LEADERSHIP - minesandassociates.com€¦ · LEADERSHIP Marketing without Spam Being a Strong Leader Keeping a Diverse Workforce Leadership and the Psychology of a Pandemic: Part 1:

Summer 2020

LEADERSHIP

Marketing without SpamBeing a Strong LeaderKeeping a Diverse Workforce

Leadership and the Psychology of a Pandemic:Part 1: Employee Management pp. 6-7

Part 2: Returning to the Workplace pp. 8-9

LeadershipSUMMER 2020

MINES & Associates10367 West Centennial Road

Littleton, Colorado 80127800.873.7138

www.MINESandAssociates.com

. . . . . . . . CREDITS . . . . . . .

Nolo Legal Press © 2020Marketing without Spam pg. 4

Life Advantages - Author Delvina Miremadi © 2020

Being a Strong Leader pg. 5

MINES and Associates - Author Dr. Robert MINES, Ph.D. © 2020

Leadership and the Psychology of a Pandemic Part 1: Employee Management pp. 6-7

Leadership and the Psychology of a Pandemic Part 2: Returning to the Workplace pp. 8-9

US Office of Personnel Management © 2020

Keeping a Diverse Workforce pp. 10-11

Welcome to the Summer 2020 issue of Leadership!

We certainly understand that this Summer is very different than the summers that we are used to. COVID related workplace issues, remote working, safety and health concerns, civil unrest, and more have caused managers, supervisors, and Human Resource personnel to take on roles that they probably never thought they would have to. We hope the resources in this issue will help you stay resilient while you tackle these challenges going forward. On page 4 we start with a simple article on making sure your electronic messages don’t get caught in your client’s spam filter. Next on page 5 we look at some qualities of being a strong leader. On page 6 we start to get into the thick of it with a 2 part article that looks at leadership roles and the psychology of a pandemic that examines both employee management and returning to the workplace. Then we finish up on page 10 with an article that provides some guidance pertaining to maintaining a diverse workforce. If you need resources specific to COVID19 topics, help supporting your employees during this difficult time, or anything else, please remember with MINES you have access to unlimited supervisor consultations for all sorts of things including employee issues, EAP referrals, policy development and implementation, and more! We are here to help. Please call us at 1-800-873-7138 anytime.

To your health!

– The MINES Team

A word from your Account Management Team...

TotalWellbeing is your way to connect the dots between the 8 core dimensions of wellness: Physical, Occupational, Intellectual, Environmental, Financial, Social, Spiritual, and Emotional Wellness. Understanding these dimensions is the first step toward a sense of complete wellbeing. In 2020 we take ideas around wellbeing and tie them into the bigger picture, your community, and the rest of the world. It is important to understand the influence that the world has on our wellbeing and the influence we may have on others. All year we will be looking at ways to strengthen your connection with your community by providing information, insight, and resources to help on a personal level along with ways to give back to the people around you so we can all thrive together!

www.MINESandAssociates.com | 800.873.7138

Is there a topic you’d like to see us explore? We’d love to hear from you. Shoot us an e-mail at [email protected] and let us know what you’d like to see.

2020

Total WellbeingWorld View

Wellness WebinarsSupport from the experts

Enhancing AwarenessInspire Wellbeing

In 2020 we aim to build on the concept of wellbeing awareness. We will be providing resources, stories, and tools to help you see the bigger wellness picture from your community to the rest of the world. Check out our articles in this magazine and head to minesandassociates.com/newsletters to check out our monthly newsletter with even more great wellness information.

The 8 dimensions of wellbeing don’t just apply to one person, they apply to everyone we know and everything we do. Social influence is a huge factor that contributes to each of our levels of wellness, but it all starts with the individual. With this in mind, our challenge to you in 2020 is to see how you can apply wellness goals and concepts to the activities you do everyday. Any time you learn something new, teach someone else and help them use it to enhance their own life!

Join MINES for any of our free monthly webinars. 2020 will cover great new topics ranging from improving your credit, having a stress free summer, turning negatives to positives, and much more! Visit our website to learn more, or register for upcoming events at www.minesandassociates.com/webinar.

TotalWellbeing

4 LEADERSHIP Summer 2020

Marketing Without SpamSpam is any message that you send electronically to lots of people who have not specifically requested mail from you -- in other words, junk email. Like a telemarketing call during dinner, spam almost always annoys, and sometimes offends, those who receive it. While sending spam may result in a sale or two in the short run, it will almost surely damage your reputation, so it’s good advice to stay clear of it. There are many better ways to use email to keep in touch with current and potential customers. Here are a few of them:

• Invite people to subscribe to an email newsletter instead of sending unsolicited emails. Have a sign-up form on your website and explain that you’ll send only timely, informative email to subscribers.

• Include late-breaking, useful information in the email you send to subscribers. Because it can be delivered so quickly, email is a perfect vehicle for alerting people who are already part of your community to new and interesting developments. Even a modestly self-serving message will go over well if you package it with enough truly unique and valuable content.

• Make it easy to quit receiving email. Every message should include brief, friendly instructions for getting off your mailing list. Even people who keep subscribing will appreciate knowing that you’ve made it easy for them to say, “Enough already!” when the time comes.

• Here are a couple of good email newsletter examples. Both are basically promotional, but their content is so interesting that each has collected tens of thousands of volunteer subscribers. And of course, that’s what we all want to do! To see these emails, go to the authors’ websites and subscribe.

• Web Marketing Today (www.wilsonWeb.com) is a free weekly email from Ralph Wilson, who sells design and marketing services to people who own and operate websites. This newsletter combines Ralph’s gentle self-promotion with useful information about developing and promoting websites. And the newsletter always includes links to free, in-depth articles posted at Ralph’s site.

• Web Reference Update (www.webreference.com/new) is a free email newsletter from Andy King who offers technical services to website developers. It offers short, newsletter-style articles, and each one is hyperlinked to more detailed information posted at websites, including Andy’s and others. You could spend 20 seconds or 20 minutes reading Andy’s emails, depending on how much of the linked information you want to explore. M

Summer 2020 LEADERSHIP 5

Being a Strong LeaderAs a leader, you wear many hats. In addition to overseeing others, you are also likely to be in charge of making important decisions, coaching employees through situations, and communicating with team members about important matters. To better develop effective leadership skills that will help you be successful in each of these areas, follow the guidelines below.

As someone who makes decisions, you should:• Think things through. Don’t decide too hastily, and make sure to consider alternatives. Employees can be a great resource.

Ask them for input regarding decisions when appropriate. • Take risks, but know the consequences before you jump. • Admit when you make a mistake, and use it as a learning tool. Share with others the lessons that you have been taught.

As a coach who guides employees, you should:• Envision the goals that you and your team can accomplish. Seek and share the goals with your team, motivating them to

get there. • Show each member of the team that you are interested in his or her success. Notice unique skills and talents, and work

with each member to develop them. • Help resolve differences between team members. You can act as a mediator between two employees who don’t see eye-

to-eye. When doing this, make sure you are fair and supportive to each employee. • Be enthusiastic and honest to each employee. This will inspire them to be the same way.

As a communicator, you should:• Give the employee your full attention when he or she is speaking to you. Don’t be quick to criticize or judge, hear the

person out, and think before you speak. • Check if employees understand goals. • Give feedback to employees. This can be constructive criticism, but make sure you present it in an encouraging and

supportive way. Be specific when an employee needs to make a change. • Be calm when stressful situations arise. Be the voice of reason when things are tough. • When communicating praise or criticism, use “I” statements to demonstrate how you feel. For example, “I was impressed

by your latest presentation to our clients,” or, “I was hurt by what you said to co-workers about the team leaders.” M


Leadership & the Psychology of a Pandemic Part 1

Employee ManagementDuring this period of double black swans (pandemic and economic crisis), not only has the information on the Covid-19 vi-rus been changing daily so has the demands on an organization’s leadership. This white paper provides a quick overview on some best practices for leadership as well as psychological considerations related to the pandemic and the economy.

Expectations• What are the key behaviors you expect from yourself?• What does good leadership in a crisis look like?• Calmness• Problems solving approach, setting clear priorities/accountabilities and utilizing the team• Flexibility • Optimism• Regarding the current problem• Regarding the future• Emotional IQ: Empathy, recognizing emotions in others, self-awareness is understanding one’s emotions, self-regula-

tion in managing emotions, self-motivated, social skills• Communicate, communicate, communicate: What you know, don’t know, and what you are doing to learn more (Mckin-

sey.com, 2020-03)



Leadership: What do Your Reports and Employees Expect of You?• Protect me Concern for their safety, family, customers/clients, and community safety • Prepare me Resources and equipment to keep them safe while working • Support me• Care about me• Hear me To hear them out, their expectations may differ, try to close the gaps• Transparency Communication regarding Leadership’s plan for managing through the pandemic

Leadership Needs to Watch for Psychological Reactions to the Pandemic Part One• Depression, Hopelessness• Lack of control• Unable to see a positive future• Assumptions about their life that are now violated• Concerns about presenteeism and absenteeism• Suicidal or homicidal thoughts• Anxiety related to:• Their health and family members health• Fellow employee’s health and exposure• Uncertainty as to when it will end• Alcohol and drug use• Domestic violence has increased in frequency• Robberies and burglaries have increased• Social Isolation increases loneliness• Physical distancing creates assumptions and questions regarding who is safe, who is going to infect me

Psychological Reactions to Economy• Finances, anxiety and fear about• Family members losing employment• Can I pay my bills?• What happens to my retirement?• The present anxiety and fear• Is my employer going to survive?• What happens to all those 30 plus million people applying for unemployment? How bad can it get for them?• The future anxiety and fear• How long will this economic crisis go on?• What does my economic future look like?

- Robert A. Mines, Ph.D., Chairman and Chief Psychology Officer, May 2020 M



Returning to the WorkplacePsychological and Physical Safety• How will you physically redesign your work environment to minimize the entry of and the transmission of the virus in

your workplace?• What daily processes/practices will you have to put in place to operationalize that minimization?• How will you protect your employees who will be at higher risk because of their age or due to underlying conditions?• Will you test daily every person for COVID-19 symptoms as they enter the workplace— every employee’s and visitor’s

temperature—and have them fill out and sign a COVID-19 symptom’s form before they enter the workplace?• Will you stagger entrances, departures, break times, lunch activities, etc., to optimize social distancing along with limit-

ing the number of people allowed at any one time in meetings, work areas, elevators, bathrooms, etc.?• Will you integrate virtual meetings in the workplace during the day to limit human face-to-face work?• Will you enforce social distancing in parking lots, company transportation, hallways, bathrooms, and throughout the

workplace?• Will you put in place procedures for reporting and dealing with viral symptoms noticed by employees at work?• Will you allow visitors to enter the workplace and under what pre-testing and conditions?• Will you allow employees to visit clients or third parties physically and if so, under what conditions?• Will coming into the workplace be mandatory or will it be on a voluntary basis since some companies have workforces

now working remotely and are able to do that without much disruption to their business?• Will you put in place protocols regarding: daily application of disinfectants; hand washings; on-site individual medical

screening; use of protective equipment (gloves, masks, etc.); mandatory delineated social distancing; limiting hallway traffic at any one time; limiting the number of employees in break rooms, lunch rooms, etc.?

• How will you handle non-compliance issues and a worst-case scenario? What will you do if an employee reports symp-toms or is running a slight temperature when tested at the company entrance?

https://chiefexecutive.net/managing-the-big-risk-of-bringing-your-employees-back-to-work/

When Sheltering is lifted: Remote vs Public Facing Employees• What are their different stress challenges?• Isolation• Children at home• Technology glitches• Equipment



• Health concerns• How will you address their different needs?• Health concerns moves higher on the list• Physical distancing• Travel• In the office: Visitors, Colleagues, how will they be screened?

Leadership Support: What Can You Do?• Be empathic before being directive or problem solving• Listen closely to what people are saying to you. There may soft signs in their communication about their resilience or

their vulnerability

When Sheltering is lifted: Remote vs Public Facing Employees• What are their different stress challenges?• Isolation• Children at home• Technology glitches• Equipment• Health concerns• How will you address their different needs?• Health concerns moves higher on the list• Physical distancing• Travel• In the office: Visitors, Colleagues, how will they be screened?

Leadership Support: What Can You Do?• Be empathic before being directive or problem solving• Listen closely to what people are saying to you. There may soft signs in their communication about their resilience or

their vulnerability• If they are compromised, refer them to the EAP (1-800-873-7138)• When in doubt call the EAP for consultation yourself

- Robert A. Mines, Ph.D., Chairman and Chief Psychology Officer, May 2020 M


Keeping a Diverse Workforce

Achieving a diverse, high-quality workforce by successfully attracting and hiring the desired employee mix is only the first step. Having made investments to recruit and hire high-quality employees, companies risk wasting those efforts without a strong retention strategy. The next objective is to ensure that valuable employees stay. One way to do this is to have a broad model of rewards, which sustain employee commitment. These rewards include support for:

• a flexible and supportive work environment, including the quality of the supervision and leadership employees receive

• an emphasis on learning and development

• effective rewards and recognition systems

These aspects of work and working conditions are clearly becoming at least as important to employees’ decisions to stay with an organization as their directpay and benefits levels. A company that commits to cultivating these broader rewards will be far better positioned to retain the diverse workforce it builds.

A Supportive Work EnvironmentA supportive work environment is one that provides employees with the direction and tools they need to perform their work to the very best of their ability. Actions to support employees include:

• Ensure that supervisors and managers are provided leadership and diversity training. Their understanding of the benefits and rewards of a diverse workforce helps create a supportive work environment that enhances the potential of all employees.

• Emphasize existing quality of work/life initiatives as effective policies that advance the interests of a diverse workforce. These initiatives include programs such as:

o Alternative Work Scheduleso Family-Friendly Leave Programso Part-time Employment and Job Sharingo Telecommutingo Dependent Care Support Programso Employee Assistance Programs


Keeping a Diverse Workforce

• Develop a process to provide reasonable accommodation to job applicants and employees with disabilities. Companies are required to make reasonable accommodations to the physical and mental limitations of an applicant or employee who is a qualified person with a disability, unless the accommodation would impose undue hardship on the agency. In addition, competitive companies would do well to include reasonable accommodation language in job announcements to inform applicants with disabilities that they will consider reasonable accommodation requests.

• Ensure a safe and productive work environment. Employees spend a significant portion of their lives in a company’s surroundings. Keeping them pleasant conveys a sense of pride and respect that helps keep employees on board.

• Foster a community spirit and a sense of belonging by offering employees a vehicle for becoming involved outside the formal workplace in a variety of recreational and volunteer activities.

Learning and DevelopmentProfessional development and training opportunities are important reasons why valued employees choose to stay with an organization. Companies can use a variety of approaches to establish a climate that supports continuous learning and development, including: Establish clear paths for acquiring the skills, knowledge, and experience for learning and career development.

• Establish tuition reimbursement programs.

• Develop formal and informal mentoring programs. In particular, senior managers should be strongly encouraged to mentor individuals from different cultural, racial, or academic backgrounds.

• Provide training opportunities for all employees. Through investments in training, agencies reflect the value they place on employees and support employees in their own interest in keeping their skills updated in order to remain competitive. Use CD-ROMs and other interactive and online training technology. Use internal and external training courses.

• Widely publicize developmental opportunities for employees, such as detail assignments and leadership training, to give everyone interested a chance to participate in assignments that prepare them for higher-level positions.

Rewards and RecognitionThe systems that reward and engage employees are key to maintaining a diverse, high-quality workforce. All people desire to see their efforts acknowledged. Companies must be vigilant about ensuring that merit and results serve as the drivers of differences in rewards. Use awards to recognize significant contributions. These can be lump sum awards or accelerated pay provided through quality step increases. Companies should continually monitor their use of awards, incentives, and recognition to ensure that individuals and groups all receive their fair share based on transparent criteria and well-understood processes for nominating and granting awards. M

Questions? Reach us at 800.873.7138 | www.MINESandAssociates.com

From time to time, situations arise when a supervisor is not sure how to respond to a particular behavior. The Employee Assistance Program is available on a 24/7 basis for consultation on issues such as: referring an employee to the EAP, how best to respond to and manage difficult behavior in the workplace, and whether training or some other form of group intervention (such as an organizational intervention or a conflict resolution) may be helpful for a particular situation. The EAP can serve as an ally to anyone who is working

with a troubled employee.

• 24/7supervisorconsultationregardingproblemsintheworkplace

• Assessmentofbehavioralriskonthejob• Return-to-Dutyconferences• Advisoryservicesinwriting,revising,and

implementingpolicies• SupervisorandManagertraining• UnlimitedformalWorkPerformanceReferrals• Coachingformanagementandleadershipskills• Conflictresolutionforsupervisor-employeeproblems

MINES believes that employees are an organization’s most valuable resource. Your EAP is always available to provide you and your employees with support.

The MINES Team

A note to Supervisors...

LEADERSHIP - minesandassociates.com€¦ · LEADERSHIP Marketing without Spam Being a Strong Leader Keeping a Diverse Workforce Leadership and the Psychology of a Pandemic: Part 1:

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