Your company is feeling the economic pinch. Your team knows you have to make cuts. You want to keep spirits up, but budgets are tight and getting tighter. Training is being reduced. Travel is being cut. Conference registration has become selective. Everyone feels overworked, tired, and taken for granted. You feel tense and irritable yourself.

Now is the time for a simple but powerful -- and free -- gesture that will lift your employees' and your own spirits.

Send a note of appreciation to each person on your team. Be specific about what you value in each individual, and when you can, mention a detail the recipient may be surprised you've noticed. Handwrite each letter -- emails will disappear in the daily clutter.

As many of you know, I am an incredible advocate of appreciation in any form.  Have you hugged your staff today? Anissa

 

Today's Management Tip was adapted from "A Simple Gesture to Boost Morale," posted on December 3, 2008, by Rosabeth Moss Kanter on "Change . . . or Else!"

From Tom,

These are non-negotiable and there are no escape clauses. No excuses are accepted.

Ignore them at your own risk.

I got this information over decades of living, but many people never learn these rules at all. And so they live in “quiet desperation.” You don’t have to settle for that. If you consider these Facts and test them against your experience (NOT your conditioning!), I predict you’ll adopt them, and you’ll be on your way to a life of freedom and accomplishment.

SELF-MANAGEMENT AND PEOPLE SKILLS ARE THE KEYS TO YOUR SUCCESS AND HAPPINESS.

YOU ARE AT THE CENTER OF YOUR UNIVERSE. STAY THERE!

WHAT YOU THINK ABOUT MOST IS WHAT YOU GET.

YOU MAKE YOUR HABITS AND THEN YOUR HABITS MAKE YOU.

GUILT ENSLAVES YOU. RESPONSIBILITY LIBERATES YOU.

"OBLIGATIONS" ARE A FRAUD.

EXPECT LESS FROM OTHERS AND MORE FROM YOURSELF.

NOBODY WAKES UP IN THE MORNING CHOOSING TO BE THE VILLAIN.

THERE IS NO "HAPPILY EVER AFTER" IN THE REAL WORLD.

THERE IS A HELL, AND IT STARTS EARLY.

YOU CAN CREATE PARADISE ON EARTH. MANY PEOPLE DO.

IT'S NEVER TOO LATE TO CHANGE.

 

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Few of us can do much about the economic crisis we're living through, but you can improve your employees' emotional health and their performance. A groundbreaking study by researchers at Harvard and the University of California, San Diego showed that happiness is contagious -- even among strangers, friends-of-friends, and coworkers. As a manager you can use this knowledge to boost your team's morale, productivity, and engagement.

Carefully cultivate a positive outlook. Then use it to cheer up your team. Help people look on the bright side when possible -- not naively, but resolutely. But choose your moments carefully. Don't radiate optimism when layoffs are announced or poor earnings reports are published. Do it when you think people need an extra boost, and when you think they'll be receptive.

As someone with positivity in her top 5 of Gallup Strengths and a certified Happy-ologist, I believe that radiating optimism is a worthwhile state of being.  Give it a try! Anissa

Today's Management Tip was adapted from "Why You Need to Be a Happier Manager," posted on December 8, 2008, by John Baldoni on "Leadership at Work."

The last thing your company needs in this downturn is to lose its star performers to a competing company. And one reason some valued employees defect is that their managers don't support work/life balance (or as I prefer to say, a harmonious life).  It's a well known fact that employees don't leave companies, they leave their manager. 

How can you help your firm retain its top talent?

Show your employees that you care about work/life balance, too -- with these actions:

• Provide emotional support, by acknowledging employees' sometimes extensive responsibilities outside work.
• Provide structural support, by working with employees to resolve scheduling conflicts.
• Model healthy behavior -- for example, by occasionally attending important family functions during work hours yourself.
• Partner with other managers to develop cross-department training initiatives that enable employees to cover for one another as needed if they must take time away from work.

Being openly communicative, a role model in living your own harmonious life and understanding the many pressures we all face, you will make lasting strides in your relationships on your team! Anissa

 

Today's Management Tip was excerpted from "Supervisor Work/Life Training Gets Results," by Ellen Ernst Kossek and Leslie B. Hammer, Harvard Business Review Forethought, November 2008.

As many of you have already started to face, or are beginning to face, economic changes impacting your life. I want to help.  I don't believe that coaching should be a resource only for those in established organizations or for those who are already making millions and millions a year (who are those people).  If you have ever researched coaching for your own needs, you know that individuals pay anywhere from $150 an hour and UP, out of their own pocket, to have a coach working with them during their transitions or other needs.

I believe we all deserve the opportunity to live our best life and gain the most from each day that we can, both personally and professionally.  Your need may involve how to give performance feedback to great employees, or determining if this is the right time to make a career shift, or maybe you are just wondering if this is all there is in life and you need to talk out your options before you make any changes.  For all these reasons, and many more, I would like to help.

For the remainder of this year, I am providing my services via 2 options:

$45 per 30 minute coaching sessions or $80 for 60 minute coaching sessions. 

You can select either and for the life of our coaching relationship, this will always be your rate.  That's right, your rate will be locked in for life!  From my perspective, I can't partner with you if we aren't working together.  To walk my talk, I feel this is another way I can assist you with the questions and needs in your life.

I hope to hear from you soon! Give me a call (402.408.6840), email me or fill out an inquiry.  Talk soon!

Anissa

In today's hypercompetitive and ailing economy, it's all too easy for any manager to fall prey to burnout. This condition -- marked by exhaustion, cynicism, and inefficacy -- stems from information overload, perpetual "busyness," and a relentless race against the clock.

One tactic for preventing burnout is to seek out ways to use available resources more wisely. For instance, delegate responsibilities to staff members eager to develop new skills. And resist the urge to grapple with urgent but not important tasks (such as responding to emails). Instead, schedule set times during the day for checking and replying to emails and phone calls.

Keeping moving forward in your day and you will feel a sense of accomplishment!  Prioritize those activities that need to be completed within the morning or afternoon, or that day; and complete them. And always take time for lunch!  Anissa

 

Today's Management Tip was adapted from "Three Ways to Beat Burnout," posted on December 1, 2008, by Christopher Gergen and Gregg Vanourek on "Leading a Life."

Seasoned managers know that hiring can be a hit-or-miss affair. Some organizations try to better their hiring odds by subjecting candidates to a battery of interviews. But conducting more interviews isn't the answer. Instead, conduct better interviews -- ones that gauge candidates' emotional intelligence. EQ significantly influences performance success.

One aspect of EQ is the ability to learn from mistakes. Ask interviewees:

• Have you ever been in a situation where you felt you needed to modify your behavior? How did you know? What lessons did you learn and how have you applied them to other situations?
• Tell me about a time when you realized a project you were working on was on the wrong course. How did you know? What did you do? What did you learn from the experience?

 

When interviewing, ask real questions about real situations that indicated how the person responded at the time, reflections on the situation, and learnings from the experience.  It's better than asking them to predict the future (i.e. where will you be in 5 years).  Anissa

Today's Management Tip was adapted from "Hiring for Emotional Intelligence" by Christina Bielaszka-DuVernay, Harvard Management Update.

Start by not taking your job lightly. Employees have long had the upper hand in organizations. They've been naming their hours, salary, and title. During a recession, your boss is in the driver's seat, and you'll have to reapply for your job every day.

How? Pay attention to things that tick him or her off, such as showing up late, calling in sick, or doing shoddy work.

Each day, focus on what you're giving, not what you're getting. And do the opposite of what others are doing.

When your coworkers are dragging, hustle.

When everyone's complaining, smile like you've just found the Hope Diamond.

Be stronger, tougher, and more positive, and you'll stand out above the crowd.

This is a great strategy now, and always! Anissa

 

Today's Management Tip was adapted from "Recession-Proof Yourself: Four Tips for Twentysomethings," posted on November 11, 2008, on Marshall Goldsmith's "Ask the Coach."

Has your company resorted to job cuts to survive the economic crisis? If so, you and other managers are bearing the brunt in the form of shredded employee loyalty and morale. In this time of brutal cost-cutting, layoff survivors feel paralyzed, demotivated, and mistrustful of their managers.

What to do? Start by realizing that not everything is going poorly. You're still employed, and you're providing employment to your staff. Encourage conversations among your team members about what's happening, and challenge them to come up with creative solutions to problems. For example, brainstorm ways you and your team can focus your time and energy on efforts affecting the bottom line--not on mindless, time-consuming tasks such as unnecessary meetings, useless reports, and overly elaborate approval processes.

Remember, you are the captain of your own ship.  So, take the wheel! Anissa

 

Today's Management Tip was adapted from "Leaders Make Tough Times Work for Them," posted on October 28, 2008, by John Baldoni on "Leadership at Work."