Why Ego is not the enemy.

The ego is not always negative. It can be a great motivator for achievement and growth; a tool for empowerment. 

It can be a very healthy part of our individuality... the self, me... I. It's what fuels your sense of purpose; your "Why." But this ambition can turn negative when left unchecked.

Your "Why" is a Siamese twin connected at the hip, both arguably fed by the ego but in very different ways.

The first of those twins is the Altruistic "Why"—”the beautiful twin”. That’s the politically correct sense of purpose. It’s the generous giving part of your "Why". It’s the motivation that makes you the consummate social entrepreneur or humanitarian. It’s the part of you that cares and wants to provide a service that makes the world a better place. It’s the one you read of in company mission statements designed to capture the imagination of the consumer.

The second half of your purpose is the secretive and negatively viewed Ego-Driven "Why"—”the ugly twin”. It’s the selfish reward, applause-seeking and self-validating feeling you get from your achievement, even from your giving. It’s the selfish empowering emotions of feeling relevant, loved, powerful, important, rich, accepted, elevated, and beautiful and of value (all listed traits dependent on your personality type and values). There is no need to deny that “ugly twin”.

I am by no means condoning narcissism or total objectivism. Simply don’t let the “selfish” why get the better of you and control your decisions and actions. I believe in altruism as a foundation for a better society. The irony in being selfless, is that it makes the giver feel good about themselves, which we could argue is feeding the ego by bringing value or importance to the existence of that individual. It's a slippery slope worth thinking about.

Don't feel obliged to deny your deepest needs to be "politically correct" in an age drowning in undeserved trophies and awards for participation. Life is tough. Survival and self-actualization even tougher. Don't hesitate to put the oxygen mask on first and stay alive with humility and gratitude. The more empowered you are the more you can give and empower others. The “red herring” in the “put your mask on first” concept is that it is oftentimes leveraged to validate selfishness purely for the benefit of the ego and inconsiderate of others.

The Ego only becomes negative when it blinds us of the bigger and better picture of doing the right thing at the right time for the right reasons.

The ego is a complex matter.

What is simple is that the negative Ego invites conflict, greed, disengagement, disappointment, resentment, envy, bullying, jealousy, and misunderstanding due to lack of empathy. It feasts on fear and control. None of these are positive traits of empowerment or value-creation for others and society. 

Find the balance and thrive. The choice is yours as to whether the ego is the enemy or your friend.

If this blog was of value, please like or share. Feel free to comment, even if they are ego driven :)

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Vital Germaine

6 Relevant Company Culture Stats You Need to Know About.

Your culture defines your brand.  Establishing an environment that promotes and enables strong emotional connections amongst your team is crucial to the success of your organization.  It starts with executive leadership and trickles down to your interns.

Healthy and engaging cultures are about happy employees that are unified with themselves and your mission and vision. Strong and clear communication channels, and a positive attitude of collaboration and accountability fueled by trust need to be created. 

It sounds simple, yet many companies fail or overlook the value and impact their culture has on their bottom line and brand strength.

Here are the fascinating results of a survey of more than 1,400 North American CEOs and CFOs, executed by Shiva Rajgopal, an accounting professor at Columbia Business School.

1. Only 15% said their firm’s corporate culture was where it needed to be.

2. More than 90% said that culture was important at their firms.

3. 92% said they believed improving their firm’s corporate culture would improve the value of the company.

4. More than 50% said corporate culture influences productivity, creativity, profitability, firm value and growth rates.

5. Turnover at companies with a poor culture is 48%

6. Turnover at companies with a great culture is just 14%

ENGAGE is renowned for its ability to inspire teams to see beyond the ego, embrace differences and deny inhibitions. The result for you the client is a more engaged, more focused and dynamic, collaborative team effort. This promotes problem-solving, increases produtivity and efficiency. It also lays a foundation for a healthier and happier work environment where everybody can thrive and thereby strengthen your brand and increase revenue.

WE BUILD HAPPIER TEAMS AND TRANSFORM CULTURES.

CONTACT US TODAY FOR A PROPOSAL.

Thank you, Vital Germaine

President, ENGAGE Consulting

Why Employees Quit

We have all experienced at one point in our careers where we simply no longer wanted to be at work. It could have been due to standard burn out or a change in our career goals/objectves… need of a new challenge..

There are usually two reasons or two typical symptoms of the unhappy disengaged employee, inspiring them to quit.

1. Bad leadership:

   ONE bad boss can be enough to determine it’s time to go. It’s that bad boss who disrespects, bullies, harasses you. The one who is indifferent and insensitive, rude, belittling or simply doesn’t like you and makes it evident.

   Such bosses heavily affect employee performance. Maybe employees take a few more sick days as a result (attendance). Some of them become less effective or less focused/comitted on the job (loss in productivity/efficienty). Perhaps that employees attitude become negative… which is highly contagious. They may become more confrontational, even a bad employee as a result. Many a good employee has become a bad employee due to anemic/toxix leadership or management.

   Too many companies allow bad bosses to remain in positions of management or leadership without fully realizing the negative impact they have on the company bottom line and customer experience! Sometimes it's a reflection of the CEO or executive leadership and culture they have established by example and lack of emotional intelligence. Execs… you need training too.  Contact us to learn more about our executive coaching programs.

   As leaders it's wise to frequently self evaluate and make sure you are not the bad boss that makes people quit. Be the boss that inspires greatness. Lead to empower not to have power.

   "IF YOUR ACTIONS INSPIRE OTHERS TO DREAM MORE, LEARN MORE, DO MORE, AND BECOME MORE, YOU ARE A LEADER." - John Quincy Adams.

   DID YOU KNOW:

   • The number 1 reason why people quit their jobs is a bad boss or immediate supervisor - Gallup poll of more than 1 million employed U.S. workers.

   • 2 MILLION Americans a month voluntarily quit their jobs - The US Department of Labor Bureau of Labor Statistics

   • Gallup survey of 25 million employees, part time and full time, in 189 different countries. They concluded that 1 in 2 employees are not happy at work.

   • Disengaged employees cost the US economy upwards of $350 million.

2. A lack of purpose:

Finding meaning in our work is a great motivator. As Simon Sinek says, “Start With Why”. Even though he meant as a business model, as in Apple’s approach to their products and service, the same “why'“ applies to the workforce. A paycheck is rarely the incentive to elevate employee engagment, unless it’s such a large amount that an employee witll put up with the lack of inspiration. Employees must feel INSPIRED.

Leadership must constantly and respectfully reinforce the value, meaning and impact of the work they do. People of not just driven by a paycheck. If a company isn’t offering work that provides value and truly changes the lives of its customers, they may find that over time, their workforce will inevitably become disengaged. It costs businesses not only dollars in lost productivity, but heavily impacts customer experience and the reputation of a brand. It only takes one bad manager or boss to cause a chain reaction within your culture. It only takes one minor shift in how leadership views and treats its employees to inspire meaning and motivation. Most human beings want to be seen, hear and understood. They want to know they bring value, are valued and make a difference.

If this blog was of value, please feel welcome to borrow and/or share. 

THANK YOU for reading - Vital Germaine

3 Simple Steps to Inspiring and Achieving Greatness

Many pursue and desire greatness but don't know how to achieve it or inspire it. Fortunately, through years of experience and extensive research, ENGAGE has created relevant and meaningful guidelines or tricks, approaches, attitudes and mindsets that can enthuse, activate, and enable extraordinary results on a personal and/or professional level. 

There is no quick fix, singular formula, pill or overnight solution to inspiring or achieving greatness. It is a process a never-ending pursuit that can be attained more easily than one thinks.

At ENGAGE, we have broken down the process into to 3 simple to follow steps listed below.  We call them: FUEL - AMMUNITION – TOOLS (F.A.T)

Establishing the “why” behind any pursuit or goal, and understanding the purpose and meaning is paramount. The more significant, expansive and encompassing your “why” is, and the greater its positive and relevant impact is on others, the easier it becomes to realize. We are always more driven by a cause that is greater than ourselves.

Here are the 3 SIMPLE STEPS (F.A.T).

1. FUEL

• Determination (drive, resilience, persistence)
• Courage (inner strength)
• Happiness (joy, love, humor and gratitude)
• Belief (conviction, confidence)
• Passion (desire, determination, feelings
• Patience (endurance)
• Respect (appreciation, acknowledgment, recognition

2. AMMUNITION

• Meaning (significance)
• Sense of Purpose (the why, the motivation, objective)
• Social Relevance (who benefits)

3. TOOLS

• Creativity Ingenuity (envisioning, trying new possibilities)
• Awareness (self awareness and of our environment/people)
• Childlike Approach (the love of exploration and discovery)
• Adaptable Perspective (willing to change)
• Positive Outlook (yes or why not)
• Willingness to fail (without risk there is little reward)
• Connectedness (egoless, authenticity, empathy) 

Contact ENGAGE today and allow us to inspire your team to greatness.

• www.ENGAGEteams.com
• Vital@ENGAGEteams.com
• 702.523 1792

If this post has been of benefit to you, please feel welcome to borrow, copy and share. Thank you, Vital Germaine

Life lessons

There are many lessons I learned during my years at Cirque du Soleil... some of them I now use to inspire as a speaker because they relate and lend to the business world. Other lessons focus on who we are as individuals, as humans. All the lessons have helped me grow as a person and I gadly share them.

One of the biggest take aways from my 5 years in the company were the lesson learned about integrity and being authentic - being true to who we are and not being afraid of our individuality or expressing it; qualities Cirque thrived on and inspired us to be, encouraged us to do, including being CHILDLIKE and in the moment.

Here is an excerpt from the sequel to FLYING WITHOUT A NET (still yet unnamed and close to publication) - this little "tease" gives a hint as to one of those many lessons.

CHAPTER 13 ~ The Cirque Audition… continued ~

There I stood below the trapeze; confused—a part of me fearless, the other half trembling.

The first part of the Cirque du Soleil audition had been a whirlwind of exploration, discovery, some really crazy shit, and a sturdy reminder to let go of conformity, feel and express without inhibition. Debbie Brown’s creative insanity left me none the wiser, only more curious and eager to play, be silly and have fun at the expense of the clowns, midgets and sword-swallowers I thought lived at the back in trailers.

The coach, Pierre, and his quiet assistant whose name I don’t remember, placed me into a harness. It fit snug around the waist. It squeezed my inner thighs and everything in between. They attached the belt to the bungee cords by a clip that mountain climbers use.

Pierre began my crash course like he had done to the other dancers...

...Instead of dancing up there as the other dancers had done, I played like a child on Christmas day. I made up several silly spur of the moment moves: the suspended swimming frog, followed by the flying monkey, ending with the slow motion astronaut and the seventies aerial robot. I went from zero to genuine clown in under six seconds.

 “It’s fun, non?” asked Pierre.

Debbie and Pierre congratulated me.

I had apparently captured their attention, imagination and curiosity despite having no idea what I was doing. It sometimes pays to be vulnerable and authentic and just do without a plan or a sense of direction—to be spontaneous regardless of circumstance—to reconnect with one’s forgotten inner child and just be.

"It's not always easy to be in the moment, authentic and let go of your inhibitions to be free, to be vulnerable and childlike. But when I do, good things happen!"

Vital Germaine

HAPPY MINDSET_RICHER LIVING

Actively disengaged employees cost the US economy $500 billion annually, simply because they are not happy!

• Is your company culture, or your leadership, remotely contributing to this statistic?

• Are you inspiring greatness, peak performance, collaboration and happiness from your employees.

• Is your team as engaged as they should or could be?

The mental wellness of your work force and company culture has such profound effects on your company's bottom line.  It's simple!  When we’re happy, we’re simply better. We’re better leaders, better lovers, better parents, employees, friends… better everything.

Have you ever noticed that when you are happy, things fall into a place a little easier: the sky's a little bluer. You don't notice all the red lights on the way to work - in fact, there are no red lights. When our mindset is positive, we have more clarity, more energy, more focus and of course more confidence. WE BECOME BETTER LEADERS... BETTER HUMAN BEINGS.

The math behind a happier mindset. Happy, forward thinking companies are up to %20 more profitable according to Gallup.  

There is sadly not enough happiness in the workplace.

According to a Gallup, who surveyed 25 million employees in a 189 different countries, to determine employee satisfaction and engagement, concluded that 1 in 2 employees are not happy at work! 

By inspiring relevant paradigm shifts within yourself as well as your company culture, these "unhappy" facts can be turned around very easily. The change will stimulate personal and professional growth and benefits.

On a spiritual level, one could say HAPPINESS is a question of vibrating at a higher frequency. On a chemical or scientific level, it's about stimulating the production of key hormones like, Serotonin, Oxytocin and my favorite, Phenylathamine (chocolate!!!).  Be it spiritual or scientific, happiness is in part due to mindset, lifestyle, attitude and perspective. It's the result of a series of choices; but there is more than that (for another blog).

Is your leadership stimulating happiness and satisfaction in your team, thus maximizing their contribution and impact to the relevance and growth your company (or your own life)? If so, SMILE and be happy - stay calm and carry on :)

If this blog was of value, please feel welcome to borrow and/or share. 

THANK YOU.