Is joy an underrated asset in your leadership? In our latest article, Matt Rusten explores why joy, much like humor, plays a vital role in building a thriving company culture. From increasing team engagement to fostering resilience, joy can transform workplace dynamics and inspire purpose-driven work. Discover three key ways to cultivate joy in your organization and why it’s essential for leaders who seek both results and fulfillment.
‘Do not worry.’ We’ve read Matthew 6:25-34 in the Sermon on the Mount, but what does that look like on a day-to-day, minute-by-minute basis? God knows our every worry, fear, and concern – and He can handle it. Many thanks to Darrell Passwater, Convene Forum Team leader, for his encouragement to think about how our lives might be different by truly living out this scriptural principle.
Got a quick minute to chat? I’ve been wanting to share something with you as you lead in the midst of the election cycle in the USA or when your political election takes place in your country. When the dust settles on the election and the new country leader is declared, one thing will still be as true as it is right now. You’ll still be the one leading your firm the day after the election. Your team members will still come to work the day after the winner is declared. They’ll still be looking to you for leadership, for a paycheck, for a sense of community at their workplace.
What do they want most that only you can deliver? It’s meaning. That meaning they’re looking for begins with you and your leadership. To be sure, what Washington DC does actually can impact your business significantly, however, the president of the United States or the leader of any country does not lead your firm. You do. It’s an enterprise entrusted to you to lead as a steward. It’s a place where people look to you for answers, where people want to be part of a team that cares about them and where people want to be valued, appreciated, and loved. The next president of the country will not show up this week at your office to encourage your team, fix a broken piece of equipment, hire the next team member, sell a big account, or cast a bold vision about how your team will reach your goals and impact the culture.
As we find ourselves mid-October and a blink away from a new calendar year, it is an opportunity to prepare for how we view transitions. Transitions allow for reflection and renewal, for letting go and beginning anew, and for learning from the past and creating the future. Instead of laying out trends for the next year, I would like to comment on a fundamental enabler of any transition: hope. Leaders who want to improve, CEO’s who work toward excellence, HR professionals who aspire to deliver more value, and employees who seek well-being all achieve their transitions by realizing hope.
Hope integrates many of the positive traits that shape transitions for others and matter to me personally: learning, patience, service, faith, humility, optimism, gratitude, and so forth. I send hundreds of formal and informal e-mails every month to invite people to programs, to thank people for attending programs, to check in on those I mentor, and to stay connected to those I care about. I begin almost every one of these notes with “Hope you are well.” Hope is one of my personal desires, tag lines, and biases and an enabler of any transition.
If I could implant one trait in my family, friends, and colleagues who are undergoing continual transition, it would be hope.
The term “coaching” in today’s world has gotten very complicated and misunderstood. In my youth, a coach was the guy who yelled at you from the sidelines if you were in any kind of sport. Today, we hear about coaching in a wide variety of areas, such as sports, music, relationships, spiritual development, executive and even “life coaching” in general.
My wife and I were at Canlis Restaurant in Seattle for dinner. I must confess, I’m usually content with Waffle House, so I was happy to catapult to the #7 restaurant in the U.S. I was secretly wondering, however, what it was that I was about to experience. My first clue should have been the New York Times review that noted, “A Canlis Salad, when properly prepared, is a revelation.” - Sam Sifton, NYT. A salad? A revelation? About that time, Wanda, our server who had been a team member at Canlis for 33 years, came up to our table and greeted us.
When it comes to hiring the right people, we hear many versions of the same story. It goes something like this: “We hired this person...” and with that comment, a very frustrated leader reaches across the desk and hands me the resume of the person they’ve just let go, and then adds, “…but this isn’t the person who showed up on the job.”
Hiring great talent these days is a daunting task. Interviewees are on their best behavior, equipped with their arsenal of stock phraseology, canned responses and even contrived body language. By the end of most interviews, the chance of actually knowing the individual underneath all the strategic veneer is slim to none.
