CREATING OPTIMISM, PROFESSIONALISM, AND DIFFERENCE IN MANAGEMENT

Creating optimism starts with motivation and positive frame of mind.  Motivation is the art of making people feel good, important and talented.

Steps:

1. take one day at a time and make it your best day
2. look for interesting and likeable attributes in people
3. make friends
4. accept people for what they are; don't try to change them
5. bring happiness and joy in work
6. don't give up on yourself
7. be positive
8. acquire emotional wisdom

Getting a degree does not make one professional overnight.  Professional is a long process of experience, expertise and above all a sense of ethic which enhances one's image as well.

tips

avoid malpractice, office politics and the lot

integrity

constantly upgrade one's skills and attitude

Time and tide waits for no man and opportunities, when you have a strategy, you can make a difference.  Even if the future seems full of uncertain challenges, muster up your belief in yourself.  You still have the opportunity to make the difference and be happy.  Wherever you are, you are in a position to make the difference.

SHARED FROM ARTICLE BY:

ARTHUR P. GRIMSHAW

CREATING OPTIMISM, PROFESSIONALISM AND DIFFERENCE IN MANAGEMENT

ACCOUNTANT TODAY, JULY 2004

MULTITASKING: THE REALITY

When you try to do too much at the same time, you sometimes wind-up getting nothing done properly.

Multitasking is so common in today's culture that some people thought it was 'normal'.  But findings shows that there are some impact on our brains and productivity levels in the corporate world.  According to the Harvard Business Review, multitasking has led to a drop in productivity and efficiency by up to 40%.  A study done by the National Bureau of Economic Research discovered that workers' performance deteriorated and projects were taking longer to complete.

Multitasking is just switching back and forth between tasks.  Hence, similar tasks are competing by using the same part of the brain, which slows it down between transitions.  So, if you are on the phone with a client while also typing an email, your room for error increases because the visual cortex is competing with the audio aspect of someone talking to you.  The same problem applies if you are talking on the phone while driving.  It's beside the point that you are  on hands-free because it is your brain who needs to focus its full attention on the road.

in one research study by Frank Drews, an assistant professor of psychology at the university of Utah found that people are as impaired when they drive and talk on a cell-phone as they are when they drink-drive at the legal blood-alcohol limit.

Doing too many things simultaneously means the brain losses its capacity to attend fully and gradually to anything (New York Times).  The best way to address this is to focus on one thing at a time and do it well.  When you are at work, truly be at work.

Shared From:

The Dangers of Multitasking

by Jojo Struys

Different Spin

Starmetro, 18 September 2015

BRING OUT THE BEST IN VERY EMPLOYEE PART 3

SHORT NOTES 

Don Brown and Bill Hawkins

Mcgraw Hill (200 pages)

 

THE PROTOCOL

A protocol is

·       An accepted code

·       A prescribed approach for correct conduct or action

·       A set of conventional principles and expectations

TOOLS NEEDED FOR EFFECTIVE INFLUENCE

I.               LEARNING TO BE PRESENT: AWARENESS AND ATTENTION

You have learn to focus on the core of your team.  You have studied the anatomy of your communication.  Now all you need is to build the millennial leadership.

In our personal lives, the capacity to be present is strongly correlated with lower levels of self-absorption, depression, anger, anxiety, hostility, and impulsiveness and with higher levels of happiness and well-being.  Professionally, there is a direct relationship between being able to reside in the moment while interacting with others and self-regulation.

Most important to a leader is the activity to be present and is directly related to the skills of emotional intelligence and some aspects of social desirability.  Leading today is no longer about the state of the relationship.  Instead, it is about the state of the moment.  The state of the moment involves developing a competency for being present with your people and yourself.

Being present is a function of 2 variable; awareness and attention

          Awareness:

-        Being informed of current developments

-        Can be aware of something without necessarily paying attention to it

Attention:

-        Is a focused awareness, a narrowing of consciousness and a directing of the mind, concentration and fixation

-        Attention is built upon the foundation of awareness

-        Brings the subject from background to fore ground

The whole idea of mindfulness as opposed to mindlessness is all about conscious, purposeful awareness and attention.

Credit to: Cornerstone OnDemand

POWERFUL TOP 20 SUGGESTIONS
1	Activate your five senses -        Look for opportunities to engage your sense of smell, taste, touch, sight or hearing -        eg actively listening as in hearing vs listening
2	Approach those you interact with -        the brain is constantly judging whether or not another person is a threat, and in the absence of data, your brain will go with threat. -        Try to approach others, especially as their leader.  Your position of power often creates separation you’re not aware of
3	Audit your continuous partial attention (CPA) -        This radar needs to be audited to get an idea of what you tend to be distracted by
4	Befriend those you meet and those you know -        Engage another person in light conversation -        The person will perceive that you understand and care -        Reinforce the empathy connection -        Purposeful small talk engages your target and sharpens your interactional skills
5	Breathe the one count in, two counts out -        When conversations gets intense, we forget to breathe, we lose energy, and we lose focus
6	Cancel the meeting -        Stop having meetings that don’t focus on the relationships among the people you’re meeting with
7	Condition your physical being -        Rest, diet and exercise -        Taking care of ourselves pays dividends -        The less we care for ourselves, the less we are able to care for others
8	Dedicate time and attention to those you are with -        Try to do better at paying attention to the people you are with
9	Disconnect from annoying technology -        Designate technology free zones and technology free times -        Set some rules
10	Formalize your communication practices -        Use more than one message, more than one medium and document in whatever method you need to make it stick
11	Measure the quality of your interactions -        If you can measure it, you can change it -        Rate the effectiveness of your attempts at interpersonal improvement
12	Mirror the response you want to see -        The image you project might be one of unrelenting drive and will to win
13	Narrow the scope of your intentions -        Be sure to focus because multitasking may affect performance -        Even though multitasking, tackle them one at a time
14	Notice the impact you have -        Become ‘first class noticers’ -        Noticing strengthens connections in your brain and reinforces results
15	Personalize your connection -        We engage other people’s brain when we speak their name
16	Reboot your interpersonal RAM -        Go for a short walk, get a cup of tea, take a few deep breaths
17	Schedule regular, intentional, daily interaction -        Set aside time for interaction -        Anticipate the interpersonal workout -        Schedule one everyday
18	Study for its own sake -        Understanding brings change -        Be a student of interaction -        Be a first-class studier as well as a first class notice
19	Substitute a new route or routine -        Change habit, a healthy one can heighten your awareness
20	‘Silence’ the auditory interrupters -        Give yourself some pause; the few minutes of quiet everyday

Your skill at being present with others is how you engage effectively in a normal world.  Being present builds empathy.  Through empathy you engage, and through engagement you build capacity without adding head count.

Credit to: cornerstoneondemand.com

II.             MAKING EVERY MOMENT COUNT: THE LEADER’S PROTOCOL

The leader’s protocol is defined as a code of behavior or correct conduct or action.  The author categorized followers’ need into communication, feedback and autonomy.  And in doing so, leaders need to build their skill set at ‘being present’ in order to adhere it.

i.                Communication

-        Communicating     - to relate

- to influence

- to inform

Effective communication revolves around first understanding your purpose and then adapting your style to best understand and be understood.  Communication is perhaps the most important protocol for leading.

ii.              Feedback

Your people wants to know how they are doing.  They want to know what you think.  They want feedback.  They need your reaction.  They want your evaluation of their contribution.

In feedback, the 3 relevant words are quality, quantity, and time.  Quality is a factor of performance.  Quantity is always the number.  Time is a reflection of performance with respect to deadlines.

These 3 words are relevant when offering praise: effort, contribution and growth.  Effort is about energy and should be the first focus of praise.  Contribution is about results and as a form of recognition.  Growth is about improvement.

iii.           Autonomy

2 steps in managing autonomy:

·       Jointly acknowledge the task

·       Clarify ownership

The End

SPEAK TO THE PROBLEMS 5.2: Unblocking Bottlenecks; Fixing Unbalanced Processes

(SHORT NOTES FROM PROBLEM SOLVING SKILLS:

Improving Business Processes at http://www.mindtools.com)

 

What is a Bottleneck?

A bottleneck in a process occurs when input comes in faster than the next step can use it to create output.

There are two main types of bottlenecks:

·       Short-term bottlenecks – These are caused by temporary problems.

·       Long-term bottlenecks – These occur all the time.

Identifying and fixing bottlenecks is highly important. They can cause a lot of problems in terms of lost revenue, dissatisfied customers, wasted time, poor-quality products or services, and high stress in team members.

Signs of bottlenecks:

·       Long wait times

·       Backlogged work

·       High stress levels.

Two tools are useful in helping to identify bottlenecks:

1. Flow Charts

·       to help identify where bottlenecks are occurring

·       break down a system by detailing every step in the process in an easy-to-follow diagrammatic flow

·       much easier to see where there might be a problem

2. The Five Whys Technique

·       identify the problem to address

·       working backward, ask why the problem is occurring

·       Keep asking "Why?" at each step, until the root cause is reached

Key Points

·       Bottlenecks can cause major problems for any company, and identifying their root causes is critical.

·       Look for the typical signs of bottlenecks – such as backlogged work, waiting (by people, materials, or paperwork), and high stress relating to a task or process.

·       To make sure you identify the root cause (and not just one of the effects), use a Flow Chart or the Five Whys technique.