When it comes to the needs and desires of employees, what worked in the past doesn’t seem to fit in this new world of work. In this episode of Transform Your Workplace, host Brandon Laws sits down with Jim Wetrich, author of Stifled: Where Good Leaders Go Wrong. The two discuss how to adapt, change, and get out of that leadership rut.
GUEST AT A GLANCE
Jim Wetrich is the CEO of The Wetrich Group of Companies. With extensive experience in the healthcare industry and multiple degrees in health administration and business administration, Jim has consulted with over 100 companies. He is the author of Stifled: Where Good Leaders Go Wrong.
A QUICK GLIMPSE INTO OUR PODCAST
🔊 Podcast: Transform Your Workplace, sponsored by Xenium HR
🎙️ Host: Brandon Laws
📋 In his own words: “The Transform Your Workplace podcast is your go-to source for the latest workplace trends, big ideas, and time-tested methods straight from the mouths of industry experts and respected thought-leaders.”
OPEN TO CHANGE
The world has changed, and according to guest Jim Wetrich, we “must change with it.” The pandemic has taught us that we have to be agile if we want to see growth in business. We saw how countless companies, small and large alike, had to pivot to survive, doing “things that they had no idea they could even do.”
But despite all of this obvious change, many companies continue to lean on prior practices and prior assumptions, unwilling to adapt and determined to dig their heels in regarding outdated approaches. If companies want to make it in this new world of work, growth and change must be at the forefront.
PODCAST EPISODE HIGHLIGHTS
We Need Boundaries
“People are running around all day trying to find information because there’s just too much of it. And we’re creating almost boundaryless work environments where people can work whenever they want to work, and I like the fluidity of that. But we also have to set some boundaries because there are some people who just won’t stop working because they don’t realize that it’s never going to get done. We never finish our work, we never finish all the emails, we never get all our ‘to do’ stuff done. There’s always gonna be more work. So we’ve gotta be more intentional about giving people space, helping them with communication, and then also not letting them bury themselves in communication.”
Some Pressing Issues
“Individual contributors get rewarded. They’re thrown into a management position. They may go through a two-day, three-day, four-day check-the-box type of training program, and then that’s it. We don’t help develop them. We don’t teach them some of the big mistakes that they can make as a new manager. We don’t train them. We don’t mentor them. And you know, as I mentioned in the book, who’s managing the managers? We’re also not doing a good job of managing the people who are managing the new managers.”
An Opportunity to Learn
“Clearly, some of the best learning we have comes from learning from our mistakes.
I mean, why do coaches spend hours going over game film? They’re not looking for things their kids did right. […] They’re looking for ways they can improve and get better. And I do think there are a number of organizations and a number of managers that still don’t understand how powerful it can be to learn from our mistakes. I’m still making mistakes. I’m 65 years old. The key is… Am I learning from my mistakes? And what am I getting out of those mistakes?”
Fanning the Flames
“Companies set aspirations and goals and visions and targets, and they kind of push it out in community, and then that’s it. There’s no follow-up. There’s no discussion about it. There’s no reinforcement of it. There’s no explanation of it, and it just kind of dies. And I think it’s like a fire. You’ve gotta continue to give fuel to it, and you’ve gotta continue to add oxygen to it. And you can’t just say, ‘Boom. This is who we are, and this is what we stand for, and this is our mission, vision, and values.’ You gotta continue to reinforce it and talk to everybody at every level of the organization and even reinforce it when you’re onboarding new employees.”
The Future of Feedback
“I think the almost instantaneous feedback is going to become the norm. I hope and pray these annual performance reviews get killed and are at least set up monthly or quarterly. We want leaders to give feedback, both positive and negative, when it happens, right? […] The younger people coming into our organizations want positive and negative feedback when it happens, not once a year.”
Managing in the Modern Workplace
“There’s just no substitute for being empathetic. […] Forty years ago, my boss owned me, right? I was a servant to him or her, and I did what I was told. Now it’s like, “What’s happening with you in your life? How are things?’ Because how I show up is a reflection of what’s happening in my life and whether or not I’m having trouble or challenges, or personal things. So I think more people now understand that than ever before, and that’s so critical.”
LEARN MORE
Pick up a copy of Jim Wetrich’s book, Stifled: Where Good Leaders Go Wrong, or connect with Jim on LinkedIn or jimwetrich.com.