Can I be HUMAN with YOU?

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Jennifer McDonnell specializes in organizational development and she brings an interesting perspective to the conversation through her work in retail, higher education, pharmaceuticals, and housing.

Lead with Levity Podcast Show Notes

Episode: 5

Title: Can I be HUMAN with YOU?

Release date: September 16, 2019

Guest: Jennifer McDonnell (Senior Organizational Development Specialist of Senior Living Services, Brentwood, Missouri)

Jennifer McDonnell specializes in organizational development and she brings an interesting perspective to the conversation through her work in retail, higher education, pharmaceuticals, and housing.

Jennifer currently supports Lutheran Senior Services, a large faith-based non-profit that is spread out across 21 locations in Missouri and Illinois. Lutheran Senior Services has provided housing and assisted living services in the community for 160 years!

Time Stamps

[01:44] Who is an organizational development specialist?

[03:14] About Lutheran Senior Services

[04:00] With Lutheran Senior Services being so spread out, how do you maintain an overarching culture?

[07:40] What Lutheran Senior Services does to manage employee experience

[11:04] Out of the different ways data is collected at Lutheran, what do you think pays off the most?

[13:11] Taking care of your staff so they can take care of your clients

[16:05] What is the biggest people factor that keeps you and your team up at night?

[19:25] What attracts workers to Lutheran Senior Services?

[23:07] Is levity good or bad for business?

[24:43] Is there a place for levity at Lutheran Senior Services? If so, what would that look like, and what barriers would you have to overcome to get started?

[26:53] What’s the best part of the culture at Lutheran Senior Services?

[31:10] If levity could fix one problem out there in the world, what would it be?

QUOTES

· When I think about the development that we do with our leaders, I spend a lot of time talking about having those conversations that open up that leader-employee relationship, this piece of lightness like, “Oh, I can talk to you, and it’s not all about work production.”

· Levity is good for business. When we bring all these people into the workplace with different experiences, levity says, “Oh I can still be human with you. I can still laugh with you.” It builds trust, and when you trust someone, it’s like, “I want to work for you. And I know you want the best for me.”

· Sometimes as a leader, you have to give up a little bit of your vulnerability to allow people to feel safe to be human with you.

· [on overcoming barriers to levity in the workplace] We would have to knock down some cultural barriers within the workplace to say, “Hey, figure out three things you want to share with your employees and be transparent about as a person.”

· To take care of folks, to change diapers, to be at the beck and call of another human can be t

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