Balancing Deadlines

Deadlines help us create a sense of purpose and manage priorities, and most workplace professionals recognize the benefits of managing projects and people through deadlines. Can the use of deadlines cause other somewhat unexpected results? The answer of course is – yes.

Extensive use of deadlines may lead to an abuse of power and create a form of micromanagement. Drawbacks to micromanagement include noticeable reductions in employee morale, increased absenteeism, and a general weakness in building or maintaining high performance teams. 

Abusive use of deadlines sometimes create panic about pending projects and a noticeable absence of workplace innovation. While many may argue that some employees perform better under pressure, too much pressure can create an environment that invites burn-out which results in employees disconnecting from the true spirit of the organization in hopes of finding some relief for the uncomfortable and unbalanced circumstances. Nearly everyone will quickly agree that the proper use of deadlines is important for success but at the same time effective workplace leaders know that they must utilize deadlines properly and maintain an appropriate balance.

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Practice Unlearning for Success!

Unlearning, is it important to you? Unlearning is based on the idea that we are a product of ourselves, our experiences, espoused values, and the cultural climate where we live and work. In order to change, grow, and improve sometimes we need to “unlearn” previous skills or habits.

Education and training are paramount to developing new skills and preparing ourselves to take on new challenges. Often it is important for us to let go of the old ways of doing things before we can begin the new. In still other cases when we are under pressure to perform or things don’t seem to be going exactly as we planned we may revert back to old habits or skills. Changing and solidifying new found skills is critical for improving performance, yet sometimes we fail to unlearn the old habits first.

Perhaps the single most important issue for growing or developing new found skills is having the opportunity to practice them. Through practice we start to form a bond with the new skill which can lead to it becoming a habit. Habits are hard to break, be proactive in solidifying your next learning experience by putting the new skills into practice and by replacing old “bad” habits with new “good” habits!

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The Empathy Scale – Balanced.

Empathy in the workplace has many faces and employees encounter emotional circumstances every day while on the job. In some cases the idea of emotion in the workplace seems strictly forbidden and at the same time fully performing employees are most likely using an appropriate balance of head and heart to be successful. When it comes to workplace empathy where is the balance?

It is often argued that workplace decisions should be absent of empathy. Negotiations for goods, services, and even wages and benefits may be skewed when empathy enters the process. Savvy workplace professionals seek the right balance of empathy in all decision making processes which should include decisions made at all levels.

If we are too close to a situation or empathize too much with someone’s need we may go beyond the boundaries of the norm to help them. In these situations we may even violate our own personal boundaries and strain our position or career. The other side of the coin of course is being so focused on not empathizing with others needs that we make ruthless choices which breakdown employee trust and tarnish motivation and commitment from workplace teams.

Finding the correct balance of empathy is not always easy. Employees who get this right are most likely the star performers. Proper workplace relationships seem to come easy to them, they make quality decisions when it comes to utilizing resources and addressing customer needs. Perhaps most importantly they demonstrate a positive attitude and they are of course – balanced.

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7 Steps to Improved Self-Confidence!

Self-confidence is something that many of us wish we had more of, and at the same time some workplace employees may have too much. As with most workplace skills and competencies an appropriate balance of self-confidence is important for success.

Let’s assume that you are not over-confident and that you (like many people) are sometimes searching for a little extra confidence to give you additional influence or power in your workplace role. If this applies to you, consider these sevens steps for a more confident you:

1. Consider your past achievements – think about 5 or more great things you have achieved, create a list and keep it accessible, refer to it often.
2. Analyze personal strengths – what are your strengths and weaknesses? What are opportunities and threats?  Consider a personal S.W.O.T. analysis.
3. Consider what is important to you – what things are truly important to you? Think about reaching for things that are important, but take small steps.
4. Defeat any negative self-talk – negative self-talk can be very damaging. You must develop a personal mindset that is positive. Find something positive in each day, choose to focus on that item or thought.
5. Promise yourself you are committed to succeed! – Make a personal pledge to yourself that you are committed to success.
6. Build your knowledge – learn, identify skills necessary to reach your goals or targets, consider past mistakes an opportunity to refocus, it is important to remain positive and think forward!
7. Start with small goals, celebrate, and grow – each small step is a piece of your success. As you begin to achieve some small reachable goals, stretch a little and go further. Celebrate your success and reflect, you may be surprised how far you have come.

Remember that self-confidence includes a balanced approach, too much confidence can be just as harmful as too little!

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Motivation - Workplace Relationships Matter!

Organizations attempting to understand why their employee teams lack motivation may need to look no further than the personal on-the-job relationships that their employees share. Some schools of thought have been that organizations should discourage co-workers becoming friends considering that the imaginative future problems will outweigh any short-term positive results.

As the generations and their associated informal social policies shift over time, so do the values and beliefs that a new breed of workforce brings to the job. Organizations now more than ever may need to consider the impact of discouraging workplace friendships or downplaying the positive effects of emotional connections that people naturally make with each other. Many organizations claim to encourage a team approach and one of the most fundamental ways to build teams is through relationships. Many positive outcomes can occur when teams form strong interpersonal relationships, here are a few worth mentioning:

• sense of community
• creating shared history
• sense of obligation
• desire to belong

These and many other similar positive relationship building outcomes provide something many organizations seek – workplace motivation. Employees who fail to form relationships or worse yet are discouraged from forming relationships lack a sense of purpose in their work, or even worse, a sense of distrust in the organization. Organizations that discourage building relationships or a management philosophy that encourages tearing down cross-organizational relationships set themselves up for alienation that fuels cynicism, conflict, and a lack of enthusiasm for the mission at hand.

Do you desire a motivated and engaged workforce? Building effective and positive workplace relationships is an essential  ingredient for the motivation recipe. 

Technorati Tags: motivation,engaged workforce