My Puppy and Lessons in Leadership

My Puppy and Lessons in Leadership

My Significant Other, Steve, and I embarked on a journey in October…we got a puppy! Her name is Charlotte (Charlie) and she is adorable. While I recognize there are many differences between human behavior and that of a dog, raising her has reminded me of important lessons in leadership and similarities, including what drives us to be productive and happy.

Positive Reinforcement

Our puppy responds to positive reinforcement in much the same way people do, from a reward for a job well done to “Good Girl!” compliments. The concept of positive reinforcement is simple: If you reward a behavior, it is more likely to be repeated.

Just as Charlie needs to know when she is doing something right, employees need to receive positive feedback when they’re doing well and coaching when they’re not.  The two purposes of positive reinforcement are to recognize a desired behavior and to encourage a desired behavior. Leaders need to remind themselves that instead of focusing only on mistakes, we should actively look for, and recognize, when employees do things right. I’m constantly having to remind myself to divert Charlie from the wrong behaviors and reinforce the positive ones.

Study after study shows that employees want to feel appreciated. Some examples of positive reinforcement in the workplace include providing regular positive feedback for a job well done; creating opportunities to present work to colleagues; allowing employees to voice their opinions, providing opportunities for advancement, and providing a competitive salary and other benefits.

Safety

When we brought Charlie home, it was important to create an environment where she felt safe, both physically and psychologically. Some of the ways we did this was to keep her away from any harmful substances, providing a crate as a safe space that was all hers, and keeping her away from small objects she could swallow.

According to an article from the Center for Creative Leadership, How Leaders Can Create Psychological Safety at Work, “Psychological safety is the belief that you won’t be punished or humiliated for speaking up with ideas, questions, concerns, or mistakes. Psychological safety at work is a shared expectation held by members of a team that teammates will not embarrass, reject, or punish them for sharing ideas, taking risks, or soliciting feedback.”

Just like our animal friends, having a routine, gentle handling and allowing some control over our environment make us feel safer. When employees feel free to share ideas without repercussions, they are more likely to take risks, strive for innovation and creativity, and feel more satisfaction in the workplace.

“Psychological safety in the workplace doesn’t mean that everybody is nice to each other all the time. Rather, it means that people feel free to ‘brainstorm out loud,’ voice half-finished thoughts, openly challenge the status quo, share feedback, and work through disagreements together — knowing that leaders value honesty, candor, and truth-telling, and that team members will have one another’s backs.” (Center for Creative Leadership)

How Leaders Can Build Psychological Safety at Work

Ask yourself as a leader, does my team feel they can take risks? Can they be vulnerable in the workplace? Can a team member admit mistakes without punishment? Trust they are a valued member of the team?

When psychological safety exists, members of a team can be themselves, which can lead to higher productivity, creativity and innovation.

Rest and Play

Over the past several months, Steve and I have learned that ensuring Charlie gets plenty of rest and opportunities to play and exercise lead to a dog that is calmer and well-behaved. Engaging in playtime improves her physical, mental and emotional well-being. Regularly scheduled walks throughout the day, playing with her favorite chew toys and mentally stimulating activities, make Charlie a happier puppy.

Just as puppies need to be able to engage in playtime, so do our employees. Work-life balance in the workplace is critical for a productive and satisfied team. It’s essential for leaders to instill the importance of taking time off for vacation, a mental health day, or to attend a child’s ballgame or piano recital. The best leaders do this by modeling that behavior themselves.

In addition to valuing time away from work, good leaders also recognize how essental it is to have fun in the workplace. With all the pressure we’re facing both in the workplace and the world around us, having fun at work can lighten some of the burden we’re feeling. In an article for Forbes by Janine MacLachlan titled, How To Make Work Fun: A Guide For Leaders (And Everyone), we learn about author Bree Goff who maintains that work can be fun. “In her new book Today Was Fun: A Book About Work (Seriously), she challenges the grind culture with a bold proposal: what if we stopped treating weekdays as something we wished away?

“Groff doesn’t make a typical business case for employee engagement. She makes an existential one…and what resulted is a primer on injecting every day with joy, whether in rethinking work or building in little moments that boost energy. Even her chapter titles are fun, such as “your brain works whether you’re wearing a suit or stretchy pants” and ‘shoveling sh*t is fun if you like your co-shovelers.’ ”

How to Make Work Fun

We’ve all seen the overwhelming sense of joy a dog has when they chase down a ball and come running back with it, or the exuberance of finding the perfect stick on a daily walk or just sitting in a patch of sunlight in the grass. As leaders, we could learn a lot about finding joy and fun in the little things both at work and at home from a dog, and should work to find ways to make space for rest and play in our lives and the lives of our employees.

Consistency

Currently, Steve and I are going through Puppy Training with Charlie and one lesson we have learned is that consistency is key. You can’t give a reward for positive behavior one day and not the next, and you can’t reward negative behavior. When we ensure rules, routines, and commands remain the same and are consistent, we enhance our puppy’s chances of being successful in her training (and ours!).

As a leader, consistency in behaviors and actions builds trust and reflects accountability. Just as Steve and I need to be consistent in our commands and behavior with Charlie, leaders should strive for the same. Consistency in leadership consists of setting clear expectations, aligning what you say with what you do, establishing routines, and adapting when it’s necessary.

Consistency in the workplace provides employees with a sense of stability and confidence in their place on the team.

A Puppy and Leadership

Having a puppy can teach us so many lessons, like the ones above. Excellent leaders exhibit the traits of a good dog owner:

1. They practice patience.
2. They value playtime and fun in the workplace.
3. They model rest and work-life balance.
4. They provide rewards and recognition for a job well-done.
5. They lead with consistency.
6. They value both the physical and psychological safety of their team.

Steve and I have found so much joy in raising Charlie, but there has also been frustration and exhaustion. As we find in the workplace, if we lead with kindness and respect, joy and satisfaction will far outweigh the frustration and exhaustion that can sometimes come from our work.