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Michael Levitt

๐Ÿ‘ค Speaker
360 total appearances

Appearances Over Time

Podcast Appearances

Chief Change Officer
#286 Michael Levitt: Ditch the Phone, Reclaim Your Sanity

Yeah, the first one, turning around an organization culture, they had a ton of turnover. In their early days, they were a startup organization, ton of turnover, no trust, no communication. People were stressed, people were leaving, and these weren't young people by any stretch. They were well-educated individuals that were leaving like they were quitting a fast food job as a teenager.

Chief Change Officer
#286 Michael Levitt: Ditch the Phone, Reclaim Your Sanity

Yeah, the first one, turning around an organization culture, they had a ton of turnover. In their early days, they were a startup organization, ton of turnover, no trust, no communication. People were stressed, people were leaving, and these weren't young people by any stretch. They were well-educated individuals that were leaving like they were quitting a fast food job as a teenager.

Chief Change Officer
#286 Michael Levitt: Ditch the Phone, Reclaim Your Sanity

And I'm like, okay, what's going on here? And it boiled down to communication and trust was a big issue. Expectations, I think, were another. Miscommunication, going back to the communication thing, seems to be a common challenge. And then toss in some ego, and you have yourself a toxic environment. So for me, it was like, okay, let's get to the bottom of this. So

Chief Change Officer
#286 Michael Levitt: Ditch the Phone, Reclaim Your Sanity

And I'm like, okay, what's going on here? And it boiled down to communication and trust was a big issue. Expectations, I think, were another. Miscommunication, going back to the communication thing, seems to be a common challenge. And then toss in some ego, and you have yourself a toxic environment. So for me, it was like, okay, let's get to the bottom of this. So

Chief Change Officer
#286 Michael Levitt: Ditch the Phone, Reclaim Your Sanity

The nice thing about it was how I approached it was, look, I'm your friend here. I want to make this better for you. If you were in my seat, what would you change? What would you do? And once they trusted me and felt comfortable sharing, then they were an open book, and they would share all the things.

Chief Change Officer
#286 Michael Levitt: Ditch the Phone, Reclaim Your Sanity

The nice thing about it was how I approached it was, look, I'm your friend here. I want to make this better for you. If you were in my seat, what would you change? What would you do? And once they trusted me and felt comfortable sharing, then they were an open book, and they would share all the things.

Chief Change Officer
#286 Michael Levitt: Ditch the Phone, Reclaim Your Sanity

And I put them all together, and there was a lot of commonality on both sides, both parties, the one โ€“ the upper management and the staff. And once we got to those commonalities, I met with them individually. And then I met with them in small groups and we just shared the misconceptions that people had and misunderstandings.

Chief Change Officer
#286 Michael Levitt: Ditch the Phone, Reclaim Your Sanity

And I put them all together, and there was a lot of commonality on both sides, both parties, the one โ€“ the upper management and the staff. And once we got to those commonalities, I met with them individually. And then I met with them in small groups and we just shared the misconceptions that people had and misunderstandings.

Chief Change Officer
#286 Michael Levitt: Ditch the Phone, Reclaim Your Sanity

It went from an organization that was having just tremendous turnover every year to a year later, they were averaging around 6% turnover and they were well in the double digits before. And all it was for me, I say all it was, I tend to simplify things, but I know the work was pretty instrumental.

Chief Change Officer
#286 Michael Levitt: Ditch the Phone, Reclaim Your Sanity

It went from an organization that was having just tremendous turnover every year to a year later, they were averaging around 6% turnover and they were well in the double digits before. And all it was for me, I say all it was, I tend to simplify things, but I know the work was pretty instrumental.

Chief Change Officer
#286 Michael Levitt: Ditch the Phone, Reclaim Your Sanity

It was a situation where it just turned things around and it became an organization instead of being or having a reputation of being a toxic workplace to an organization where people were applying to work there when there were no roles open. They wanted to be a part of it because they knew and heard that this was a great place to work. And it was the same people.

Chief Change Officer
#286 Michael Levitt: Ditch the Phone, Reclaim Your Sanity

It was a situation where it just turned things around and it became an organization instead of being or having a reputation of being a toxic workplace to an organization where people were applying to work there when there were no roles open. They wanted to be a part of it because they knew and heard that this was a great place to work. And it was the same people.

Chief Change Officer
#286 Michael Levitt: Ditch the Phone, Reclaim Your Sanity

It wasn't a case of where we just fired everybody and turned everything around. No, it was the same people that were there before. And the majority of them are still there.

Chief Change Officer
#286 Michael Levitt: Ditch the Phone, Reclaim Your Sanity

It wasn't a case of where we just fired everybody and turned everything around. No, it was the same people that were there before. And the majority of them are still there.

Chief Change Officer
#286 Michael Levitt: Ditch the Phone, Reclaim Your Sanity

It speaks volumes to if they are, and this is a common thing, if the organization and the upper management and the employees as well are willing to be open about some opportunities and suggestions on how to make things better, if they're open to it, to give it a try, then they have a fighting chance.

Chief Change Officer
#286 Michael Levitt: Ditch the Phone, Reclaim Your Sanity

It speaks volumes to if they are, and this is a common thing, if the organization and the upper management and the employees as well are willing to be open about some opportunities and suggestions on how to make things better, if they're open to it, to give it a try, then they have a fighting chance.

Chief Change Officer
#286 Michael Levitt: Ditch the Phone, Reclaim Your Sanity

If they're close-minded and they just keep blaming everybody else, there's no common ground to be found, unfortunately, and those organizations will continue to struggle. That was definitely a win. An organization where it wasn't as challenging was the opposite effect. They were an organization that was doing well, but then decided because there was some

Chief Change Officer
#286 Michael Levitt: Ditch the Phone, Reclaim Your Sanity

If they're close-minded and they just keep blaming everybody else, there's no common ground to be found, unfortunately, and those organizations will continue to struggle. That was definitely a win. An organization where it wasn't as challenging was the opposite effect. They were an organization that was doing well, but then decided because there was some

Chief Change Officer
#286 Michael Levitt: Ditch the Phone, Reclaim Your Sanity

In fighting in the upper ranks of the organization and certain organizational members, I got to frame this very carefully, that were power hungry is a good way to describe it.

Chief Change Officer
#286 Michael Levitt: Ditch the Phone, Reclaim Your Sanity

In fighting in the upper ranks of the organization and certain organizational members, I got to frame this very carefully, that were power hungry is a good way to describe it.