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Author: Julie Ann Sullivan

Julie Ann Sullivan is your catalyst of culture.  She works with companies to catapult their success, from the inside, out.  The result is accelerated business growth.

Julie Ann Sullivan’s diverse background gives her a unique business perspective.  She earned a BA in Psychology and an MBA in Accounting, earning the designation of CPA and spent decades involved in accounting and business functionality.  In addition, Julie Ann is an expert level Certified Laughter Leader and trainer.

 

Julie Ann is also an international best-selling author.  In the 2018 release of her book, Blueprint for Employee Engagement, 37 Essential Elements to Influence, Innovate and Inspire, she created a roadmap for the complex journey to create a best place to work.  Her newest book, Catalysts of Culture – How Visionary Leaders Activate the Employee Experience, is based on her extensive research, experience and interviews with C-Suite leaders on her podcast, Businesses that Care.

Julie Ann is also host to the worldwide streaming of podcasts, Mere Mortals Unite and Businesses That Care (BTC).  On BTC, Julie Ann interviews C-Suite Leaders and experts on who have created and sustained award-winning places to work.

Julie Ann has taught at Robert Morris, Duquesne and Washington & Jefferson Universities.  As a Professional Speaker, she has worked with companies such as, McDonald's USA, Howard Hanna Financial, Highmark and Bayer, US. She is known for her expertise, innovation, humor and engaging her clients.  Culture consulting and leadership coaching allow Julie Ann the ability to deep dive into an organization’s daily environment.

Julie Ann lives in Pittsburgh, PA with her Wonder Dog, Joy.|Julie Ann Sullivan is your catalyst of culture.  She works with companies to catapult their success, from the inside, out.  The result is accelerated business growth.

Julie Ann Sullivan’s diverse background gives her a unique business perspective.  She earned a BA in Psychology and an MBA in Accounting, earning the designation of CPA and spent decades involved in accounting and business functionality.  In addition, Julie Ann is an expert level Certified Laughter Leader and trainer.

 

Julie Ann is also an international best-selling author.  In the 2018 release of her book, Blueprint for Employee Engagement, 37 Essential Elements to Influence, Innovate and Inspire, she created a roadmap for the complex journey to create a best place to work.  Her newest book, Catalysts of Culture – How Visionary Leaders Activate the Employee Experience, is based on her extensive research, experience and interviews with C-Suite leaders on her podcast, Businesses that Care.

Julie Ann is also host to the worldwide streaming of podcasts, Mere Mortals Unite and Businesses That Care (BTC).  On BTC, Julie Ann interviews C-Suite Leaders and experts on who have created and sustained award-winning places to work.

Julie Ann has taught at Robert Morris, Duquesne and Washington & Jefferson Universities.  As a Professional Speaker, she has worked with companies such as, McDonald's USA, Howard Hanna Financial, Highmark and Bayer, US. She is known for her expertise, innovation, humor and engaging her clients.  Culture consulting and leadership coaching allow Julie Ann the ability to deep dive into an organization’s daily environment.

Julie Ann lives in Pittsburgh, PA with her Wonder Dog, Joy.|Julie Ann Sullivan is your catalyst of culture.  She works with companies to catapult their success, from the inside, out.  The result is accelerated business growth.

Julie Ann Sullivan’s diverse background gives her a unique business perspective.  She earned a BA in Psychology and an MBA in Accounting, earning the designation of CPA and spent decades involved in accounting and business functionality.  In addition, Julie Ann is an expert level Certified Laughter Leader and trainer.

 

Julie Ann is also an international best-selling author.  In the 2018 release of her book, Blueprint for Employee Engagement, 37 Essential Elements to Influence, Innovate and Inspire, she created a roadmap for the complex journey to create a best place to work.  Her newest book, Catalysts of Culture – How Visionary Leaders Activate the Employee Experience, is based on her extensive research, experience and interviews with C-Suite leaders on her podcast, Businesses that Care.

Julie Ann is also host to the worldwide streaming of podcasts, Mere Mortals Unite and Businesses That Care (BTC).  On BTC, Julie Ann interviews C-Suite Leaders and experts on who have created and sustained award-winning places to work.

Julie Ann has taught at Robert Morris, Duquesne and Washington & Jefferson Universities.  As a Professional Speaker, she has worked with companies such as, McDonald's USA, Howard Hanna Financial, Highmark and Bayer, US. She is known for her expertise, innovation, humor and engaging her clients.  Culture consulting and leadership coaching allow Julie Ann the ability to deep dive into an organization’s daily environment.

Julie Ann lives in Pittsburgh, PA with her Wonder Dog, Joy.

Categories
Growth Human Resources Management Personal Development

It’s Your Attitude – Take Control

Attitude is defined as a mental position about a fact or situation.  The most important aspect of attitude is to know it is a perception you choose.

Viktor Frankl wrote a book titled, A Man’s Search for Meaning.  In this small but powerful manuscript he shares how he survived a concentration camp by understanding his attitude was the one aspect of his life he could control. Attitude is an important piece of your life too.  Many do not even think about. However, not thinking about it creates the inability to control it. When you realize the control you have over your attitude, you create a crucial difference in how you cope with everything that happens. Your destiny can change.

Self-awareness is key in the process of learning.  The next time you have the opportunity to recognize an experience in your day that is different than what you had planned, be aware of how you react. You can only change or celebrate what you notice. If you are annoyed, disappointed or frustrated, take 10 seconds to find an alternative way to respond to the situation. Finally, think about what you have learned.  This ties in with accountability, as the choice is up to each individual.  So why is it important in the workplace?  Imagine your work environment if each individual decided to see an opportunity where they would normally see an annoyance. What would happen if you and your workforce chose to have a different perspective?  Good attitudes raise the bar.  They create less tension and stress, which leads to better health, higher productivity and astute creativity.  Could your company use more of that?

The good news is, better attitudes can be taught to those who want it.  Sadly, some people have not had the experience of what it is like to work or live in a positive environment.  The benefits have to be clearly communicated for them to take advantage of this new perspective and responsibility.  It can be done.

“Everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of human freedoms—to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s own way.”

—Viktor Frankl

Excerpt from Blueprint for Employee Engagement – 37 Essential Elements to Influence, Innovate & Inspire.

Julie Ann Sullivan has the cure for retaining good talent and increasing productivity. Want a free copy of her book? Talk to Julie Ann @724-942-0486.  Julie Ann hosts the Mere Mortals Unite and Businesses that Care podcasts on C-Suite Radio .  For more information go to http://julieannsullivan.com/

Categories
Growth Management Personal Development Women In Business

The Value of Paying Attention

ATTENTION is defined as the act of applying the mind to something.

Every day it seems more difficult to do.  With work, family, the world and multiple electronic devices feeding us information at the same time, it’s a wonder we get anything done well.  The value of paying attention though shows up in increased productivity, safer working conditions and higher profitability.  The simple act of paying attention creates higher quality work, whether in services or products. Having fewer failures, errors, quality defects, and accidents leads to an increase in the bottom line and the overall morale of a workplace environment. On an interpersonal level, truly paying attention to a colleague creates a bond that transcends every interaction you have together. In a world where we see millions of bits of information every day, paying attention has become a skill that needs to be reintroduced and retooled.

How can you do this?  Simply take the time to pay more attention to what is going on around you. Deliberately make a choice to create space in your day to notice a colleague doing something well. Acknowledge what you observe directly to them and explain exactly what they did. Instead of a nondescript “Good job”, be specific: “You handled the interaction with Mr. Smith well.” Timely and personal attention is appreciated deeply.

How many times a day do you stop to notice what those around you are doing? How often do you express an encouraging word?

“The quality of your life is determined by the focus of your attention.”

—Cheri Huber

Excerpt from Blueprint for Employee Engagement – 37 Essential Elements to Influence, Innovate & Inspire.

Julie Ann Sullivan has the cure for retaining good talent and increasing productivity. Want a free copy of her book, Talk to Julie Ann @724-942-0486.  Julie Ann hosts the Mere Mortals Unite and Businesses that Care podcasts on C-Suite Radio .  For more information go to http://julieannsullivan.com/

Categories
Best Practices Growth Human Resources Management Skills Women In Business

Stop! Don’t Choose Employee Engagement as Your New Year’s Resolution

Seems like an odd request, but not when you realize that only 8 % of the population keeps their New Year’s Resolutions.  Enhancing your business culture by improving employee engagement is too important to set up for failure.

For the same reasons that people don’t stay on their diets and quit exercising, businesses lose the momentum to build a culture that makes a significant difference in success.  This is true on so many levels, from recruiting the best talent to customer satisfaction.

Here are some reasons companies fail at building a culture of engagement:

  1. Too much pressure

The thought of making January 1st your day to “turn it all around, “gives the illusion that at some point you will be done. In fact, every day can be used as a perfect day to begin and continue a new idea, concept or way of conducting business

Solution:

Make the change manageable.  Take the time to discover where you are right now.  You can only do this if you ask for people outside of your circle of influence what their perspective is.  Then engage those same people to help find the solution to a common goal

  1. It’s hard

Nothing soft spoken here.  Yes, it can be.  Any change takes work.  Depending upon where you start and what your goals are, the challenge and its difficulty correspond to the difference.   However, you have the choice to experience the changes as hard or a series of opportunities.

Solution:

In one word, acceptance.  When you can accept that this new movement towards building a community of people with a common goal will take time, repetition and detours, it is less stressful.  Knowing it is a challenge does not mean it has to be hard.

  1. It’s complicated

Interestingly enough, the process is as complicated as you make it.  The research I did for my book, Blueprint for Employee Engagement, showed me how important it is to break your goals and ideas into small baby steps.  You actually get to achievement faster that way.

You don’t decide to create a new business culture and voila, it appears.  In fact, when attempting a broad change, many people will be skeptical.

Solution:

By far the best way to simplify an action is to have a plan.  When I coach executives the only way to see to the end result is a plan.  Map out the plan like an outline and then break each point into more action steps.  Then take each of those steps and give them at least 3 stages.  It may look like you are complicating the process, but in actuality you are creating those baby steps so you can succeed with a greater feeling of accomplishment

  1. The realization that you have to keep doing it!

My favorite adage is, “Life is a journey and not a destination.”  If you want to make permanent change in your business environment, it is a forever process.  Get ready for setbacks.

Solution:

Once you realize this is a continuous journey a lot of pressure is removed.  It also means that along with the inevitable setbacks comes opportunities to re-evaluate and fine-tune.  This allows you to be on a continuous improvement plan for your entire business.

Don’t make employee engagement and company culture a fad.  Deliberately choose to create a better workplace environment.  Get the best talent, to be the most productive and creative, so they provide your customers and clients with the ultimate in service.  That is a decision you will forever be proud of.

Julie Ann Sullivan has the cure for retaining good talent and reducing absenteeism. Want a free copy of her book, Blueprint for Employee Engagement 37 Essential Elements to Influence, Innovate & Inspire? Talk to Julie Ann @724-942-0486.  Julie Ann hosts the Mere Mortals Unite and Businesses that Care podcasts on C-Suite Radio.  For more information go to http://julieannsullivan.com/

Categories
Best Practices Growth Human Resources Investing Management Personal Development Women In Business

Accountability – I Want to Count on You!

Accountability is defined as an obligation or willingness to accept responsibility for one’s actions. Without it, you would live and work in a world without confidence. It would be almost impossible to plan a day if you had no reasonable confidence that, at the very least, people would show up and complete their tasks. Envision a workplace where no one did what they said they would do. A place where no one felt responsible for themselves or their team. Is that where you want to work?

If you want people around you to be accountable, then you must do what you say, too. You don’t live in a vacuum; you work with a team. Following through on your own obligations creates a better work environment for all the stakeholders.  Take 10% of the time that you worry about others doing their job and concentrate on yourself. Take being judgmental attitudes and take a good look at your own behavior.  How are you contributing to a more successful workplace? If you say you will get it done, do you?  If not, do you take responsibility or find blame?  Replace blame with understanding how you may have created a situation that went awry. Make sure you are setting an example that you want to be followed.

What do you need to do to ensure that your culture breeds accountability and removes the fear of admitting when errors are made?

“It is not only what we do, but also what we do not do for which we are accountable.”

—John Baptiste Moliere

Excerpt from Blueprint for Employee Engagement – 37 Essential Elements to Influence, Innovate & Inspire. (Coming December 2017)

Julie Ann Sullivan’s focus is on employee engagement and creating workplace cultures where people want to come to work.  Julie Ann works with companies to develop people who are engaged, productive and appreciated. She hosts the Mere Mortals Unite and Businesses that Care podcasts on C-Suite Radio .  For more information go to http://julieannsullivan.com/

 

Categories
Best Practices Growth Human Resources Management Personal Development Women In Business

Listening – A New Approach to Quality Communication

Listening – A New Approach to Quality Communication

In our corporate worlds, there just isn’t enough listening going on.  This has been made abundantly clear with the vast amount of sexual harassment accusations we are hearing.  One aspect that is leading this cry for honesty and transparency is that the victims finally feel like they are being heard.   Unfortunately, they needed the masses to feel that way.

Scandal is not necessary for you to learn this essential skill of listening.  Don’t you dare call it a soft skill.  If you want your company to grow from the inside out, for every stakeholder, then clearly comprehend why you have two ears and one mouth.  Specifically, listening can afford you valuable information from recruiting to exit, from design to sale, from start up to IPO.

When you are recruiting, assuming you are looking for a workforce that plays well with others and wants to grow with you, listen.  Ask questions that will open a dialogue to expose what that person would do when circumstances aren’t perfect.  Ask and then listen.  Don’t negate or manipulate what they are saying.   Be still, stop thinking about what you want to say and listen.  Ask what they want to be doing in 1 year, 3 years, 5 years.  Under the right conditions, can you give them the pathway to meet those goals?

When someone leaves, find out why.  You may be surprised.  They may have changed priorities, goals or skills.  Simply, they may not be a good fit for your particular organization anymore.  You might be able to help them find a better suited position and keep what might become a loyal customer in the future, because you listened.

Just as you listen to your public, your customers and clients, for feedback on your newest services and products, do the same for the people that carry out your business goals.  In the C-Suite you don’t know what it is like to be in the trenches every day.  Just because you come up with a great idea it doesn’t mean it will work.  You have to include those that will be utilizing that idea in design, preparation and modifications.

Listening.  It’s the new primary skill that has found its celebrity in time to be taught, nurtured and practiced.  See if you can just listen in your next conversation.

Julie Ann Sullivan’s focus is on employee engagement and creating workplace cultures where people want to come to work.  Julie Ann works with companies to develop people who are engaged, productive and appreciated. She hosts the Mere Mortals Unite and Businesses that Care podcasts on C-Suite Radio . For more information go to http://julieannsullivan.com/

Copyright ©2017 Julie Ann Sullivan – Used with Permission

 

Categories
Growth Management Personal Development

C-Suite Essentials on Employee Engagement

Employee engagement has become a term that’s been so over used, some leaders have become desensitized to its concepts or beneficial outcomes. If you’re a leader who wants to be successful, read on. If you’re enjoying your status quo…you may still want to take a few tips into practice. Don’t be numbed by the overabundance of articles, apps and services that can increase the engagement in your workplace and subsequently your bottom line.

Here are a few ideas about what employee engagement is and what it’s not!

1. Employee engagement is people getting up in the morning and having the desire to come to work

There are many reasons why people start their day not wanting to come to work. You may think you don’t have any influence over someone’s attitude before they walk in the door. That’s not true. Once known as soft skills, communication, collaboration and change management, are truly essential skills. The organizations who take the opportunity to increase these skills will create an environment that exudes success.

2. Studies show that people who feel positive about their work culture can increase their productivity by 20%

Just how much would that save you in dollars? Some studies show that with just 50 employees, you could increase your bottom line by over $ 500K! First of all, positivity helps them show up for work. They work harder and smarter. More often than not, when they come upon an obstacle, they can assist in creating a solution. This affects the quality of their work as well. The good news? Positivity can be taught.

3. Engaged personnel are better problem solvers, sales people and customer service representatives

Having the skills to communicate, collaborate and navigate change, alleviates a lot of stress in people’s lives. Less stress leads to more tolerance and patience. Can you see where sales might increase? And, a grouch doesn’t make for good customer service either. Unless you don’t have any competition, increased sales and superior customer service is going to make a big difference in your bottom line in more ways than you might think
4. The best employee engagement techniques are related to the relationships they produce.

It might be, “Hawaiian Shirt Friday.” Maybe, it’s, “Catch a workmate doing something right,” day. In events like these benefits abound. First of all, it’s fun. There is plenty of research out there that shows when people have fun, they learn more and retain information for longer periods of time. Activities like these build greater bonds between team members. In a business where people work together this connection is priceless in terms of quality and creativity. Community projects done as a team have an additional element of raising your CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility), score. This has become an important aspect of who people want to work for.

5. Employee engagement is not just giving a bonus and calling it a day

Money is no longer the most important criteria for why people work where they work. As you experience the future shortage of employees, this concept will become ever more important. Money will not be the deciding factor as to where someone works or who they stay loyal to.

6. Annual reviews do not create communication for crucial employee/leader growth

Most human beings have a need to be acknowledged and feel valuable. It used to be that continuous improvement programs were for those that needed to exceed or be gone. How about making a continuous improvement plan as a way of life for each individual and the company? People respond better and increase their usefulness at work when they know how they fit within the company’s culture

Employee engagement = higher productivity = greater creativity = Happier-Healthier place to be

Your workforce is your most important asset. Don’t wait. Don’t have a motivational talk and go back to business as usual. Lack of employee engagement will become a critical problem as our workforce becomes more sophisticated and discerning. We’re looking at a shortage of employees coming up very shortly. The latest figures project that there will be a shortage of 5 million workers in 2020. This is true for machinists, medical staff, lawyers, accountants, lawyers, nurses and IT personnel, to name a few. Don’t delay, because you can’t create a great place to work overnight. The most successful organization will realize it’s a journey, a constant and continuous journey. They will build ideas into the very fabric of their organization. You can create ideas that will become how you do business, both inside and out.

Want to share this with a friend, but they are an auditory learner? Use this link to listen to this podcast. http://www.julieannsullivan.com/engagement-in-workplace/

Julie Ann Sullivan is a professional speaker and trainer to influence, motivate and inspire.
For more information on Julie Ann Sullivan, visit Julie Ann’s website. Follow on Twitter: @JASatLNE
Julie Ann Sullivan is the host of Mere Mortals Unite and Business that Care, now streaming on C-Suite Radio.