Culture | Dave Holvig

June 30, 2022July 1, 2022

This Is Not My First Rodeo Leadership

Moving From Proving To Improving

Have you noticed—no matter what kind of work you’re having done on your house—the person giving you a bid always rips on the work that’s already been done?

Is there a drywall guy on the planet that thinks someone else’s work is good?

No one comes in and says, “Well, it looks like the drywall was done by a pro.”

Usually, it sounds more like…

“Well, whoever did this must have been completely insane, possibly drunk and a bonified ‘hack,’ BUT we can rip it all out, do the same thing and keep this cycle of insanity going if you’d like. You are lucky to be alive.”

“Also, this is not my first rodeo.”

Proving mode: A state of needing everyone to know that you know.

This is not just a drywall problem; this is an occupational hazard that permeates every profession at any level of the org chart. It’s one of the least talked about, most pervasive reasons people don’t thrive in their careers.

None of us are safe from it and becoming it. Our inner ‘know-it all’ is one weak moment away from making us walk the proving plank. So, the faster we recognize it, the sooner we can “knock it off!” Then improving can begin.

This blog will outline three overly practical steps to help eliminate the urge to tell people it's not your first rodeo. And more importantly, help you start moving from proving to improving.

May 20, 2022May 20, 2022

3 Ways To Unlock A Gen-Z Friendly Culture Today

PART 2

Welcome to the final installment of “3 Ways To Unlock A Gen-Z Friendly Culture Today.”

If you missed PART 1 you can read it here. It will give you context for where we’re headed next. Briefly, we covered the importance of culture at this unique moment in history, the reasons we struggle to recruit and retain Gen-Z, and why we need to make specific shifts.

Now it’s time to talk shift? 😬 Let’s start future proofing…

April 29, 2022May 3, 2024

3 Ways To Unlock A Gen-Z Friendly Culture Today

PART 1

Generation Z is leaving. That’s right. Gen-Z is now running late to the office if you’re lucky… or happen to be a “Gen-Z friendly culture.”

A scary number of them are planning their goodbye parties, which we all know only happens if you’ve been around for AT LEAST ten years (twenty in Gen-Z years). Sixty-five percent of Gen-Z plan to quit their job this year. Yikes!

So, if we’re going to convince them to stick around, we’ve got to hurry up and find a way to lead them… right?

Wrong.

Before we can lead them, we need to find a way to love them.

If you just rolled your eyes, this blog’s for you!
And if you quietly said “Amen,” this blog’s about you.

This two-part blog series will outline three shifts that will help you unlock a Gen-Z friendly culture today.

Also, these shifts are no longer suggestions; they are ‘make or break’ for Gen-Z.

Good news—every ‘Gen’ will appreciate them. After two years of constant covid change, there’s no better time to make some moves.

Hint: It has nothing to do with ping-pong tables and flexibility. That’s icing. First, we must build the cake.

March 25, 2022March 25, 2022

The Best Question Ever And How To Help Others Grow

Lead or be liked is bogus.

No doubt, one of the most challenging parts of leadership is facing into the conversations no one else will, but someone must. It’s also the most rewarding.

That’s where it’s at.

Growth happens in the last one percent, in the ‘thing behind the thing’ that most are unwilling to point out. And that’s why—leaders say what peers wish someone would say to their co-workers.

Unfortunately, that means not everyone will like you; but they will have to respect you—if you do it well.

I’m human.

I like to be liked, but I’ve learned to love watching others soar more.

So how do we help others grow?

We care enough to share what’s holding them back and walk with them through whatever’s next.

When we do that, they begin to grow. And when your people start growing, they have no interest in going anywhere.

Simple right?

But there’s a catch.

If you don’t genuinely care, you need to focus there first. And possibly buy a nice tent. After that, it might be time for some camping.

That will make sense later. I promise.

February 11, 2022February 11, 2022

How To Build A Fear LESS Feedback Culture Part 2

PART 2 “What You See Is What You Say.”

Feedback is the ongoing conversation of an organization and one of the most OBVIOUS indicators of cultural health. It’s the dialogue of development.

Tragically, we can go for years without paying any attention to how that convo is being handled.

It can become a routine part of the job; even if it’s toxic, it’s just what we do. Or worse, it’s who we think we are.

It’s not.

You might just need a new view, which is what this blog is all about.

If you missed PART 1, you can read it here.

To Review…

Fear less feedback is helpful, not hurtful; it’s timely and ‘for the love,’ fixable. It’s motivated by the desire to help others grow and develop. And most importantly, it’s rooted in relationship.

Give that kind of feedback consistently over time, and people will begin to fear less and hear more.

Simple right?

But what if your culture is past the point of tweaks and needs a full-on pile driver?

This post will help leaders change the type of feedback they are getting by changing the questions they are asking, which becomes the lens for everything.

January 21, 2022January 21, 2022

How To Build A Fear LESS Feedback Culture Part 1

PART 1 “Fear LESS, Hear More.”

If you had something in your teeth, would you want to know about it?

Maybe something (hard to hear) is holding you back from getting to the next level in your career—a specific reason you are not being promoted—would you want to know why?

For most of us, the answer would be—OF COURSE!!!

This is my year to go all in btw. Anyone else rockin’ Invisalign?

But what if the last ten times you had lettuce lodged in your adult braces, it was brought to you in a hurtful, unnecessarily public, or shame-inducing way?

I’m guessing the answer would be more like:

“It depends… Who’s giving me the feedback? Do I know them? Do they care about me? Are they telling me in private or making a scene? Are they judging me for having braces as an adult?

There is no in-between.

In my experience, organizations either give hurtful, overly direct feedback or dance around the issues for days. They give way too much feedback, nitpicking their people to death or none at all.

No feedback is ONLY better than bad feedback, but here’s the problem:

We all need feedback!

A thriving feedback culture is often what separates good from great organizations and is one of the most overt indicators of health.

So how do we create a culture that wants to hear it, doesn’t fear it, and does it in a way that honors the people involved?

It starts with getting 3 things in place.

December 10, 2021December 11, 2021

Love The Ones You’re With. (An easy way to guard against the great resignation.)

When someone decides to leave staff (without even thinking), we throw elaborate goodbye parties and give emotional speeches. Through tears, we tell people how important they are and what a profound impact they’ve had on us.

We focus on who they are, except quirks become perks, annoying habits are now hilarious, and little wins are memorialized as landmark achievements.

We don’t hold back; no, we go overboard. We have cake parties.

But what if we did that before the resignation?

Dare I suggest the possibility that there would be no resignation? (No great resignation?? Crazy talk?)

November 5, 2021November 5, 2021

Avoiding The P-Trap of Comparison. (Why you don’t need to be the best to lead the rest.)

We all know that comparison kills contentment. But do we understand that for leaders, comparison kills credibility and skews our view of reality?

You can’t lead a team and compete with them at the same time.

So, what do you do when someone comes along who is better than you? (And they always do… eventually.)

October 8, 2021October 8, 2021

How to lead people through trying-times online (with no regrets).

I can’t be the only one who’s gotten that unsolicited weekly usage report from my iPhone and thought the average time was for the week—not the day.

…Luckily, I’m able to quickly justify it because of my insatiable desire to learn through long-form podcasts.

Yes, I’m delusional, but so are you!

Most of us are online a lot of the time.

**Somewhere along the line we became unhinged from our ‘digital self.’**

We started to believe we could say and do things online because that was just our shadow self, our avatar.

We get into weird arguments and draw hard lines. We barge into conversations with high passion and ‘low to no expertise’ and then scratch our heads in disbelief when it’s not embraced. It’s madness. But why?

Would we do that in real life?

How often do you find yourself arguing with someone at the grocery store? When’s the last time you insulted your neighbor? “Hey Scott, the guy you voted for is an idiot!”

The answer should be never, I hope! But it happens all the time online.

Here’s the problem: Who you are online is who you are.

September 3, 2021September 3, 2021

Why Gen Z thinks work time is the BEST time to schedule a haircut.

(And what we can all learn from them.)

Let me start by saying I’m not an expert on the topic of Gen Z. Not even a little bit. Instead, I’m drawing from my own experiences and making a few wild assumptions.

Don’t question it, go with it.

No science. No data. Just a sinking suspicion that I’m not the only one who has been surprised by the workday haircut. I’ll explain.

Imagine this… I would ask someone in their early 20’s to do a task related to their job, and they would freely admit to me (their boss) that they were unavailable—because they had a haircut—smack in the middle of the workday!

This one took me a while to figure out. I’ll admit I was perplexed at first.

My initial thoughts:

“You have two days off a week, is there something I’m missing?”

“Maybe their stylist is only available on a Wednesday at 2pm?”

“Maybe they need their hair a certain way FOR work that I’m unaware of?”

Disclaimer: For the sake of this blog the haircut is symbolic, and the term Gen Z could also apply to ‘young’ Millennials.

Feel free to substitute haircut for ANY superfluous activity you’ve been given as an excuse that has nothing to do with the job they were hired to do. i.e., Massage, oil change, carwash, or anything dog-related.

FWIW, if this response was an isolated incident, I certainly wouldn’t be blogging about it! It was a pattern that became the impetus for my own personal quest to try and better understand the ‘Gen Z angle.’

Once I started shearing through the layers—one trendy word and awkward interaction at a time—I made a few discoveries along the way. Buckle up!