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Are You a Morning Or Evening Person? Productivity Counts

September 6, 2011 By Leave a Comment

It’s September 1st and I am sitting outside on a beautiful Thursday afternoon.   I find I don’t do this enough… just take my work outdoors and enjoy the day.  There is a slight breeze and the temperature is just right.   The day appears to be rather lazy, and yet I am powering through work that I have been trying to get to for weeks!  No distractions, no phones ringing (at least that I can hear) and no meetings to attend. A prefect day to concentrate on what needs to be done.

There is so much controversy on over where a person is most productive.  If they have 8-5 jobs that require them to be on location are they the most productive?  Are people with flexible work schedules more productive?  What about taking into consideration the person.  When is a person the most productive?  I know some people who are slow to start their day.  They are just not morning people so for them it is like walking in a trance until they get their coffee, had time to adjust to the day and feel that they are in full swing.  It make take them a few hours to find that they are firing on all cylinders.

If you want to know when someone is at their peak, ask them what time they would like to start a meeting.  An example would be when my Assistant says, I know you are not a morning person, but can we meet at 8:00 am?   I’d prefer 10:00 am.   Obviously, she knows that I am not at my peak early in the morning.  However, I am raring to go at later in the date and she is ready to call it quits.

The human brain can concentrate for only so long.  Some say no longer than 30 minutes before we begin to wander and have to force ourselves back on task.  We need to take breaks and when we don’t we will find that we lose concentration and have to refocus.  We are also not as productive.  Each of us can be classified into either a morning or a night person.  And we all know which type we are.

When it comes to work and work location, where are people most productive?  And why do people have to be on site if their job doesn’t require them to absolutely be there?  Companies can save money by allowing their employees to work from home and many companies have adopted this culture.  For those companies that still feel “butts in seats” so they can “see the work being done” should really take a closer look.  Just because you can physically see a person sitting at their desk, does not mean they are being productive.  Shouldn’t results speak volumes?  If the work isn’t getting done, then perhaps the wrong person is in the job!

Filed Under: Business, Career, Coaching Categories

Five Ways to Boost The Way Others View You

July 14, 2011 By Leave a Comment

The way you perceive yourself is the way others will see you.  Think about that statement.   What is your perception of yourself?  Are you confident, are you in shape, and are you helpful, courteous and kind?  Are you self-assured in your knowledge, skills and abilities at work?   If you answered no to anyone of these questions, then you have some work to do.  If there is any aspect of your life – personal or professional that you do not feel good about, then you are projecting that image to others.

Your self-image is vital to the way people view you.  You can give your self-esteem a boost by changing your thinking.  Our minds are powerful and our thoughts have a direct correlation to how we behave.

Labels and titles play into our perceptions.  Perhaps you have heard of some of the altered titles given to the following professions.  The jobs haven’t changed, but the attitude of the people doing them has.

Transparency Enhancement Facilitator – Window Cleaner
Field Nourishment Consultant – Waitress

Garbage Man – Sanitary Engineer

Housewife -Domestic Engineer
Highway Environmental Hygienist -Road Sweeper
Sanitation Consultant – Toilet Cleaner

 I offer these five things for helping you to perceive yourself in a better light.

  1.  Identify the area(s) that you find upsetting.  This will take self reflection and may make you uncomfortable.  You may be avoiding thinking or talking about this area of your life.
  2. Identify  the thoughts you have when thinking about this area.  How many times do you think “what if”, “I can’t”, “It won’t happen” or other negative thoughts?  Notice any feelings or sensations you have while having the thoughts.
  3. Notice any reactions you may have as a result of these thoughts.  Are you over eating, under eating, drinking too much, not sleeping, avoiding people. have a short fuse and become angry, etc.?
  4. Challenge your thoughts.   If you have the “what if’s” play them out in your mind.   Negative thinking causes helplessness.   Recall also how many times you had “what if” scenarios in the past and how what you feared never happened.
  5. Change your thinking – change your life.  Be kind to yourself and change negative words into positive ones.  Avoid the words “should and must”.  Treat yourself with kindness and be forgiving.  Be your own cheerleader.  If you don’t love yourself and believe in yourself, why should anyone else?
Filed Under: brain based coaching, Career, Training and Development Tagged With: , , ,

Planning for Retirement: You Are Truly On Your Own

March 7, 2011 By Leave a Comment

We speak often of the generations and how groups of people born during a short period of time are influenced profoundly by common events and often by the observations of one’s own parents.  As a baby boomer, I have seen a tremendous change in how we perceive retirement versus my parents and my children’s perspective.  It seems logical that many of our parents had longer periods of employment with singular employers and many achieved pensions.  Today, if you are in the private sector, the pension was replaced by a 401k plan or you just missed the cut-off date as you have had 4 or 5 jobs these past 3 decades.

Observing our parents behavior showed a tradition of savings due to their experience living through the great depression.  Most were prudent savers and shoppers far different from our children who have easy access to credit and only our frequent caution not to overspend.

Individual responsibility for planning for retirement is a reality and as the poor returns over the last 10 years from stocks only places more pressure on us in our 50’s and early 60’s to save aggressively.

I do not coach financial planning, but this is one area that we all should take a moment to consider if we have a plan and not wait or procrastinate.  Too often people gamble to recoup dollars lost or let their emotions take hold of their investment decisions.  One fact is that we should take stock of our current saving strategies and most likely increase it.  Those that live in beautiful California know that it is very expensive and taxes are due to increase.  Our future quality of life will depend on us planning now.

Filed Under: Business, Career, Leadership, Training and Development Tagged With: , , , ,

The Age of Happiness

January 4, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Do you believe you are happier now than ever before in your life?  What age would you say you were the most happy?  The Economist recently printed an article, “The U-Bend in Life” (December 2010) which answers the question and you may find it surprising.

There are four main factors to happiness, gender, personality, external circumstances and age.    If you fall into these categories changes are better that you are a happy person:

  1. women tend to be happier
  2. those with extrovert tendencies and enjoy being in teams and with people are happier than those that sit behind a closed office door
  3. married, higher education, children that have left the house and riches, people with money are happier than those without
  4. you are in your mid 40′s and higher

“Arthur Stone, Joseph Schwartz and Joan Broderick of Stony Brook University, and Angus Deaton of Princeton, breaks well-being down into positive and negative feelings and looks at how the experience of those emotions varies through life. Enjoyment and happiness dip in middle age, then pick up; stress rises during the early 20s, then falls sharply; worry peaks in middle age, and falls sharply thereafter; anger declines throughout life; sadness rises slightly in middle age, and falls thereafter.”

 


Studies show that people who are happy recover faster from illness, are less likely to remain in conflict and better at handling misfortunes.   They are also less likely to take things personally instead take the adage “you can’t please everyone” and then let the punches roll.

If given the choice, wouldn’t you rather be happy?  Perhaps it is all about the lens we view life through.

Filed Under: brain based coaching, Career Tagged With: , ,

Stand for Something, or Fall for Anything

November 29, 2010 By Leave a Comment

I teach critical thinking skills to Undergraduate students.   One of the concepts to this class is not only what we think but why we think the way we do.  Of course our upbringing or enculturation has a great deal to do with the thought process.    How we adapt and react based upon the environment and culture shapes our values.   We then take those values into the world and apply them to all situations.  There is one problem with this logic and that is that not all people were brought up with the same values and ethics.

Part of being a critical thinker involves taking the time to understand the differences in others.  Why they think and act the way they do. We may not agree with these actions, but we can at least understand them.    When we have understanding we can then take the next step to bridging  gaps that could lead to conflict.  So many of us put such great effort into pushing our ways onto others that we don’t realize there is another way.   Of course, You have to stand for something, or you will fall for anything .   But, in order to stand for something you need to research, understand and critically think about what it is you are standing for and why.

We follow great leaders, but why do we believe they are great?  What is it about their thought process that resonates with us and allows us to want to take on their attributes and be a follower?   In business there are many leaders at many different levels.  You don’t have to have a fancy title to be a leader.  What you need is to understand people and their thought processes.  You need to help them to see the various views from  various angles and not just your own or their own.

I enjoy seeing how my students evolve from the first day of class when I ask them who taught them to think to the final week of class where they have grown into critical thinkers who can determine for themselves what they believe to be truth.

Filed Under: Business, Career, Leadership, Training and Development Tagged With: , , ,

Productive Change Takes an Aware Leader

November 9, 2010 By Leave a Comment

When is change good?  Are your employees on-board with the changes that you are making?  Are they telling you that they are yet you are sensing resistance?   The truth, for the most part is this – people think change is good if 1) they initiate it and 2) it benefits them or they want the change.

Change has phases that can be mapped on a change grid.  It doesn’t matter if the change is by choice or forced upon employees, the same basic change of events occur.   Knowing the signs to look for will help you manage change in a more productive and people centric matter.

The basic stages of change are as follows:

  • Change is introduced  – this is the point where the leader of the change needs to be prepared to handle what consequences may occur from this announcement.  Be prepared for the fact that not everyone will embrace the change with the same enthusiasm as you would hope.
  • Disruption to productivity -  The introduction of change means more work for people as they find their way through the new process.
  • Adapting to the change – the employee makes the decision to either get on board with the change or they will continue to fight the change.  The sooner you can get people on board and remove the negative people from the process, the sooner the change will take hold.
  • Accepting the change – at this point people are on-board with the change and are finding ways to be creative with the change process and their new role within the change.

Obviously the sooner the employee moves through the stages the quicker the organization can return to a productive mode.  However, the process can not be rushed.  Much like the Stages of Grief by Kubler/Ross, the employee may go back and forth between the stages until they finally reach acceptance.  Your job is to be their guide through the change.

“The truth is that our finest moments are most likely to occur when we are feeling deeply uncomfortable, unhappy, or unfulfilled.  For it is only in such moments, propelled by our discomfort, that we are likely to step out of our ruts and start searching for different ways or truer answers.”  unknown

 

Filed Under: Business, Career, Leadership Tagged With: , , ,

A Picture Worth A Thousand Words

October 25, 2010 By Leave a Comment

How many times have you said, “what a small world”?  For the last three years I have been corresponding with a business colleague in Australia via SKYPE.  At least weekly we have been talking.  Sometimes with the video camera on and sometimes with it off.  As you can image the time change has caused us to have conversations at unsightly hours for one of us.  However, on the rare occasions when we were able to hit it just right we allowed the cameras to be on.

If you have ever used SKYPE then you know that the camera provides a good view of not only you but of the things around you.  We found that we had similar books on our bookshelf as well as  going to the same coaching academy and having our certificates hanging on the wall.  Each of us have them hanging to the sides of our desks.

After three years of conversations and getting to know each other both professionally and personally it was no surprise that I was able to pick her out in a group in a hotel lobby.  I walked right up to her and without introduction, she knew exactly that it was me.

We spent the day talking business without the awkwardness of getting to know each other.  We could have been office buddies for the way we were able to get right down to business.  The other wonderful part of this meeting was the cultural aspect.  I never knew what “I have to spend a penny” meant.  It means using the bathroom.

I am taking my colleague and friend around Hollywood and Beverly Hills today before she continues on the New York.  I can’t wait to share and have been told I have an open invitation to Australia which I know I will be taking her up on in the future.

If you have not brought technology into your company I would highly suggest that you do.  It is not expensive to add a video cam to your computer and SKYPE is free.  If your best client or customer does not have a video cam, why not buy one for them?  The holidays are approaching and what better way to invest in your future business goals than to see your clients face to face.

Filed Under: Business, Career, Leadership Tagged With: , , , ,

Intentions are Great, But Its the Results that Matter

September 30, 2010 By Leave a Comment

“Some of us will do our jobs and some will not, but we will be judged only by one thing – THE RESULTS”

Vince Lombardi

I’m a Packer fan and as a little girl I remember watching Vince Lombardi with his fedora and overcoat standing on the sidelines, clipboard in hand coaching his team.  Of course at that time I had no idea what he was doing I only knew that when the players wearing the gold and green did certain things, the family stood up and cheered.  The camera would be on the players one minute and the next it would be showing Coach Lombardi.   Certainly this man was powerful to make the players perform so well.

We all set out with an intention and that intention requires an effort.  The attitude we go in with can affect the result.  These three concepts are often confused by employees and managers.   Effort is how hard I try.  Intentions are the expectations you hoped for and Results are what you achieved.

A person can have the best intentions and apply their effort until they are blue in the face and still not gain the results they hoped for.  We all work to improve and in the end we are responsible for our own performance.  It doesn’t matter how long you have been doing something a certain way, if it isn’t producing the desired result, its time to find a better way.

I started a new workout program and have the best intentions of getting more fit then I have been in years.  I am putting in effort and giving it my all each day.  I am hoping to get the results I am seeking.  However, I am not doing this alone.  I have a support system around me that provides encouragement and perspective.  My transformation will not happen over night and I know it takes hard work and dedication.  But, I have the right attitude and attitude is everything.

None of us can expect results if we don’t have the proper tools.  Check your tool box and see what you need.  Think of these tools:

  1. Support
  2. Communication
  3. Commitment
  4. Motivation
  5. Relationships
  6. Follow Through
  7. Discipline
  8. A teacher/mentor/coach

If you are missing any it could be the reason why you are not getting the results you want.

Filed Under: Business, Career, Leadership, Training and Development Tagged With: , , , , ,

Where to Go for Free Learning and Development

September 22, 2010 By Leave a Comment

When was the last time you took a training course or learned something new that you could apply to your job?  I know budgets are tight and companies are not sending their employees for training, they are not even allowing them to have training internally since we all know that the first cut to be made is the T&D budget. Yet employees still need and want to grow in their professions.

E-learning or electronic learning has taken the place of many campus taught courses and thank goodness employees at least have somewhere to go to keep their saws sharp. However, companies are not always producing content fast enough or updated enough to satisfy the needs of the employees.

Since most people use the internet to search for knowledge, I thought I would do an inquiry about learning.  I found the following free web sites that provide training.  There are more where these came from, but for demonstration purposes these work just fine.

Microsoft Application Training – Free

http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/support/training-FX101782702.aspx

OSHA Training  – Free

http://www.free-training.com/

Computer Training Courses – Free

http://www.intelligentedu.com/cat1.html

I then did a search on “how to repair...” , “Learning a new…”, and “what is….”, I even tried, “where can I find information on….” and was presented with a plethora of information.

It goes without saying that we need to take control of our learning and development.  In the ‘good old days’ you would ask your boss, seek information from a library book or use an encyclopedia.  (When is the last time you even saw an encyclopedia?) We now have the wonderful tool called the internet.  At our finger tips is a wealth of information just waiting for us to click on the URL.

I am sure you already use the internet, but think of it for your training and development as well.  Take a moment to do a search for skills needed in your profession and see what you find.  Then set aside some time to take a training course!  When you are done with the course, share the knowledge with your peers and boss at work.  You will feel great knowing you are on top of your game and your peer and boss will be impressed as well.

(I do not endorse any of the sites provided, although I have taken courses through the Microsoft site, I have not done so with the others.)
Filed Under: Business, Career, Leadership, Training and Development Tagged With: , , ,

Are Your Employees Committed? Are You?

September 16, 2010 By 1 Comment

Just because your employees have a job doesn’t mean that they are committed to they’re job or the company.  I have heard managers say that their employees should be happy their have a job in these tough times.  I don’t think those employees would disagree.  With unemployment in the double digits and the prospect of landing a new job once you have been laid off taking on average 6 months to find, who could argue that a person is happy to be employed.  Yet, that does not mean that these employees are committed.

Think of the damage being done by employees that are hunkered down, holding on to their jobs and merely going through the actions of  being productive.  I love the phrase, ” there is never a recession when it comes to leadership”. So unless you are an outstanding leader and motivating your employees, you may be faced with fearful employees motivated only by keeping their jobs!

So what can you do?  First and foremost, communicate.  Let the employees know what is happening with the company and be honest.  Tell them what the vision is and let them be a part of making it happen.  Let them know their value and importance in the vision and how their contributions will make an impact.  Then thank them for their work.  Recognize them for what they do and above all, let them have a voice in problem solving.  The employee on the front lines has a much better idea of what customers want, what employees need to do their job and what the “buzz” is in the office.

You can lead a horse to water, but getting them to drink the Kool Aid  is another thing.  Be a leader that people will follow, not because of your title, but because you respect your employees and have passion, commitment and focus to lead them to the next level.

Filed Under: Business, Career, Leadership Tagged With: , , , ,
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