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Celebrating 2 years of Allize!

4/10/2025

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Dear Friends and Colleagues, 
Happy Anniversary, Allize!
Two years ago today, on April 10, 2023, Allize officially launched. 
The past two years have been incredible. I am honored to have worked on a wide range of projects with some truly phenomenal people. 
Here is a sampling of some of the roles and projects from the last two years:
  • Project manager & change lead for an HRIS implementation for a global company
  • Lead trainer & change management consultant for an asset management system implementation for a large public sector organization
  • Information architecture consultant for an established software company looking to scale
  • Knowledge management subject matter expert & trainer for a global company
  • Project manager and lead trainer for a Microsoft Copilot rollout for a global company
  • Lead trainer and lead change management consultant for an Microsoft 365 suite rollout for a large nonprofit organization
  • Leadership & strategic management consultant for a technology firm
  • One-on-one technology consultant for several small business owners

I can’t wait to see what comes next!

The work of Allize is only possible due to the amazing people and community that support and  think of Allize when opportunities arise. I know I am not alone in this endeavor; I appreciate every call, every lunch, every connection, every project, and each and every one of you. 
I hope I get the opportunity to work with you during Allize year three! 
THANK YOU for everything. I am eternally grateful! 
Kelly Fumiko Weiss
​Founder & CEO



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Boundaries

9/6/2023

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Written by Kelly Fumiko Weiss & Laura Weiner-Kiser

In this blog post you will…
  • Learn about boundaries we put up and boundaries we take down
  • Learn about boundaries in the workplace
  • Learn about how boundaries impact our stress levels
  • Learn that boundaries are personal and will be different for everyone


There are so many types of boundaries. Emotional boundaries. Physical boundaries. Figurative boundaries. Work boundaries. But there isn’t a lot of understanding about what exactly our own personal boundaries are, how they work, and how to change them. 

This week, I’m delighted to bring into Conversations Laura Weiner-Kiser of Change by Challenge. Laura is a personal trainer, mindset & life coach, and an expert on how we can change our mindsets to lead healthier lives. 

Kelly
I think the most important boundaries in my life are the ones I set up to ensure the health of my family life. For example, what hours I work. What I bring home with me after work. What I can do to disconnect from work so the stress doesn’t bleed into my personal life. But I’ve found, there are also the hardest boundaries to keep, especially running my own company and even more so in this digital age where I have a super computer in my pocket at all times. What advice do you give to people to set up boundaries so their work doesn’t bleed into their life?


Laura
When giving people tips on boundaries, I get honest. I want them to understand what to expect and how they will experience it so that they can tell when they’re on the right path. So I share my story, boundaries were challenging for me. I was raised to believe taking care of myself or prioritizing my needs was considered selfish. It was really uncomfortable creating boundaries for that reason, but it was also one of the most important actions I took to honor the relationship I want to have with myself. When I was constantly bending for everyone else, it was almost always at a cost to me. NOW, I can help and give from a space of choice rather than obligation or low self worth. It’s a very empowering transition.

I try to help them understand settling boundaries with your family, friends or coworkers actually make their and your life easier. They know what to expect and that eases the mind. I encourage people to set boundaries by establishing what is ok and what isn’t ok with given circumstances. Then find clarity within themselves IF someone crosses the “not ok” line, what will they do about it? Often people are so uncomfortable setting boundaries because they don’t want to experience the emotional discomfort. So I have them start with boundaries within themselves. Start by honoring that relationship and see how it feels, it tends to be motivating. 


Kelly
We spend so much of our time at work. I’ve never met anyone who isn’t stressed out by their jobs. I often find myself so ramped up during the day. I personally get very stressed when I need to get something done but have to wait for someone else to do something very small before I can finish. I also get really stressed when I am expected to work later in the day or into the evening because I am an early bird and prefer to work in the mornings.  What boundaries can we create for ourselves to reduce stress in the workplace?


Laura
Trying to set workplace boundaries is a very personal journey. However, there are some basics people can look to. The most obvious is the hours of work you are available. That may not be the exact same thing as your start and stop time. Maybe you are available until 4, but you like to close your day finishing emails until 5. You’d communicate that you’re only available until 4. Which brings me to the other KEY boundary so many people miss, communication. It starts with understanding within yourself the type of communication styles you will tolerate and the ones that cross your boundary. We can’t expect people to be mind readers, but when we don’t have clear boundaries around our communication it’s like a game of telephone with miscommunications piling on. Whatever the boundaries, a foundational rule for work boundaries I follow is the 80-20 rule. This is my cut off time 80% of the time. I don’t communicate that, but I am understanding that life is life. It will get messy and I will have to choose moments to cross my boundary. What matters in those scenarios is the choosing. 

Understand when you first establish these, it will feel uncomfortable to uphold them. That does NOT mean you’re doing something wrong, it just means you don’t have experience of holding them yet. After a month or so your brain will catch up. That being said, I know some of you might be thinking, if I hold boundaries like this I might lose my job. Maybe, maybe not, but that’s something you’ll have to look at. We get 1 life, and our job is part of that life. Is it playing the role you want it to play? Or are valuing work/money over your own happiness? 

Kelly
We’ve spent a lot of time talking about what boundaries to put up. But what about boundaries to take down? For example, I recently discovered that I put up a lot of boundaries to protect myself from potentially getting burnt out, which often means saying no to things on weeknights or weekends for fear of being too tired to do my work. Which means, I miss out on life events and prioritize work instead. I’m working really hard to readjust my thinking around where my energy goes.  What are the boundaries that you think people need to break in order to live less stressful lives?


Laura
That’s a very complex question because some boundaries people need to take down are the same ones others need to put up. I would say overall people need to understand the necessary boundaries required in their individual life to feel respected primarily by themselves. That will look different for everyone, but we’re all unique so it’s kind of supposed to. I would also suggest implementing boundaries based on the life you want to live and your value system. For example, I value health, so I wake up early before work to get my workout in. Do I WANT to do that every day, NO WAY! But it is how I want to live my life and it does contribute to me feeling respected by myself. As for boundaries to drop, one’s made that create disconnection out of fear. Fear is a useful emotion, but it’s amplified in our culture because we don’t face many physical threats. If you have a boundary to only talk to people who agree with you, that would breed disconnection and polarization. It’s hard because in today’s culture things have grown heavily polarized. Trying to separate us based on our preferences….who cares if I like ketchup on my hotdog and you prefer mustard… NOBODY. But when it comes to politics we get too heated and we end up creating boundaries that cause disconnection which ultimately amplifies our stress.To that degree looking at boundaries that influence your stress for the better or worse I would also suggest. At the end of the day we need to be able to do an honest self reflection week to week on how we lived our lives and consider how we can better support ourselves. 


Thank you, Laura, for this incredible conversation!


Post blog action steps:
  • To learn more about Laura, visit her website: https://www.changebychallenge.com/. 
  • You can also follow her on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/change.by.challenge/ 
  • Check out our past blog posts on
    • How to Be a People First Project Manager
    • Lessons I’ve Learned from Managers I’ve Loved
    • The Employee Experience: What Different Markets Have in Common and How We Can All Make the Employee Experience Better
  • Contact Us if you’d like to collaborate on a blog post for Allize conversations OR you’d like to learn more about our services that aim to make work life better. ​
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How to Be a People First Project Manager

8/16/2023

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By Kelly Fumiko Weiss

In this blog post you will…
  • Learn what questions to ask to ensure you are putting people first on projects
  • Learn that 90% of a Project Manager’s job is communication
  • Learn about how Allize can help you train your project managers and/or run your projects

Any time I’m training Project Managers, I start by asking them what it means to be a good project manager. What are the duties and responsibilities? What does success look like? 

Inevitably, the first answers are always administrative:

“Having all the paperwork in order, invoices, contracts, Gantt charts, etc.”

“Creating the project plan and keeping it updated.”

“Sending out weekly status reports. Scheduling meetings. Tracking milestones.”

While these are all tasks that a Project Manager has to do, none of them are what makes a person a good project manager. And they certainly don’t make someone a People First Project Manager. 

My answer?

Project Management is about communication. 90% of a Project Manager’s job is communication. 

You could have the best project management in the world and never see a Gantt chart. You could have the worst project management in the world and have all your paperwork in order. 

What makes the difference?

The key is making sure the PEOPLE on the project are taken care of and that they know what’s going on.  

What does this look like?

Here are some of the key components to being a People First Project Manager:

To start the project off:
  • Does everyone know why the project is important?
  • Does everyone know why the project will help people?
  • Does everyone know their role on the project?
  • Does everyone know everyone else’s role on the project?
  • Does everyone understand what’s expected of them and when?
  • Does everyone have the tools, skills, and access they need to succeed?
  • Does the project have a shared, open, transparent space to post project information?
  • Does everyone know how to use collaboration tools? And understand why open, transparent work is important and impactful?
  • Does everyone know what to expect of you? What are your SLAs and are they shared with the project team? For example do they know:
    • When you will post status updates
    • How long it will take you to follow-up after meetings
    • How long it will take you to answer questions
    • How often you will update project documentation
    • What format your posts will come in
    • What you will be using to document the work

During the project:
  • Does every meeting have an agenda?
  • Does anyone need extra support prior to a meeting?
  • Is it clear who is leading each meeting and why?
  • Do meetings include what questions need to be answered, and record what those answers are?
  • Is every meeting followed up with a meeting summary AND clear action items 
    • Clear action items include who is to do the work and by when
  • Are status reports easy to read? 
  • Do status reports convey the most important information? (outstanding items, action items, blockers)
  • Are RAID logs actively used to guide conversations and track progress?
  • Are project plans reviewed in internal stand-ups and external client meetings?
    • And by reviewed, we mean are changes discussed? Updates verified? Is the work to update the project plan collaborative and not done in a silo?
  • Are stakeholders asked if their needs are being met?
  • Are needed changes being communicated effectively?
  • Is there a clear escalation path for issues?
  • Are milestones being celebrated?
  • Is there a mechanism for sharing praise and/or success stories?
  • If mistakes are made and solutions created, is that being celebrated as well?

To end the project: 
  • Is it clear what constitutes the project’s end? 
  • Is the end of the project being celebrated?
  • Is it clear who does what after the project ends, aka that the project has a clear path to operationalization?
  • Is a Lessons Learned session conducted? And are those results shared out?

I could go on and on here, but we hope the theme is clear. Every bullet point on these lists is about making sure:
  • expectations are clear
  • information is readily shared
  • people’s needs are considered and met
  • work is done collaboratively 

There is no mention on this list of administrative work being the sign of quality project management. Sure, we need RAID logs and project plans and invoices need to be paid. But those are just artifacts. The COMMUNICATION around project artifacts is what’s key. What difference does a RAID log make if people don’t talk about the Risks, Actions, Issues, and Decisions that are critical to a project? What difference to project plans make if people are not working together to adjust them and agreeing to the project’s course? What difference does invoicing make if there isn’t agreement as to how the invoices are being sent, at what points, for what milestones, and what to expect? 

90% of a Project Manager’s job is communication. 

And being a People First Project Manager means using the tools of project management to facilitate conversations that will ensure everyone has what they need and knows what they are meant to do. 

Project Managers are meant to serve. And the best way to serve is to put the people’s needs first. 

To help, Allize offers a variety of Project Management capabilities that are effective in the short and long term. We can help train your project management teams on how to run effective projects OR we can help lead by example and serve as the project manager for initiatives starting or in flight.

​Project management is at the heart and soul of what we do, and we want to share our skills with you! 



Blog post follow-up…
  • Find out more about our Project Management services, including leading and management projects, project evaluation, PMO set-up, and training Project Managers on our website
  • Check out our past blog posts on
    • Lessons I’ve Learned from Managers I’ve Loved
    • The Employee Experience: What Different Markets Have in Common and How We Can All Make the Employee Experience Better
  • Contact Us if you have any questions about Project Management or our Project Management Services
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Lessons I’ve Learned from Managers I’ve Loved

7/26/2023

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By Kelly Fumiko Weiss

In this blog post you will… 
  • Hear five pieces of advice from three different managers 
  • Gain insights into how this advice plays out practically in the workplace
  • Learn about how Allize can help you with training your Managers 

It’s no secret that managers make or break a job. If you have a good manager, the company could be burning down around you and you’ll probably stay and ride it out. If you have a terrible manager, you could be in the best job in the world that meets all your goals and desires, and have to quit to save your sanity. Perhaps these statements are a little hyperbolic, but that’s what it feels like, right? 

Over the course of the last 20 years, I’ve had every kind of manager under the sun. Good ones. Bad ones. Nearly invisible ones. People older than me. People younger than me. People who love managing people, and some who absolutely hate it. 

What I’ve noticed though is that unlike most things in life - where the bad is what sticks with you more than anything else - what sticks out the most to me when I think about the managers I’ve had are the lessons I’ve learned from the good ones. The great ones. The Managers that I’ve loved. The ones that affirm your life and your job and make you want to be a better person. I rarely think about the bad Managers I’ve had. But I think about the good ones all the time. 

Not all advice is equal. Maybe the advice I’m about to share won’t resonate with you the way it did with me. But I hope, regardless, it will give you faith that caring about people enough to share your wisdom with them can literally change their lives. 

So, here are the top five nuggets that I’ve kept with me from various managers over the years. (It almost feels wrong to share these out; like these little nuggets that feel like they are just for me. But it also feels wrong to keep them.)

Top 5 lessons I’ve learned from Managers I’ve loved

#1 - The hardest part about management is delegating work to people when you know you could do the work better

We’ve all been there, right? You watch someone doing work and you think, “I could do that so much better.” Sometimes it’s true. Sometimes it’s just hubris and human nature. But when you are a manager, it happens all the time. That’s because it’s part of our job as managers to LET PEOPLE LEARN. Our teams have to try, and make mistakes, and try again. People don’t get better at what they do from being told exactly what to do, or having their work highly edited, or from you doing their jobs for them. People learn by doing. Our job is to advise, guide, and when needed train. Our job is not to rob them of the opportunity to figure it all out. 

Still, let’s face it. It can still be painful. Things may take longer. Or have to go through more drafts. Or may not turn out the way you would have done it. But that’s okay. You just have to remember that’s part of your job as a manager. And your team will thank you for it.  

#2 - You don’t have to point out the asshole in the room

This one needs a little context. When I was younger, and I saw people being treated poorly or differently, I would call it out in the moment. I would get defensive and all my instincts to be a protector and advocate would come bursting out. But I didn’t always choose my moments well. And sometimes I made things worse by letting my emotions show too much. I also didn’t have faith that people higher up than me were noticing. I didn’t have faith that something was being done about it. 

That’s when I had to learn that talking to my manager 1:1 about what was going on was far better than calling it out in the room. Checking in on my coworkers 1:1 was more caring than exacerbating the situation. And I learned that HR matters are far more delicate than you might think. 

As I’ve advanced in my career, I’ve also learned that from a management perspective, pointing out publicly or even in a small group setting, that someone is being a jerk is feeding into office gossip and contributing to a toxic work environment. We all need to vent to our coworkers. But it must be done in a safe space and should be less about the person who’s being a jerk, and more about finding support for how the jerk is making you feel. 

#3 - Compiling your questions and going over them all at once is better than constantly pinging someone throughout the day

I had an amazing manager who I really trusted and wanted his opinion on everything. I also wanted to prove myself to him and show him that I was working hard. He took me aside one day and told me that the constant pings were really hard for him. It was distracting and counterproductive. He said it very kindly and constructively, and presented a solution for a collaborative doc where I could list things out and we could go over them together at a set time each week. If something was truly urgent, then I could book 15 minutes on his calendar. 

I was so grateful to him for sharing what he needed, and letting me know how my actions were impacting him. And now it’s something I think about every day. We live in a world with collaborative tools that ping us ALL THE TIME. In the spirit of this advice, my workaround has been to have set times on each day to check all of my pings. So I don’t feel like I’m constantly being distracted as people reach out to me. And for people I manage, I have set 1:1s that they know they can rely on so they have time and space to talk to me. 

This advice has continued to resonate with me on multiple levels - being vulnerable, advocating for yourself, presenting a problem WITH a solution, and giving feedback with care. 


#4 - Emotions are contagious. And some people (like me) are more contagious than others

I never really thought about how my moods were affecting people around me, until my boss took me aside and let me know that when I’m in a good mood, everyone is in a good mood. And when I’m in a bad mood, everyone is in a bad mood. He said that energy matters. And he gave me a book on the topic of “energy leadership” for me to learn from. 

I loved that he was helping me to be more self aware AND giving me resources to learn more about energy in the workplace. 

Over the years, I have noticed that he is right. When you are in a group meeting, there are some people that you don’t notice as much. You can’t tell what kind of day they are having and you may even not pay too much attention to them in the room. Then there are others that fill up the whole space and, even if they aren’t talking, radiate how they are feeling. 

Learning this about myself has been key to my growth in the workplace. I now take it on as a huge responsibility to manage how I present myself to my team. That doesn’t mean I fake who I am or what I’m feeling. If I’m having a bad day, I let people know upfront so they understand that my energy isn’t to do with them. But for the most part, I try to smile, lead with kindness, and try to have my personal energy help the situations I’m in, not hurt them. I will forever be grateful for this level of self-awareness. 

#5 - The most important thing leaders can do is maintain a clear head

We often buy into the idea that we must work all hours of the day to be good at our jobs, to be good workers, to prove ourselves, to hustle, to succeed. But at the end of the day, leaders need to have their full faculties to make the best decisions. So, if I’m exhausted or overwhelmed, overworked or disjointed, I’m not going to be a good leader. This means that we must learn to step away. To take breaks. To take days off. To lead by example and understand our own headspace and put our best self forward. Therefore, the best thing I can do as a leader is make sure my head is clear. And if that means working fewer hours or stepping away when I need to, then so be it. 

These are the best pieces of advice I have ever received. As you can see, they are very personal to me, but I hope some or all of them resonated with you. 

Moreover, at Allize, we would love to help you train the next generation of managers. We have training programs that give managers practical and actionable advice on how to manage people 1:1 and in teams, all with a people-first, human-centered approach. Our management training can be done in a 1:1 setting, group setting, or enterprise wide. We can focus on first-time managers, or help existing managers shore up their best practices. The most important part is to make sure that your company knows that you value quality managers, and that you are doing your part to make sure that your managers have the training and tools they need to succeed in supporting your employees and creating a quality work environment. 


Blog Post Follow-up
  • Have management training needs? Please reach out to us and we’d love to talk to you about them. 
  • What did you think of our five pieces of advice? We’d love to hear your thoughts! Tell us in the comments. 
  • What is the best advice you have ever received from a manager? Tell us in the comments. We’d love to hear about it! 
  • Go back and read our first blog post about the employee experience. This will also help you understand our approach to putting people first in the workplace ​
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The Employee Experience: What Different Markets Have In Common and How We Can All Make the Employee Experience Better

7/12/2023

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By Kelly Fumiko Weiss

Over the course of my career I’ve had the privilege of working in multiple markets. 

Throughout high school and college I worked exclusively at nonprofit organizations, ranging from helping children with special needs to social service agencies to immigration advocacy organizations. I am currently on the Board of a local food pantry. 

After receiving my graduate degree in social service administration I worked in municipal government and later worked for many years in a large public sector school district.

Twice I have worked at religious organizations, including a Christian school in Hong Kong and an Archdiocese Pastoral Center. 

And I’ve also worked in the private sector. Most recently at two different large IT consulting firms. 

I’m not sure how many other people have crossed markets as much as I have, so I wanted to share some employee experience commonalities that I’ve seen. Spoiler alert: what these markets have in common FAR outweigh their differences. 

I know the urge to think the grass is greener can be strong. If you are feeling the constraints of the nonprofit market and think maybe the private sector would be better - I can tell you, there is NO market that has figured out how to prioritize their employees well. 

First, let’s talk about what drives these markets. These are oversimplifications, but they paint a broad picture and give us a starting point.

Core Motivations:

Nonprofit Organizations
  • Fundraising
  • Mission
  • Awareness

Public Sector Organizations
  • Compliance & Reporting
  • Taxpayer accountability
  • The press 

Religious Organizations
  • What I call “butts in seats” - increasing participation (and therefore donations)
  • Mission
  • For larger religious organizations, the press can also be a huge motivator

Private Companies
  • Revenue
  • Image
  • Client satisfaction
  • Accolades

Notice something missing from all of these lists?

I do.

What’s missing is the employees. The people doing the work. Without fail, across markets, even at companies that really care about their employees, companies that are a true delight to work at, the employees will come second (or third, or last) to their larger drivers. 

Let’s talk about some other similarities in the employee experience across these four markets:

  • Employees are the most expensive part of any organization. Therefore pay raises, bonuses, cost of living increases, etc. become harder to justify and expertise, longevity, and institutional knowledge become less attractive than “new” (aka less expensive) talent
  • Because there’s never enough money for all the people an organization needs, people often wear multiple hats, doing two or three people’s jobs at once 
  • Salary and benefits are often seen as perk enough and therefore all other employee considerations are either on the chopping block or have already been stripped away
  • If employee considerations are in place, and money gets tight, those are the first things to go
  • HR departments are there to protect the company and rarely have enough (if anything) in place to support employees
  • Fear of what a business choice may look like to others, to the press, or to leadership will often trump doing what’s right AND often what’s best for employees, in favor of what will outwardly play better
  • Learning management systems are rarely used, and if they are, training is poorly tracked. Training that is well tracked is training that is legally required
  • Employees are not trained for management positions; most employees are promoted to management because they are good at their jobs, not because they will be good managers
  • Employee professional development has to be done off-hours / on top of current work instead of being built in as a part of the 40 hour work week
  • Paying for professional development opportunities often comes with strings attached - like agreeing to stay at the organization a certain amount of time afterwards and if you don’t, paying the money back
  • Flexibility in work (reduced hours, schedule shifts, accommodations for disabilities, children, or sick family members) rarely comes with a reduced workload
  • People that opt to go on FMLA are more likely to be on layoff lists once their FMLA is over
  • Expenses relating to employees are seen as “off mission” and can and will be excoriated as wasteful spending 
  • Leaders rarely take the time to talk to the “boots on the ground” workers
  • Communication across departments is rare
  • There can be a lot of “us vs them” mentalities within the organizations themselves and/or the organizations they support
  • Performance review processes typically feel icky (yes, that’s my professional term for it) and are often unorganized and more often change from year to year
  • Job descriptions are not updated
  • Job expectations are unclear
  • Company communications come in one modality - usually email

I’m guessing that regardless of what market you are currently working in, most if not all of these bullet points resonate with you. 

So, why is it that we don’t put our employees first?

Why is there cognitive dissonance around the idea that if employees are well taken care of, they will be able to better do the jobs they were hired to do?

When did we stop valuing expertise?

Why do we think we can get work for free?

Why isn’t a well taken care of workforce seen as the better business decision?

Let’s face it, we are all complicit in this because we all need our jobs. So none of us rock the boat too much. Being a disruptor can lead to being unemployed. 

And if we are in leadership, we are beholden to the constraints of how much money we have and therefore how much money we can spend. These things are real. 

It’s easy to say that the employee experience should be better when you’re in the vacuum of an aggrandizing blog post. It’s much harder to push back on the tide of poor employee experiences when you need to get your paycheck and your health insurance OR you are the one that needs to keep the company books balanced. 

So, what are we to do?

How do we make employees feel seen and respected at work in the face of immovable institutional barriers? 

Here are some suggestions that do not require institutional change, cost no money, AND if enough people do them, intrinsic change may follow. At Allize, we have about a million more of these suggestions, so look out for future blog posts where we will continue to talk about these and other topics.  

For employers:
  • Have language at the ready that backs up your decisions. Worried about how investments in your employees will play out in the press? Curate an answer that supports your employees and justifies investing in them when you are calm and collected. Have it at the ready if/when you get pushback. Don’t leave it to the moment when you may be emotionally triggered to try and craft your response. And make sure it demonstrates how much you value the people that work for you (and therefore the people they are serving.) 
  • Even out what you do. Take a look at who is busy and who isn’t. Who is doing two or three jobs at once? Who has less to do that can help someone with more to do? What work isn’t getting done because you don’t have people to do it? People and jobs are NOT interchangeable. But with some attention and training, the workload can be more evenly distributed. 
  • Scale down what you do. If everyone is overloaded and there’s no money to hire more people, it’s time to scale down what you do. It’s classic project management. Triple constraint of scope, time, cost. If you cannot increase cost, you have to reduce scope. This will carry pains in and of itself, but doing less can often be the better choice. Take the extraneous work off of people’s plates so they aren’t overloaded and can focus on your core services.
  • Communicate to employees in multiple formats. If you have something important to say, don’t just email it out. To start, email is fine, but make sure to email it out multiple times. Then also post it to shared spaces. Then tell department heads and managers they need to share the message in team meetings and 1:1s. Record a quick video of leadership’s message and post it to the company. Make sure your message is heard. All you need is a smartphone! 
  • Make management training mandatory for anyone who is a manager. I know your first thought is, how do I do this with no cost? There are a lot of ways to do this internally. You can have an experienced manager within your company lead a workshop. You can leverage free resources online. You can curate a list of books that can be checked out from the library. You can curate a list of podcasts to listen to. Create the to do’s your managers must do and then make sure there’s space for them to discuss what they learned AND how they are going to incorporate what they learned into their jobs. The important part is to demonstrate that being a manager is a unique skill that must be learned, supported, and nurtured. 
  • Make sure your employees are part of client project user personas. When working on projects for clients, we often create user personas, creating different buckets for the employees and stakeholders of our clients. BUT when was the last time you saw a user story for your own employees? The people working on the projects are affected by the work too! How does this project impact the team working on it? This is particularly important for long term projects. I know it can seem counterintuitive. And it feels like breaking the proverbial 4th wall to introduce yourself into the equation. BUT there are a million ways you want the client to interact with you. You have needs that need to be met. The project will impact how much time you have to work on other things. The stakeholders will impact the efficiency of your work. Don’t forget about yourself and your team!
  • Create change management plans for your teams that are just as robust as they would be for your clients. We all know from working with clients, that even the smallest process change will be addressed and incorporated into our change plans. Why not do the same for our employees?
  • Praise and celebrate. We are too quick at work to breeze past the wins. Milestones hit. Difficult tasks completed. Bids won. We often only celebrate on holidays or at the end of big projects. But there are tiny victories each and every day. We should acknowledge, celebrate and share. Celebrations don’t have to come at a cost. They can be a potluck. They can be a praise post in a shared space. They can be a group walk to a local park. Enjoy the creativity of creating ways to celebrate your people. 

For employees:
  • Document your own job. Keep a running list of the things that you do for your company. Every few months, compare that to your job description. If you see the scope start to drift, bring this to the attention of your boss. Ask for clarification. BUT you must have specifics. It can’t just be a feeling. Use your documentation to make expectations clear. 
  • Be kind. This may seem trite, but it could not be a bigger deal. If you are kind to everyone in your interactions, not only will you feel better but they will feel better too. Being kind does not mean being a pushover. Kind does not equal weak. But showing genuine care, taking a moment to acknowledge we are all human, smiling, paying attention to your tone… it will all go a long way. If everyone is kind, the workplace automatically feels better. 
  • Be communicative. What are your needs? Does your boss know them? What have you learned this week? Have you shared that with anyone? What are the expectations for the project you're working on? Are they clear to everyone? All the questions you have, other people probably have them too. Be proactive and answer them for yourself and others. The key to this is picking the right time and place. Constantly bombarding collaborative spaces with questions will burn people out. Start with 1:1s with your boss. Bundle some thoughts together into one post instead of several. Put the thoughts in the correct channel/shared space. Be communicative, but also thoughtful. 
  • Present problems WITH solutions. If you have a problem at work, don’t just complain about it. Take time to collect your thoughts. What is the problem? Why is it a problem? What is the impact of the problem? What are specific examples of the problem? AND most importantly, what are potential solutions. Leadership may not take your specific solutions up, but it will get their wheels turning on what solutions can be AND it will show them you are a team player, looking to make things better, and not someone who has the potential to lower team morale.  
  • Praise and celebrate. (Yes, this is so important, I’m putting it in twice) Don’t just leave it up to leadership to create praise and to celebrate work. Lead by example and celebrate the moments you see and praise the coworkers that are doing well. Build a positive culture from the ground up. 

Like I said, this list doesn’t solve the institutional problems. And there are a million more ideas we could share. But if you enacted even half of this list, what a difference it could make.  

We’d like to hear from you on ways you’ve discovered to improve the employee experience at little or no cost. It doesn’t matter what market you are in. The problems are often the same. Please share your ideas in the comments below. We can’t wait to hear from you! 

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    ALLIZE

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