Breaking the Cycle: Empowering Employees to Be More Than Just Cogs in the Machine

Dr. Jim: [: 00:00:00

What's often forgotten when people say this is that the rules of the game have changed. Companies no longer invest in their people the way that they used to. Every employee is pretty much in survival mode, and yet a lot of leaders gloss over and ignore that reality and wonder why employees are more unmotivated than ever. Expectations need to be realigned and reset in order to get the best out of the talent that you have and attract the best talent available. That's the argument that Alexa Beavers makes. So what's Alexa's story? In broad terms, she's a founder, a consultant, a coach, and speaker. She's focused on bringing out the best in others and making a positive impact, especially in times of change.

n leader. With experience in [: 00:01:00

And Oh, by the way, she's also the founder and CEO of Excel, a group. Alexa, welcome to the show.

Alexa Beavers: Thanks for having me, Jim. It's been a pleasure.

Dr. Jim: We're going to cover a lot of ground and especially given the distinct generational makeup of the workforce, I think this conversation that we're going to have. Is going to be really useful for leaders of all types. A good place for us to start is for you to fill in some of the gaps that I didn't include in your bio.

nt for the listeners to know [: 00:02:00

Alexa Beavers: Even still hearing my bio read by somebody else makes me have a little bit of hotness under the collar. I have done all of those things and, it all really started from a pretty humble beginning. And what you didn't mention is that I actually started off as a teacher and, a lot of folks, including my partner in this business says, hey, you've had career ADHD.

How does it all connect? But it all really starts as my roots as a teacher. Where I was working with kids specifically to help them bring their best into the world. I really started off as a bleeding heart idealist, and I thought that would be the way for me to make an impact in this world.

nd of parted ways. My career [: 00:03:00

And especially in times that we're facing today in today's workforce. Jim, I take issue with the thing that you said earlier where people are saying, nobody wants to work today, and we can talk a little bit more about that, but that's not my experience. I think there's some tricks of the trade that you can bring to the table to really bring out the best in your talent.

Dr. Jim: There's a lot in what you said that I think it's worth digging into and I think there's a couple points that I want to thread together. One is your experience as a teacher and your philosophy as a teacher where you're incorporating the whole person into.

You're teaching philosophy and methodology. I think that's that's something to pull on. But I'd like you to tie that together with your quote unquote, career ADHD. How do both of those things inform your leadership philosophy and the advice that you give to other leaders that are out there.

hich is where I started out, [: 00:04:00

Dr. Jim: That's interesting from a philosophical perspective. What I'd like you to do is tie that together with how that actually shows up in how [00:05:00] a leader should behave when it comes to getting their people motivated and moving forward with an action and outcomes focus.

Alexa Beavers: When I was a young teacher in an inner city school, one of the things that I did as a teacher is I really was looking to see what my students truly needed and more often than not, it was the very basics, the things at the very bottom of Maslow's hierarchy of needs.

their physiological needs. Sometimes they needed breakfast, so we would do a cooking lesson in class. That hit math that hit science, but it really hit that basic need of being fed, in Maslow's hierarchy. If you don't hit those basic things physiological onto kind of your need for safety and in the workplace that translates to psychological safety on up to belonging, you're not going to get anything out of your folks because they're so focused on that basic survival mode.

. We worked to address those [: 00:06:00

Needing to get some things done, never having your basic needs met, maybe your salary isn't high enough, maybe you're not heard, maybe you're not seen, maybe you don't feel like you can speak up. Being able to speak up correlates directly to your need for safety. Your need for belonging and being seen.

So as long as you aren't getting those basic needs met, you're not giving any discretionary effort. You're just doing the bare minimum to earn that paycheck and get by. So leaders, what you need to do is look at your people, listen to them, check out what is it that they really need. Beyond the basic stuff at a computer beyond that.

at, you'll start to tap into [: 00:07:00

Dr. Jim: When we're talking about some of the foundational requirements for peak performance, this is what we're actually getting at. We talk in terms of Maslow's hierarchy of needs and how that relates to a business perspective.

I think this ties into something that I mentioned early on in the conversation, which was a perception out there that that a lot of people don't want to work anymore. And I think that's rooted in some misguided thinking on the part of leadership. It's not that people don't want to work anymore.

It's that it's an unwillingness. At least my argument is that it's an unwillingness for certain leaders to actually admit that there's some problems or some disconnect between how work is structured, how organizations are structured and. The gap between that structure and what's required for employees to now be effective and have their needs met.

ent of the population that I [: 00:08:00

A lot of leadership philosophy out there that is unwilling to admit that they're not meeting the basic foundational needs of their employees to perform well, which leads to all of these other collect a paycheck type behaviors.

Alexa Beavers: Yeah, it's so easy to point the finger at somebody else. Isn't it? It's so it relieves us of a lot of responsibility for going to be like, oh, it's their problem. They just don't want to do it. So the point that you brought up about it's. It takes a minute and some courage and some humility to look in the mirror as a leader and think, Oh what is my part in this equation?

of that system. And when it [: 00:09:00

That's when you start to break the patterns of a structure that really isn't working for us anymore. And probably leads to that belief, that initial story or narrative that people just don't want to do work like they used to anymore. You mentioned at the very beginning, a lot has changed. If you think back when I first started in the workplace, there were things like pensions, even there were things like a very long kind of tenure with a single organization and reward for time served and that has changed.

t are seeing the surrounding [: 00:10:00

So when you're working with a lot of people that see themselves as CEO of themselves, how do you bring out the best in those human beings and have them function in a team in service of your organizational mission? It takes a different approach than it did maybe 20, 30 years ago.

Dr. Jim: You said a lot there that I think we can deconstruct and I love the comment that you had that you're the CEO of your own career and I think that's a mentality that a lot more people need to have and I tend to be a little bit more of a mercenary in terms of philosophy and my sort of words of advice to everybody is that, everyone is a free agent act accordingly.

wherever you graduated from, [: 00:11:00

In fact, you've seen it over and over again, that the world of work today is. One where you have CEOs who are making multi million dollar bonuses based on maximizing shareholder value, whatever that means. And I think we have a good idea of what that means. And it usually means that people are going to get laid off by the thousands right before the holidays to make the balance sheet look good.

So you're in that world and employees are operating in that world with a fairly high level of anxiety. And when you look at that dynamic, it creates a really difficult situation for your line level leaders who are being pressured by executive leadership to deliver the results. And they're dealing with a workforce that is really hesitant to go all in and with a company that kind of views them as disposable.

So it's a really [: 00:12:00

Alexa Beavers: One, I love that you said leaders need to be intentional about, because that's not one, my word intentional 2024. So thanks for that. But also, leaders need to be intentional. In new ways, which mean they need to have discretion in their actions for how they show up with folks. And you mentioned a little bit about how, CEOs are incentivized based on shareholder value, which leaves many employees at the mercy of these numbers and that can feel very disempowering.

n make you feel like you are [: 00:13:00

Thinking about how to bring agency within your structure and helping people have choice over the decisions that they're able to make, the calls that they're able to make, various. Ways to bring autonomy to the workforce allows them to have some sense of control. And even when you can't control all of it, we still have a structure that is probably going to continue under capitalism, which is a system that works to incentivize these types of fluctuations every year.

choose to give discretionary [: 00:14:00

And so I think it's very important to intentionally bring agency. To your team intentionally point out and be verbal and reward how they're bringing value and also engage them in the discussions that are impacting them along the way.

Dr. Jim: When you talk about agency and you also mentioned a couple of things about verbalizing what is important, it brought me to a conversation that we had earlier in season one of our show where we were talking with Jim Weaver, who is the CEO of Own It. And one of the things that he mentioned that stood out to me is that leaders and organizations.

rating in a way where you're [: 00:15:00

Whenever there's an earnings report or some financials that need to be met, they're going through these sort of callous layoffs and things like that. You can't do that. And what he advocated, and this is one of the things that's, that he attributed to the level of growth that own in group had was that he's transparent, like from the onboarding process, the conversations that are typically had is our goal is to have you be here for roughly three years and develop to this sort of stage. And at that stage, we can revisit what the next three years look like. What are the things that you want to accomplish in the next 18 to 36 months that's going to be important for you to go to that next level in your career.

bout, I think is going to be [: 00:16:00

And I translate that into. Bringing humanity back into work, because I think when you look at the world of work today, it's not a very quote unquote human place. It's the cog in the wheel mentality that exists in a lot of organizations. So when you think about how do we bring humanity back into the workplace, there's an interesting model that we were talking about when we were prepping for the show.

What is the model that you've? Empowered leaders with that actually helps them flow humanity down to the line level and tap into that discretionary effort.

r different realm from their [: 00:17:00

What are the emotional data points? And I do say emotional data points because for a long time, we boxed that heart out of the workplace. And really, it was a piece that left us slightly blinded because your emotions are data. So we do encourage leaders to understand their emotional intelligence, how they use emotional intelligence and also understand the emotions of their team members and engage with them along those lines.

So Head, heart hands. So when it comes to whole human leadership, how do you deploy your leadership mindset? How do you deploy your emotions through your actions? Because you can say a lot of really great stuff. You can have things written in an email. You can have things written on your website, your mission statement, but it's all about that Close connection between the audio and the visual.

the walk match the talk? And [: 00:18:00

So they're part of something bigger than themselves, which is what we think of as organizational health. So the four H leadership model is something that we use to help leaders explore in all those four dimensions and then practice leading in those different ways.

Dr. Jim: So I want to dig a little bit deeper into that model. So we've talked about that from a conceptual level. What are the things that leaders can do to bring that model to life in their interactions with their line level employees?

hat's shaped your leadership [: 00:19:00

Why are you acting the way you do? Is it from a place of fear? Is it from a place of being creative and supportive? So you want to really have a good look at that. Once leaders can know themselves, then we invite them to engage with others and challenge their assumptions. Sometimes things that served you and the older way of doing work or a prior job doesn't serve you anymore.

So we ask leaders to challenge their own assumptions as they go out and engage with folks. And then talk to your people. Talk to them from the 4 H perspective. Ask them about what are they wanting to know. What do you need to know? What do you want to, where do you want to grow? Where do you want to build your knowledge?

ata than what do you want to [: 00:20:00

And you want to ask, think about what you want them to do. And based on those two things, that's the do is the hand. So think about what's motivating that human being. What are the things that's driving them based on your conversations, and then try to connect. Their actions to those motivating factors and then the connect.

So we want to go back to health. Talk to them a little bit about how, what they're doing for you, for the company, what their special strengths are, how do they impact the guy down the line from them? How do they impact the customer that y'all are serving? How do they impact someone in another department, connect their value and their effort to others.

And so that's how we bring it forward from a more practical perspective.

at leaders can use to really [: 00:21:00

So you're actually maximizing the effort that you're getting from them. So what's your advice on that front?

Alexa Beavers: Yeah, as you think about breaking this cycle of employees feeling like a cog in a wheel or a cog in a machine and not having any autonomy, it's going to take change making, and that means leaders have to have some courage to break the patterns that they see unfolding in front of them. So the first thing that I always suggest to leaders is, be ready to step in and break the pattern.

So that means sometimes that you have to go first when you see your team in survival mode in fear mode, the first thing to open up and make it them even have permission to think that there's another way is for you to role model and demonstrate. Maybe that means showing up and saying, Hey, I'm a little afraid to share this with you because it's not how I would normally show up.

ing XYZ today. So maybe it's [: 00:22:00

As I have information. So you need to really go first as the leader because the team will not start to step into that until they see you start to lay the groundwork and say it's a safe place to do that with me. Does that make sense?

Dr. Jim: It's interesting that you mentioned that. And I think one of the things that I'd like you to tie together is this, over the last year or more, one of the things that we've seen is that line level managers, so your first level managers are extremely stretched in terms of what's expected of them.

e. Line level employees that [: 00:23:00

What do senior leaders, so your directors and above, need to do to position their line level managers for success? And then the second part of it is, what do line managers need to be doing to get their employees locked in on the right things so that you're actually maximizing what you're getting out of the team?

What's your insight on that?

Alexa Beavers: Yeah. It's going to take a whole level system change. So if we start at the more senior level and it's really important to attend to each level of the organization, because if you have one part of the organization making a shift and the other one still act. In the old way, somebody's gonna bump their head.

think of them as leaders who [: 00:24:00

Not just bark out orders to supervisors of frontline, but to engage people in a coaching fashion, helping them to think for themselves, which gives them agency and the big distinction that you'd see at the senior leadership level two big distinctions are one sharing more openly information and then asking a lot of questions.

ower and bring agency to the [: 00:25:00

They become coaches. They're coaches of the people who have their boots on the ground, and those frontline leaders will also replicate some of that coaching as well. So they'll be more directive in some circumstances, but they'll also deploy some coaching of the frontline. They'll do a lot more of making clear requests.

A lot more of building the bridge from what the senior leaders are to how it is brought forward in the shop floor and the value. They're a conduit that brings information both ways. So they become a feedback loop as a coach. They're going to be asking questions too. And organizations that make this transition, you see a whole lot more questioning and listening than you do straight up telling.

So those directives. Get a lot less time and press and it's more about a conversation that happens at the senior levels. And then at the shop floor level.

Dr. Jim: So I [: 00:26:00

You just run in and play hero instead of creating the conditions for your people to thrive. So I like how you bridged all of that together. When you think about the conversation that we've had and you think about the most important things that we've talked about in this discussion, what are the big things that you want the listeners to walk away with and be thinking about when they're trying to make this transformation and get the most out of the people on their team?

at myth. The myth is that if [: 00:27:00

That's why you find yourselves needing to lay off. You're going to either pay up front by investing in building that human capability, that 4 H leadership, or you're going to pay later when you have to rehire that staff, when you have to, ramp up all over again, you're on a kind of a fluctuating cycle.

So if one of the people we're talking to are those CEOs, I'm going to encourage you to invest in the human side of leadership, and you'll probably end up. Diminishing that up and down that you're facing. So invest upfront or pay the cost later. Now, if we're talking to middle managers. I want to say, hey, we recognize that you have one of the hardest jobs out there.

take good care of yourself. [: 00:28:00

But first take care of yourself because we acknowledge that you have a really tough job. At the very end of the day. We want to bust the myth that investing in being a human centered leader is diminishing value creation because it's just the opposite. Invest in being a more human leader, and that's where you'll create value today.

Dr. Jim: If people want to continue the conversation, what's the best way for them to connect with you?

Alexa Beavers: Oh, you should connect with us. We love having conversations. No strings attached. We just love to get to know humans and what your business is all about. So reach out to us. At www. theaccelagroup. com. You can also find us on LinkedIn. And we would love to have a conversation with you.

hat stood out to me? I think [: 00:29:00

I think this is a failure of executive and senior leadership to really empower their managers to be effective. And here's what I mean by that. When you look at the biggest reasons why people will join or leave an organization, it's for the manager that they report into. And in fact, when you look at the data that exists out there, out of the top five reasons why somebody is going to leave an organization, usually two out of the top five is related to manager effectiveness.

ill demonstrate to your line [: 00:30:00

One of the key things that a manager is responsible for is to connect the dots between the strategy and the execution to their people. And if you're constantly playing superhero and jumping in and not building that coaching culture, your line level managers are never going to build the capability to connect those dots.

And if they're not connecting those dots, your line level people are never going to understand how the work that they're doing actually. Fits into the bigger picture. So if we're trying to identify problems and understand why things are breaking down, the problem usually sits at the top and attitude is going to reflect leadership.

So you have to be disciplined in taking a step back and making sure that you're asking. The necessary questions of your managers and your leaders so that they're in a position to be successful. For those of you who have listened to this conversation, if you liked what you've heard, make sure you drop us a review.

conversation as well as many [: 00:31:00