Ep#58 Increasing employee motivations and effectiveness with Liz Haberberger

April 18, 2022
EP58 Liz Haberberger 1280

About the Guest

If it's not fun, I'm not doing it. Life is too short to do things you don't enjoy.

I work with businesses to create talent management and development strategies so they can meet their strategic goals. I help people discover their strengths, be more effective, and achieve more success in work and life.

I have worked with individuals and organizations ranging from Fortune 500 companies to smaller, family owned businesses. With a consultative approach I am able to build long lasting partnerships with new and existing clients. I am an experienced sales professional, business owner/leader, keynote speaker, trainer, and coach. Key areas of expertise for me are leadership, communication, culture, employee engagement, management, sales, and creating learning and development experiences that work.

Dale Carnegie has been in business since 1912 and has been transforming individuals to be more confident in their personal and professional lives. We create environments where people and teams work more effectively together. You can reach me at elizabeth.haberberger@dalecarnegie.com.

Episode Summary

Know today, I woke up this morning, and I said You know, instead of waitin' on a good day Waitin' around, through ups and downs, waitin' on somethin' to happen I just said... We're gonna have, we're gonna have, we're gonna have We're gonna have a good day and I’m going to make something happen If you’re looking to learn more about unlocking the potential within your current leaders. Then my next guest will inspire you. Oh and if you thought my energy level was 110%, I can tell you that she has me beat….. I bet you didn’t think that was possible. Oh, and if you don’t get a chance to see her speaking on a stage, maybe you might catch her on American Ninja Warrior in St. Louis.

Episode Show Notes & Transcript

Host: Jon

You know, I woke up this morning and I said, you know, instead of waiting on a good day, waiting around through the ups and downs, waiting on something to happen, I just said, I'm gonna have a good day today. Yep. We're gonna have a good day today and I'm gonna make something happen. Welcome everyone. If you're looking to learn more about unlocking the potential within your current leaders, then my next guess will inspire you. Oh. And if you thought my energy level was 110%, I can tell you that she has me beat. And I bet you didn't think that was possible. Oh. And if you didn't get a chance to catch her on stage, maybe we're gonna see her on American ninja warrior. Yes, that's right. You heard me say it. Our next guest is a proud president of Dale, Carnegie of St. Louis, Liz Berger.

Host: Jon

And if you happen to check out her LinkedIn profile, her title says effortlessly energetic. And that is so true. Oh, and I have to agree on her. Quote, if it's not fun, I'm not doing it. Life is too short to do things that you do not enjoy. Liz works with businesses to create talent management and develop strategies so that they can meet their strategic goals. She also helps people discover their strengths, be more effective and achieve more success and work in life. You're gonna wanna stick around for some insightful information on how you can help improve employee engagement and create a fun and creative environment. Liz helps create environments where people and teams work more effectively together. All right. Don't forget to hit that. Like subscribe and notify, because guess what? It's time for me to bring Liz onto the show. Please join me in welcoming Liz Berger to the show. Liz. Thank you so much.

Guest: Liz

Of course. Thanks for having me, Jen.

Host: Jon

All right, Liz, I got a poke fun of myself. I pronounced your last name, right? Correct. You did.

Guest: Liz

You did. All right. You did.

Host: Jon

Okay. Judge check. You got it. <laugh> Liz. Let's give the audience a little bit of backstory because I think when you come out and you tell what you're doing or what you were doing, that energy level and that weird quirkiness, and that is a compliment by the way, is gonna come out and they are going to see how like addicting it is. And they gotta listen to the entire show.

Guest: Liz

Yep. So Liz, So I live in St. Louis, Missouri, and I own deal Carnegie in both St. Louis and Kansas city. So we do leadership development, communication skills, sales, training, customer, service management, all that kind of stuff. We get to work with individuals in companies. Um, and we bring a lot of energy to what we do.

Host: Jon

I think that's a reoccurring theme happening on my podcast lately. A lot of people I'm talking to is about that leadership, that management, that culture, what are you seeing right now? And why has this become so big?

Guest: Liz

So I, I don't know if it's become so big right now. I think it's always been so big. Like at any point in time, you could say, boy, there's never, it's never been more important to have deal Carnegie than it is right now. And it's probably true because deal car. So deal Carnegie started the business in 1912, long time ago. He wrote the book how to win friends that influenced people in 1936. Well, before there were, you know, internet, uh, I don't know. I would think like lights were maybe around then, but he wrote it a long time ago before computers, all this stuff. And it's incredible that the things he taught back then, the principles that he gave back then are just as relevant if not more relevant today. And so at the end of the day, all things being equal, people are gonna do business with people.

Guest: Liz

They like, people want to enjoy going to work. They want to feel like what they do matters. And that they're appreciated. And I, I don't think that's ever changed, but things keep changing in the world. And so every time the thing changes, it always goes back to people and it's like, oh, this is hard for people. How do we get people okay. With these new things? How do we get people to change? How do we get people on board with these new things? And it's the same stuff that works. It's the same principles, it's the same concepts. And so people don't often do 'em because they think, well, it's so easy. Like, duh, that makes sense. Well, common sense doesn't mean common practice. And so it's, it's, I don't think that it's more important today. It's just that things keep changing. And so people keep going back to the foundations and it's like, but are we doing those? Are we, are we doing the things that we say we know are important? And it just keeps coming to light that like, if we're gonna keep changing, we have to keep the human side of business front of mind because things don't change unless we change. And so we've gotta be able to connect and influence and inspire, um, in lots of different ways.

Host: Jon

It's really powerful to hear that because I just had a conversation with Lindsay Dowd and her title is called chief heartbeat officer. And it really, yes. What

Guest: Liz

Cool title.

Host: Jon

Yes, yes. Actually in fact, folks take a look up here for the video that I did with Lindsay Dow for heartbeats instead of headcount. And she talked about the culture in a company and what you're talking about sounds like the, not the same thing, but more or less the energy level. And let's take a look at people and their culture and what Dale Carnegie actually wrote before. We're recycling. We're coming back to it and it's still as important then. And now I just find it really, uh, I wanna say inspirational that you can use some of this same stuff to the company culture. Now it's, um, real quick, I'll leave you with this thought. I had a conversation with a gentleman called Frank, and he mentioned how, you know, humans were transformed into industry almost like robots, instead of actually as humans, you would do more work with a human and more potential socialize with a human than you would do with like, you know, just coming in, doing your repetitive task and leaving

Guest: Liz

Mm-hmm <affirmative>. Yeah. There's I forget what book I read this in. But, um, when they first started in like schools and school became a big thing for kids, the reason they introduced the school bell was so that they would learn that the bell means like when to start and stop so that when they went to work at a factory, they would be used to, oh, I'm supposed to start work. I'm supposed to stop working. And so we've kind of conditioned people, um, or we we've brought this, like you have to work, you have to work. Your value is what you do. But what we know is that at the end of the day, it's like who you are and that's, that's the value. And so if we, if we just focus on the behaviors of, well, what do I need you to do? What am I gonna get from you? That's where we get compliance. Versus if we focus on who, who do, are you, who do you wanna be? And how can I help recognize all the strengths that you have? That's where you can start to accomplish more. You're more productive than you are by just focusing on how do we make the task more efficient? Like we have to bring the human side into work. If we wanna be successful, we can't just focus on the process and the efficiencies because it's the people at the end of the day who make it happen.

Host: Jon

Wow, that's really echoing the same exact thing. I just heard where we were creating the classroom ready for the industry. And I didn't even think about the bell. Mm-hmm <affirmative> I remember that ding next, next. And all of a sudden we have lunch bell. Oh yep. I gotta go to lunch, carry my lunch. That's very empowering and unique to look at the messaging that has already been instilled in the classrooms. Do you feel, I, I know we're getting, we're going right into topic here. I, I wanna, okay. Let me take a step back, cuz I get a little ahead of myself. Let me tell the folks why I reached out to you. I saw a video you did on LinkedIn and your energy and your quirkiness was exactly what I was like, oh my God, she'd be perfect for this show and telling her story. She has so much energy. People were gonna resonate with what she has to tell. I reached out to you on LinkedIn and here we are today. Can you tell folks about that LinkedIn post? You did what you were actually singing?

Guest: Liz

Uh, yes. So, uh, one, I do not sing. I was not singing. I was lip syncing <laugh> um, but the CEO of die Carnegie global, um, his name is Joe Hart and he's been doing this deal Carnegie take command challenge where he's challenging someone to say, what is one thing? What's one, one thing you've done in your business, that's helped you be successful. And so he challenged me. So I, um, one of my, my core values is fun. I love to have fun in everything that I do. And so, um, I found this little video and so it was basically just about like, Hey, I, you know, I just, I decided I was gonna have a good day today. I'm not gonna sit around and wait for something good to happen. I'm gonna go make it happen. And so, um, I just, I lip synced it.

Guest: Liz

I do not sing. You do not. You do not want me to sing. Trust me. Um, but yeah, I just, I made that video and then, uh, posted on LinkedIn and then challenged a couple other people because that, that truly people will say to me, you know, a lot that I bring a lot of energy that I bring a lot of positive energy. And they're like, where does it come from? Like, do you do that all the time? Or is it just when you're training? I'm like, no, that's pretty much me all the time. Like I just have, I don't know. I just have this energy and I, I like truly believe that people are good. I believe that every day can be good. You just have to look for it. And if you choose to find it and like focus on the good, you're gonna get more good back.

Host: Jon

You mentioned, uh, control your own happiness. I think that was one of the theme or think positive. I'm gonna think positive today. And the whole theme around it was control your own happiness. I think it definitely gets people to think, first of all, putting it on LinkedIn is very, uh, empowering because not many of this stuff will make it to LinkedIn. Everybody keeps it as a professional network, but I think that's really where I found, I forget who shared it or liked it. And I was like, oh my God, this is, this is like, perfect. It really set the presence for the, for the day I reached out to you. I was like, I, we booked something. I think we had a meeting like the next day or something. And we're like, all right, let's get this done. And let's do this. Have you always wanted to do this type of work?

Guest: Liz

Yeah, I think the right, like LinkedIn is the professional spot and you know, people have all the, all the different social media platforms have different stuff. And like, I think the older I've gotten, the more I've realized like professional. Like what does that really mean? You know, professional doesn't have to mean boring. And I think that's what a lot of times people associate, well, if it's professional, then you have to be in your suit and you have to like, you can't laugh and you can't have any fun. And you just have to tell people the facts and what it is like that doesn't, to me, that's not what professional is like professional is when you can show up with credibility and say, Hey, here's a lesson I've learned or here's some research or here's what I know when you can connect with somebody and give them value.

Guest: Liz

When they find value in you, that's when you've become like credible or you've built this professional brand. Um, so I, I am a firm believer and you have to be really good at what you do, right? You have to have the credibility, you have to have the knowledge, but who says you have to be boring. Like nobody wants to listen to someone, you know, boring, just sitting there, talking in a monotone voice, telling you what they know. Like if you have a little fun with it and you bring a little energy, people are so much more likely to listen.

Host: Jon

Well, I have to agree with you. I've I've looked at LinkedIn and I used to, you know, post all the professional stuff and now, and, and it what's really difficult is separating the two personalities. You how you naturally want to interact versus the LinkedIn personality where, oh, no, I have to be professional. Guess what folks you now get us as we are and how we are. If I'll, I'll put a link to Liz's, uh, LinkedIn post and the description below, I had a conversation with her shortly afterwards, she has the same energy as in that video, as she does. Now, you can tell throughout this podcast, I mean, look at her like you, you you've gotta say what I I've gotta ask you is, are you putting these out elsewhere? Like Twitter? I have to ask TikTok because that seems to be the latest thing. I don't wanna sound old, but I'm not huge on it. I can't say yet. Cuz I told my kids I'd never be on YouTube yet. This is where I'm at, but here you are. <laugh> yeah, I know. Right. We, we won't. That's why you never say never, I guess.

Guest: Liz

Yeah. So, um, LinkedIn is where I do most of, most of my stuff I do. I don't do Twitter. Um, I do have an Instagram at, at E Haber Berger. Uh, I do. So one of my hobbies is ninja warrior. So I do like ninja warrior training. So I post a lot of ninja videos on there. I also have two kids and so I'll post like fun stuff with them. And then I post some like kind of more leadership type things there too, that, that you get a little more of a, a whole, whole Liz versus LinkedIn, which is like really more. The I've always got like a professional leadership, some type of lesson to it, but Instagram would be the other one that I use.

Host: Jon

Wait, wait, wait, wait. You said ninja warrior? No, no, seriously. It makes me wanna run upstairs and get my ninja warrior shirt.

Guest: Liz

Yes. Uh, yeah. So I've never been on the show, but I've been training for it for the last probably two and a half years. Um, I'm going to North Carolina in a couple weeks for this. Uh, it's a league called the national ninja league. Their world competition is in North Carolina. So I do, I like compete and it's so fun. I love doing ninja warrior.

Host: Jon

You gotta send us a link. I wanna share it. There's gotta be something I have to tell you a small and a very short story. Okay. My wife and I went to Vegas in June a couple of years ago, by the way, never go to Vegas in June. It's usually one of my things. We don't do it very hot, but she got us actually backstage passes to be on the recording in Vegas.

Guest: Liz

Oh, how cool.

Host: Jon

And we were there in the audience. We showed up at 11 o'clock at night. And by the way, when they record in total darkness, yeah. They record in total darkness. We were there to four o'clock in the morning with the recording. We got to see how they did all the recordings, uh, how everything went really in production level. I think we only saw probably two different, um, you know, sets or two different events. Other than that, it was still going on. It was like a full on, they actually had the, um, tower doom and they had everything all set up. It was just, it was pretty cool to see this in person, but at four o'clock in the morning, my wife and I were like, yeah, we're going the bed.

Guest: Liz

Yeah. I, I would imagine it's a fun, um, it's a fun sport because it's, you know, it's like physically challenging. It's mentally challenging. And the community like the whole ninja community is just crazy, supportive and nice. I mean, you'll meet a bunch of people who are like the really big name ninjas and they're just nice as can be their support. You know, they don't care how well you do, but it's a, it's a good community to be a part of. Uh, you know, it's a fun sport to do.

Host: Jon

Hey, uh, captain NBC, if you're watching Liz one mind, a shout out to join one of the events isn't St. Louis hosting one, I believe they hosted.

Guest: Liz

Um, so they did a couple years ago, but it's funny. So captain NBC, he actually works at the gym that I go to. So I know Jamie really well

Host: Jon

<laugh> oh, <laugh> that is totally ironic. I did not know this at all folks. I did not. That's pretty cool. Yeah. Well tell him I like the hair and his to his personality. Uh, I can see he's.

Guest: Liz

He's awesome. You

Host: Jon

Guys interact? All right. Okay. That's pretty cool. Sorry, folks forgetting off on a subject. But when you hit something that, you know, we can really resonate with, I love the ninja warrior stuff. I actually, I I've never competed. I, I just don't think I would have it. I, I enjoy watching it. We used to watch it like every Mondays. Okay. Liz, I gotta go. I gotta go back to the subject. I sorry, everybody that we got off on it. Liz, you mentioned a quote. If you present poorly what you do well will be assumed you do poorly. Can you explain that?

Guest: Liz

Yeah. So, um, by a guy named Grayville Tugen, he says, right. If you present poorly what you do, well, people will think you perform poorly. And basically what he's saying is you can be, you can be really smart. Um, you can have all the technical knowledge in the world, but we as humans, we make assumptions about people by the way they present themselves. And whether that's fair or not, it's true. And so if you show up to a meeting, if you show up to an interview and you know, you just can't really make eye contact and you're kind of quiet and you're unsure, people will automatically make these assumptions about you. That maybe you don't know enough to be in the room, or you're not ready to be in the room. So deal Carnegie talks a lot about communication. And the words you say are important, but how you say them, the body language you use, when you say them is, is more important, even in some cases than the words. So it's that ability to not just know knowledge is one thing, but it's not power until you apply it. And so you've gotta be able to show your knowledge or to come across in a way that makes you sound and look credible and confident because the knowledge in and of itself is never enough to be successful.

Host: Jon

I have to put you on the spot and by the way, this is a recording. So just warn you ahead of time. How am I doing? How am I presenting

Guest: Liz

You? Are, you know, you do a good job. You always know what you're doing. You sound confident, but it does. It makes a huge difference of, you know, you could have the smartest person in the room, but if they can't present themselves that way, if they can't come across that way, people make these assumptions and again, right or wrong. I'm not saying it's the right thing to do, but it's what we do. And so you've gotta be able to present yourself in the way that you want to be portrayed.

Host: Jon

So I always feel that I'm probably, I don't know, I have imposter syndrome. It's, it's, it's a real thing to me where I just don't feel that I am up the par I'm doing well. I really appreciate the feedback. No pressure you were recorded, but I, I know you weren't li well, I hope you weren't lying, but

Guest: Liz

Everyone has everyone has imposter imposter syndrome, like in some, in some scenarios. And they say, that's actually a good thing because it was, we get too comfortable. Then that's when our skills kind of like start to slip it's we've we should always have that. Like, can I do this? Because that kind of keeps us on our toes too, in a sense, and keeps us working hard. So we don't just say, okay, I got this. And then we just sit back and like coast,

Host: Jon

I think you get stale when you coast and somebody else is going to come above you. And you are going to feel like you are way behind in your skills, way behind in the things that you do. And then you're gonna be struggling. I think you're always, I think imposter stream is 100% good because you are always striving to get better. It's not that you're trying to reach a goal. You're just trying to get better from time after time. You, you, you're not moving that goal post.

Guest: Liz

Hmm. Yeah. I mean, it can, right. You can take it to an extreme where you like, let it paralyze you when you can't do anything. Not good either, but yeah. A little bit of it in doses is healthy.

Host: Jon

Switching gears. Let's talk about Carnegie Mellon. Let's talk about what you do, how you can help a company. What do you do? What are the first steps? I mean, obviously contacting you and realizing that you need help, but let's give some backstory on how we can, or others can reach out to you and really take those steps forward or identify that they actually need help.

Guest: Liz

Yeah. So deal Carnegie partners with companies, really in two ways, we have what we would call kind of public programs. And that would be anybody, right? An individual can just say, Hey, I wanna, I want public speaking. I wanna develop sales skills. I wanna be a better leader. They could raise their hand. We've got offices in pretty much every major city in the us and in about 85 countries in the world. So you could literally hop online. You go to Diehl, carnegie.com. You put in your city and it's gonna pop up options for you. Like here's a program you could go take. And so an individual could sign up to come take programs. The other way, um, that we work is that we'll have a company call us and say, Hey, you know what? Like, I don't just have one leader on my team who wants development, man.

Guest: Liz

We want this for our whole company. Or we want this for our entire sales team. And then that's where we get to come in and have a lot of fun building a custom solution to say, okay, well, what are your company's mission, vision values? What's your culture? Like, where are you trying to go? What's the business initiatives that you're trying to achieve. And then we get to say, okay, if that's what you're looking for, well, then we're gonna design an experience. That's gonna help you get there. So that's the majority of what we do these days is kind of go into companies and work more on those custom solutions and putting together programs and experiences that fit what they do. Um, but yeah, the easiest place to start right. Would be to just hop on Diehl, carnegie.com, find your local office, and then you could reach out to someone there and then they could have a conversation about what options they have, what programs they have and how they partner.

Host: Jon

Can I nominate individuals? I don't know if you want to answer that question. <laugh> um,

Guest: Liz

Yes, people, it's, it's an interesting, um, an, an interesting perception. Sometimes people have of like, you fix people, right? Like you, you fix people. You, we give you the people that are broken and you fix them for us. Diehl, Carnegie firmly believe that people are mostly made up of strengths and we still hold that belief today. And so it's like, we love when we get to work with people who are already like crushing it. So many times we go in and we work with organizations and there leaders are already really strong. It's not like they're doing anything wrong. And they're saying, we have to fix this person. It's like, we see so much potential in this person. We see so much potential in this group. How do we get 'em to the next level? And that's, what's really fun for us because we still, again, firmly believe people are mostly made up of strengths.

Guest: Liz

It's our job to just go find those strengths and like turn 'em into superpowers for somebody or for an organization so they can be really successful. Um, so yeah, so people say that all the time, right? They're like, oh my, my husband should take this. My coworker should take this. Um, and I always say like, great, you know, send, send our goal though, is to say, look, look for all the strengths, the things they do. Well, we don't go in and say, oh, you're messing that up. That's not good. You can't do that. Our goal is say, what are you doing well? And how do we make that? Even even stronger than it is today?

Host: Jon

Here's a scenario. I'm a company, right. I reached out and I said, you know what? I would like to get you guys in here and take our leadership to the next level. You come in, you sit down. And by the way, I can you coming in and sitting down in the energy level, in the room, just going up about 10, 15, maybe a hundred notches. And they're super psyched about having you there, bringing you in and getting this stuff done. You've asked a bunch of questions. Now you take this back and do you customize and design every single one individually for that company? Cuz I'm imagining that everything is unique because goals and things, what's the next steps after you design this course,

Guest: Liz

Uh, then we go implement it. Then we actually go in and we will facilitate, uh, a lot of our programs are time faced. So deal Carnegie is very facilitated, not lecture based. And so that's where a lot of the customization comes in. So yeah, we'll design this custom experience, but then it's the way we facilitate it. That really makes it feel custom because at the end of the day, every company's focused on the same things, right? It's trust, it's communication, it's accountability. But the way it looks at all of these companies is really different. So if we went in and were to just say, this is how you build trust, you do this, this, this, and this. Well that's when it doesn't work. But when we go in and we ask the questions of, okay, what makes a trusting relationship here? Okay. Think about some trusting relationships you've had.

Guest: Liz

What do they look like when we get them involved in the process? And then they they'll will talk about it. And then we'll say, okay, who can you try that with this week? Like who do you need to build trust with? Then they get to go try it. And then they come back and then we say how'd to go what'd you do? So there's this really interesting thing that happens where they're, they're learning from us, but like this much, most of what they're learning is from them actually practicing these things. And then they're learning from other people. And that's where the big value comes in because our, our job is to create the environment is to create the experience and then they get to come in and they're the ones doing the work. They're the ones figuring out, Ooh, I liked this, this, I'm not sure about this yet. Let me get some feedback on that. That definitely doesn't seem to fit here. They're the ones figuring out what do I like? What do I not like, how does it fit? Is it gonna help me? What do I wanna do? Because at the end of the day, they're the ones who get to decide, do I wanna do this? Or do I not wanna do this?

Host: Jon

So it's a constant feedback cycle on improvements.

Guest: Liz

Yeah. So we, um, there's a, a cycle of performance, performance change that everybody goes through. So you first have to have the right attitude. Key attitude for us is willing to try. You don't have to be the most excited the most gungho. You just have to be willing to try. Once you have the right attitude, then you need some knowledge, knowledge is important, but it's not the end all be all. If you only have knowledge, that's where it stops. You have to move into the third phase, which is practice. And that's where we spend the bulk of the time at Diehl Carnegie. It's how do we practice these skills practice often involves a coach. So that's where we come in. We get to be the coach, right? Making those little tweaks, little adjustments, asking those questions. And then after you've practiced enough, that's when you get a new skill. So we spend the bulk of our time at, in Dale Carnegie in practice, not in the knowledge piece, and that's where the results come because they're actually practicing and getting feedback.

Host: Jon

Do you guys come on site and work one on one, work with the teams. I know things have been different through the last two years, but let's talk about what the future's looking like or currently kind of transitioning towards. Is it, you know, one on one interaction, are we doing a lot of video stuff, some phone calls.

Guest: Liz

So we're, we're definitely, I think gonna continue to stay hybrid. So we're doing a lot of in person training right now. People are wanting to bring people back together. So we're doing a lot of in person training, but maybe not the whole thing's in person. Maybe they'll start in person. And then maybe we do some live online training. You know, something like this, we'll add one-on-one things where maybe we'll do some one-on-one coaching or we'll do assessments with people or we'll help them, you know, with like some micro learning videos to keep concepts, top of mind, there's lots of different options that companies can say, like, I think this would help. This might fit. You know, we can build it many different ways, but I think we're definitely gonna continue to see hybrid learning events where it's some in person, some virtual, some self- pace, maybe some one on one, some big group instruction. I don't think it'll go back to where it's just like one thing you just show up for a day and you're done, or you just watch the video and you're done.

Host: Jon

Uh, if you sent me that or I had to do that, I'm out, there's no energy, there's no energy and interaction for it. I'm imagining that this methodology and how it's using it's been around for a while is gonna become even more important. Do that. We've kind of, a lot of us have been home or remote for the last two years. And that human interaction, actual physical face to face stuff is missing and kind of needs to be relearned or reestablished. What are your thoughts?

Guest: Liz

Yeah. So one of my favorite books is by Jeff Calvin and it's called humans are underrated and he talks about technology. And at some point it's not gonna be can technology do that because technology's gonna be able to do everything. The question isn't, what can technology not do? The question is what will humans not let it do? And there are some things that we will still say, like, I want a person for that. I want, I wanna talk to a human. And that's true that that for sure is true where technology's going to keep evolving and it's going to keep getting better and better. And there are certain things that we're gonna say, I don't want technology to do that. I want, I want a human to interact with me in that way. I want a human to talk to. I wanna work with a person, not a computer.

Guest: Liz

And so as technology evolves, there's going to be more and more things that we're saying this skill is so valuable. Not because technology can't do it, but because we want a person to do it. And so being able to be really good at those skills is even more critical because all of the other stuff a computer's gonna be able to do now, the technology's gonna be able to do, but there's certain things we won't let it do. And it's those human skills. So being, being able to do those really well is probably gonna be one of the most valuable skills in the next decade, because technology's gonna be able to do everything else.

Host: Jon

I find it really valuable that I want a human to interact with when I have a problem to solve, like you're calling a company, uh, like a call center. I don't want a computer to tell me what your balance is. I don't want to tell you what your problem is. I literally say representative about 10 times until it says I've given up, I'm sending you to a real person.

Guest: Liz

Yeah. Or if you're, you know, if you're in a, in a role, maybe it's a new role and you have a coach or a mentor, you know, or you're looking for someone to give you guidance. Like you wanna connection with a person. You don't, you wouldn't wanna just get an email every week that you'd be like, oh, this is what I need to do. That's what I like. You wanna feel like this person cares about me. This person is in my corner and wants me to grow and develop. So there's always gonna be things that we say, yeah, technology can do it, but I don't want it to, I want a person

Host: Jon

For management. Do you think it's really key for, and when I say management, I'm gonna actually talk about a leader, right? Because there's a boss, there's a manager. And then there's actually a leader. I think it's really important for them to connect with employees or connect with people and really understand where they're coming from. Everybody has a different story, but when they come into the office or they're online, whatever, however they're working and we're just talking shop all day long. Is that personal connection missing? And how do I feel that my leader is advocating for me or in my corner?

Guest: Liz

So employee engagement dropped for the first time in 2021 in about a decade, significant drops were in healthcare. And with managers, we also know that the number one driver of employee engagement is your relationship with your immediate manager. So yes, that relationship is critical, uh, with all these people, right? Call it the great resignation and the great reshuffle, but there's happening in the workforce. I've seen stats that anywhere between, you know, 20 to 50% of people are looking for a new job, so that ability to connect and build trust, that is probably the most important thing that a manager can do. Google did, um, a study called project Aristotle. And what they found is that psychological safety, which is in essence trust, um, was the number one trait of a high performing team. And so if you build that connection where I feel safe enough to show up and be me, I can say what I think, what I feel.

Guest: Liz

I feel like my contribution is valued, that you care about me. That's the number one way to make a high performing team. And so from a manager standpoint, finding ways to get to know your people, not just on a work level, but on a personal level, like what are their experiences that they've had that make them think the way they do cuz your thoughts then drive your actions and your actions give you your results. If you can get under just their actions and start to learn about somebody's beliefs, some of their experiences in life, that's where you really build connection. Um, and yes, most critical thing a manager can do right now is spend time connecting, making your people feel valued, empowered that's number one

Host: Jon

That was empowering. And that was not meant to be a pun, but that was just very, uh, very empowering. I do. Before we wrap things up, I wanna give you a chance to leave the audience with something, using your high energy, because I think this is gonna be a great positive feedback or positive vibe coming after it. And I think the audience needs that and needs a message. A key thing. So yes, I'm gonna put you on the spot and I'm talking just a little bit longer to give you a chance to pull some of it out. But I know it's probably on the tip of your tongue. What do you got for the audience to inspire them?

Guest: Liz

Yeah. So one of my favorite quotes from Dale Carnegie, he says, take a chance. All of life is a chance. The person who goes the farthest is usually the one willing to do and dare. And I like think of that every morning or anytime I'm nervous to do something. It's like, you've gotta be able to take chances. You have to put yourself out there and maybe you do something that feels a little uncomfortable and in the end it's okay. Right? Like it's okay if you fail, it's okay if it doesn't work out, but if you're not willing to take the chances and maybe bring a little more energy to a meeting, or maybe you start the meeting differently. And instead of diving into business, you say, Hey, let's go around. And everybody just say one good thing that happened this weekend or one thing you're grateful for. Like you're taking a chance, but if you don't take those chances, like the people in life that go the farthest are the ones who do they take? The chances. They do things that maybe, um, they're not sure if it's gonna work or not. And so that would be my encouragement is take a chance, take a chance, do something different than you've done before. And you might find out it's not quite as scary as you think. And you'll get a positive result in the end

Host: Jon

Fortune favors. The bold comes to mind.

Guest: Liz

Yep. Yeah. A hundred percent. It's not always easy. Right? So we say simple doesn't mean easy. It might be a simple thing, but simple doesn't mean easy pushing forward. Anyway.

Host: Jon

100% agree. All right. Folks, Liz Berger joining the show. Liz, thank you so much for joining us and we hope to see you on American ninja warrior sometime

Guest: Liz

Me too. Thanks dad.

Host: Jon

Okay. I've been your host, John Meyer. Don't forget to hit that. Like subscribe and notification, because guess what folks we're outta here.