What Do You Want to Be Known For?

"What do you want to be known for?"

It was a simple question that a Regional Director asked me in my final interview to become a Store Director at Sephora years ago.

This little question deeply resonated with me and helped me shape my life since then, as I asked myself questions like: "What DO I want to be known for? Am I living each day so that what I WANT to be known for is the same as what I am ACTUALLY known for? If not, how do I course correct and get on the right track?"

This question helped me focus on being a better person, a leader in my community, and someone who lives with more intention and purpose.

Now, I ask others this same little question - hoping it will have the same impact on them as it did on me.

So, what do YOU want to be known for?

What Are YOUR Non-Negotiables?

What are your non-negotiables?

When I was a single-unit retail leader I would have regular meetings with my team, and ask a simple question: "What are our non-negotiables?"

Most people would look around at each other, with pondering looks, but not speak up right away.

"What behaviors are important to us? What behaviors will not be tolerated?"

THIS would open up the floor to passionate dialogue and many times my team would know the behaviors they didn't want, but had a more difficult time speaking to what they DID want. We would take notes on a large whiteboard, and eventually, work our way down to five or so non-negotiables - Who We Are as a Team.

By doing this together, we created an agreement of standards and everybody felt important and heard.

We were one, unified team.

When someone failed to adhere to the non-negotiables, it was much easier to talk about it, because we were all part of the creation, and therefore, understanding of their importance.

Your employees matter - their voices matter. Be the type of leader who hears them.

World Kindness Day

How have you shown kindness to others today? How have you shown kindness to yourself?

At Launch Pikes Peak and The HuMan-Up Project, our mission is to make the world kinder, one human at a time - and today is the perfect day for that human to be you!

The challenge is simple - get out and be kind to others, through gestures like smiling, opening the door, thanking someone… those little things go a long way and create opportunities for larger acts of kindness.

The challenge to be kind to yourself is also simple - celebrate yourself. Find something great about you and give yourself a pat on the back - both figuratively and literally. :-)

We’re all in this together, and we’re grateful to be celebrating #WorldKindness Day with all of you.

XOXO,

Mikki, Founder & CEO

Coffee Pot Instructions

I woke up this morning to the sound of a coffee grinder trying to do its job , but beeping out some kind of alarm, and my husband standing over it with a perplexed look on his face. Last week we returned from a lengthy vacation in Italy and Greece, where we drank some amazingly delicious coffee. Upon our return home, my husband had the grand idea to order a better coffee maker than our $29.99 3-year old beauty, so that we could try to relive the flavors and experience we had in Europe daily.

So, this morning was the first morning that we would use the new one - with a built-in grinder and automatic drip. Nothing super fancy, but enough to give us a better, fresher tasting cup of Joe. I set up everything last night, but neglected to read the fine print, and now my poor husband was stuck with a never-ending beep, beep, beep screaming into his un-caffeinated ears.

I asked if he needed some help, he agreed, and then promptly got in the shower. I poked and prodded and pressed a couple buttons to get the beeping to stop to no avail. Finally, I followed any good IT support person’s advice and unplugged it. I fiddled and maneuvered the machine and made absolutely no progress.

And then I swallowed my pride, took a deep breath, and opened the instructions booklet. I read the section on “Grinding a Fresh Pot of Coffee” from #1 all the way through to #27 (how can there be that many steps?), and after following instructions like “Turn knob from unlock to lock” and “Make sure the arrows line up”, I achieved success. The beeping was gone, the grinder was grinding, and soon we had 8 delicious cups of hot coffee in the carafe.

So, now I sit here and wonder why I didn’t just read the instructions thoroughly in the first place. I am no Barista; I have never been savvy to the chic ways of the coffee-making world. But as I question myself, I also know I am not alone - so many people try to figure out something complicated on their own, whether they’re skipping the instructions or not asking for help when needed, and it can end up being very costly. At home, it can mean hours trying to put together a dollhouse or fancy toy, only to end up with a few extra pieces; at work, it can mean projects being delayed or sales being lost.

Clear instructions, such as Employee Handbooks, Policies and Procedures, and Development Plans help leaders and employees understand the expectations, the consequences, and plan for future goals. But, creating these solutions doesn’t help anyone if they just sit on a shelf collecting dust. It is important for leaders to know the details within, train new employees, and regularly refer to the solutions to embed them into daily activities and the overall company culture.

At Launch Pikes Peak, we support our clients in developing these solutions and then working with key stakeholders to help them learn the details, understand the ‘why’ behind them, and make them a part of the business, day in and day out.

Clear Expectations - a girl can dream...

As I look back on my previous roles over the past 25 years, I find one common theme that would lead to me ultimately moving on to a new position: lack of setting and maintaining clear expectations. Some companies in my past did better than others in setting expectations and holding employees accountable, while some flopped from the beginning. But, in each and every circumstance, I would find myself frustrated because at a certain point I felt unsure about what was wanted from me or the expectations simply changed without any communication. As I matured and grew into larger leadership roles, I learned that the best way to avoid this frustration was to ask questions at the beginning of a new task or project, as many questions as I needed to ensure I understood what was expected from me and my team. And, overall this method worked. But, it took me years to understand that I needed to be proactive to find this level of comfort in my positions - a luxury today’s employees don’t always have. And, honestly, even though everyone gives and takes on a team, it is truly the leader’s responsibility to, well, lead their teams.

At first thought, it seems setting and maintaining clear expectations should be an easy thing to do - we tell our employees what we want from them, they do it, and we’re all happy. Right? But, for anybody who has ever been an employee or a leader (so, basically all of us), we know doing this just doesn’t happen. It is in fact, one of the most challenging things to do consistently well. Most of the time miscommunication isn’t any one person’s fault.

We could spend hours discussing miscommunication in the workplace, but instead - let’s talk solution. At Launch Pikes Peak, we develop solutions to support our clients in setting clear expectations from day one. By providing tools such as handbooks, policies & procedures, development planning, etc. companies are eliminating the stress and confusion so many employees face. It is much easier to make decisions that follow a company’s values and culture when the information is laid out in black and white. We also provide leadership and employee training, helping groups and individuals develop the skills necessary to complement the tools.

Oops, My Bad...

There seems to be a lot of misconceptions that in order to be a leader, one has to be perfect. Now, it is very possible that as you read this, you’re thinking to yourself, “Well, that’s not true… we all know that mistakes happen…” (or something along these lines.) And, you’d be correct. We do know that - we say it aloud all the time; I see posts about it on LinkedIn every day. But, the reality is that most companies do not give their leaders opportunity to make mistakes and grow. Many organizations have created a culture of fear, leading their employees to an employment filled with anxiety at the thought of making a mistake.

In today’s hyper-sensitive society, mistakes are bound to occur. I can honestly look back on my 20+ years leading all types of teams and say that I probably made at least one mistake every single day. Some were large enough to keep me up at night as I ran through what I did wrong in my head and worked through ways to fix it, or at least never let it happen again. While others weren’t so obvious - perhaps I didn’t say hello to one of my employees as I arrived for the day, or I laughed at a joke that offended someone.

Making mistakes is human and it should be expected. Not only expected, but embraced. It is from our mistakes that we learn to lead better, see the bigger picture, and learn empathy.

So, how can you be sure that you are giving your leaders and employees enough room to make mistakes? (I feel the need to emphasize that I don’t mean high-stake mistakes, such as delivering the wrong medicine to a patient or doing something illegal…) If you’re not allowing mistakes, why?

And, beyond your employees and leaders, how often do you allow yourself to make a mistake? When it happens, do you process the situation and move forward? Or do you beat yourself up over it internally?

At Launch Pikes Peak, we work with companies, leaders, and employees to help them build stronger teams, with clear-cut expectations, so that when a mistake happens it is addressed, a solution is discussed and action is taken, and then everybody moves on. There is no public flogging or behind-the-scenes passive aggressive maneuver. Just some humans, working together as a team and allowing each other to be human, to build a better future for themselves and their company.

Viper Leadership Style

Throughout my career as a leader, I have witnessed repeatedly what I like to call the “Viper Leadership Style”. We’ve all had a supervisor who works like this. You know, the manager who avoids coaching due to feeling insecure, so instead gives harsh direction or criticism in a quick strike and then pulls back and disappears. Most often, employees feel confused and frustrated after being “struck”, rather than understanding expectations and feeling empowered.

This type of manager is one of the most difficult to train, because part of their style is to act confident, when really internally they are second-guessing every move and worried about how others see them incessantly. Quite often you’ll see this type of leadership with newer managers, those who either are brand new to the responsibility of leading a team, or those who were put in the role with little or no training. Instead of asking for help or risking criticism, they project the insecurity onto the employees - creating an uncomfortable, and quite often toxic, work environment.

At Launch Pikes Peak, we often have conversations with our clients about setting up employees for success as they prepare for a leadership role, which is vital regardless of if the position is entry-level supervisory or c-level. A person stepping into a new role that requires them to lead and inspire others should have had plenty of opportunity to practice out the skills that he or she will be using when in the role.

We can help you evaluate your high potential employees before you promote, and then build training programs specific to your business and culture that will ensure when you have leaders in place, they inspire and promote growth, rather than project “viper style” management.

Authentic Leadership - is it possible?

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about the need for authentic leadership in today’s workforce, but how hard it is for leaders to be authentic. With much needed movements like #MeToo, managers are caught second guessing the way they’ve treated their team members in the past.

We know that today’s multi-generational employee craves authentic leadership. They want to know that they can trust their boss, and the best way for someone to earn that trust is to be genuine. But, if a person has to carefully craft everything he says and does to ensure he is not offending others, how can anyone ever be truly authentic? It can feel like walking on egg shells for those who haven’t been trained properly. But, wait - how can a person be trained to be authentic, doesn’t that go against the nature of being real??

Wow - this is a tough question to answer, but one that we at Launch Pikes Peak have spent years solving. We understand that a person can be genuine and real when at work, while still maintaining a level of respect and professionalism toward employees. If your leaders are struggling with this - send us a note - we can set up a quick chat to discuss how we can help cultivate stronger leaders who treat their teams right.