SELF IMPROVEMENT AND MOTIVATION

SSo I guess the first thing to address is that not everyone feels the same way about a particular leader; one who may be "bad" for you may be wonderful for another. We all have different needs/motivations/aspirations/personalities and strengths; we all perform at our best under a variety of circumstances or influences. Many people have stated to me on other articles that a good leader will take everyone's differences into account when they are looking at their team and adopt an approach appropriate to that team member to ensure the best results for the team member, the team and ultimately the business. I also believe that the one in charge of assigning a team member to a leader, or visa versa, should take into account whether they are a good fit to bring the best out in each other. There's no doubt what works for me may not work for you. I have read so many times "hire good people and let them get on with it" - this approach definitely works for me. If I am ...

48 percent of managerial promotions fail within the first 18 months - according to various studies, including Harvard Business Review. Because there is often no graceful way to take back a promotion, managers continue in their capacity - causing good people to become unproductive or leave. Such failures are unreported and undocumented for various reasons. The main and subtle reason for failures is the following. When I when for a holiday to the US, I found driving on the right unnatural. It is not the habit, it is the vision with the focus on the left side of the car rather than the right one. I had the same feeling when I was first promoted to management. It was no longer what I could do, but what my team could do. Best employees step forward to fix the problems. Best leaders step backward to let their team find problems and fix it. That step backward feels so unnatural at first. When you promote someone into management, you need to help them to learn that step backward. Teach the new...

When was the last time you reviewed your onboarding process for new hires? It turns out that onboarding can make all the difference between a new employee’s success and him/her leaving the job prematurely. There are solid statistics to back this up: The average company loses 1 in 6 new hires within the first three months. (Not to mention the costs of a new hire – those can be significant.) Newly hired employees are 58% more likely to be with the company three years later if they had completed a structured onboarding process. This is based on my understanding and observations with some of my clients. So how to make it happen? What can we do differently? Simple or extravagant? Understanding the Generation you are employing! To make this easier for you, we have gathered six tips that will help you to optimise your onboarding process: 1. Start before the new employee sets foot in the door Your new hires await their first day excitedly and are anxious to learn as much as possible about thei...

It’s absolutely true, listening is an art. And sadly, it has become a lost art. Few actually do it well. It would seem to be a pretty simple concept, but there are several deterrents that get in the way. Many of us are guilty of starting a conversation and putting a thought or question out there. Instead of giving the other individual time to formulate a response, we immediately re-phrase the question or remark and answer it ourselves. In other words, we don’t give ourselves a chance to listen since we never stop talking. The second reason is that even when we stop and wait for a response from the other person, we often don’t hear, or worse, comprehend, what they say because we are so busy formulating our reply to what we assume they will say. We want to be perceived as quick witted and always prepared with a snappy comeback to any question or comment.  The problem with all of this is that we are missing so much vital and crucial information.  I m...

For most of us, life’s challenges are small, but still demanding. Maybe your budget is out of balance and your finances are rocky, or business is bad. Maybe you have a tough relationship with your in-laws or your team members. Maybe you tried that new business venture and failed to get any new clients out of the gate. Take the time to develop your natural resilience by focusing on these key factors.        1. Maintain a "basic body" budget.   Some of the most obvious steps in sustaining a healthy body budget are getting enough sleep, eating well and exercising. Think of a good night’s sleep, a nutritional meal or a workout as a generous deposit in your account.           2. Become immune to rejection.   Before you hear one yes, you’re going to hear a lot of no’s. Letting all that rejection slide off your back will help you keep moving forward when times get tough.           3. Have courage.   Realize th...

I am so impressed by people who help job seekers on LinkedIn by putting likes and comments on their posts who help others despite struggling with their own difficulties who try to see the positives in everyone they meet who are the sunshine for others in negative situations who treat everyone with respect, not just those they need to impress who maintain integrity and honesty regardless of the pressure they are under who stand up for people who can not stand up for themselves who are big enough to admit their mistakes and strong enough to correct them who take real risks to give someone a chance who consider a day wasted if they did not help someone who can never repay them back But most of all, I am impressed by people like you - who get up, show up, give it all you got, and never give up.

Go where you are celebrated, not just tolerated. If they do not see the real value of you, it's time for a brand new start. If you dread Mondays, and your favorite F-word is Friday, then perhaps it's time to answer the call of a recruiter. Leaders that do not see values of talent, hard-work, and loyalty in their employees do not last, anyway. A job of a leader is to recognize the value of their people, and encourage them accordingly with  PRIDE : P romote - P R eward - R I nvolve - I D efend - D E mpower - E Agree ?