Listen Very Carefully

A good listener hears not just what is said, but also what is not said

EFFECTIVE listening is perhaps the most overlooked area of communication.

Most people have the misconception that they are good listeners just because they have a fair degree of auditory acuity.

The Chinese word for “listen”, ting, as written in the classical style, comprises six separate ideographs representing ear, king, 10 eyes and one heart.

This suggests the emphasis that you should place on listening. Besides using your ears, you should listen with your heart, watch very carefully for non-verbal signals and treat the speaker like a king.

How do you listen?

People listen at different levels of involvement depending on their skills, abilities and even moods.

Here are some types of listening:

• In-and-out listening: The in-and-out listener is preoccupied with his own thoughts, problems and daydreams.
  
  He may be idly waiting for his chance to respond. His attention phases in and out.
  
  Unfortunately, this is the most common type of listening – most people listen at this level most of the time.



• Literal listening: The literal listener pays careful attention to the words being spoken and thus truly believes he is getting the full meaning of the message.
  
  At first glance, literal listening appears to be good listening. The literal listener’s emotional detachment seems to indicate objectivity.
  
  But the literal listener overlooks the fact that the meaning of the message is in the person rather than the words.
  
  By focusing on the words, the literal listener often misses the feeling behind the words.
  
  While literal listening is preferable to in-and-out listening, it is still well below where you want to be.



• Empathetic listening: This is the highest form of listening. The empathetic listener focuses on the complete message – the content as well as the underlying emotions, non-verbal signals and hidden meanings.
  
  The empathetic listener is neutral and does not judge or criticise.
  
  He is fully engaged and truly seeks to understand the speaker’s point of view. He is responsive and provides feedback and encouragement to the speaker.
  
  Empathetic listening requires patience, genuine concern for the other person and energy.

Lend an ear

Here is how you can develop the skills to become an empathetic listener:

1. Make eye contact.
This lets the speaker know you are paying attention. Bear in mind that a piercing stare will make most speakers uncomfortable, so glance away briefly now and then.

2. Resist distractions.
Focus exclusively on the speaker.

3. Display appropriate facial expressions.
Usually, this means a smile, but not always. Let the tone of the conversation guide you. People respond more favourably when your face registers the correct emotion.

4. Be interested in the other party and his needs.
People love attention and recognition. Give it to them, and they will rate you highly as a listener as well as a friend, colleague and human being.

Use appropriate body language and gestures to show attentiveness and empathy.

5. Do not change the subject prematurely.
Changing the subject suggests a lack of interest on your part.

6. Do not interrupt.
Let the speaker complete his sentences and have his say.

7. Ask questions.
Asking questions is an excellent way to elicit information, confirm understanding and sustain and guide the discussion.

8. Limit questions.
Asking too many questions disrupts the speaker’s train of thought and puts him on the defensive.

9. Acknowledge and encourage.
Use words and sounds of encouragement such as the occasional “I see”, “uh-huh”, “right”, “okay” and “hmmm” to show you are attending to the speaker.

You can also prompt the speaker non-verbally by nodding from time to time, leaning forward, raising your eyebrows and so on.

10. Paraphrase and summarise.
Repeat the speaker’s message in your own words to show that you understand his intention, and allow him the opportunity to clarify his message if you do not fully understand it.

11. Keep an open mind.
Try to see the speaker’s point of view, even if you do not agree with it.

12. Be objective.
Do not judge or criticise the speaker. Do not jump to conclusions or offer unwanted advice.

13. Read body language.
Look for the meaning behind the words, gestures and facial expressions.

14. Empathise.
Reflect the speaker’s feelings, even if you do not agree with what he is saying. You task is to listen and understand, not form opinions.

By implementing these techniques, your skill as a listener – and a communicator – will improve dramatically.

– Source: Straits Times/Asia News Network

Article by David Goldwich, an experienced trainer who specialises in communication and presentation skills, and the author of Why Did The Chicken Cross The Road? Lessons In Effective Communication.

Don’t Tell Your Staff What To Do

Encourage them to think for themselves and come up with great ideas

If you want results, stop telling employees what to do and, instead, ask them thought-provoking questions.

It gets people thinking for themselves about possibilities and, when they come up with their own answers, they are energised and excited about implementing them.
A tremendous amount of brainpower is wasted every day because managers still think their job is to tell people what to do. But, in reality, workers know much more about the work they are doing than the boss does. Being told what to do can actually sap their motivation for the job.

The problem is that even if you do have a winning idea, your staff may still be resistant to it because the suggestion came from you. People often question and react negatively to ideas they didn’t think of themselves.

On the other hand, when your team members come up with an idea themselves, it creates positive feelings that make them want to take action.

How to make that happen? People should be encouraged to focus their thinking by answering questions from their own experience. That will invariably make them come to a solution on their own.

Planning and organising the questions has a series of steps:

• Get permission. People may be too preoccupied to listen. Schedule a time when they are willing to pay attention.


• Describe the process. Tell people that you are going to ask them questions about what they are doing and make it clear they are expected to do the thinking and come up with their own conclusion.


• Start with the present. For instance: What are you stuck on? How long have you been thinking about this? That will identify the issue and get people focused on how much energy is being wasted spinning their wheels on the problem.


• Clarify their understanding. For instance: What have you done so far? What alternatives have you identified? Which do you think is the best alternative?
  Listen carefully. Restate what they have said in simple terms to clarify the insight. For instance: “I hear you saying that you would like to . . . Is that correct?”


• Stimulate action. An example question might be: “What is the most logical next step?” If more than one option is identified, ask further questions to help your staff decide which one to pursue.

The goal is for your team members to conclude: “I just decided what I need to do.” At that point, because it is their idea, they will be committed to take action on it.

In asking, the focus should always be on finding a solution rather than identifying a problem. If you want to work with people who have no hope, you have to look like the solution and not the problem. Once thinking patterns are established, they are difficult to break, so little can be changed by asking: “Why isn’t this working?”

Suggest a question like: “What do you need to do to make this work?” Or, “What do you want to do next?”

Because the brain is always making new connections, this will encourage the development of new habits and goals.

Once people get used to the approach, conversations will take only a few minutes before they have the insight they are looking for.

However, it is important to make employees comfortable with a question-based technique. Being questioned can scare people because they fear they are being evaluated on their answers. So it is vital that managers explain the goals to their team members and stress that they are not being judged.

How can you help employees gain problem-solving insights? Here are the kinds of questions to ask.

How clear is your thinking on this?
This might lead team members to analyse if enough time has been spent thinking about an issue.

What would your most desired outcome look like?
This helps to create a mental picture of the goal.

How will you know when you have been successful?
This helps people to visualise what completion would look like, and how satisfying it would be to do well.

How are you going to be accountable for this?
People often make promises they don’t really intend to keep. Making a commitment to be accountable strengthens resolve.

What would need to happen for this to be an outrageous success?
This question gets people thinking in new ways, opening up possibilities for grander outcomes.

As a manager, your role should be to help your people think better. Don’t tell them what to do.

– Source: Straits Times/Asia News Network

Article by David Wee, founder and CEO of DW Associates/ Asia Speakers Bureau.

Think Inside the Box

Fresh ideas can come from the wealth of experience we carry within us

I HAVE a problem with thinking outside the box, especially with people who use the phrase lightly.

We hear it all the time these days, but so often the people who say it don’t stick around to explain what this box represents, so nothing changes.

“Think outside the box” sounds like a positive statement, and people feel as though they are motivating their colleagues by encouraging such behaviour.

But in fact what people often hear is: “You are incredibly conservative and unproductive, and I’m frustrated with you.”

What the “box” represents

Using the phrase “think outside the box” may not be the best way to change matters.

Why? Because the box that has been built around our thoughts is our education, our upbringing and, to a certain extent, the wiring of our nervous systems.

So when I’m told to think outside the box, it feels like I’m being told to question my past, disrespect my parents and give up on the me I know and am comfortable with.

I have occasionally done some of these things, and have benefited from all of it. But I probably wouldn’t have if I had a boss telling me to do it all the time. I would have changed jobs, or at least developed my passive aggression.

I ran an improvisation workshop for a large music company once. The boss said to me at the beginning of the day: “I ask for a bit of creativity, and then I see what they give me, and I tell them, ‘This isn’t creative! Give me something creative!’”

He expected me to sympathise with him, so he was in for a surprise when I chose instead to question his approach and explain why his staff resented him.

One of the reasons improvisation exercises are so helpful in the pursuit of creative thinking is that no one ever, ever talks about “the box”.

Developing any type of communication on the spot requires a person to dig deeper into himself for relevant material rather than looking for answers outside.

Get a “sack” instead

Instead of the box, I prefer the image of a great big “sack”, like the one Santa Claus carries. I tell people to imagine that this sack is always with them, filled with everything they’ve ever seen, felt, heard, read, tasted, loved, hated, hoped for, investigated, recoiled from or flung themselves at. It contains everything they have to offer.

If the perception is that there isn’t enough in their sack, then, the answer is not to encourage them to think outside it, but first to learn to trust its value and also to put more into it: more movies, more art, more travel, more books, more animals, more people, more conversations that dare to venture into the most obscure corners of the heart.

For the manager, it seems to me that the opportunities for developing staff creativity exist above all in two areas.

The first is in attitude. If there is anything you can do to make your staff feel safe offering you their ideas, do it. Try smiling when they walk into your office, for a start.

Tell them you are interested in their sack of toys. If they don’t pick the right toy for you right off the bat, encourage further digging. If you tell them you know it’s in there, they are much more likely to find it.

Secondly, look around at the office. Is there anything of interest to look at? Some people who study creativity believe that it is actually impossible to change the way people think from the inside, and that environment is the number one key to creative thinking.

Give your staff something to look at, something to stimulate their brains, something to put in the sack. The box concept will slowly break down and go the way of all cardboard. Good riddance.

– Source: Straits Times/Asia News Network

Article by Alison Lester, who conducts regular workshops on creativity and presentation skills.

Games People Play

"BACK stabber” is an expression commonly used to describe an employee who strives to achieve personal gain at the expense and detriment of others.

Such individuals are generally disliked, but like them or loathe them, most people, at some point, have participated in what is termed “political behaviour” at work.

“Politicking” or political behaviour within a work context is the attempt by individual employees to enhance their career prospects by engaging in behaviour that places them in positions of opportunity or in an otherwise favourable light.

One of the characteristics of politicking is that it takes place outside the scope of one’s job.

What’s OK, what’s not

Let’s distinguish between “legitimate” and “illegitimate” political behaviour.

Legitimate political behaviour is that which is broadly acceptable although not necessarily ethical.

It includes forming coalitions, bypassing decision-making procedures and generally adopting a positive profile within the organisation.

Illegitimate political behaviour violates the norms of what is acceptable both within the organisation and within society generally.

As well as being considered generally unethical, in its most extreme form, it can also transgress the law.

This type of politicking might include the use of bribery, the spreading of false rumours and lying about previous employment or qualifications.

Political animals

Psychologists have identified specific personality characteristics associated with “political individuals”. They tend to exhibit these behaviours:

■ High self-monitors: They are conscious of the signals that their behaviour gives out and are aware of how it can be used to their advantage. High self-monitors are able to adapt the image that they present in accordance with the prevailing political climate.

■ High degree of control: They have a strong belief in controlling their own destiny as opposed to leaving it to circumstances. These people have an ability to manipulate a situation in a way that the outcomes favour them personally.

■ High desire for power and control: Their need for power and control often supersedes their need to be liked. They are better able to cope with being unpopular.

Other factors

■ Investment in the organisation: Employees who have spent some time building up their career within an organisation are likely to devote more energy and time to politicking as a way of justifying the time already spent developing a power base within that organisation.

■ Scarcity of opportunities outside: A shortage of opportunities outside will also provide a strong incentive for employees to consolidate their position within an organisation through politicking.

■ Age: As people grow older, the opportunities of finding employment outside the organisation start to diminish, and this can also be an incentive to start politicking.

■ Immobility: If employees’ mobility is restricted as a result of their personal circumstances, politicking is often seen as a necessary activity.

Environmental factors

Organisations where politicking is widespread share some common traits:

■ Low trust cultures: A lack of trust usually implies lack of confidence. Employees will fall back upon personal strategies as a way of protecting their own interests.

■ Role ambiguity: Blurred divisions of authority usually give rise to the need for employees to reduce this ambiguity by developing their own allegiances, power bases and lines of authority by politicking.

■ Unclear performance targets: If expectations are unclear, politicking is a way by which employees can create their own performance criteria.

■ Downsizing: When there is the threat of job losses, politicking is often adopted as a survival strategy.

■ Value chain reconfiguration: During the transitional period of major change in an organisation, politicking may be used as a way of protecting one’s own interests within the organisation.

Seeing the world

Further research has shed more light on why some individuals are more naturally inclined to engage in political behaviour than others.

Employees whose worldview is shaped by a series of random, unrelated and often-irrational events and outcomes are likely to apply this type of scenario to their organisations.

In other words, they perceive the organisation as part of a disorderly and unpredictable world where politicking is inevitable and necessary.

Typically, these tend to be younger and less experienced employees with lower incomes and limited responsibilities.

Politicking is their way of bridging the gap between certainty and uncertainty, and often reflects feelings of frustration and powerlessness.

In contrast, more experienced managers tend to have greater faith in decision-making processes which they see as generally rational and equitable.

They are less swayed by the notion of the world or the organisation as a political jungle.

A matter of conscience

Political astuteness is a necessary skill in any context. Unfortunately, we live in a world where increasingly one individual can benefit at another’s expense.

At the end of the day, you have to reconcile your own sense of selfesteem, integrity and dignity with how far down this particular road you are prepared to travel.

- Source: Straits Times/Asia News Network

Article by Paul FitzPatrick, a consultant with the Singapore Human Resources Institute.

Not Just A Techie

Sales and marketing engineers are in demand because they have both soft and technical skills

TODAY’S technology or engineering-based businesses need to look for new and unique ways to promote their products or services as the competition heats up.

Many technology-based businesses and professionals have strong technical skills, but don’t know how to attract new clients. This is a common problem in the industry. Also, the business of marketing and selling is always changing.

The challenge for today’s professional sales and marketing person is more than just adapting to the new technologies; it is to master them and learn how to leverage on them as powerful tools to create new sources of selling advantage.

Customer expectations are constantly changing. A salesperson’s ability or inability to meet these expectations becomes as much a part of his competitive advantage as product or price. Today’s customer increasingly expects his sales representative to:

• Have instant access to accurate and up-to-date pricing and product information;
• Respond quicker to customer requests, questions, and issues;
  
• Produce and deliver quick and error-free proposals and/or written communications;
• Be better informed and have sound knowledge of the competition.

Customer expectations extend not only to the sales and marketing person; they include his company as well.

In the past, many companies operated as if they were a group of “smaller companies” who needed to work together but not very well. These “small companies” or departments were sales, customer service, marketing, finance, manufacturing, operations, administration and so on.

A new breed of salesmen

But in the last decade, new technologies have revolutionised selling and marketing strategies. Businesses are now heavily dependent on information technology and communications, which have improved decisionmaking and meet customer needs more effectively.

The investment value is clearly beneficial even though the technology costs and implementation challenges are great. The greatest challenge has been changing the way people view their jobs.

No longer can an employee be a part of just the sales department or marketing, service, engineering support, and so forth.

Many sales and marketing people do not have technical orientation and many technical and engineering people are without any sales or marketing orientation. This has to change. Technical and engineering people must sell professionally with a sales and marketing focus to be successful.

Many products and services, especially those purchased by large companies and institutions, are highly complex. Sales and marketing engineers also may be called sales executives or technical marketers or specialists.

They work with the production, engineering or research and development departments of their companies to determine how products and services can be designed or modified to suit customers’ needs. They also may advise customers on how best to use the products or services provided.

For sales and marketing engineers, selling is as important as their technical skills. They have to demonstrate to potential customers how and why the products or services they are selling suit the customer better than their competitors’ products.

Occasionally, the sales engineer has to demonstrate to the customer the usefulness of the product or service. He has to convince him, for example, that new production machinery would save a lot of money.

Engineers apply the theories and principles of science and mathematics to technical problems. Their work is the link between scientific discoveries and commercial applications.

For example, sales engineers selling chemical products may have chemical engineering backgrounds, while those selling business software or information systems may have degrees and diplomas in computer engineering or information technology.

Many of the duties of sales and marketing engineers are similar to those of other salesmen. They must interest the client in purchasing their products, many of which are durable manufactured products.

Sales and marketing engineers tend to employ selling techniques or marketing approaches that are different from those used by most other sales and marketing executives.

They generally use a “consultative” style — they focus on the client’s problem and show how it can be solved or mitigated with their product or service. This selling style differs from the traditional “benefits and features” method, where the sales and marketing person describes the product and leaves the customer to decide how it would be useful.

In addition to maintaining current clients and attracting new ones, sales and marketing engineers help clients solve any problems that arise when the product is installed. Afterwards, they may continue to serve as a liaison between the client and their company.

Training may involve teaming with a sales mentor who is familiar with the employer’s business practices, customers, procedures and company culture.

After the training period has been completed, sales and marketing engineers may continue to partner someone who lacks technical skills, yet excels in sales.

It is important for sales and marketing engineers to keep up-todate with industry knowledge because much of their value to their employers depends on their knowledge of the latest technologies and their ability to sell them.

Professional sales and marketing engineers must have a thorough knowledge of the products and services they sell, and possess customer relationship skills and as well as technical and analytical skills.

– Source: Straits Times/Asia News Network

Article by Ray Ong, a trainer with TriOng Associates.

Secrets of Success

With the right skills and a positive mindset, you can climb high up the career ladder

As a career management professional, I am often asked: “How can I ensure career success?”

While there is no single method to achieve this objective, here are some things you can do to get on the right path:

1. Regular activity
Successful career planning is not a one-time activity but a lifelong process. Mapping your career will help you to track your progress. Your interests, hobbies, transferable skills and past accomplishments are all clues to opportunities that may be awaiting you in the future.

Defining your career goals clearly will help you to align them to career trends. Once you regularly review and plan your career, you will be better prepared for whatever lies ahead.

2. Winning attitude
The happiest and most successful people see themselves as winners and maintain an optimistic outlook as they move toward their goals.

Unhappy and unsuccessful people often have a pessimistic outlook on life. They lack confidence and have a deep-rooted belief that they cannot do much or do it well. They do not realise they are advertising themselves as losers.

So develop a winning mindset and you will be on the path to a successful career.

3. Move on
Never become too comfortable in your current job. If you have been in the same job for three years or more and you are doing similar, if not the same, work, then ask yourself whether you are learning new skills or enhancing your competency?

To experience the best of life, seize opportunities as they arise. Never get stuck in your “comfort zone”. If opportunity comes knocking, grab it.

4. Positive values
True winners live by the virtues of fairness and decency. To succeed in the long term, you must know what’s right and wrong, and you must use these standards of behaviour every day in your business and personal life.

Adhering to a strong code of positive values will make your life productive, fulfilling and profitable. These are also traits that employers value.

5. Turn pain into gain
No life is free from suffering. When hard times cause anguish, there is no point in becoming bitter. Winners face suffering head-on and try to turn the pain into gain.

Develop your career resilience. If you are retrenched or made redundant, use the time to learn new skills while looking for a job.

Offer to do voluntary work while waiting for a job offer to come through. Don’t look at the door that was shut. Focus on opening new doors.

6. Learn to laugh
Cultivate and maintain a sense of humour. Humour cleanses the spirit, lightens your burdens and keeps you from taking yourself too seriously. Learn to smile and laugh more.

Find happiness in doing the tasks assigned to you, no matter how difficult, demanding or challenging. Developing this ability to smile will help others to see your “can do” attitude, a commodity employers treasure.

7. Help others
The most satisfied people are those who help others. Offer to mentor your juniors or new hires.

Find time to do something for the community or a voluntary organisation. By working in the community, you not only hone some of your work skills but also may be noticed by those who can influence your career advancement and success.

Career success involves many ingredients. Getting the right mix is not easy. Be positive and optimistic, diligent and dedicated at work, offer to go the extra mile and help the community, remain cheerful in the face of challenging tasks and maintain a winner’s mindset, and career success will find you.

– Source: Straits Times/Asia News Network

Article by Dr Kamal Kant, a career management professional and an adjunct lecturer.

Appreciate Your Strengths

Counting your small victories will build your confidence

WHILE growing up in New York City in an Italian family, I rarely left the three-square-block area that was my neighbourhood. My father was a cab driver, my mother was a classic (“raise ‘em on respect”) Italian housewife, and I was a cocky, tough kid.

You had to be tough to survive in the projects on the lower West Side of Manhattan. I remember my initiation into the neighborhood at age five or six. A bigger boy had beaten me up on the way home from school.

I ran crying up to our apartment to my Dad and expecting sympathy. Instead, his response was to remove his belt, brandish it in front of me, and tell me sternly: “Anthony, you’ve got to learn not to run away from bullies. So, here are your choices. Go back outside and face this boy who just beat you up, or face my belt.”

I went back outside (my Dad followed me), found the boy, and fought him again (this time I won). I never lost another one-onone fight (and believe me, I went on to fight in many more ...!).

You may think my Dad’s behaviour was over the top, but he wisely understood a universal rule for developing self-esteem and confidence: Confidence in yourself gets built up gradually, one success at a time.

You can fake confidence, and you may need to at first, but real self-confidence comes from a history of small victories and accomplishments that add up to a sense that you can handle yourself well in almost every situation.

In his many books on selfesteem, Dr Nathaniel Branden agrees as much. For him, selfconfidence is knowing that you have the wherewithal to function reasonably well in the world. In other words, you can’t be confident if you’re fearful or easily intimidated.

The day I beat up that bigger kid was the small victory I needed to prove to myself that I could accomplish nearly anything. Who knows if I would have been half as fearless, half as driven in life if I had chosen to face my father’s belt instead?

Here’s an exercise: I suggest you take an inventory of the major accomplishments you have achieved over the past few years.

Then remind yourself of the minor ones too. What about the computer course you completed? Have you built anything that’s still standing? What about those kids you’re raising? That’s an accomplishment.

Don’t be modest. Tell the truth about how hard you worked, what sacrifices you have made. If you can’t think of any, then begin by congratulating yourself for living as long as you have.

Sheer survival is an accomplishment these days. What is unique about you? What skills do you bring to an organisation or project that you can count on?

Seriously, it pays to take the time to know your strengths and appreciate them. That is the only path to developing selfconfidence.

– Source: Straits Times/Asia News Network

Article by Dr Tony Alessandra, co-founder of MentorU.com, an elearning company. He is the author of 14 books including Charisma; The Platinum Rule; Collaborative Selling and Communicating at Work.

Super-Strategies for Workplace Success

Work is like a chess game. But what type of strategies does one need to ensure success at workplace?

by Molly Luffy

You know something? I’m constantly amazed at how many people I see plodding through their daily routine at work with barely a thought to their career happiness, growth potential and future. You've seen them - they're the ones who play the victims in life. They think everything just happens to them as if they have no part in their lot in life.

Another thing I've noticed about these corporate zombies is that they like to vocalize their workplace despair. They complain and carry on about all the bad things about their job and their company as if they have no control over their own circumstances and satisfaction. It’s unbelievable!

But not you, fair readers. You certainly don’t fit into the category of corporate zombie, do you? No, you understand that you do have control over your work life. You understand that you can make your day more productive and happier. So the Wiz is here to help with a quick list of super-strategies for workplace success!

First of all, if you want to be super-successful and happy at work, you need to make a commitment to your own workplace happiness. Some people will never be happy because they don’t understand that the need to work is a fact of life for most of us. If you've not reconciled yourself to this fact, it’s a good thing to do. Once you have that issue behind you, you will be in a better position to objectively look at your current job, job satisfaction and future potential. It’s a matter of the proverbial glass being half full or half empty. As yourself “What would I do, or where would I be without this job?” It could give you quite a different perspective and change in attitude.

Finding happiness at work

Make finding happiness at work a priority and an initiative in your life. So maybe you don’t love your job. So what? Is that a reason to be miserable? Find the things that you do like about your job and focus on them. Remember, you can choose your attitude just as easily as any other decision you make in your life, so why not choose to be happy and focus on the positive things?

To continue on your path to workplace success, set out on a course of becoming the absolute best at what you do. Why not become the departmental expert in your particular field? No matter what you do ˆ you can always aim for improvement. And becoming the departmental expert is a great goal to shoot for. Not only is becoming the expert a great way for you to solidify your current position in the age of corporate downsizing, but it helps you stand out as a star. Think about it…who are the people that seem to get picked for promotion? The best of the best, right? And who better qualifies as the best of the best than the departmental expert?

A good way to start becoming the expert is by joining your local professional association. These associations have lots of resources and information on the emerging trends in your profession. You can network with other people, attend workshops and gain a wealth of information.

And after you've joined your local professional organization, get involved. Join a committee and help make your association the best that it can be. It’s a wonderful way to meet and get close to other committed professionals. Your exposure to those emerging trends is even closer since you'll be in on all kinds of interesting discussions during your committee meetings.

After you’ve served your association well, shoot for becoming a Board member. This is a killer enhancer for the old resume and most bosses consider this a major sign of professionalism, leadership ability and commitment so it helps you look good at your current job too!

Becoming involved in a professional association not only provides you with valuable information, but helps you become recognized in your professional community as an expert. And along with that comes future opportunities!

These are just some of the ways that you can aim for workplace success. A positive attitude and professional enrichment offer a number of benefits that will have a positive and lasting effect on your personal satisfaction and your ability to climb those corporate ranks.

Now go out there and be a STAR!

Cubicle Navigation

Is Your Enthusiasm For Work Flickering Out? Re-ignite the Flame!

by Joyce Weiss, M.A., CSP

Are your workforce teams under so much pressure that they are erupting like volcanoes? Do you see the people around you turning into pessimists? Are they waiting for the overwhelming situations to just go away? If so, please read on.

Most things written about burnout are negative. Yes...the price for doing what you feel passionate about is burnout. Burnout is also a time for deep reflection to make major changes at home, work, so you can achieve personal satisfaction. People who pay attention to their burnout discover new ways to re-ignite their flame. They design a better quality of life. They harness burnout and refocus their energy toward more productive behavior.

This article covers the definition of burnout, its warning signs, hot tips to keep the flame of energy ablaze, and ideas for all professionals to use in order to rekindle their vitality.

Definition of Burnout

Burnout occurs when its victims have been worn out physically and emotionally as a result of long term stress. They strive to reach unrealistic expectations many of which may be self imposed Burned out people are of little value to the organization. For this reason alone, it is important to discover the signs of burnout and to resolve the issues that cause them. Burnout is a general erosion of the spirit.

WARNING SIGNS: WATCH FOR SMOKE SIGNALS

Today's workplace environment is a perfect place for burnout to occur. We are all too familiar with downsizing, doing more with less, mergers, new teams, new bosses, new philosophies, new mission statements, distrustful relationships, unclear work roles, thwarted career progress, un-shared information, no existing feedback, unfair politics, and not being able to catch up with the workload, similar to being on a treadmill and not able to get off.

Many workshop participants have shared their experiences with me. They started out full of compassion, enthusiasm and energy. They actually looked forward to work. Then something happened along their journey...they lost their sense of control and interest, became bored, and started withdrawing. They became all too familiar with the expression "all work and no play". Remember the old adage, "All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy."

Their positive attitudes started to diminish and they became more cynical.

I could go on but by now you may be thinking, "Joyce I am familiar with this...please tell me something that will help me get out of this feeling of powerlessness?" During our research, workshop participants ask us to give them some techniques that they can use immediately, and not to concentrate on our "woe-is-me state." We know that morale must be improved. We know that workers have lost their sense of control and feeling of joy at work, which carries over to their home lives. They beg us to show them how they can lighten up and learn from all of this.

Story of a farmer

Once upon a time there was a farmer. He lived during the time when the terrible warlords ruled the country side. He had a son and owned one horse. The farmer's neighbor always said to him, "You have such good luck." The farmer replied, "Good luck, bad luck...who knows?" One day the farmer's horse ran away. That very night the warlords came to the village and told the farmers to gather up all horses so they could confiscate them. The farmer's neighbors said, "Oh, you have such good luck, the warlords can't take your horse because it ran away." The farmer said, "Good Luck, bad luck...who knows?"

A few days later the farmer's horse wondered back to the farm. His son was so excited to see his horse, he jumped on the horse and went for a ride. The horse tripped on a rock and the son fell off and broke his leg. That very night the warlords came back to the village and ordered everyone to round up all the able bodied sons, who would be taken away to fight in the wars. The neighbor said to the farmer, "You have such good luck, your son has a broken leg and will not be able to go with the warlords."

The farmer said, "Good luck, bad luck...who knows?" We can all learn from this story. The farmer didn't label this circumstance as good or bad. He gave life a chance. At first it looked like bad luck when the horse ran away and the son broke his leg. His neighbors felt like victims and lost all sense of control or responsibility for their future. They quickly labeled life's challenges as good or bad. At times things seem bad, but after awhile we can actually see a positive outcome.

Many people have shared with me that the loss of a job was horrendous at first. However, when they found new employment, it turned out to be better than their previous job.

I tell this story at most workshops because we all know people who complain and sound like victims.

Some people blow one incident out of proportion and their self talk becomes such a detriment to their own, and their team's, mental health. Well, I challenge people to stop playing the victim and look at their lives to see what they need to do to rekindle their vitality. At times they give me a look of "You've got to be kidding, there is nothing I can do." At other times people tell me they feel more hopeful and are ready to focus on the cause of burnout and to do something about it. Sometimes the worst situations end up teaching us the most valuable lessons.

10 tips to keep the flame burning

You've probably heard the following suggestions before. Now may be the time that you are ready to actively change. These all require some kind of discipline since you may have let burnout become part of your life. We have to recondition how we think and what we choose to do. It took us a long time to form these negative habits it may take some time to make life changing choices. Are you ready? Now is the time for self care. Many workforce professionals take care of others now it's time to give to yourself.

Number 1: Find a hobby

Talk to people that have achieved balance in their lives and find out what activities they have added to enrich their lives. What activities have you wanted to experience? Now is the time to discover them not when you retire. Why wait? Act now! The change and excitement of photography, flying, art, etc., could be just what the doctor ordered.

Number 2: Take a class for fun

Learn something completely new.

Number 3: Volunteer for a cause that means something to you

What goes around comes around. I hear many success stories of people receiving much more after they give their time and attention to others.

Number 4: Eat right, exercise, and try meditating

Do these for the right reasons. First add them to your life, but not just because they are good for you. Upbeat music adds energy to a workout session. Exercise automatically helps people deal with their problems. They become more relaxed and are able to tackle the challenge even after only a 30-minute workout. They feel fired up to re-ignite the energy in their life.

Number 5: Rest

I don't mean hide. Your body may need some extra time to heal. So take the time, just don't use it as an excuse to stay away from others. Many people have told me they thought they had chronic fatigue syndrome. They rested their body and refocused on what is really important in their lives and the symptoms disappeared.
History tells us that most American presidents took short naps each day as a preventative measure against burnout.

Number 6: Concentrate on what is in front of your nose

If you are taking a walk, notice what is in front of you. If you are at home, notice the person you are talking to. These are golden moments to cherish. When you are at work, forget about the problems at home and look at your task at hand. This one tip is so powerful and you can start using it now!

Number 7: Develop team meetings to discuss what front line, supervisors, managers, and administrators can do together

Take everybody's complaints and constructive feedback seriously. Are teams working together or waiting for the stress to go away? Think in terms of we and not me. Are your teams practicing a feeling of esprit de corps? Are the actions of team members aligned with the team's mission? Do people do "whatever it takes" to get the job done? If not, this could be a huge deficit in achieving team balance.

These are all contributing factors to the burnout of individual members.

Number 8: Learn how to be authentic and share your thoughts with others

Some people are more open than others. For some it is difficult to be straight forward, especially if they are more private or guarded. I suggest taking classes to help you learn to be open and straight forward. This tip is a real burnout buster. People who are straight forward and not rude experience less stress. Just think about it. Instead of wasting hours during the night thinking of what you should have said to someone, just do it. Straight forward communication is a skill that is well worth learning. Look at the extra hours of sleep you will get if you don't have to worry about things. Sometimes we need to tell people what they need to hear, not necessarily what they want to hear. Straight talk works and people see immediate results after learning this technique. Ann, a workshop participant, told me how she used straight talk on her boss. The boss was very negative and this attitude was eroding the morale. Ann practiced her conversation and took the initiative and used straight talk. The boss thanked Ann because he didn't realize the impact of his negativity. Ann is respected now by her boss.

Number 9: Discover the necessity of positive humor at work and at home

Positive humor lightens the stress of impossible tasks. Numerous worksites have added humor and joy bulletin boards where employees can place cartoons or inspirational stories. Humor is not a luxury in our lives anymore, it has become a necessity! We included a segment on humor in our workshops since we have seen the incredible results. Make a list of 15 things you enjoy doing for fun, such as, sailing, travel, going to the theater, hosting a dinner party, or reading a novel. Once you make your list, ask yourself when was the last time you did any of these activities? Decide which ones are important to you and make plans to do at least one new activity this week. Schedule it in your daily planner. Honor the little child inside of you.

Remember how children can be creative and resourceful. You deserve fun and pleasure in your life. British novelist George Eliot wrote, "It's never too late to be what you might have been."

Number 10: Discover what values are important to you

The qualities you consider most significant will have a tremendous impact on your life. Which ones need immediate attention? Could it be personal solitude, creativity, family, social welfare, freedom, or independence? It is a necessity, not a luxury to find the value deficit in your life. Balance is the key to re-igniting your energy.

I recently discovered that I needed more personal solitude in my life. I research and plan for my speeches and workshops. I practice and market my programs. But I was ignoring the personal time I desperately needed to take I was out of balance. "All work and no play" was making Joyce a dull person. This went on for years as I climbed the mountain of success. I was fortunate to have a son who saw the smoke signals before I noticed them and warned me about them. What area of your life is out of balance? Now is the time to take the steps that will re-ignite your energy!

Re-ignite Your Energy!

These 10 tips are but first steps to help you rekindle your enthusiasm. If these don't work, then you may need to seek professional help. People are hospitalized because of burnout and we need to find the major causes. People have gone to their boss and asked for different responsibilities those that fit more with their values or interests. Others have found new jobs because a former position created too much stress for them.

Abraham Lincoln said, "People are just about as happy as they make up their minds to be." Remember the farmer? Well the "good news" is that we can gain control of our lives again. We can feel enthusiasm again. We can feel a sense of joy at work and home. Burnout is a time for us to look within ourselves and find what is missing in our lives. Burnout happens to people who live intensely. Also be aware of "rust out". You can see it on the faces of people who are just hanging on to a job or relationship. I would rather burn out several times as long as I know it is a signal to make some changes and rethink what I want out of life. Remember we need to recondition ourselves if burnout is lurking on our horizon. It did not come overnight. So with some discipline, introspection, and change, we can rekindle our vitality and move on to more exciting times. And one last thing make sure to enjoy the journey you deserve it!

How To Use Non Verbal Communication To Market Yourself

Everyone knows how important it is to speak confidently, say the right things and show interest when being interviewed or even at a meeting with clients. However, in addition to what you say, one must know that what you do also communicates volumes of information about who you really are.

Experts believe that a large part of communication occurs non-verbally. That means that even a smile on your face and the firmness of your handshake when you say, "Pleased to meet you," says more than your words alone.

It is to be remembered that once someone forms an impression, the tendency is to look for evidence confirming the original opinion and to ignore contradictory messages. That means if you have created a positive impression the first time around, people will focus on things that support that favorable impression. If, however, you have created a negative impression, you will have to work twice as hard to overcome that belief from the minds of those who have that negative impression.

Tips on How to Make a Positive Impression Non-Verbally

Remember that everything you do creates an impression:

• your facial expressions
• the "look in your eyes"
• your eye contact (or lack of it)
• your hand gestures
• your posture
• the way you comb your hair
  
• the clothes (even the shoes) you wear

Making an Entrance

The most important thing to remember in creating a presence is to believe that you belong where you are and have something of value to offer. A characteristic of successful people is that they naturally expect others to respond positively to them.

• When entering someone's office, do not poke your head in the door. Walk in confidently. (Knock first, if appropriate)
• Anticipating a negative reaction sets the stage for an unsuccessful meeting. Therefore, enter with more confidence and have a positive mindset
• A strong stride, a direct approach, an upright posture and a sense of energy are extremely important

Body Language

What you do with your body can support and enhance the message your words convey–or detract from it.

• Whether talking with one person or an auditorium full of people, maintain eye contact. Otherwise the person or crowd you are addressing will definitely show no interest to what you have to say
• Keep your facial expressions relaxed and friendly. The idea is to keep the listener interested and comfortable with you and what you have to say
• When standing, maintain a balance to your stance. Do not slouch, or lean on things when talking to people. Always maintain an upright posture
• Move purposefully; it shows confidence. Do not walk into a room for instance as though you are about to steal something or as though you do not belong there
• Let your hands fall to your side after using them and avoid crossing your arms, or holding your own hands either in front of you or behind your back

Shaking Hands

Handshakes are an important physical means of communicating. An immediate, firm, confident and friendly handshake helps establish a positive tone for a meeting and provides a non-verbal opportunity to establish yourself.

• Involve your entire hand in the handshake. Make eye contact; without it a handshake is half as effective
• Women should shake hands with each other just as readily as men. Never allow an important meeting to begin without a handshake. To do otherwise is to non-verbally discount yourself
• Some men think it is impolite to extend their hand to a woman for a handshake. A savvy businesswoman relaxes the uneasiness by extending her hand to a man right away.

Building Self-confidence In the Workplace

We secretly admire the doctors and medical practitioners who treats us for our many illnesses. He seems so sure of himself and is such a miracle because he can cure us of our tummy aches, influenzas and the occasional runny nose. There is a reason why we are so drawn to him and are able to connect with him. He has what we call "self confidence".

Confidence is a vital aspect of our day-to-day lives and is especially important in the workplace. After all, you would not be appreciative of a colleague who fumbles and trips over his words while doing a presentation. Unfortunately, not everyone was born with "built-in" self confidence. In fact, many of us had to work hard to achieve some semblance of confidence. People with low confidence and self-esteem often feel unappreciated and find it hard to succeed. The good thing is that it can be achieved with time and effort. Rome was not built in a day, so don't expect the same for yourself and do not push yourself to the limit.

You can easily distinguish a self-confident person from others. They stand tall and proud with their head held high and answer questions clearly but calmly. You will feel instinctively drawn to them because they inspire others around them. This automatically concludes that a self-confident person is often more successful than those who are not.

How confident are you to your colleagues? Take a breather and answer some of these questions to see if you need a crash course in building your confidence.

• Do you always behave like how others expect you to?
• Do you manage your behaviour based on what other people think?
• Do you prefer to stay in your comfort zone and avoid taking up risks and challenging tasks?
• Do you often find yourself scrambling to fix mistakes so that other people won't notice?
• Do you feel yourself blushing in shame every time someone points out your mistakes?

If you answered "yes" to two or more of the above questions, then it's time you fix this. A person with low self-confidence is often self-destructive. Confidence is a mixture of courage, strength and the ability to pick yourself up when something fails.

Take pride in what you have achieved

Keep a log book or a diary and jot down all the achievements you have made. Perhaps you have closed a successful sales deal or have been recently promoted. Take note of praises and words of encouragement from your superior. For days when you feel down and demoted, flip through the pages and re-read some of your successes. They are a constant reminder that you can do it and are able to achieve more if you set your heart to it.

Be a go-getter

Set realistic goals for yourself and stick to it. Say "I will complete this project in a fortnight" and not "I think I can complete it in a fortnight". If you make a strong reinforcement to the statement, chances are your brain will register and you will be able to meet the deadline. Also, try to set goals that will highlight your strengths and minimize your weaknesses.

Receive a compliment graciously

It is a natural instinct for Asians to be overly humble when someone compliments them. Don't be. Acknowledge that you deserve the compliment because you have worked hard for it. Smile and say "Thank you. It was really nice of you to notice my work. I'm very proud of it as well" and not "Oh, it was nothing. Anyone could have done it." The former shows that you are capable of handling tough projects while the latter says that you are a pessimist, plus it also gives the impression that your job is an easy-peasy one!

Positive self-talk

At this point, you have to start managing what goes in and out of your brain. Yes, you might have had a terrible experience at your last job and it has sucked out all of your self esteem and confidence. It is now time to let go and move on. Eliminate all negative self-talk and replace them with positive ones. One good tip that I've learnt is to stick colourful pictures on your wall, in your car, or any other places that are convenient to you. Stick a smiley face to remind you to smile. Put phrases of encouragement and frame them up.

Celebrate

Last but not least, celebrate to rejoice in the fact you have worked diligently to bring your self- confidence to another level. Allow yourself some fun. After this, stretch yourself a little bit more. Make your goals bigger and challenge yourself more. Take it one step at a time at a pace that's comfortable to you. Some people take three months; others may take up to six months or more. You will slowly notice a difference in yourself.

Show Them You Care

To build strong office relationship, learn the five love languages for colleagues

As a facilitator of effective communication, I constantly look for ways to help people communicate better with others.

Gary Chapman, author of The Five Love Languages, writes about effective communication techniques for married couples and families.

These five fundamentals can also be used in your day-to-day communication with your colleagues to build better relationships with them.

1. Words of affirmation

People often go about doing their jobs with little feedback on their performance.

In fact, unless something goes wrong and they are hauled up for it, the good they do is taken for granted.

What happens? Eventually, they lose their self-esteem, and their confidence levels start to wither.

People need constant reminders of the good work they have done.

There are some managers who might say that employees are paid to do their job.

While this is undeniable, apart from pay, people generally look for social approval to motivate them to perform better.

This form of recognition should be part of an organisation’s strategy if it wants to develop its people and, more importantly, keep them.

Words of affirmation such as, “That was a great presentation” or “You did a great job in organising the department activity, thank you” do not cost anything.

But they are very valuable to the recipient.

Words of affirmation let people know that they are doing something right. They motivate people, give them a healthy self-esteem and build a communicative relationship between colleagues.

2. Quality time

Quality time is another important aspect of building effective relationships.

Very often, you may find yourself rushing through your work and even during your lunch breaks.

Many people do not spend enough time with their bosses and vice versa. Building a great relationship means getting to know other people so that you can support one another effectively.

People are social creatures and need to spend time with one another before they can build great teams.

Organisations are realising this and are investing more in team-building programmes and wellness initiatives.

These mass activities help people to get together so that they can interact and be part of the family within the organisation.

Creating the opportunity for colleagues to spend some quality time with one another is a way that organisations can engage their people.

If employees do not have an emotional attachment to the company, they will have little desire to contribute effectively to it.

3. Giving gifts

Like affirmative words, gifts tell the recipients that they are appreciated.

In a corporate environment, it is acceptable to show your appreciation of a colleague with an inexpensive but meaningful gift, for example, a bookmark with some personal words of gratitude, or a box of chocolates accompanied by a card of thanks.

Such gifts remind people that their efforts are noticed and appreciated. They lift the spirit and are great motivators too.

4. Acts of service

People love someone doing something for them. It gives satisfaction and appreciation, especially in a time of need.

Acts of service come in many shapes and sizes – from someone offering to clear the mailbox to buying lunches or even delivering a package on your behalf.

Doing a service for your colleague means going out of your way to help him. It tells him that you are on his side.

5. Touch

In an office environment, you naturally need to be very careful about this particular love language.

Touch, in this context, means giving colleagues a pat on the back to emphasise your appreciation of something they have done or to say “thank you”.

However, some people are very conservative, and you should respect their values and refrain from any physical gestures.

A light touch on the shoulders can represent your concern, empathy, support or even approval.

Studies have shown that children who are shown a lot of affection by their parents and family members have greater self-esteem when they grow up. Your colleagues may find a pat on the back motivating and a boost to their self-esteem too.

To each his own

The five languages of love for office colleagues are basic communication techniques to help build relationships.

Out of the five, there will be at least one primary language that works better for an individual.

Everyone has different needs. Some people appreciate words of affirmation more, while others prefer quality time.

You need to understand what works better for whom to build sustainable and strong working relationships with your colleagues.

– Source: Straits Times/Asia News Network

Article by Jason Wee, a consultant and career coach specialising in occupational behaviour.

Do You Delegate Or Do It?

An effective manager frees himself from the routine parts of his job by getting others to do them

ONE of the biggest frustrations of many managers is the lack of time to perform all of the work required of them in their role as a manager.

I have yet to meet a manager who does not have too much on his plate.

Think of delegation as nothing more than giving yourself the opportunity to spend more time in the vital areas of your job such as planning, organising, inspecting, coaching, innovating and developing people.

Why not take a serious look at how you are spending your time and what tasks you are involved in that can be delegated to someone else.

Track your use of time for a week, logging all of the repetitive activities, problem-solving routines, crisis management issues and routine stuff.

Ask yourself at the end of the week: Could someone else, or some other department, have done this? What did I not complete because of these actions?

I personally guarantee that you can free up at least an hour a day if you will find creative ways to delegate something, anything. Here are some suggestions:

Learn to let go

A weakness of poor managers is their inability or unwillingness to delegate tasks, responsibilities or outcomes.

To be an effective manager, you need to know what you can delegate, when you can delegate it and whom you can delegate it to. The role of a manager is not to do it but to get other people to do it.

Even self-employed business owners who have small staff strengths can delegate some tasks to someone else, such as sub-contractors, freelancers or temporary employees.

Learn to trust others

Why don’t managers delegate? There are three simple causes.

One, they don’t trust their employees.

Two, they think they can do it faster and easier themselves.

Three, they lose control when they give a task or responsibility to someone else.

Problem with delegation

There are three fundamental problems with delegation.

Managers delegate the methods, techniques, processes rather than the outcomes.

They delegate responsibility without giving the people the authority to use necessary resources to get the job done.

They delegate a task and then take it back.

In other words, they ask an employee or a group to do a task and then, before the person or group has completed it, they take it back and finish it themselves.

This does three things, none of which are healthy for the organisation:

• They have just invalidated the employee;
• They have de-motivated the employee; and
• They have sent a clear message that they do not trust the employee and that they could do the task better or faster.

Any of these will have a negative short- and long-term negative impact on performance and effectiveness.

The purpose of delegation is to train, teach, motivate employees and free up some of the manager’s time to work on the key tasks that he should be doing.

– Source: Straits Times/Asia News Network

Article by Tim Connor, a management trainer and author of the best-selling book on salesmanship, Soft Sell.

Self-development Begins With You

Stop making excuses – work on the five keys to achieve your potential

I RECENTLY had the displeasure of working with one of the most negative people I have ever met. Let’s call her Cindy.

In Cindy’s world, nothing good ever happens to her, the rain only falls in her part of town and there is a conspiracy to keep her from succeeding. The interesting thing about Cindy is that she is intelligent, articulate and has lots of potential.

The problem is that she will never realise her true potential if she does not change her attitudes and beliefs about who is responsible for her development.

She constantly blames the organisation she works with for not “training her more”, she blames the government for taking all of her expendable income (through taxes) so she cannot go back to school, and she blames her family for taking up all of her time so she can never get anything done.

The one person who Cindy never blames is Cindy, and as a result she never improves in any facets of her life.

Unfortunately, many of us see the world this way.

When we consider personal or professional development, it is too easy to blame external factors for our own shortcomings.

The reality is that making an excuse is the easy way out, and making a positive change in your life comes down to you making a conscious decision to take action without waiting for someone else to initiate it.

Are you ready to start working on personal growth? If so, here are five keys to positive self-development that may be of value to you:

1. Whatever it is that you want to achieve, do something about it.

For example, if you would like to be more efficient at your job, and you work on spreadsheets all day but are not as fast as you could be, make a call and enrol in a night course that will sharpen your skills.

If you believe that your health is holding you back from optimal performance, call your local fitness club and set up a training plan.

Do it now and stop putting it off.

Making the commitment is the toughest part of any self-development plan, so get moving now and you will have the toughest part licked.

2. Choose one or two things at a time.

Do you have a laundry list of things you would like to work on? Sometimes, looking at a huge list of personal “to-dos” can be intimidating, and as a result, you do nothing.

I find it easier (and more productive) if I choose one personal and one professional self-development programme to tackle at a time.

You will be focused on the task at hand, you will not be overwhelmed, and as you complete one task after another, your confidence will grow.

3. Adopt a selfish attitude.

Too many people play the martyr and say: “I can’t do anything for myself because I have to look after others.”

Fair enough, but then how many dreams go unrequited because of this? How much potential is lost and unhappiness caused because you did not take care of yourself first?

The reality is that if you improve yourself, you will be able to do more for others and everyone will be happier.

If you sharpen your professional skills and get a raise because of it, you will be able to provide for your family better.

If you take time to exercise and find optimum health, you will be more confident, less stressed, and you will set a positive example for those around you.

You may have to be creative with your schedule and how you get things done, but you can do it.

4. Spend time with people who are at where you want to be.

Learn from mentors and adopt the attitudes of the successful. Most people who have been fortunate enough to succeed in this world have done so because they are confident, positive and hardworking.

Surround yourself with these people and you will start to understand how they came to succeed.

The people you spend time with have a massive influence on your attitudes and mindset, so be careful about this.

5. Recognise that it is all up to you.

Your growth and development is your responsibility – not the government’s, your employer’s, your family’s or your religion’s.

Randy Gage, an American author, speaker and consultant on the topic of prosperity, recently said that when he looked back at his failed relationships, his crooked business partners, his bankrupt bank account and his failing health, he realised that there had only been one person at the scene of each of these “crimes”. Him.

Are you the only one at the scene of your own failures? For most of us, this is the case.

Start taking some positive self-responsibility for your personal and professional growth.

Recognise that the choices you make now will impact your future.

A positive action today, even a small one, could lead you to a very positive tomorrow – and will help you to avoid becoming the neighbourhood Cindy.

– Source: Straits Times/Asia News Network

Article by Paul de Burger, associate consultant at d’Oz International.

Build a Perfect Team

To achieve outstanding results, you must learn to embrace diverse team styles

IN TODAY’S world, there often seems to be a search for perfection in our leaders and managers. We want them to have a big picture focus, be able to manage the details, make sure that practical implementation is completed and counsel team members. And while they are at it, we also want them to be creative.

Unfortunately, such people do not exist, or if they do, they drive people crazy by over-managing or end up so stressed that they leave soon.

The real measure of successful teams is their ability to combine varied skills effectively.

It is the leader’s primary role to make sure this happens.

The Belbin model

How do you take the guessing out of assessing team styles? There are many good systems for doing this but the one that has been around the longest and is globally widespread is the team role model of Dr Meredith Belbin.

Dr Belbin was asked to research why some teams worked well and some did not. This original research at Henley Management College led to five years of extensive work on
team effectiveness.

The outcome was a model that identifies nine types of roles. Although 27 years old, it is still the gold standard of team styles.

What is your “natural” team style?

To be effective in a team, you need to be able to understand your unique style. Most people have two to three dominant styles and there are other styles they are not so good at.

Scrutinise the nine styles outlined and see if you can recognise them in your team:

■ PL: Plant
Very creative; the ideas person

■ RI: Resource investigator
Extrovert; good at making outside contacts and developing ideas

■ ME: Monitor evaluator
Shrewd, prudent and analytical

■ SH: Shaper
Dynamic and challenging

■ CO: Co-ordinator
Respected, mature and good at ensuring that talents are used effectively

■ IMP: Implementer
Practical, loyal and task-oriented 

■ CF: Completer finisher
Meticulous and pays attention to details; also full of nervous energy

■ TW: Team worker
Caring and very person-oriented

■ SP: Specialist
High level of technical skills; loyal to profession as opposed to organisation

All styles are needed

The usefulness of the model lies in the fact that whatever style you are, the team needs you. It is also good to know the styles at which you do not excel.

How many times have leaders given detailed tasks to people who are big-picture oriented, or assigned jobs that required toughness to people who are essentially very harmonious in nature? It does not work.

But understanding a person’s preferred and least preferred styles in a team can enable managers and leaders to get their team performing to its strengths.

A Belbin Team Profile has observer as well as self-perception inputs that enable team members to compare colleagues’ perceptions with their own.

I have been running Belbin workshops for 20 years. While cultures have all styles represented, I have observed that each country seems to have strengths in particular
styles.

Perfect leaders are few and far between, but leaders can build perfect teams by recognising and using their team members’ styles effectively.

– Source: Straits Times/Asia News Network

Article by Philip Merry, founder and CEO of Global Leadership Academy.

Quest for Perfection

You may never be perfect in everything you do, but you should still aim high

MOST of us know Benjamin Franklin as the inventor of bifocals and the man who flew a kite in a storm to prove that lightning was a form of electricity.

Franklin was also a printer and newspaper publisher, postmaster, civic activist, scientist, inventor, diplomat, and drafter of the American Declaration of Independence. Where did he find the time to accomplish so much?

Franklin was also America’s first self-improvement guru. At the age of 27, he began his grand goal, loftily titled “Project of arriving at moral perfection”.

He identified a dozen virtues and developed a system to attain them. They were temperance, silence, order, resolution, frugality, industry, sincerity, justice, moderation, cleanliness, tranquillity and chastity. When a friend suggested that Franklin seemed proud, he added humility to the list.

Realising that it would be difficult to focus on all of these areas at once, Franklin focused on one a week. It was quite a challenge. While he never achieved moral perfection, he benefited greatly from the exercise.

Perfection is an impossibly high standard. The perfectionist is essentially telling himself that nothing he does will ever be good enough!

Franklin recognised this and moderated his goal. He was not perfect, but he was astonishingly productive and successful throughout his life. When you examine his list and how he approached it, you begin to understand why.

“Dost thou love life? Then do not squander time, for that’s the stuff life is made of,” Franklin wrote.

Valuing time is a no-brainer for most of us, as we seem to have too little time and struggle to make the most of it. But valuing time and actually using our time productively are two different things.

Three of Franklin’s virtues address the need to work at valuing time and using it wisely: Resolution, order and industry.

Resolution means making good on your promises, implementing and executing, and following through to completion. It requires persistence and determination.

Order means being organised and systematic, planning and prioritising your activities. Industry means working hard, focusing on your objectives and being productive. The one personal quality behind all of these is discipline.

What wisdom does Franklin offer us in terms of discipline — doing the work of valuing our time and managing our priorities?

He arranged his objectives into a system. He proceeded step by step. He broke his main objective — selfimprovement — into smaller goals. He focused on them one at a time. He measured his progress by keeping track of how many times he erred, and he reviewed his progress regularly.

By creating a system to help himself focus on his goals and measure his progress, Franklin was able to accomplish far more than his contemporaries.

Systems are critical in any time management regimen. It is not enough to return e-mail and phone calls, handle paperwork and prepare reports on an ad hoc basis.

A sporadic approach will produce sporadic results. Setting aside time for performing routine tasks, using templates for your work, and having systems in place allow you to be both effective and efficient.

Another feature of Franklin’s approach was repetition. He focused on one objective every week, completing the cycle in 13 weeks and repeating the entire cycle four times a year. He repeated the process year after year.

To use his own words, “Energy and persistence conquer all things.” Using time effectively is a matter of habit, and habits come from repetition.

Finally, Franklin organised and planned. The key to managing your time is organising your activities and planning strategies to complete them.

Every day should begin with a planning session. Part of this planning time should be in creating a prioritised “to do” list. In other words, you must have a system for organising and planning.

Someone once said: “If you fail to plan, you are planning to fail.” I don’t think it was Franklin, though … but it could have been!

– Source: Straits Times/Asia News Network

Article by David Goldwich, author of the book Why Did the Chicken Cross the Road? Lessons in Effective Communication.

Building Your Power from the Inside Out

Want more influence at work? The answer is not in a PowerPoint deck—you have to speak your mind and stick to your convictions.

by Liz Ryan

I gave a talk recently at a human resources conference. The topic was "Building Your Personal Power." This is one of my favorite topics and one that resonates with businesspeople, perhaps because they work in environments where symbols of power are everywhere. Various measures and trophies, from the size of one's cube to business-class travel privileges to titles, roles, and places on the company's org chart indicate our relative power. But as I told the group, the more important kind of power isn't associated with org charts or budgets or offices with window views. It's a different kind of power, the kind that we cultivate in ourselves.

Over and over again, when chief executives and other leaders are asked about their paths to success, we hear them say, "I stuck to my convictions, and I spoke my mind at critical moments." The power these leaders developed wasn't conferred on them by a higher-level manager or a board of directors or an awards committee. They created it.

A great many businesspeople, at all levels and across functions, eventually hit a point in their careers where the next step isn't to be found in a book or a PowerPoint deck. Most people don't reach this critical juncture early in their careers. They're too busy scrambling to learn how business works, how to work on a team, how to manage goals, and a thousand other how-tos. During those early years, they've got too much on their plates to stop and wonder, "What stands between me and my goals?"

Why Don't I Have More Influence?
But at some point, once they're comfortable with their professional skills, well-regarded in their fields, and confident about themselves in general, the question arises: "What must I do next to get to the point where I really deserve to be in my career?"

That goal may be tied to title, size of job, or compensation, but it could just as easily be a matter of answering the question "Why don't I have more influence at work?" It could come after we're overlooked for a key promotion, or as we come to the realization that our skills are relied upon but not highly valued by our managers. It could come through any number of influences. One day we may be driving to the office, stressing about an early meeting, when we suddenly think "I am smart and I work hard. Don't I deserve more than this?"

Here's the tough part. The next step in all likelihood will come not from a book or a workshop or even an MBA program, but from a reevaluation of your relationship with your job. In short, the people who reach the goals they aspire to are people who "own" their jobs—whose accountability for their success is absolute and who follow their convictions over political considerations, the desire to avoid conflict, and other entanglements. That's why the next step is a tough one. It doesn't involve working harder, working more hours, or pleasing the right person. It could involve just the opposite.

A Matter of Personal Power
Since my background is in human resources, HR people are always asking me, " How do I become more influential and gain a seat at the table?" HR leaders tell me "I am well-educated and experienced. I am as competent as can be. What do I need to do to influence the way this organization functions beyond the dental plan and the new employee orientation?"

I have to tell them their experience and academic credentials don't have as much to do with this equation as they might hope. The influence they're after won't come from more training, and their boss can't confer that influence on them. It's not a matter of knowledge; it's a matter of credibility, of personal power.

Trust me, lots of HR people don't want to hear that. Gaining that personal power, for an HR person, very often means standing up for the right thing when people in more powerful spots don't see it or don't agree. It means taking risks. That's tough. That's why so many people never take that step. It's a shame they don't. The beneficiaries of more personally empowered managers would be not only the managers themselves but also their teams, their company's customers, and the shareholders of those organizations.

Become Credible by Being Challenged
I spoke with a marketing vice-president who said, "I am in the right company. I never want to leave." This was a tad surprising, if not alarming, because the man was, at most, 36. He continued "You see, at this company they don't know much about marketing, so they defer to me on everything." I asked him why he would set his personal development bar so low? Is that the grand prize—to work in a company where you're never challenged? If you aren't challenged, you won't learn how to make an argument, win people over to your side, or end up on the losing side of a question with grace. That's how people become credible. They don't bend with the wind, and they don't become powerful by staying in jobs where there's no one to learn from.

You see the next-step issue arise in the area of work-life balance all the time. People say, "I have a good job, and I don't want to mess anything up for myself politically. I'm viewed as a key person, so I'll give up my nights and weekends, even though I hate it." What they don't see is that if they occasionally insisted on some time off to have a life, they'd gain credibility, not lose it.

Building Your Inner-Power Muscles
The next step has everything to do with giving up the idea "I'll do whatever I need to do at work to be liked" and moving toward, "There's no point in spending as much energy and as many hours as I do at work, if I can't be myself." That's a big step, no, a huge one. It can be terrifying. But ask any leader you admire, and you'll hear the same thing; every one of them has done it. Some have crashed and burned in the process, making tough decisions and sharing difficult news and angering people along the way. Not surprisingly, people who have cultivated their personal power tend to bounce back. So will you.

Here's another good thing to know about building your power from the inside out: It gets easier the more you do it. You might say that speaking from your gut is like singing from your diaphragm—the more you practice it, the stronger the muscle grows. One of these days, when you're way more confident than you are right now, a younger person will ask "Gosh, how did you get to be so confident?" Try to resist the temptation to say, "I had a PowerPoint deck showing 10 simple tips for becoming more powerful."

Liz Ryan is an expert on the new-millennium workplace and a former Fortune 500 HR executive.

Choose To Be Happy

WHAT makes people happy?

First, having a purpose – which means doing something in your life that has meaning for you, whether it is building a better company, raising happy children or helping to make the world a better place.

Second, having hope – which means you have something to look forward to. Even if your current circumstances are difficult, if you have hope that your effort will be rewarded and that things will improve, you can find happiness.

Happy people accept themselves as they are, so they have peace of mind.

And yes, last but not least, having someone to love.

It is your decision

Happiness is no accident – it is something we choose, says Andrew Matthews, international speaker and author of motivation and personal development classics, Being Happy! and Follow Your Heart.

He says: “Happy people make a decision to be happy in spite of their problems.

“They concentrate on what they have – not on what is missing. They count their blessings. They take maximum responsibility for their life and for their mistakes. They don’t blame others.”

Most importantly, he points out, happy people are more flexible. “They are able to say, ‘If my plane is early, I’m happy. If my plane is late, I’m happy.’

“Their state of mind is determined by their own thoughts, not by outside circumstances.”

Sounds utopian? Not if you can relate this philosophy to the corporate environment. And human resource (HR) departments can help in cultivating a happy people culture.

Says Matthews: “Encourage employees to develop life skills, not just work skills. Encourage healthy working relationships. Encourage honesty in the workplace, and encourage workers to speak openly. Make employees feel appreciated.”

HR can help to build a culture of happy people by introducing principles based on the Being Happy philosophy, he says.

"This can include helping staff to understand how their beliefs affect their experience, how attitudes impact relationships and how communication within an organisation improves as a result of improving how we see things."

Being Happy is infectious

Often, employers wonder if the Being Happy philosophy works in the corporate environment and what its effects are.

Matthews highlights the benefits: “Employees feel more fulfilled. They set personal and professional goals.

“They realise that they do their best not to please their boss, but to make themselves happier. They take responsibility and blame other people less. Companies retain their employees.”

It works by providing employees, managers and executives with the choice and skills to experience work in a happier way, he adds.

However, he admits that though it sounds fairly simple and practical, there are challenges that employers have to deal with.

He says: “One challenge HR may face while introducing the Being Happy culture within an organisation is ‘pushback’ from those who don’t understand the philosophy or value it.

“People tend to resist change. They say, ‘I’m OK. It’s my boss who needs to change.’ Some say, ‘There’s nothing wrong with my attitude.’

“Many people postpone happiness. For example, they say, ‘I’ll be happy when I get a pay rise” or ‘I’ll be happy when that stupid secretary is transferred to another department.’

“Pushback can be resistance simply to the unknown.”

If a HR practitioner experiences this when implementing the Being Happy philosophy, asking better questions will help identify the aspects of the process that are causing concern.

“Being Happy is not focused on fixing a short-term problem or issue. Being Happy is about living life and being excited about the life that we experience.”

Attitude counts

It is all in the attitude, says Matthews.

“I’ll give you an example. Two women turn 50. Mary says, ‘My life is over!’

“Julie says, ‘My life has just begun.’

“Who will be happier? Who will be more successful?”

The laws of happiness and success are like the laws of gravity. They are the same for everyone.

If you continue to see yourself as successful and keep on producing quality work, you will succeed, he concludes.

“See yourself as happy, look for good things in life and the people around you, and you will become happier.”

– Source: Straits Times/Asia News Network

Article contributed by author and international speaker Andrew Matthews.