Archive for the Leadership Category
4 Techniques to Help You Deal With a Difficult Boss
Editor’s Note: This is a guest post from Adrienne Carlson.
If life could be split into two general parts, work would take up one compartment and personal life the other. While we tend to put our personal relationships on a higher rung, work too is significant in the larger scheme of things because it puts food on our table and provides us with the money we need to lead a comfortable life.
So when your work life is not satisfactory, your personal life suffers too, because as much as we may try to keep the two like parallel lines that never meet, the fact is that they are like train tracks that tend to cross over and merge once in a while. So if you have the misfortune of working with a boss who is difficult, your work tensions may spill over into and ruin your personal life, which is why you must know how to deal with superiors who make your work life a heavy cross to bear.
A few ways to deal with a difficult boss are to:
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Work Happiness Tip – Tag Your Co-Worker
I posted on Twitter about the importance of rewarding your co-workers. I love Twitter, by the way. The ability to connect with fun, smart and quirky people is brilliant.
A friend on Twitter told me that she likes to create tags for her co-workers.
I asked her what she meant and she explained that she likes to give out random acts of kindness to the people she works with. She draws beautiful pictures on pricing tags. She sent me these photos so I could share them with you.
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The Secrets to Workplace Leadership
I shared a drink with a friend who manages a team of five people. He was wondering how people’s moods can fluctuate in such a broad range, which affects the quality of their work. One of his employees is always up and down. He is engaged with his work one week and then he seems to lose interest. His interest fluctuates and he isn’t sure why.
We all have this problem it’s just that most of us force ourselves to stay focused. My friend told me that he has tried giving this employee various kinds of work to see what interests him, but that didn’t work either.
I asked him if he ever sits down with his staff to explain the reasoning behind the work.
He said he didn’t. He never really thought of that because it’s pretty obvious to him. They need to design websites that exceed the customer’s expectations.
He was losing out on a huge opportunity. People often stop looking at the larger picture because they get comfortable. This comfortable feeling reduces their desire to go above and beyond the normal effort.
A study at the University of Alberta showed that people need a sense of purpose in order to feel engaged with their work. A ‘Spirit at Work’ intervention program for a group of long-term health-care workers boosted morale and job retention. This program urged employees to rethink their job, which reduced absenteeism by 60% and turnover by 75%.
“We discovered that people who are able to find meaning and purpose in their work, and can see how they make a difference through that work, are healthier, happier and more productive employees,” said Val Kinjerski, a University of Alberta PhD graduate who co-authored the study.
- E-science news gathered this information from the Journal of Gerontological Nursing.
By helping your people understand why they do what they do – you can increase happiness and productivity.
I’m going to give you a few ideas that might help your employees/coworkers to connect with their work.
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How Your Company Can Bring the Fun Back
We’re afraid of having fun because we might get caught by our boss. The dreaded Fired hangs over us like a dark cloud. So we quietly go about our work trying to stay under the radar.
The problem with this method of working is that our confidence takes a hit. We don’t always make choices that best fit the situation, because if the choice scares us then we avoid it. Living this way puts us in a state of lack instead of abundance.
Most of us were raised to stay under the radar. We got negative attention for being bad. When we did something good there was no fanfare because it’s what we were supposed to be doing.
Much of the corporate world works this way too. The people who get promoted are the ones who do the least damage to the company. That’s no way to reward an employee who has the courage to try something new and they fail.
We need to build a culture that accepts mistakes especially if an employee puts their neck on the line. When people are encouraged to take risks, they will be more likely to accomplish projects that will succeed big.
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Team Building Activity – Hint – Colorful Balls
Jeff Sloan, co-founder of Start-up Nation, talked at a Microsoft conference about creating your own business. He is a serial entrepreneur of electronics and various other media.
Jeff and his brother were promoting one of their gadgets at a conference and they bumped into a woman who was juggling, so they started juggling with her. They got to talking with the woman and hashed out a distributorship to sell the juggling balls throughout North America.
Their juggling package was the number 1 item sold for Father’s Day back in 1992.
They positioned their product as “Stress Relief for the Busy Executive.” An item that has been around since the pyramids in Egypt was the best selling product for fathers in the US. Jeff was able to do this because of a relationship that he created with the department stores.
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Wine Company is Buzzing about Work Happy Now
I love a forward thinking company. Artesano is definitely that. They are making honey (mead) wine from start to finish.
They make everything from scratch. They let the bees make the honey (Yes, they have their own bee farm in Vermont). They believe in high quality ingredients and excellent taste.
When I contacted Nichole, one of the owners, about helping them with their work happiness, I wasn’t sure what to expect. She was excited about the concept; I didn’t even have to do the hard sell.
We held the seminar on Sunday. Yes, I work on Sundays if that’s the best time for my client. Read their testimonial about my presentation – Karl Staib Presents His Work Happy Now Message.
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10 Part eCourse to a Happier and More Successful You
You probably have arrived at work on a Monday, sighed and trudged through your day. This is what a lot of us do because that’s what we’ve been taught. We torture ourselves so we can save enough money to be happy. Work doesn’t need to feel this way. When we work happy, work stops being a chore and becomes a pleasurable endeavor.
That’s why I created an eCourse that will help people build from their core strengths and optimize their working life. I created this course to help anyone, from a corporate employee to a self-employed entrepreneur. We all have basic needs. The only person who can fulfill your needs is you. It all comes from knowing what you need to make happiness a consistent reality.
I’ve heard hundreds of entrepreneurs complain about stress, motivation, and relationships. Interestingly enough, the same complaints come from corporate employees with a slightly different twist.
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Netflix Company Culture – Freedom & Responsibility
Netflix believes in creating a culture that supports Freedom and Responsibility. They don’t promote to placate or keep people around out of loyalty. They know they have to make people happy and in order to do that they need to challenge and engage their employees.
Seven Aspects of Netflix Culture:
- Values are what we Value
- High Performance
- Freedom & Responsibility
- Context, not Control
- Highly Aligned, Loosely Coupled
- Pay Top of the Market
- Promotions & Development
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Does Your Company Need an Extreme Makeover?
You probably already know if your company needs to change its culture. You can feel it in your gut. So why don’t companies take steps to improve when it’s clear that change is needed?
Instead, most companies keep going along with the same techniques year after year, ultimatly, making the company culture worse. There are only so many times a person can attend the same old training begin to feel nauseous. I’ve literally felt dizzy during a meeting because it was so repetitive and tedious. I couldn’t believe that management could be so out of touch with their employees.
Most of you have probably worked for a company like this. All you can do is shake your head at most of the decisions and wonder why they don’t care about your opinion.
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How do I make my people happy?
So you want an atmosphere that encourages great work? Don’t we all. Most bosses and managers talk a good game, but they don’t create a plan to make it happen.
Almost every CEO I worked for always talked about the importance of their people, but their actions did not coincide with their words. They were always more worried about the bottom line.
I know how important it is to make money, but if the employees are happy then believe me, the money will come. That is if you have a good product/service.
It’s why Southwest airlines is the only consistent money generator in the USA airline industry. They believe in creating a culture that encourages happiness.
As a leader of people you need to encourage happiness in every facet of your business. I’ve created 10 techniques that will help your company be happy and successful.
- Be happy yourself.
- Know your people.
- Make time for your people.
- Show people the autonomy that they already have.
- Help them find meaning in their work.
- Listen and respond to their emotions, not their problems.
- Stop letting assholes dictate the company culture.
- Encourage friendships.
- Recognize hard work.
- Find out why people leave.
These are concepts that are easy to understand, but may be hard to apply to your company’s culture. I’ll break them down so you can use them in your company.
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