The Art of Being There

by Deb Boelkes

Have you ever felt completely stuck in a situation that you can’t get out of, stuck—out of duty,  stuck—out of love, stuck—out of honor, stuck in despair—without hope? It’s not a good feeling.

When someone you care about is in such a position, what do you do?

You want to help them, but you don’t really know what to do. You can’t change their situation. Sometimes all you can do is just be there.

Sometimes just being there can make a world of difference. Sometimes just listening—just letting them know you care—can be the spark that turns a deep dark despair into a ray of hope.

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What’s a Leader to do to Create a Fantastic Work Environment?

Part 5: Mentor in the Moment

Below is an excerpt from an interview with Deb Boelkes by Tyler Gallagher, CEO and Founder of Regal Assets, featured in Authority Magazine  This is the fifth installment in a 5-part series.

What is the final thing that managers and executives should be doing to improve their company work culture?

Mentoring should happen every day, not just during annual or quarterly performance reviews. If you wait to discuss performance issues for weeks or months, until formal review time, you lose the opportunity to continuously improve performance and build close, trusting bonds.

Take time to walk the office each day—if you have direct reports nearby. Keep your office door open whenever you can and let people know you welcome drop-in visits. Smile when people come to see you. If your direct reports are located remotely, pick up the phone and call— just to say hello and see how things are going.

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What’s a Leader to do to Create a Fantastic Work Environment?

Part 4: Be a WOW Role Model

Below is an excerpt from an interview with Deb Boelkes by Tyler Gallagher, CEO and Founder of Regal Assets, featured in Arianna Huffington’s Thrive Global  This is the fourth installment in a 5-part series.

What’s another thing that managers and executives should be doing to improve their company work culture?

No matter where you are on the career ladder, never forget others are always observing you, just as young children observe and then mimic their elders. It’s up to you to set the stage.   Make the environment as welcoming and engaging as possible; set the bar for performance and behavioral standards; be the one everyone else wants to emulate. Let your WOW shine and the world will come to you.

The omelet chef at one of my favorite breakfast cafes never fails to delight customers because she goes out of her way to make everyone else feel special.

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What’s a Leader to do to Create a Fantastic Work Environment?

Part 3: Maintain High Expectations

Below is an excerpt from an interview with Deb Boelkes by Tyler Gallagher, CEO and Founder of Regal Assets, featured in Authority Magazine  This is the third installment in a 5-part series.

What is the next thing that managers and executives should be doing to improve their company work culture?

It’s crucial for managers to pay attention when individual performance is not up to par. Your best performers can quickly become demotivated when those around them are allowed to slack off or—worse yet—when underperformers are promoted merely to get them out of the department. Nothing will demoralize an otherwise highly-motivated team faster than promoting an underperformer.

I always made a point to develop close, trusting relationships with each of my team members. I made sure to put each one of them on paths that would enable them to achieve their personal visions of success and I could hold them accountable for high levels of performance.

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What’s a Leader to do to Create a Fantastic Work Environment?

Part 2: Know What Makes Each Team Member Tick

Below is an excerpt from an interview with Deb Boelkes by Tyler Gallagher, CEO and Founder of Regal Assets, featured in Arianna Huffington’s Thrive Global.  This is the second installment in a 5-part series.

What is the second thing that managers and executives should be doing to improve their company work culture?

One of the most important responsibilities a manager has, yet few seem to do, is to help each team member be the best they can be at whatever it is they love and want to do.

I can’t begin to count the number of times a senior executive has enrolled a “high potential” employee in my firm’s leadership development program, telling us the individual seems to have tremendous potential but, for whatever reason, is not living up to that potential. “I hope you can fix them,” the executive will say.

When I ask, “what is it you want us to fix?” they usually can’t quite define it. It’s up to us to figure it out.

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What’s a Leader to do to Create a Fantastic Work Environment?

Part 1: Relentlessly Share a WOW Vision

Below is an excerpt from an interview with Deb Boelkes by Tyler Gallagher, CEO and Founder of Regal Assets, featured in Authority Magazine.  This is the first installment in a 5-part series.

What is the first thing that managers and executives should be doing to improve their company work culture?

Make sure everyone in the chain of command understands the organization’s mission, vision, and values. Each and every team member needs to find purpose and meaning in what they do.

It’s difficult for employees to get excited about the mission, vision and objectives of an organization if they don’t know what these things are. It’s impossible for managers to align team members’ personal visions of success with the organization’s vision for success if such things are not made crystal clear and readily understood.

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Four months into the Pandemic: Insights and Words of Wisdom from Author and Performer, Mara Purl

Question #1: As of now, how has the evolving coronavirus pandemic and the various work, community, and travel-related restrictions being set in place impacted your life, personally and professionally?

The entire world has shifted to a different paradigm. I don’t believe any person on Earth has been left unaffected by the pandemic. Some of us have the resources to adjust fairly well. But many are suffering tremendously either directly because of the virus, or indirectly because of the economy lockdown—or both. With communities of color being especially hard-hit, I’m listening both to protestors’ legitimate complaints, and to leaders earnestly looking for solutions. I’m heavy-hearted over the suffering, and spend more time than before on investigating resources for my followers and reaching out to help where I can.

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Lessons Mama Taught Us

By Deb Boelkes

One of the lessons my mama drilled into me more than any other, a lesson which shaped my life and how I later raised my own children, was this:

Privileges are granted only to those who honor and uphold their responsibilities. 

Mama taught me this lesson when I was very young and she reminded me of it quite often as I grew up.

Now, I understand some readers may feel strongly that some people automatically have “privilege” because of the color of their skin. I get that. I find it sad that in this day and age such beliefs and biases continue to prevail.

But in the home where I grew up, we were taught that any “privileges” we had were because of the content of our character, because of our behavior. A privilege had nothing to do with ancestral heritage.

In our house, responsibility came first. Privilege followed … but only if.   This lesson from my mama meant:

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