Undivided Life Newsletter
Volume 40 - December 18, 2023
Culture + Strategy = Impact
What if you started each new week saying, "Thank God it's Monday"?
For most people, this doesn't sound possible.
But you can begin building the future you want now with Undivided Life.
Leveraging our strategy and culture expertise, we equip and empower leaders to
create thriving organizations that promote human flourishing.
Subscribe to the weekly Undivided Life Newsletter
5 Minutes | 3 Insights | Immediate Impact
1. Don't Befriend Your Subordinates
You shouldn’t befriend your subordinates at work.
How can you command the respect necessary for managing and leading others when they consider you a friend? If you want to keep control of the situation, maintain your distance, and remember, it’s just business.
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There are so many false narratives, limiting beliefs, and dehumanizing parts of the “leadership” concepts shared above:
👉 Friends or not, the people at work are people. To call them subordinates is demeaning.
👉 You can be friends with anyone and still engage in difficult conversations. As a leader, you should seek to improve your communication skills (consider taking the Culture Foundations Courses from Undivided Life, which can be found easily on our website).
👉 Treating people as inputs and objects of utility makes them respect you even LESS, not more.
👉 Leaders shouldn’t “control” the “situation.” They should set a direction and guide the team’s forward momentum, illuminating the pathway when necessary.
👉 And it’s never “just business.” The 40+ hours we spend working each week is a significant part of our lives, and therefore, work is always personal, and leaders should honor that fact.
What part of the leadership narrative above sets off alarm bells for you? Have you ever experienced a leader who thinks and acts like this?
We aim to change this mentality and much more with the Culture Foundations Program offerings from Undivided Life so that you can bring work to life and life to work. That is how we can collectively promote Business as a Blessing.
-Pic below from the year Jeff Schiefelbein hired his childhood friend, Benji Coomer, to work with him at First Choice Power, where they established an even better friendship AND dignified working relationship that led to record-setting results and ultimately contributed significantly to the company's successful sale in 2011. They hosted a two-man team picture day at Walmart to celebrate our success.
2. Strategy + Culture = Impact
Do you believe that the proper combination of culture and strategy creates a competitive advantage in the marketplace?
Do you want to infuse a proven approach to culture architecture throughout your organization?
Are you ready to begin your Strategy and Culture Building leadership journey?
Great news - - even if your company is not ready to engage in a full-scale consulting project, you can take control of your leadership development today by enrolling in one or more of these culture building solutions from Undivided Life.
- Culture Foundations Online Course Series - 6 courses, go at your own pace, purchase separately or bundled for best value. Launching in January.
- Online Group Leadership Coaching - Live monthly coaching and office hours with Jeff Schiefelbein and the team at Undivided Life, monthly emails and supplemental videos, and an online community of likeminded learners. Launching in February.
- The Inner Circle Coaching - Similar to the Group Leadership Coaching with limited cohort size, more in-depth coaching concepts, and exclusive online community for your cohort. Must apply to be selected for the Inner Circle. Launching in March.
3. Bring Your New Baby to Work to
Improve Productivity and Mental Health?
To maximize productivity, your company can provide shorter maternity leave and allow working mothers to bring their new babies to work with them.
Think of the benefits.
During those crucial first months of a baby’s life, as they form invaluable bonds with their mother and experience rapid change every day, your employee can still sit in meetings that are inefficient and insignificant in the grand scheme of it all.
Don’t worry about the mother’s needs to rest, recover, and embrace the new life she is raising. Let’s get back to work (and please keep that baby quiet during meetings while you’re at it).
☝ 😡 I wish this opening paragraph was just clickbait, but it’s not.
This mentality is seeping its way into various organizations - for-profit and nonprofit, religious and secular – and if you are managing your organization this way, I urge you to reflect on how this approach lacks dignity and ultimately undermines the very productivity you are seeking to bolster.
Our company, Undivided Life, is less than one year old, and we won’t use that as an excuse for short-changing team members. In fact, we require a minimum of 3 months of maternity leave and welcome more if a mother feels it is needed. We give similar freedom (and responsibility) for paternity leave as well.
We are continuing to build the bench for future Undivided Lifer team members - message me if you want to be added.
