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When Things Turn Sour, Sweeten Them Up

If you’re like most people, you probably hate the nonchalant approach to failure that’s so common these days, which is basically, failure is good! You can learn from failure! You can benefit from failure!

Many of life’s failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up. ~Thomas A. Edison

No, sorry, failure is not good. Smart people avoid failure. That being said, failure doesn’t have to be debilitating. So how do you deal with failure?

Here’s a list of 7 strategies for handling failure.

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What to Do When You Hate Speaking in Public

When it comes to phobias, fear of speaking in public is one of the most common. It makes sense – you’re out there in front of a group of people, all of whom are waiting to listen to what you have to say, and you’re terrified that you won’t measure up.

People think actresses find public speaking easy, and it’s not easy at all; we’re used to hiding behind masks. ~ Jane Fonda

So how do you overcome a fear of speaking in public?

For some people, public speaking is such a huge fear that it even leads to full-blown panic attacks. When the fear is great, people might avoid speaking in public or try to find ways to deal with the fear.

The first step is to build confidence, and here’s are 8 concrete methods for doing that.

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Using Technology to Boost Productivity

Over the past couple of decades, technology has grown at a speed that’s nothing less than staggering. Today, you can find an app for virtually anything, and people feel lost without their smartphones. Businesses that aren’t making full use of available technology are almost certainly not making the best use out of their time and their staff as they might.

It may not always be profitable at first for businesses to be online, but it is certainly going to be unprofitable not to be online. ~ Esther Dyson

So, how can you use technology to boost productivity? Here are four specific ideas to get you started.

1. Create a Network

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My Way or the Highway – How Not to Lead

Are you a manager who leads through fear and intimidation? Unfortunately, a lot of leaders do this. Sometimes it even works. If your staff fears you, you might get more out of them. Alternatively, you might find that they’ll just “work to the rules” – you’ll never get a hundred per cent out of them. What are the disadvantages of the “my way or the highway” approach?

Surround yourself with the best people you can find, delegate authority, and don’t interfere as long as the policy you’ve decided upon is being carried out. ~ Ronald Reagan

Think about the way you respond to intimidation, and ask yourself if fear is really the way you want to motivate your team. It might get you results in the short term, but what about the long-term consequences? What do you suppose could happen if your management approach is intimidating and unapproachable? Read on, and consider the consequences of an overbearing management approach.

Here are some of the things that could happen.

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Knowing When to Give Up

Everything’s not going to go perfect. You’re going to have some losses that you’re going to have to bounce back from and some things that are a little unforeseen that you’re going to have to deal with. ~ Tony Dungy

You want to be a good leader, and you feel that this means you go to the mat, all the time, every time. But sometimes, it’s just time to say “Okay, enough, time to pack it in.” How do you know when it’s time?

Give Up? Really?

Sometimes the best possible course of action is to just give up. If you’re bogged down in a bad project, or you’ve lost your focus, maybe it’s just time to pull up stakes, say “enough already,” and move onto the next thing.

If this sounds too much like one of those horrible “art of failure” posts, sorry. That’s not what’s intended here. We’re not telling you to embrace failure and learn from it – we’re saying that sometimes, you just have to cut bait. Let go. Move on. Don’t look back. When there’s nothing you’re getting, and there’s nothing left to give, it’s done.

Ask yourself, can anything be salvaged? Answer honestly. If you’re saying “no,” then give up.

1. How Do You Feel?

Have you lost your enthusiasm for a project? Does your pitch to a potential customer sound something along the lines of “I guess you don’t want to buy my product… I don’t blame you.” Are you to the point where you can’t muster up so much as an iota of enthusiasm for whatever it is you’re trying to work on? Do you just want to crawl under the carpet and die? When people talk about your project, do you do everything you possibly can to change the subject? Give up.

2. Are The Numbers Wrong?

You’re looking at the financials for your project, and everything’s upside down. You’ve got more going out than you have coming in. Profitability? Oh, as if! If no amount of change or tweaking is going to make a difference, what do you suppose you should do? You got it – give up.

3. Do Other People Think You’re Wasting Your Time?

If you’ve given your all to an idea, focused hard, worked like crazy, and it’s still not working, and people outside your main frame of reference are saying “Why are you keeping this up?” think about what you’re doing. Evaluate your progress. If there isn’t any progress? Give up.

4. It’s Hard to Let Go

No one is saying that giving up is easy. Often, you want to keep on going well beyond the point where you should just pack it in. Maybe your reputation is at stake, or maybe you’ve sunk too much of your own money into a project to feel comfortable just letting it go. Maybe you’re even approaching personal bankruptcy. Here’s a news flash – if any of this sounds familiar, you’re definitely in too deep. So what should you do? Give up.

If there’s no hope of recovery, no possibility of pulling it out of the fire, you might just have to accept the fact that you’ve failed. You took a risk, you experimented, and it didn’t work out. There’s no point in drawing things out, you have to give up!

5. Don’t Bother With What If

What if you’d done things differently? What if you’d done B instead of A? What if you’d taken Route C instead of Route D? Oh, for heaven’s sake, stop it. You can’t go back and rewrite history. Everyone makes bad decisions, and everyone has things they wish they’d done differently. You can’t go there – if you do, you’re just going to end up out more money and nothing’s going to change. It’s time to give up.

6. You’re Only Human

You made a mistake. Years are gone. Money’s down the toilet. What do you do now? You give up. You move on. You do it better the next time. Push the button on that ejection seat, get out of there, and give up.

Pick up, move on, try again. Don’t chase a dead dream. Know when to give up.

Please take the time to leave a comment.

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Five Habits of Highly Ineffective Leaders

Ultimately as a leader, you’re evaluated on how you interact with people. If you do it well, you develop a reputation as effective leader. If you don’t, you develop a reputation for being a highly ineffective leader. ~ Douglas Conant

What do you do when your leadership style just isn’t working anymore? You’ve become ineffective, and you know it. Maybe you’re burned out. Maybe your workplace environment has changed.

Either way, things aren’t working the way they used to, and you’re wondering what you’re doing wrong and how you can correct it.

Possible Roadblocks

You need to look at your habits, and think about what you’re doing wrong. The following isn’t by any means everything that could be making you an ineffective leader, but it should give you a few things to consider. Read on.

1. You’ve Stopped Caring About Your People

It’s in your attitude, isn’t it? You’re in a meeting with one of your people, and you’re texting, reading your email, and just generally doing anything you can to avoid dealing with the person who’s sitting in front of you.

Of course it’s only because you’re really very busy, but the best-case scenario for how people read you here is that you’re being rude. The worst-case scenario is that you’re saying, “I could not possibly care less.” How do you fix this problem? Simple. Put people first.

2. What You Say Isn’t What You Do

You expect certain standards from your people. In fact, you demand certain standards. But you don’t expect the same thing from yourself as you do from your people. You tell your people that they have to strive for excellence, but in your own practices, it’s “close enough is good enough.” You’ve stopped leading.

How do you fix this problem? Work to a high standard. Your people take their cue from you.

3. You Make It All About You

When something goes right, you take the credit. When it goes wrong, you say it’s because your team sent you under. Good leaders take responsibility when things go wrong, and they share the credit when things are good.

How do you fix this? Remember that you’re not an island. If you do well, it’s because you had great people supporting you. If it’s all in the toilet, your people didn’t make that happen without you enabling them. Accept that you’re part of a cohesive group.

4. No One Else’s Time Matters

Do you keep your people waiting while you arrange your desk, check out your LinkedIn profile, or go to the bathroom? If you give even your most mundane tasks priority over people, you’re giving the impression that you think you’re the only person who matters.

It looks from the outside as though you’re occupying a pedestal, putting yourself up higher than others. Well, technically, you are up higher – after all, you’re the leader – but you’ll command more respect from your team if you value their time as well as your own.

5. You Have a Sense of Entitlement

You behave as though because you’re the leader, you can behave any way you like. Maybe this means you don’t speak respectfully to others, or that you try to strong-arm your team into doing things your way. And realistically, no one’s going to stop you from behaving this way, but it’s not an effective management style.

Remember that you set the standard for behavior, and that if you take an authoritarian, “do it my way” approach, you’re telling your team that flexibility is a bad thing. You’re stifling creativity, and discouraging effective communication. A more open approach where everyone’s input is valued, and treated respectfully, yields better results.

Be the Model

Good leaders consider the people who work with them and for them. They set a good example, and they don’t use their position to manipulate others. Maybe you can lead by force and intimidation in the short term, but it will catch up with you. To be an effective leader, be the kind of leader you’d like to follow.

Please leave a comment.

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Encouraging Creative Thinking in the Workplace

Everybody has a creative potential and from the moment you can express this creative potential, you can start changing the world. ~ Paulo Coelho

Creative Thinking at Work

It’s a rare business these days that doesn’t value creativity. Most employers appreciate the power of an innovative idea, and would like to create an environment that’s conducive to creative thinking, but may be unsure how to proceed.

How to Make It Happen

Simply saying “bring me your ideas” isn’t going to work. So, how can you actively encourage creative thinking in the workplace? Here are some suggestions.

1. Support Creative Thinking

This may sound obvious, but often employees don’t want to take the risk of coming forward with what they think is a great idea because they’re not sure how the employer will respond. They may be unsure of getting a positive reception, and afraid of negative consequences if the idea doesn’t work out as planned.

Here’s where the employer has to make it known that risk-taking won’t be punished. It can take time to get the message across that creative thinking will be supported, and it’s essential that management make it known that they will be open-minded and non-judgmental when presented with suggestions.

2. Allow for Confidentiality

Face it, sometimes people are shy. One of your people may have a great idea, but feel uncomfortable approaching you – in this instance it’s not you in particular, it’s just people in general. Why not revive the old idea of a suggestion box? People can have anonymity if they want it, and still be part of the creative process.

3. Reward Creative Thinking

It’s human nature for people to wonder “What’s in it for me?” If you want your team to bring you their ideas, offering some type of reward for the best suggestion in a given time period is a great way to motivate. That way, even if a person’s suggestion ends up not being implemented, there isn’t the perception that it’s just a waste of time and effort offering it in the first place.

A reward doesn’t have to be huge. It could be a monetary bonus, or a day off with pay – just a tangible way of saying “Thank you” that doesn’t break the bank.

4. Create Teams

For a more structured way of encouraging creative thinking, you could set up teams of innovative thinkers. Assign a task to each team. Have them come up with ideas that will improve a specific aspect of your operation.

5. Set deadlines and offer rewards.

Be careful not to be too rigid in the type of assignment you hand out, though – you don’t want your people to perceive this as a way of forcing something – creativity – that by its very nature can’t be forced.

6. Build a Diverse Workforce

If all your employees come from similar backgrounds and have essentially the same qualifications, they’re probably going to think in much the same ways. This may be great for morale, but it’s bound to be stifling when it comes to creativity. If everyone’s in agreement all the time, new ideas just aren’t going to happen – the environment isn’t conducive to creativity.

This doesn’t mean that you have to set up a program for hiring where it’s “pick one from column A, two from column B” and so on – it just means that you should try to compose your staff, whenever possible, from people whose backgrounds and profiles are different. This gives you a personality mix that allows for creative thought.

7. Loosen Up a Bit

If your workplace environment is too serious, this could have an adverse effect on creativity. When people are having fun at work, they tend to be more inspired. If they’re just waiting until it’s time to punch out, the mood at work isn’t positive, and creative thinking will be stifled.

Encourage Creativity

If you want your people to bring you creative ideas, you have to encourage them to do so. This means that you have to make it known that creativity is valued, and then create an environment that is conducive to creative thinking. Give your people the encouragement and the tools they need to be creative, and you’ll reap the rewards.

Why not leave us a comment?

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Can You Change Your Leadership Style?

Many corporate leaders and employees have the right intentions, but it can be overwhelming when you consider how everything is affected from leadership styles, to organizational structure, to employee engagement, to customer service an marketplace. ~ Simon Mainwaring

It’s not hard to lead when things remain the same day after day. You have your own style, and it’s worked for you so far. But what happens when things get shaken up a bit? If you have to change your leadership style, can you?

Why You Might Need to Change Your Leadership Style

Let’s say that you’re suddenly dealing with a group of new hires, and they’re just not as competent as the people you’re used to working with. If your nature is to let people do their own thing as long as they get results, can you really do that now? Or are you going to have to start telling them what to do?

Alternatively, you could be noticing a shift in the people you’ve worked with for a long time. Perhaps they’ve become less productive, and it may have nothing to do with you. Has the nature of the job changed? Have they had to accept a wage cut or a reduction in benefits due to poor economic conditions? Or is it something as mundane as the fact that they’re collectively sick of a long period of horrible weather and they’re sluggish?

In the final analysis, it really doesn’t matter why productivity is down. Whether it’s new hires or suddenly under-performing older staff, it’s your job to lead, and you may have to change your style in order to do it effectively.

You’re Stuck in Your Ways and Don’t Think You Can Change

It’s very unlikely that you can’t change your leadership style. It’s important to understand the difference between style and personality. Your personality is probably pretty entrenched – for example, a person who’s friendly and outgoing is not likely to be able to morph into the type of person who prefers keeping a low profile. Similarly, people who are quiet and shy often have to really force themselves to behave in an outgoing way because it’s not in their nature – not part of their personality.

Style is a whole different matter. Like style in clothing, style in leadership is developed under the influence of external factors – it’s not innate. You almost certainly incorporate certain elements of your personality into your leadership style, but that style isn’t etched in stone. In fact, if you and your team aren’t on the same page for whatever reason, you’re probably going to have no choice but to tweak your style for the overall good of the group.

Identify Your Style Before You Try to Change It

Before you can change your leadership style, you need to have a good grasp of how you’re leading right now. Think about how you like to work.

1. Authoritative Leaders

Do you create a vision of how things ought to be and then instruct your people as to how you want it implemented? If this sounds like you, you’re an authoritative leader.

2. Democratic Leaders

By way of contrast, democratic leaders seek feedback, frequently ask for suggestions, and then get down in the trenches and work along with the team.

3. Laissez-Faire Leaders

Laissez-faire leaders hire people they feel are qualified to do the job, and then let them do it with minimal instruction.

Choosing Your Style

Changing your style is going to require quite a bit of practice, and a lot of commitment. For example, if you’re an authoritative leader, you’re going to have to loosen the apron strings, and you’ll probably need to do it gradually – it’s not realistic to think that you’re going to completely change overnight. You might start, for instance, by having your team report to you just once a day instead of twice or three times. Conversely, a laissez-fair leader might ask for a weekly progress report if he or she has never done that before.

What Next?

If you find that your team isn’t responding to your leadership the way they once did, you need to find out the reason. If you determine that it is your style, you can change, but it will require some effort.

Please take a moment to leave a comment.

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How a Personal Development Plan Can Work For You

If you don’t design your own life plan, chances are you’ll fall into someone else’s plan. And guess what they have planned for you? Not much. ~Jim Rohn

You wouldn’t set off on a road trip without a map, would you? And yet, you’d be surprised how many people dive headlong into their careers with no idea of where they’re going or how to get there. If this sounds like you, perhaps you need a personal development plan.

What is a Personal Development Plan (PDP)?

A personal development plan, or PDP, is a way of identifying opportunities by asking yourself a series of questions. You think about the answers, and use what you’ve learned to plan your future.

Some employers require their workers to create a PDP. Even if that’s not the case in your job, you can still benefit from taking the time to create one. You might even find you have fun doing it, and at the very least you’ll gain some insight into yourself.

Let’s Get Started!

When thinking about how to create your PDP, you’ll need to do a bit of deep thinking. Here are some things you want to consider when developing your PDP:

  • Do you have the information you need to make the right choices?
  • How do you define success? Your PDP is all about helping you find the way to achieve what you want out of life. So, what exactly do you want? Money? Personal comfort? Good relationships? It’s all relevant.
  • Do you have people (friends, family, co-workers) with whom you can toss around ideas?
  • Does your employment situation allow you opportunities for personal growth, or are your wings clipped?
  • What motivates you?

This is all about increasing self-awareness.

What’s in It for Me Personally?

Developing a PDP will give you a better idea of what makes you “tick.” You’ll be more aware of what you really need, and how to get it. You’ll achieve a better awareness of what you have to offer to those around you, and this will help you to move forward in a positive fashion.

What’s in It for My Employer?

If you’re only doing this because your employer is making you, you’re missing out on a great opportunity. But since you asked, most employers these days want you to hit the floor running – meaning that they want you to be ready to take charge of your own performance, whilst at the same time having the ability to manage others. They want you to be adaptable and not resistant to change, and to perform well under stress. If you understand what affects you personally, you will be more adaptable and thus a greater asset to your employer. You will also have a better understanding of what you want to achieve professionally, and that will help your employer to guide you toward events and training that will enhance your skill set.

Make It Happen!

Get yourself a pen and paper, or snuggle up with your laptop. Now, ask yourself, if you could do anything at all with your life, what would it be? How are you going to make it happen? Set yourself short-term, medium-term, and long-term goals for various areas of your life. As an example, in your work life, a short-term goal might be, “Tomorrow I want to rearrange my office, so that I can accomplish the tasks I need to do more quickly.” A middle-term goal might be, “In six months I want to be promoted to foreman.” A long-term goal could be, “In five years, I want my boss’s job.”

Now, think about how you’re going to make it happen. Write down some strategies. Take this same approach for other areas of your life, like family, friends, leisure activities, etc.

Feel free to brainstorm – you don’t have to finish this right away; in fact, you should take your time. After all, this is your life we’re talking about.

Summary

Creating a PDP is highly individualized, and this is just a brief overview. You can find detailed PDP ideas online, or in books or professional journals. Get started, and you’ll be glad you did!

Take a moment to share your thoughts as a comment!

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Work Smarter, Not Harder

You’re braver than you believe, and stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think.
~A.A. Milne

We hesitated to use the title “Work Smarter, Not Harder,” because we know you’ve probably heard it a thousand times, perhaps from a boss who is actually quite content to see workers running about in all directions, and who thinks that if he’s not seeing a lot of activity, nothing is really being accomplished. Still, it does bear repeating, because if you’re working inefficiently, you are, by definition, working too hard.

The number one way in which people work ineffectively is in the way they make use of time. If you could add up all the seconds, minutes and even hours you waste in the course of a typical work day, you’d probably be quite properly horrified.

Am I Wasting Time?

Think about the following scenario: The work day is just beginning, and you need to make coffee. Do you measure out the coffee grounds using eight tablespoons, or do you use a half-cup measure? If you don’t know that there are eight tablespoons in a half-cup, it’s just taken you eight times as long as it should have to measure out the coffee.

Here’s another scenario: Think about the last time you spoke to someone on the phone. Did you begin with small talk? “Hi, it’s Danny Sponagle from ABC Logistics. How are you?…. Good, good…. Great weather we’re having!…. Yeah, I heard we’re getting a storm, but what can you do? Listen, about your order….” By the time you got to the business at hand, which is the order, you’ve probably wasted a good two minutes. If you make just fifteen phone calls in the run of a day, that’s two and a half hours gone out of any typical workweek, wasted on mindless chatter. We’re not saying you shouldn’t be friendly, but cut to the chase.

Can I Do It More Easily?

If your workplace is inefficiently organized, you could be spending far too much time on what should be simple tasks. If your daily routine requires you to photocopy documents several times a day, for example, having the documents filed in your desk drawer while the photocopier is located down the hall next to the break room makes for a lot of “travel time.” Wouldn’t it be more efficient to move the copier closer to your desk, assuming it doesn’t inconvenience anyone else? Or could you do all your copying at the end of the day? It’s little things like this that really add up to a lot of wasted time.

Pretend you’re lazy. Think about how to achieve what you need to do while moving as little as possible. Perhaps you’ll refine this to the point where you can write a book – The Highly Effective Habits of Really Lazy People.

Can Someone Else Do It?

It’s amazing how many people are afraid to delegate routine tasks. Whether it’s fear of losing control, or just not accepting that there are other people who could do the job, a lot of valuable time is wasted by CEOs and managers who devote themselves to much to details. Let someone else organize the paper clips, if they must be organized. You can bet that someone else in the office can do it just as well as you can, and you’ll free yourself up for more productive tasks. You’ll have more time available, and you’ll be able to focus on tasks that really need your attention.

Don’t Be Afraid to Take a Break

People need to clear their minds once in a while. If you’re stressed out and overwhelmed, you’re not working at peak efficiency. Take a breather. Get a cup of coffee or a drink of water. Think about something besides work. When you come back to your work, you’ll be refreshed and more productive.

Don’t Multitask

Everyone does it, and hardly anyone is good at it. You might think you’re getting more done by going in all directions at once, but realistically, your work is not likely up to snuff. You’re just wasting time going back to fix what you’ve messed up.

These are just a few ideas. You can find more online, or in books or trade journals.