Jason's Blog
How Do You Repair Your Relationships?
Among all the skills that are important to building great relationships, one of the most important is repair. It's also one of the most overlooked. I wouldn't be surprised if you've never thought of repair as a relationship skill. I don't know that I ever had until I...
Relationship Skills Are the Key to Employee Engagement
Years ago, I was lucky to somehow find and read the book Fierce Conversations by Susan Scott. The title alone was enough to pull me in. Crucial conversations is one thing, but fierce? That's next level. What I thought I was going to find were lessons on how to have...
My Birthday Wish for 2020
Today is my birthday. As a kid, birthdays feel like such a big deal. Everyone seems to know it's your birthday. There are parties and gifts. They even make it a big deal at school. Everyone seems to be nicer to you on your birthday. There's also the birthday tradition...
How to Improve Employee Engagement: The One Word to Remember
When we realize that our team isn't engaged, there's a lot of advice out there for how to improve employee engagement. More recognition. More development. More flexibility. More autonomy. More pizza and beer and ping pong. More, more, more. There are dozens, if not...
Your Judgment of Others Is NEVER Helpful
The new year is here. As I reflect on 2019, I can see that it was a year of contrasts. For me, it was a pretty amazing year. My wife and kids are healthy and thriving. Angie and I celebrated our 15-year anniversary. My business is growing. Angie's campaign for mayor...
Employee Engagement Happens in Moments
Something really weird and awesome happened to me this morning. Knowing I had a busy day of calls and meetings today, I decided to sneak into the gym for a quick run on the treadmill before the day spun away from me. Before I share what happened next, a bit of...
Should You Close the Office on Black Friday?
It's Thanksgiving week. That means that we will all be asked at some point this week, "Are you working on Friday?" And the answers will be mixed. Black Friday is one of those dates that seemingly presents a dilemma for organizations and HR departments everywhere....
Are You an Employee Engagement Dinosaur?
This week, I somehow found myself in a conversation with a colleague about breaking the habit of putting two spaces behind a period when I type. Since he is roughly my age, he understood this challenge completely. For some of you reading this, the idea of putting two...
Belonging Is an Act of Courage
Where in your life do you feel a real sense of belonging? That question on the surface feels like a pretty simple question to answer. And it's easy to assume that almost anyone you ask would have an answer to this question. Over the past year, I've spent a lot of time...
Asking for What You Want to Get More Employee Engagement
I’m not sure when I first learned it. And it’s baffling to me that I even need to. But it’s been one of the most useful lessons I’ve ever learned. Here it is: You are far more likely to get what you want when you are willing to ask for it. It seems so simple and...
Should Employee Feedback Be Banned?
For most of my adult life, I have bought into the conventional wisdom that feedback is critical to performance and growth. As individuals, we are taught to embrace feedback and treat it as a learning experience. As managers, we are told that giving feedback is part of...
What Does It Mean to Be “Human” at Work?
Over the past few years, it is becoming more common and popular to talk about being human at work. We talk about designing work to work for humans. We invite people to bring their “whole selves” to work. There are even disciplines like wellbeing that are focused on...
We Need to Stop Saying That 66% of Employees Are Not Engaged
When we talk about employee engagement, one of the most commonly cited statistics comes from Gallup. I’m sure you’ve seen it: Only 1/3 of employees in the U.S. are engaged according to Gallup’s Q12 measure. That number is a more shocking 17% globally. That also means...
The Two Biggest Barriers for Managers Faced with Employee Engagement
The longer I am immersed in the work of employee engagement, the clearer it is to me that getting it right as a manager is simple and hard. That may sound contradictory, but it’s not. Engaging employees isn’t all that complicated. It starts with forming and...
Assumptions, Projection, and Other Ways to Kill Engagement at Work
A wise friend is fond of saying, “If only people would conform to our expectations of them.” It’s her way of reminding us (and probably herself) that much of the drama that exists in our lives with other people starts with us. And that if we’d accept people for who...
5 Podcast Episodes to Change How You Think About Work
I am a podcast junkie. I struggle to find as much time to read as I'd like. But podcasts have helped me feed (or distract) my brain in times when I can't read but I can listen (walking the dog, running, doing yard work, etc.). I love them. That said, I don't only...
How Did Your Parents Impact the Way You Experience Work?
When I was 14 years old, my dad quit his job. It was a job he'd had since I was born. He didn't quit because he'd accepted another job. He quit because his boss asked him to compromise his integrity. Let me explain. As a cattle buyer, my dad's customers were the...
One-on-One Meetings: 3 Ways to Stop Screwing Them Up With Your Employees
Managers: How important are one-on-one meetings with your employees? This question comes up somewhat regularly because these meetings are time-consuming, and most managers are so overwhelmed with work that they are hunting for any excuse to cut something from the...
“Thank you for firing me” (A Reminder That Employee Engagement Is Hard Work)
This weekend, while at a beer garden with my wife during our community's summer festival, I ran into someone I hadn't seen in years. When I first saw him, we chatted for a few minutes, and I learned that he'd just moved his family to our town and that he has a new...
Are Employees Responsible for Their Own Engagement?
There's an interesting "chicken or the egg" debate going on regarding employee engagement. Maybe you've had some version of this discussion within your own organization. Who is responsible for employee engagement? Is it the employer/manager/leader's job to engage...
Getting Smart About Employee Experience (Resources)
Employee experience isn’t a trend or a fad or a buzzword. It is, and will continue to be, a shift in how we do the work of unlocking human potential at work. If you haven’t already embraced this shift, now is the time. The best place to start is to get educated about experience, what it means, and why it matters.
What Really Matters?
Time is our most important resource. It is finite and non-renewable. Being intentional about how we spend it is, perhaps, one of the most important things we can learn to do if we want a happy, fulfilling life.
Why Work Still Sucks (and Organizational Change Is SLOW)
Leaders struggle with breaking the system that gives them power, even when they know the system is broken.
Moving From Feedback To Feedforward
How can you switch from a feedback approach with your team to a feedforward approach that can improve future results? Here are four steps to take!
Want To Improve Performance Or Engagement At Work? Check Your Assumptions.
Our assumptions about people profoundly impact our behavior and how we show up in our work. The place where I have seen this most frequently over the years is in how we confront performance or behavioral issues as managers.
Why Leadership Buy-In For Employee Engagement And Inclusion Is Elusive
The work we do is righteous work. But we must let go of our need for leaders to embrace it at face value. What can we do instead? Keep reading!
A Hard Truth About Employee Engagement
There was a point in my career, probably 18 or 20 years or so ago, that I would have argued vehemently that creating a workplace culture that engages employees was vital to sustaining a profitable business. I believed in my heart that it was an imperative. At the...