Managing People - A sentence to remember

Each person has needs and concerns, to be successful in life and at work you need to.......

• You need to answer the first - their needs
• You need to allay the latter - their concerns

Simple but effective personal development.

Management - Learn to mimic

As humans one thing we love is flattery - whether we own up to it or not. In sales you are taught how to mimic the body language of the customer, as a form of flattery. Clearly, not a good idea to over use but a bit of mimicry can go a long way.

When you are interviewing or have a one to one session, allow your body language to mimic so that you create a connection with the other person. Remember 55% of communication is through body language, and only 7% is through the words......so body language is important in any relationship.

Focus on the Truth

Two men went to court. The plaintiff made his case and the judge said "That's right". The defendant made his case and the judge said "That's right". The clerk of the court said "They can't both be right!"
The judge replied, "That's right"

Moral:truth is all around us, what matters is where we put our focus.....

So where are your blind spots, where is your focus, what is truly important, do you know what your focus should be?

Great post on how to change the world

Here is a great post on the top ten phrases to repeat each morning as a manager - at The Engaging Brand. After smiling, sit down and tick HONESTLY which ones you need to repeat each morning.

Boiling Frog Sydrome in Management and Business

I think I heard this from Tom Peters...

If you drop a frog into boiling water it will jump out, drop it in cold water and gently heat, it will boil with it. Inertia kills!

As a manager or leader you must avoid mediocrity, avoid compromise creep which destroys the uniqueness of the product, process or service. Hold a boiling frog meeting each quarter and get people to write on a picture of a frog where they believe complacency is creeping into work, or mediocrity is preventing progress, or drains on motivation. A fun way to get concerns out in the open!

How to make mergers work

Today, most people will go through an acquisition, change program or merger. Here is my tip for creating success through this time

• Focus should be on the skills and abilities of the talent available not on the process itself.
• Look for unique items not similarities.

Why?

Well it is people that will create the success.....where is the talent and how can you engage their minds in creating the future.

Concentrating on similarities ends up as a lose lose, as people will have to compromise and also it won't work for the differences...and remember the differences will have made the company unique and successful. Look to embrace the originality and build a process that protects it.

Promoting your personal brand

People often talk about building your own personal brand, and what a great way then getting your own business card. One that you can give at networking events, and one that markets your blogs, podcasts etc

I love Hugh Macleod at Gaping Void - often near the knuckle but with his cartoons he hits the mark. He offers his cartoons as business cards and I have ordered mine - not to promote a business but to promote the skills that I have outside of work. Great point to remember is that these cards with your own mobile or home telephone number means that if you move companies...people can still find you!

Educating the New Generation

We are aware that our values, behaviours etc are formed during our school years. That is why as a manager and as a company I have always linked with local schools and colleges. I see this as important for the following reasons

1. It builds links with the community which after all will be a key talent pool.
2. It is an investment in the future of business - helping children understand and become passionate about the commercial world.
3. The children act as a great sounding board - they ask you questions that maybe you should be asking yourself.
4. Children talk to their parents - people who are in the current talent pool, so free advertising of your employment brand.
5. The new generation care about society, and your role with the community. Your linkage helps both the Employment Brand and also your personal brand.
6. It is huge fun and very rewarding!

3 Tips of Reducing Stress within your Team

People at work need to feel that they have a degree of control, remember outside of work they are parents, or adults running their own lives.....so if they don't feel they are in control at all then stress will follow. So here are 3 key management techniques that help reduce stress within your team.

1. Be approachable.....ensure people can come and talk to you about problems both at work and at home.
2. Remember your role is remove barriers which prevent them from doing a great job. To do this you need to be approachable, so that you know what the problems are!
3. You need to care about them as an individual, care that they succeed, care that they are feeling strong, care that they understand their role.

Key tools that you need to succeed with the above 3 points, and don't worry they are FREE -

YOUR HEART AND YOUR EARS

AND EVERY PERSON HAS THEM SO NO EXCUSE!

Brainstorming needs Structure to be Successful

To be successful in brainstorming session you need to structure the sessions. Often people think that in order for people to be creative, you need a clean piece of paper. No matter what creative activity you are doing, people need some structure. A totally clean piece of paper can bring fear to the group, a pressure to come up with that world shattering idea.

Unstructured thinking is rarely successful, so there is a fine balance of providing some structure without stifling ideas.

To be successful

1. Send a clear memo outlining the purpose of the session with a clear sentence which outlines the issue, problem or opportunity. This gives people some time to think and prepare for the meeting.
2. At the start of the meeting, read out the sentence. Set out any limitations that are givens, or areas that must be covered.
3. Within those limits, then make everything else available for discussion - write every idea down....don't allow any judgement on an idea, not at this point. Bring
4. Keep checking that you are staying on track to the initial problem or opportunity.
5. Once all ideas have been captured, stop the session.
6. Then set a new session for looking rationally at all the ideas.

Structure brings a sense of purpose, and also separates the creative from the logical thinking.