Monthly Archives

November 2021

Nov 30 2021
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GIVING BACK ON GIVING TUESDAY

By SanovaWorks, Team Sanova

NEW YORK, (November 30, 2021) –  Caroline Barrett, SanovaWorks Chief Operating Officer

Giving Tuesday is upon us and SanovaWorks is kicking off our annual Giving Month Initiative.

 SanovaWorks’ Giving Month

The end of the year and the holiday season is a great time to give and share your good fortune with those in need. Supporting individuals and families not only helps them, but it is a gift to us to do something positive and to spread good cheer.

Opportunity to Donate Toys, Books, and Coats

This year we will be donating toys, books, and coats to the Morris Heights Health Center, which is a tremendous organization located in the Bronx that provides free and low-cost health care and an array of other services. MHHC is close to our hearts; we have worked with them for the past 13 years, and several of us have volunteered there.

With the pandemic, their services are more important now than ever before. MHHC reports that they will be hosting toy drive events between December 10th and December 20th at several of their locations. Team Sanova will send their donations directly to MHHC.

We are looking forward to yet another season of gifting and giving back. View a Photo Gallery of past years’ Toy Drive. If you would like to share in giving, you can make a donation to MHHC by following the link below.

With gratitude,

Caroline

DONATE TO MORRIS HEIGHTS HEALTH CENTER

Nov 26 2021
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LEADERSHIP WITHIN

By Leadership

NEW YORK, (November 26, 2021) –  Shelley Tanner, SanovaWorks CEO/President

Guest Post

Laura Kline-Taylor

Leadership Within

How executives create sustainable growth and transformation on their teams and within themselves.

Whether it’s raising our children, operating in the organizations we serve, contributing to a project in a team context, or running a small business, we’re all leading. A leader’s style not only creates results and successes but is also created by the micro responses to the challenges and circumstances she encounters while leading. Women leaders especially feel the tugging of our competing leadership roles. Many of us are mothers or caregivers. If we’re not responsible for other humans biologically or as legal guardians, we may land these responsibilities by way of the professional roles we occupy. When the stakes are high and the stakeholders are relying on results, the range of roles and responsibilities can seem at once exhilarating and burdensome. 

A leader in the throes of competing commitments may be stretched too thin to effectively walk her own talk, but if she doesn’t, she will likely experience setbacks, delays, and other challenges. These challenges may render her leadership less potent if she is concerned more with optics than with embodying a mission and vision, and thus, lose the opportunity to model authenticity for her team. This misalignment may result in partial buy-in from stakeholders, complicated policies, contradictory expectations, and high-stress environments.

With a willingness to focus on the coherence of her thoughts, words, and actions, a leader can experience more of her personal power, more ease in achieving goals, and greater fulfillment in relationships while she also models this for her teams.

The first step to leadership realignment is to identify which of the three distinct aspects of your personal leadership listed below you least honor, as this will be the culprit for your life lacking cohesion as well as the portal through which to create more impactful and sustained successes.

Inner Voice: Thoughts and Beliefs

Your Inner Voice is the running commentary about your life and work. This voice constantly measures the gap between your intention and your results, and tends to compare, judge, and assess your success while simultaneously collecting evidence of lack or inefficiency, negative feeling, or unmet needs. This voice is relentless, and when left unexamined, can be rife with criticism, unchecked assumptions, cultural biases, fear, and ego.

When a leader’s command of this personal domain is underdeveloped she may find herself agreeing to or engaging in activities she doesn’t actually enjoy. She may feel like she’s going through the motions of life but that she’s the sight of the greater purpose behind it all.

If this is you, you may have spent a long time not trusting yourself and your intuition and be more practiced at second-guessing yourself than you are at following the voice screaming “No, I want something different!” Maybe you’ve gone along with the requests and ideas of a supervisor, spouse, or friend and whereas at first, it was convenient, in doing so you’ve lost your own vision and voice.

This gives the experience of purposelessness and not trusting yourself. This can also plant a seed of doubt in your leadership credibility among team members who may sense, but not be able to articulate what exactly isn’t inspiring them to action. 

Outer Voice: The expression of your thoughts and beliefs

The Outer Voice is your words. The way you express your internal thoughts and beliefs may be a carbon copy of the voice in your mind, or you may adapt them to appear a certain way by the outside world or to meet some external expectation or cultural norm.

When the expression of your authentic voice wavers between truths, a leader may find herself perpetually in opposition to or at odds with the people in her life and her relationships may seem complicated to manage. 

If this is you, you may think it’s better to tell people what they want to hear to get them off your back or avoid confrontation, Perhaps you do so, knowing you believe something else and so you placate your counterparts and colleagues and take action on your own thoughts and beliefs behind their backs.

You may live one truth at home (“My job is so demanding!”) and another at work (“My family is so needy!”) or you may align with the belief that “if you want something done right, you must do it yourself.” You have likely heard yourself say “better to ask forgiveness than permission.”

This gives the experience of feeling productive and in control in the short term, but also one of being alone, being “better than” or “less than”, and not in authentic communication or relationship. This leader’s teammates may find themselves completing busy work or projects they don’t fully buy into, operating with inaccurate assumptions, or wasting time on irrelevant tasks due to unclear expectations. 

Action: The follow-through

If the personal leadership domain of taking action is where your promises fall short, you may share your best intentions to impress people while knowing deep down that you won’t actually deliver because you’re already overcommitted and undersupported. 

This is the secret strategy of successful, yet overwhelmed leaders who practice this and other similar strategies. While they may keep the balls in the air, they likely also perpetuate imposter syndrome, perfectionistic habits, or they may suffer from the ailments of leaders who haven’t yet fully owned their “No.” 

If this is you, you may truly intend to review that proposal or look into that book recommendation someone you admire mentions, but then “forget”, or delay actually doing so until some external deadline or milestone pushes you to follow through.

This gives the internal experience of looking good, while always scrambling or performing for praise or validation from an outsider. This leader’s colleagues may dread meetings or fear the conversation will just be lip service if the team has to follow up on requests. This may lead to their questioning the reliability of this leader’s word. 

Identify Your No-Flow Zone

Your No-Flow Zone is the area above in which authenticity falters most. By continuing to operate with this integrity breakdown, your ability to perform at peak capacity as a leader is interrupted every time you repeat the pattern of inauthenticity in the ways you do.

Refer to the descriptions above to nail down the area that you least honor, or where your leadership most lacks cohesion.  Then, ask yourself, how might that be creating a block to your flow as a leader and contributing to a crack in your foundation by not “walking your talk”?

Now, refer to the example statements in this sample from my ebook, available for download to start your own No-Flow List. Consider the areas of money, career, romance, parenting, family, friends, health, security, etc. to expose the full picture of your personal leadership impact. 

The practice of looking at your list and adding to it daily will shed light on the specific ways this habit blocks your potential and will expose the places where you can start to close the gap between your intention and your impact. This will help you take your leadership to the next level because the confidence and integrity that come from knowing you’re honoring your message for others will become apparent in the conversations you have while networking, negotiating, or parenting.  

Because a leader who takes herself on, as well as the organizations, the people, and programs she’s passionate about radiates an authority that speaks for itself, and that her target audiences, partners, and other followers will subscribe to as well. 

For support in your leadership realignment, use this link to sign up for a complimentary session with Laura, and explore your No Flow Zone as well as the opportunities that exist for you when you’re aligned and fully leverage your leadership potential. 

Laura Kline-Taylor is an Executive Life & Business Coach who works with career-driven women and entrepreneurial spirits who are also interested in powerful motherhood. She helps leaders (many of whom also self-identify as Chief Executive Mothers) plug into the belief that women leaders can design her own version of having “it all.” First, she must quit trading one aspect of a life she loves for another. From there, we create the communities and environments that can support her current circumstances, hold her vision, and sustain her “all”.
Learn more about Laura: www.lauraklinetaylor.com

RESOURCES

Schedule an Appointment with Laura to get started on Leadership Within.
Nov 07 2021
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SANOVAWORKS SUPPORTS THE NATIVE AMERICAN RIGHTS FUND

By SanovaWorks

NEW YORK, (November 7, 2021) –  Caroline Barrett, SanovaWorks Vice President of Operations

Native American People have inhabited the land that we love and live on for thousands of years. Their countless contributions and influence on our Nation have not always been honored. Most recently, it has been reported that the COVID-19 pandemic has affected Native Americans at higher rates. Together we recognize, celebrate, and vow to promote and protect the rights, tribal sovereignty, and natural resources of Native American People. We hope to share in the public’s education of tribal rights, laws, and issues. November is National Native American Heritage Month and November 26, 2021, is Native American Heritage Day.

National Native American Heritage Month 

Native American Heritage Day, November 26, 2021

In his official Proclamation from the White House Briefing Room, President Biden states: 

“The United States of America was founded on an idea:  that all of us are created equal and deserve equal treatment, equal dignity, and equal opportunity throughout our lives.  Throughout our history — though we have always strived to live up to that idea and have never walked away from it — the fact remains that we have fallen short many times.  Far too often in our founding era and in the centuries since, the promise of our Nation has been denied to Native Americans who have lived on this land since time immemorial. Despite a painful history marked by unjust Federal policies of assimilation and termination, American Indian and Alaska Native peoples have persevered. 

During National Native American Heritage Month, we celebrate the countless contributions of Native peoples past and present, honor the influence they have had on the advancement of our Nation, and recommit ourselves to upholding trust and treaty responsibilities, strengthening Tribal sovereignty, and advancing Tribal self-determination.“ 

SanovaWorks Supports Native American Rights Fund

In honor of National Native American Heritage Month, SanovaWorks supports the Native American Rights Fund (NARF). NARF’s mission is to protect Native American rights, resources, and lifeways through litigation, legal advocacy, and legal expertise.

Native American Rights Fund 

The Native American Rights Fund (NARF) was founded in 1970. NARF is the oldest and largest nonprofit legal organization “asserting and defending the rights of Indian tribes, organizations, and individuals nationwide.” 

According to the organization’s website, NARF’s legal resources are concentrated in these five areas: 

  1. Preserve tribal existence, 
  2. Protect tribal natural resources, 
  3. Promote Native American human rights,
  4. Develop Native American law and educate the public about Indian rights, laws, and issues
  5. Hold governments accountable to Native Americans

Preserve tribal existence

“American Indian and Alaska Native tribes have existed for thousands of years. NARF’s foremost priority is to protect and secure continued tribal existence. NARF focuses on preserving tribes’ sovereignty — their political status and legal rights as governments”. 

Protect tribal natural resources

“The political and economic self-determination and self-sufficiency of most tribes depend on maintaining their land and natural resources. Much of NARF’s work under this priority involves helping tribes to safeguard their land rights; water rights; hunting, fishing, and gathering rights; resource rights; and environmental rights.”

Promote Native American human rights

“NARF concentrates on enforcing laws regarding rights to equal protection and to be free from discrimination in voting, education, incarceration, and religion. NARF also helps develop laws that provide unique protections for Native collective rights, traditions, culture, and property such as sacred places, peyote, eagle feathers, burial remains, and funerary objects. NARF’s human rights work includes international forums like the United Nations and the Organization of American States.”

Hold governments accountable to Native Americans

“Non-tribal governments often threaten to eliminate or compromise the hard-fought-for or bargained-for political status and legal rights of tribes. NARF strives to hold governments at all levels accountable for the broad range of laws that protect tribal sovereignty and Native rights. The United States, in particular, must be responsible to tribes for its legal promises, moral obligations, and past detrimental policies.”

Develop Native American law and educate the public about Indian rights, laws, and issues

“NARF [plays] a key role in developing a body of federal law pertaining to tribal sovereignty, tribal land, and natural resources, human rights, and the accountability of governments to Native people.” 

You can donate to the NARF here.

Image Credit: Native American Rights Fund

Resources

NARF

A Proclamation on National Native American Heritage Month, 2021

Native American Heritage Month | About

A collaborative project of the Library of Congress and the National Endowment for the Humanities, National Gallery of Art, National Park Service, Smithsonian Institution, United States Holocaust Memorial Museum and U.S. National Archives and Records Administration.

Native American Heritage Month | Images

Nov 01 2021
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ADVANTAGES OF HIRING REMOTE EMPLOYEES

By Diary of a Remote Company, Remote Work

NEW YORK, (November 1, 2021) – Signe Pihlstrand, SanovaWorks Vice President

Does Your Company Hire Remote Employees?

Results Matter

SanovaWorks functions with a Results Only Work Environment.  When we created this policy almost a decade ago, the benefits we were anticipating took a little time to emerge. The biggest advantage under our new policy was hiring remote employees. The entire process differed from what we’d experienced in the past, hiring only from our local talent pool. We were able to staff a fully remote Team and thrive over the past decade. Fast forward to the past year and a half, since the pandemic hit, we started to see other companies adapt to a remote workforce. We responded with a series called Diary of a Remote Company, our own company’s insights in how to manage teams, and normalize video chatting.

Creating a Remote Company

First, there are more applicants – considerably more. We were already inundated with every job post, but opening up the search to include anyone that can attend meetings during Eastern Standard Time makes a dramatic difference. We didn’t just have more candidates to choose from, we had many more viable candidates to choose from. For every job opening we have, there is a certain percentage of applicants that apply that are not qualified. Another percentage has applied for the wrong position – responded to the wrong ad. Then, add all of the applicants with letters and resumes full of typos. And then all of the spam responses from recruiting companies. What we are left with is often a much smaller group than we had hoped for.

When we began to hire a fully remote team, we had less of the above percentages, and more in the “keeper pool.” We now get a very large percentage of feasible, quality applicants that have read the ad, have relevant experience, have responded with a clear, well-written resume, and if we’re lucky, include a cover letter that tells us even more about them and how they fit with the role, and helps set them apart from the rest of the group. For sure a difference is because of the numbers – more applicants, more percentage of each group, including the “yes” list. But we can’t help but notice that the percentage of viable candidates is disproportionately larger than the others. More of the applicants make the effort, and more make the cut.

Limitless Location

We focus on finding the very best people for our positions and we are not limited by location. And we are thrilled with our team members. They have varying backgrounds and skillsets, but what they have in common is that they are absolute pros at what they do, they are dispersed across the country, and we feel lucky to have found them.

Does Your Company Hire Remote Employees?

I understand all industries can’t go this route. Retail, or any company that caters to the public, for example. What experiences have you had with remote staffing?

If your industry allows, consider hiring remote workers. Recent studies show employees that who work remote or are allowed the flexibility of working remotely some of the time, are more satisfied in their jobs, less likely to quit, and are often more productive than their in-office counterparts.

And on top of this:

  • As I illustrated above, employing remote staff allows companies to use a global talent pool to fill their open positions, which provides a greater chance of finding qualified, talented and experienced candidates.
  • Employees are able to save money on work wardrobe, and eating breakfast and lunches out – and are more apt to make coffee at home instead of spending way too much for their morning joe.
  • Employees save on commuting costs, and the time it saves them results in a greater work-life balance.
  • It’s Green! Reducing the number of commuters saves fuel, reduces vehicle carbon emissions and traffic congestion.
  • Absenteeism is reduced  – employees can work in any sort of weather – snow and ice can’t keep them from coming in to work. And in general, remote workers are absent from work less: a recent study found that the sickness absence rate for remote workers was 0.9% on average compared to 2.2% who work in an office.
  • Hiring remote staff is a great way for companies that want to expand their workforce, but do not have the office space to bring in any new employees. This allows companies to grow without the increase in added overhead of acquiring additional space.

All the best,

Signe

Signe Pihlstrand, SanovaWorks Vice President