“All change is not growth, as all movement is not forward.” Ellen Glasgow
2022:03
CrossFit, as an exercise methodology and sport, is all about change. The just-completed CrossFit offseason saw some major changes, but at the same time, significant continuity. Helping me piece this dichotomy together is CrossFit’s official statistician, Chad Schroeder, who joins Did You Know That? for his second appearance.
Chad and I discuss the firing of Dave Castro, the offseason competitions, major athlete news, and how he’s prepping for the 2022 season. Speaking of which, the 2022 schedule is listed below if you’re interested in participating – at least in The Open – or just want to follow as a fan.
Lots more to learn about Chad via the connections below:
2022 NOBULL CrossFit Games Open — Feb. 24-March 14, 2022
Quarterfinals
Individual Quarterfinal — March 24-27, 2022
Team Quarterfinal — April 7-10, 2022
Age Group Quarterfinal — April 21-24, 2022
Occupational Games — April 21-24, 2022 (Finals for occupational athletes)
Semifinals
Individual and Team Semifinals
Week 1: May 20-22, 2022
Torian Pro | Pat Rafter Arena
CrossFit Lowlands Throwdown
North American Semifinal (TBA)
Week 2: May 27-29, 2022
Mid-Atlantic CrossFit Challenge
CrossFit Fittest in Cape Town
Week 3: June 3-5, 2022
Far East Throwdown
North America Semifinal (TBA)
Week 4: June 10-12, 2022
CrossFit Atlas Games
CrossFit Strength in Depth
CrossFit Copa Sur
Age Group Semifinals
Week 1 (Athletes in 14-49 Age Divisions): May 26-29, 2022
Week 2 (Athletes in 50+ Age Divisions): June 2-5, 2022
Adaptive Semifinal — June 2-5, 2022 (Fittest crowned for Vision, Intellectual, Seated with Hip Function, Seated Without Hip Function, and Short Stature Divisions)
Last-Chance Qualifier
Last-Chance Qualifier (Individual Athletes Only) — June 29-July 1, 2022
“A kind and compassionate act is often its own reward.” William John Bennett
2022:01
Given the intervening decades and experiences, it’s tough for me to remember my real mindset at 11 years old. I know sports – both playing and watching – dominated most of my waking thoughts. To say I had goals, short or long term, would be stretching the definition to almost a breaking point. Starting a business was not even in my subconscious. Charity was just a word. That’s what makes my next guest(s) on Did You Know That? so interesting.
Beckett Flannery is 11 years old. As of this recording, he’s 6+ months into running his first business, Beckett’s Bark Bites, and his motivations for starting the business were based in altruism. This is an inspiring, and humbling, conversation with a young man (and his mom, Jessica) who puts perspective around the motivations behind why we do things. This is a chat well worth your time.
To find out more about Beckett’s Bark Bites, or to order some for the canine companion, check out the sites below.
Venmo: @Beckett-Flannery-24 (order & pay directly from the app)
“There is nothing to writing. All you do is sit down at a typewriter and bleed.” Ernest Hemingway
I’ve always loved this quote. To me, it speaks volumes about how difficult it is to be “creative.” I actually referenced this quote during my very first conversation with Stavros Michailidis, my guest on this edition of Did You Know That? While my point was one of doubt that creativity could be learned, you’ll discover during this discussion that it was more my definition of creativity was too limited. Humans demonstrate creativity everyday – usually without all the blood – we just have a tendency to not recognize it, and thus, not apply it to future endeavors.
Music: “Naked Memories” by Assaf Ayalon via Artlist
About Stavros Michailidis:
Stavros has been facilitating KI events since 2009 and today he focuses on leading KI’s operations. He brings to KI his experience as an entrepreneur, having co-founded a design build firm, a disaster recovery not-for-profit and an eco-friendly dry cleaning business. Despite his business background, Stavros knew Science had captured his heart when he found himself preferring to read Science News over Harvard Business Review while stuck at airports between flights.
To learn more about his company, Knowinnovation, CLICK HERE
If you have a child going to college, have them pack an emergency COVID-19 bag in case they test positive and have to quarantine.
In these uncertain times, the possibility exists that your child may test positive, and have to leave his or her dorm for a quarantine location. It’s probably a VERY GOOD idea to have a pre-packed quarantine bag in his or her closet. It would be so much easier to ask a roommate to grab “the blue Nike bag in my closet and my laptop” than to try to figure out what he or she will want/need for two weeks.
_______________
COVID-19 QUARANTINE GO BAG:
Extra cell phone charger
List of important peoples’ phone numbers written out,
List of any allergies
2 or more complete changes of comfy clothes: sweats, PJ Pants, T’s, Fuzzy Socks
Fleece throw (take the tiniest one in the house and squish it into an XL Baggie, then force the extra air out.)
For this edition of #FeatureFriday check out our guest blog by The Jacobs Group, the leading provider of talent to the insurance industry. We greatly appreciate their keen insight to the subject matter and contributing to our blog this week, this content applies to anyone that is managing employees remotely during this time and beyond.
As the insurance industry adapts to a workforce that is primarily – if not completely – remote, many managers are finding themselves overseeing work-at-home employees for the first time. At Jacobson, many of our corporate employees and temporary staff work remotely on a regular basis. We asked a few leaders across our organization for their key insights and advice on effectively managing remote staff.
Prioritize communication.
Dave Coons, Senior Vice President: Stay engaged! Host regularly scheduled one-on-one meetings and team meetings over Skype and Zoom. Video is great because it creates a more personal connection and gives you the ability to read people’s non-verbal cues.
Salil Shenoy, Controller: My open-door policy remains the same whether we’re in the office or working remotely. Making time to be actively engaged and available is crucial. This entails scheduled and ad-hoc one-on-one and team meetings with clear agendas to ensure the time is focused and productive. Communication and trust are key! This is even more true when individuals on your team are dependent on other employees they no longer see in person. Open and honest communication helps create a collaborative and positive environment that is proactive and preventative, rather than reactive and corrective.
Set clear expectations.
Nikki St.Martin, Vice President, Marketing Communications: It is more important than ever to ensure everyone is on the same page regarding everything from work hours to deadlines and production levels. Schedule a weekly call with your team to share the department’s priorities for the week and address workflows and any challenges. Continue to provide regular feedback, both positive and constructive, so employees know if they are performing at the expected levels.
Karen Aiello, Assistant Vice President, Account Management: I’ve been doing this for almost 20 years, and it’s important to stay in constant communication. Make sure there is a good understanding of priorities, expectations and performance/quality goals.
Alison Wetmore, Assistant Marketing Manager: Coach your team for your communication style. Be sure to spell out the level of communication you expect. For example, if you want individuals to confirm they have received emails about new projects, be sure to let them know.
Focus on trust.
Kylee Lacson, Assistant Vice President, Life: It’s important to trust your employees and let them do their jobs. Micromanaging will have a negative impact on productivity. If you are seeing a dip in work product or quality, approach them from the angle of “How can I help?” versus “Why didn’t you do X?”
Tanya Rinsky, Senior Account Manager, Health: Come from a place of support, always assume positive intent and respond quickly, even if it’s just to say you’ll get back to them when you know more. When communicating by phone and body language can’t be used as a guide, it’s important to ask lots of probing questions to ensure you fully understand what the person is trying to communicate.
Recognize different work styles.
Abbe Sodikoff, Senior Vice President: For people who prefer to work alone, it can be challenging to get them engaged with the group as a whole. Finding ways for those individuals to lead a discussion or participate and contribute without feeling put on the spot can be challenging. However, taking extra time to meet those people at their comfort level is well worth it.
Judy Busby, Senior Vice President, Executive Search and Corporate Strategy: Each employee has different needs. You must adapt to each employee to maximize team contributions, company culture and professional development.
Set boundaries.
Kylee: Set boundaries around availability to help people unplug for the day. If an email isn’t urgent at 9 p.m., then use the “delay send” feature so your employees can feel comfortable setting boundaries with their time. People who are new to working at home tend to be challenged with turning off work. Small adjustments can help with that.
Leverage technology.
Beth Roekle, Senior Vice President, Talent Delivery: Leverage technology wherever you can. For instance, we use group chats, video conferencing and emails to help keep people connected. In addition, we prioritize our regularly scheduled communication as much as possible to ensure adequate opportunities to connect.
Alison: As our team has grown, we’ve needed to find ways to best manage multiple people working on different aspects of a project. Technology such as Basecamp and Trello can help track where projects stand at any given time, as well as who is responsible for each part of a project.
Connect on a personal level.
Dave: I believe that you don’t manage “people,” you manage “personalities.” What I mean by this is not all people are the same, and they have different needs when it comes to being supported and managed. It’s important to realize this and tailor the way you manage your employees using different means and techniques to get the best return on your investment.
Nikki: Small talk happens naturally in the office, in the lunchroom, passing in the hallway. When everyone is working remotely, maintaining a connection takes intentionality. Many of your employees are juggling more than they are used to in the game of life. Take a few moments at least once per week to just call (or even better, Facetime or Skype video) and see how they are really coping. Use group messaging software to say good morning, share a funny story in the afternoon or ask about employees’ plans for the weekend.
Judy: You need to make room for personal interactions, especially since people are now at home with their kids, cats and other distractions. This requires a relaxing of norms for all to feel comfortable videoconferencing. I’m learning so much about team members’ families, interests, pets and more and think it will bond us for many years to come. There’s typically so little time in the workplace to talk about these things, but it’s now integrated into everyone’s work day. As a high-performance leader, this is a great time to grab insight about someone to better lead them.
Catherine Prete, Senior Vice President, Operations: It can be easy to slip into “all business” mode when you don’t see the person. Be intentional about connecting differently in communications that don’t involve seeing your staff. For instance, start calls by asking about personal matters and express appreciation. Now that all of my staff is remote, I have learned that not only can we easily survive in this environment, we can thrive. Everyone has been diligent to keep the human connections in lots of unique ways.
About The Jacobs Group: The Jacobson Group is the leading provider of talent to the insurance industry. They offer executive search, recruiting and temporary staffing services at all levels across all industry verticals.
So I have the pleasure of writing for the Succession Initiative for LifeHealthPro and they come to me with questions from their readers and I get to respond to them! Here is the latest one:
First off, I basically equate that to a mother not teaching her son how to cook and do laundry because she knows he’ll find a wife to do it for him! Learning how to prospect is a life skill in sales. You have to get it down pat in order to be successful in this career. Being handed leads are the reward after you have proven yourself, you know?
OK … now to get off of my soapbox and offer a solution.
Network.
Network with everyone and anyone if you are starting out. Book lunches, coffees and drinks with other salespeople and business professionals in different fields. Get your elevator pitch down and be specific about who you want to be introduced to that are good lead sources for you (CPAs, attorneys, etc.) Be specific about your ideal client, too; if you say “business owners,” they are going to hear Charlie Brown’s parents talking and you’ll go nowhere. Click here to read more!
I have been traveling and speaking at many conferences this past year and often attend seminars on PPACA. The thing that perplexes me is how my colleagues who are spending thousands of dollars to attend these conferences are still bitching about it. Get over it people… If you are still going to church and lighting a candle that it is going to be repealed, in my opinion, you are wasting time that could be better spent educating yourself and helping your clients.
When I’m faced with a challenge the first thing I ask myself is: “What would it look like if…?” Click here to take a step back and do that.
So I recently spoke at the Mutual of Omaha National Sales Symposium in Omaha, Nebraska and one of their keynotes was Jason Dorsey. If you’ve never heard him speak, he’s high energy and a lot of fun. He’s basically the “magic decoder ring” when it comes to figuring out millennials.
I’ve always thought that I just missed this generation, but I was informed that Jason is almost exactly a year older than me … and I was annoyed to learn that at age 36, I’m part of this group. He also enlightened me with the knowledge that most Gen Yers feel like they are special and don’t belong in this group. Ho hum…
Click here for some of the key takeaways from his talk that really gave me some “aha” moments.
Dave Coons, Senior Vice President: Stay engaged! Host regularly scheduled one-on-one meetings and team meetings over Skype and Zoom. Video is great because it creates a more personal connection and gives you the ability to read people’s non-verbal cues.
Set clear expectations.
Recognize different work styles.
Beth Roekle, Senior Vice President, Talent Delivery: Leverage technology wherever you can. For instance, we use group chats, video conferencing and emails to help keep people connected. In addition, we prioritize our regularly scheduled communication as much as possible to ensure adequate opportunities to connect.
Judy: You need to make room for personal interactions, especially since people are now at home with their kids, cats and other distractions. This requires a relaxing of norms for all to feel comfortable videoconferencing. I’m learning so much about team members’ families, interests, pets and more and think it will bond us for many years to come. There’s typically so little time in the workplace to talk about these things, but it’s now integrated into everyone’s work day. As a high-performance leader, this is a great time to grab insight about someone to better lead them.
combsandco 