) as he discusses culture and engagement - and takes a deep dive into the specific questions that are top of mind for people-first le...

Truth You Can Act On: What is your higher purpose as an organization? A conscious business is one that exists for a higher purpose beyond creating profits and shareholder value. It exists to make the world a better place. Do you have complete stakeholder integration? By stakeholders, we're not just talking about employees, customers, and shareholders. We also need to remember our suppliers, the co...

  Truth You Can Act On: Narrow down your values. Can you list all your core values from memory? If not, you have too many. How can you expect to build a culture around these supposed "core" values if you as a leader can't even remember them all? Cut them down to the few that describe the uniqueness of your organization the best. Reinforce your culture. It's one thing to create effective core value...