Be an Early Bird and a Late Bloomer.

Never be late. At a networking event the ten minutes before things get under way and the ten minutes after are the real golden moments. So arrive 15 minutes early and stay 15 minutes late.

Creating a Culture of High Engagement and Performance

“The talented employee may join a company
because of its charismatic leaders, its
generous benefits, and its world-class training
programs, but how long that employee stays
and how productive they are while they are
there is determined by their relationship with
their immediate supervisor.”

Marcus Buckingham & Curt Coffman
First, Break All the Rules

Self Management Checklist

In business world, many people do not need to manage or organise their tasks. Their manager or project manager assigns specific tasks with specific deadlines for them to meet. Many people work effectively in this environment - they produce their work on time with high quality. However this environment may make them to rely on someone to manage the time and tasks for them, which may lead to their failure on other parts in their life. The following article may ease this difficulty. The Counselling Services in University of Victoria has come up with 12 points on how to self-manage yourself and projects. The list is like a mini-project management course - but it is more personal and easier to catch on:

1. Specify a clear goal you want to accomplish.
2. Specify when you’ll do it.
3. Record your hit rate.
4. Make a public commitment.
5. Add an explicit penalty for failure, if you need to.
6. Think small.
7. Specify the amount of product you’re going to produce.
8. Get a timer that beeps every five minutes and chart whether you’re on task, if you find yourself drifting off too much.
9. Arrange for regular contact with your monitor, daily or weekly as needed.
10. Arrange for your friend to monitor your graphing as well as your goal attainment.
11. Get rid of distractions.
12. Recycle.

University of Victoria

Don't Waste Part of Your Team

When you start managing, you learn that every member of your team is important. You try to treat them equally. You want to give them all the same information so they work at peak efficiency. The higher you go the bigger your team gets and before long your team is no longer all located in the same location. This makes it harder to keep everyone "on the same page".

Wasting Talent
When part of your team doesn't get the same information as the others, it is harder for them to do their jobs as well. If they get a key memo, but not until after everyone else has seen it, they may do something different before they get the memo. If you send a two page plan to all your team leads outlining the new strategy they can move ahead as a team. But if there is some ambiguity in the plan and you explain that to one team lead, but not to the others, there is a real chance that they will waste effort executing the plan differently. Perhaps they will overlap. Maybe they will allow gaps. Either way they won't be as effective as if you had gotten them all the same information so they were all “on the same page".

Things To Avoid

• Differential Information Flow
  When you tell people in office more or sooner than those in the field or in other branches, you reduce efficiency.
• Uneven Appreciation
  Don't give more weight to suggestions from people in your office than to those in the field. Nothing will destroy morale faster.
• Preferential Promotion
  The fact that you see the people in the home office more, and see more of the work they do, does not make them better or more productive. If this causes you to promote them faster, or give them the more desirable assignments, you make it more difficult for the different parts of the team to work together.

Better Choices
You want to take full advantage of the talents of all the members of our team. You cannot afford to let any of that talent to be wasted because you don't treat them equally.

• Plan Your Communications
  You need to develop a plan for how you are going to make sure all your communications get delivered to all your people at the same time and in the same degree of detail. The plan will vary depending on your particular circumstances: your company, your job, where the rest of your team is located, etc. The important thing is to have a plan you can stick with under normal circumstances, but during periods of stress as well.
• Schedule Meetings
  Hold regular meetings to give you an opportunity to tell everyone at the same time. Use conference calls to include those in remote offices. If you can use a video conferencing system, do that too. A lot more information is conveyed visually than verbally.
• Get Feedback
  Ask your direct reports in the remote offices if they feel connected. Are they getting the same message in the same detail at the same time as their peers who are physically closer to you? If they aren't, they can suggest changes so they are getting the same information flow.
• Review Your Promotions
  Take a look at the promotions you have made and the commendations you have issued. Are they weighted toward the people in the home office? Are there valid reasons for that? Fix any discrepancies you find.

The job is hard enough without you making it harder on yourself buy wasting some of the talent available to you. Don't let distance blind you to the value of some of your team. Make sure you give equal importance to all the members of your team regardless of where they are located and you will be more successful as a manager.

Play Well With Others:

Develop Effective Work Relationships
You can submarine your career and work relationships by the actions you take and the behaviors you exhibit at work. No matter your education, your experience, or your title, if you can't play well with others, you will never accomplish your work mission.

Effective work relationships form the cornerstone for success and satisfaction with your job and your career.
How important are effective work relationships?
Effective work relationships form the basis for promotion, pay increases, goal accomplishment, and job satisfaction.

source

Tough Conversations : Part 2

The Constructive Conversation:
In one of the modules of the course we discussed a four step process that will assist you in practicing behaviors that lead to a constructive conversation.

The Four Step Process is as follows :
- Analyze the situation
- Plan your message
- Conduct the conversation
- Follow up.

PREPARATION:

1. Analyze the situation
   -Is there a performance gap
   -What is the gap?
   -What is known and not known?
   -What action is required?
   
2. Plan your message
   -Consult HR
   -General Information
   -Concerns
   -Solutions
   -Expectations
   -Consequences

APPLICATION:

1. Conduct the conversation
   -Book a time and meeting room
   -Anticipate possible emotional reactions
   -Ask open-ended questions
   -State clear consequences
   -Keep it simple
   
2. Follow up
   -Document and monitor action plan/perfomance improvement
   -Provide support without removing responsibility
   

Tough Conversations : Part1

Last week I was on a training about tough conversations,...what I've learned ->

What makes a conversation tough?

5 Aspects of Tough conversations:

1. Dealing with unpredictable employee emotions
   solution : prepare yourself
   
2. Dealing with your anxiety and discomfort
   solution : accept being uncomfortable, don't avoid
   
3. Discussing difficult topics.
   solution : be prepared, get facts
   
4. Reconciling different perceptions
   solution : Keep in mind following point to get to the real issue
   - different info because we notice things differntly,have access to different info
   - different interpretations because we're influenced by past experiences,...
   - conclusions reflect our self interest because we look for information to support our views
   
5. Facing confrontation
   solution : can be an opportunity to learn, isn't always negative, may be uncomfortable,..

Company Culture

What It Is And How To Change It
Company Culture

A culture is the values and practices shared by the members of the group. Company Culture, therefore, is the shared values and practices of the company's employees.

Company culture is important because it can make or break your company. Companies with an adaptive culture that is aligned to their business goals routinely outperform their competitors. Some studies report the difference at 200% or more. To achieve results like this for your organization, you have to figure out what your culture is, decide what it should be, and move everyone toward the desired culture.

Company cultures evolve and they change over time. As employee leave the company and replacements are hired the company culture will change. If it is a strong culture, it may not change much.

However, since each new employee brings their own values and practices to the group the culture will change, at least a little. As the company matures from a startup to a more established company, the company culture will change. As the environment in which the company operates (the laws, regulations, business climate, etc.) changes, the company culture will also change.

Assess The Company Culture
There are many ways to assess your company culture. There are consultants who will do it for you, for a fee. The easiest way to assess your company's culture is to look around. How do the employees act; what do they do? Look for common behaviors and visible symbols.
Listen. Listen to your employees, your suppliers, and your customers. Pay attention to what is written about your company, in print and online. These will also give you clues as to what your company's culture really is.

Determine The Desired Company Culture
Before you can change the company culture, you have to decide what you want the company culture to look like in the future. Different companies in different industries will have different cultures. Look at what kind of a culture will work best for your organization in its desired future state. Review your mission, vision and values and make sure the company culture you are designing supports them.
Here are some characteristics of company cultures that others have used successfully.

• Mission clarity
• Employee commitment
• Fully empowered employees
• High integrity workplace
• Strong trust relationships
• Highly effective leadership
• Effective systems and processes
• Performance-based compensation and reward programs
• Customer-focused
• Effective 360-degree communications
• Commitment to learning and skill development
• Emphasis on recruiting and retaining outstanding employees
• High degree of adaptability
• High accountability standards
• Demonstrated support for innovation

Align The Company Culture
You need to align your company culture with your strategic goals if it isn't already.
Develop a specific action plan that can leverage the good things in your current culture and correct the unaligned areas.

• Brainstorm improvements in your formal policies and daily practices.
• Develop models of the desired actions and behaviors.
• Communicate the new culture to all employees and then
  over-communicate the new culture and its actions to everyone.

Only a company culture that is aligned with your goals, one that helps you anticipate and adapt to change, will help you achieve superior performance over the long run.

Benefits of an Open Door Policy:

An Open Door Policy for all employees? This means, literally, that every manager's door is open to every employee. The purpose of an open door policy is to encourage open communication, feedback, and discussion about any matter of importance to an employee. An open door policy means that employees are free to talk with any manager at any time.

By helping to solve problems, managers benefit by gaining valuable insight into possible problems with existing methods, procedures, and approaches. While there may not be an easy answer or solution to every concern, your company's employees have the opportunity at all times, through the open door policy, to be heard.

Delegate, Don't Just Dump

Most managers don't know how to delegate. That's not really surprising, because no one ever delegated anything to them. How else are they going to learn?

Many times, managers dump their work onto someone else, but there is a big difference between delegating and dumping. When you delegate something to a subordinate it should serve two purposes.

• First, it must lighten your load so you can concentrate on more important issues.
• Second, it must help the receiver learn and grow.

When you delegate, as opposed to dumping, you give the other person the same authority to complete the task as if you had done it yourself. If the task means signing a requisition, the person to whom you delegated the task must have the same authority to sign that requisition as you have. That doesn't mean you delegate all your authority to that individual, only that you have to give them the authority to do what you would have been able to do.

For instance, if you can sign requisitions up to €10,000 and the delegated task means signing a requisition for €2,000, the person to whom you delegated must be able to sign that €2,000 requisition, but not necessarily one for €3,000.

Remember, though, that you can delegate the authority, but you cannot delegate the responsibility. It is up to you to see that the person is adequately trained before you delegate to them and is adequately supervised after you delegate. They won't necessarily do it the same way you would have, and they probably won't do it as well to begin with. That doesn't matter. Keep them from making any major blunders as they get the feel of the task and you will have successfully delegated. You will have lightened your load and you will have helped one of your people develop further.

WHAT IS SITUATIONAL LEADERSHIP?

After reading the "One minute manager" of Kenneth Blanchard i found this paragraph one of the most interesting,...

The Situational Leadership method from Kenneth Blanchard and Paul Hersey holds that managers must use different leadership styles depending on the situation. The model allows you to analyze the needs of the situation you're in, and then use the most appropriate leadership style. Depending on employees' competences in their task areas and commitment to their tasks, your leadership style should vary from one person to another. You may even lead the same person one way sometimes, and another way at other times. Blanchard and Hersey characterized leadership style in terms of the amount of direction and of support that the leader gives to his or her followers, and so created a simple matrix (figure).

Leadership Behavior of the Leader
· S1 - Telling / Directing
- High task focus, low relationship focus - leaders define the roles and tasks of the 'follower', and supervise them closely. Decisions are made by the leader and announced, so communication is largely one-way. For people who lack competence but are enthusiastic and committed. They need direction and supervision to get them started.

· S2 - Selling / Coaching
- High task focus, high relationship focus - leaders still define roles and tasks, but seeks ideas and suggestions from the follower. Decisions remain the leader's prerogative, but communication is much more two-way. For people who have some competence but lack commitment. They need direction and supervision because they are still relatively inexperienced. They also need support and praise to build their self-esteem, and involvement in decision-making to restore their commitment.

· S3 - Participating / Supporting
- Low task focus, high relationship focus - leaders pass day-to-day decisions, such as task allocation and processes, to the follower. The leader facilitates and takes part in decisions, but control is with the follower. For people who have competence, but lack confidence or motivation. They do not need much direction because of their skills, but support is necessary to bolster their confidence and motivation.

· S4 - Delegating
- Low task focus, low relationship focus - leaders are still involved in decisions and problem-solving, but control is with the follower. The follower decides when and how the leader will be involved. For people who have both competence and commitment. They are able and willing to work on a project by themselves with little supervision or support.

Effective leaders are versatile in being able to move around the matrix according to the situation, so there is no style that is always right. However, we tend to have a preferred style, and in applying Situational Leadership you need to know which one that is for you.

emotional intelligence (EQ)

emotional intelligence theory (EQ - Emotional Quotient)

Emotional Intelligence - EQ - is a relatively recent behavioural model, rising to prominence with Daniel Goleman's 1995 Book called 'Emotional Intelligence'. The early Emotional Intelligence theory was originally developed during the 1970's and 80's by the work and writings of psychologists Howard Gardner (Harvard), Peter Salovey (Yale) and John Mayer (New Hampshire). Emotional Intelligence is increasingly relevant to organizational development and developing people, because the EQ principles provide a new way to understand and assess people's behaviours, management styles, attitudes, interpersonal skills, and potential. Emotional Intelligence is an important consideration in human resources planning, job profiling, recruitment interviewing and selection, management development, customer relations and customer service, and more.

The EQ concept argues that IQ, or conventional intelligence, is too narrow; that there are wider areas of emotional intelligence that dictate and enable how successful we are. Success requires more than IQ (Intelligence Quotient), which has tended to be the traditional measure of intelligence, ignoring eseential behavioural and character elements. We've all met people who are academically brilliant and yet are socially and inter-personally inept. And we know that despite possessing a high IQ rating, success does not automatically follow.

emotional intelligence - two aspects
This is the essential premise of EQ: to be successful requires the effective awareness, control and management of one's own emotions, and those of other people. EQ embraces two aspects of intelligence:

• Understanding yourself, your goals, intentions, responses, behaviour and all.
• Understanding others, and their feelings.

emotional intelligence - the five domains

1. Knowing your emotions.
2. Managing your own emotions.
3. Motivating yourself.
4. Recognising and understanding other people's emotions.
5. Managing relationships, ie., managing the emotions of others.

By developing our Emotional Intelligence in these areas and the five EQ domains we can become more productive and successful at what we do, and help others to be more productive and successful too. The process and outcomes of Emotional Intelligence development also contain many elements known to reduce stress for individuals and organizations, by decreasing conflict, improving relationships and understanding, and increasing stability, continuity and harmony.

Top 10 ideas about what employees want from work

Every person has different reasons for working. The reasons for working are as individual as the person. But, we all work because we obtain something that we need from work. The something obtained from work impacts morale, employee motivation, and the quality of life. To create positive employee motivation, treat employees as if they matter - because employees matter. These ideas will help you fulfill what people want from work and create employee motivation.

1. What People Want From Work
   Some people work for personal fulfillment; others work for love of what they do. Others work to accomplish goals and to feel as if they are contributing to something larger than themselves. The bottom line is that we all work for money and for reasons too individual to assign similarities to all workers.
   
2. How to Demonstrate Respect at Work
   Ask anyone in your workplace what treatment they most want at work. They will likely top their list with the desire to be treated with dignity and respect. You can demonstrate respect with simple, yet powerful actions. These ideas will help you avoid needless, insensitive, unmeant disrespect, too.
   
3. Provide Feedback That Has an Impact
   Make your feedback have the impact it deserves by the manner and approach you use to deliver feedback. Your feedback can make a difference to people if you can avoid a defensive response.
   
4. Top Ten Ways to Show Appreciation
   You can tell your colleagues, coworkers and staff how much you value them and their contribution any day of the year. Trust me. No occasion is necessary. In fact, small surprises and tokens of your appreciation spread throughout the year help the people in your work life feel valued all year long.
   
5. Trust Rules: The Most Important Secret
   Without it, you have nothing. Trust forms the foundation for effective communication, employee retention, and employee motivation and contribution of discretionary energy, the extra effort that people voluntarily invest in work. When trust is present, everything else is easier.
   
6. Provide Motivational Employee Recognition
   You can avoid the employee recognition traps that: single out one or a few employees who are mysteriously selected for the recognition; sap the morale of the many who failed to win, place, or even show; confuse people who meet the criteria yet were not selected; or sought votes or other personalized, subjective criteria to determine winners.
   
7. Employee Recognition Rocks
   Employee recognition is limited in most organizations. Employees complain about the lack of recognition regularly. Managers ask, “Why should I recognize or thank him? He’s just doing his job.” And, life at work is busy, busy, busy. These factors combine to create work places that fail to provide recognition for employees. Managers who prioritize employee recognition understand the power of recognition.
   
8. Top Ten Ways to Retain Your Great Employees
   Key employee retention is critical to the long term health and success of your business. Managers readily agree that their role is key in retaining your best employees to ensure business success. If managers can cite this fact so well, why do many behave in ways that so frequently encourage great employees to quit their job?
   
9. Team Building and Delegation: How and When to Empower People
   Employee involvement is creating an environment in which people have an impact on decisions and actions that affect their jobs. Team building occurs when the manager knows when to tell, sell, consult, join, or delegate to staff. For employee involvement and empowerment, both team building and delegation rule.
   
10. Build a Mentoring Culture
    What does it take to develop people? More than writing “equal opportunity” into your organization’s mission statement. More than sending someone to a training class. More than hard work on the part of employees. What development does take is people who are willing to listen and help their colleagues. Development takes coaches, guides and advocates. People development needs mentors.

How To Manage Older Workers ;-)

The work force is aging as baby boomer move toward retirement. Gen X managers need to learn how to motivate and manage this talent pool of older workers. Both generations have very different views of the other and will need to learn how the other generation operates. It is up to the managers, Gen X or otherwise, to take the lead and create the climate in which older workers will remain engaged and productive.

Here's How:

1. Throw out all your assumptions.
   You may think older workers are harder workers or that they are difficult to train. Get rid of your stereotypes. Your older workers are individuals just like everyone else in your group. Treat them as such.
   
2. Remember the range of ages.
   You wouldn't treat a seasoned manager of 35 the same as a 21-year old right out of college. Don't think the 15 year gap is any less in your older workers. A worker at 55 and a worker at 70 have different goals and needs. As a manager, you may need to look at groups getting ready to retire (55-62), retirement age and still working (62-70), and older worker who want to keep active or who need to work (70+). Each group presents different management challenges.
   
3. Communicate, communicate, communicate
   Don't assume that the older worker knows what you expect of them. They don't have the same background as you. Be very clear what you want done and what the measurements of completion and of success will be. "Bill, take care of that for me" is not enough. Try "Bill, I need you to prepare the department's budget for the next fiscal year. Use the numbers from last year and add 10% on everything except training which should go up 15%. I need it by Tuesday".
   
4. Value their life experience.
   Your older worker have been around. They have seen a lot. They have done a lot. Recognize the value of this experience. Learn from it. Encourage the younger members of your team to learn from it. The lessons from the "school of hard knocks" are invaluable.
   
5. Train them.
   Older workers need training as much as younger workers - just as much, just as often. The subject of the training may be different, but the need is the same. And don't believe that older workers can't be trained. They are just as receptive as their younger peers.
   
6. Meet their security needs.
   Older workers probably need benefits more than the younger workers. They need medical coverage, vision care, and financial planning. Make sure your company's benefits plan meets their needs too.
   
7. Motivate them.
   Any manager's key job is to motivate their employees. Older workers have different motivational "hot buttons" than their younger counterparts. Opportunity for advancement is probably less important than the recognition of a job well done, but see step #1 above.
   
8. You don't have to "be the boss".
   The older workers grew up in a hierarchical society. They know you are the boss. Most of them were bosses at some point too. Get on with leading the department and don't waste time posturing. It won't impress them anyway. They've seen it all before.
   
9. Be flexible.
   Your older workers, depending on age group (see #2 above) may want flexible hours or a shorter work week. For those of them that need that, be willing to be flexible. You need their talent and technical skill so do what you need to to keep it available. Do not, however, assume that all older workers want to go home early. Some may be motivated by working the same long, hard hours that they have always done.
   
10. Use them as mentors.
    Let them coach and encourage the younger workers. Most older workers have a wealth of knowledge and experience that they would love to pass on. Give them the opportunity to do so and your entire organization will benefit.

First Day Manual for Managers

Interesting article i read,...

Whether you are a first time manager or a manager stating a new job there are things you need to know and do on your first day. A First Day Manual for Managers summarizes them for you and provides links to additional detail for those items you choose for more in depth study.

Planning - time management

Use this time management story to show how planning is the key to time management.

Start with a bucket, some big rocks enough to fill it, some small stones, some sand and water.

Put the big rocks in the bucket - is it full?
Put the small stones in around the big rocks - is it full?
Put the sand in and give it a shake - is it full?
Put the water in. Now it's full.

The point is: unless you put the big rocks in first, you won't get them in at all.

In other words: Plan time-slots for your big issues before anything else, or the inevitable sand and water issues will fill up your days and you won't fit the big issues in (a big issue doesn't necessarily have to be a work task - it could be your child's sports-day, or a holiday).

the bath and the bucket story (lateral thinking, making assumptions, dangers of judging people)

Given the title (on the subject of buckets..) and its quick simple message.
The story illustrates lateral thinking, narrow-mindedness, the risks of making assumptions, and judging people and situations:

A party of suppliers was being given a tour of a mental hospital.
One of the visitors had made some very insulting remarks about the patients.
After the tour the visitors were introduced to various members of staff in the canteen.
The rude visitor chatted to one of the security staff, Bill, a kindly and wise ex-policeman.

"Are they all raving loonies in here then?" said the rude man.
"Only the ones who fail the test," said Bill.
"What's the test?" said the man.
"Well, we show them a bath full of water, a bucket, a jug and an egg-cup, and we ask them what's the quickest way to empty the bath," said Bill.
"Oh I see, simple - the normal ones know it's the bucket, right?"
"No actually," said Bill, "The normal ones say pull out the plug. Should I check when there's a bed free for you?"

Cold calling tips

Yesterday i was following a course about cold calling,... this is my opinion

Cold Calling Is Still An Effective Sales Tactic If Done Right
The obituary for cold calling is premature. While in the perfect world, your phone would be ringing off the hook all day with clients offering you business, the reality is that if you want business, you need to go after it, and cold calling is an effective sales tactic if it's done properly.

But many small business people would rather spend an entire day in a dentist's chair than go cold calling. Does the thought of cold calling makes your stomach drop to your toes? These cold calling tips won't eliminate your fear, but they will help you make cold calling a more successful experience.

1. Focus on the goal when cold calling.
2. Research your markets and prospects.
3. Prepare an opening statement for your cold call.
4. What should be in the opening statement of your cold call?
5. Prepare a script for the rest of your cold call.
6. Ask for an appointment at a specific time when cold calling.
7. Remember that gatekeepers are your allies not your foes.
8. Do your cold calling early in the morning, if possible.
9. Be persistent when cold calling.
10. ...

And above all, practice, practice, practice. While cold calling may never be much fun for you, you can get better at it, and the more you practice cold calling, the more effective a sales tactic it will be. So get your script and your call list together and reach for the phone. The people who want to do business with you are out there - but you have to let them know about you first. ;-)

Tell people what you want, not how to do it.

This really works ;-)
Some people like it others don't, most of them prefer the first.

You will find people more responsive and less defensive if you can give them guidance not instructions. You will also see more initiative, more innovation, and more of an ownership attitude from them develop over time.

Fix the problem, not the blame.

It is far more productive, and less expensive, to figure out what to do to fix a problem that has come up than it is to waste time trying to decide who's fault it was.