ComputerHunter.org |
|
|
|||
|
 |
The Most Important Thing Youll Ever Do
The wellspring of confidence is belief. When you believe in something, you accept and have conviction about the truth, actuality, or validity of that thing. When the belief is about you, its called self-confidence. Self-confidence is your belief that you can marshal your physical, intellectual, emotional and spiritual resources in the successful pursuit of a goal. The number one predictor of individual or team success is confidence level. Confident people tend to initiate action and control their environment - even under difficult conditions. Your degree of self-confidence will determine the kinds of risks you take, the amount of effort you'll expend, and the strength of your perseverance in time of trouble. Your confidence will determine the amount of flexibility you creatively apply in new situations. Your confidence will promote either optimism or pessimism and will dictate the degree to which you are vulnerable to debilitating stress or depression. We've already said that confidence is the single most important factor in determining an individual or team's likelihood of success. That being the case, promoting confidence is the first task that any leader should undertake. Even though confidence is a personal, intangible belief, it can be actively promoted. There are four basic ways in which we build confidence: the direct experience of success, observing someone similar to you, model success, coaching from a respected individual, and celebration. The four ways of promoting confidence can work alone or in concert. The important point for leaders to remember is that confidence is the single greatest key to success. The great news is that confidence can be home grown and nurtured. Thus, it's vital that individuals and teams be provided the opportunity to succeed as part of their development. Such opportunities may be provided by assigning progressively more difficult tasks or by scheduling associative experiences. High-energy models or coaches can be employed. However it's done, this is a function of the planning process. The best results will come from the best-developed resources. It's also a planning function to ensure that success, and sometimes failure, is celebrated on a routine basis. That is not to say that the celebration should become routine - celebrating Tuesdays would quickly lose its impact - but it should be recognized as an integral part of the work process. Growing confident people and teams is a leader's first and greatest responsibility. The bottom line: productivity gains of 30% can be achieved almost immediately and at little cost by simply boosting confidence. George Ebert is the President of Trinity River Seminars and Consulting, a firm specializing in the custom design and delivery of team building, personal growth and ethical development programs. Mr. Ebert is a highly sought after speaker, educator and consultant with over thirty years experience in both the public and private sectors. He has presented widely throughout the Unites States. He is the author of the management cult classic, Climbing From the Fifth Station: A guide to building teams that work!
Google News - Top Stories
|
|
|
|
RELATED ARTICLES
Improving Your Inter-Company Communications At No Cost It's all very well having a flashy (and expensive) advertising campaign, backed up by a wealth of positive PR, but if your staff are not all pulling in the same direction this could be the biggest leak in your plan. What Every Manager Should Know About How to Overcome Boredom Do you find yourself easily becoming bored or tired at work for no apparent reason? If that's the case, then pay close attention. Research has shown that fatigue and a worn-out feeling are often caused by unproductive mental attitudes. If this describes your case, read on to learn six ways you can overcome boredom. Are You Managing to Lead? For many people, the terms "manager" and "leader" are synonymous. In the business world, they are often used interchangeably, i.e. "team leader", "team manager", "project manager" - you get the idea. And why not? After all, leaders and managers do basically the same thing, right? Stomp Out Leeches In Your Company Recently, I felt appalled to see a political candidate running on the motto of "Demand More!" That motto oozes extreme nerve, and implies some people think it is o.k., as the saying goes, to "rob Peter to pay Paul." Problem-Solving Success Tip: Look For Sponsors And Solution Owners Look for sponsors and solution owners rather than problem owners. One Bad Apple One Bad Apple I know what you are thinking but no, I am not doing a tribute to Michael Jackson and the Jackson 5. Although I will admit that their hit song from the 70's keeps rolling around in my mind as I type this. While the Jackson Five might have believed that "One bad apple can't spoil the whole bunch" I don't think that they were responsible for getting high quality production results from their bunch. The fact is, in business one bad apple can make your life and the life of the people who work for you, pretty miserable, reduce production from your organization, and even cost you good employees. The "one bad apple" that I'm referring to of course, is that one bad employee in your department who drags everyone down with them. I'm not talking about the employee who is temporarily struggling with their productivity. A lot of employees go through that problem from time to time. With training and coaching, these are potentially very productive employees. And I'm not talking about that the employee who is going through some personal problems and is struggling to keep their business and personal lives separate. This is also a temporary situation that usually rectifies itself relatively quickly. Instead I'm talking about the employee who seems to have made it their personal mission in life to be unhappy, and to ensure that everyone else around them is just as unhappy as they are. These "bad apples" come in various shapes and sizes, all kinds of different backgrounds, and all different levels of experience. You have the: · Information hog - who hides key information about their tasks and projects · Martyr - whose assignments are always more difficult than any else · Bully - who intimidates all those around them · Professional Devils Advocate - who never met a concept that they actually liked, but they will gladly take credit for any concept that actually works · Company/Management Haters - who spend all of their free time telling anyone who will listen (and many that won't) how bad and evil the Company and Management Team really is · Slacker - who never really seems to do anything, but is always telling everyone how busy and overworked they are Generally speaking, it's not hard to tell if you have a bad apple in your group. They do tend to stand out. They wear their misery with pride. All kinds of bad things happen to them routinely, but the problems are never their fault. And anyone who is nearby (and some who aren't so nearby) will hear about it. The problem is not that they are miserable. The problem is that they make everyone else miserable as well. Sometimes it's pretty blatant. They actively incite or intimidate those around them so that no one has a comfortable working environment. They get their power by sucking the life out of people around them and they know exactly how to do that. As a leader, your team looks for you to lead and to remove obstacles that can keep them from being productive. This bad apple is an obstacle and how effectively you deal with them is a barometer that your staff will measure you by. The place to start is with Performance Management and measuring their productivity. But don't limit Performance Management to production only. Remember that all members of the team are responsible for soft skills as well as hard skills and that an employee who produces acceptable numbers but doesn't share information, or bullies those around them is still a Performance Management problem. Manage the soft skills the same you manage the hard skills, with detailed Performance Plans. Remember, even if they play key role in your department one bad apple can spoil the whole bunch, for everyone. Work closely with your HR representative to ensure that you are in compliance with both company policy and federal law, but you must remove them. And speaking of HR reps, take a minute to think about yours. A good HR rep is worth their weight in gold. A good HR rep will help you in identifying problem employees when the issues go beyond straight production. They will also work with you to ensure that you are working the issues both legally and that your conclusions are based on fact and not emotion. A good HR rep is also a boon for the employees, because they will work with the employees to improve their performance by identifying problems before they become severe. If you are one of the lucky ones that have been blessed with a good HR rep, then take the time to thank them for their work. Being an HR rep is a thankless job, and never more so than when they are doing the right things by being actively involved in resolving problems. Is Your Employee Newsletter Management Propaganda? It should not be. If it is an effective newsletter, it will serve the needs of readers (employees) as much as it serves the needs of the publisher (management). A Journey of a Thousand Miles You can't build a reputation on what you are "going" to do. 14 Ways to De-Stress Employee Vacations Employees truly deserve paid vacations. They Give Yourself a Boss? Day Gift Become a better boss and reap the benefits Climb out of the Box - How to Hold Effective Meetings Out of the box thinking is a popular fad today. And yet, in order to leave a box, you have to realize that you are in one. No Time to Focus on the Big Picture? Try Focus Management Here are seven Focus Management® best practices that you can begin using today: Understand What Flows Through Your Business to Find Improvement I remember once seeing a cartoon which showed two people working a counter. On the wall behind them was a sign which read, "Quality Work, Low Price, Fast Service ? Pick Two." In order to deliver all three, which is what customers expect, it's important to understand the flows of your organization. Building Trust in Your Business Relationships - 10 Steps There are some simple things you can do with your people to ensure that they start to trust you. As a letter from Mike Emmott of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development in the UK says, in April 2005's UK Management Today says:-"Our surveys show that only one in four employees trust senior management to look after their interests"Is that not appalling? How on earth can businesses develop, survive and above all hang onto their best people if they are seen to be untrustworthy?It's horrible.There is an article below which talks a little about 'Rapport Building', but to supplement that, here are Ten Steps to help you build trust with your people. 6 Simple Steps to Dealing with Difficult Managers The challenge of managing difficult managers can be rather daunting, especially when you inherit them! If they are your own born and bred, then hopefully they would have evolved into great managers!Experience shows that difficult managers are difficult because they are angry and frustrated about something or somebody (even themselves - especially where they are, or have become, a square peg in a round hole of a job), so the steps to take are these:- The Changing Boss-Secretary Relationship THE CHANGING BOSS-SECRETARY RELATIONSHIP: Imagine a partnership at work. One member is outlining the agenda for the annual stockholders' meeting, the other is managing the logistics. The last decade has brought many changes to the traditional boss/secretary relationship. We now see powers and responsibilities delegated to "executive assistants" that only ten years ago would have been the sole province of the boss. And there has been a corresponding rise in the prestige and influence of those secretaries chosen to fill such positions. The fact is that fewer women are willing to be career secretaries. How to Meet Quality Standards with ISO 9001 In today's hectic business environment, it is vital that we are all on the same page, right? But how do we know if we meet those standards? Business owners and executives can avoid the uncertainty, and that's where ISO 9001 certification comes in. Why Half of All Mergers Fail After the Honeymoon Ends Marriages and corporate mergers in America have at least one thing in common, more than 50 percent end up on the rocks. In fact, according to a McKinsey study, only 23 percent ever recover the costs of walking down the corporate aisle. Another study showed that over 40 percent actually lose shareholder value. Riding the Waves to Success Last week I was confused and frustrated about a few things related to one of my businesses, and a bit upset with myself and "The Universe." As a result, I went into a deep meditation to get some clarity and help. Choosing the Right Corporate Training According to a Gallup Poll, 80 percent of employees said the availability of company-sponsored training programs was a factor in deciding whether to accept a new job or stick with a current one. And yet the Bureau of Labor Statistics says that the average number of hours of formal training per employee per year is only 10.7.
|
|
|
|
|
