Great Resignation: Empathy as a key to employee retention

Amanda Hammett: All right. Hey everybody. Welcome back to Win(e)d Down Wednesdays. My name is Amanda Hammett and I am so excited that you are here. I am here with my best co-host ever Jeffery Tobias Halter. How are you today?

Jeffery Tobias Halter: Hey, Amanda, I'm doing great and such a, such a great time to be talking about the Great Resignation and what we're doing, but you know, it is Win(e)d Down Wednesdays. and so we have to acknowledge, ah, what are we winding down with? So, I have my orange shirt on for those, for the listeners on the podcast obviously don't know that, but it's because, uh, my literally favorite beer in the world is Sam Adams Octoberfest. And so this is my wined down beverage of choice. It just tastes like fall. How about you?

Amanda Hammett: Tastes like fall. All right. Well, today I am drinking Banshee again, this is from the Russian River Valley and a zinfandel today. Very nice. Very nice. Yes, yes. Yes. All right. So for those of you who hopefully listened to the last episode, you got to hear Jeffery and I riffing a little bit about the Great Resignation. We talked about millennials, We talked about Gen Z, what to companies need to be doing in a general sense. But I think that there are some even more deeper conversations that need to be had specifically Jeffery, can you talk a little bit about what do individual leaders need to be doing to combat the great resignation?

Jeffery Tobias Halter: Yeah. You know, so much of it is Um, and we talked a little bit about this previously, but it's just getting so genuine with your people. And asking, how are you doing, how are you really doing? How can I support you better? And what can the company do? But I want to, uh, give our listeners a, a tool that you can use that I use in a lot of my training. And it's called the evolve tool. Obviously we want you to evolve as leaders, but it really has a place around this notion of empathy. And so, uh, the "E" stands for explore personal bias. So it's, what is my bias? When an employee asks me, I need to work from home, I need to do something different. My initial reaction is going to be no, we can't do it. So we're going to ask you to pause. You're going to go through the evolve model in a nanosecond, but hopefully this model gives you a chance to just slow down. So first explore your personal bias and what could get in the way. And then the, the "V" the first V is genuinely valued the idea or the person. So what can I say when I respond to demonstrate that I genuinely value that employee or that idea. The "O" is remain open minded. You know, it's a brave new world. It's 2021 going to be 2022, and we need to be open to all ideas. Right? The "L" is listen, and this is listen with your inner voice. And what do I mean by that? Well, for all the listeners out there, it's the little voice that just said what little voice, right? It's your conscience in your head. And so listen to that and, and think about how you could start to make that work. So you've explored biases. You you're valuing the person, the idea you're remaining, open-minded, you're listening. Then we get into how are you going to respond? Validate first, really, really critical. Don't don't dismiss this idea. Be prepared to say, Amanda, is this what you're asking? And, oh, by the way, don't be surprised if you're 180 degrees off base because she may be asking for flexibility. And you think she's asking for something special. So prepare to validate, and then they'll ask if he is engaged and, and that's a double "E" because we say engaged, but also empathize. So I hear what you're saying. Uh, is this true? The validation part, uh, and then how can we explore this? How can we talk about this jointly? And so this takes place in a nanosecond, but if you think about empathy, if you think about evolve as a pneumonic in your mind, it'll just slow you down a little bit to answer that question around, how can I meet you right where you are?

Amanda Hammett: You know, I, I love this. I love this framework. I think that this is something that would be useful for leaders at all levels, uh, you know, early in career through, you know, people that are managing high level performers. What would you expect someone who uses this for the first time? What would you think that their response, you know, for the receiver of this to, to be, would they potentially be a little shocked or taken aback or what?

Jeffery Tobias Halter: You know, at the core of empathy is genuineness. And so that's what you're trying to establish. And I won't, you know, and I, I do my work primarily around gender men and women working together. And I won't say that men are less empathetic than women, but you know, the tendency is there and I think it will surprise some people the first time you use this. You know, if you're in a command and control atmosphere where, you know, you're not used to opening up, you're not listening, um, be prepared for when Amanda asks for an exception to the rule because your personal bias is immediately going to go. We can't do that for you cause we'd have to do it for everybody. But you touched this in your, in our first section around, uh, the Great Resignation. Nine times out of 10, it's not more money. It's flexibility and its flexibility during the day. It might not even be, Hey, you want me at work this day or that day it might be. You know, for women specifically, my world just falls apart from four until six. I've got to, I've got to pick up, I've got to do all the family stuff. I've been on zoom calls for six or eight hours. I'm wiped out. I'm burned out. So, you know what, ask what they want, what you're hearing flexibility work from home when in fact it might be, no, I need two hours and, and, and. You know, and, and then my response to two leaders who don't get this is what's the alternative because I will acknowledge being a leader today. Being a manager today is so tough. You got so many things on your plate, but then ask yourself a question. What happens if I lose Amanda? Is that going to make my day and my job easier or harder? And that to me is the final test. And that's how we can find out if this works.

Amanda Hammett: Absolutely. That reminds me of a task that I frequently give my leaders. If someone were to walk into your office one day and say, I quit, would it make you happy? Or would it make you sad? And that is how I think you need to think about this because this is a very real reality for all of us, right now. Absolutely. All right. Well, wonderful. Well, this concludes today's riff session on empathy to combat the great resignation. Thanks again for joining us. And we will see you next time.