17 Dec
PeopleTek Coaching Communication, Leadership

Better People, Better Employees

 “Everything we do is personal and emotionally driven. If you can help people feel competent, significant, and appreciated, you are fulfilling their basic human desires, and they become happier and more productive.”
–Edgar Papke, Leadership Psychologist and author.

Bottom line, employee engagement is critical for growth and success, yet per a Gallop Poll, we are experiencing an “engagement crisis” where only 13% of employees are truly engaged. That means 87% are emotionally detached, with passion, creativity and enthusiasm severely lacking, all negatively impacting results.

So how can you make your employees feel better?

Realistically assess daily interactions. Are dignity and respect a “given”? Are ideas and skills valued?

Communicate. Ask for input, truly listen, and acknowledge what you’ve heard. (That doesn’t necessarily mean you agree).

Role definition. Clearly define roles and expectations and honor contributions.

Create time for learning. Personal development needs to be budgeted and time allotted to make it happen.

Cultural evolution. Senior leaders supporting a healthy work environment will reap the most rewards.

As a leader do you ensure your staff is emotionally connected with their work? Do you understand and leverage their passion and skills hence fueling enthusiasm and growth?

What are you doing to increase employee engagement and help your company thrive? Could you do more?

PeopleTek’s Leadership Journey – The Gift That Keeps On Giving!
(a quote shared by a recent journey graduate)

QwikTip and QwikCoach

QwikTips Powered by e-Coach – Develop Yourself!

And for those with a QwikCoach license, refresh your existing skills and acquire new skills by visiting the QwikTips library for leadership ideas and techniques.

If you don’t have QwikCoach, it’s an excellent resource for growing your leadership skills remotely that you should consider.

Learn More About QwikCoach

Help turn your leadership knowledge into leadership action!

10 Dec
PeopleTek Coaching Leadership

The Big 5

Many of us are familiar with self-assessment tools that increase our awareness for our preferences and our basic styles for interacting with others and achieving results.

Some of the most common include Myers-Briggs, DiSC, Communication, and Emotional Intelligence.

Another one that may interest you is “The Big 5″ which describe basic traits and are considered by some to be the building block of our personalities. (There are many free assessments available online.)

Think of the word “OCEAN” to remember the components of The Big 5.

  1. Openness – This trait takes into account imagination, insight, and having a broad range of interests. High scorers tend to be original, creative, curious, and complex; Low scorers tend to be conventional, down to earth, with narrow interests, and not especially creative.
  2. Conscientiousness – Common elements include high levels of thoughtfulness, with good impulse control and goal-directed behaviors. High scorers tend to be reliable, well-organized, self-disciplined, and careful; Low scorers tend to be unorganized, and may be viewed as undependable and negligent.
  3. Extroversion – Characteristics are associated with excitability, sociability, talkativeness, assertiveness and high amounts of emotional expressiveness. High scorers tend to be friendly, fun loving, and talkative; Low scorers tend to be introverted, reserved, inhibited, and quiet.
  4. Agreeableness – This includes dimensions such as trust, altruism, kindness, affection, and other prosocial behaviors. High scorers tend to be good-natured, sympathetic, forgiving, and courteous; Low scorers tend to be critical, rude, harsh, and callous.
  5. Neuroticism – Individuals high in this trait tend to experience emotional instability, anxiety, moodiness, irritability, and sadness. High scorers tend to be nervous, high-strung, insecure, and worriers; Low scorers tend to be calm, relaxed, secure, and hardy.

Your results will be impacted by situational variables and plotted on a scale having a range of extremes. This is only one of many tools that increase awareness levels with the ability to enhance levels of influence and build stronger relationships.

Try it out and let us know what you think about your results!

PeopleTek’s Leadership Journey – The Gift That Keeps On Giving!
(a quote shared by a recent journey graduate)

QwikTip and QwikCoach

QwikTips Powered by e-Coach – Develop Yourself!

And for those with a QwikCoach license, refresh your existing skills and acquire new skills by visiting the QwikTips library for leadership ideas and techniques.

If you don’t have QwikCoach, it’s an excellent resource for growing your leadership skills remotely that you should consider.

Learn More About QwikCoach

Help turn your leadership knowledge into leadership action!

03 Dec
PeopleTek Coaching Leadership

Motivate!

Some say that motivation is only “self-inflicted,” but as leaders we can certainly lend assistance to motivate others and improve results.

Tony Jeary, strategist, adviser, and author, provides the following 6 tips:

  1. Invest your time in your team.
    • Understanding personal goals, values and aspirations will help foster loyal and motivated team members.
  2. Communicate to others as they wish to be communicated to. 
    • We’ve stated before that communicating in a style understood by the recipient is a win-win situation.
  3. Define how each person fits within the group.
    • Understanding, appreciating, and leveraging individual strengths builds relationships, makes the team stronger, with results more readily attained.
  4. Measure progress.
    • Make sure your team knows what’s expected of them; reward success, discuss obstacles, and provide regular feedback (minimally monthly).
  5. Teach your people how to win. 
    • Align expectations, show that you care about individual developmental needs/wants, and how achieving goals impacts the team and the person.
  6. Do favors in advance.
    • This is really about building trust and relationships, and knowing that you can be counted on, and have the ability to count others.

As a leader, what you do on a daily basis impacts your team? Providing a clear vision, connecting emotionally with each team member, and sharing your passion for success will also help motivate others.

What motivating behavior is most effective for you?

PeopleTek’s Leadership Journey – The Gift That Keeps On Giving!
(a quote shared by a recent journey graduate)

QwikTip and QwikCoach

QwikTips Powered by e-Coach – Develop Others and Be A Better Leader

And for those with a QwikCoach license, refresh your existing skills and acquire new skills by visiting the QwikTips library for leadership ideas and techniques.

If you don’t have QwikCoach, it’s an excellent resource for growing your leadership skills remotely that you should consider.

Learn More About QwikCoach

Help turn your leadership knowledge into leadership action!

25 Nov
photo of Thank You medal; reward the positive
PeopleTek Coaching Communication

Have an Attitude of Gratitude This Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving to those in the U.S.!

The holiday season is wonderful, chaotic, and often stressful. Sometimes this takes a toll on us and we forget to show appreciation and be thankful for those in our personal and professional lives.

Take a moment to reflect on the positive and encourage others to do the same:

  • Do you have good work and personal relationships?
  • Are you healthy? Is your family healthy?
  • Are you in a position to influence others and add value?
  • Are you appreciated by others?
  • Are you appreciative of those you interact with? Do you let them know that?

“Of all the “attitudes” we can acquire, surely the attitude of gratitude is the most important and by far the most life-changing.”
–Zig Ziglar

“Develop an attitude of gratitude, and give thanks for everything that happens to you, knowing that every step forward is a step toward achieving something bigger and better than your current situation.”
–Brian Tracy

If you’ve been fortunate enough to have things go well for you, consider your friends, family or co-workers that may not have been as fortunate. Let others know you appreciate them.

Wishing you a happy and safe holiday season with hopes that it’s filled with “attitudes of gratitude”!

19 Nov
PeopleTek Coaching Communication, Leadership

Remote Leadership Tips

Leadership has taken on new challenges with the need to lead not only those that are in the same location, but to effective manage time zone differences, have an understanding (and appreciation) of cultural differences, and keep onsite and remote team members engaged, informed, and productive.

Global Workplace Analytics conducted a survey and summarized the following trends for working remotely:

  • The non self-employed working population has grown by 103% since 2005 and 6.5% in 2014.
  • 3.7 million employees (2.5% of the workforce) now work from home at least half the time.
  • 50% of the US workforce holds a job that is compatible with at least partial telework and approximately 20-
  • 25% of the workforce teleworks at some frequency.
  • Fortune 1000 companies around the globe are entirely revamping their space around the fact that employees are already mobile. Studies repeatedly show they are not at their desk 50-60% of the time.

Leadership has challenges, and it becomes even more challenging when leading from a distance.

What does this mean to you as a leader?

As a leader, regardless of where your staff is located, common goals must be clearly understood, team members must value one another’s strengths, roles and expectations must be clearly defined, with communication skills continually honed.

  • Don’t communicate just the bare minimum.
    • Share what is expected of each individual and each location and include the “big picture” and desired results. Ensure all interactions end with closure. This means that everyone involved knows who is going to do what when.
  • Become tech-savvy.
    • Utilize the latest technology to keep in touch and better position your team to build relationships, synergy, and become a high performing team.
  • Check in regularly with each team member.
    • You’ll find that some are happy to hear from you only if you/they need something, where others may want more frequent contact (weekly if not daily).
  • Revisit the team goals and objectives.
    • Use “here’s where we are” statements, ask questions, and invite everyone to share their opinion and thoughts about the progress that is being made.
  • Ask your direct reports what they’d like to hear about and ask for their feedback as to whether you are keeping them adequately informed.
  • Create a checklist detailing what information needs to go to whom.
    • Determine how the team will work together. What are the dependencies?
    • Expect conflict and encourage healthy differences.
    • Establish best practices; set and communicate expectations and reward and recognize accordingly. (This could include a list of characteristics associated with high-performing teams, and development planning to address any gaps).
    • Leverage email to communicate general information; use your checklist to aid with identifying whether the entire team needs to be in the loop or not. When in doubt, over-communicate.

Support and “sell” your team! Keep your boss and other leaders informed of your teams’ accomplishments and successes! Your team members may not be onsite, but their presence and value must be known.

QwikTip and QwikCoach

QwikTips Powered by e-Coach – Develop Others and Be A Better Leader

And for those with a QwikCoach license, refresh your existing skills and acquire new skills by visiting the QwikTips library for leadership ideas and techniques.

If you don’t have QwikCoach, it’s an excellent resource for growing your leadership skills remotely that you should consider.

Learn More About QwikCoach

Help turn your leadership knowledge into leadership action!

05 Nov
PeopleTek Coaching Leadership, Success

The Soft Stuff is the Hard Stuff

Geoff Colvin wrote in Fortune magazine (October 28, 2013) “The Soft Stuff Is The Hard Stuff.” The premise? That skills can be developed, and are certainly required to achieve success, but it’s each individuals personal traits that truly make the difference.

Can a person be inspirational? Does a person have global sensibility? That’s the hardest thing to find.
—Anand Mahindra

What type of talent are you looking for? What will it take to round out your organization to build bench-strength and promote growth? On the flip-side, what are you doing to control attrition? Are people truly the most valuable asset you have? Does your staff believe that to be true?

The Soft Stuff Is The Hard Stuff

Integrity, empowerment, trust, and energy were identified as key components for retaining talent at Mahindra, and there was one more: developing people. Mahindra’s philosophy is to “develop talent from within and provide global exposure” so they are better positioned to compete, and succeed, in a global marketplace.

We have always believed that ethics and good governance coupled with vision and grit are fundamental to being a successful business, and our leadership team embodies these beliefs.

With more than 155,000 employees in over 100 countries, they demand performance, but provide freedom and opportunity for growth, they support innovation and risk taking, and they will not compromise on ethical business standards.

They also “value individual dignity, uphold the right to express disagreement and respect the time and efforts of others. Through our actions, we will nurture fairness, trust, and transparency”.

How highly valued are integrity and dignity in your organization? Is development planning meaningful? Are personal traits viewed as a priority? Don’t ignore the “soft stuff”!

QwikTip and QwikCoach

QwikTips Powered by e-Coach – Getting Everyone On-board

And for those with a QwikCoach license, refresh your existing skills and acquire new skills by visiting the QwikTips library for leadership ideas and techniques.

If you don’t have QwikCoach, it’s an excellent resource for growing your leadership skills remotely that you should consider.

Learn More About QwikCoach

Help turn your leadership knowledge into leadership action!

29 Oct
PeopleTek Coaching Leadership

Learn to Say No

We all want to learn and succeed, our pace never slows down, we know we can juggle and accomplish amazing things, and because of this, we’re sometimes guilty of over committing.

So what could we do? We need to learn to say no.

To be truly successful:

  • We need to have balance.
  • We need to set boundaries.
  • We need to have clear priorities.
  • We must never compromise our ability to deliver high-quality work.
  • We must be able to say “no.”

The Consequences For Saying Yes

Saying “no” is difficult for many of us, but this simple word must be incorporated into our vocabulary. We need to understand why it’s difficult for us, and the ramifications for not saying no.

There’s a need to realistically assess if other equally important tasks may be negatively impacted if you say “yes”, and you must consider how many more work hours you’re willing to commit to. (Or how many additional hours you’re willing to be away from our family/personal life).

Learn to Say No

When someone makes a request of your time you can counter-offer: I’d love to support that initiative; can you look at my current workload and help assess what could be reassigned elsewhere or postponed?

If necessary, make sure your boss understands your workload and ask them to help you assign priorities. What falls to the bottom will need to be reassigned, or the level of commitment and due date changed.

If someone wants your time now, learn to say “now is not a good time,” and then respond with a few times that are good. Or say “If it must be now, I can give you 5 minutes,” and then set a date and time for a more in-depth discussion.

Time Mastery

Have a plan in place to handle distractions and interruptions, and to master your time.

1. Know how to prioritize, be willing to re-prioritize, and commit to your decisions
2. Set boundaries based on your priorities and say no to those outside your boundaries
3. Be open and flexible, but realistic
4. Practice your responses!

Be true to yourself and your priorities and don’t compromise quality. Remember that over-using a strength (our desire to achieve), could result in a weakness, and it will likely increase stress levels!

QwikTip and QwikCoach

QwikTips Powered by e-Coach – Knock ’em Dead!

And for those with a QwikCoach license, refresh your existing skills and acquire new skills by visiting the QwikTips library for leadership ideas and techniques.

If you don’t have QwikCoach, it’s an excellent resource for growing your leadership skills remotely that you should consider.

Learn More About QwikCoach

Help turn your leadership knowledge into leadership action!

22 Oct
PeopleTek Coaching Change, Communication, Leadership

Action Learning

We’re pretty sure you’ve heard the quip that learning never stops. What about that there’s a need for ongoing development regardless of your current job or desired career?

Effective and successful leaders (remember, we’re all leaders) adopt the mindset of being committed to continual learning. This better positions them to manage, communicate and lead through change, address problems and issues, make informed and timely decisions, and more strategically influence their team/organization.

Continual and Action Learning

“For an organization to survive, its rate of learning must be at least equal to the rate of change in its external environment.”

–Professor Reg Revans

Professor Reg Revans (1907-2003), was an Olympian, physicist, professor, author, and management consultant who pioneered action learning.

He created a formula: L = P + Q (learning = programmed knowledge + questioning insight)

The scope for action learning is limitless; it could address work load management, technical skills, soft skills, “people” problems, process issues, the handling of difficult situations, or simply being an advocate for enabling and empowering people to learn with, and from, each other.

One of Professor Revans’ beliefs was that the key to improving performance was not exclusive to the thoughts/opinions of ‘experts’, but that practitioners must also have a say. It requires that each team member not only study their own actions, experiences, and behaviors, but also the actions of those they interact with. Action learning frequently includes having a coach who is responsible for promoting and facilitating new learnings, and encourages and helps the team become self-managing.

Once again, we’re circling back to the need for awareness (of self and others); we need to identify and leverage individual and organizational strengths, and we need to address/minimize and develop any gaps that impede progress, profits, products, or services.

Are you committed to action learning? Have strengths and gaps been assessed, and what development needs have you identified for your organization to address prior to year end?

QwikTip & QwikCoach

QwikTips Powered by e-Coach – Planning and Doing Click for Tips

And for those with a QwikCoach license, refresh your existing skills and acquire new skills by visiting the QwikTips library for leadership ideas and techniques.

If you don’t have QwikCoach, it’s an excellent resource for growing your leadership skills remotely that you should consider.

Help turn your leadership knowledge into leadership action!

Learn More About QwikCoach

15 Oct
PeopleTek Coaching Leadership

21 Bad Habits

Bad habits – we all have them. What’s key is that we’re aware of them, and make efforts to minimize or eliminate them.

“One of the greatest mistakes of successful people is the assumption ‘I behave this way, and I achieve results. Therefore I must be achieving results because I behave this way.’ This belief is sometimes true but not across the board.”
–Marshall Goldsmith

21 Bad Habits

Marshall Goldsmith, a renowned “Business Thinker” and author, identified the following 21 bad habits that challenge leadership success.

  1. Winning too much: the need to win at all costs and in all situations-when it matters, when it doesn’t, and when it is beside the point.
  2. Adding too much value: the overwhelming desire to add our two cents to every discussion.
  3. Passing judgment: the need to rate others and impose our standards on them.
  4. Making destructive comments: needless sarcasm and cutting remarks that we think make us sound sharp and witty.
  5. Starting with “No,” “But,” or “However”: The overuse of these negative qualifiers which secretly say to everyone, “I’m right. You’re wrong.”
  6. Telling the world how smart we are: The need to show people we’re smarter than they think we are.
  7. Speaking when angry: Using emotional volatility as a management tool.
  8. Negativity, or “Let me explain why that won’t work”: The need to share our negative thoughts even when we weren’t asked.
  9. Withholding information: The refusal to share information in order to maintain an advantage over others.
  10. Failing to give proper recognition: The inability to praise and reward.
  11. Claiming credit that we don’t deserve: The most annoying way to overestimate our contribution to any success.
  12. Making excuses: The need to reposition our annoying behavior as a permanent fixture so people excuse us for it.
  13. Clinging to the past: The need to deflect blame away from ourselves and onto events and people from our past; a subset of blaming everyone else.
  14. Playing favorites: Failing to see that we are treating someone unfairly.
  15. Refusing to express regret: The inability to take responsibility for our actions, admit we’re wrong, or recognize how our actions affect others.
  16. Not listening: The most passive-aggressive form of disrespect for colleagues.
  17. Failing to express gratitude: The most basic form of bad manners.
  18. Punishing the messenger: The misguided need to attach the innocent who are usually trying to help us.
  19. Passing the buck: The need to blame everyone but ourselves.
  20. An excessive need to be “me”: Exalting our faults as virtues simply because they’re who we are.
  21. Goal obsession: Doggedly pursuing tasks or goals instead of paying attention to relationships or the personal needs of others.

If you’re like us, when you read through the list you either identified with the bad habit, or recognized the behavior in a fellow co-worker, client, or business partner. You can only change you; what bad habit do you no longer want to “own”?

Announcements

QwikTips Powered by e-Coach – Want To Do A Better Job Of Developing Yourself?

And for those with a QwikCoach license, refresh your existing skills and acquire new skills by visiting the QwikTips library for leadership ideas and techniques. If you don’t have QwikCoach, it’s an excellent resource for growing your leadership skills remotely that you should consider.

Learn More About QwikCoach

Help turn your leadership knowledge into leadership action!

08 Oct
PeopleTek Coaching Leadership

Millennials as Leaders

Leadership has evolved over the years and continues to do so. We’ve shared that the dictatorial style is a thing of the past. Effective leadership now focuses on individual and team development, increasing awareness, leveraging strengths, promoting camaraderie, and building trust which ultimately grows the bottom line.

Leadership styles are likely to change again as the “millennials” thrive and assume leadership roles.

Millennials as Leaders

Dan Schawbel, founder of WorkplaceTrends.com shares “Millennials want to help others succeed, which contradicts the stereotype that millennials are narcissistic.” In fact, nearly 50 percent of the millennials surveyed say that want to become leaders so they can “empower others to succeed“, with 5 percent saying that want to be a leader for the money, and 1 percent because of the power the title provides.

Millennials also say they want to do “meaningful” work, and “challenge and inspire others to have a sense of purpose.” Sounds pretty healthy to us!

Below are quotes that inspired some millennials (excerpts from Fortune Oct.1, 2015):

You don’t fail until you stop trying.
–Charles Falzone

Think about your actions.
–Taylor Swift

There are a few people that will change your life forever. Find those people.
–Kayvon Beykpour

Focus on one thing and do that really, really well.
–Sean Aggarwal

Relationships matter.
–Sheryl Sandberg

Never allow a person to tell you no who doesn’t have the power to say yes.
–Eleanor Roosevelt

Prioritize. Figure out the few key things that are most important in your role for you to have an impact.
–Melanie Whelan

Listen more and talk less.
–Julian Steinberg

Stop trying to please everyone.
–Julia Hartz

Whether you’re a millennial leader, or a more “mature” leader, what leadership quote inspired you? One of ours is “Without continual growth and progress, such words as improvement, achievement, and success have no meaning.” -Benjamin Franklin

QwikTip and QwikCoach

QwikTips Powered by e-Coach – Want To Be A Better Leader? Develop Others!

And for those with a QwikCoach license, refresh your existing skills and acquire new skills by visiting the QwikTips library for leadership ideas and techniques.

If you don’t have QwikCoach, it’s an excellent resource for growing your leadership skills remotely that you should consider.

Learn More About QwikCoach

Help turn your leadership knowledge into leadership action!

1 2 3 … 6