First, ask yourself...Do you ever feel like you don't get a full "buy-in" from your employees when you implement a change?
When change takes place, it is human nature to have concerns about it. The level of accuracy with which those concerns are addressed will significantly impact the type of reaction (either positive or negative) we have towards the change. If our employees' concerns are not addressed, fear and resistance will overcome other emotions, and they will have little motivation to "buy-in" to whatever the change happens to be.
Often the most overlooked concerns that must be addressed are the personal concerns our employees have. They will always have questions such as "how will this change effect me?," "what's in it for me?" and "what must I do to be successful in relation to this change?"
If these questions/concerns are not addressed and we leave employees wondering or guessing, there is a strong likelihood of immediate resistance to the change and an even stronger likelihood that fear will take over. Luckily for us, the best, easiest, and most effective way to ensure our employees DO NOT fear the change is to simply answer questions proactively, and be open and honest about information.
Tuesday, December 22, 2009
Tuesday, December 15, 2009
Enhancing Your Productivity
First, ask yourself...
Do you ever go home at the end of the day, feeling like you didn't get enough accomplished?
Have you ever worked a 12-hour day or a 60 hour week, and then looked back and felt like "nothing got done?" I'm sure we can all recall times when this has happened. One of the main reasons for this is because we're not always efficient AND effective with our time.
To be efficient with our time means to get things done right. To be effective with our time means to get the right things done. With those definitions in mind, its easy to see how we might work "hard" all day and get a bunch of "tasks" accomplished (we are efficient), but if those tasks are not the ones we should even be working on in the first place, then we are NOT being effective- which leads to stress, frustration, and the feeling that we didn't get much done.
So how can we ensure this does not happen? Simple! Make sure our tasks are directly related to our ultimate goals. When the work that gets accomplished is meaningful and is moving us closer towards accomplishing a desired outcome or goal, we will feel much better about the time that was invested.
**This week's tip was taken from "Maximizing Productivity" which is the March session of The Compass Program. Click Here to view the schedule of all 12 sessions for The Compass Program.
Do you ever go home at the end of the day, feeling like you didn't get enough accomplished?
Have you ever worked a 12-hour day or a 60 hour week, and then looked back and felt like "nothing got done?" I'm sure we can all recall times when this has happened. One of the main reasons for this is because we're not always efficient AND effective with our time.
To be efficient with our time means to get things done right. To be effective with our time means to get the right things done. With those definitions in mind, its easy to see how we might work "hard" all day and get a bunch of "tasks" accomplished (we are efficient), but if those tasks are not the ones we should even be working on in the first place, then we are NOT being effective- which leads to stress, frustration, and the feeling that we didn't get much done.
So how can we ensure this does not happen? Simple! Make sure our tasks are directly related to our ultimate goals. When the work that gets accomplished is meaningful and is moving us closer towards accomplishing a desired outcome or goal, we will feel much better about the time that was invested.
**This week's tip was taken from "Maximizing Productivity" which is the March session of The Compass Program. Click Here to view the schedule of all 12 sessions for The Compass Program.
Friday, December 4, 2009
Increasing Employee Commitment
Would you like your employees to be more committed to the team and/or organization?
Employees today can't be told, tricked, forced, manipulated or "managed" into committing to the team. They must make that choice on their own, and it is up to us, as the leaders, to help them make the right choice! It is our actions, and the environment that we create/promote that plays a significant role in the level of commitment our employees choose to have.
To help our employees become excited about the team, and consequently raise their level of commitment, one of the most important things we can do is to actually help them feel like a bigger, more important part of the team. Some examples are things like: encouraging and soliciting their input and opinions, reminding them of the importance of their role to the team's success, and openly sharing information with them (such as info about the company, team goals, future opportunities, etc).
When our employees truly feel that they are integral to the long-term success of the team, they will be much more likely to increase the level of effort they put into their job, and ultimately care much more about contributing to the team's success!
Employees today can't be told, tricked, forced, manipulated or "managed" into committing to the team. They must make that choice on their own, and it is up to us, as the leaders, to help them make the right choice! It is our actions, and the environment that we create/promote that plays a significant role in the level of commitment our employees choose to have.
To help our employees become excited about the team, and consequently raise their level of commitment, one of the most important things we can do is to actually help them feel like a bigger, more important part of the team. Some examples are things like: encouraging and soliciting their input and opinions, reminding them of the importance of their role to the team's success, and openly sharing information with them (such as info about the company, team goals, future opportunities, etc).
When our employees truly feel that they are integral to the long-term success of the team, they will be much more likely to increase the level of effort they put into their job, and ultimately care much more about contributing to the team's success!
Tuesday, November 24, 2009
Providing Feedback to Employees
First, ask yourself...
Would you like to get better outcomes from the feedback you provide to others?
Providing constructive feedback to someone at work can help facilitate important change, and have a tremendous impact on their future performance. But if certain steps in the feedback process are not correctly followed, we run the risk of providing ineffective feedback, which will prevent us from experiencing the outcome we desire.
The first step for providing effective feedback is to share your desire to provide the feedback. This step is quite simple to perform, yet often overlooked. An example of this is, "Dan, I would like to talk to you about your presentation yesterday. Do you have a couple of minutes right now?"
When you let the other party know that feedback is coming, it will prepare them (possibly for some constructive comments) and they will be less likely to be defensive. It's also important to understand that "right this second" is not always the best time for someone to hear the feedback you are about to provide to them. They might be busy, angry, tired, upset, or distracted at that given moment - all things that could cause your words to go in one ear and out the other. Prefacing your comments by asking if this is a good time allows them to let you know if there might be a better time to talk - a time when they will be in a better place to listen, give you their full attention, and truly understand your message and intent.
Would you like to get better outcomes from the feedback you provide to others?
Providing constructive feedback to someone at work can help facilitate important change, and have a tremendous impact on their future performance. But if certain steps in the feedback process are not correctly followed, we run the risk of providing ineffective feedback, which will prevent us from experiencing the outcome we desire.
The first step for providing effective feedback is to share your desire to provide the feedback. This step is quite simple to perform, yet often overlooked. An example of this is, "Dan, I would like to talk to you about your presentation yesterday. Do you have a couple of minutes right now?"
When you let the other party know that feedback is coming, it will prepare them (possibly for some constructive comments) and they will be less likely to be defensive. It's also important to understand that "right this second" is not always the best time for someone to hear the feedback you are about to provide to them. They might be busy, angry, tired, upset, or distracted at that given moment - all things that could cause your words to go in one ear and out the other. Prefacing your comments by asking if this is a good time allows them to let you know if there might be a better time to talk - a time when they will be in a better place to listen, give you their full attention, and truly understand your message and intent.
Friday, October 23, 2009
Helpful Time Management Tip
First, ask yourself...
Do you ever find yourself doing way too many things during the day that are not ultimately important?
One of the main reasons we sometimes feel that even though we worked hard for 10 hours at the office, we "really didn't get anything done" is because we react too quickly to the tasks presented to us, instead of taking the necessary time to evaluate their importance. We live in a fast-paced world, so we are wired to want to attend to everything right away. But when we don't take the necessary time to evaluate the importance of the task at hand, what often happens is the 'not so important' things take up most of our time.
Before just jumping into action the next time you get an e-mail telling you about a task or "emergency" that needs your attention, take 30 seconds and think about what this task REALLY is. Is there anyone else who can handle it? Can it be taken care of over lunch instead of right now? Is it something that might simply go away on its own, if given time?
If we can get into the habit of properly evaluating the tasks presented to us before actually acting on them, we will find that a good number of them are not as "code red" as we initially assumed. And when we can then postpone them, delegate them, or simply decide not to do them, we will free up much more of our time, and decrease our stress levels dramatically!
Do you ever find yourself doing way too many things during the day that are not ultimately important?
One of the main reasons we sometimes feel that even though we worked hard for 10 hours at the office, we "really didn't get anything done" is because we react too quickly to the tasks presented to us, instead of taking the necessary time to evaluate their importance. We live in a fast-paced world, so we are wired to want to attend to everything right away. But when we don't take the necessary time to evaluate the importance of the task at hand, what often happens is the 'not so important' things take up most of our time.
Before just jumping into action the next time you get an e-mail telling you about a task or "emergency" that needs your attention, take 30 seconds and think about what this task REALLY is. Is there anyone else who can handle it? Can it be taken care of over lunch instead of right now? Is it something that might simply go away on its own, if given time?
If we can get into the habit of properly evaluating the tasks presented to us before actually acting on them, we will find that a good number of them are not as "code red" as we initially assumed. And when we can then postpone them, delegate them, or simply decide not to do them, we will free up much more of our time, and decrease our stress levels dramatically!
Friday, October 16, 2009
How to Succeed in Challenging Situations
First, ask yourself...
Do you ever over-react to challenging situations, ultimately preventing yourself from moving on?
We face challenges every single day, some bigger than others. Often times, these challenges require us to formulate a response and then take action. Our reaction to these challenges will significantly influence the success we have in relation to the challenge moving forward. These challenges (also known as Key Moments) can be just about anything that require a response. Some examples can be an employee not turning in a report on time, not acquiring a new account we were hoping for, or even our top employee suddenly quitting because he/she took another job.
It's up to us to decide how to react in these situations. We can spend time being upset, or try to figure out a way through the problem. We can decide to only look at the immediate negatives, or choose to evaluate all of the long-term positives that could potentially come from the situation.
Just because you are faced with a challenge, or something doesn't go your way does not mean you must have a completely negative reaction towards it. It is important to learn from our experiences, and continue to push forward with a positive mindset to ensure we set ourselves up for the best possible result both now, and the next time something like this might occur.
**This week's tip was taken from "Being Positive & Resilient" which is the December session of The Compass Program. Click Here to view the schedule of all 12 sessions for The Compass Program.
Do you ever over-react to challenging situations, ultimately preventing yourself from moving on?
We face challenges every single day, some bigger than others. Often times, these challenges require us to formulate a response and then take action. Our reaction to these challenges will significantly influence the success we have in relation to the challenge moving forward. These challenges (also known as Key Moments) can be just about anything that require a response. Some examples can be an employee not turning in a report on time, not acquiring a new account we were hoping for, or even our top employee suddenly quitting because he/she took another job.
It's up to us to decide how to react in these situations. We can spend time being upset, or try to figure out a way through the problem. We can decide to only look at the immediate negatives, or choose to evaluate all of the long-term positives that could potentially come from the situation.
Just because you are faced with a challenge, or something doesn't go your way does not mean you must have a completely negative reaction towards it. It is important to learn from our experiences, and continue to push forward with a positive mindset to ensure we set ourselves up for the best possible result both now, and the next time something like this might occur.
**This week's tip was taken from "Being Positive & Resilient" which is the December session of The Compass Program. Click Here to view the schedule of all 12 sessions for The Compass Program.
Friday, October 9, 2009
Expectations for Conflict Resolution
First, ask yourself...
Is everyone on your team in agreement as to how to approach a conflict?
Conflicts in the workplace don't just appear out of the blue. They are typically caused by what is known as a normal difference, which includes things such as: a difference in opinion, difference in goals, difference in communication styles, difference in past experiences, a difference in motivation, etc. When working side by side with other human beings, normal differences are common and often unavoidable. But in order to help reduce the number of these normal differences that turn into full-blown conflicts, it's vital for everyone to be on the same page as to how to handle them when they do come up!
How should you approach someone you don't agree with? How quickly should you make the confrontation? Should you involve others, or go right to the source? What sorts of things should you personally consider prior to approaching the person in the first place? The above questions were just a few potential expectations that when determined, communicated, and agreed upon by the team will help to stop the normal differences from turning into something much more disruptive.
These normal differences can't be counted on to work themselves out. It is vital to have agreed-upon expectations and even a formal process in place as to how to approach others when a normal difference occurs, and then how to work it out to ensure that both parties are happy with the result.
Is everyone on your team in agreement as to how to approach a conflict?
Conflicts in the workplace don't just appear out of the blue. They are typically caused by what is known as a normal difference, which includes things such as: a difference in opinion, difference in goals, difference in communication styles, difference in past experiences, a difference in motivation, etc. When working side by side with other human beings, normal differences are common and often unavoidable. But in order to help reduce the number of these normal differences that turn into full-blown conflicts, it's vital for everyone to be on the same page as to how to handle them when they do come up!
How should you approach someone you don't agree with? How quickly should you make the confrontation? Should you involve others, or go right to the source? What sorts of things should you personally consider prior to approaching the person in the first place? The above questions were just a few potential expectations that when determined, communicated, and agreed upon by the team will help to stop the normal differences from turning into something much more disruptive.
These normal differences can't be counted on to work themselves out. It is vital to have agreed-upon expectations and even a formal process in place as to how to approach others when a normal difference occurs, and then how to work it out to ensure that both parties are happy with the result.
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