Welcome to Merge's Monthly Mega Minute - a bite-sized, yet substantial and practical, nugget of information that you can use immediately to enhance your professional and personal success.

Isn't soap just soap?

Think about this for a minute. If you sent a friend or client a gift box containing a dozen individually wrapped fragrant soaps from The Body Shop, she'd probably be delighted and call to thank you. But if you sent that same friend one dozen bars of Irish Spring, she'd likely think you rude and insensitive, and probably smack you the next time she saw you. Why is that? After all, isn't soap just soap?

The difference lies in the message. With apologies to Colgate-Palmolive, the implied message in sending a dozen bars of Irish Spring is "Take a bath!" However, the implied message in sending The Body Shop's soaps is "Pamper yourself!" Same product, but two very diametrically different reactions from the recipient! 

Think about that in the context of leadership. Every employee in your organization gets weekly or bi-monthly paycheques – bars of soap, if you will. In some organizations, the implied message with the paycheque is "We're paying you, just get the job done". In others, it's "Thank you for your contributions, we value you and your skills". Same product, but not surprisingly, diametrically different reactions from the two sets of recipients.

Leaders, think about your departments and organizations. Are you giving fragrant soaps from the Body Shop or bars of Irish Spring?  I’d love to hear more about what you think about what I’ve just put forward.  Please add your perspective by commenting directly on the blog at www.turningmanagersintoleaders.com/blog

In The Globe: Building rapport with your boss in a hybrid workplace

Hybrid workplaces can lead to difficulties in maintaining a robust relationship with your boss.  And a positive rapport with your immediate manager is not just about staying in their good books; it is a pathway to career growth, job satisfaction, and a harmonious work-life balance.  In Five keys to building a strong relationship with your boss in a hybrid workplace, Merge outlines five specific areas you should focus on with your boss to keep the communication pipelines approachable and accessible. 

Turning Managers Into Leaders

• Video: Use team goal collaboration techniques to elevate your team’s performance. Team goal collaboration techniques will create better team outcomes. Merge explains why and how you should do this
• Use Cunningham's Law to get people involved and talking. Are you having difficulty getting your people to engage in discussions? Cunningham's Law offers a contrary approach to get the dialogue going
• Want better team meetings? Think about the first five minutes. Think like a movie-maker.  Joel Hilchey guests on the blog with practical ideas you can use now
  

That Merge has a YouTube channel chock-full of useful leadership tips? 

Over 160 easy, actionable tips, each about 2-3 minutes long, on a variety of topics that are important to leaders.  This year’s Merge has been focusing specifically on team-building tools for leaders.  But there are series on leading hybrid and virtual teams, leading with compassion, building resiliency in employees, productivity, developing and growing your employees, motivating employees, and leading change, among others.  Available to you 24-7, and at no charge! The easiest way to access this valuable collection of video strategies is directly from our site. Go to our Videos page in our Tools section and you'll see short descriptions and links to all of Merge's video series. Or subscribe to Merge's YouTube channel and you'll get notified every time a new video is posted, which often happens even before they're even announced publicly!