Naiman Labs Newsletter #4. Healthy relationships advice

Hello friends! Welcome to #4 issue of the weekly Naiman Labs Newsletter.

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This is the forth week we are live and I am so happy to see that the number of the readers is growing, because my goal about writing this newsletter is to make work and life of my readers a little better.

The media today is filled with buzzwords like “great resignation,” “quiet quitting,” “quiet firing,” and “quiet hiring.” To me, it seems like a sign of unhealthy relationships between employers and employees.

The common problem of such relationships is that partners don’t listen to each other, don’t talk to each other and hold grudge against each other. However listening to each other and being vocal about what bothers you is extremely important for healthy relationships.

When I was working in consulting, I came across an approach called “Employees' listening.” I believe it’s a crucial concept for understanding employees’ wants and needs. It’s essential to understand how your employees feel and why. What makes them happy or unhappy in their jobs. And the key is to listen, but companies and bosses often just assume.

Here is a common scenario at work. Someone’s complaining about their work to the manager. The default reaction of a manager is “They are not paid well, hey HR do something about it, or just let them go if they don’t like it here”. But employees happiness, or to be more precise employees engagement is much more complex thing and it is often not about the money at all.

Company’s processes, manager’s attitude, company’s goals and strategy, tools and services provided to employees for their day-to-day work, learning and career opportunities, company’s mission, product and services they sell to their customers - these are deeply important factors for employees engagement.

We all should listen to each other. And not only once a year, but regularly. Pulse surveys are a great way to gather employee feedback and the right questions can help get to the heart of the matter. Companies should create opportunities for employees to speak openly about their problems and show that they care. Often, a little bit of help and support is all it takes to improve employee engagement.

📃 People management article of the week

Meaningful work, the content of the work you do is a big portion of employees engagement, but what is meaningful? Only those who help others? Only those who have the impact on the whole world? No, it’s not like this. Read more in this very short article by the author of Emotional Intelligence

​ What Is Meaningful Work, Anyways?​

💼 Your career tip of the week

I am often asked how to make a “selling” LinkedIn Profile. I don’t know about “selling”, but I believe that you can easily start with making a nice catchy LinkedIn banner at your profile. Here's how you do it:

Step 1. Go to Canva​

Step 2. Click “Create a new design”

Step 3. Select “LinkedIn banner”, or LinkedIn Background photo (you need 1584 x 396px size)

Step 4. Add a very short information about you. Make it like a business card (just your name and 2-3 words) and upload some cool background picture

Step 5. Save it and download it.

Step 6. Go to your LinkedIn profile - select edit the banner at the top of the page and upload your new LinkedIn Banner. Voila!

⚒️ Productivity tip of the week

• 1-2 sentence tip for productivity based on videos and articles from productivity gurus

Be aware of your own success. When I fell that I am lost and don’t see any significant accomplishments, I open a new blank Notion page and write down every minor recent achievement.

Try it. It may be something at work, or at home. May be you’ve cooked some delicious dinner and made your family happy about it. Or may be you’ve helped a friend with a good restaurant recommendation. May be you’ve completed that one long pending presentation.

Just sit comfortably and write this down - you’ll be surprised with what you’ve achieved.

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Let's listen to each other

Vlad from Naiman Labs