Tip# 405: 5 Tips for Dealing with Workplace Change

In our global economy, change is the only constant. In fact, there is a good chance change will impact your workplace at some point over the next 6 to 9 months. Whether it is a new computer system, boss, co-worker or process, change is difficult for many people -- even if the change directly benefits an employee.

As employees feel competitive pressures throughout an organization, every business is faced with doing more with less; therefore, companies, and their employees must also focus on product and service innovation(s) and streamlining processes and procedures.

How Will You And Your Team React To Change?

How you and your team reacts to change quite often depends on the way it was communicated to them. And if it is not communicated properly, change is often resisted. If this happens, any initial or short term gains will be lost. 

5 Tips For Implementing A Smooth Change At Your Organization.

As a leader, your challenge is to find a way to implement change without creating a stressful situation. Although you cannot entirely predict the impact of change on your staff, there are a few things you can do to help prepare yourself and your employees for change. 

To help you manage change at your organization, we have listed below five tips for you to consider:

Tip #1: Plan Properly. When possible, it is always a good idea to plan ahead for change. People usually like to know how a particular change is going to affect their jobs, and it is helpful for them to have some time to adjust to the idea of the change before it actually occurs.

Tip #2: Improve Your Interpersonal Skills. It is important to communicate effectively (and in person whenever possible) with everyone, especially when introducing major changes. It is proven that the more information people have, the easier it will be for them to adapt to changes.

Tip #3: Make Yourself Available. If you are like me, you are running in a dozen or so directions each day. Despite your busy schedule, it is important that you make yourself available to everyone. Take note of all questions and address them as soon as possible.

Tip #4: Exemplify and Implement Proactive Behaviors. It is a good idea to check on everyone's progress when implementing a successful change. Take a look at the flow of the transition to see if things are moving smoothly. You are more likely to hear relevant information if you are practicing active listening skills and seeking feedback on change.

Tip #5: Listen Attentively. Do not forget to listen to your employees. Statistics have proven that many employees can offer great ideas to save both time and money. You can do everything right, but if you do not listen to your people, you will not get long-term buy-in from them.

Executive Summary: Change is inevitable in the workplace, and individuals react to change differently. To ease the transition, you can implement a few strategies that can help your employees better accept change.

Employees are more likely to accept and embrace the change when you provide proper planning, structure and communication. During the implementation process, make sure that you are accessible to your employees and evaluate the progress of the change. Also, it is important to listen to your employees' questions, concerns and suggestions, for they will likely have ideas that can improve the transition.

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Tip # 404: 4 Steps for Creating Effective Teams

Teamwork is essential to the success of an important project(s). However, lack of efficient management strategies and poor communication can lead to resentment among team members, especially when some employees are tasked with more focused responsibilities than others.

To combat these issues, you can establish an effective internal team, helping your organization rise to the next level. 

When It Comes To Teamwork, You Have Countless Resources.

When you walk through any mid- or large-sized company, you will usually see multiple motivational posters encouraging teamwork. With constant reminders about teamwork, why are more businesses not leveraging the power of teams and creating synergy? They are discovering that it is not an automatic result of putting a talented group of people together. It requires certain skills, time and resources to build effective teams.  

4 Steps For Creating Effective Teams.

To establish an effective team, you must be willing to recognize and reward good teamwork.  There are a number of components that go into developing effective teams, including these four core developmental steps:

1. Create a culture that rewards team goals ahead of individual goals.
2. Respect your fellow employees.
3. Respond to team members immediately regarding team-related projects.
4. Reward employees who contribute to individual and team goals.

Establishing a new team or renewing an existing one is itself a collaborative effort. Effective teams are built by establishing a common vision, creating building blocks for communication and collaboration, identifying and planning for roadblocks and establishing accountability.

6 Skill Sets That High-Performing Team Leaders Have:

Skill Set #1. Express A Positive Attitude: Team leaders maintain a friendly, positive and enthusiastic outlook. Despite the stress or frustration they may be experiencing personally, they do not bring those negative emotions into team interactions.

Skill Set #2. Demonstrate Leadership Skills: Team leaders organize work tasks, people and resources in order to deliver most effectively on organization goals. They know their peoples' strengths and weaknesses, and know how to establish the team to capitalize on the strengths and compensate for the weaknesses.

Skill Set #3. Highlight Personal Values: Team leaders values are guided by a personal code of ethics and values. Team leaders trust others more when they understand and practice common team values.

Skill Set #4. Place Focus On Refining Interpersonal Skills. Skillful team leaders use team projects as opportunities to build and strengthen interpersonal communication. This streamlines the workflow, making teamwork more efficient.

Skill Set #5.  Remain Future-Oriented: Effective team leaders are optimistic about the future of the short-term projects and long-term goals tackled by their team. They see how their team's effort fits into the organization's goals, structure and corporate culture.

Skill Set #6. Understand Accountability: Team leaders demonstrate personal responsibility and hold everyone (including themselves) accountable for the outcome of the team and the organization.  Effective team leaders deal with problems and move on rather than play the blame game.

  

Executive Summary: Most great business accomplishments come from a team as the problem(s) an executive faces are usually too complex for just one person to solve. Whether you are on a project team, a vertical team or a cross-functional team, your team's ultimate goal is to solve problems and get things done with maximum efficiency.

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Tip# 403: 20 Ways to Motivate Someone Without Spending Money (Part 2 of 2)

In our last e-tip, we offered 10 ways to motivate your employees without spending a lot of money. In this week's e-tip, we are outlining 10 more ways to motivate your employees without raising their pay.

Motivate Your Employees Without Raising Their Pay (part 2 of 2):

11. Recognition By An Executive - Even better than recognition by a manager, is recognition by an executive at the company. This works especially well in bigger companies. However, use this secret weapon sparingly because the value will be lessened if this becomes commonplace.

12. Dress-Down Days - For those required to "dress up" in business clothing every day, a casual day brings a welcomed change. You can use individual, or team dress-down days, as a reward for winning a contest, or for specific accomplishments.

13. Paid Time-Off - People enjoy time off and will compete for leaving a half-hour early just as hard as they will compete for a cash award. Reward time off for goals reached by individuals, teams or the entire staff.

14. Team Gatherings - Schedule a few off-site events to increase team spirit, which contributes to a positive work environment. You may want to get the team together for a softball game (against other companies or among employees, depending on staff size,) miniature golf, or just lunch at a favorite restaurant.

15. Delegate More Responsibility - Some employees thrive with additional responsibility.  As a manager, or business owner, it is your job to identify who deserves and can handle additional responsibility. Match responsibilities to employees' strengths and desires whenever possible and you will be empowering your employees.

16. Encourage Cost-Savings Comments - Give your staff a platform to contribute their ideas on how the company could save money. Post all business appropriate comments and the estimated cost savings.  Be sure to address each comment, and offer praise to the person or group who provided it. You may want to do this in the form of a       hand-written note or an e-mail.

17. Create A Front Row Parking Spot - Reserve the best parking spot for an "employee of the month" or to reward someone who did something impressive.

18. Pizza Days - Every now and then treat your team members to pizza or other favorite lunch. This will motivate people by breaking up the everyday routine and allows you to show your appreciation for your employees.

19. Provide Access To Outside Workshops - Outside workshops can be a stimulating break. Because outside workshops are not always cost-efficient for the entire staff, use outside workshops as a reward for a select group of people.

20. Fun Things To Do - Go to your local dollar store and buy some inexpensive items you can give out to motivate your people. Here are some ideas:

•    Plastic whale for someone who has done a "whale" of a job
• Miniature soldier for someone in the field who did an excellent job
•  Clip-on stars for star-studded presentation or performance
•  An old record that has been customized for someone who set a new record
•  A case of water for someone who was able to handle a "hot" customer
•  A figure of Gumby for someone who is flexible and willing to do anything for the team
•  A pack of "Eveready" batteries for the person who keeps going, and going, and going
•  A large container of candy for someone who just landed a sweet deal

Executive Summary: As you can see, there are many free and low-cost ways to motivate your employees.  Decide what works best for your company culture. Once this is done, be consistent with your reward and recognition program. Consistent recognition will contribute to a positive work environment and increased productivity much more than random praise.

For more information, visit our website!

Tip # 402: 20 Ways to Motivate Someone Without Spending Money (Part 1 of 2)

As many businesses face economic challenges, more and more employers are looking for unique ways to keep their staff motivated without spending a ton of money. If you are in the same position, then you might find this e-tip of particular interest. 

More Money Does NOT Equal Happier Employees. 

Unfortunately, many novice managers feel the more money you

pay someone, the happier they will be. Although a solid and reasonable compensation plan is critical to attracting and keeping

key personnel, paying more money is not always the only answer, and in many cases, not even the best answer. To help you keep your employees happy, we have listed below 10 of 20 tips that will help you keep your team satisfied.  

Motivate Your Employees Without Raising Their Pay (part 1 of 2):

1.     Leadership Position - Give deserving people a leadership role to reward their performance and develop their leadership skills...even if it is for a temporary project. A great place to start is to give a person a leadership role by allowing them to lead a meeting.

2.     Provide A Career/Learning Path - Most people need to know that there is a potential opportunity for growth. Be sure to tell people that the policy is to promote from within.  Doing so will send a positive message to everyone that advanced career opportunities can come from within the organization.

3.     A Nice Working Environment - It is no surprise that a recent industry study revealed  employees rank good working conditions high on their list of "must haves;" therefore, you must take the overall working environment seriously.

4.     One-On-One Mentoring - Internal mentoring is a free employee development program that costs only time. When mentoring someone, it is important to provide positive feedback during both one-on-one sessions as well as in public. Whenever you recognize and encourage employees in public, it acts as a positive shot-in-the-arm for others who are close enough to hear what is taking place.

5.     Create A Team Mentality - The fastest way to make this happen is to take a picture of your entire staff - do not forget to include yourself. After the picture is taken, you need to hang it in a visible spot. Psychology professionals have confirmed most people like to see themselves as part of a team and value an image of reference.

6.     Provide Training - Internal training sessions enhance the performance and productivity of your staff. We often suggest "tune-up" training sessions after regular training sessions to reinforce the content taught. We also recommend that you involve employees who have an aptitude in what is being taught in the training process.

7.     Recognize Your Employees - When someone has accomplished something, your recognition is critical to reinforcing the positive side of things. If you do not give enough recognition, you are missing out on the most inexpensive form of reinforcement.

8.     Special Ovation - An easy, but effective method of motivating someone is to give a round of applause for certain achievements. You can do this at meetings, company-sponsored social gatherings, at luncheons, or just in the office.

9.     Job Titles - When you consider a job title for an employee, be creative. Ask your staff to give you their input for the correct title of a position. The right title is important and allows a person to feel proud of their position at the company - but be careful not to have just one department handing out huge titles, as it will be counterproductive for others at your company.

10.  Immediate Praise For Doing Something Good - When there is a reason for praising someone, do not put it off. In fact, we recommend that you look for someone doing something good now, and praise them; after all, immediacy equals effectiveness. 

Executive Summary: As you can see, there are many ways to motivate your employees that will not tax your payroll's budget. You can implement one, or all of these tips, at little to no cost to your business or department. Moreover, by keeping your employees motivated, you will see an increase in productivity and employee retention. 

P.S. Next week's e-tip will have 10 more tips to motivate employees.

For more information, visit our website!

Tip # 401: 5 Tips for Avoiding Job Burnout

Many people suffer from job burnout in today's challenging economic conditions. But burnout oftentimes can be alleviated. Nevertheless, before you can help yourself, you need to determine the source of burnout. 

Many tools exist that may help you pinpoint your sources of stress. Our suggestions include talking to people close to you to find out what you have been complaining about the most, keeping a journal, or utilizing an online tool such as a schedule of recent experiences. 

Once you have identified the major sources of stress in your life, you will be able to see what is caused by your job and what is not. You can then take actions towards avoiding job burnout.

5 Tips For Avoiding Job Burnout:

1.     Avoid Excessive Workload - With recent cutbacks, many people are expected to do more work in the same amount of time, or even less time. You can help alleviate this stress by delegating when possible, prioritizing workload, cutting back on low-yield work if possible, and using other time management methods.

2.     Don't Be Overly Accommodating - If you are the type of person who accepts responsibility for everything bestowed upon them, you are not doing yourself (or the person asking you) any favors. Stretching yourself beyond your limits leads to low-quality work output and high stress. Learn to just say no when your plate is full and focus on what you need to get done before you take on any additional projects.

3.     Avoid People Who Drain Your Energy - People and politics can quickly drain your energy. Try to avoid being caught up in gossiping with co-workers and avoid those who are nothing but negative. This will help you preserve your energy for when you do have to confront someone.

Use this burnout self-test to determine how much you may be at risk for burnout: Burnout Self Test 

4.     Do Not Overwork Yourself - Trying to get too much done and not leaving time for yourself can leave you feeling exhausted, a major contributing factor leading to burnout. At home, take time for yourself to recharge your battery. Also, make sure you are getting plenty of sleep and eating well. A well-fueled body runs more efficiently and can handle daily stress better.

5.     Job Disillusionment - Many people become disillusioned in their jobs at some point.  Focusing on the meaning and satisfaction that you derive from your job will help you overcome this. Also, you can write a gratitude list for the things you are grateful for that pertain to your job and refer to it when you are having negative feelings.

Executive Summary:  Dealing with feelings of burnout is not an easy process. Avoiding total burnout increases your chances of being able to get on with your life without making any drastic changes. More often than not, an attitude adjustment or a small lifestyle change, can make a huge difference in job satisfaction as well as satisfaction with life.

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