Meghan Fair

I mentioned above the significant (positive) impact of having engaged employees but now let's talk about how you actually get there. Some of my favorite ways are to: -Create Trust Among your employees (this means Manager to Manager, Manager to Employee, Employee to Employee, and Employe to Manager). -Create an environment where employees are actually heard and can voice their opinion and suggestions without fear of retribution and judgement -Overcommunicate your businesses 'why' and the steps you're taking to meet those goals I have many exact exercises to help with this, DM me if you'd like to hear more!

The impact of actively engaged employees is crucial to the success of the organization. Recent studies have shown that employees who are actively engaged are ~14% more productive at work. What does that mean? This means you would see an increase in sales, better customer service, lower employee turnover and many other benefits! In turn, having all of these desired traits is going to have a positive impact on your overall reputation and increase the desire for 'top talent' to want to work for you.

In addition to defining the standard scope and objectives, it's also crucial to set expectations from a collaborative perspective. Ensure that the full team has a clear expectation that projects are not a place for ego, but for collaboration. By ensuring there is an environment where individuals can contribute honest feedback, ask for help, brainstorm, and openly discuss challenges you are setting the project up for success. Lastly, by setting these expectations every time, you start to slowly raise the abilities of the people on your team because they lose that fear of judgement and can talk through ideas that they may not have otherwise provided. This, in turn, makes the entire organization grow over time.

Stealing this from the great Walt Disney, when balancing creativity with practicality you must consider the state of mind you are in. For example, if you are purely trying to think outside the box, come up with new ideas or strategies, you need to only focus on answering those specific thoughts. -If I knew I could not fail, what would I do? -Putting all risk & limitations aside, what is a new strategy that we could employ? After you have your creative session, take a break or take the evening off to reset your mind. Next, enter your 'practical' state of mind. This is where you evaluate your creative ideas from the perspective of: -How would I make this work? -What are the risks here? Your mindset is the most important factor.

Personal development is something that nearly every successful business person, owner, & athlete will tout as a key to their success. Having a routine that puts yourself first each morning sets the tone for the rest of your day. I personally encourage my clients and team to have a personal development routine that follows tried and true practices such as meditation, visualization, affirmations, writing, reading, and exercise. You don't have to commit 30+ minutes to each of these but even committing 5 minutes to these areas will have a drastic impact on your life. I truly believe you cannot be a great leader if you are not taking care of yourself first. Prioritizing your personal development and having a healthy mindset are key.

Empowering your team is one of the most effective ways of leading a team that will exceed their objectives every time. In my experience, actually stating "You should feel empowered to...." goes a long way. Encouraging your team to voice their opinion, disagree, volunteer for multiple projects that interest them, try something completely different, etc. All of these show that you, as a leader, trust your team and genuinely want them to feel empowered to be their authentic selves; which is incredibly motivating.