Archive for the ‘Managing’ Category

Research shows that ‘appreciation for a job well done’ consistently ranks highly as a motivator in employee surveys. Yet research also shows that most people don’t feel they get enough praise. So what’s going on? Putting aside the fact that it’s likely that some of our survey participants feel they should be praised for turning up every morning, my view is that managers are sometimes reluctant to give praise because they’ve had experiences of being praised themselves in ways that, frankly, haven’t motivated them at all.  And, of course, they’re not over keen on having the same effect on their staff. It’s actually quite easy to deliver praise badly – praise that is seen as patronising or manipulative by the recipient. But done well, its dynamite. Here are five ways to do it well          

1. Prepare the praise

It’s interesting that many of the managers I know will spend literally hours preparing to give criticism, but only a matter of minutes (if at all) preparing to give praise. The result? A passing comment (literally) on the lines of ‘nice job Doug, keep it up’ Say what? Which job? The whole job? Keep what up? Not only is this type of praise confusing but, by and large, it’s not wildly motivating. Top tip – spend as much time preparing to give praise as you would to give criticism      

2. Be Specific

Describe exactly what you are praising and why. Try the following method:

• When you….
• What happened was…
• And the result is….

E.g. When I showed the client the research you had done on their business she said she was really impressed by the insights you had provided. The result is she wants us to make a proposal for a further piece of business. That’s a really good outcome for us so thank you and well done

3. Show genuine interest

Ask questions to better understand what the staff member did, for example, what preparation they did for a successful presentation, how they managed to design such effective visual aids. Describe how you feel about what they’ve done e.g. pleased, impressed, excited (the hug and kiss might be slightly over doing it)

4. Let the praise stand alone

Don’t be tempted to mix the praise with criticism e.g. That was a great presentation. If only your written work was as good. Deal with the written work issue at a different time –unless, of course, you’re a fan of the ‘tall poppy syndrome’.         

5. Do it quickly and time it well

Give your praise as soon after the event as possible – it has far more impact. Be careful not to give the praise at a time when it will appear conditional or a ‘softening up’ process e.g. just before you delegate a task or ask for the person to work late

Public or Private?

There’s an old saying ‘praise in public, criticise in private’. Though I wholeheartedly agree with the latter I’m not totally convinced by the former. Of course the principle is sound. We want other staff to hear the praise and understand what we are praising because we hope that they will want to emulate those behaviours or achievements. But not everyone is comfortable being singled out in this way and some people find accepting praise in front of their colleagues embarrassing. My advice would be to deliver the praise in private. You can then ask the staff member if they are happy for you to share the praise with their colleagues – say in the next team meeting – and take it from there

 And a few final tips

If the performance you are praising is exceptional, you will probably want to bring this to the attention of your boss and possibly higher. If you have a reward system which is credible you may want to utilise this. In any event, it’s a good idea to follow up your conversation with the staff member in writing (a note will do) and to copy that note to your performance files

Joan Henshaw is the author and presenter of the video management training series ‘The 10 Minute Management Toolkit’ – the flexible, cost effective and time effective way to help managers, team leaders and supervisors learn how to motivate their staff to high performance. You can watch free videos at http://www.10mmt.com/watch-videos/

Trait 1:
• Being a control freak and needing to be involved in everything.

Trait 2:

• Not clearly setting out your expectations of others.

Trait 3:

• Avoiding taking action and procrastinating excessively before taking decisions.

Trait 4:

• Passing the buck when things go wrong rather than taking responsibility.

Trait 5:

• Not giving feedback to others on how they are doing.

Trait 6:

• Dealing with performance issues publicly rather than privately.

Trait 7:

• Not following up when you have asked someone to deliver something.

What else would you add to the list?

Duncan Brodie of Goals and Achievements helps accountants and health professionals to achieve success and realize their professional potential through being highly effective leaders and managers. For more information and to sign up for his free audio e-course click here

If you are reading this, the chances are that you are already a good manager and want to be an even better manager.

So what can you do?

1. Believe in yourself as a manager and don’t let doubt stop you from taking action.
2. Cut yourself some slack and recognise that you don’t need to be great at everything.
3. Learn how to invest your time wisely so that you don’t become overloaded.
4. Find out the strengths of your team and start to utilise them.
5. Start listening more to the feedback from others so that you don’t get surprises too often.
6. Make managing something you make time for rather than viewing as an optional extra.
7. Keep developing yourself.

At the end of the day, some simple changes can make an huge impact.

Duncan Brodie of Goals and Achievements helps accountants and health professionals to achieve success and realize their professional potential through being highly effective leaders and managers. For more information and to sign up for his free audio e-course click here

One of the things that most managers and leaders find a struggle is to get everything done in the time that they have available.

So if you need to boost and improve your personal productivity to get better results, check out the short video below and then leave a comment with your best tips.

Duncan Brodie of Goals and Achievements helps highly rated professionals to become highly effective managers and leaders.  He invites you to click here to take advantage of his free Weekly Leadership and Management Success Tips.

If you are managing a team of people, I am guessing that you want to do it well.

Being more effective as a manager is partly down to understanding what employees want from managers.

This includes:

1. Clarity about what is expected of employees.
2. Regular feedback on how they are performing and particularly the things that they are doing well.
3. Support and encouragement to help the employees progress their careers and get the best from their roles.
4. Challenge and the opportunity to grow and develop.

What else would you add to the list?

Duncan Brodie of Goals and Achievements helps accountants and health professionals to achieve success and realize their professional potential through being highly effective leaders and managers. For more information and to sign up for his free audio e-course click here

I recently had the opportunity to interview Joan Henshaw as part of a Virtual Leadership Telesummit.

Joan very kindly shared with me her thoughts to Skyrocketing Your Management Confidence.

One of the things that really struck a chord with me was what she shared around beliefs. During her call, she said that what she noticed was that:

1. Managers often felt that they did not have the right to manage.
2. Sometimes managers felt that people did not want to be managed.
3. Managers needed to be perfect at the everything.

Reflecting on these three things, it struck me that if we go around carrying these beliefs, it is no wonder that some managers struggle to be confident in their role.

So what other beliefs are you holding that are stopping you from being a highly effective manager?

Make a note of these and then really challenge whether they are true or just things you are making up.

Duncan Brodie of Goals and Achievements helps accountants and health professionals to achieve success and realize their professional potential through being highly effective leaders and managers. For more information and to sign up for his free audio e-course click here

Time is the ultimate limiting factor. It does not matter who you are, you have 24 hours in a day, 168 hours in a week.

So how can you make better use of your time?

1. Start to view it in the same way as money and invest it wisely.
2. Plan how you are going to utilise your team each day.
3. Do what you do best and delegate everything else.
4. Get clear on your priorities and then focus on them.
5. Track how you are spending your time to spot the time stealers.

So what other tips would you offer to make better use of time?

Duncan Brodie of Goals and Achievements helps accountants and health professionals to achieve success and realize their professional potential through being highly effective leaders and managers. For more information and to sign up for his free audio e-course click here

Circumstances always exist; it’s a fact of life.

What I have noticed is that managers sometimes fall into the trap of complaining about the circumstances.

While it might be tempting and make you feel good in the short term, does it really achieve anything long term?

As a manager, you are employed to deliver results. Achieving results requires you to take decisions and then act on those decisions.

So where are you focusing your attention as a manager? On complaining about the circumstances or on taking actions to achieve results?

Duncan Brodie of Goals and Achievements helps accountants and health professionals to achieve success and realize their professional potential through being highly effective leaders and managers. For more information and to sign up for his free audio e-course click here

1. Make it specific rather than general and vague.
2. Focus on giving balanced feedback which highlights both the positives and opportunities for improvement.
3. Don’t make it personal.
4. Make it useable by giving some specific things the person can do to improve.

I wonder what else you would add to the list?

Duncan Brodie of Goals and Achievements helps accountants and health professionals to achieve success and realize their professional potential through being highly effective leaders and managers. For more information and to sign up for his free audio e-course click here

You want to be a successful leader or manager, right?

Of course you do but, despite this, it is surprising just how many people stop themselves from being successful.

So how can you start achieving more success?

Start taking DECISIONS (the ‘D’ in DAR)

We all have lots of choices available to us. Choices are great but it is decisions that get things moving. So if you want to get more success, start taking DECISIONS.

ACT on decisions

Decisions are great and can be hugely invigorating and motivating but the key thing you must do is take ACTION. It is the actions which move you forward, provide the channel for feedback on what is and what is not working. Make a habit of taking ACTION on DECISIONS if you want more success.

REMEMBER: DECISIONS + ACTIONS = RESULTS

RESULTS don’t happen by chance. They are a direct consequence of the decisions and actions you take. If you don’t stop using temporary staff for example, your outlay on salary costs is never going to change. Similarly, if you have a great idea for a product but never take it to the launch stage, you are never going to generate revenues.

The Bottom Line

If you are struggling to deliver as a leader or manager, take time out to review whether you are really taking decisions and then acting on decisions. You might be surprised what a difference simple changes can make.

Duncan Brodie of Goals and Achievements helps accountants and health professionals to achieve success and realize their professional potential through being highly effective leaders and managers. For more information and to sign up for his free audio e-course click here