(214) 997-4921 metsy@metsy.com
Disengaged Employees Live in the Worst Video Game Ever Created

Disengaged Employees Live in the Worst Video Game Ever Created

I was sipping prissy coffee at Nerdvana when I read about the Worst Video Game Ever Created. According to the New Yorker, the worst video game is Desert Bus by Penn and Teller.

In Desert Bus, you drive real-time from Tucson to Las Vegas. That’s 8 hours alone in the desert in a bus that pulls to the right. Finish the trip, and you receive one point. Then you turn around and begin the same lonely trip again.

Teller once said, “Your task is simply to remain conscious.” Funny for a game. Scary for a business.

You need your people to be more than conscious. Talent is pricey.

Somewhere in your organization, there is an employee in a dusty cube blankly staring at a computer screen. They are stuck in a desk-bound Desert Bus scenario feeling alone or not challenged by the work. There are many reasons people lose focus or motivation, but the bottom line is they are unable to fully engage in the work you so desperately need them to complete.

A focus on employee engagement prevents a Desert Bus scenario for your employees.

According to a Gallup study in 2013, seven out of ten employees are not engaged in their work. Current numbers sit at 32% engaged in the U.S. (as of Feb 2017). That seems crazy. It’s hard to imagine that companies survive these kinds of engagement numbers. Unfortunately, I’ve been a member of specific teams where these numbers match reality.

Your people are passionate about the work, so I’d be surprised if you see disengagement numbers close to 70%.

Whether you have 10% disengaged employees or 68% disengaged employees, you need to take action.

 

How do you help your employees get their deadlines back on track?

How do you get everyone to work together to avert a potential meltdown?

Trust is Not Optional

Successful teams have a foundation of trust.

Employees understand that things go wrong and mistakes are made, but if they trust, they will give co-workers and managers the benefit of the doubt.

Employees are more likely to stay engaged and be a part of the solution if there is trust.

Telling you to “go build some trust” with your disengaged employees is about as helpful as telling you to “go forth and be successful.” That’s vague as heck. You need somewhere to start.

In the Harvard Business Review article The Simplest Way to Build Trust, David DeSteno states, “If you can make someone feel a link with you, his empathy for and willingness to cooperate with you will increase.”

This is called the perception of similarity, and it’s a powerful way to connect with each of your employees. Then you can help the employee connect with their job and their team again.

When I was in tech, I was juggling 1678 pieces of data in my head, tired from the server malfunction and trying to stay focused to lead my team. I greatly value people care, but when you’re worn out and distracted, it can be tough to know where to start.

Let’s get you a system that works for you… and for each of your employees.

DISC Training Builds Trust Quickly

The absence of any other human in the Desert Bus game shows the absurdity of trying to find success alone. Yes, you need to continually build trust with each of your employees. You also need your people to build trust with each other.

Give employees the tools to understand each other, and they will find what they have in common.

When your people see how they are similar, this perception of similarity helps your people build trust within the team. In an environment of trust, an employee who is struggling will be more open about the real issues so that you can help them find solutions.

There is already a system to help your employees understand each other and improve their ability to communicate with each other. It’s called DISC.

Good news. DISC is tested and used by over 100,000 companies. It’s backed by over 30 years of brain research.

More good news. DISC works in all teams. It even works when people are tired and distracted. It’s easy to use in real-life.

The best news. You have found the one person on this rotating rock that speaks geek AND is a certified DISC trainer. I teach these proven communication tools using terminology and examples from tech and popular fandoms.

Now What?

The faster we get these tools in the hands of your teams, the faster you see improvement.

You are not stuck on a desolate desert road in a bus all alone. I’m here to help.

Building a business is an epic adventure. I’m in your cache of weapons to call upon.

Ready to book training for your teams? Call or text 214-997-4921 today.

Use DISC at Your Own Risk (with Non-Humans)

Use DISC at Your Own Risk (with Non-Humans)

I survived 19 pages. Snuggled on the couch and ready to dive into a new world of friends and fantasies, I read until page 19. That’s it. Not even the promise of a man that sparkles brighter than the Swarovski crystal on my rearview mirror would prod me forward. Robert Pattinson will forever be Cedric Diggory to me.

Sparkly vampires are not my thing, and that’s ok.

Boring blog posts packed with business jargon aren’t my thing either.

The business terms that describe what I do have been pounded into a boring mush of overused, consultant-y phrases. Yet I need to use them to help people understand what value I bring. It’s frustrating to have an armory of valuable tools and weapons that sound about as exciting as a paperclip.

For example, DISC is an assessment that provides insight into HOW someone behaves. That sounds boring, but it is not. DISC – and the other assessments I use – are tools that give you insight when communicating with anyone. Whether business or personal. For any reason.

To help illustrate my point about the far reaching use of DISC to improve communication – and to give you a window into my brain, I created the following infographic to cover “people” that you should NOT use DISC with.

Use DISC at your own risk infographic

DISC isn’t a boring sounding business tool that ‘other people’ use. DISC is serious. DISC is powerful.

There are many assessments on the market. You find some for training and some for coaching and some for hiring. Ain’t nobody got time for all that, so I chose to use DISC assessments that are statistically validated and safe to use for hiring. Other than helping keep you out of court, that is important because that means you can use my one set of tools for all of your employee needs – training, coaching and hiring.

Five assessments I recommend:

  • DISC measures HOW a person behaves. Powerful for improving teamwork and understanding communication styles.
  • DISC plus driving forces measures both HOW and WHY a person behaves. Combining behaviors (DISC) and driving forces (motivators) is powerful for engaging employees, coaching leaders, building better communication and selecting team members.
  • TriMetrix HD provides a 55-point analysis that uncovers a person’s behaviors (DISC), driving forces, acumen, as well as an individual’s unique competencies (soft skills). Powerful for executive coaching, talent selection and the development of high potential employees.
  • EQ measures a person’s emotional intelligence, which is the ability to sense, understand and effectively apply emotional well-being to facilitate higher levels of collaboration and productivity. Powerful for developing leaders, engaging teams, coaching and succession planning.
  • Stress Quotient assessment measures workplace stress in seven factors, revealing how stress affects the overall health, productivity and morale of both individuals and the teams. Powerful for identifying root causes of stress and facilitating conversations so you can create a plan to address causes and help improve employee performance and productivity.
Why use assessments at all?
I believe they help make your life more productive and less complicated. You don’t have time to spend a year observing employees, so you can figure out how to manage them. Or whether they even fit the team you are building.

My assessments tell you in 10 minutes what it would take a year to observe. And they give you a language to use for managing communication with everyone on your team.

The crazy part? DISC works wonderfully with humans. And there are 7.4 billion of us.

So if you work with humans, I have some powerful weapons to help you win the talent war.

Who ya gonna call? Call Metsy.

News: Innovative Approach to Business Earns Metsy Corter Domestic Brand Ambassador of the Year Honor

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact:
Emily Soccorsy
emily.soccorsy@ttiltd.com
480.443.1077 ext. 257

 

INNOVATIVE APPROACH TO BUSINESS EARNS METSY CORTER
DOMESTIC BRAND AMBASSADOR OF THE YEAR HONOR

Consultant Says Business Success Derives From Authenticity, Personal Touch

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. – Jan. 14, 2016 TTI Success Insights (TTI SI) is pleased to award Metsy Corter of Metsy Corter Consulting, LLC with its 2016 Domestic Brand Ambassador of the Year Award. The distinction honors one Value Added Associate (VAA) who has steadfastly made efforts throughout the year to promote the TTI SI brand in business across various social media and marketing platforms.

Corter, whose business is based in Plano, Texas, received the top honor Jan. 9 during TTISICon 2016, TTI SI’s annual conference, at The Scottsdale Plaza Resort in Scottsdale. An estimated 370 TTI SI network members gathered Jan. 8-10 to honor top performers and celebrate successes and innovation in business.

TTI SI Vice President of Corporate Communications Emily Soccorsy presented the top honor to Corter. The Brand Ambassador of the Year Award recognizes a thought leader within the VAA network who, in part, has enriched it and the public at large by creating appealing and disruptive content on various social media platforms.

“TTI SI and the entire VAA network have Metsy Corter to thank for providing thought leadership in a dynamic manner,” said Bill J. Bonnstetter, chairman and founder of Target Training International, Ltd., and TTI SI. “The way we conduct business is changing, and it’s leaders like Metsy who aren’t afraid to step out and adopt new, innovative practices in order to make strides in business.”

“To market effectively, you need to speak to you customers’ pain and tell their story. But to dig deeper and build a niche brand, you must understand their pan and communicate it effectively with their words, while still staying true to your own authentic voice,” Corter said. “People are communicating about life and work on social media, so ignoring this trend in business leaves you out of conversations that are taking place on a worldwide stage.

“Social media is a powerful way to build relationships with current and future customers alike,” she continued. “It also levels the playing field for those of us who are more introverted and want to connect outside of more traditional and frenzied networking events.”

 

TTISICon 2016 marked TTI SI’s 27th annual conference. Next year’s conference, Jan. 13-15, 2017, returns to The Scottsdale Plaza Resort.

About TTI Success Insights

TTI Success Insights believes all people are unique and have talents and skills of which they are often unaware. We exist to reveal and harness these talents, using the Science of Self™. For over 30 years, we have researched and applied social and brain science, creating assessment solutions consultants in 90 countries and 40 languages use to hire, develop and retain the best talent in the world. With a tenacious, innovative culture, we transform potential to productivity, performance and profits. Every 7 seconds, someone is taking a TTI SI assessment report to increase their self-awareness and grow their career. For more information, visit www.ttisi.com and @TTI_SI.

# # #

Why am I full of excitement and certainty I will succeed as an entrepreneur?

Why am I full of excitement and certainty I will succeed as an entrepreneur?

Below is an answer to this question that I posted to Quora on July 14, 2015.  

Do you have this feeling that you are destined for greatness? Do you feel like you have something unique and wonderful inside of you waiting to get out?

That may not be enough to make the big leap. It’s important to find out before you set out to start a 21usiness.

A drive to control your own destiny:
If you feel like you have something wonderful, unique inside of you that is bursting to get out into the world, you likely have a driving force to control your destiny. (I’m not going to touch on faith or religion here, just business.)

I understand what this feels like. I bought the URL for my this company when I was 21. I started my company when I was 41. That’s a long time to yearn to CREATE something. To build something.

Learn as much NOW about your skills, your innate abilities, your communication style, your shortcomings, your biases as you can… as fast as you can.

Starting a business is a journey of self-discovery. Everything wonderful about you will be set into action. Everything thorny, jagged, ratty about you as well.

I help people work through all of this what-should-I-do stuff for a living, and here’s what I’ve observed. Wanting control of your destiny is a driving force marker for every entrepreneur I have met. Some successful. Some not.

As a business owner, you have to believe in your ideas and your unique spin on the world MORE than anyone else around you. Wanting control of your own destiny bad enough will help you get through the land of haters. Haters are not all trolls. Some mean well.

People who love you will try to get you to give up on your dream. (They are just scared for you.) Thank them for caring about you, and help them to understand that you have to give this a try.

People who want to control their own destiny but don’t have the guts to do it will try to create problems for you. (They may not even realize it.) Wish them well and move on. Who knows, maybe you’ll inspire them to take the leap, too!

And you’ll stumble on those people who have taken the leap already. Some who want to warn you about the traumas you are about to experience. Some who want to be your cheerleader and help you succeed. Learn from both but don’t be deluded by either extreme.

There are so many other important factors to consider before taking the leap.

A drive for function: The other marker I have seen with entrepreneurs is a driving force for function. Combine a desire to get your idea into the world with a driving force to be useful, and you start to have the makings of a business owner.

What do I mean by function? Do you look around and see how you could streamline that process? Wish you could improve that product? Reduce costs? Want to help people solve a problem? In the past, have you taken action on those impulses? If not, start now. If yes, you just need to develop this side more.

A drive for function often goes with a drive to accumulate wealth – but not always. Just make sure you are not chasing money without having to provide value to customers. That would make you someone who wants to be paid to be themselves and that’s not necessarily entrepreneur territory. (Closer to Kardashians, perhaps.)

Determining success is a question that we all ask, and some think they know the answer. There are many factors in addition to what drives you that help predict your success as a business owner, but FIRST figure out what propels you to take action in your life. That is an important – no, vital – part of preparing to start a new venture.

Not taken the leap as an entrepreneur yet? Please let as much as you can about yourself in order to plan a business that will fit who you ARE and WHY you take action. Please. Please.

If you are not sure, call me and we can help you learn more in 10 minutes than you could observe in a year.

Renew Your Weary Soul

Renew Your Weary Soul

You turn the corner into an unexpected place and stumble into peace. Sweet, elusive calm. 

You love the sound of the waves and salty breeze at a hidden seaside resort. 

You recall the quiet beauty of an old Spanish courtyard filled with yellow blooms.

You lift a warm cappuccino to your lips at a local cafe surrounded by a symphony of rushing people and honking horns. 

I don’t collect souvenirs. I collect my list of peace places. Locations where I feel my body relax and breathing slow slightly. 

Places where the world’s expectations melt away, and I am free to find me again. 

Today, I pack up and leave one of my peace places feeling my calm. Like a few of the more loosely stitched pieces are pulled tighter to join the whole. 

I am grateful for this time. I am grateful for the renewal. I am grateful for you.