Gut + Science

Truth You Can Act On: Analyze your payroll details stats on gender. Have a database in place that can capture the data and give you a baseline.  Be aware of the reality of how you pay male vs female. Unconscious bias is very real and we all do it.  Put policies in place to encourage employee engagement. Pay-for-performance and 9-boxing are great places to start.  Equality is directly correlated to...

Truth You Can Act On: Feel your culture. Clarity and consistency in messaging, a clear construct for leaders of all levels to make good decisions, and storytelling. Tell stories that reinforce the culture you're trying to build.  Build a healthy workplace. No matter the size of the organization, the steps are the same: Identify your goals, clearly communicate those goals, and empower and assist te...

Happy Monday! We love Mondays; We love helping others love Mondays. So every Monday we'll be dropping some Monday Fire for you to help you get excited about your week. Here we go! Here's our question for you today, leader: Are you expressing gratitude to your team members in a way that meets their needs? Subscribe to get your Monday Fired up.

Truth You Can Act On: Know people's motivation: We can't treat all of our people the same. Everyone's motivated in different ways and we have to know what's there why. We have to spend time listening and understanding how your employees are motivated. Employees first: Customer service should be a top priority but it can't take precedence over your employees. When you help your employees win they'l...

Happy Monday! We love Mondays; We love helping others love Mondays. So every Monday we'll be dropping some Monday Fire for you to help you get excited about your week. Here we go!  Here's our question for you today, leader: How are you building relationships with your people, especially when it comes to driving their engagement levels at work? Subscribe to get your Monday Fired up.

Truth You Can Act On: Millennials are now the largest population in the workplace . They want two things most: Regular feedback and an employer that stands behind them. Communications platforms need to be easily accessible from all devices. Whatever you're doing to communicate now – increase the cadence. Reminder – Reject the generational stereotypes that you hear. The only exception is your own e...

Truth You Can Act On: Focus on the right things. Take 5 steps back and look at the larger process failures Feedback must be accompanied by recognition. Don't overcomplicate recognition. Recognize people often and in public. Adopt the habit of gratitude. Even a simple "thank you" goes a long way.   Full Notes: https://gutplusscience.com/bonnie-clipper/ Nikki's Book Recommendation: The Fourth Age by...

Truth You Can Act On: Relationship skills are essential skills. They're not optional and they're not "soft" skills Make sure your mindset is locked-in to the endgame. This helps us fast track and innovate faster and helps our people feel safe.   Deliberately recruit diversity and on-board uniquely. Stop cloning. Every human needs a unique experience to help them unlock their potential.   Walk the...

Gut+Science is expanding into the healthcare sector with a specific subseries to impact employee engagement in the healthcare industry. In partnership with Wambi , we're bringing you the best influencers and leaders in healthcare to share best practices, stories, and lessons to build stronger people-first healthcare institutions. The series officially launched with Secretary David Shulkin , but we...

Truth You Can Act On: Teams need safety and trust to truly enable and empower people to speak up. Inspire curiosity of your team members and be a curious leader. Consider different perspectives and embrace diversity. Have a mindset that embraces conflict. Challenge yourself: do you really believe it's a powerful thing to fail forward? Have a framework for feedback. Give feedback on behaviors comin...

Truth You Can Act On: Cast a big vision. Keyword–BIG. Get to know and work with others' pace. Consciously think about how you want to lead: Step back, get out of it, and define how you want to lead, then step back in and implement. Tap in to your people's strengths to maximize their contributions. Full Notes: https://gutplusscience.com/david-shulkin/ Nikki's Book Recommendation:    It Shouldn't Be...

Truth You Can Act On: Mentoring is a mindset. In order for us to deploy an effective mentoring program, we must be intentional about developing mentors inside of our organization and at the same time making mentoring relationships a norm. The core of a mentoring relationship is trust. What are you doing to equip your people with trust-building exercises and giving them a platform and tools to do t...

Truth You Can Act On: Set the foundation. If you don't set the foundation for engaging with your organization early–like in your onboarding process–people will fill those gaps on their own. Don't assume you're in alignment with your team members. Be intentional about communicating goals and objectives so there's no ambiguity or room for miscommunication. Write it down. If you don't write down the...

Truth You Can Act On: Start with the end in mind : Define the problem or goal you want to solve then start building the gamification technique. Make the mundane fun: Gamification is a great way to do this but most important is to make life at work fun. Ensure key stakeholders are involved at all levels: Everyone in the organization needs to know the Why, why they're doing it and how it helps them....

Truth You Can Act On: Over-communicate: keep the communication going and remember what Cynthia Pizzaro said recently about consider the right channel. Make sure your message is getting to them!  Show gratitude and appreciation: What are the small touches you can do right now to show gratitude and appreciation? Show them you appreciate them and reassure them. You're their leader! Self-care: For eve...

Truth You Can Act On:  Focus on the Result. Lead with the end in mind and help your people see their goals clearly. Paint that picture of what success looks like. Leverage Technology with Video. Encourage both audio and visual aspects for remote meetings to bridge that distance. Treat Your Remote Workforce like Insiders. Take a look at how you interact with both 1099 and remote employees. How can...

Truth You Can Act On: What works today, may not work tomorrow: Be ahead of the game. If you're not evolving, you're dying: Get everyone on board with embracing change in your organization. Make it a cultural norm. Execution drives strategy: Don't wait until perfect to start and don't be afraid of change. Stack your leadership bench: Always be recruiting your next leaders.   Full Notes https://gutp...

In today's Gut+Science episode, we're talking about listening more and listening better. There's power in learning how to listen because it makes people feel seen and empowered to make decisions. Listen in as host Nikki Lewallen talks about the powerful questions that help leaders elicit more than a simple yes/no response from their team members. Some Powerful Questions:  What makes you proud to w...

Truth You Can Act On:    Right message; right people; right channel; right time. Rethink your communications so they're as impactful as they can be.  Set the tone and have ground rules for 2-way communication. How successful are you right now, and how do you intentionally amp that up?   Make the most of your time with your people. How do you make a personal touch with every single one of them in t...

Truth You Can Act On:  Bring Core Values to life in your workplace. Illustrate and teach behaviors that represent the core values and what it looks like to live them out. Create Communication Rituals. Repetition and consistency are vital to getting everyone moving in the same direction. Give A Clear Framework and Empower Your People to Make Decisions. When employees understand the "why," they can...

Changes are coming to Gut+Science and we're so excited to share them with you! But first, a reminder of what's NOT changing–the WHY of this show: increasing the impact of employee engagement in your organizations.  In this bonus episode, host Nikki Lewallen outlines some of the exciting things coming to Gut+Science along with three questions that we would love to get our listeners' feedback on.  L...

Truth You Can Act On:  Get Permission to Lead. Don't assume people are ready. Building trust and building relationships with people take time - this doesn't happen overnight.  Serve Your People. What can you do for your people? Take time to listen to your employees and follow up on what you heard. People want to follow selfless servant leaders.  Small Deposits Make an Impact. Know your people's na...

Truth You Can Act On:  Make Building Real and Meaningful Connections Your Top Priority. Understand what motivates your people and get to know them personally to support them outside of their work role.  Measure Employee Engagement and Share the Findings with Managers. Empower your managers with data that gives them a roadmap to know where to focus on innovating for change. Be sure to encourage cur...

Truth You Can Act On:  Empower Your Employees to Dream Big . Create a safe environment for your people to be themselves, and share their perspectives, strengths, and values. Psychological safety is a flagship driver for employee engagement.  Paint a Vivid Vision. Make sure employees know where the company is going. Illustrate what the company looks like in the future, as clarity of the future help...

You'll want to listen to this when you have a pen and paper handy, Gut+Science listeners! What are your hopes and goals for 2020? And how can you say 'no' to things that don't fulfill you? Listen in as host Nikki Lewallen dives into a powerful tool that can help you live intentionally in the new year.