Tag: Management

Goals 2014: Are You Making The Progress You Want To On Your #GoalsInLife?

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How Are You Feeling About Your 2014 Goals?

How Are You Feeling About Your 2014 Goals?

Your anticipation has been building for months.  Your heart beat a little faster as each week zipped by.  Now, finally, it is time for you to focus on goals (your own personal goals that is).

How Practical Did Your Goals Seem In January?

Obviously your team will measure how successful it is being during the FIFA World Cup.  Isn’t this a good time to measure your own success?

Perhaps back in early January everything looked straight forward.  You had 12 months in which to make progress on your goals relating to your: authentic leadership skills; management style; career path; work-life balance; health priorities.  Everything seemed possible.  Maybe you agreed specific goals with yourself, to make 2014 the year you:

  • pursued your next career milestone to get you into a more fulfilling job this autumn
  • created the ideal balance between your work and life, in line with your core values
  • actively competed at a sport to raise your confidence and energy levels

Well, here you are at the half way line.  Are you ready to kick off a discussion about your progress?

What Is The One Key Question You Can Ask Yourself About Your Progress?

There is probably only one key question to ask yourself, about the actions you have taken to further your aspirations to change.  Take a moment and answer honestly:

  • How happy are you with the outcomes of your actions and your rate of progress toward your goals?

What Is Your Next Action?

Hopefully you can say you are happy with your progress across the range of goals you selected six months ago.  In that case keep doing what you are doing, since it is obviously working for you.

What if you need coaching support to refocus your strategy for taking action to tackle your goals?  Then use the Contact form above, or connect with me on Twitter @RogerD_said

If you need to try a fresh approach I look forward to hearing from you.  Don’t forget, you should feel free to look at the other ideas relating to your work and life goals in the Archive section here, on Facebook and Google+ too.  Or if you are a Linkedin user you can visit View Roger Dennison’s profile too.

Goals 2014: What Does Equality And Diversity Mean To You?

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What Is Your First Thought When Equality And Diversity Is Discussed?

What Is Your First Thought When Equality And Diversity Is Discussed?

Does one of your goals involve adding your voice to discussions on life in the modern workplace?  If so, do you want to contribute to the important conversation on improving equality and diversity outcomes?

I’ve good news, if your answer is ‘Yes’, as I have designed a whole-day leadership workshop on that topic and I could use your help in refining delegate materials.  I want to ensure delegates have some topical quotes to look at relevant to the experiences of teams, clients and organisations in a variety of sectors in the UK, US, EU and territories beyond.

Your Chance To Offer Some Feedback

Do take a moment to look at the bullet point questions below and offer some feedback by replying to this post, or comment through the Contact form (or via Twitter @RogerD_said ) before 19:00 BST on Monday 16 June.

If I use one of your quotes in the workshop materials you and your organisation will be credited (please say if you prefer to be anonymous).  Many thanks in advance for your help.

  • What does authentic leadership in equality and diversity look like?
  • What are the benefits of getting equality and diversity strategies right?
  • What are the challenges on the horizon for equality and diversity stakeholders?

Want To Take The Conversation Further?

If these questions have whetted your appetite and you want to take the workshop conversation further please feel free to get in touch (there’s a further chance to continue this conversation in September, so feel free to contribute your Comments below this post or across social media).

Additionally, there are more ideas relating to your work and life goals in the Archive section here and on Facebook and Google+ too.  Or if you are a LinkedIn user you can visit View Roger Dennison’s profile

Goals 2014: How Well Does Your Leadership Reflect Your Equality And Diversity Goals?

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How Effective Is Your Leadership On Equality And Diversity?

How Effective Is Your Leadership On Equality And Diversity?

If you are like many leaders it is probably a challenge to get through your To Do list and deliver your everyday goals.  If you prioritise your medium and longer term goals too, this post may appeal to you.

What Effects Does Dominant Group Thinking Produce?

Here is a 58 minute video by anti-racist speaker Tim Wise, which is worth a look, if you have time and you have stretching leadership goals which are inspired by your equality and diversity values.  In case you haven’t time for the full video there are excerpts on Youtube which you can search for.

To my mind the key take away from the video is this: Being in the dominant group can leave you thinking you have the luxury of not having to care what other people think.  That attitude will make it harder to deliver on equality and diversity goals.

The upside of dominant-group thinking is simple: You face no obstacles to getting your goals accomplished.  You don’t experience anxiety.  You also don’t need to spend time on reflection about the impact of your words.  You can behave as you want to.  After all, you are acting on behalf of people like yourself, aren’t you?

How Do People From Diverse Backgrounds Respond To Dominant Group Thinking?

People from diverse backgrounds in your current or potential audience may take a different view.  On the least damaging end of the scale if you misspeak on a one-off basis you may not face any lasting consequences.  Get in wrong often enough and the authenticity of your brand values may be called into question.

What Are The Real World Consequences Of Sending Out The Wrong Equality And Diversity Messages?

In the US, major league basketball franchise owner Donald Sterling has experienced some major consequences following media coverage of comments he made about the sort of person he wanted courtside.  Being banned for life from the NBA and forced to sell his team, the LA Clippers for $850m, may influence him to rethink his approach to equality and diversity.

In the UK, BBC television Top Gear’s presenter Jeremy Clarkson is reportedly on his final warning from the corporation, after another controversial week.  Notwithstanding the 350 million viewers his programme receives globally he is having to rethink his approach to how he broadcasts.

Thee are high profile examples, but I think the basic principles are applicable to businesses generally.  Take a few moments to review your situation.  How well do you feel your organisation is doing on Equality And Diversity at the moment?

What Question Can An Authentic Leader Ask Of Themselves To Improve Their Equality And Diversity Focus?

Whether you are in the US, UK or further afield here’s a question that can ask yourself to improve your leadership:

  • What action will I take, this month, as an authentic leader to help my organisation make better use of its diverse workforce (or to demonstrate our commitment to equality goals)?

Feel free to continue this conversation about the relationship between authentic leadership, your values, and equality and diversity within your organisation.  Do let me know what impact your action has, when you start to see some results.

By all means take a look at the further ideas relating to your work and life goals in the Archive section here, on Facebook and Google+ too.  Or if you are a Linkedin user you can View Roger Dennison’s profile and connect with me there.

Goals 2014: 3 Questions To Help You Get The Leadership And Management You Deserve

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What Connections Do Leaders And Managers Inspire?

What Connections Do Leaders And Managers Inspire?

How confident are you about the effectiveness of your organisation’s senior leadership? What rating would you attach to your manager’s skills?

I ask as an article by Liz Ryan for Forbes online concerning Bad Managers has triggered my post (there are other Liz Ryan articles on LinkedIn ).

I had the privilege last week of sitting in on an Enterprise Nation Webinar, at which serial entrepreneur Doug Richard talked about the goal of Improving Leadership and Management.  My favourite quote from that conversation is shown above.  The post Liz wrote reminds me that Bad Managers leave a trail of angry and demotivated employees in their wake.  The Bad Manager helps create disengagement and they are a liability to their team and their employer.

One of the least inspiring managers I ever worked for had two operating modes. One with senior colleagues, involved smiling and kissing up. Mode Two, with team members, involved micro managing and being divisive. I remember once mentioning some of the valuable lessons I’d learned from my degree course and the Manager’s response was a classic: “Oh, you have a degree. That does surprise me!”

Needless to say I was never happier than when I left that part of the organisation.  I wasn’t the only one.  Effective management binds teams together and adds value to the connections between team members.  Bad management sows the seeds of disruption.  The manager I encountered clearly needed support to improve their practice. I only hope that they received it, before their behaviour triggered a complaint.

Here are 3 questions for your consideration this week:

  • How content are you that your job goals are being supported by your current management?
  • How congruent are your values with those of the organisational leaders who have the most influence on your work?
  • What actions will you to take this week because of your answers to the 2 preceding questions?

Feel free to look at the further ideas relating to your work and life goals in the Archive section here, on Facebook and Google+ too.  Or you can always View Roger Dennison’s profile

 

Is Improving Your Work Your 2014 Goal? Here Are Your 3 Key Actions To Take In The Next Week

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Was your week a mix of Highs and Lows?  Was one low your boss telling you that your
performance ‘must improve’?  If the answer is ‘Yes’ here are 3 actions to help you move forward in the next week, towards your performance improvement goal:

  • Review the evidence of your previously Successful, or Excellent, reports.  This helps you top up your self-esteem.  Positive customer feedback has always reflected the quality of your work.  Cultivate it from this point
    Your Improvement Strategy Will Move You Forward

    Your Improvement Strategy Will Move You Forward

    onwards.  Also plan how you will add to your key strengths, respect your values and earn more feedback.  Remember your boss’s view is probably changeable.  If not your psychological contract with your team may have ended.  Other bosses are out there.

  • Record the specifics of your next steps strategy, so you identify an immediate, positive, action you will take to start moving forward.  Call this Phase One of your plan.  Make it something constructive, that you know you can do well.  If that is not possible within your present role find another role that allows you to reassert your ability to do good work.  Outline what you want to accomplish in Phase Two of your plan, at the same time.
  • Recruit a skilled ally, ideally an experienced coach who: understands the significance of your work goals; recognises the importance of your values; will remain supportive as your performance rises and you start to fill in the detail of your Phase Two outline.

You are now good to go for Phase One of your plan.  Take these 3 constructive steps and your week ahead will be focused on improvement and positivity.

Good luck and feel free to get in touch with me to talk about your coaching needs, beyond the #MustImprove stage:  use the Contact tab above or visit me on Facebook  and Google+ too.

Goals 2014: Six Actions To Help You Manage Your Stress Levels This Week

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Life is full of coincidences.  Fresh from posting about the impact of workplace stress, caused by poor management, I read a really useful article* by Lucy Dimbylow – @lucywriter on Twitter.

Lucy is responding to the question posed by the half a million UK workers whose stress and anxiety levels are too high: What actions can I can take to manage my levels of work stress?

The key actions I took away from Lucy’s article are:

  • Taking regular Exercise reduces stress
  • Following a healthy Diet aids positive mental health
  • Taking the Rest periods you are entitled to is beneficial
  • Making time to have Fun with family is important
  • Adopting a positive approach to Mindfulness helps you manage the aspects of pressure you can change
  • Seeking Support from those in a position to affect workloads, and job objectives, also helps

Having read that list here’s a final question for you:

  • What key action will you take, this week, to more effectively manage your workplace stress?

*The article appears in the spring edition of Benenden Healthcare Society’s subscription-only magazine ‘benhealth’.  Information on the society’s work can be found online at www.benenden.co.uk

Goals 2014: What Kind Of Management Do You Want To Receive?

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Here’s a question to ponder as the end of the reporting and financial year draws near:  How much does your progress at work depend on the effectiveness of your manager, or supervisor?

Some people want a line manager who is closely involved in the day to day aspects of their career.  This can reassure the job holder that their performance and development needs are at the front of their manager’s mind.  That could be crucial if progression, development or bonuses depend on the supervisor’s feedback.

Other job holders are content with a different approach.  They prefer being set realistic tasks, whose delivery is discussed at quarterly reviews.  This approach gives them breathing room.  They get on with delivering tasks that are within their capability.

The Guardian’s Work blog has just highlighted a worst case scenario.  In this situation a line manager is so ineffective that their job holder is becoming ill through over work.  The customers needs are not being effectively met and team morale is suffering.  The manager is an obstacle to the job holder achieving their goal, of being productive and happy at work.

See what you think of the feedback offered in the Tweet (then have a go at the bullet point questions)

  • How do you influence your manager to give you the support you deserve?
  • What do you say when their input isn’t quite right?
  • When do you know it is time to take action to change your situation?

Goals 2014: Three Key Posting Tips

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Happy 10th birthday Facebook!  It is a long way from an audience of Harvard students in February 2004 to a global audience of 1.23 billion in 2014.

All those users face a dilemma: how do I achieve my goal of representing myself well online?  I’ve blogged (in the related tweet above) about the challenges of managing a credible personal brand on social media before, most recently after 2013’s Business Show.

How will you manage your brand this year?

When it comes to your 2014 posts, how will you manage your personal brand?  From what I can see it helps to keep posts:

  • Professional – bearing in mind regularly posts about getting wasted the night before might not impress a future employer
  • Succinct – staying on point, in fewer than 500 words, helps your reader focus on your message
  • Visual – readers appreciate eye-catching elements

How do your posts reflect your values?

It also helps to be mindful of your key values when posting.  What story are you telling about yourself?

If you are looking to make an impact on a wider community from a position of knowledge your advice and commentary could attract a strong following.  Posting on a regular schedule would make you an important presence in others’ lives.

How are you managing your data?

How mindful are you about data protection when you are online?  A bit of thought probably helps, as more and more of us contribute to the pool of Big Data being waded through by large organisations.

The goal of the European Data Protection Day (on 28 January) – branded as Data Privacy Day in the US – is simple: to inform the public about how their online data is collected and processed; helping to protect their privacy and control their digital footprint.

So, taking all of this into account, would today be a good day to start managing your digital self more thoughtfully?

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Goals At Work: Managing Relationships

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I hope 2014 is going well so far.  That’s especially true if you are back at work already, or about to return on Monday.

In the ideal world the work place is full of confident and competent managers and staff.   They all work well as individuals and in teams to keep their customers satisfied.  Sometimes though that isn’t the case.

The Guardian newspaper has presented another exceptional scenario in its Work blog.  Follow the link in my Tweet to see the discussion.  You will probably want to take action if the situation rings bells with you.  A coaching programme would help you take action if so.  I would be happy to help with that.

Is there any room for improvement in your working life?  What goals have you set for yourself this year to help bring that change about?

The Magic Management Pill (Doesn’t Exist)

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Magic Management Pills (c) R Dennison July 2013

Magic Management Pills (c) R Dennison July 2013

I wonder how many people managers have wished for a daily pill they could take to make leading their teams easier or at least painless?

 

Sadly there is no substitute for the confidence that comes from practising regular and effective people management.  Leaders ‘To Do’ lists can include a mixture of practical, stretching and contradictory objectives, such as: delivering high quality outputs; exceeding customer expectations; satisfying formal obligations to staff.  The trouble comes if people management is too low on the list of priorities.  Quality outputs only come from motivated people who are supported by their leaders.

 

The complication is that members of staff come to work with their personal and family situations in tow.  Sometimes those factors can get in the way of team performance.  An advice piece in The Guardian newspaper’s work blog explores that complicated relationship.  See what you think of the options available to the manager.

 

http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/work-blog/2013/jun/28/how-manage-colleague-personal-traumas