Hiring Strategies’ Post

Good News Friday! Good morning everyone, it is the end of the week and I am so thankful for so many of you who have reached out and shared how much you are enjoying my posts this week, super cool. Okay, you are probably thinking why did Chris share a picture of him with egg and egg yolk dripping down this head? 🏃♂️ Well, it is because on this Friday, I want to ask when you, as a leader, last let your hair down, and really enjoyed time with your team? When is the last time you put forth a challenge to get to an end result and said, "if we do it, I am willing to be the one that steps outside their comfort zone and says, laugh at my expense!" 🏄♂️ The picture you are seeing is me, a year or two back, after I had said if we get to this revenue number, I will have a dozen eggs cracked over my head in front at our next team meeting. I even made it more fun by saying, for every $100k we go over the revenue number, I will take an additional egg......well, the team ran with it and I took the dozen and an additional six (6) eggs because they blew past the revenue target by $600,000! ❤️ Your team needs your leadership from a corporate perspective and they also need to see your human side, your side that is who you are as a human. It doesn't mean you need to take eggs on top of your head, but what is it about you that they would enjoy to experience (a surprise lunch, bringing donuts into the office and you wheeling them around on a cart, leaving them a surprise note from you saying how much you appreciate them, taking the team out to a place like PINSTACK for a few hours of fun, taking a walk during the day with the team, etc.). Another great place to take your direct reports is Chamberlain's Steak and Fish, led by the incredible Richard Chamberlain! If I can help you or your organization in anyway (speaking, thought leadership, etc.,), please let me know, it would be an honor. Let's enjoy this Friday and #DreamBigGoBig and #EncourageAndTakeCareOfEachOther!

Thanksgiving’s around the corner! It’s a great time to reflect on gratitude. While a simple “thank you” is always appreciated, why not make it extra special? Be specific: Highlight exactly what your employees bring to the table. Show your appreciation: A heartfelt thank you, a bonus, or a special perk can go a long way. How do you say “thanks” to your team? Share your tips below!

What if gratitude and recognition in the workplace could be measured in tacos, cakes and cheers? Here are some ways we spread gratitude, celebrate each other, and create a sense of community and belonging at Acuity Insights. 🌮 Giving Tacos. Our Taco channel on Slack, powered by HeyTaco, is a space where our team members recognize each other throughout the day with shoutouts and messages of appreciation that include taco emojis. 🥂 Giving Cheers. On Fridays, team members meet on Zoom to give cheers to peers. That means we raise our glass (or cup or bottle) collectively in real time to share the small and big impacts people and teams made that week. 🎂 + 🌮 Cake Days & Taco Days: These sweet & savoury annual social events are when we gather together—in person or virtually—to eat tacos and cake to celebrate our team and our biggest wins of the year. Learn more about what it's like to work at Acuity: https://lnkd.in/ghiVjbYa #WorkplaceCulture #EmployeeRecognition #EmployeeEngagement #BuildWithAcuity

It’s time corporate pizza parties got a facelift 🍕 Once upon a time, this was enough to say thank you to your employees. It was enough to make them feel valued and maybe even enough to get them talking to their friends about their awesome corporate culture! Fortunately (for us), times have changed! And as much as I appreciate a satisfied belly, there’s something different about meaningful recognition. One that truly says “Thank you. We see you. And we value all you bring to this team”. For example, you wake up on the day of your one year milestone to an abundance of congratulatory messages from your colleagues. Or maybe you’re surprised with heartfelt messages on the day of your birthday or for the birth of a new baby. What if we took it a step further and celebrated both big and small wins at work? Like that 6 month project you finally completed or maybe that one time you went out of your way to help someone on a different team? This type of recognition creates real impact. And if you want that impact aka a boost in employee morale and productivity to last, throw in a bit of cash 😉 The data doesn’t lie! So if you’re interested in learning more about channeling that pizza party investment into something new and exciting, let’s chat. #employeerecognition #employeeappreciation #monetaryrecognition #employeeengagement #corporateculture

September 6, 2024 Happy Friday (AKA Celebrating Wins) Happy Friday everyone, we made it! Something worth celebrating! Know what else is worth celebrating? Wins. Small wins, big wins. Know how often? Every day, once a week, end of month, quarterly -- all of the above. Know who needs to be celebrated? The people who did the work, by the leaders who often get (or take??) the credit. Ouch. Think about it. Bad news travels quickly. Often it sets the agenda and the pace of our work. We react to it, we plan around it, we make contingencies to avoid it....and wait for the next one. Meanwhile, every day...someone has done good. Someone has a win, one worth celebrating. So take the time, make it part of your culture, and celebrate the wins for your team. Frequently. Publicly. Enthusiastically. Humbly. Celebrate those who did it, the ones less likely to speak up, but the ones who, you know, actually do the work. At one stop we created Good News Friday, gathered the team and -- did just that. At the beginning folks needed some nudging to speak up. After a while, we had 5-10 every week. Word spread through the building. It reached a point that if I was traveling or just got busy and we missed a week -- I was asked - "John, we doing Good News Friday this week"? People like it. They appreciate it. Sometimes they are too busy to realize it. Celebrate the wins. Often. You'll be amazed at the results! Ohh, one last thing thinking about Wins. Go Birds! #flyeaglesfly. (Now, if we can just get the calls the Chiefs get??) #morningminute #celebratewins #gobirds

Leadership Tip: Welcome to the weekend. I know - when you read this quote, you were probably thinking, "Wait...are we in the holiday season yet?" However, all it takes is one trip to the store to already seeing strange things like clearance on Halloween items for a holiday that hasn't even occurred all the way to stores already making space for 2025 Happy New Year items and Christmas specials filling the isles. So if you haven't noticed, holiday season now takes on a much bigger time slot in our lives as we head into fall. With that being said, for some people, the stress and emotional turmoil of the season appears to drag on a lot longer than it used to for them. The memories of the holidays may not all be merry and bright. For some, just making it through the holidays is a tough accomplishment. For others, trying to provide for their families during this ever-increasingly hard, economic time adds a whole new level of stress in the holidays. Add to that final quarter 2024 deadlines, and it makes for a tough final three months of the year for a lot of people. As a leader, this is your time, more than ever, to be mindful of what people are going through. You have a wonderful opportunity to be that special blessing to someone by showing you care. In whatever form that takes, show thankfulness, patience, empathy, and appreciation. See if you can make their loads a little lighter by being present in the moment with them. #intrinsicleadership #leadership

Why is Leadership Like Thanksgiving Dinner? 🦃🍂 - - No this is not a Joke! Ever noticed how Thanksgiving dinner and leadership have a lot in common? Hear me out. On this day of Canadian Thanksgiving I had some time to reflect and that can always be dangerous...... Here we go: 1️⃣ Preparation Matters: Just like planning the perfect Thanksgiving meal, leadership isn’t about winging it (pun intended 🦃). Great leaders prep behind the scenes, making sure every detail is in place before the big event. I started to prepare for my day at work in the office at 6:00AM before things went crazy and everyone arrived for the day. Whether it's your team or your turkey, if you don’t prep properly, things will fall apart. 2️⃣ Everyone Brings Something to the Table: Thanksgiving is about more than just one dish, and so is leadership. It’s not about the leader doing everything—it's about making sure everyone contributes their best dish. A great leader empowers their team to bring their own ideas and strengths, making the whole “meal” better. By the way my sister-in-law makes and brings an amazing cranberry salad - Thank you! 3️⃣ You Can’t Please Everyone: Let’s face it—no matter how good your stuffing is, someone’s going to make some noise. Same with leadership. You’ll never make everyone happy, but that’s okay. I used to say if you want to make everyone happy sell ice cream, don't be a leader. What matters is creating a space where people feel heard, even if they don’t always get their way. 4️⃣ The Aftermath Is Just as Important: Just like Thanksgiving clean-up, leadership is about what happens after the big event. Do you follow up? Acknowledge what went well and what didn’t? Or do you leave the mess for someone else? A true leader rolls up their sleeves when the work isn’t glamorous. I used to love helping to put away tables after an event. So this Thanksgiving, as you pass the gravy, think about how you’re showing up as a leader. Are you planning? Encouraging contributions? Managing the expectations? And most importantly, are you leading in a way that leaves everyone feeling full and appreciated? Happy Thanksgiving to all my fellow leaders out there—keep carving out success (and turkey). 🍁 #ThanksgivingLeadership #LeadershipLessons #GratefulLeadership #Teamwork #LeadWithGratitude #CanadianThanksgiving

Happy Friday, Black Professionals Ireland! We often celebrate successes, but what about failures? Those moments that tested our resolve, pushed us to grow, and taught us invaluable lessons. Let's talk about that kitchen disaster that turned into life lessons It's Saturday morning. You're attempting a new recipe for a fancy brunch, feeling like the next Masterchef. Fast forward 30 minutes, and your kitchen looks like a war zone, the smoke alarm is blaring, and your "gourmet" meal resembles something from a sci-fi movie. We've all been there, right? But here's the thing, that culinary disaster might just teach you more than any successful meal ever could. Maybe you learned about the importance of "mise en place", or discovered that multitasking isn't always the answer. So, the next time you encounter a roadblock in your career, remember: It's not just about the outcome; it's about the lessons learned. Let's turn those professional "disasters" into culinary triumphs by embracing the learning process. You can share in the comments below a time when a mistake actually led to a breakthrough, and what you learned from it? #BlackProfessionalsIreland #WeekendReflections #FailForward #ProfessionalGrowth #ResilienceInBusiness #LearningFromMistakes

It's Friday, and it's time to celebrate! 🎉 We often encourage teams to calibrate every Monday, where they align on the week’s top priorities, develop action plans, and reallocate resources as needed to make progress. Then, every Friday, the team showcases their wins, discusses the progress they made, and provide KR narratives and updates. 🎈 If your team is practicing the Calibrate & Celebrate results ritual, what are some of the achievements and wins that you made this week? Let us know in the comments! #celebrate #wins #OKR

“You can have it all. You just can’t have it all at once.” - Oprah Winfrey There are many many things we want to achieve in life. And there is nothing wrong about wanting to achieve many or even all of them. Sometimes, there is a “better” time for something to happen. Sometimes, the timing for something to happen just isn’t in our control. But, as much as we want it all, we cannot ignore the importance of prioritising and choosing when to have what. It’s really not quite a balance. It’s more a trade-off. Note to self: even if the full buffet is available, I don’t have to eat everything.