This is a transcript of Erica Mills Barnhart on the Marketing for Good podcast. You can listen to the episode here and listen to more episodes on Apple Podcasts, or wherever you enjoy listening to podcasts. Enjoy!

SUMMARY KEYWORDS

culture, statements, words, marketing, organizational culture, ebook, employees, organization, clients, culture vulture, identity, purpose, create, energizing, describe, connective tissue, values

Erica Mills Barnhart 

It was, in some ways probably inevitable that I would end up doing this very episode on the Marketing for Good podcast, an episode where I boldly claimed that culture eats marketing for breakfast, or lunch or brunch or whatever meal you want to slot in there. Now, before we go any further, I want to say two things. One, this is part one of a series of podcast episodes that are going to be related to a new ebook I wrote called Recharge: energize your employees one word at a time, which you can download at https://claxon-communication.com/recharge/. I’m going to talk more about that ebook in a little bit, but just know that that is something new and for you, which you can download for free. Okay, number two is just because culture eats marketing for breakfast, doesn’t mean marketing isn’t important. It’s as needed and important as ever, especially, especially when the marketing advances diversity, equity, inclusion, access all the things we’ve talked about all along on the Marketing for Good podcast. But think about this: this type of marketing can only happen and a culture that really truly values those values. That doesn’t just mamby pamby pay lip service to them, but really, really lives into them. This idea about culture being super important may sound familiar and that particular phrase was made famous by Peter Drucker when he said culture eats strategy for breakfast. So just like I’m not saying marketing isn’t important, Drucker wasn’t saying that strategy isn’t important. Obviously, it is. What he meant was organizational culture was a clear and more dependable path to success than strategy. And that’s what I’m echoing with this. Right? That organizational culture, workplace culture is a clear and more dependable path to success than marketing alone, marketing actually can’t really achieve its full potential if it isn’t supported by culture, that lives into the values. So the interplay between culture and language and words and communication has been on my mind recently. I have always fundamentally been hired by clients who need to find words, different words, better words, more inspired words. Whatever the words, it’s always been about words, words help you communicate, words become sentences that become messaging, etc. So, really, what I’ve been doing all along is helping clients find words to communicate more effectively, there’s nothing new there. I just happen to do that in what we refer to as marketing. So here’s what I noticed recently, and got me thinking about the influence of culture on marketing and the relationship between communications and workplace and organizational culture. Oh my god, that was really long sentence. Can we also pause since I’m already deep into the sentence and say the term workplace right now is very intriguing. Right? Like work place, the place of work. I think that mindshare is like the physical workplace. So, anyways, a word nerd, along with you, my fellow word nerds, I’m intrigued to see how that might evolve, this idea of workplace anyway. Okay, here’s what got me thinking about it. I first started consulting 18 years ago, 18 years ago, who’s counting? I mean, aside for me. And when I started out, I was hired mainly by folks in the marketing development, you know, sales departments, not folks in the C suite. Okay, so the words that my early on, clients wanted me to find, you know, they ended up in newsletters, on websites, annual reports, sales sheets, whatever. After an initial euphoric period where the new words were helping them get the results they wanted, the old words and ways of talking and writing would seep back onto the proverbial page. And this happened again, and again, and again. It was pretty fascinating to me, and also kind of frustrating, because it’s like, if that was working, you know, why backtrack, it left me flummoxed? So over time, I started working with executive teams, you know, CEO, COOs, executive directors, etc. They would reach out because they couldn’t explain what they did or why they did it. They couldn’t explain that you know, about the organization or the company. And they definitely couldn’t do that clearly and compellingly. So the bulk of my work has really become crafting what you’ve heard me, if you’ve listened to this podcast before, as identity statements, so mission, vision, values and purpose statements. I did a deep dive on identity statements in episode 27, you can listen to that for more specifics if you’re if you’re interested in digging in on that. So are these statements handy for marketing? Heck, yeah, they are. They are door openers, they succinctly and compellingly explain what you do, why you do it, for whom as well as clearly defining the principles that guide your work, aka your values. They’re an organization’s way really of putting a stake in the ground about what you care about what you stand for and based on that, what you do and how you do it. In other words, identity statements describe culture. Interestingly, I was thinking back on this, I can’t think of a single time when somebody has reached out and said, Erica, we need your help to, you know, we need you to help us describe our culture, maybe someone has, I have had clients reach out and say, with some regularity, we just went through this huge strategic planning process, and we created, you know, usually its mission, vision, values, because again, if you listen to episode 27, purpose statements are amazing, but they’re kind of new on the scene. So they  reach out and be like, we just went through this whole huge strategic planning process, we have these statements, and we’re putting them out to the world and like, nobody cares. They’re just they’re not helping us move forward. And of course, the reason for that is most strategic plans are written with an internal audience in mind and and those statements are developed accordingly. So you are kind of asking them to do a job they can’t do. Statements feel bad about it, too. So that would happen, but it was never like phrased this way about culture. And I think right now, you know, culture, workplace culture, purpose, all of this is on all of our minds in a way that isn’t like totally new. But it has a different feeling to it, I would say. The clients that contact me with what I refer to as a presenting problem, right? So our sales are down, donor acquisition has dipped, you know, we can’t attract customers or clients to this great program or service that we offer. So it ends up being referred to, as you know, like a sales problem or fundraising problem or a program problem. But really, it’s a communications problem. And once we start pulling on that thread, it becomes clear that what the client needs first is a way to describe their culture, regardless of what department anybody’s in, or team they’re on. Right? Culture is pervasive. So you know we care deeply about words. What do we mean by culture? Just like any word, there are a lot of definitions. So I want to dig into that a bit. A quick look at the history or etymology of the word reminds us that culture comes from the same root as the word cultivate. It originally referred only to soil eventually moved on to describe bacteria, which are organisms. And that is how in the 19th century, it eventually gained currency in the sense of organizational culture. I learned something new, a new term while I was doing this research, Culture Vulture, am I the only one who had never heard of that before? One who is voracious for culture. I think they mean pop culture and whatnot. I don’t know that just because I am super intrigued by organizational culture, I’m a culture vulture, I don’t know. But it’s fun to say, go ahead, say it. It’s pretty fun to say. So that’s the etymology. The Society of HR management describes culture as a, and here I quote, “a strongly held and widely shared set of beliefs that are supported by strategy and structure”. They go on to say it is about who or what an organization is versus what you do. I want to say this again, it is about who or what an organization is versus what you do. I would also put in there about why the organization exists. They acknowledge and a quick perusal of the academic literature supports, which of course, I look to the academic literature. It’s important that the fact that culture is a etherial nebulous, I mean, the amount of these articles that start with like culture is kind of difficult to define is striking. I think of culture kind of is like the connective tissue that holds everything together. It supports everything else, and you don’t really notice connective tissue when it’s healthy, but when it gets out of whack or is brittle, or there’s a tear, you know, anything like that you notice very fast, and somewhat ironically, I say this while nursing a lot of knee pain that is result of my body’s connective tissue, our body’s connective tissue, fascia, is like really unhappy with me. I don’t know exactly what’s going on. But you know, it’s not like most of us sit around and are like, I wonder haw my fascia is doing? So anyway, culture I mean, it really is similar. It’s like, you don’t necessarily notice that and yet it’s a living, breathing, feeds, into all the other pieces that allows you to operate at full capacity. Now, Bernard Ross at the Management Center in the UK rate breaks down what he refers to as The Culture Challenge, and he breaks it down into two parts. One is how you describe your culture. And then two is how you change it. He has a terrific blog post that we’ll put in the show notes that offers a synopsis of Johnson and Scholes cultural web, which has the following elements, stories, symbols, rituals and routines, power structure, organizational structure, and controls. These all interact and together, they form the culture. Now, the common denominator of all those is, of course, words, and language because you have to be able to describe all these things. I leave through change work itself, part two of the culture challenge to people like Bernard and his colleagues, there’s so many people who do wonderful work in this regard. It’s the first part that interests me, and where I see a huge opportunity right now, for organizations to shift and grow and align, and a whole bunch of other good stuff. It’s in the describing and the defining, and this so often gets sort of leapfrogged over because we assume like, you know, we’re all there as individuals, like, we all understand what the culture is, and it’s, you know, once you dig into it, it’s like, oh, wow, like, here, here are values with a value of empathy, or, you know, knowledge or whatever it’s gonna be and, and everybody has a different definition. So the work of creating identity statements that define and then go on to cultivate culture, it is a tricky business, because the task is to craft a set of statements that reflect the essence of who the organization is today in a way that is forward compatible. Usually, there’s some element of wanting to become, but it has to be forward compatible with who they want to become while not, you know, you can’t just like schmear identity statements and be like, No, we’re good, right, you have to walk, you have to walk the talk. So you want it to be true to who you are as an organization and also, organizations are dynamic organisms that are always in some sort of flux. So you don’t want the words describing your culture like hem you in and make you feel stuck. This is why I have a I have a very specific process I use with clients to develop these statements. Very learnable. Very simple, not easy. But definitely simple and learnable, and infinitely doable. And the process allows for that dynamism while keeping things focused. The process is emotional. It requires a lot of deep thinking, doing and developing. We play with a lot of words before landing on the right combination. And it’s a combination that like feels right, you know, because that’s when you know, you’ve nailed it. Not when the statements are technically accurate, and speak to the mind, that’s the neck up communications, and really what we are trained in our society to do is neck up communications, but our bodies are wise, right? Did you know that I learned this recently, that our brains process 40 bits of information per second. Which is a lot not to like, you know, downplay that, that’s a lot our bodies, wait for it, wait for it, they process 11 million bits of information. 40 versus 11 million. So this is why when I’m playing with words, right, which is how I describe describing culture and creating identity statements, because to me, it’s fun, replaying, I avoid the question, what do you think? That is neck up. And what do you think invites what’s wrong with this? And obviously, you want to use discernment, but like, I favor questions like, how does that land for you? Or like, just straight up, when you read that or hear that, How does it make you feel? Where do you feel it in your body? I know that that sounds kind of woowoo because, you know, feelings are considered woowoo. But okay, let’s go back to if you’re relying on your body, that is not woowoo that is based on 11 million bits of info per second. That’s, that’s just, it’s smart to listen to your body. So here’s what I can tell you. Having done this work for many, many moons, I started 18 years ago, organizations who do the work and get to a point where they’re able to describe their culture, take an important step towards sustainable success is a biggie, right to being, you know, in a place where people feel included and inspired where employees like to work and where potential employees want to come to work. But the ones that really derive the full value and benefit of having done that work are the ones that create the opportunity for employees to personally connect with the culture. And this can look a whole bunch of different ways. I’ve gotten to do all sorts of fun stuff with clients around this, but one thing has to be in place before connecting with culture can happen. Employees need to have their batteries sufficiently fully might be you know, too high bar although that would be ideal, but your batteries have to be sufficiently charged for you to be open and create that space to be like how do I feel about the values of this organization, the purpose of this organization. I mean, let’s be honest, all of us need to recharge a bit, right? The past few years have been rough. Let’s just call it rough. And like, I’ve never heard anybody say, Have you heard anybody say like, what we really need is a culture where people feel burnt out. You know, we we say things like, we want them to work hard, but they’re not like we really want to burn out, that’s what we’re going for. And yet, when we go through a period, especially the period that we’ve been through the past couple years, unless you’re super intentional, that’s often where you end up, it’s where so many organizations have ended up and you know, this is one of the reasons for not the not the sole reason, but a big reason for the great resignation, people just leaving their their jobs in droves. So you want to create that space so that your employees can connect with personal purpose. This is why I wrote an ebook called Recharge about creating space and opportunities and like offering really, it’s very tactical, you know, it’s practical. Anybody who knows me and my work like yes, yes, it has sort of this academic bent. And then let’s get practical because the change and the momentum comes in the application of all of it. So, again, you can download the book and read it. It’s short, it’s a shorty. But it packs a punch. And in there I talk about how how do you create a purpose statement as a person, personal purpose statements. So my friend and colleague, Dr. Akhtar Badshah, who I’ve had on the show, and he wrote the book, The Purpose Mindset, we’ve now helped hundreds of people, from executives to students, all points in between, write their personal purpose statement. It’s such a cool process, you know, I mean, it really comes down again, I lay it all out in the book. So you can go take a look. But I mean, it it is really straightforward. You can do it in 10 minutes or less, it does not need to be hugely time consuming, everybody is busy. But a lot of magic happens at the intersection of personal identity and organizational identity and culture. I just cannot recommend enough that, that step that piece of the process of creating culture. The great resignation rages on, right. And I don’t know, if you saw the McKinsey report from 2021, they found that 82% of employees rely or want their employer to give them a sense of purpose, 82%. And they go on to say quite bluntly, that unless you help your employees connect to purpose, you’ll watch them leave. And I quote from the title of the report. So now that mean, this is the time, right, it’s an important time to revisit culture. And simultaneously, we have to be like, Oh my god, culture, that sounds like a heavy lift. And this is again, like getting energized any way you can. And once you get the insights that are in the ebook, like, oh, wow, wow. In some ways, it’s as simple as we can just change a word, right? We can just change a word. So again, we’re gonna go into this, there’s three C’s in the book. So like three steps to energizing yourself recharging your batteries. I just, you know, I honestly believe one of the best investments any company can make right now is one of those identity statements and two and in energizing their, their employees. Am I bias, probably, but I’ve had the great good fortune to see the impact when this work is done. So as I’ve said in past episodes, and I went into with passion and in detail in episode 41, where it’s better because they are matter. They have physicality, they carry energy. So find words and you can there’s so many words out there that create the cultural energy you want. Right? Right now you may be like, umm Erica I like I’m just trying to get through every day. I get it. I’m there with you. Right, like I get I get charged up talking about recharging through words, of course, but I’m there with you. Right and I’ll tell you very candidly like, part of the reason I wrote this ebook is because these are the steps that I took to start recharging my batteries. Because they were low, very depleted, right. And words are like charging cables, or they can be, so I’m excited to have you read that book. It’s quick. It’s high octane. And you can get it at https://claxon-communication.com/recharge. So in the next few episodes, we’re gonna walk through the ebook together. I’m really excited about this. So break some things down more because I wanted to keep the ebook itself like, really quick, you know, high level something gratifying so that the the read itself would create momentum, which is it’s the third C, I’ll just out that, which is creating momentum. But I want to go in you know, dig in a bit more with you. So go download your copy, and then follow on over the coming weeks. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you for all the work you do on the world. Thank you for listening. If you liked this episode, would you take a second to rate and review it? It would mean a ton to me. It means more people getting to hear about the power of words. How marketing can be a force for good and all those things. Never forget you’re amazing. Never forget it. Do good, be well and I will see you next time.

The post Ep 43: RECHARGE: Culture Eats Marketing for Breakfast (1 of 3) appeared first on Claxon Communication.

Visit https://claxon-communication.com/recharge/ to download your free copy and follow along!

This is a transcript of Erica Mills Barnhart on the Marketing for Good podcast. You can listen to the episode here and listen to more episodes on Apple Podcasts, or wherever you enjoy listening to podcasts. Enjoy!

SUMMARY KEYWORDS

ants, mental clutter, employees, recharge, belief, thought, work, purpose, talk, words, productivity, employers, book, feel, antidote, humans, negative, neural pathways, APT, cultures

Erica Mills Barnhart 

In the last episode, I walked through how and why I ended up writing an ebook called recharge, which is about using words to energize employees and humans, generally speaking. There’s precisely nothing new with me talking and writing about words and how to use them and to produce a given output or outcome. Anyone who’s been following this podcast or me will be like, “yep, nope, you and words? Nope, nothing new there. You’ve been at that a real long time”. The sort of newish part was, and I  go into much more detail in the last episode, was the transition from the output, or the outcome of my work being exclusively or at least mainly focused on marketing. And then the transition to it, you know, kind of my realization that how I was using words, which was much more supporting and supportive of efforts to create cultures where people feel included and inspired. And is that handy for marketing? Well, yes, yes, it is. But it’s not exclusive to it. And this, you know, this focus on cultures, and specifically cultures where people feel included and inspired, you know, as an antidote to the great resignation, and the language gene and the malaise that so so many folks are feeling. And so the reason that this matters so much, is no one can do their best work when their batteries are on empty. Like, you know, if you have a phone or anything that needs to be charged, like it just can’t do its job, if they are out of batteries, so charging those puppies up can be daunting. So, this is where the insight that words matter, because they are matter, and therefore have energy that you can tap into becomes very, very, very, very handy, right? Because you end up realizing you have this almost infinite resource of energy that you can tap into, and that you’re tapping into any way, right? So we’re just sort of repurposing the focus of your words, and having them serve you in a different way. Out of all that, Recharge was born. Okay, so if you missed the last episode, maybe rewind, I know that that’s like not a thing with podcast, but you know, go back to the last episode, listen to that before listening to the rest of this because it is kind of important context and the, the bits about words being energy, or what I call the energetics of language, are important. And they’re, I don’t use this term lightly, but you know, it’s empowering. It’s empowering to know that you have right there for you anytime you want it, this resource, this resource, that is words and communication and language. So that’s super cool. All right, let’s dive into the book a little bit more. So the bulk of the book is about the three C’s, cleaning out mental clutter, especially the negative mental clutter, connecting with purpose and then creating momentum. Before we go into the three C’s, and what you’ll see in the book is I talk about two beliefs that, that I believe are getting in the way of employers doing a better job of like doing their employees a solid when it comes to charging themselves back up, especially after the last few years. So the first belief is that employees only bring their work self to work, like we have these distinct lives and selves. And the second belief is that productivity is categorically positive. So regarding that first belief, it’s, I mean, it’s sort of goofy when you think about it. And it harkens from time long, long before social media came along, and other technology and whatnot, when that line between professional and personal, was already getting blurry. And then the pandemic happens, and then let’s Zoom meetings, just you know, where there’s like kids and dogs and things falling over, and horns honking, and doors buzzing and like just so many things happening, that don’t or didn’t happen for folks who were in a physical workspace. Now, this created a lot of awkward moments, of course, but the blessing or at least a silver lining, is that it did, you know, it made just people as people a bit more obvious that this distinction that we have been working so hard to maintain, just wasn’t available to us anymore, and that in the end, that was very humanizing. Very humanizing. So, you know, some employers are like, it’s not my job to help my employees recharge, they can do that on their own time. If you take that approach, I mean, you do you but as the title of the 2021 McKinsey report says so plainly and directly if you take that approach, you’re going to watch your employees leave, right? Employees are craving purpose in their lives and therefore in their, in their workplace. I mean, 82% want to have a sense of purpose with their work. And that’s why the second C is about connecting with purpose, both personal and organizational. So, again, I acknowledge that, you know, this, this focus on or sort of prioritizing of employees and getting them to a place where they do feel inspired and included and where they can do their best work. Not all employers are gonna jump on that bandwagon. And the ones that do will reap the rewards. So, you know, there’s no downside to making people feel awesome. There just isn’t. So all things being equal, as the economists like to say, why not do it. And with Recharge, there’s no reason for leaders not to give it a go. Because the three C’s are simple, they’re practical, they’re fun, and employees can do them anytime, anywhere they want. So there’s no downside to it. The other belief that gets in the way is the idea that productivity is categorically positive. So like the first belief, this harkens back to like the industrial era, or industrial, yeah, the industrial era, things were more transactional, right? We were producing different things. So productivity, had a different role. But now we operate in what Aaron Hurst calls the purpose economy. So purpose becomes currency, it is currency. And I say in the book, and I’m going to quote it here, you know, it’s time to create company cultures that prioritize humanity over productivity. Now, am I saying to encourage employees to be categorically unproductive? No, of course, I’m suggesting that companies and their leaders take a people first approach like truly, truly not just lip service to this idea, not just words, right. And words obviously need to be backed up pervasively throughout the culture through action. But take this people first approach, so the productivity, meaning, you know, the outputs, and eventually the outcomes are done more joyfully and more sustainably. When this is sort of the vibe, all boats rise, it makes everything that you’re trying to do as an organization so much, just so much easier. And it’s not like everybody’s going to show up every day and be like, “Oh my god, I’m so excited to be here, yay!”  Like, trying to be completely Pollyanna about the whole thing. But you know, you can feel it when even on a bad day, somebody shows up and they’re like, “Okay, I’m happy to be here. I feel grateful to be here. Yay.” Alright, what does productivity mean in your company culture? Have you specifically defined it? It’s very powerful. It’s very powerful to define it. Especially in the purpose economy, it’s worth taking time to unpack that, and be able to describe it for for the work you do for for your mission, vision, values and purpose as an organization. Okay, so if we let go of these two beliefs, and we embrace the idea that people are bringing their full, awesome selves to work, then we can move into the specifics of energizing said awesome humans, by using words as charging cables. I’m pretty sure I can’t say this enough. So I’m gonna say one more time. Words matter. Because they are matter. They have energy, they have physicality, every thought you have lays tracks in your brain. And those add up over time, those become neural pathways. This is why the first C is about clearing out negative mental clutter. In the book, I talked about ants, I have to say, I lived, oh my gosh, so far in my rearview mirror, I was an exchange student in Paris. Yes, it was amazing. It was also a very complicated and hard year for a variety of reasons. One of my distinct memories, for a while live with this woman. And she loved to bake, which meant there was like always sort of a like, you just walk into the kitchen and it just sort of feels sugary. Like everywhere. It never quite went away and she’s quite meticulous about cleaning. But sugar was always lingering. And so not surprisingly, at some point, we got an ant infestation, sugar ants made an appearance and you know, she waged a full on battle against these ants. It was quite something to behold. And eventually, eventually, we got rid of them. But it took a lot of effort to get rid of those ants. So now in the context of you know, recharging our batteries, and getting re-energized, I’m of course talking about automatic negative thoughts. So not sugar ants. But those thoughts that are mind, mental ants, that they’re there day in day out always with us. Now, again, since our thoughts take on physicality in the form of neural pathways, physical ants, sugar ants, and the ants in your brain actually have some similarities, right? And so in the book, I go into this a bit more about like, about how you get rid of the ants in your brain. And I offer the antidote of pairing an ant with an APT, I know APT, it’s just not, you know, it doesn’t roll off the tongue as much. But APT stands for automatic positive thoughts. Okay, so you know, there’s a lot out there that’s like if you have negative thought just turn it around and make it positive. There’s actually a lot of research to say that doesn’t work. Or it works maybe fleetingly, very momentarily, what’s far more powerful is to pair a negative thought with a positive thought. So with a positive thought. So for instance, and if you’re like, starting this work of just noticing your thoughts, but then that feels overwhelming, which it can, it’s totally can. Notice how many times you say should have, just the word should have. I should have drank more water today, you know, but I didn’t. Okay, so turn them around. I should have drank more water today and tomorrow, I will drink more water. Right? I should have lifted heavier weights during my workout today. I had this thought earlier. That can become Yeah, I could have lifted heavier weights today and tomorrow or next time, I’ll give that a go. Right? I know exactly where the weights are. I have everything I need to make that happen. Right. And so it goes, so this pairing of, you know the negative and acknowledging it being like, Yeah, that sucks. With a positive alternative, it’s the and is the power of the and with this antidote. Okay, so again, more in the book. But clearing out mental clutter is the first C, because it’s just tough to focus on anything else, I can tell you firsthand. You know, with an ant infestation going on whether or not those are sugar ants, or mental ants, you have to address them. And this isn’t, you know, this is just how we are wired as humans, our negative thoughts are trying to protect us. So, you know, we want to honor them, thank them for what they’re trying to do and just let them know. We’re okay. Right? We’re okay without the negativity in there. And in fact, once you create a little space in your mind, then you can move on to things like connecting with purpose and then once that’s in place, then you create momentum. Right? Okay, so you have the basics on beliefs that are no longer serving leaders and employers, so strong encouragement to at least be open to shifting on those and you know, the first C about current mental clutter. So after you listen to this, you might already be somebody who’s in the habit, you know, you’re already doing this, the mind work. But if this is new, just take a few hours after this and just notice your thoughts, you know, you can jot them down is really awesome getting them out of your mind and onto paper, your computer or whatever. Do that just notice, don’t need to judge them. They’re just they’re doing their job. Just notice and see what you learn. See what shape and energy the thoughts have for you. And this will give you insight into what your APTs might be and set you on a solid path to ant free existence. It probably won’t be ant free, again, we’re human, but at least it will be less ant pervasive, right? The ratio of ants to APTs will shift, so you can have that existence, which is freeing. In the next episode, we will talk about the last few C’s connecting with purpose and creating momentum. I can’t wait. I love all the three C’s. And it’s really encouraging to hear how this is landing for folks, how just these really teeny tweaks in terms of what you’re doing with words. And really the shift to like, oh my gosh, they have energy, that is a source I can tap into. You know, that’s pretty energizing. So notice your thoughts just for a bit,  just start right there and when we come back together, we’ll  talk about those other two things. In the meantime, please never forget this: You are amazing. Thank you for all you’re doing in the world. Do good be well and we will see you next time.

The post Ep 44: RECHARGE: Words as charging cables (2 of 3) appeared first on Claxon Communication.

This is a transcript of Erica Mills Barnhart on the Marketing for Good podcast. You can listen to the episode here and listen to more episodes on Apple Podcasts, or wherever you enjoy listening to podcasts. Enjoy!

SUMMARY KEYWORDS

mantras, purpose, feels, recharge, book, verb, e book, mental clutter, listen, employees, swoosh, people, energetic, habits, create, unleash, marketing, communications, shifts, word

Erica Mills Barnhart 

This is part three of a three part series on a little ebook I recently released, hat’s a tongue twister, called Recharge: energize employees one word at a time. The book lays out three C’s for charging your energetic batteries, aka jumpstart in your efforts to get over burnout. In the in the last episode, we covered the first C, which was clearing out negative mental clutter. If you haven’t listened that episode 100%, press pause and go listen to that. It’s, I think, important context to start there, actually, you know, go two back, I would listen to these in order,  go back two episodes, listen to the first one, then listen the second one and then restart this one. So, about clearing out mental clutter, the idea is, and I say this in the book so this is a direct quote, “you can’t connect with purpose if you have an ant infestation going on”. That quote, makes sense only if you know what type of ants I’m referring to. So go learn what the heck all that’s about, you know, experiment with a little bit and then come and learn more about the last two C’s, which we are going to dive into. Also, just a couple notes, all three seas or dynamics to be managed, not problems to be solved. So if you’re listening to this, and you’re like, Yay, I can read this short ebook, I think it’s gonna take you seven to ten minutes to read it, it’s a shorty. If you think you’re going to read it and be like, Okay, we’re gonna do the things one time, and then woohoo, recharged batteries. I’m here to tell you that, alas, none of these things are one and done. You know, and I said in a previous episode, it’s like, we are sort of like our cell phones or anything else, where we get depleted, and we have to recharge and then get depleted and recharged. But once you’re in the mental habit of the three C’s, the dynamic becomes much easier to manage and keep going and that means over time, it is then easier to get and keep your batteries charged. So it occurred to me, well did occur to me, people have been kind of like, so this is interesting, right? Like, this feels like a transition. And it is and in future episodes, I will be talking a lot more about this, away from what I talked about in the first of the series, right? Which is that culture eats marketing for breakfast or lunch or whatever. Is this a departure for me away from marketing and toward culture? Yeah, it is. But it’s all about how you use words to achieve some sort of goal or end, aspiration, desire that’s important to you, right? And so what got me really kind of energized to make this transition and to write this book, because, you know, it’s about energizing employees, which isn’t something that I do a lot with my clients, especially my coaching clients, but it’s not I mean, it’s externally facing about it. So here’s what really driving it to be transparent. One of the biggest costliest challenges organizations face is figuring out how to effectively communicate both internally and externally. I’ve said a gajillion times on this podcast, external execution, usually marketing, is predicated on internal alignment. Alright, so this challenge, on average, this kind of blew my mind, I have to say, when I learned this, this cost companies with 100 or less employees, $420,000 per year,  $420,000 per year, and for companies with 100,000 employees or more, you know, so these are sort of the Fortune 500, but get this it cost them $62.4 million per year per company, holy schmoly. I mean, I’m pretty sure all companies big and small, can think of ways to strategically invest that, I think about so many of the nonprofits that I’ve worked with good glory, most of those would fall into that category of, you know, 100 employees or less, not all but you know, many nonprofits fall into that $420,000 year. Whoa, and here’s the thing, communication isn’t rocket science, but we are clearly stymied by it based on the numbers above. So creating a workplace culture where everyone feels included and aspire, because effective communication is the norm. Listen, this is actually super simple. But it requires people to change, how they communicate and how they think about communicating. You know, as humans we love progress and we resist change. So and that’s because change equals danger, right? So that resistance is a form of protection by way of our subconscious mind. So you have to make sure people feel safe enough to embrace change and energized enough to make change. And this brings me back to Recharge, right? Change takes energy. And if you’re going to ask your people to change how they communicate, even if it’s, you know, and the idea of this is like, very teeny shifts. It’s not like, let’s overhaul the whole thing. It’s like, huh, when I sit down, what’s my intention with this email? What’s a verb, that I can start to get like, teeny, teeny shifts? It still change. It’s still change. And so you up your odds of the change happening and people being open to it if they’re not depleted, if they’re more revved up. So that’s why I wrote the ebook, which, if you haven’t already downloaded it, you can just go to https://claxon-communication.com/recharge/ and get it and it will automatically land in your inbox. Okay, so the book is sort of a precursor to the bigger shift, that I’m hoping more organizations will embrace. Just around the shift around like, how do we think about communications? And just like eradicating ineffective communications, because again it’s simple, this is this is addressable, right? So many of the issues in the world are, you know, we’re never going to resolve them, really. But this one, this one, you can, it’s, again, it’s a dynamic to be managed. So as new people come into the organization, you need to sort of let them know about these simple shifts, which I’ll talk about more in future episodes. But anyway, that’s the backstory, okay. This is an effort to counter languishing, pervasive droopiness and despair or something along those lines, whatever is happening for you, and maybe you’re listening, you’re like, I’m good. I’m thrilled for you. That’s awesome. I’m pretty darn good these days, like in terms of my energy, and it took work to get there. So if you’re in a good place, awesome, and if you know, others who aren’t, share the book with them. Alright, let’s, let’s get everybody to that place. Okay. On to, at long last, the final two C’s. C number two is connecting with purpose. C number three, creating momentum. All right, in terms of purpose. Listen, according to a 2021 McKinsey Report, about 80% ish of employees want to find meaning in their work, and they want their employers to help them create. Lack of purpose isn’t the only reason for the great resignation, of course, but it’s a biggie. So what’s interesting is there’s been so much focus on the folks who are leaving the workplace and, you know, rightfully so. But what about the folks who are staying in their jobs? What about their joy and their happiness? I mean, the common term is employee satisfaction. And, you know, maybe that is a high bar, you know, high enough bar these days. But can we set our sights just a little higher, just a little higher? What would it look like if everyone where you worked, felt connected to their purpose and connect that to what they did every day? That’s kind of a game changer. Now, sounds impossible, right? To like on an everyday basis, and, you know, maybe every day is overstated, but what about a lot of days? But this idea of connecting to purpose, actually is pretty straightforward, right? Sounds very existential. But there’s actually a simple formula for developing what Dr. Akhtar Badshah and I call a purpose statement. And that formula goes like this, well, let me back up and say, here’s the process. And again, this is in the book. So if you’re walking or driving, or whatever, no need to take notes or memorize, it’s all right there. You start by identifying your three core values, then you identify your top strengths, then you put it all together, okay, you combine that with the impact you want to have in a world and you create a purpose statement. We have done this with 1000s of people now from all different sectors and walks of life and all the rest of it. And you can do this exercise really effectively in 10 minutes or less. So that is super cool. Then you write like first pass, and you can play with it. And I’ll share with you a bit about how I played with mine and where I landed. You start with my purposes x where x is the impact you want to see or create in the world, to y this is your values by z. How you want to do this by way of your strengths. Okay, so x to y by z. Here’s a pro tip that is actually not in the book. Pick your verb first. Now, anybody who’s followed me for a while, is like of course she’s talking about verbs. Yes, I am talking about verbs. They’re energetic superheroes. So play with some verbs like what verb represents the change that you want to create in the world like your why. And then which one has the energy the reflects the impact, right they want to have. Again, we’re looking for energetic alignment between your words and actions. So my purpose statement is actually to unleash the power of words, let’s all look surprise together. It’s short and sweet, right? It doesn’t, it doesn’t follow that formula. And here’s why, when I added in, or started with a full sentence that included my values and my strengths, it just felt energetically off to me. Like it felt heavier than I wanted my purpose statement and my purpose to feel, so so that’s why mine so short, it really guides a lot of my everyday decisions, right? Especially professionally, but purpose isn’t limited to your professional endeavors. It is bigger than that it is about you know, your life. So it doesn’t follow a formula and it works for me, right? There are examples in the book that follow the formula exactly. So know that that is there for you. The verb, the verb is unleash. Now, I played around with a ton of verbs. And you know unleash feels a little lofty. And there’s this teeny, I don’t know, this teeny bit of like, assertiveness, like I’m going to unleash them. But you know, I work with people. So I’m not like, saying, This is how you should unleash it. It’s like, let’s do it together and it just it felt right. I tried a bunch of other stuff, and I just kept coming back to it. So that’s why I went with it. Okay, so to recap, identify your values, your strengths, a verb, then write your purpose statement, and then play with it until you’re like, yep, that feels good. Don’t overthink it. Again, let’s rely on what your body tells you, your gut, your instincts, because again, that’s like actually a ton of information, way more than your brain will give you play with it. And then, and this is important, create an opportunity for employees, for your team, for your people, to connect the dots between their purpose and organizational purpose. So purpose again, that’s about the why behind what you do. If you’re like, Wait, I thought that was the mission or the vision, I hear you this is sort of a new and evolving construct. Go listen to episode 27 goes into the purpose of mission, vision, values, and yes, purpose statements. So that might be something to explore. Okay, so that’s the second C, the third C is create momentum. And you do that through mantras and habits. I’m going to talk mainly about mantras because most folks are on board with creating habits. I’ll touch on that at the end. But you know, it’s like not controversial, whereas mantras, like, if you’re listening, you’re like, “No, Erica, that’s way too woowoo, what is happening for you?” I feel you, mantras do have a woowoo reputation. And yet, they’re like, based on neuroscience and in previous episodes, you know, the aforementioned universal laws of physics and thermodynamics, and, you know, just like other decidedly non woowoo stuff, the energy of language, which I cover in the eBook, and in the first part of the series, so, Episode 43. You know, all of that holds true for mantras just as it does for every other word that you use to communicate. So that’s my pitch. That’s my mantras are awesome pitch for you. So let’s take a look. So let’s do this together, right, just to like, get in the groove, the mantra groove, take a look at something you’re facing today that feels tough. And again, it can be in your personal life or your professional life, even though of course, it’s all just your life. But again, sometimes it’s easier to try things out outside of our sort of our professional personas just because it is. Pick something that you know, feels tough, regardless of what realm is coming from because life is just like. What’s a word, a single word, that can counter that toughness or soften it you know, or whatever you want to have happen. I’ll go first. Today I have to work on a wide variety of different things and that’s common, I’m sure it’s common for you too, for me switching costs are really tough. I know this about myself. So you know, I have to write and record this podcast, I have grading to do, I’m meeting with clients who are at all different stages of what they’re doing so high switching costs there. I’m attending midday a college prep session with my daughter and I also really need to do like my PT exercises because I’m still getting over this knee SI joint injury thing. So it you know, and there’s more to the list but for me that’s a lot of different things. I know that I struggle with this so, and switching for me slows down my momentum, for some folks, they’re like, boo, boo, boo, boo boo. It’s like very zingy for them to go between different things. For whatever reason for me that’s not the case. And so this morning when I was looking at my calendar, I’m like, Okay, that’s a that’s a lot of switching. What’s my mantra going to be? And my mantra for today is swoosh. Not necessarily like the Nike swoosh, right? But we can envision that energy. So each time I transition between something I say, either to myself or out loud, I literally say the word, you know, like, Okay, I’m transitioning to this meaning, swoosh. It makes me smile. It softens. Like, it’s kind of playful. So it makes the transitions feel less sticky, and more playful. And I double dog dare you to say the word swoosh out loud, right? It’s kind of tough not to get a smile on your face. Go try it. Do yourself a solid. Swoosh, and swooshing into wrapping up this episode. There are more examples in the book, but I wanted to, you know, I want to share one that was personal. And especially one that is a single word because, you know, there isn’t a specific example of that in the ebook. And again, there’s a ton of scientificness to backup, the energetic power and effectiveness of mantras. So I’m not going to go into habits here. Because that’s, I mean, in some ways, it’s a no brainer, like once you’ve cleared our mental clutter, negative mental clutter, connected with your purpose, and you’re like creating some momentum through mantras, who doesn’t want to put simple systems in place and habits that keep it all going? And not you, not me, not your employees, we all want that. So I’ll let you go ahead and read more about that in the ebook. And that’s a wrap on this series about Recharge, the ebook about how to energize your employees, and I say employees, but it’s really, it’s like any of us, you know, it’s just I’ve been thinking about how much focus there is on a great resignation. And the flip side of that is like, who’s still there? Right, so what can we do for them as well. Although, again, this would be helpful for people who are so interestingly, lots of folks are going into the, you know, leaving organizations and going to work for themselves, so self employment is skyrocketing. And I find that interesting, let me tell you, somebody who has ventured in those waters of self employment for a long time, you’re gonna have to recharge your batteries all the time. It’s not harder, and it’s different. So, so good for everybody. I encourage you to try one thing from the options offered in the ebook, just one, start small, see what happens. If it works for you, great, if it doesn’t, that’s fine too, try something else, you know, just build from there and then share it with others, right, let’s create an energetic ripple effect. Once folks on your team have like both nostrils above the waterline, then turn your attention to other ways that you can use words to communicate effectively, and put all that money that’s seeping out due to ineffective communications back in your pocket. Yes. Let’s do that. And like I said, I’m going to be talking a lot more about that, I have some kind of exciting news that I will be sharing in the not so distant future. So I’m excited about sharing that with you. Yeah, give it a go. Let’s counter an effective communications. Let’s swap in effective communications through like very, very, very simple shifts. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. for listening and for reading and for doing all you do to make this world, our world a better place. Never forget you are amazing. Do good. Be well. And I’ll see you next time.

The post Ep 45: RECHARGE: Purpose, mantras & beliefs (3 of 3) appeared first on Claxon Communication.