In this episode, Adam J. Salgat and CFCC CEO Misty Janks sit down to discuss the Great Reshuffle and how the foundational course of Our Community Listens can set up leaders and organizations to handle the changing job market. They also discuss continuing learning opportunities for alumni and the excitement behind hosting community classes again.
View learning opportunities – connect.chapmancommunities.org/events
AI-generated dictation of the podcast audio
Please note that this transcription was completed using AI software. Occasionally, unanticipated grammatical, syntax, homophones, and other interpretive errors are inadvertently transcribed by the software. Please excuse any errors that have escaped final proofreading.
Introduction 0:07
Welcome to the listen first podcast brought to you by the Chapman foundation for caring communities. Our vision and mission is to strengthen relationships and build stronger communities through listening, leadership, care and service to create a truly human connection. Learn and partner with us as we imagine a society in which people care about each other. And listen first.
Adam Salgat 0:36
Hello, and welcome to the listen first podcast. My name is Adam Salgat. And with me today is our Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Jenks, Misty, how’re you doing today?
Unknown Speaker 0:45
I’m doing great. Adam, thank you so much for having me here today.
Adam Salgat 0:48
You’re welcome. And I’m excited to talk a little bit about this topic that you brought to my attention. I know your educational background is in industrial and organizational psychology. That’s a bit of a mouthful. Give me a little breakdown of what that what that is what that’s all about.
Speaker 2 1:02
Yes. So that is the study of human behavior inside of organizations in the workplace. So it’s really looking at leadership styles, culture and strategy and change management. So how do individuals behave inside of the organization? And what affects their behavior? And how do we motivate them? So our topic today aligns great with that, and I’m excited to be here to talk about it.
Adam Salgat 1:26
And man, that sure does align a lot with the teachings of our community listens course, correct?
Speaker 2 1:31
Yes. So with our community lessons, we’re really focused on communication styles and how we can communicate and one of the ways to become the most effective leader is with our communication abilities, and how that impacts in performance on teams.
Adam Salgat 1:45
So I kind of jumped over your your nice transition for me to get to today’s topic, but I’m gonna come back to it. Today’s topic is the great reshuffle. So in doing a little reading about this, more than 47 million people walked away from their jobs last year, according to the US Department of Labor, but as you shared with me, it’s not that they’re walking away. And that’s kind of where this term great reshelve will come from.
Speaker 2 2:07
Yes. So early on, in the pandemic, it looked like it was a great Rexach nation where individuals are just walking away from their jobs, but what we’re actually seeing is they are prioritizing more of a work life balance and the culture of an organization. And so they’re going out and searching for better alignment for their career.
Adam Salgat 2:27
So I do want to take one quick moment and let everybody know that if you hear us state any statistics or quotes from an article, we will have links in the description of this podcast, that you can go read the full information and get more in depth. So you just mentioned about people looking for what aligns with them. A recent MIT Sloan Management Review found that higher wages are not even among the top 15 reasons for the turnover. Rather, there are things like toxic culture, job security, the pandemic and feeling unrecognized for their work as some of their top motivators. So talk a little bit about that. You just mentioned it, but what have you seen what have you heard when it comes to that realignment of people’s priorities?
Speaker 2 3:08
So I think the thing that’s really coming to the surface for most individuals is how we are no longer just looking for work to be our only fulfillment. So we’re looking for a more balanced approach. And so as we talk about work, life balance, we all know what that is, but also getting more meaning and purpose out of the work that we do. So all of the hours that we’re spending at work, having them aligned to our personal values, and making sure the impact that we’re making is important to us in the world.
Adam Salgat 3:36
So from the perspective of our own personal experience when it comes to that work life balance. Let’s talk a little bit about when lockdowns came into place. And remote work was, you know, more or less mandated. Tell me a little bit about your experience. I know you were already working with the Chapman Foundation, and you therefore we’re already pretty remote and a lot of the work that you did, but just talk a little bit about that remote work style, though.
Speaker 2 4:00
I think that remote works dial was a little bit hard for some individuals, I think we’ve all adjusted well now. But the biggest thing that I think everyone saw is that lack of a connection, we couldn’t meet inside of the office, we couldn’t have the conversations that we typically have as we’re walking to the lunchroom. Um, so some of the connection was actually being missed. And I think that’s what some of the research is pointing to today. So it’s really important to as we start to transition to a more room load work culture, that we are taking time and dedicating it to building those connections. Because yes, while the work can be done in a remote environment, there is a little bit of magic that happens when we all have the opportunity to come together, get to know each other a little bit more. And then it also helps with some communication and communication styles and really getting to understand like, Can I assume positive intent with this person because I really know them and who they are beyond the screen. So again, ensuring that connection time is built in for remote teams is really important. So
Adam Salgat 4:57
two quick stories come to mind hearing you talk About two elements there about that need for connection, remote and unmet need for connection that we get to actually be in person together. I remember in early days of pandemic, for when I was working for the community center, me and my marketing team, oftentimes we’d have our Monday morning checking meeting, and then it would just, we would just leave the room open for an hour or two, while we worked on stuff. And it was almost like, you know, you’d go through dead silence of two to three minutes where nobody’s really saying anything, because we’re all working. But it felt like we were connecting, or at least, you know, in the same virtual space, for a long period of time, and it felt like being in the office to an extent. And we all needed that, for a lot of reasons, not just work reasons. But, you know, the feeling of knowing someone is there for you, when maybe you’re stressed out about, well, the world was in pretty big chaos, you know, pretty big upheaval for a good stretch that you just didn’t know exactly what was gonna happen. And then, you mentioned about the importance of staying connected and being in person being part of Chapman Foundation recently, we were able to get together, all of us in a region outside of where we all currently work. And we had the opportunity to have a work week, where, for me, I had the opportunity to meet many people for the first time in person. And I know one of our co workers made mention of wow, it’s kind of see neat seeing the sides of people’s faces, because you always just see, you always just see the front of their face via their computer screen. That opportunity for us to connect, like you just said, is something that I know you have found very important to give, give our team the opportunity to do that in person when we can.
Speaker 2 6:38
Yes, I think that in person time really helps us, like I said before, to get to know the other people that we’re working with, so we can have stronger bonds. So when something does go amiss, that we understand who the person really is, and we can assume that by positive intent with them. I think the other thing that happens is because you have that connection, and you have that time to together, some of that creativity is sparked. Just hearing the different ideas, hearing the conversations that we typically don’t get to have because we end the Zoom meeting or and the team’s meeting, just what happens in that downtime is also magic. So while I love working remote, and I think there’s huge benefits to it, I also see the complement of having those work sessions, where we all get together and have that opportunity for that magic to happen.
Adam Salgat 7:26
Yeah, and you’re backed up by that in an article that you shared with me, written by Daniel Shapiro, who’s the Chief Operating Officer of LinkedIn. And there’s just a line here that I really loved that he said business is a team sport innovation drives market leadership, and the speed of execution is paramount. That is why building trust and shared meaning is essential to high performing teams. So I know it’s something that we’re working on as an organization, talk a little bit about how our organization is helping other organizations work towards that
Speaker 2 7:54
with our our community listens class, as we’ve said before, it really focuses in on communication. And so we know that leaders have very high influence on employee satisfaction and employee engagement. And it does come down to their communication style and how they relate to to their employees. So with the art community listens class, we are able to help teams work better together, because they can truly understand the intent behind how some people are showing up or how maybe that other style that I typically am not getting along with, I can really see what they’re going after. And it’s not just to annoy me in the moment. So with our class, it does help create this culture of care. And a place where we know how we communicate, we know how our team members communicate, we know how to listen, and really understand what the employee needs are. And then also another big piece is the effective confrontation. So if things aren’t going right, how can we have really productive conversations that continue to build trust and rapport instead of hurt that relationship, then I think the other really important piece is the recognition piece. So it’s really important for our team members to know the impact of their work. So when we can give though them the positive recognition message, especially when it aligns to their personal values or the values of the organization, we can see those increase in satisfaction levels for employees.
Adam Salgat 9:19
Yep. And, you know, again, you’re backed up by the CEO of LinkedIn, who in his article wrote that LinkedIn of greatest global talent trends reports that employees want their current organizations to invest in personal development, flexibility, and mental health and wellness, that mental health and wellness when you’re talking about recognition, I think that’s vital when people don’t feel valued. That really deteriorates mental health, flexibility. We’ve touched on that a little bit working remotely and professional development. That’s an element that I know from the Jetman foundation. That was something that was introduced to us in our work week about professional development, what can an organization do to help us?
Speaker 2 9:57
So one of the things that we are focusing on as an organism Mission is creating this culture of learning. And so as we do our annual performance reviews and set our annual goals, we’re really looking at individual development plans for all of our team members, and how do they want to grow, not just to meet their organizational goals, but really in all of life. So we have built in some reflective time to just reflect on how we show up what our leadership skills where do we want to grow just as a person and be able to pull those in that culture of learning is really pivotal as organizations are going through a great amount of change. Because change can be very jarring to our employees and our team members. But if we look at it through the lens of opportunity and growth, it really is then embraced a little bit more easily. Instead of always feeling like oh, man, here we go, another change another change, when actually it’s just that opportunity to grow and develop.
Adam Salgat 10:51
The our community lessons course is starting back in person. As we record this podcast, we have some that’ll be starting in South Carolina in late May. And back in Colorado, and Midland, Michigan, all those can be found on our website at Chapman communities.org. Talk about the work that has been put in to get us back in person and how excited you are,
Speaker 2 11:12
I am very excited that our community classes are coming back online and will have the opportunity to bring together different community members and have this transformational experience. As we’re looking through the lens of leadership in our committed relationships or through parenting. We’ve done a lot of great work over the pandemic time as we work with different organizations and we have dedicated classes, we have seen how teams become stronger because of that experience. So we’re really excited to be able to continue to see that impact as we transition back into our community classes, and see how communities start to become stronger as leaders throughout multiple different organizations come together and have that experience.
Adam Salgat 11:52
So as we transition in this great reshuffle into a new maybe a new way of thinking or a new way of treating our employees and providing them what they’re looking for. Another quote from the LinkedIn article explains that companies that listen to their teams and embrace the concepts of flexibility and connection and invest in their well being will outperform their peers, and both retention and hiring. Talk a little bit about that and how the Chapman Foundation has a hand in that.
Speaker 2 12:19
So our core class, our community listens really can be the foundational building block to help teams and leaders in particular be able to do what the article is saying, it really does set the leader up for success to understand who they are that self awareness piece and how they communicate. And then how do their team members? And how do you listen to them? And then how do you take all of that information and set your team up for success. And so I think the art community lessons class can be that foundational building block, that helps us and that is what our data and metric is showing as we’re working with different organizations from around the US it is helping with employee satisfaction, it is helping with employee engagement. And then that helps with the retention piece.
Adam Salgat 13:03
I know I recently did an interview with a police chief who went through the our community lessons course. And he talked about the culture that he was building his police department. And that it’s a hard element to measure that they do certainly have surveys that go out at the beginning of each year asking people how they feel about their workplace. And he’s like, we can see those numbers stay consistent or improve or decline a bit. But the real work being done to create a culture happens every day. He said it’s not just you know, chugging along, and then waiting for his survey to see what it is every year. He’s like, every day we think about how we’re treating our people. And as a leader, he spoke about the importance of setting the example essentially that if I’m going to ask my employees to go out into the community, and lead and protect, I need to do that first with them.
Speaker 2 13:55
Yes, that is a great point. As leaders, we are setting the tone for our organization, we are the ones that are responsible for the culture. And these cultures are what is the catalyst for this great reshuffle. So as leaders, it’s really important for us to understand that and see and dive into what’s going on with our organization and take that responsibility on. I know one thing that we will be started doing here in April at the Chapman foundation is we’re actually instituting pulse surveys to help us go along with those yearly employee surveys. So with a pulse survey, what it does is you offer it multiple times a year and it just like the pulse or a heartbeat of the organization, that’s what you’re trying to capture. So instead of just a once a year study, you’re doing it every quarter. So you can see how your organization is actually responding to the different initiatives that you’re working on. And and so you can see is that activity really being impactful with your organization? So invite any leader to come and join us and take a class and see if this is a right fit for them and maybe institute some of the pulse surveys to see how they are their employees risk And, and I’d
Adam Salgat 15:01
also like to invite any Alumni Leaders or alumni that are enrolled that as we talked about, everybody is a leader, even if it’s not by title, if you’re interested in sharing your stories via the podcast, or if you just want to give us a testimonial about how you’ve seen this, shift this culture change in your organization, please reach out to us. There’s an email in the description of the podcast that you can connect, connect with us. Also, as an organization, we have been working hard at finding ways to keep you involved. So I know some alumni over the years, you know, I personally, I took the core our community lessons course I think six years ago now. Yeah, geez, my six year old is six. Yeah. So six years old, holy cow. Time does go by fast with kids. People say it all the time. Sorry, get distracted there. We are constantly trying to find ways to offer continued learning opportunities. So why don’t you touch on a couple that are out there on our website right now. And we’ll continue to have more as the year goes on.
Speaker 2 15:59
Yeah. So if you’re an alumni, and you’re thinking, man, it’s been a few years since I’ve been back in there, how can I get a refresher, we have some amazing opportunities that we will be offering, we we offer something monthly. So we have roundtables through our core lenses of leadership, committed relationships, or parenting, and one of those offerings would be per month. And then you can just jump in, there’ll be a quick video, or a skill snippet to review. And then you’ll be able to have a live discussion with our facilitators and community members from around the US to just discuss, how are the skills being applied? What are you learning? What might you be struggling and have some opportunity to just dive back into the skills and have coaching with a facilitator if it is needed,
Adam Salgat 16:42
one of my favorite elements of that is the opportunity to feel connected again, and also to not feel like I’m alone in the struggle, right? So parenting is always something that comes to mind in the opportunity when I speak with Mickey who’s our leader in that space, to not feel alone in the struggle of like, what do I do with my kids? And what do I do to help my kids. And so it’s tapping into those roundtable conversations, to hear other people’s struggles to hear other people’s stories, to get advice from people who have been through something similar, it, it really does lend a lot of guidance, and it lends a lot of security and comfort and in the end a lot of skills that you can take forward, to help yourself and to help your children as you move on.
Speaker 2 17:25
Another item that we have coming up is our summer series. So Adam, tell us a little bit about that. I know you have been working hard on getting that up for everyone to be able to register for
Adam Salgat 17:35
this or summer series again, you have three different opportunities to go through it in a different lens, whatever lens fits your need, or do both of them are all three of them, if you’re interested, so there’s a committed relationships, parenting and a leadership lens that you can kind of choose which would fit you best. It is a 12 week self paced opportunity to further deepen your OCL skills. At the beginning of each week, you’ll receive an email that reviews a key concept or skill from from the class, along with a skill challenge. The goal is to give you a skill challenge each week that will increase your self awareness and help you strengthen your relationships. Keep in mind that we always are looking for ways to strengthen relationships, whether that is through whatever lens you need it to be through a committed relationship, parenting or leadership, the skill series here while it’s self guided, it’s definitely a great opportunity to maybe get somebody at work with you to sign up and do it together. Again, you can go register for any of these on our website, just Chapman Foundation’s dot org and look for it underneath the Learn tab and click on learning opportunities. When you’re there on the website, you’ll also see on demand opportunities, which is similar to this summer skill series. But it’s just going to be a one one element that you can focus on again, whatever lens you might want most help in and you can you can find those on website it’s opportunity to do just a quick skill refresher and a nice skill challenge. Early in our conversation Misty, we talked a bit about being virtual and how two years ago when lockdowns came into place. Everybody had to work remotely. As an organization, we had to find a way to connect with people. In the last year we’ve been building a virtual our community lessons course. One of them is happening right now here in the month of April. I know a gentleman who went through one of our test courses earlier, who shared that he really loved the opportunity to go through it remotely because as he said to me, he got to do his last course on vacation in Miami on a beach. So it was an opportunity for him to stay connected. And he he shared with me that many of the people in that class like you might think to yourself, well virtually Am I really going to connect with these people. He said he’s friends with multiple people on social media, and they talk to each other weekly. So you really do still get that human connection and that closeness in a virtual setting. That being said, we’ve got some coming up opportunities coming up again in October. You cuz
Speaker 2 20:00
we’re two more virtual art community lessons that are scheduled for this fall that are up on our website. And you can register now. And it really is a unique class experience. It makes the world just a little bit smaller as you have the opportunity to interact with individuals all across the US. I know we actually have a gentleman from China, who is an educator that is in our Thursday classes, that is waking up at two in the morning to listen and join us. So David, if you’re listening, thanks for always getting up and being with us,
Adam Salgat 20:32
man. That’s pretty awesome. That’s cool to hear somebody would make that commitment, and be a part of it. As we wrap up this podcast, after we’ve talked about the great reshuffle, and what that’s all about what it’s looking like for people in the world who want to find something different, how their values have changed, and isn’t that they’re leaving their jobs, they’re just looking for different styles of jobs. Talk a little bit about your key takeaway. Misty, how important is it for leaders to be a part of that?
Speaker 2 20:58
I think my key takeaway for this is that leaders have a more important job. Now more than ever, how you show up as a leader affects your team. And your communication will affect the culture, your employee satisfaction, and the retention, and just their lives on a day to day basis. So it’s really important as leaders, we are taking a critical eye to ourselves and making sure that we’re creating a flourishing culture where employees can align their personal values to the values and the work of the organization, making it meaningful for them.
Adam Salgat 21:35
That’s a great reminder. Misty, I’d like to say, as a leader, I, I appreciate your leadership is gonna come across like a suck up in a podcast, but like the truth is, without you, I think we’d be a little bit floundering. And I’m very thankful for your guidance, and you always bring positivity, and I greatly appreciate that.
Speaker 2 21:53
Thank you and I’m very excited for the opportunity. You’re very welcome.
Adam Salgat 21:57
listeners out there. Thank you so much for being a part of our podcast today. Again, you will be able to find all of our learning opportunities on website so if you have any questions, please find the email in the description of the podcast and we will be in touch