by Shawn | Apr 15, 2021 | Podcast
Back in episode 12 we introduced the 5 Love Languages, a foundational concept from Dr. Gary Chapman that helps us see how we and other give and receive love best.
It’s such a valuable tool, especially for business leaders, because it can allow you to really pour into your team members in ways that matter most to them.
In episode 19 we dove into Words of Affirmation, one of the easiest to employ and personally, one of my top two.
Today, we’re going to look at the love language of Gifts. This is about giving and receiving gifts.
As we mentioned in the overview, all of the love languages tend to resonate with us on some level, but some seem to fill our tank more than others.
The same is true with gifts.
I don’t know anyone who doesn’t love to receive a gift (although, what the gift is and the meaning behind it can certainly come into play here).
But when it comes to people in your organization who would rate this at the top of their list, giving them a gift of some kind will matter even more than a word you could say to them or any of the other love languages.
Of course, if selecting a good gift or just giving gifts in general isn’t one of your strong suits, this could be a little tougher for you.
But it’s worth the effort to not only to identify who on your team Gifts ranks high with but also to learn better what kinds of gifts really resonate with them.
It could be an Amazon gift card to show appreciation for the work they’ve done. Or maybe something engraved or personalized. Or food. Or something else. Get creative.
And don’t think you have to nail it. If you’re willing to put some time into it, a gift doesn’t need to be expensive or super rare.
But people, especially those who are high Gift people, won’t soon forget that token of gratitude. It may not seem like much to you, but will mean the world to them.
So, why not take some extra time this week to think more about how you could show appreciation through gifts. Ask around or search online for ideas. Get creative. Put some heart into it. You won’t regret it.
Thanks for listening to today’s episode. You can shoot me an email at shawn@shawnwashburn.com.
I’d love to connect: website / LinkedIn / Facebook / Instagram / Twitter
by Shawn | Apr 14, 2021 | Podcast
“Spiderperson!” he shouted from across the office.
I can still picture it, even all these years later.
I was standing up in my cubicle looking over across the vast cube walls to the far side of the room as our HR director passed through, saw me and called out his nickname for me.
I laughed, partly because of the name, but also because it didn’t seem to matter to him that I was most of the way on the other side of the large office. He was still going to give me a shout out.
To give a little background, I played pick-up basketball with our company and earned the name spiderman for my ability to… actually I can’t quite remember why, other than I was quick and could get to the basket with the ball.
Somehow or other, the name spiderman came about.
And from there, our HR guy Matt decided that I would be a more general “spiderperson”
And on that day, as he did quite often while passing through on the far side of the office, he said hi or gave a shout-out to anyone he saw peeking their heads above the cube walls. It didn’t matter if they were a few feet away or on the other side of the room.
What he didn’t know was that, for me, that really meant a lot. As one of the newer guys there, to get a shout out from Matt made me feel valued and one of the team.
I say all of this to challenge you as a business leader to make the extra effort to help your team members feel included and valued. Even if it means something kind of crazy like having a conversation across a busy office with a single person.
Maybe you have a person or two in mind that could use that kind of a connection with you. Look for ways to give them a little boost or find a fun nickname for them.
Then shout it out across the office for all to hear… just like Matt did all those years ago.
Thanks for listening to today’s episode. You can shoot me an email at shawn@shawnwashburn.com.
I’d love to connect: website / LinkedIn / Facebook / Instagram / Twitter
by Shawn | Apr 13, 2021 | Podcast
Back in episode 23 we talked about an app called Evernote that is a great tool for not only collecting and finding notes but has a ton of other uses as well. If you haven’t tried it yet, do a quick search and try it out.
On today’s Tech Tuesday, we’re going to take a look at a slick, cross platform task management tool called Trello.
Like Evernote, Trello is one that I’ve been using for years and still use here and there.
I love it because, again, it is cross platform and lets me enter, modify or retrieve my task info from my computer, phone or wherever.
So, what is Trello.
At it’s core, Trello organizes tasks inside Boards and then grouped by Lists.
A board might be a certain department or area or product line of your business (say Customer Success or Accounting or Manufacturing).
So, when you select a board, picture that board being like a cork bulletin board, filling your screen.
Then, on the board are a series of vertical tiles called lists. These can be for specific sub-areas within the main area. Or they could be each tied to a status of specific tasks for that board.
Each of these lists can be clicked and dragged to wherever you want them.
And then on each list are the tasks. Trello calls them cards. The same is true with the cards. They can be clicked and dragged, edited, whatever.
And you can add labels to cards to tie things together easily.
So, let’s say you have a board for a specific project.
And on that board your lists are titled “Not Started”, “In Process”, “Waiting” and “Complete”.
You would create all your cards (or copy from a template) in the Not Started list and then as they change status you can drag them onto the appropriate list.
Meanwhile, you can use the tags to connect items by type or category, you can assign due dates, add attachments or notes, add sub checklists, whatever.
And on top of all that, you can share boards with other people and assign specific tasks within the group.
It’s so clean and easy to use, is just as easy on a phone as a computer, and is just a great way to track things.
If you haven’t tried Trello yet, check it out at trello.com today.
Thanks for listening to today’s episode. You can shoot me an email at shawn@shawnwashburn.com.
I’d love to connect: website / LinkedIn / Facebook / Instagram / Twitter
by Shawn | Apr 12, 2021 | Podcast
Slow motion video seems to be more and more popular as time goes on.
It seems that everywhere you look, you can catch some phenomenal feat happening in frame-by-frame action.
Maybe it’s someone jumping from one building to another and impossibly landing right on a ledge before rolling to safety.
Or a perfectly placed volleyball floating up in space right before a player rises up behind it to crush it to the floor.
Or an arrow being shot through colored water balloons that seem to explode in a way that we never could have seen in real time.
When the action is slowed down, we not only have a greater appreciation for what is happening. We also are able to see things that we would have missed before.
That’s one of the reasons why slowing down is a great problem-solving tool.
This can really apply anywhere, but I’ve especially seen it play out in manufacturing. Over and over again.
For example, the problem as it looks to the naked eye might be that a machine is erratically acting up and not doing what it’s supposed to.
On the surface, watching in real time, this does indeed seem to be the case. There isn’t any apparent rhyme or reason to it. It just seems to happen in no particular pattern.
But when you slow it down, that’s when the magic can happen.
Especially when you couple slowing down with zooming in.
I use these two together often. And what happens is that what couldn’t see because it was too fast or to small suddenly makes sense.
With the machine we mentioned earlier, when we took video and slowed down and zoomed in we noticed that one of the pieces wasn’t able to fully drop into place every time. And it was because one of the guides was loose.
I never could have seen that otherwise and would have wasted valuable hours and manpower to try to fix something with a solution that wasn’t addressing the root cause.
And you can apply this too, no matter your situation. If one of your processes isn’t giving you the results you are looking for, especially if it’s erratic, try zooming in, slowing down, taking it frame-by-frame.
It could be an issue with some coding in a program. Or an automated sequence in your email system. Maybe it’s a communication or instructional issue.
Whatever it is for you, it’s worth the time to walk it through slowly and zoom in to the details. That’s when you can find that one thing that is wreaking all the havoc.
And when you’ve solved the problem, you have my permission to capture a slow motion victory dance to share with the world.
Thanks for listening to today’s episode. I’d love to know what you find out as you slow down and zoom in. You can shoot me an email at shawn@shawnwashburn.com.
I’d love to connect: website / LinkedIn / Facebook / Instagram / Twitter
by Shawn | Apr 9, 2021 | Podcast
On today’s Fun Friday, we continue on in our Ode to the Office series with something everyone can relate to.
Today I bring you Ode To The Zoom Meeting.
Ode To The Zoom Meeting
I glance at my watch and my heart starts to race
Just minutes until I will show them my face
Unless it’s just voice and then I’ll be OK
Another Zoom meeting almost underway
I click on the link and head into the matrix
Relieved to discover all squares there are faceless
But then one by one they begin to reveal
Their faces and backgrounds, both virtual and real
We spend a few minutes on small talk and chatter
Then Joe tries to talk but something’s the matter
His mouth is just moving but no sound is coming
“You’re on mute!” we all shout… so loud that it’s numbing
The rest of the meeting goes by in a blur
Some screen shots are shared and I am pretty sure
That though it was nice to be all there together
A simple group text might just have been better
Thanks for listening to today’s episode. If you’ve got an idea for a future Ode to the Office episode, shoot me an email at shawn@shawnwashburn.com. Â I’d love to connect: website / LinkedIn / Facebook / Instagram / Twitter
