The D.FINED ENGAGEMENT BOOKCAST with Doug J. Fine

Doug Fine

The mission of this podcast is to share the latest and best thinking of practitioners, authors, leaders, and influencers in the leadership, employee experience, and engagement space. Our audience is comprised of professionals in the leadership development, employee experience and engagement, and organization culture renewal space.

  1. D.FINED Engagement BookCast with Paul Higdon, Author of Hope and a Future: Life, Survival, and Renewal on the Streets of an African Slum

    06/13/2021

    D.FINED Engagement BookCast with Paul Higdon, Author of Hope and a Future: Life, Survival, and Renewal on the Streets of an African Slum

    Paul met a teenage boy of 17 at an orphanage in Niurobe, Kenya. As he was leaving John Maina said, "Never forget me." Paul Higdon never did forget and went back to the slum where he had met John. John was found in short order and their reunion was the beginning of a new and true family relationship for John and Paul.  Paul is now John's father, his wife Linda is now John's mother. Paul's book is dedicated to telling John's life story from being orphaned at the age of 5 and living his life on the streets of Africa's fifth largest slum, until today.     In this BookCast Paul Higdon and Doug Fine talk about the book and just after that they have a conversation with John Maina all the way from Africa. There are points of inspiration, points of HOPE, points of RENEWAL. Join them in learning about John's life journey and how he is doing today!  We also have the privilege of speaking to a friend of Paul's, Tom Gikunda. Tom tells his amazing story about how he began saving street boys from the slums and giving them everything they need for a successful life.     Find the book Hope and a Future here: https://tinyurl.com/mdnvvpv6  All the proceeds for Hope and a Future go to Little Boost Children's Fund, a charity that Paul founded to help the neediest . You will learn a lot at Little Boost's website and learn more about Tom's place, Hope House Street Boys Home. There are ways to donate to help Tom directly. Go to: https://www.littleboostchildrensfund....

    1h 37m
  2. D.FINED Engagement BookCast with Tracy Maylett, Author of Engagement MAGIC and The Employee Experience

    05/01/2021

    D.FINED Engagement BookCast with Tracy Maylett, Author of Engagement MAGIC and The Employee Experience

    In this BookCast Tracy and Doug Fine talk in depth about his two books.  Discussing Engagement MAGIC, Tracy disputes the myth of awful employee  engagement in today's workplaces. It's not as dire as you might hear  about. Actually, Tracy's data show engagement to be stratified in to 4  levels. But common understanding claims that a mere 25-30 are fully  engaged in their jobs and the rest are disengaged. Tracy explains how a  simple look at work groups will dispel any notion that 70% of the  country are disengaged at their work. We also discuss other important  aspects of engagement: That it is a 50-50 proposition, that there is a  data-driven model that, when understood, can help leaders and their  teams better understand and participate in working towards their own  engagement - it's the MAGIC model and you will come to understand the  role it plays in organizations that want to amp up engagement.    Speaking about Tracy's 2nd Book, The Employee Experience, he shares that  most organizations are looking in the wrong place to improve their  customers' experience. The main thing that brings about a great customer  experience, is designing the best employee experiences across the board  in everything that occurs. Delighted customers come from delighted and  nurtured employees. There is a connection with the MAGIC Model here too.  Highly engaged employees will have the best Employee Experience.    We unpack a lot in this BookCast and we think it can help in meeting  your employee engagement, employee experience, and customer experience   goals and objectives.     Tracy is the CEO of DecisionWise and has over 25 years of consulting  experience and organizational measurement and improvement activities  world-wide.     You can find out more about Tracy and his company and work here:    LinkedIn Profile    decision-wise.com  (Company Website)  Employee-X.com  (Company Website)  engagementmagic.com  (Company Website)  Twitter: @TracyMaylett

    1h 4m
  3. D.FINED Engagement BookCast with "Betting On You" author Laurie Ruettimann

    03/18/2021

    D.FINED Engagement BookCast with "Betting On You" author Laurie Ruettimann

    Laurie Ruettimann authored "Betting on You: How To Put Yourself First And (Finally) Take Control Of Your Career."   Doug Fine and she had a wide-ranging discussion about her book and the things in her life and career that let up to it. This is a book that Laurie wished something like it had existed in her early career as an HR professional. The workplace can be pretty awful at times and even toxic to people, doing real harm with their health, well-being, and family life. But Laurie advocates, even while admitting that reality, that people can improve their work lives by improving their overall outlook towards themselves which includes wellness, personal and career growth, self-leadership and taking better risks.  Their discussion includes ideas about setting healthy boundaries with work and having a rich and almost unrelated personal life as opposed to the 100% Productive All-The-Time ethos that can exist for some in these times. Laurie calls that "hustleporn." It can also coincide with working people thinking about themselves too much and some needing to be 'on" 24/7. "Always thinking about myself is a terrible place to live," she shares.    The fundamental premise of "Betting On You" is fixing yourself before you can do anything effective about fixing your work life or work in general. Hers is an action-oriented book which requires doing things rather than merely thinking about things. I know you will enjoy this bookcast and I strongly encourage you to buy the book and give it as a gift to friends and especially to those who are new entrants to the ever-changing world of modern work and workplaces.    Find "Betting on You"  Find Laurie Here:  https://laurieruettimann.com/ Laurie's LinkedIn Profile

    46 min
  4. It's Not Them It's YOU - Final Episode (8!) with Laura Sukorokoff - Wrap Up

    03/03/2021

    It's Not Them It's YOU - Final Episode (8!) with Laura Sukorokoff - Wrap Up

    In our final episode Laura and I talk about the overarching theme of her book, It's Not Them, It's You: Why Employees "Breakup" With Their Managers and What To Do About It. Good positive relationships between managers and employees are the key to any organization's success in meeting their goals, serving their customers, and making sustainable profits. An important foundation to those relationships are regular 1:1 meetings between individual employees and their manager. These meeting are not merely a "check-in" to see how things are going with specific tasks, goals, or projects. Of course those are important to discuss. But effective 1:1s go much deeper than that. These meeting should be seen as almost "sacred" time between people and distractions and interruptions should be minimized. Managers will need to practice supportive attending skills which includes active listening, proper sitting arrangements, and enough time to build better trusting relationships. Laura's book offers many great questions that a manager can use to help them in having rich, effective, and meaningful 1:1s. 1:1s are NOT meeting for meetings sake. Rather they are the means to build strong partnerships and mutual satisfaction and engagement between a manager and a team member. We discuss the overarching theme of the book, R-E-S-P-E-C-T, which coincide with the seven leadership traits that Laura's book emphasizes - Relationships, Empathy, Support, Promotion, Empowerment, Consideration, and Trust. Laura explains that the first trait, respect, is woven through all the others traits.    Many thanks to Laura Sukorokoff for giving of her time and leadership expertise to me and the listeners of the D.FINED Engagement BookCast. Here's a link to Laura's book. It will greatly benefit a manager / leader at any stage of their career. We think it would be a great addition to a management library. https://tinyurl.com/y3fe2k2c Laura can help you personally or bring her expertise to your workplace.   Her Website: https://www.cchangelearning.com/ Her LinkedIn Profile: linkedin.com/in/laurasukorokoff  Her email: laura@cchangelearning.com

    42 min
  5. BookCast w/ Author Laura Sukorocoff - It's Not Them, It's You - Ep. 7 - Tom and Trust

    02/19/2021

    BookCast w/ Author Laura Sukorocoff - It's Not Them, It's You - Ep. 7 - Tom and Trust

    Doug Fine and Laura Sukorocoff talk about the final Leadership trait  covered in her book, "It's Not Them, It's You: Why Employees "Break Up"  With Their Managers and What To Do About It." That trait is "trust."  She  tells the true story of Tom who, like most people, began his new job  with high enthusiasm. It was a good fit and he believed that he could  learn and grow a lot working from the owner of a small training company.  However it was not long before there were signs that Tom joined a  company that might not have been financially strong enough to support  him as an employee. Tom's trust in the company and his manager was being  eroded by a series a things that happened to him.  Although Tom enjoyed  the work, promises made to him were not fulfilled and his manager was  becoming unreliable and untrustworthy. Tom had to look for another job  as a result.    Laura emphasizes that you cannot have a effectively operating  organization without sufficient trust between the people and especially  between a manager and her team. There are significant business costs  associated with a low trust work environment. Especially now, in a  global pandemic, foundational physical and safety needs are being  threatened by companies towards their people. Things are particularly  uncertain now and it is extremely important to maintain mutual trust to  weather the storm together.    Another aspect touched upon in this conversation are actions to take when a manager does or says something to damage trust with their people.  Laura lays out the steps that must occur for there is to be a chance  that trust can be reestablished.      Here's a link to Laura's book. It will greatly benefit a manager /  leader at any stage of their career. We think it would be a great  addition to a management library. https://tinyurl.com/y3fe2k2c    Laura Sukorocoff can help you personally or bring her expertise to your workplace. She helps everyone she encounters to grow!    Her Website  Her LinkedIn Profile  Her email: laura@cchangelearning.com

    42 min

About

The mission of this podcast is to share the latest and best thinking of practitioners, authors, leaders, and influencers in the leadership, employee experience, and engagement space. Our audience is comprised of professionals in the leadership development, employee experience and engagement, and organization culture renewal space.