Why not do something about it this week?

Let’s come up with some time effective things that you can do to improve the rapport with someone you work with.  It could be your boss; it could be one team member who’s not really on board, or it could be a client or co-worker.  It’s up to you.

Have you got a person in mind?  Good.

First step is to think about what sort of work and communication style that person has. 

·           Are they a fast talker – get straight to the point?  Do they like to be in control? 

·           Are they someone who’s very talkative and energetic and enthusiastic? 

·           Or are they someone who is very steady, very careful and very conscientious, a good team player and a good listener.

·           Or, the fourth work style, which is someone who’s very careful, asks lots of questions, attention to detail, a good thinker.

What points of their work style are different to yours?  Because sometimes it’s the difference in these work and communication styles that can cause a bit of friction or conflict in the workplace.

Do you know what that person’s strengths and weaknesses are?  What are the things they are good at at work and what are the things they are not so good at?

Chances are it’s the things they are not so good at are the things that might be frustrating you.  Perhaps because you’re good at those particular skills.  This means you could have a good complementary work relationship, but it might be a bit frustrating for both of you at times.  Particularly, if it’s one of their blind spots – things you can see they’re not so good at, but maybe they’re not aware of.  

Finally, the last thing to think about is what are that other person’s priorities? And even what are the things that worry them about work that might keep them awake at night?

If you are aware of these you might be able to start gaining some understanding or perspective of what they have on their plate.

Now, this might sound like a lot of work for you to take on, but the good news is if you take some of these steps in that direction and build rapport most cases you find that other person reciprocates and your work relationship improves very quickly.

So why not give it a try and let me know how you get on.

This week in the every Tuesday Club Aleen Bayard discusses Emotional Intelligence. 

Emotional Intelligence typically has five components:

1.     Self Awareness;

2.     Self regulation or control;

3.     Motivation;

4.     Empathy; and

5.     Social skills.

Why are these important to those of you in leadership?  Because there has been a direct correlation between those leaders who show great emotional intelligence and the impact on the culture or climate of an organisation.  In a positive climate, employees are more engaged, do a better job and that leads to better customer service.  Better customer service equates to stronger profits.

So how can you become more emotionally intelligent?  Probably by getting a handle on what we call ‘self regulation’.

Think of a situation, either a person or a condition at the office, where you tend to lose your cool.  Next time bite your tongue.  Take a deep breath.  Think about your behaviour in public and choose another time or place to vent your anger.  That will immediately score you higher on the Emotional Intelligence Quotient. 

This is an important subject for all leaders to understand and demonstrate in the workplace.

Practice ‘self regulation’ this week and see what a difference it can make.

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 in the every Tuesday Club I talk about how as a leader or manager at work, you need to think about what perception you create within the team and in the workplace.

Let’s look at the impact of your behaviour and appearance at work.

The first thing you need to do is decide what sort of leader you want to be.  Write down 3 words you’d like your employees to use to describe your leadership style.

During the week think about the things that contribute to your image as a leader and manager in your workplace and compare them against those words.  Make sure you are delivering a consistent perception.

The things you need to think about are:

1.     How you say things – What language do you use?  How do you speak?  Is it a consistent tone of voice?  Are you loud?  Are you abrupt?  Are you patient? 

2.     How do you behave?  Do you move quickly around the office, looking in a fluster? Or do you walk slowly and calmly?  How do you act at meetings?  How do you talk to your team?  How do you talk and act with clients?

3.     Your work area or office – How does it look?  Is it untidy? Is it organised?  Is it clean?  Is it cluttered?

4.     Are you responsive and accessible to your team?  Or are you difficult to get hold of?

5.     Your personal appearance – How do you dress? How tidy are you?  Your cleanliness? Are you casual? Are you formal? 

These are all things that say something about you as a leader and a manager.

So during the week think about those 3 words, review the list and see if you can project a more consistent image as a leader.

Let me know what behaviour or appearances you have noticed about yourself and what you will look at changing.

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 in the every Tuesday Club I discuss Generation Y and how they differ from previous generations.

So who are Generation Y?  They are people born between 1980 and 1994.  This means they are now between 15 and 29 years of age.

Managers are telling us that in the workforce these people are quite difference to previous generations and as time goes on Generation Y is going to make up an increasing proporation of our workplace.  So we need to learn how to attract them, retain them and get them to perform in our organisation.

Managers are often telling me that they are not loyal, that they don’t have the same work ethic.  They do have a work ethic, and they are loyal, it’s just that they differ to previous generations.

Generation Y:

§  Seek meaningful work opportunities

§  Want small rewards regularly, rather than large rewards annually (“reward me now and then I will work hard”)

§  Want regular feedback and recognitions from leaders for their motivation (instance gratification is their expectation)

§  Want to know what is going on – where the organisation is going and they want to contribute to this

§  Do not like to deal with failure – a blown culture in an organisation or team will drive them away

§  Seek work life balance

§  Are highly mobile and will move employers to find the opportunities they seek

§  Want life study or volunteer work to augment work

§  See social responsibility as a business imperative

§  Seek a balance of autonomy and support

Have you got any Generation Y working for you.  If so, what are you doing to retain them and reward their performance?

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.

Then try catching your staff doing something good. Yes, it’s easy, it’s simple and it’s cheap.

Yet many managers overlook the whelming stack of evidence that says the best way to lift performance and productivity is for the boss to appreciate and recognise a job well done.

So take a couple of steps in the right direction and make it easy for you to get your team to perform better.

1.     Firstly you need to decide what you want to catch them doing well.

2.     When you see it say “Thank you”.

3.     Be specific and use the person’s name.  A general “thanks very much everyone” is not what we are talking about.

4.     Describe the positive impact it has had on the team.

This will increase the chances of them and others around them repeating this behaviour and improving team performance.  And the next thing you know you’ll have a high performing team.

Let me know what you caught your staff doing well this week?  Did you remember to say “thank you”?

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 in the every Tuesday Club I discuss how most of us would all like a bit of extra time in our working day.  But as you can’t buy more time, we need to do something else.

I talk about how to work smarter not harder.

1.     You need to know what your goals are to make sensible prioritising decisions to manage your time.

2.     Identify what your time wasters are.  Work out if its emails, phone calls or visitors, and put in place strategies to overcome them.

3.     Manage your work relationships.  Most of us find that the biggest thing that takes up our time is relying and waiting on others.  It’s important that others, your boss, team and other key relationships understand what your priorities and objectives are and make sure you agree on these so that you can work effectively together.

It’s worth spending some time doing this as it will save you time in the long run.

Let me know what you have done this week to work smarter not harder.

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 in the every Tuesday Club Aleen Bayard discusses how self awareness is one of the most important attributes of any good manager.

She refers to Marshall Goldsmith’s book ‘What got you here, won’t get you there’, which talks about self awareness.  He calls the things that we do that get in the way, as Behavioural Tics.

See if you can identify any of the following attributes in yourself:

·           Making destructive comments

·           Speaking when you are angry

·           Taking credit that you don’t deserve

·           Making excuses

·           Playing favourites with your staff

·           Failing to express gratitude

·           An excessive need to be me.

Aleen suggests that you identify one or more of these Tics and determine how you can get better at behaving differently.  You could ask people that you trust around the office, “Have you ever seen me behaving this way?  I’d like to improve.”  And give them permission to give you honest feedback.

Remember one of the most important attributes of leaders worldwide is to be able to give and receive feedback.

Let me know if you have identified a Tic and what changes you have made to your behaviour.

This week in the every Tuesday Club I talk about how we still need to recognise and reward good performance, even though we might not have as much cash in the bank. 

We also need to think about how we can make sure we retain our talented staff throughout the recession.

How can we do that?  We need to think more creatively.

We also need to also understand that our employees are looking for more than just dollars.

This is where we can look to research to see what else employees are interested in besides money to keep them happy.  Consider the following as alternatives to money as recognition.

·           Time – Time is very important to employees and something that is under recognised by managers.

·           Discounts – look at what your business already buys in bulk and receives a discount for, is it something you can offer to staff.

·           IT needs – is there anything your organisation can do to help staff with their IT needs at home.

·           Financial advice – can you arrange services for your employees.  This can help with stress and provide staff with a reward.

What are you doing to reward your staff?  I look forward to hearing more of your ideas and thoughts.

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.

In the latest Every Tuesday Club video clip I talk about how we need to be aware of our behaviour as leaders and managers, as what we do and say has an impact on our team and the organisation.

I suggest that you regularly check your behaviour and think about what you are doing.  As you need to be constantly aware of the impact your behaviour has as a leader.

Even in tough times you need to display stability and confidence in the workplace and keep a positive spin on what you say and do.  And keep your stress to yourself.  Remember your behaviour can be contagious and affect the productivity of others.

Think about your behaviour over the next week and share with us any thoughts you have about your behaviour.  Or if you would like to find out more about your behaviour characteristics and live in the Bay of Plenty region we have a Transitions to Leadership and Management Development Programme on Thursday 13 August.  Contact us to find out more about this programme or other upcoming workshops for you and your business.

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.

MBE is running level 1 and 2 of the Leadership and Management Development Pathway on 13 August and 3 September in Tauranga.  MBE also runs this training in Auckland and in other provincial centres.

Is your business struggling to adapt to the changes in the market place?  If so what could you do to make your business more resilient?

On the latest Every Tuesday Club video clip Aleen Bayard gives some advice about developing resiliency in your business.

She talks about the need to be realistic about your business, not optimistic, and understand what is happening in your business.

Aleen poses the question “are you a boxer or a gymnast?”  A boxer may have brutal force, but this is not needed in the changing business environment we are currently operating in.  It is the flexibility of the gymnast.  Being flexible in business enables us to quickly change to the needs of our customers and retain their business.

If you have implemented anything in your business to make it more resilient then feel free to share it with us.  Or if you would like some further advice about how to make your business resilient contact us to find out about upcoming workshops for you and your business.

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 , click on the Tuesday Club box and sign up!