By Jim Annis, CEO
It’s morning. You wake up, throw your feet over the bed and – oops! – there’s the family dog. What do you do? Kick the dog? Or pet the dog? That’s always been my litmus test about whether a person has a positive versus negative attitude. I would pet the dog … err … if I had one.
What about in the work setting? I can honestly say that I used to work for the most negative guy in the world. The perspective taught me that positivity is so much more important that anyone realizes. Workplace attitudes affect every person in the organization, from the employees to the company owner – and it truly starts from the top. Attitudes influence the overarching workplace environment, which in turn determines employee morale, productivity and team-building abilities. Understanding this relationship is an important tool in creating a harmonious workplace — but even more important, it is imperative to develop a great place to work with high employee engagement.
Accepting a compliment gracefully or helping to create a positive atmosphere itself releases dopamine, a neurotransmitter that helps control the brain’s reward and pleasure centers. It also helps regulate movement and emotional response, and it enables us not only to see rewards, but to take action to move toward them. Bottom line: People’s brains respond to positivity naturally.
Being positive for positive’s sake isn’t enough. I’ve also learned over the years that positivity has to be genuine. Over the years, my employees have taught me that my optimism can get in the way of being real at times, which can impede decision-making. We have all run across people who are positive but they are more “sizzle than steak,” or there is something artificial going on. Authenticity is invaluable. The loudest, biggest, most popular person at a party isn’t the steak – their sizzle is “all about me.”
Successful leaders are typically positive, not negative. When you are truly interested in maintaining relationships with colleagues, have sincere interest in a person, provide support for one another, are kind and compassionate, forgive mistakes, inspire one another – all these are aspects of positivity in the workplace. If you are truly thrilled when you see other people succeed, that is an example of meaningful work. Meaningful work builds loyalty in any organization and provides a sense of security.
Sooner or later you will get the negative employee. Typical characteristics include all-or-nothing thinking, overgeneralization, labeling, jumping to conclusions and blaming others. Negativity leads to distrust, a cutthroat environment, pressure and stress, and it’s harmful to productivity. Negative-attitude employees are typically hard to manage and you get sucked into the negativity. Overcoming that one toxic person is exhausting. In fact, it takes five positive comments to overcome one negative. However, being a critical thinker does not mean you are negative. You cannot have a kumbaya. You need some type of tension at work as an impetus to change, or you would be bored and lack innovation.
Dale Carnegie said, “It isn’t what you have or who you are or where you are or what you are doing that makes you happy or unhappy. It is what you think about it.” Life’s obstacles are limitless. A positive attitude at work – starting at home with petting the dog – is the only way to minimize negative impacts and maximize joy. Who doesn’t want to be joyful?
Jim Annis is president/CEO of The Applied Companies, which provide HR solutions for today’s workplace. Celeste Johnson, Applied's COO, contributed to this article.
View original in the Reno Gazette-Journal.
By Jim Annis, CEO
Generation Z is a force to be reckoned with. They were born between 1994 and 2010 and — if you assume a college path — they began hitting the workplace last year. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, Gen Z makes up 25 percent of our population, outnumbering millennials and baby boomers. According to Robert Half, by 2020 Gen Z will comprise 20 percent of the workforce. So how do we ready the workforce for them? How do we ready them for the workforce?
By CEO Jim Annis
Gone are the days of “simple” easy-to-target advertising on three TV stations to broad segmented target markets. With thousands of cable channels, smartphones and online data, we now have microsegmentation. Microsegments aim to limit customers into very small segments — or even as individuals — which helps modern marketers determine exactly what the customer wants at every level. This has the pitfall of hyper-fragmentation. How do we reach everyone cost-effectively? (more…)
By Jim Annis, CEO
Succession planning is the cultivation of new leaders to replace old leaders. Today we’re writing it from the employee perspective. Why? Sometimes as employers we really do not know how to identify future leaders. Other times employees who could be leaders are screaming at us – in nonverbal ways – that they’re interested but we are too busy to notice. Employees, here are case studies demonstrating how to break through the noise and create a path to succession: (more…)
By Jim Annis, CEO
You may know it as cannabis, Mary Jane, pot, grass, 420, burnie, and many more creative names. Whatever you call it, recreational marijuana is now legal in Nevada. What does that mean exactly? That is a little more complicated. This article is not about medical marijuana, because medical marijuana has been around since 2014 and is already incorporated into most workplace drug free policies. Don’t confuse the two. Here is what we know.
If you are 21 or older, you may have an ounce or less of marijuana intended for recreational use in your possession. You must use this amount in your own home or private space, and you may not use the drug in public. Separate provisions in the statute also license the commercial production and retail sale of cannabis. Those regulations do not take effect until January 1, 2018; however, for employers, these rules matter now. How do you handle this? Our top five answers are:
By Jim Annis, CEO
As a regular columnist and presenter, I address employment, workplace and business issues across the country. In ALL cases, I’ve always managed my public persona like I treat my in-laws – never discuss politics or religion – until today. My responsibility as an NCET presenter on this topic compels me to do so.
If mainstream Democrats won in November, we would have been able to predict future actions of the National Labor Relations Board. If mainstream Republicans won, we would have made confident decisions based on party lines. President Elect Trump is a wild card. Sometimes he goes party, then he does a 180. Employers are asking, “What now? How do I plan?” Here are five tips:
By Jim Annis, CEO
Sitting around the management table, we are all in agreement about the following factors that will influence the workplace in 2017; however, we are not all in agreement about how they will reveal themselves. Time will tell. Starting a dialogue is a great place to start. Let’s begin …
This is the single most prominent issue. How are we adapting? Forty percent of our management team falls into this generation. We consider ourselves fairly progressive in this aspect. How have we adjusted to their wants, needs and desires? We have allowed more casual dress (I, however, still come to work in a suit and tie). There is a more relaxed style of communication and through different methods like texting. When a project is identified as a priority, we have more of an open exchange about a project before it starts, as well as constant communication during the process. In decades past, this culture shift is in contrast to work dumping, “Here is a binder of everything I did this month,” and then the employee would drop said binder on supervisor’s desk. We’re a better team because we adjust quality as we collaborate while the work is being done versus a post mortem process improvement.
By CEO Jim Annis
How do you approach the times of “togetherness” at your workplace? Open and honest communication helps increase the transparency of the organization and equal truth in my mind. That is one of the elements for a great place to work. We have had several goals for staff meetings over the years, from over-communicating and getting everyone on the same page to making every meeting “fun” in some capacity. At the rate of change our work and nonwork lives are morphing with technology and cultural shifts, it makes sense the traditional all-staff meeting needs to evolve, so we’re changing it up.
by Jim Annis, CEO
Every year we have a little fun marrying a well-loved holiday song and HR trends. Sing the words to the tune of, “The Twelve Days of Christmas.” Here we go:
On the first day of Christmas,
My true love gave to me,
A Reno-o Re-enaissance.
On the second day of Christmas,
My true love gave to me,
Full employment,
And a Reno-o Re-enaissance.
By Jim Annis, CEO
Oops ... lost one. Oh, and there's another. Wait for it ... and ... gone. What's happening? Companies are losing key employees left and right. In the talent acquisition game, this market is hot, hot, hot. Companies cannot delay hiring people. Our headhunting and recruiting side of the business is so busy that we've had a handful of situations where companies who were interested in candidates lost out because they did not move quickly enough – literally within minutes. How many times can we say it? You snooze, you lose. The early bird gets the worm. Postponement is the father of failure. Has it sunk in yet?
By Jim Annis
"As I said before, I'm sorry if this touches a nerve because I just know you people never read this column all the way to the end." - The Annoying One
How did you react? The sentence encapsulates everything that can go wrong in workplace email communication. It floors us how much energy we spend (as HR experts) daily on adjudicating the damage that poorly written or poorly thought out emails cause. Are your emails driving business to your company, or sending people running to a competitor? How do you ensure a positive outcome? Set the bar high. Establish an expectation that open, honest and appropriate communication is mandatory. We are so email-heavy that we have to nitpick down to the detail. Our employees need to be good at email, because largely that is our product. What is the percentage of job function that email captures at your company? Here are some high level points to share with your employees at your next office meeting or training:
by Jim Annis
Unlimited paid time off, or PTO, has almost reached superhero status in the media, showcased by startups and giants like GE and Adobe. This permissive approach to time off has burst forth from the phone booth with a super cape, promising that if employees are getting their work done and have received approval, they can take time off when they want and need to.
Is unlimited PTO realistic?
It is if your work culture allows it, which means looking at the staff holistically. Some employers will never allow employees to take PTO. They believe in the concept itself, and use it for recruiting purposes, yet when an employee uses the time, it is irritating or miserable for the employee to come back to the job. Still yet, some employers reward employees that never take PTO, enforcing a culture of no time off … even if it is available.
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