Welcome back to the Every Tuesday Club. 

A lot of the tips we usually talk about are when someone is actually settled into the job.  But there are challenges when someone is new to a team as well.  I often talk to managers that an opportunity is missed by people having an orientation rather than an induction.  An orientation being “here’s the coffee machine”, “here’s your desk”, “the toilets down there”.    Induction is a bit more.

Another term for induction is “on-boarding”.  Think about when you are boarding a plane or a train, you have to do a lot more than just get to know where your seat is.  So in an on-boarding situation you want to know more about the culture.  What are the rules of engagement on the team?  What are the expectations?   Are you able to speak up in a meeting?  Or not speak up in a meeting?  Some of these things can be real career stallers if you don’t get that right. 

A lot of the time managers say, “all of that stuff could take a lot of time”.  So there are some clever ways that you can go about doing it.  Such as:

·           Involving members of that team doing tasks in the induction.

·           Have a team meeting when you have got the new person there and ask each person to share one unwritten rule of the road.  You can have some humour involved or it can be a very serious thing.  Make sure that new person knows how they should communicate and play ball.

·           We also recommend that maybe at the 3 month or 6 week mark, there is a half hour catch up with somebody who is external to the team and not the manager.  So that the employee has an opportunity to check in with somebody else in the organisation and let them know how things are going

In the long run that’s really time well spent.  A little more time invested early on saves heaps of time later in terms of the team getting along and being productive right away.

It pays off, so it’s worth spending the time when a new employee joins the team.

Think about it, or maybe share it with another leader in your organisation to help get a new team member in place.

Good luck with that and let us know how you get on.

If you haven’t taken the opportunity to sign up to the Every Tuesday Club with MBE (Management & Business Education), then do so today by going to www.buseducation.com.

Welcome back to the Every Tuesday Club.  This week Steven and Aleen discuss why so many organisations are using assessment tools, like Myers Briggs, DISC, Colby. 

So why do you think it’s so important that organisations think about assessing their teams? 

More and more organisations, and even smaller teams, are looking for ways to reduce any conflict, and actually tap into the diversity of the team and get to understand it.   These tools are very affordable, and very practical.  You don’t need a psychology degree to actually use them.

Often people in teams get into places where there are actually poor opposites, and they personalise that stress, and it becomes more of a factious situation - when in fact it’s a matter of style.  Sometimes these assessments give people a common language, and they will talk about “well you’re more of a processor and I’m more facts based”, or “you’re more analytical” versus saying “you’re just slowing down my work”. 

Taking the personal sting out of feedback is really important for it to be effective.  It gets rid of that sense of negativity and gets to the hub of the issue, and that’s the best way to lead to positive improvement.

The other thing about some of these assessments is I can learn how to flex my style, and be more accommodating to you, whether you’re a colleague a client or my boss.  If I know you like something a little different than me because of your style, I’m able to work more effectively with you.  And a lot of managers who have used that find that’s it’s reciprocated.  The people that they’re trying to build a more effective relationship with, also flex their style so the work relationship is more effective on both sides.

So over the next few weeks:

·                Take a work relationship you would like to improve,

·                Focus on how you might depersonalise feedback or language,

·                Go on line and see if you are interested in using some of the assessment tools – they’re affordable and very practical.

Good luck with that and let us know how you get on.

If you haven’t taken the opportunity to sign up to the Every Tuesday Club with MBE (Management & Business Education), then do so today by going to www.buseducation.com.

This week Aleen Bayard and Steven give some tips about speaking in front of your peers.

“Would you rather go to the dentist or stand up at your next meeting and speak to your peers?”  I know that a lot of people would probably prefer to go to the dentist.

Aleen and Steven do a lot of speaking to groups, so they thought they’d share a couple of tips with you this week that might be useful.

Aleen thinks that one of the most important things is to get as much information about the audience as you can.  She often talks to a conference organiser and does a survey or a pre email to participants.  By getting some information ahead of time she can start her remarks referring back to something they are very interested in.

The second thing she does, even in a large group, is to try and make eye contact with one person at a time.  This tends to shrink the room from several hundred people, down to one or two people at a time.  That really helps her to feel confident and creates much better rapport with the audience.

One of things Steven often does is to meet a few people in the front row before he actually does a presentation.  Then he can pick them out and make eye contact with them.  Whatever you do don’t stare at the back wall over everybody’s head, because they can tell.  And don’t picture everybody naked, as a presenter who’s killing himself laughing, usually isn’t very effective.

Steven also thinks it’s not just good to get to know the audience, but get to know their terminology.  Use the phrases and words that they use.  You’re an expert on your subject, maybe it’s better to find out how they talk about things.  You can do this by reading some things on the internet, industry journals or magazines, just pick up some of their language.

The most important thing Steven always impresses upon people is to breathe.  Good deep breaths using your diaphragm.  Almost like breathing from your stomach.  This not only overcomes the symptoms of nerves, but it also means that your speech comes out polished and professional, even if you are actually a little big nervous underneath the surface.

So don’t forget to BREATHE.

If you forget where you are, you lose your place for a moment, nobody knows that but you, so don’t say “oh my gosh I forgot”.  Just keep going, because the only person that knows that you missed a page is yourself.  The audience never knows any difference.

And a pause or silence from you, actually shows confidence and gives people time to collect what you have been saying.  So nobody’s going to lose anything if you take your time and pause.

We hope those tips help you this week.

If you haven’t taken the opportunity to sign up to the Every Tuesday Club with MBE (Management & Business Education), then do so today by going to www.buseducation.com.