With over 35 years of experience in high-growth organizations, ORCA’s Conscious Manager Academy© is a proven program that focuses on skills development, self-awareness, and stress management.
How Understanding Stress Through the Neuro Lens Creates More Trusting Teams
Over the last couple of decades, the business world has changed dramatically. Work expectations used to be more traditional, focusing on stability, long-term employment…
Shared Success in TRUST
Could quiet quitting be a symptom of low trust?
Each year, many companies set out to accomplish more ambitious goals than the year prior. With these raised expectations, employees are expected to work harder and achieve more. Leaders often don’t do enough to share success and celebrate achievements, despite company emphasis on the importance of meeting or exceeding goals.
You may have heard stories about “quiet quitting” circulating around social media lately, and for good reason. Are employees motivated to put in more of their energy, passion and effort into their career, or just showing up for the task at hand?
Quiet quitting is less about employee’s willingness to work more creatively and more about leadership’s ability to build a relationship built on trust, so the team isn’t just counting down the minutes until they can log off for the day.
Moving from transactional to transformational leadership
Can you recall a time in your career when you had a leader who made you feel undervalued or unappreciated? Perhaps you felt like the bare minimum was all you had to give, based on your manager’s behavior. Isn’t this a transactional relationship, where you check in and check out?
Then there are inspiring mentors and leaders motivating you to be your best self—you want to show up for that energy, and want to do everything you can to accomplish the goals and objectives. Isn’t this a transformational relationship, where many positive outcomes are possible?
A big difference between these two scenarios, which happen to many of us as we encounter different work environments and situations, is the ability to share success within and across an organization.
Regulating and understanding TRUST
Creating trust in an organization can be as simple as TRUST:
Shared Success
Test Assumptions
When we use this model as a roadmap, we can be aware of our mindset, intentions and impact. This puts us in our prefrontal cortex where we’re best suited to make the decisions and connections that move our companies forward.
Sharing success creates a more positive environment
When leaders share success between teams and individuals, whether it comes from completing a project, meeting or exceeding financial goals, or gaining new clients, we have a higher sense of self-worth. We also feel more connected to and in tune with the organization, including having more trust in it.
As an employee, how does it feel if success is not shared, credit not given, and accomplishments go unrecognized?
Tips to share success with employees:
- Reflect on and acknowledge the work. It doesn’t have to be an extensive breakdown but can be something like: “because of the work that went into x,y,z tasks, we were able to successfully achieve x result.”
- Give credit where credit is due. Recognizing hard work and acknowledging the employees who helped in the process gives employees validation and encouragement.
- Celebrate! Reward employees by taking their minds off of work. A team lunch, extra break time, or a fun workshop/ activity are great ways to build relationships and show employee appreciation.
Stay tuned for the next and final article in our Organizational Trust series, where we’ll dive deep into Test Assumptions. For more information and to schedule time with one of our experts, email us at experts@orcahrsolutions.com.
Understanding in TRUST
How listening to understand moves colleagues from transactional to transformational relationships
Trust in organizations, institutions, and leaders is at an all-time low in the United States. When people lose their trust, it’s nearly impossible to get ahead as an organization; additionally, with job cuts in the tech sector, that can mean less people in your organization.
Making sure the people you do have in your organization have a high level of trust with one another and the shared mission is crucial.
Regulating and understanding TRUST
Creating trust in an organization can be as simple as TRUST:
Understanding
Shared Success
Test Assumptions
When we use this model as a roadmap, we can be aware of our mindset, intentions and impact. This puts us in our prefrontal cortex where we’re best suited to make the decisions and connections that move our companies forward.
Understanding leads the way
Human beings thrive on connection and affirmation. We wither in the face of criticism and judgment.
Listening to understand and connect is more than just listening to confirm what you know; it’s truly about focusing on the other person without judgment, and without the need to confirm or reject what is being said in order to be right.
Dave Ulrich shares statements that help turn truth into trust. Depending on your leadership role and style, these include statements like:
- How well do I understand your point of view?
- Here’s what I propose given my values and goals. What would you suggest?
- I don’t know; can we find out together?
- What information do you have that may help us make a better decision?
- What is happening in your life that is causing stress? Let’s discuss so I can support you.
Full attention leads to understanding
Listening without judgment involves paying full attention to the person who is speaking, while consciously setting aside the tendency to judge them. Listening to understand and connect is an important component of creating a conversational space that creates deeper understanding and engagement rather than fear and avoidance.
Ask yourself: what is their perspective?
When you listen, it’s about THEM, not YOU. What is their perspective? Their fear? The results they want? Listening is our gateway to connection that leads to trust.
You’ll notice the word “listen” contains the same letters as the word “silent.” When we are truly listening, we are not speaking at the same moment, internally or externally. We turn off our mind chatter.
Consider:
- How does your connection change when you truly focus on the other person without judging or listening for points to counter or reject?
- How does the listener’s reaction to you change as a result?
- How do you feel when someone deeply listens to you?
- What do we do when we listen to connect?
- Notice the eyes: are they open or closed?
- Notice the whole person: is there a shift in their face?
Practice listening to understand in the next conversation you have in your organization. You’ll be surprised how far a simple intention can go.
Stay tuned for the next in our Organizational Trust series, where we’ll dive deep into Shared Success. For more information and to schedule time with one of our experts, email us at experts@orcahrsolutions.com .
Relationship in TRUST
How companies promoting workplace relationship benefit from happier employees
Trust plays a part in every conversation you have throughout the day. While conversing with someone, your conscious mind might not be thinking whether you trust them or their provided information. Your subconscious mind, however, is constantly analyzing their interactions with yourself and others as well as recalling past experiences and similar interactions in order to gauge their trustworthiness. Therefore, all conversations either build trust or break it down.
Over the years, workplace collaboration has become increasingly popular and important among employees. A Gartner, Inc. Survey shows that nearly 80% of workers used collaboration tools for work in 2021, which was a 44% increase since the COVID-19 pandemic began in 2020.
With increased collaboration within organizations, there is a stronger need to connect with others to build meaningful relationships and therefore trust.
Regulating and understanding TRUST
Creating trust in an organization can be as simple as TRUST:
Transparency
Relationship
Understanding
Shared Success
Test Assumptions
When we use this model as a roadmap, we can be aware of our mindset, intentions and impact. This puts us in our prefrontal cortex where we’re best suited to make the decisions and connections that move our companies forward.
With remote or hybrid work, workplace relationships are more important—and difficult to achieve—than ever
Traditionally, full-time workers often spend more of their waking hours alongside co-workers than they do with their spouses and families. In today’s environment with many employees still working remotely either full time or part time due to the pandemic, relationships play a significant role in interactions.
When you are staring at a computer screen all day, it’s easy to forget that on the other end of your emails and chat messages is another human being. Without much of a relationship, it can be hard to assess tone and intentions over these forms of communication. This opens the door for misunderstandings, negative encounters, and ill feelings toward co-workers. Ultimately, it can lessen trust between people.
So, what are some actions you can take to prioritize remote work relationships? Here are a few of our suggestions:
- Discuss issues over a call. You can really benefit from hearing each other’s voices and tone of voice.
- Take it a step further and turn on your cameras during meetings to see expressions and get that face to face value.
- Schedule non-work related meetings where you can get to know each other better. Try and find an online trivia game or other icebreakers that you and your team can work together on.
Workplace relationships allow employees to flourish
Whether working remotely or in-person, employees who invest in nourishing their relationships with team members feel more fulfilled and accomplish more. A Connected Commons study, where interviews were conducted with 160 leaders (80 men and 80 women) across 20 organizations, showed that workplace relationships proved useful with different aspects of: producing innovative solutions, executing work efficiently, and thriving at work.
They found that people who create energy, purpose, and trust within their workplace networks succeed over time at a stunningly high rate. Furthermore, these good relationships brought project opportunities, talented people who sought to work with them, and were able to generate greater innovation and creativity overall. With this information in mind, it is hard to underestimate the power of relationships.
Who can you build a stronger relationship with in your organization?
Stay tuned for the next in our Organizational Trust series, where we’ll dive deep into Understanding. For more information and to schedule time with one of our experts, email us at experts@orcahrsolutions.com.
Transparency in TRUST
Why transparency is the foundation of TRUST in your organization
Trust is a central part of our ability to survive in complex, high-growth environments. When trust is high, teams can overcome just about any obstacle. When trust is low, the ability to get things done in any meaningful way goes out the window.
As The Great Resignation becomes The Great Reshuffle, organizations need to know their leadership and employees have a high level of trust across the board. There’s still over a million Americans missing from the workforce—and that number hasn’t fallen significantly in months.
According to Microsoft’s New Future of Work Report, interpersonal trust is key to successful virtual and hybrid teams—not just those in an office. Remote and hybrid teams need to develop methods for establishing and maintaining trust.
What happens when you hire new staff? They’re going to need to trust and trust quickly; so what comes first? Providing a structure for team transparency allows trust to happen and stay the course.
Regulating and understanding TRUST
Creating trust in an organization can be as simple as TRUST:
Transparency
Relationship
Understanding
Shared Success
Test Assumptions
When we use this model as a roadmap, we can be aware of our mindset, intentions and impact. This puts us in our prefrontal cortex where we’re best suited to make the decisions and connections that move our companies forward.
Transparency matters more than ever
Transparency in an organization really means quelling threats and fears that may arise, from the get-go.
Transparency also requires the intention of a safe environment. People respect honesty over perfection; by opening communication channels through transparency across the organization, you’ll have teams that are more efficient, creative, and at ease at work.
Sharing desired outcomes and any threats that may pop up along the way is a good example of transparency at play; for example, software company Atlassian has an all-hands meeting weekly that includes everyone from both their U.S. and teams located in other countries. Letting the team in on bigger goals and potential roadblocks aids in a transparent organization where people feel heard and valued.
Transparency in conversations leads to transformational discussion
The key in any conversation—whether that’s a one-on-one, face-to-face discussion or email or Teams message—is intention.
Before speaking, ask yourself: Who am I in this conversation? How am I approaching the other person?
An intentional conversation with intentional listening:
- Creates understanding and moves one from distrust to trust.
- Elevates our ability to see and understand when our connections with others are not as strong as they need to be in order to navigate through challenges or achieve goals
- Knowing this can speed up the time it takes to achieve goals; what would normally take months or years can now happen more rapidly
- Lays the groundwork for more successful and trusting relationships
Where can you be more transparent in your organization?
Stay tuned for the next in our Organizational Trust series, where we’ll dive deep into Relationship.
Increasing ROI through a proven leadership framework 
Making our businesses efficient and effective are a key part of our everyday lives. And so increasing ROI should always be top of mind—but there’s only so many new skills and operations tactics that can help, in the long run.
Where we see a lot of companies finding success in that gap between where they are today and greater ROI is with their leadership teams; both on an individual and organization level.
The proven leadership framework of Conscious Leadership can be the gamechanger.
How the 4A’s of Conscious Leadership impact effectiveness
Awareness
Awareness is the first of ORCA’s 4 A’s of Conscious Leadership. Why? Because if an organization is aware of the issues that are impacting its overall effectiveness, then they can actually do something about it.
Like individuals, organizations are often not aware of the things that are having the impact on their effectiveness. By illuminating and bringing awareness to your organization’s effectiveness, it allows you the element of choice. “How do I raise awareness around what my leadership culture and strengths are?” is an important question.
Calibrate against external benchmarks; how does your organization compare with the best of leadership in other organizations in research-based assessments? The next benchmark to set would be where you are vs. where you could be. Top quartile? Bottom quartile? It gives you a relative place to start with. Assess what our future desired state is based on what we have to execute as an organization? What is the strategy we need to deliver? You can see where the gap is.
That’s going to have the biggest impact in terms of your competitive advantage because your business cannot be more effective than its sum total of the leadership.
Acknowledgement
Once you are aware, which ones will have the most impact? What are we going to take ownership of to move forward?
What would be most important to focus on that can have the greatest impact? Correlations between variables between leadership competencies and behaviors have the actual greatest impact on effectiveness and therefore ROI. This process can be accomplished when looking at an individual’s growth or an organization’s.
Action
What action are you going to take? You can have wonderful assessments and take ownership of the results, but if you do nothing, nothing will change.
Is there the will to change? For example, if I have a very large gap between where I am today and where I need to be, there’s going to be a lot more work to get there. Be honest with yourself and your organization about if you’re ready to really put the effort into it.
Adaptation
If you put an action plan into place, you then have to revisit that and say, “Is this action plan having the desired effect or having effects we didn’t even think it would have?” Look to see if your action plan is having the right effect.
Similar to design thinking, you can use this phase as a series of experiments. Seeing the impact of the things you’ve implemented allows you further choices: if they are not having the right impact, how do you modify those to have the right impact?
Much like life, adaptation isn’t a linear thing; as you start taking action on some things, you may become aware of other things having an impact. Continual adaptation will allow you to grow, change, and maximize your ROI.
Navigating complexity and major change initiatives
As an organization either picks up speed and/or becomes more global and complex, it often goes from trying to put some structure on itself on how it can grow further. Sometimes you have a little bit of chaos between putting that structure in place, so what happens is in order to deal with the complexity, the leaders have to be able to develop themselves to deal with the complexity.
The complexity isn’t going to go away, but they may have to shift their own internal operating system in order to deal with that complexity. If it’s not developed enough to deal with that complexity it will be challenging for those leaders to scale up. Looking at the internal aspect of leadership and how that impacts the external outcome of leadership competencies is important to increase ROI.
Skills won’t get you to the next level
You have to know where you are before you know where you need to go—skills won’t be the answer. There’s a lot of time spent on actually looking at putting in a development program without understanding where we are now as an organization and what impact that development program will have.
Take a holistic approach; if you don’t have awareness or insight, then the actions you may take may not be the right ones or get the desired results.
Most leadership frameworks only work on the outer game of leadership, which is the direct competencies or skills needed to be a leader. But it’s more than simply building skill. It goes much deeper—it’s also about changing the mindset or internal operating system of the leaders and or the organization.
Conscious leadership is for lasting change
Conscious leadership involves looking at both what we call the ‘internal game’ and ‘outer game’ of leadership, so looking at both the consciousness of those leaders and the competencies of that leadership. Bringing those two things together is what can create lasting change and effectiveness.
If the internal operating system is out of sync with the complexity that someone is dealing with, you can give them a lot of competencies, but it may not have the desired impact. The individual’s mindset or internal operating system may need to change to deal with that complexity.
Ready to take the next step in increasing ROI through conscious leadership? Contact us.
Acknowledging change as a CHRO in 2022
It’s human nature to resist change. With every day comes news of something ‘unprecedented,’ and often not in the ways we want to see change happening. As much as this impacts our personal lives, it also—of course—impacts the workplace.
What’s a CHRO to do as 2022 marches on?
Navigating ever-changing—and stagnant—COVID-19 mitigations
For offices that are choosing to go back to in-person facilities, return-to-work is in full swing. Making sure it’s a positive experience for everyone is a big task on CHROs’ shoulders; not to mention 74% of professionals think remote work will become standard, according to a study from Growmotely.
Whether your organizations’ workforce is in-person, remote, or hybrid, there’s an important step you may be missing.
Acknowledgement is the shift CHROs need
The second ‘A’ of the Four A’s of Conscious Leadership is Acknowledgement. Acknowledgement is all about getting comfortable with being uncomfortable—and what have the past few years been but uncomfortable?
Awareness is the shift from “I don’t know that I don’t know something” to “I know that I don’t know something,” thus creating an opportunity for choice to acknowledge.
By acknowledging changes and frustrations, you can empower your organizations’ leaders to:
- Shift from a fixed to growth mindset
- Embrace the challenge of learning and change
- Apply emotional intelligence in everyday situations
We all know it’s important for leaders to understand how their mindset may impact their perspective of how the team functions. So for CHROs, acknowledging change and navigating with flexibility can create a seismic shift in your organization.
The top CHROs across the nation are focusing on individual wellness
Considering all we’ve been through in the past two years, it makes sense that HRO World lists supporting individual wellness as a top concern for CHROs. The ongoing pandemic has elevated the role of the CHRO even further—often visibly helping CEOs manage and lead their organizations into the future.
This makes acknowledgement of present issues, day to day with an eye on the future, even more important.
A holistic approach builds upon acknowledgement
While taking into account individual employee wellness and leadership’s emotional intelligence, you need a holistic approach.
That’s why we’ve integrated our 4As of Conscious Leadership into our customized solutions for organizations like yours.
Acknowledging change can be difficult. We’re here to partner with you to create holistic solutions that transform the consciousness and capabilities of leaders for whole-organization success. Contact us today.
How we scale leaders to grow sustainable technology organizations
Making waves in the tech industry? We know even the best and brightest organization can be no more effective than the sum of its leadership. The level of your leaders’ consciousness and capability is what ripples across your entire organization—and it directly controls your business’s cohesion and capacity to excel.
Why Conscious Leadership matters in today’s world
Once leaders are conscious, self-aware and intentional? They make waves.
- Their leadership capacity and impact increases.
- They can give employees and organizations what they deserve.
- They can intentionally create more engaged and productive workplaces.
Agile, high-performing teams provide for fast product and service releases and opportunities for innovation and continuous improvement; however, those factors shouldn’t end with the product. Employee and leader burnout is all too real and it’s up to us to create a future of work that’s both scalable and sustainable.
At ORCA HR Solutions, we focus on creating conscious leaders so they can grow organizations as a whole.
Proprietary method of Conscious Leadership
At ORCA, we know the true key theme to leadership success: Conscious Leadership. And we’ve created our own proprietary framework that is needed more now than ever.
ORCA’s Conscious Leadership 4As Framework is a framework to deepen self-awareness and help leaders realize their full potential—as well as the potential of their teams.
It is about understanding and embracing their whole self with total awareness that a leader’s inner game creates their external results — their leadership impact.
Leading by our values
We seek data and insights and drive our programs using world-leading tools and assessments, but our application and approach is always heart-centered.
We never forget that our data has a human heartbeat and we never lose sight of the person behind the numbers. We go further than analysis and base our practices around emotional intelligence, creativity, motivations, experiences and empathy.
We use data and insight to help leaders create a heightened awareness of self and others, enabling meaningful and effective communication.
By combining our human-centered approach with rigorous methodology, our leadership development programs develop companies by developing the people who drive them.
Scaling leaders through holistic leadership development
Leaders are whole people. Therefore, programs to develop these leaders need to be holistic, using multiple tools and ways of learning and growing.
Our Leadership and Management Programs integrate insights, capabilities, support structures, and real learning on the job. We create holistic programs that integrate assessments, coaching, workshops, and on-the-job practice.
The outcome is heart-centered, effective leaders that create a culture of bringing their whole self to work. These work environments are kind, supportive, and motivating where people feel like they belong.
We unequivocally understand all different stages of growth, complexities and challenges tech organizations and startups face and come not only armed with our expertise in human development, but our critical knowledge of the intricate and unique environment, too.
Our coaches have worked within Microsoft, Amazon, LinkedIn, Slack, Facebook, Google, DocuSign, Expedia, LinkedIn, Zillow Group, Avalara, Micron and more.
Proven approaches for your unique goals and challenges
Sometimes leaders need 1:1 guidance for an even more personalized experience. We onboard the best coaches in the business, so we have the right person, with the right background, and right expertise to help your organization break through barriers and accelerate towards the future of work.
We provide executive coaching, workshops, and personalized experiences for the most important challenges organizations face.
Activating Leadership Through 10 Self-Awareness Activities
Is one of your goals this year to become a more impactful leader? Awareness is the gateway to more effective, conscious leadership. In fact it’s the first step in ORCA’s Four A’s of Conscious Leadership.
Yet many of our clients ask, “Where do I begin?”
We’ve put together a list of 10 activities to do to increase your self-awareness every day. Remember, awareness is a continual process of learning. Our team at ORCA uses these techniques to further grow and develop.
1. Meditate and practice mindfulness.
One company’s study showed consistent employee meditation increased productivity by 120%. With meditation rising to the same level of popularity as yoga in the U.S. alone, it’s easy to find resources to help with this critical tool for self-awareness and success.
- Set a timer for 5 minutes, close your eyes and notice what comes up.
- Headspace and Calm are great tools to use for guided meditations.
- These mindfulness tips may seem easy enough, but in practice self-awareness is a process of constant learning. Therefore, ORCA and WithPause have put together a detailed guidebook that you can use throughout your day for self-inquiry: 7 Daily Micro-Practices to Shift Your Experience.
2. Learn something new.
From a physiological perspective, learning something new is good for you. When you learn something new, you are exercising your brain—helping to improve cognitive functions such as concentration, attention to detail, memory recall and problem solving.
- Find an interest that you enjoy, ideally something that brings you joy and gets you out of your comfort zone. Through trying something new, you’ll gain greater self-awareness and confidence.
3. Use self-assessment instruments.
Understanding behavioral style and preferences to environmental factors impact how you lead and work as a team.
- These can include assessments such as DISC and EQ to learn more about yourself and increase your awareness. Get your free DISC Engagement Report here.
- You can also use CliftonStrengths (formerly StrengthsFinder) to dive deeper into what are your strengths and how to capitalize on them. Contact us to learn more.
4. Journal.
Journaling is one of the most accessible tools available to increase your self-awareness—especially as patterns in thought can appear when you journal over a span of time. All you need is a pen and paper (or blank document on your laptop).
- Consistency is key here. Notice what thoughts you have when you first wake up and write them down. Use the prompts below to guide your journal entries.
5. Create a personal values statement.
A personal values statement shows you what’s most important, which is incredibly effective in prioritizing your time and goals.
- What is important to you? What guides your actions?
6. Challenge your fixed mindset.
A growth mindset thrives on challenge, unlike a fixed mindset, which assumes we can’t change in a meaningful way.
- Example: Instead of “I need to control.” (a fixed quality that feels unchangeable) try “I am learning how to let go be a better listener and allow others to take the lead.” (this creates a path forward)
- Kristin Neff’s 5-minute Self Compassion Break is a great tool to guide you forward when you feel stuck in your fixed mindset.
7. Identify the sensations in your body in connection with your emotion.
Recognizing how our mind and body react to situations and emotions—whether in tandem or separately—can illuminate areas we want to alleviate tension.
- Notice what situations or stimuli trigger you and cause you to have certain reactions or feelings. Example: What is happening in your body when you feel angry?
- Set a reminder on your phone that says “Name 3 emotions you are experiencing right now.” Set it to repeat at a specific time every day.
8. Examine and poke holes in your own level of thinking.
As leaders, we know that making assumptions isn’t the best practice. Your own thinking is no different.
- Play your own devil’s advocate.
- Be open to asking those around you what I am missing in my thinking about this problem.
9. Know your strengths and weaknesses/growth edge.
SWOT analysis may be second nature for your business, but knowing your own strengths, weaknesses, and growth edge present an opportunity for greater self-awareness and direction.
- In what areas would you like to improve? What things come naturally and easily to you? What is something you would like to do, but are afraid to try?
10. Pay attention to your intuition.
Paying attention to your intuition—and trusting where it leads—can bring self-recognition and information you can then act on.
- Where do you feel naturally inclined to go? Be curious and listen beyond what your rational mind might be telling you.
Our favorite tools and resources include: