Special Note: When this post went live, some of the links were not working.  That has now been corrected.  All links are working properly.

I am very excited to announce the release of 2 new books I’ve compiled this summer!

The first is a collection of wisdom for every professional entitled: Wisdom@Work – Insights for 21st Century Worklife Success. Get more info. or order – click here: https://www.createspace.com/3456926

The second is The 1% Edge – Strategies to Increase Your Management Effectiveness. There are 2 releases here. One is the handbook and the other is the workbook counterpart which is the expanded version with a series of coaching questions for each. The handbook is available now. To learn more or buy – click here: https://www.createspace.com/3467099

With this new announcement also comes sharing an exciting change related to this blog. This blog will now be replaced with a new blog related to the new book – The 1% Edge. It will serve as the interactive counterpart to the book for supporting information and a place/forum for purchasers of the book to share experiences and best practices as they apply the principles of the book – in essense to build a community of managers to support their professional efforts.

The blog is open to everyone: www.the1percentedge.blogspot.com.

Even if you’re not a manager with a title, it will additionally have tips to help you gain your 1% edge for career management success!

This blog will be ending in the next few months.

Again:

For practical coaching, tips, advice for career and management success visit: www.the1percentedge.blogspot.com

For commentary on currents news and trends related to leadership, career, and management – go to

www.leadership-careerandmanagement.blogspot.com

To your success!

JoAnn

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Start Where You Can

This success tip impacts your personal productivity, your success as a manager,  and the overall building of a successful career.

I have the great opportunity to meet people from all over the country. In many of my seminars ideas and solutions are presented that each person has the opportunity to take back to their organization for implementation.

At the beginning of each seminar I make the point that for some, it will take courage to try to implement something they’ve learned.

And then…there is the thought, “ Well what about this or that….”  My response?…”For the moment, just focus on what you can influence or control.”

For many of us in challenging work environments, who work in company cultures that are not ideal, it’s easy to get distracted by all that is not working or the many things that are wrong.

In any environment, to build professional success the key is to start where you can and maintain strategic focus. Direct your focus and all of your personal resources on the areas in which you do have influence and/or control.

In fact, check out Webster’s definition of control:
Control – to exercise restraining or directing influence over : regulate – to have power over : rule

I believe there is a lot of time and energy wasted giving attention to situations and circumstances that we may not be able to do anything about for the time being. So the key is  – focus…and maintain your focus on that which you can control and/or influence.

Power Tip: Make your piece of the world great!  Start with what’s happening at your desk. Then if you’re a manager, your team, your department, etc.

Key point: Perhaps what is happening in our piece of the world is good or only adequate, because our critical resources, (time, attention, motivation, energy) bleeds into things that will suck up those valuable resources all to no benefit.

Coaching Tip: Increase your awareness regarding what you give your energy to….any adjustments need to be made?

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I love quotes!  I have since I was young. I would collect them, make collages of them, and put them on hand made cards for my friends.  Whether it’s a success saying or a success quotation – it’s a bite-size form of coaching. It’s powerful information and inspiration in a bite.

Here’s a Management Success Tip: Include quotes in your team culture.

Why? Consider what quotes do…

1. Inspire = motivate

2. Direct

3. Instruct

4. Feed our spirit

5. Stimulate our thinking

…just to name a few and I’m sure you can think of more.

How powerful is it to have just a few words carry so much weight and do so much good! And you know the funny thing?…a new social media phenomena creates a context for that to regularly occur – Twitter.

I am going to be sharing my favorite quotes there, so if you’re not following me…do so!  I promise I will not bother you with my personal, inane activities.  What I will do is pass on quotes and information that are worth your time and support you in developing the quality life you desire to have.  Twitter Web Site

To start, here are a few of my favorites and how they impact me:

Category: Wise & Instructive

Humphrey Bogart once said: “Enjoy the moments, kid, because in the end they add up to a life.”

Coaching point: Live in the moment.  Don’t waste your time dwelling on the past or too much anticipating the future.  Make the most of now…each now adds up to a life.

Category: Inspirational

“I have missed more than 9,000 shots in my career. I have lost almost 300 games. On 26 occasions I have been entrusted to take the game winning shot…and I missed. I have failed over and over and over again in my life. And that’s precisely why I succeed.” Michael Jordan, American Basketball Player

Coaching point: go after it, plan on loosing a lot to be a winner.

Category: Motivational

“Go big or go home.” Donald Trump

Coaching point: give it all ya got!

These 3 hit me in so many ways….all in just a few words.  Join me on Twitter for a regular does of these Power Qutoes!

Access Twitter Here

Remember the success tip...Use quotes in your team culture and to coach yourself

To your success!  JoAnn

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Related to performance success, this is essential and I want to recommend a method that is a twist on the more traditional ways of approaching this.

To follow is a link to an assessment tool called – Annual Portfolio Evaluation.  What is unique about this assessment approach is the human part of the equation commonly known as our strengths and weaknesses is now reframed as an ASSEST OR LIABILITY, which is the language used on a company balance sheet and other company resources.

I think that this is the key advantage to using this approach.  You and those you use this with can feel a greater sense of responsibility to what you can contribute, in essence the value you and members of your team bring to an organization.  Framing it this way vs. “strength and weakness,” adds a whole new dimension to working in the context of human resource. In fact many use the word human capital vs. human resource.

This also can be used in developing a Personal Development Plan or integrating the information into any development program currently being used in any organization.

Conversely, there is something called a “liability.”  A liability is explained in Websters a follows:
3 : one that acts as a disadvantage : drawback.

This is a useful way of helping somone see that what would otherwise be considered a weakness is actually a cost.  The message is stronger – that behavior or lack of skill is costing you and the company.  There is a cost. As somone who runs my own firm, I am keenly aware of what weaknesses I have and how they tangibly translate into costing me money. Each employee needs to constructively feel that on some level.

This message and experience is much stronger than, “you’ve got a weakness.”

I recommend you download the free assessment sheet above and give it a whirl.  Got any questions? Don’t hesitate to contact me at joann@joanncorley.com

To your success! JoAnn

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It’s been consistently reported that many employees don’t feel valued and appreciated.  Please know that does impact their ability to really give their best. Only the unique few will do their best inspite of the absence of appropriate thank yous.  And I believe, at some point, that won’t go on forever.

One manager I met in one of my pubic seminars shared that she had written 100+ hand written notes to her whole department!  Wow….what does that say about her besides the fact that she has a strong writing hand?  I’m sure you could come up with a constructive list.

The irony?  Companies spend thousands and some millions on employee incentive, reward and recognition programs.  Yet a simple “thank you” cost absolutely nothing!

Coaching Questions: Does every member of your team feel appreicated?  When is the last time you gave a heart-felt thank you to members of your staff?

One cool idea: One company due to extended work hours, sent thank you gifts to the families of those working all those long hours.

Source: 1001 Ways to Reward Employees You can get a discounted version at Amazon by clicking the title link.
TSUWAEE7ADR5

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Now before you go feeling overwhelmed, consider coaching someone to be initially a shift in thinking.  Coaching is really about the way you relate to someone in a strategic way.  It means that discussions are more purposeful and targeted.

There has been much written about blocks to manager allow themselves to “take on coaching” in their professional development.  That view makes it appear and feel like a burden.

For now, let’s start here with this high-impact principle: Coaching is not necessarily something you do, but who you are.

So in the context of let’s say adding coaching to your regular management practices it can be seen simply as having regular conversations and being consistent:

Here’s a useful explanation from the management blog, The Performance Improvement:

“The manager who communicates regularly that he needs noticeably improved performance from his directs and then provides guidance on how to do so and then measures their progress is going to noticeably outperform the manager who does not.

Their point is that the regularity of these conversations and the focus on specific performance outcomes are what bring about change. When everyone makes coaching a “small, habitual routine,” it will become part of the culture of the organization. (and…these are my words…a part of the relating rapport between the manager and team member…and THIS is the most important piece to effective management).

I believe that at that point it doesn’t have to be called “coaching” anymore; it’s just something that happens as part of brief, weekly conversations between managers and their direct reports for the purpose of improving performance and achieving the organization’s strategic goals.”

This is a good explanation. There are other points made in that post that are worth a read, so here is the link: The Performance Improvement

Coaching Tip: Evaluate the functions of coaching in your current management style. What is your attitude around this function or style.  What could use improvement? Do your team members feel “coached?”  What are the qualities of an effective coach?

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One of the key competencies to management success is the ability to manage not only individuals, but the collective team. Some call it “team work management.” Other descriptions include team performance management or team work management. No matter what you call it…the bottom line is it does impact a company’s bottom line! Team success equals a company success.

I like the phrase, “team work management,” which I saw in an article on this topic. A link to the complete article is included at the end of this post.

For this post, I wanted to draw attention to it’s definition and some of the components mentioned in the article that are necessary for successful team performance management.

Please note – this is a skill!!…and an absolutely necessary skill to be a competent and complete manager.

Team management is in essence the optimization of manpower to attain results. Individuals with complimentary skills together form teams, which (hopefully in synergy) strive to attain specific results. Though the priorities might be different for different business entities the end result of team management would always be to increase the profitability of the organization.

I’m going to share the 4 core components included in the article and add comments.  Here they are:

1.  Clarity of vision – I call this going from “me to we.”  Each team member has a conscious and unconscious agenda that drives how they behave within the group and how they prioritize their work.  I have a cool “team building in a box” exercise in my workshops that helps team members make the critical shift from me to we.  This is one of the positive elements of group think.

2.  Selecting the right personnel – Better, targeted hiring is essential to a productive team. To do so,  are you clear on what qualities and skills are necessary for the success of each role within the team, which then directly impacts the success of the team?

This philosophy by the way is a management best practice and is researched and discussed in the book “Good to Great.”  This book is a must read for every management professional.  Don’t have it in your library? – you can get it here: Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap… and Others Don’t

3. Holistic approach – see the team in the context of the entire company and how it is specifically contributing to key company objectives. The article terms it this way, “drive the various departments as a single unit. There will be scores of departments in organizations and to attain their proposed objectives these units need to work in tandem by overlooking the boundaries to ensure better coordination and results.” This of course requires great collaboration between the leaders of these departments.

4.Team accountability – as a compliment to touching base one-on-one with individual members, creating ongoing  team and public accountability in the context of team goal setting and reporting meetings is the bow that wraps all the other components together and supercharges productivity.

A key reason for why effective team management needs to be apart of every managers capabilities portfolio can be found in this 2 minute lesson from Management-in-Minutes – entitled “Team Management – The Power of the Group,” which you can  access here.

Finally, obviously this post does not exhaust the topic, but serves as a great springboard for personal assessment and an initial checklist.

Coaching Tip: Where are you at with your knowledge in this area and what practices do you have in place that supports these productivity components?

Also, you may want to have someone come in and springboard your team synergy with some team facilitation.  I am happy to do that as well. Feel free to contact me if you wish to discuss – joann@joanncorley.com

Here is the link to the full article from which this post was sourced.
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