A wonderful lesson

I always remember my boss saying

"Committees don't commit, people commit"

That is so true, if you want to ensure success then make sure people own the actions to be taken and not the committee.

How to manage homeworking

In a world that craves flexibility and individuality, there is a greater number of times when you manage people that are not necessarily working alongside you. So what are the 5 secrets of success

1. Trust - the number 1 item. You need to trust in your people, trust their integrity. Without trust their is no relationship.
2. Understand why they need to work from home and support them. Get to know them like you would your people at your place of work. Understand what they like about it, and what support they need from you.
3. Manage by output. Set clear objectives, and give regular feedback on their performance. Feedback on the output NOT a value judgement on whether they are working hard!
4. Invest in your communication skills...more than ever you need even stronger social skills when you cannot interact face to face regularly.
5. Find ways to give face to face. Online meetings, visits, gatherings anything to give that personal touch.

How to manage homeworking

In a world that craves flexibility and individuality, there is a greater number of times when you manage people that are not necessarily working alongside you. So what are the 5 secrets of success

1. Trust - the number 1 item. You need to trust in your people, trust their integrity. Without trust their is no relationship.
2. Understand why they need to work from home and support them. Get to know them like you would your people at your place of work. Understand what they like about it, and what support they need from you.
3. Manage by output. Set clear objectives, and give regular feedback on their performance. Feedback on the output NOT a value judgement on whether they are working hard!
4. Invest in your communication skills...more than ever you need even stronger social skills when you cannot interact face to face regularly.
5. Find ways to give face to face. Online meetings, visits, gatherings anything to give that personal touch.

How to build your personal brand

People often feel not valued, and unnoticed for all they do in the roles. Here are some tips on how you can build your personal brand

1. Network - across lunch, in meetings, in corridors. Speak to people, ask them about what they are doing, what are their interests?
2. Volunteer for projects, organising events.
3. Have a success wall in your work area for e-mails that thank you, projects delivered, customer feedback
4. Take in to your one to one a progress sheet on what you have achieved so far, and how you are tackling the next steps.
5. Use Linkedin - if you want contact me !
6. Gather through technorati or an RSS reader info on your company, market, competitors and share it with people.
7. Always remember knowledge is not power - it is the sharing of it, that is!
8. Remember to thank others in the company for work THEY have done well.
9. Be true to yourself on your development needs no matter how difficult it is to admit it and spend time developing your skills.
10. Ask for feedback - be brave with more negative comments, don't dismiss the points just the emotional words.

Just a few for starters....anyone got any more?

Reactive vs Proactive

I listen to the Motivation on the Run podcast and love it - Larry's style is well...engaging. He talked in one of his shows about reactive vs proactive and this is absolutely true in terms of managing people. Some questions to consider

• Do you talk to people about what they want to achieve more than what they haven't?
• Do you talk to people of how they have incorporated learnings vs what courses they should be going on?
• Do you talk about how they are going to achieve their objectives or how they haven't ?
• Do you talk about their strengths more than their gaps?
• Do you talk to them about their personal visions or their past history?

Are you a proactive or reactive manager?

Recruitment Techniques

One thing I really hate...yes, I know hate is a strong word! ...... is recruiting for a role rather than a person. Here are my ways of changing your mindset.

Change what role do I want to fill to what skills do I need to take the team forward?

Change what is the cost of recruiting to what is the benefit from bringing talent into the business?

Change how can I get others to do the work in the interim to how can I use this opportunity to develop others in the team?

Change I need to loads of people to apply, to how do I get the right people to apply?

The Engaging Brand has 2 great shows on this - Show 35 and 36 the former with Seth Godin on how to create an employment brand that stands out from the crowd and the latter with a recruitment expert on tips of the trade.

Grab that Brain!

As the famous saying goes - you hire a person, hire the hands and forget to engage the brain.

So many people forget to engage the brain, so what questions can you ask to "grab that brain as well"

• What are your career goals and how can I help you achieve them?
• What are your passions and how can we develop your role to engage those passions?
• What do you want from me as your mentor?
• How can I get the best from you?
• What values are important to you?

This is in no way a full list but a start....the main point is to follow up on what you find out, and to review regularly.

Quality of Life

Studies show that the quality of life depends on 2 things

• How we experience work
• Relations with other people

Both of these need work and attention. As a manager we can be a catalyst for both of these and therefore just think of the power that you have in your hands. When you are sat thinking that you cannot change anything...remember this blog post. You have the power to help others enjoy a better quality of life...wow, now that is the ultimate power. Ask people how you can improve these 2 things at work....help build quality of life for people.

Developing Talent

How many times have you thought "I might as well do it myself!" and then gone away and done it.

In the short term that may well be the quickest way but it doesn't develop your people, takes your precious time, creates frustration and when the problem comes up next time....you won't be any better off - indeed you will probably have to do it yourself again!

So next time, try saying to yourself "I owe it to the person and myself to take the time and help develop their skills. I want them to be successful in the future and my experience can help them"

Time invested now, will pay HUGE dividends later...not to mention both of you feeling more positive in the short term.

Innovation - It is not just the product

People think of products when you talk about innovation. In 2004 Booz Allen Hamilton said that 10.2% of the R&D budget at the Top 500 industrial businesses, was spent on process innovation. Simplifying, clarifying, automating, quickening etc

Toyota and Proctor & Gamble are classic examples of how to engage people in your business by encouraging shop-floor innovation. They let people design process themselves.....bringing improvement in productivity, profit, engagement, product, morale, cost reduction.