Vitalbytes Podcast

From Ron McMillan: One of our main goals in Human Resources is to help our companies, employees, and ourselves build a better and brighter future. After 40 years of training and consulting, Ron McMillan shares the three big lessons every HR specialist should take to heart to make your impact on the future even more meaningful. Learn more at vitalsmarts.com.au/change

From Dave Angel: “It’s not what you said, it’s how you said it!” Sometimes, our words fail to communicate our true intentions, and when people detect negative intentions (rightly or wrongly), they don’t feel safe. To have healthy dialogue, we need to create safety. Here are 4 skills that make safety a reality: Learn more at vitalsmarts.com.au/change

From Stacy Nelson: We believe many of us are just one habit away from being healthier, wealthier, and happier. But one thing I’ve come to believe about change is that we’re blinded to the reality of interdependence. To achieve balance, we need to accept this reality. Learn more at vitalsmarts.com.au/change

From Candace Bertotti: The way you open a crucial conversation makes a huge difference on the outcome. And if you want better results, you need to do these three things in the first 30 seconds. Learn more at vitalsmarts.com.au/change

From David Nelson: There are people all around us struggling through tough times. If you find yourself battling loneliness, anxiety, or disappointment, the Ancestor Effect can help you. If you’re willing to reexamine the story of where you come from, you can create new emotions and promote healthy actions in hard seasons of life. Learn more at vitalsmarts.com.au/change

From Daniel Pink: We go crazy explaining HOW to do things, especially when we’re in leadership and management positions. But with all the energy we spend on the HOW, we can lose sight of the WHY. When we tap into why motivation, we find the world’s most effective performance-enhancer: purpose. Learn more at vitalsmarts.com.au/change

From David Maxfield: Ever experienced discrimination at work? You’re not alone. When we asked people to tell us of a time they felt excluded or disadvantaged because of their race, age, gender, national origin, or sexual orientation at work, we got over 500 stories. Here are a few skills for confronting bias in a way that restores civility to the workplace. Learn more at vitalsmarts.com.au/change

From Candace Bertotti: How we start a crucial conversation matters. It determines if we’ll get great results or create a whole new set of problems. Specifically, the opening 30 seconds are extremely critical. Before we do anything we need to be clear on our goal — which isn’t to convince or compel. The real goal is to get better results. Here’s how: Learn more at vitalsmarts.com.au/change

Featuring Chase McMillan: Dialogue is great, but sometimes people start to take on the conclusions of the most charismatic or experienced person in the room, even if conclusions are flawed. Here’s how to overcome the subconscious bias of The Halo Effect. Learn more at vitalsmarts.com.au/change

From Chase McMillan: At VitalSmarts, we talk a lot about the importance of a safe environment for crucial conversations. But sometimes, safety’s not enough to make the crucial conversation a success. Even situations where mutual respect and mutual purpose abound, conversations can still fail because of an interesting phenomenon called The Halo Effect. Learn more at vitalsmarts.com.au/change  

From David Maxfield: If we’re honest, we’ve all let someone down and we’ve all been let down. But when it happens at work, it becomes more than a disappointment — it becomes an issue of job performance. And the best way to solve the problem is to look at the causes — the big WHY behind a behaviour. We group these causes into what we call The Six Sources of Influence. Learn more at vitalsmarts.com.au/change

From Dave Crenshaw: Our brains can only really handle one active task at a time, so when we attempt to multitask, these four specific areas suffer. Learn more at vitalsmarts.com.au/change

From Dave Crenshaw, author of The Myth of Multitasking: There are three types of people when it comes to productivity: Zen Masters, Wanderers, and Pig Pens. Think about your mode of operation to see where you fit and learn why you could be losing 40 hours a week. Learn more at vitalsmarts.com.au/change

From VitalSmarts Master Trainer, Justin Hale "Over a third of the workforce wastes more than five hours a week because of unaddressed issues and miscommunication between people in two different generations. This is a huge problem. To move forward, we need to bridge the generational gap. Here's how!  Learn more at vitalsmarts.com.au/change

From Emily Hoffman: Mutuality isn’t all about the other person. It’s about you, too. For people who know the literal definition of mutual, this may not seem like great insight. But for me, it makes a big difference. Usually when we think about finding mutual respect and mutual purpose for creating a healthy conversation, we focus solely on the other person and their goals, but this is too one-sided. The most important part of mutuality is missing. We need to care about ourselves and our own goals as well if we want a healthy relationship. Learn more at vitalsmarts.com.au/change

From Emily Hoffman: After 10 years at VitalSmarts, I discovered a secret: Crucial Conversations skills don’t always work. At least, they don’t always work the way we think they should. But they still work. These skills bring you to a solution, even if it’s not the solution you were originally hoping for. After struggling through marriage and divorce, I’ve learned just how powerful and positive these skills can be. Learn more at vitalsmarts.com.au/change

From Emily Hoffman: Many of us believe if we work hard, we’ll achieve success. When we achieve success, we’ll be happy. As it turns out, happiness can be more than the abstract, subjective end goal of our lives. It can actually be an incredibly powerful tool for helping us learn and achieve right now. Learn more at vitalsmarts.com.au/change

From Stacy Nelson: Sharing feedback is tough. But, the ability to share and receive all of it (especially the last 10 percent) transforms us into our most authentic selves. Learn more at vitalsmarts.com.au/change

From Stacy Nelson: There’s a difference between hearing and listening. Hearing is a function of physiology. Listening is a function of the heart. If I don’t feel safe with you, I won’t listen to what you have to say. The fact is, if we want people to listen to us, we have to make them feel safe. Learn more at vitalsmarts.com.au/change