The JoyPowered® Organization

By JoDee Curtis, Megan Nail and Jeremy York

Do your employees find joy in their work? In The JoyPowered® Organization, JoDee Curtis, Megan Nail, and Jeremy York share their research, ideas, stories, and experiences to help you embark on a path toward excellence. You'll find out how to build a positive organization filled with employees who have been empowered to find their joy.

Diversity, recruiting, communication, values, mission, total rewards, operations, talent development, and strategy; it takes intentional focus on each of these to inspire a JoyPowered® organization. It can start with one person, one team, one division - it can grow from there. It starts with YOU, wherever you are.

• Language: English
• Publisher: BookBaby
• Release date: Jul 12, 2021
• ISBN: 9781098391843

Book preview

The

JoyPowered®

Organization

By JoDee Curtis, Megan Nail,

and Jeremy York

© 2021 by JoDee Curtis, Megan Nail, and Jeremy York.

All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher.

ISBN 978-1-09839-184-3

In Memory of Justin Chapman Kilgore 

July 20, 1982 – August 26, 2015

This book is dedicated to the memory of Justin Chapman Kilgore, a colleague of the authors and a bright, young human resource professional who challenged organizations to grow their people joyfully. Justin was a true leader whose wit, love for fun, and poignant activism inspired not only the authors but all people with whom he interacted to be better. Thank you for the joy you brought to everyone who knew you. 

I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.

- Maya Angelou

Table of Contents

Introduction

Organizational Strategy

People Strategy

Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion

People-Focused Operations

Strong Teams

Recruiting the Right People

Total Rewards

Talent Development

Effective Communication

Epilogue

Appendix A: My Personal Notes on The JoyPowered® Organization

Appendix B: My JoyPowered® Organization Action Plan

Appendix C: About the Authors

Appendix D: Sources

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Introduction

This is the fourth in a series of JoyPowered® books. It is a continuation and extension of the concepts we discussed in JoyPowered®: Intentionally Creating an Inspired Workspace, The JoyPowered® Family, and The JoyPowered® Team. You don’t need to have read the other three for this book to resonate with you. But if you enjoy this one, we recommend checking out the others!

As long-time friends, colleagues, and Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) volunteers, we discussed the idea of writing JoyPowered® book number four. We collaborated on several different ideas and immediately zoned in on JoyPowered® organizations. Why? Because we have served as employees, HR leaders, business leaders, consultants, and business owners, and we feel a passion for inspiring JoyPowered® work. Each of us knows what it is like to be in JoyPowered® organizations…and in ones that are not so joyful. We want you to be part of an organization that is JoyPowered® and hope to help you understand the difference!

What Do These Headshots Mean?

Because each of us shares our personal opinions and stories throughout the book, we want to make it obvious which of us is writing each chapter without breaking up the flow of the text. The headshot at the beginning of a chapter is our way of telling you who’s talking – and we want you to get to know us!

Who Is This Book For?

This book is for EVERYONE, and especially those who want to make their organizations more JoyPowered®. You don’t have to be the owner or the CEO to do this; you can be a part of a large organization, part of a small business, or working for yourself. Truly, anyone can take steps toward creating a more JoyPowered® team, department, or location – and this can be the beginning of a JoyPowered® organization.

Create Your Own Action Plan

Before you begin reading, please refer to Appendices A and B and bookmark them for easy access. Each time you feel inspired by an idea or story in this book, jot your insights down on either the insight (Appendix A) or action-planning (Appendix B) worksheet. Your notes will become the inspiration you need, from first steps to long-term strategy, in creating your own JoyPowered® organization!

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Organizational Strategy

If you have ever worked a day in a corporate environment, I am sure you have heard the words organizational strategy. It is a phrase that is used in almost every meeting at every level — team meetings, department meetings, division meetings, etc. But what is funny about this phrase is that most people have very little understanding of what it means; both what it means in general and what it means to the organization.

There have been many times that I have worked with various organizations and their employees when questions came up about organizational strategy. Some of the most common questions are: What makes up the organizational strategy? What are its components? What is it? Why do we need it? What does it mean to me and what I do?

Given these questions, it is clear to me that many of the employees did not have even a basic understanding of this phrase, but were being expected to connect to it and execute it in their role every day. And that is understandable. When you think about the phrase organizational strategy, it can be quite overwhelming and even intimidating. It is a big deal. It is critical for any business, as it outlines everything the organization intends to do to achieve its core objectives and goals. It provides the organization with purpose, direction, voice, and momentum and considers the resources necessary to execute the strategy.

I often liken organizational strategy to gas in a car. With no gas, you cannot go anywhere. All the parts of the car are in place to make it go and do what it needs to do; however, no gas means no catalyst — there is nothing there to make everything move. Organizational strategy acts as the catalyst to moving the organization forward.

I’ve always felt that organizational strategy is something that every employee should understand, at least at the most basic level. It is important that each person understand how their role — what they do every day — links back to what the organization is attempting to accomplish. But how do we do that?

As a manager, it was always important to me to meet with each member of my team and talk about their role, their importance in the department, and how our work related back to the overall big picture of what the organization was trying to achieve, both in the short and long term. I spent time outlining how each of their roles added value to our success as a team and business. But I did not want this to be all about me sharing my perspective, so I would ask them questions such as, What do you do that you believe is important to our success? or, How would you explain the connection between your role and organizational goals?. This made the employees take a deep dive and think about why their role was important. It also helped them to take ownership of their work by connecting their role to organizational goal achievement. I made this conversation about them.

JoyPowered® organizations know that organizational strategy must be not only business focused, but also people focused. PEOPLE execute the strategy. PEOPLE get the work done. PEOPLE engage people. 

As a leader in an organization, it is our job to educate and ensure that our people understand how they fit into this strategy. That means that we must have a strong understanding of organizational strategy; not only what it means to the organization, but what is and why it is important to success.

Organizations that put people first see better profits, foster ingenuity, and create workspaces where people can put their best skills to work. This is why JoyPowered® organizations create organizational, people-centric strategies centered around mission, vision, values, and culture. These four components are essential in providing employees with the who, what, when, where, why, and how of their purpose in the organization.

Mission

The mission of an organization outlines why an organization exists, what it is attempting to accomplish, what products or services it offers, and other insights as to its purpose. It not only helps keep the organization focused, but also helps educate employees on why the organization does what it does. For example:

The Coca-Cola Company: "To refresh the world in mind, body and spirit. To inspire