Six Secrets About Employee Happiness That May Surprise You

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Why Employee Happiness May Not Really Be Your Goal

Are you focusing on the wrong thing with employee engagement? It seems that in many cases we are. Do a Google search on employee engagement and see how many other words pop up with it. When I do one of the words that comes up most frequently is happiness. The suggestion is that employee happiness and employee engagement are one and the same.

In fact, overall too much time is spent on employee engagement thinking about employee happiness. On the surface there seems to be good reasons for it.

For example, studies have shown again and again that happy employees are more productive. According to a Warwick Study , happy employees are typically 12 percent more productive than unhappy employees. Many other studies make similar claims that happiness is securely bound to productivity.

happy employees at work. A Wharton Study suggests that employee satisfaction results in two to three percent higher returns for shareholders. Another study suggests five times better stock performance over organizations with lower employee satisfaction. This was primarily based on a study of the 100 Best Places to Work compared to organizations that didn’t make the list.

Still more research indicates that organizations experience 30 percent higher customer referrals when employees are happy.

And of course, there is the matter of employee retention. Tons of articles all touting significant increases in retention when job satisfaction is high.

Here is Where It All Goes Wrong

The issue I have with all of these studies (and many others) is that they try to create correlations that aren’t there. Mostly they try to use other words or concepts to mean the same as engagement.

The Warwick study is the exception. There is absolutely no doubt that happy employees are more productive than unhappy employees. Beyond just that one study, the evidence is overwhelming and indisputable. Higher productivity is affected by employee happiness. What you can do about it is another matter, but we’ll get to that in a minute or two.

Employee satisfaction is not the same as happiness. A person can be satisfied with their work conditions and job responsibilities and yet not be happy. Tying happiness to employee satisfaction greatly limits the scope of happiness.

Many other studies, such as the one reporting 30 percent higher customer referrals, mix engagement and happiness. As evidence of that, what the researchers did was administer an employee engagement survey to their subjects. I have written before about what a waste of timemost employee engagement surveys are. Aside from that, when the researchers wrote their conclusions they didn’t talk about engagement. They talked about happiness. Again, making the assumption that engagement and happiness are the same. They’re not. Not even close.

The result of all this is a muddying of the waters. Instead of focusing on things that really make a difference with our team or organization, we focus on making people happy. We fail dismally as a leader when we try to make everyone happy. It just can’t be done. So stop trying.

Six Secrets About Happiness

Happiness is not engagement

It actually is possible for an employee to be engaged at work and not really be happy. There is no research I could find that legitimately ties happiness to engagement.

Let’s understand exactly what employee engagement is to understand why happiness is not the same thing. Engagement is when an employee at work is functioning with the best interests of the organization in mind. Their attitudes and actions reflect the values and goals of their team or organization.

Woman working happily in garden. Happiness is affected outside the workplace as well as in. Just the specific scope of being happy at work concerns much more than just whether or not a person is engaged. Do they affect each other? Without a doubt. Happy employees are more likely to be engaged. Being engaged makes it easier to be happy. Yet happiness expands beyond the scope of just engagement. Or the workplace for that matter.

Happiness is Not Job Satisfaction

Again, a person can have job satisfaction and not be happy. Job Satisfaction has to do with whether you like what you do. It is affected by the particular tasks and responsibilities you have. Whether or not you are being challenged and utilizing your best skills. Co-workers, environment, managers all factor in there. You can be satisfied with your job and not necessarily be happy.

You Can’t Control Happiness

Even if all of the above was not true it wouldn’t matter. Employee engagement and happiness and job satisfaction are all one and the same. Employee engagement surveys are excellent indicators of employee happiness. So what?

What you can’t get away from is that no matter how much you know about the level of happiness in our employees you simply cannot control it. YOU CANNOT MAKE SOMEONE ELSE HAPPY, despite what all the love poems and sonnets tell you. And that’s not just in the workplace, that’s everywhere. You can no more make someone happy than you can change the past or predict the future.

And the fact that happiness is beyond the workplace is another reason we can’t control it. Whether or not someone is happy is not just determined by work but also by their lives outside of work. Relationships, involvement, circumstances. All things that affect happiness that carries over into the workplace.

Ultimately, we cannot control the happiness of others. And here’s why.

It’s a Personal Decision

Happiness is not determined by outside factors. Happiness is a choice each individual makes.

I have known people who seemed to have everything and yet never quite seemed to be happy. By contrast, I know others who have very little and are always happy it seems. What makes them happy or not is that simply they choose to be happy. It’s cliche but that doesn’t make it any less true.

The Apostle Paul said it best when he said,

“I have learned to be content in whatever circumstance I find myself….I have learned the secret of living in every situation, whether it is with a full stomach or empty, with plenty or little.”

What Paul is saying is that he made a conscious choice to be happy no matter what was happening to him or around him.

Your happiness is entirely up to you. And so is theirs.

It is Not Measureable

Even IF we could control happiness, exactly how would we determine the level of happiness each person feels. Other than asking them I know of no other measurement. Apparently, no one else does either as evidenced by all the research we cited before where happiness is measured by engagement or job satisfaction or productivity. If that is all wrong (and it is) then we have no real measurement of happiness and nor do we want to.

Culture Rules

While we can’t control happiness we can create an environment more conducive to happiness. It’s not so much making them happy as it is removing reasons to be unhappy. It has to do with the culture we create in the workplace.

When you place a high priority on caring and showing employees you care. When a high value is placed on people and that is reflected in the way they are treated. When core values are clear to everyone and reinforced in your own behavior and in the behavior you expect from others.

If you put people in circumstances where their best skills are being used and challenging them to grow. When we value their input and their output. Make it so each person feels like a valuable part of the team, the organization, and it’s goals.

Control what you can control. Create circumstances where employees are able to have higher job satisfaction and become more engaged. Give them reasons to choose to be happy.

Are you ready to be the boss everyone wants to work for? Do you want to re-engage your employees? Reduce conflict? Contact me TODAY for a free Discovery Strategy Session and let me show you how to get started right away!

What an Iron Chef and a Potato Teaches Us About Inclusion and Team Success

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Team Success Depends on Everyone

Chef cooking over a fire. A good chef knows how to use each ingredient for the best dish. team success. WARNING! DON’T READ THIS WHILE YOU ARE HUNGRY! There are going to be a lot of food references here but they all have a point. It leads to what it can teach us about team success.

You ever watch any of the cooking competition shows on television, like Iron Chef America? In that particular show, chef contestants are given the same set of ingredients and asked to make a meal. Not just a dish – a meal. Oftentimes, the ingredients they are given to use will seem totally mismatched with one another. Yet they are required to use each and every ingredient. They can add but they can’t subtract. A judging panel evaluates them on taste and how they incorporate everything.

Sometimes the chefs find it challenging incorporating all the ingredients into the meal. They may barely use one item and overuse another. And when that happens, they are marked down for it in the final result. The winners are usually the ones who effectively utilize each ingredient for optimum taste and contrast.

The Leader As Chef

In much the same way, as leaders we know that our greatest team success comes when we utilize everyone on the team. If we are lucky, we had a say in who exactly is on our team. We were able to hand pick them and choose them for the special talents and skills they can lend to the effort. It’s a beautiful thing when that happens.

On the other hand, more often than not we are like the Iron Chefs. We are given the team members and told to make something out of it. We might be able to add but we can’t subtract. So we have to figure out how each team member can best contribute to team goals. Our success depends on finding the right combination.

And it’s important that your team members understand that as well. The more they understand the importance of inclusion and the value of each team member, the better they can appreciate what each person brings to the table.

Potatoes and People

Here’s a cool exercise you can use with your team or with a group of leaders to help them understand inclusion. I learned this with leader training we use for teaching Boy Scoutsto be effective leaders. Try this sometime as a lead-in to a meeting or as an exercise in a training session.

You are going to buy a bag of potatoes (or gather rocks) and call your team or company together.
Hand each of them a potato (make a very solemn occasion of it. adds to the fun!)
Send everyone off by themselves for a couple of minutes and tell them to get to know their potato. They want to examine their potato and notice all of its unique characteristics. Give it a name if they wish.
When they gather back, you are going to ask each of them to introduce their potato to rest of the group. They can have a lot of fun with this – that’s all part of it. But they need to describe their potato as completely as they can, including its uniqueness.
After everyone has introduced their potato to the group, collect all the potatoes back in a bag and then randomly redistribute them. Then challenge everyone to find their unique potato.

It will be a lot of fun, but they will also learn something about Inclusion.

Using Both Diversity and Inclusion

We hear a lot about Diversity and Inclusion these days but they don’t naturally go together in most organizations.

Leaders learn to use diversity and inclusion for team success.

Diversity is all about recognizing and celebrating the differences in each of us. No two potatoes are exactly alike; they have different shapes, different sizes, different textures and skin colors, and even the placement of the eyes. Yet each one is still a potato and still useful.

Inclusion means I can bring two or more potatoes together and even though each is a different size and shape and color; when I put them together they make a tasty meal. With inclusion in the workplace, we take the differences in each of us; the different skills sets and strengths, different backgrounds and attitudes, and we learn how we combine them together to be most productive for the team or the organization.

Many organizations practice diversity (mostly as a public relations mandate) but don’t practice inclusion. That’s a waste. It’s a waste of human resources, financial resources, and time.

Why spend the money hiring and training someone you aren’t going to make an integral part of the whole? When we practice both diversity AND inclusion, then we have produced a team that is productive, effective, and profitable.

four ways to create your inclusive and productive team

CONNECT WITH YOUR TEAM MEMBERS – As a leader, it’s very important that you connect with each person and get to know them well enough to understand their goals and their dreams. What do they see as their strengths? What do they like to do? What do they don’t like to do? Where do they see themselves fitting into the whole? Listen carefully! A lot of times they may very well be right. For this part, it is more important to listen than to talk.
IDENTIFY STRENGTHS – Start with an assessment. There are lots of great ones out there, free and fee-based. If you’re not sure, give me a call and I’ll help. The important thing is you want to identify those strengths because that’s what we are looking to use. You don’t want to worry about weaknesses except in terms of how we can complement that.
BUILD A STRENGTHS-BASED TEAM – Build your team based on the strengths of each person complementing the weaknesses of other team members. This is where the real Iron Chef leader comes out of you. You may find you need additional strengths you don’t have on your team. You may find you have too much of a particular strength. Still, you have to find a way to utilize all of it for optimum team success.
FOSTER CONTINUOUS GROWTH – You want to build a mindset in your team for continuous growth and improvement of their strengths. Continuous personal growth allows them to take the strengths that they have and making them stronger. As a result, they will be more effective for the organization and happier. Your teams are going to be more cohesive, more productive, and you are going to see the results in your bottom-line.

Trying to get started as your own Iron Chef team builder? Are you frustrated with the challenges to being a leader? Looking to move you and your team up to the next level? Schedule a free Discovery Strategy Sessionwith me TODAY!

How to Become a Decisive Leader

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The Decisive Leader has impact and influence

Have you ever let a pending decision freeze you? You know a choice has to be made. All of the options have pros and cons associated with them. You feel like EVERYTHING is hinging on this one decision you need to make. What do you do? The decisive leader knows how to make critical decisions and acts in the best interest of the team.

It seems one of the most difficult and terrifying things we do as an individual or a leader is making decisions. In the background is this agonizing thought that somehow the decision we make is going to send us irrevocably in the wrong direction and it will lead to disaster.

Over time, we find that it’s just not true. There will almost always be a way to recover.

Frozen by Fear

Why do we get that way? What is it about making a decision that can seize us up? To understand that more, let’s first understand three of the decision maker types that lead to mistakes.

Snap Decision-makers who take immediate action because they think they need to act quickly. They fail to explore options or gather information before making a decision. They go on initial gut instinct. Sometimes that works and sometimes it doesn’t. When it doesn’t work, it can be disastrous.
Deliberative Decision-makers want to make sure they weigh all the options and have ALL the information before making a decision. The problem is you will NEVER have all the information and often if you deliberate too long you can miss valuable opportunities. In fact, sometimes collecting too much data complicates decision making. We get “paralysis by analysis”.
Never Decision-makers are ones who don’t ever make a decision. They feel the weight and importance of every decision. As mentioned earlier, they feel that everything is crucial and they fear the wrong decision. So they (often intentionally) don’t make the decision. Of course, not making a decision IS a decision and one that almost ALWAYS leads to disaster.

“Inability to make decisions is one of the principal reasons executives fail. Deficiency in decision-making ranks much higher than lack of specific knowledge or technical know-how as an indicator of leadership failure.” -John Maxwell

The Decisive Leader

Cartoon of keynote speaker in 'be decisive' seminar, although speaker himself is indecisive. Being a decisive leader doesn’t always mean that you are the only one who can decide. Don’t fall into that trap! It’s what ties even the most decisive person up in knots and can lead to poor decision making.

It does mean, however, that you know when decisions need to be made and you influence having them made at the right time.

The good news is that there ARE ways to make better decisions and make them faster and easier. It will never be easy, but it can be easier. And it starts with applying three keys.

Know your core values

Core values are the principles that determine who you are and what you are about above all else. Core values are the soul of the individual or organization. Your core values are unshakable – no matter what you will always reflect these values in everything you do.

They also help establish the non-negotiables. These are the things you will not give up or change no matter what changes around you.

For a decisive leader, core values tell them which options to take off the table and which remain viable. If it violates a core value, it simply isn’t under consideration.

“It’s not hard to make decisions when you know what your values are.” –Roy Disney

Here’s a key tip on core values. If they aren’t written down somewhere, you don’t really know your core values. You want to have them written down where you can refer to them again and again. Another advantage of core values is discussed here.

focus on your purpose or intent

You have likely heard of the book by Simon Sinek titled Start With Why. In the book, Sinek talks about how purpose – our why – drives what we do. When we look at our options and think about only about WHAT to do, it becomes strictly a balance sheet of pros and cons. Decision making can become harder, especially when the choice on the balance sheet just doesn’t FEEL right.

The decisive leader knows that the best option is the one that matches up with our purpose or with the outcome we intended. it may not come out on the balance sheet, but it is more in line with who we are and what we are about.

As you look at the options of a decision, examine each as to how they match up to BOTH your core values and your intent or purpose. If they don’t match up to both, it is probably not the best option for you.

A while back I was approached with the opportunity to do a series of training programs. The opportunity would take time to develop and deliver yet would also be a good income generator. The challenge was that it was a subject matter I am not really expert on and it wasn’t really consistent with my focus area. On the other hand, as an entrepreneur, I don’t like to turn down money making opportunities when they come along.

I said no. While the opportunity would not compromise any of my core values, it was not consistent with my purpose. Despite the chance to generate income, it was not consistent with my purpose.

seek wise counsel

Use wise counsel, such as an inner circle, to become a more decisive leader Before we talk about counsel keep in mind that every decision does not necessarily need to be made by you alone. The decisive leader knows when a collaborative or delegated decision is better than a command decision.

When the decision is yours alone that does not mean that other perspectives and feedback have to be excluded. In fact, the decisive leader takes advantage of the resources available to them to make better decisions.

This is one of the advantages of having an Inner Circle. That’s a group of people you can rely on (and often they rely on you) for being a sounding board. They should have values similar to yours. You are confident in trusting opinions. They will not be “yes men” but will hold you accountable. Share your challenges and thoughts with them. Allow them to ask you questions. They will then give you perspective and help you consider options. THE DECISION IS STILL YOURS TO MAKE! Yet wise counsel can help guide you in making better and more confident decisions.

Coaches make a very useful part of your inner circle. My motivation and purpose is to help you be successful. Schedule a free Discovery Strategy Sessiontoday and see how I can help you. or contact me atpsimkins(at)BoldlyLead.com .

Think You Are a Great Communicator? Take The Quiz to Find Out!

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Discover the Traits of being a great communicator

one person speaking in the ear of another and she looks confused. Not a great communicator.

Are we really good a communicating? Ask anyone individually and the answer always seems to be a resounding ‘YES!’ Probably as you read the headline of this post you told yourself “Yeah, I’m pretty good!” That’s because every single one of us, even if we are not a professional speaker, would like to be known as a great communicator. It means we have impact and influence.

Not Really All That Great

Unfortunately, we are fooling ourselves. Think about this. If we are so good at communicating then why is it that a Gartner study shows that 70% of workplace mistakes are communication driven? And according to author David Grossman, businesses incur about $26, 041 per employee due to poor communications.

If we are all great communicators, why such a huge communication breakdown?

Most certainly it is clear that communication is not really taking place.

The single biggest problem in communication is the illusion that it has taken place.
George Bernard Shaw

Learn to be a Great Communicator

In spite of that, the good news about communication is that it is primarily a learnable skill. You can learn to be a great communicator when you know what and how and where. What makes for excellent communication. How do you work on the skills. And where do you start.

To help with that, take this little quiz below. Being a great communicator involves not just how we say things but also how we listen. In fact, being a great communicator is more about listening than talking.

So this quiz includes factors for each. For each statement, identify how well you do it. This quiz is meaningless if you are not totally honest with yourself so be tough. Give yourself 1 point for rarely, 2 points for sometimes, 3 points for usually, and 4 points for always. Explanations of each concept follows the statement.

Great Communicator Quiz

I allow the speaker to finish without interrupting

Stephen Covey once said, “Most of us don’t listen with the intent to understand, we listen with the intent to reply.” We cannot really fully understand what someone else is trying to say if we don’t let them finish. That requires some patience. With some, you may have to hold on when they pause and wait until they really are done.

Do you find yourself often stopping someone in mid-sentence to either cut them off short and give your response? If so, give yourself a 1 or 2.

I look for the subtext.

When listening it is more than just words, it is the context and meaning behind those words. You need to be able to read between the lines. Not make assumptions, but search for meaning. Also, look at non-verbal clues for the emotion behind the words.

As the speaker, non-verbal cues are also a big indicator. Rigid posture usually indicates defensiveness. Look at eyes and facial expression. Are they facing you or turning sideways. Arms or legs crossed can sometimes mean they are closing off to you. Look for more than one cue to confirm your conclusions, however. Sometimes arms or legs crossed is more for comfort than defense.

Give yourself a 3 or 4 if you are good about looking for clues; a 1 or 2 if you aren’t.

I actively try to retain important facts.

Communication is intended to be bilateral. What that means is that whether you are speaking or listening you are meant to be active. A part of active listening is making sure that you get at least the critical points of the communication. Take notes if possible.

I repeat the details of the communication to the subject in order to get everything right.

It’s not enough to just confirm hearing. We must confirm understanding as well. Achieving understanding is the responsibility of both the speaker and listener. As speaker, confirming understanding allows us to say it again a little differently. As the listener repeating the details back to the speaker means they can confirm that you understand the right message.

I avoid getting agitated or hostile when I disagree with the speaker.

Have you noticed this one doesn’t seem to get a lot of practice out there today? When we don’t agree with the statements of others strongly it is somewhat natural to have an emotional reaction. Unfortunately, when emotions take over we can no longer depend on our hearing for accuracy. We will either hear what we want to hear or what we think they are going to say. As difficult as it is, we need to keep emotions in check if we really want to reach understanding.

I tune out distractions when listening and I avoid being a distraction myself.

The majority of people believe they can multi-task. They are all wrong. We cover that in detail here. You can’t tap away on your smartphone and give someone your full attention at the same time. You can’t hold multiple conversations concurrently and be effective. EVERYONE deserves your full attention.

I make an effort to be interested in what the other person is saying.

If you are sharing a message with someone, you can tell when they aren’t even vaguely interested in what you have to say. Their attitude and their body language give it away and inevitably their words will too. You may do the same when someone is speaking to you. When we aren’t interested it doesn’t get our attention. Start by trying to be interested to give the communication a chance. Graciously end the conversation when it is no longer interesting.

I avoid the use of jargon or industry slang or acronyms.

Blah Blah Blah message. Thats what it sounds like when you use jargon. Within almost any group there will be shortcuts in communication. The slang and acronyms are typically known only to those in that circle. Do you know what RCA is? Your interpretation of that acronym would depend on your circle. It could be the company Radio Corporation of America. Or it could be Reformed Church in America. In some industries it stands for Root Cause Analysis. When communicating with others, we can’t assume they speak or understand our industry language. We must speak in terms they understand.

I attempt to connect with my audience.

Connection is critical to communication. When people know you care about them they are likely to be open to what you have to say. Do you try to show your audience that you care about them and not just getting your message across? Do you try to find common ground with them?

I adjust my message to my audience.

The same message cannot be conveyed the same way to the CEO as you would to the worker on the factory floor. It’s not a matter of perceived intelligence or even one of rank. It’s a matter of context and what they can relate to. Do you change what you say and how you say it to relate better?

I invite questions.

In general, I’ve discovered that most people who don’t welcome questions are either unsure of their message or not interested in whether you really understand it. Questions create the two-way exchange that leads to real understanding.

Add it up

Now add your score up. Here’s the breakout.

Did you score in the 9 to 17 range? You have a LOT of work to do to become an effective communicator. Think about some formal training and professional feedback.

If you scored 18 to 26 then you do employ some effective communication skills. You may want to identify areas where you can improve and intentionally develop those. Again, some formal training and coaching may help.

A score of 27 to 35 means you are pretty good to great communicator. You likely work at communicating effectively. What can you do to raise that score? A coach can help take you up to the next level.

If you got 36 you got a perfect score and you are truly a great communicator! Someone should take your DNA and clone you. That or you should be more honest with yourself.

Let me know how you scored or how you felt about the quiz. Contact me at psimkins(at)BoldlyLead.com. If you are looking to improve or help your organization, schedule a free Discovery Strategy Session with me TODAY.

Why Nurturing Employees is a Critical Factor in Engagement

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nurturing employees Involves more than a paycheck

Is your organization living from paycheck to paycheck? I’m not asking how your financial ledgers are; I’m asking how your employee ledgers are. When the primary relationship with our employees is transactional we are shorting the ledger. Demand 40 (or often more) hours of work a week in exchange for a piece of paper with numbers on it or a direct deposit to the bank account. If we are not nurturing employees we are living paycheck to paycheck as surely as most of our employees are.

The Animal Nature of Nurture

trainer and killer whale. the relationship is similar to how we can be nurturing employees One of the benefits of living in Central Florida is all the attractions around here. One of the attractions, of course, is Sea World.

Sherry and I love to watch the animal trainers work with the animals at Sea World. It’s really interesting how they can do so well with it. There seems to be a very special relationship with the animal and many an animal trainer will tell you exactly that.

I discovered how they are able to work with them so effectively. I had the benefit of attending a special session with the some of the animal trainers at Sea World, including one of the whale trainers. They shared how they are able to create a level of predictability in performance when animal behavior can be so unpredictable.

When an animal trainer is going to work extensively with an animal, it is critical during a developmental time that the trainer spend one-on-one time with the animal.

They will feed the animal
They make physical contact
They talk to the animal and encourage it.

This nurturing, one-on-one time allows the animal and the trainer to build reciprocal trust. The reciprocal trust and the nurturing that allow the trainer and animal to be able to work together effectively and safely.

Nurturing Employees as a Leader

If you want an engaged and productive workforce, you must include nurturing employees as a part of the relationship. It transforms the relationship from merely transactional to one of collaborative. It provides meaning and purpose to their job and not just a check. Without taking an employee beyond that transactional level, you will NEVER help them reach their fuller potential, when means they will never be as productive as they could be for you.

The Human Nature of Nurture

As humans we like to think we are different from the animals. We are more advanced, more sophisticated, more intellectual. And in many ways we are. However, in matters of emotions and needs, there are ways where we aren’t any different from the animals. We need nurturing ourselves. Our desire for relationship supersedes all else and creates desires for more.

Our need to trust others and be trusted.
We are desperate for people to recognize that we are significant
For others to recognize that we have an impact.
We crave for them to encourage us
Our deep need for them to guide us.

As I have often said before, it’s all personal and it’s all emotional. If you keep it transactional your organization is living paycheck to paycheck. You can survive that way but it’s hard to really thrive.

Giving Nurture

The flip side is that we all have the ability to nurture other people, it doesn’t come out naturally. It has to be intentional and it has to be developed over time.

Why would I want to bother to do that in a business environment or as a leader?

When you are able to nurture people, you are able to connect with people. When you can connect with people, you can build influence with them. When you can build your influence, then you can help them get the most out of themselves. That’s what great leaders do. It’s the very nature of leadership: to get the most out of others.

“People don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care.” -John Maxwell

Here’s some things you can do to build those nurturing relationships:

COMMIT TO PEOPLE – you have to be committed to their development. It doesn’t mean you are an enabler, it doesn’t mean that you take over their lives; it simply means that you provide the circumstances and that you are committed to helping them help themselves if they are willing to take the steps to go in the right direction.
BELIEVE IN PEOPLE – If you don’t believe that they can become better or that they can achieve greater things, then you are not going to be able to get anything out of them because that belief will show through. Whether you believe they are worthless or believe they are worthwhile, it will show through in everything you do.
GIVE WITH NO CONDITIONS – Pour yourself into them and do it without setting any conditions. A lot of people thing that giving is a reciprocal thing; I do something for you and you do something for me. No conditions here. Go in and pour yourself into them simply because you want to see them get the best out of themselves. You will benefit in the long-run but you can’t go into it with the expectation of a tradeoff because there isn’t necessarily going to be one.