Our way of saying “Thanks!”

Thanksgiving is this week, and we want to take a moment to thank you—our valued readers—for reading this blog.

Each week, you check in to read insightful articles on how to effectively manage, support and lead your employees, and we appreciate your readership.

As a show of appreciation, we’re offering you these special reports—and more—at no cost:

• 10 Tasks to Start Delegating Today
• Vacation Planning Worksheet
• How to Say “No”
• Stop the Meeting Madness: Make the Most of Your Time Together
• Take a Positive Approach to Employee Complaints

Simply visit www.OrganizedExecutive.com, click on “Free Reports” in the navigation bar and gain access to 10 totally free special reports that will guide you to be a stronger, more productive, employee, co-worker and manager!

While you’re there, check out this month’s Focus On Motivation section to learn tricks for motivating staff.

We’re taking some time off for the holiday, but we’ll post the next article on 11/29.

Until then, best wishes to you and your loved ones for a very happy Thanksgiving!

Bounce ideas off other managers at leadership training seminars

Before you landed your supervisory position, you could seek advice from, vent to and share ideas with just about anyone. As long as you trusted the person and valued his or her insight, any colleague had sounding-board potential.

Now your situation is more complicated. On the one hand, you have a lot more on your plate, meaning a lot more you want and need to talk about. On the other hand, your peer group has shrunk considerably. Whom can you turn to for advice and a listening ear?

You might be able to turn to other supervisors in your organization. They’re working toward the same overall goals, and they understand your organization’s culture. But you might feel very far removed from other supervisors, because you work with them infrequently. Another option we’ve suggested before is talking to a mentor. But while good mentors are invaluable, they also can be hard to find. You might not have established that relationship yet, and even if you have, you don’t want to barrage your mentor with constant questions.

Here’s one source you might not have considered: your fellow attendees at leadership training seminars. Those events are full of people in similar situations, after all.

I was reflecting on my experiences at the Bud to Boss and Ultimate Communicator Training Camps earlier this year, and it occurred to me that one of the greatest benefits of leadership training seminars is that they allow attendees to bounce ideas off each other. And in the sessions I attended, I have to say, you could not have asked for better sounding boards.

First, there are the facilitators, who are not only experts in their subject matters, but also top-notch listeners and discussion-group leaders. (At the Bud to Boss and Ultimate Communicator Training Camps all the facilitators have been selected and trained by the highly touted Kevin Eikenberry Group, so it’s no wonder they’re so good.)

Second—and possibly more importantly—there are the other attendees. Maybe I just got lucky, but both sessions I attended were filled with very thoughtful, interested and objective professionals. Whenever one person voiced a frustration or predicament, five or more people had valuable suggestions. They asked smart questions and shared anecdotes of their own successes and failures. It was very cool to be part of such a supportive and insightful group of people—even if just for a couple of days.

Of course, there are times when you really need to talk to someone who knows your organization’s goals and policies. But other times it’s freeing to be able to talk through a problem with someone or some people who are practically strangers but who understand what it means to be a new manager.

If you’re interested in that benefit—and many others—I highly recommend you check out the Bud to Boss Training Camp. Sessions are scheduled for the following locations in the next couple of months:

Austin, Texas: Nov. 12-13

Milwaukee: Nov. 15-16

*Orlando, Fla.: Dec. 3-4
(*This session is specially designed for healthcare professionals. Read more!)

Phoenix: Dec: 5-6

Richmond, Va.: Dec. 11-12

Sign up today for the session nearest you! (And hurry—they do sell out!)

Tell us about your experience at leadership training seminars.

[Image Source: Buddawiggi]

5 tips for dealing with political discourse in the workplace

This is a guest post by Joseph H. Harris, Partner, White Harris PLLC.

The presidential elections are right around the corner and if the political debate in your office is heating up, it may be time for you to step in and mediate the conflict. Over at the Raising the HR Bar blog, guest blogger Joseph H. Harris, a partner at White Harris PLLC offers this advice for organizations. Before you even think about addressing a political conflict in your office, read it to make sure you don’t land your organization in legal hot water.

With the 2012 campaign season in full swing, political discussions in the workplace are likely to become more prevalent and with them, conversations about any number of controversial topics.

Arguments between employees can create tension and disruptions that hurt productivity. Employers who have not considered their disciplinary approach carefully may punish employees in a manner that may appear discriminatory or retaliatory. Conversely, employers who go too far in the other direction—banning all political discourse—may expose themselves to an unfair labor practice charge with the National Labor Relations Board and may find such policies difficult to enforce.

What should employers do? Here are some tips:

1. Be proactive. Contrary to popular belief, the First Amendment does not apply to private workplaces. Therefore, at least as a matter of federal law, employers have a great deal of latitude to restrict political speech at work. Some options employers may want to consider include prohibiting political discussions in work areas during work hours, implementing a dress code that bans political campaign tee shirts, buttons or other paraphernalia, and banning political solicitation during work hours using company resources.

However, be advised that under the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA), employers cannot prohibit employees from displaying union-related material. So, although employers can prevent employees from wearing “Vote Romney” or “Vote Obama” hats, for example, they cannot prohibit employees from wearing hats that say “United Auto Workers for Romney” or “United Auto Workers for Obama.”

The NLRA also protects the rights of employees (including in non-unionized workplaces) to work together to improve the terms and conditions of their employment, such as their wages, hours, and benefits. If there is a direct link between a political issue, for example raising the minimum wage, and your employees’ terms and conditions of employment, employers should exercise caution. Restricting such conversations might violate the NLRA.

A word of warning: Some states (including New Jersey, New York and California) impose additional restrictions on employers’ ability to regulate employee political activity. Make sure your policy is compliant with the law in your jurisdiction.

2. Call a staff meeting. Review company policies concerning discrimination, harassment, retaliation, discipline, solicitation, online communication, the use of electronic resources, voting, dress code and code of conduct. Hold a meeting with the staff to remind them of these policies and how to make a complaint. Remind employees that the company’s email system is to be used for the benefit of the company and not to promote their political views.

3. Warn your supervisors. Caution supervisors and managers not to discuss their political views with subordinates, as political comments by senior personnel may be used against the company in an employee’s subsequent discrimination, harassment or retaliation lawsuit. For example, if a gay employee is terminated, he or she may point to a supervisor’s negative comments about gay people in an office debate about gay marriage as evidence that the discharge was actually the result of anti-gay discrimination. (Sexual orientation is a protected category in New York.) In addition, federal election laws restrict what businesses can do to encourage employees to support a candidate. Some states also have laws that prevent employers from promoting a candidate or political position.

4. Discipline employees uniformly. Remind supervisors and managers that discipline must be imposed uniformly with the focus on the violation of company policy, not on the content of the political speech that gave rise to the infraction. Failure to do so could be used against the company in a lawsuit for discrimination, retaliation or harassment. Using the same example as above with the gay employee, if only gay employees, voicing support for gay marriage as a political issue, are punished for violating company policies concerning political activity at work, that may later be used against the company in a civil rights lawsuit.

5. Review your leave policies. Some states, such as New York, require that employers give employees time off to vote.

Join Joseph Harris and Evan White on October 22 for the audio conference Legal Dos and Don’ts of Employee Discipline. Evan and Joseph will focus on some of the most common mistakes employers make concerning discipline and discharge. They’ll also offer practical guidance on how to develop and implement disciplinary policies and procedures in a way that will be effective in controlling employee behavior while minimizing employers’ legal exposure to risk. Don’t miss it! Register now!

About the author: White Harris PLLC practices exclusively in the area of labor and employment law, representing management. The firm counsels businesses on how to comply with local, state, and federal employment laws and represents them in court, before government agencies, and in alternative forums such as arbitration and mediation. For more information, visit http://whiteharrislaw.com.

Mr. Harris is an alumnus of Oxford University and a graduate of Haverford College and the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law. He is admitted to practice in the state of New York and in the federal courts in the Southern and Eastern districts of New York. He is a member of the Labor and Employment Law Section of the New York State Bar Association and the Labor and Employment Law Committee of the New York City Bar Association.

[Image Source: Alynn]

The DISC Model of Human Behavior (and some seriously good training)

Last week I had the pleasure of attending the Bud to Boss and Ultimate Communicator training camps when they were in Washington, D.C. You might assume that because my company, Briefings Media Group, puts on the seminars, I’m too biased to review them. Fair enough. I’d probably assume the same thing. But I didn’t attend the camps with the intention of “reviewing” them—I was there to participate—so I feel I was able to remain objective.

I will say this: Both trainers (Steve Johnston for Bud to Boss and Kimberly Sellnow for Ultimate Communicator) were excellent. They were engaging, knowledgeable, insightful and, quite honestly, a lot of fun. They were thoroughly prepared to respond to attendees’ real-life work dilemmas, but they were also very adept at getting the rest of the group to share their insights and thoughts as well. Although I research and write about these topics on a daily basis, I still felt like a good amount of the information was new to me—or at the very least, presented in a new light. Multiple people at both camps told me that they thought it was the best training experience they’d ever had. Long story short: If I ever have the opportunity to attend one of our training camps again, I’m jumping on it.

OK, OK, enough touting. I really want to share one new-to-me topic that was brought up in both seminars: the DISC Model of Human Behavior. I was familiar with other personality tests, but I enjoyed learning about the DISC Model because it’s not as clunky and complicated as something like Myers-Briggs, so it’s pretty easy to figure out, remember and actually use.

You can take a free online DISC assessment, but we did a simple exercise in which we evaluated ourselves on two spectrums: how outgoing vs. reserved we were and how task-oriented vs. people-oriented our priorities tended to be. For me, that simple exercise seemed to be pretty accurate. You end up in one of these quadrants:

If you lean toward being outgoing and task-oriented, you’re a Dominant type. If you lean toward being outgoing and people-oriented, you’re an Inspiring type. If you lean toward being reserved and people-oriented, you’re a Supportive type (that’s me!). If you lean toward being reserved and task-oriented, you’re a Cautious type. All four types have strengths and weaknesses. All four have something unique to offer at work.

What was best about the exercise, however, was that it didn’t end with simply understanding your type and how that affected your work. That’s important, yes, but it’s not enough if your goal is to be a strong manager or communicator.  You have to understand how your team members’ types—which you can often guess with a good amount of accuracy, if you’re paying attention—affect the way you would best interact with them. It was fascinating. There were a few attendees who had done DISC assessments at their workplaces, but the training didn’t go beyond identifying their types. Those people expressed how much more useful it was to be able to understand things like this: “OK, so my boss is a Dominant type. That means I should approach her like this …” or “OK, so this employee is a supportive type. That means he thinks about issues like this … and needs me to do this …”

Of course, the DISC assessment and accompanying discussion was just a small part of the training, but it was one of my favorite aspects. Bud to Boss also covered topics like performance reviews, coaching, being persuasive, listening better, dealing with resistance to change and lots more.

If you’re interested in attending one of the upcoming Bud to Boss Training Camps, you’re in luck. We’ve got events all over the United States this fall:

• Sept. 10-11 in Boston.

• Sept. 13-14 in Tulsa, Okla.

• Sept. 18-19 in Chicago.

• Oct. 1-2 in Philadelphia.

• Oct. 16-17 in Baltimore.

• Nov. 8-9 in Charlotte, N.C.

• Nov. 12-13 in Austin, Texas.

• Nov. 15-16 in Milwaukee.

Register today! I promise you’ll enjoy it and benefit from it!

Make employee vacations work for you

By Amy Beth Miller, editor of The Organized Executive

Instead of making do when an employee takes time off, seize the opportunity to make your team stronger. Before the vacation, cross train employees. You will build their skills, ensure that work flows smoothly no matter who is out of the office and give your employees the peace of mind that they can take a total vacation from the office.

Fewer than 10% of executives and employees say they can completely relax while they are on vacation, a survey released this week shows. In fact, 58% said they receive no stress relief from their vacation, according to the survey by Fierce Inc., a leadership development and training firm. Even worse, 27.3% of employees said they feel more stressed after their vacations.

It’s no wonder employees don’t feel refreshed. More than 40% check with the office at least every other day, and 6.5% check in multiple times a day while they should be on vacation, the survey found.

Allow your employees to forget about work during their vacations, so they can return energized and ready to dig in again. Here’s how:

• Review employee job descriptions and ensure that they are up to date. That will allow you to see the critical tasks that someone must cover when an employee is out of the office, whether that is because of vacation or illness.

• Cross train staff to cover that critical work. Consider splitting one person’s tasks among several people, so no one is doing double duty when a team member is out of the office. During the training, the employee who usually does the task will be available to answer questions. (To ensure that you will have key information when someone is out of the office, download a Vacation Planning Worksheet from the Free Reports section of OrganizedExecutive.com.)

• Schedule projects so no one is working until midnight to wrap things up before vacation or is slammed when they return to work. If employees begin delegating work a few days before they leave, they will be available to answer questions.

• Limit contact with employees who are out of the office. Instead of allowing anyone to call and interrupt them, tell the staff to come to you first. You can decide whether the matter is urgent enough to interrupt someone who is supposed to be off work. If it isn’t, note what you need to ask when the person returns to the office, so your team will be better prepared the next time.

Tell your team members that you expect them to give work their full attention at work, and to relax when they are on vacation. With these preparations, both you and the employees can be confident that the team can cover for anyone who is out of the office.

Do you unplug from the office when you take a vacation?

[Image Source: Nathan Reed]

Work in the present while planning for the future

Imagine this interesting scenario: You just began your new supervisory role and your boss announces that it’s time for you to find your replacement. No, you haven’t done anything wrong and you’re not getting fired. Your boss believes in preparing for the future by succession planning, which means you train your replacement in conjunction with doing your job. Surprisingly, this counterintuitive training program actually offers many benefits to you and the organization.

Preparing your successor allows you to refine your coaching techniques. You expose the trainee to new experiences and responsibilities. You teach valuable skills and behaviors needed for long-term success. By teaching key elements of the job, you have the opportunity to improve your own skills and knowledge. The successor-in-training can fill in during your absence, which allows you more time to expand your network and industry knowledge at off-site meetings and conferences. Once the trainee learns the ropes, you are free to move up into a new position.

Look for these positive traits when searching for your ideal replacement:

• Intelligence and creativity. Smart people offer innovation and new ideas. An ideal candidate can effectively think outside the box.

• Compatibility. Look for someone who shares the organization’s and your vision. Determine personality by contacting former employees and asking the candidate open-ended questions. Favorable qualities include focus, courage and a strong sense of ethics.

• Loyalty. Look for someone who will trust your experience and knowledge and will remain devoted despite office politics.

• Interesting personality. Pass over one-dimensional types and select someone with many outside interests and hobbies.

• Passion for the industry. Find someone who truly enjoys the work and will devote the time necessary to achieve business success.

Most importantly, you need to keep your ego in check. Support the new recruit to maximize the program’s benefits and demonstrate that you are a team player.

What other traits will you look for in your replacement?

Provide your staff training for dealing with difficult people

Even if you don’t want to admit it, your team needs training for dealing with difficult people. Conflicts can arise among team members who don’t see eye to eye or who have differing communication styles. Angry customers can lash out at your people. Frustrated vendors can send accusatory emails. In all of those situations, your team would benefit from guidance and training for dealing with the difficult person.

Sure, there are some people who are naturally good at dealing with conflict, but most people aren’t. They resort to ineffective conflict management techniques, such as giving the silent treatment, allowing their anger to fester, yelling at the other person or talking behind his or her back. Not only are those responses ineffective for resolving conflicts, but they’re also likely to contribute to lowered morale and reduced productivity.

The popular training kit Detox Your Workplace! provides solid advice and tips for dealing with difficult people in various situations. The following excerpt explains how employees should respond if a conflict turns hostile.

A person confronts you, yelling and gesturing wildly. Your challenge: Hear the person out—without losing your temper. To resolve the problem and avoid a repeat, follow this advice:

• Do not interrupt. If you break into the tirade, you tell the speaker that you are not really listening. You create the impression that you have prejudged the situation and that you are not interested in the other person’s side.

• Stay calm. Train yourself to deal with aggressive people at work in a calm manner. Your goal should be to express yourself assertively, with no hint of aggravation. Don’t tell the other person to “Calm down.”

• Keep your imagination in check. Don’t escalate the situation in your mind. A person who is upset about a current situation does not necessarily plan to stay angry forever.

• Show your willingness. An angry person may feel that you just don’t understand the situation and why it matters. When you have a chance to speak, say “I want to understand.” Then paraphrase what you heard, using your own words, and ask the person if you perceive the situation accurately. Once you are satisfied that you understand fully, you can move toward resolution.

• Use the person’s name. When a conversation takes a hostile turn, call the aggressor by his or her first name. That will draw the person’s attention. Then express your preference for how the conversation should proceed. Example: “Alice, I will listen to you and work to fix the problem, but only if you lower your voice.”

—Adapted from Detox Your Workplace!, www.WorkplaceTrainingCenter.com.

If you provide your staff that kind of training for dealing with difficult people, they’ll be equipped to handle any workplace conflict they run into.

What is your best advice for conflict management in the workplace?

[Image Source: 05com]

Are micro-inequities driving your team apart?

Every week, the Briefings marketing team arranges for first-rate speakers to deliver audio conferences on a range of workplace topics. Past speakers have shared their expertise on everything from navigating change to increasing productivity to motivating employees.

This week I’m especially excited about the talk “Nonsense at Work: The Micro-Inequities That Destroy Morale—and How to Overcome Them” from James McIntosh, scheduled for tomorrow, Thursday, May 17 at 1:30 p.m. Eastern.

The term “micro-inequities” is new to me, but the concept is not. Like most people, I’ve experienced the kind of subtle slights that McIntosh will be speaking out. You probably have too. They’re those moments when you feel insulted, but you’re not even sure if the other person intended to be rude—like when your boss brushes you off or a co-worker sighs loudly after you speak. Compared to some rude behaviors, they’re minor, and yet they still sting. And if they keep happening, they can seriously damage morale and relationships.

That’s bad enough when you’re just a regular employee, but it’s more complicated when you’re responsible for a group. On the one hand, it’s your job to make sure your team flourishes, which isn’t going to happen if members are—consciously or unconsciously—offending each other. But on the other hand, you can’t make a big deal about every little thing, can you? And on the third hand (yes, managers need at least three to juggle all their responsibilities!), you need to be certain that you are not unintentionally committing micro-inequities, signaling to your staff that you don’t value or respect them.

That’s a lot to handle, but McIntosh has you covered. His audio conference explains all the ins and outs of micro-inequities. You’ll learn how to recognize them, respond to them, coach victims and perpetrators, and counteract their effects. Sign up today!

Want to explore micro-inequities a bit before the audio conference? Check out this great introductory video that McIntosh created!

What’s the worst micro-inequity you’ve experienced?

7 ways coaching employees is like training a puppy

By Amy Beth Miller, editor of The Organized Executive

The past few weeks have been exciting, frustrating and very rewarding in our home. Welcoming a puppy into our family has been a lot like the journey a manager takes in developing employees. Keep these observations in mind as you manage your team:

1. Choose the right one. Taking the time to find an employee who is a good fit for your team pays off in the long run. Look for the right attitude, and remember that you can train people to develop skills but you’re unlikely to alter someone’s attitude. We knew that Newfoundlands fit our family well, because we had one who passed away in January. When it came time to select the exact dog, attitude made the difference. In a video, a littermate played and did its own thing as Stormy paid close attention to the humans talking off camera, moving her head to watch the one who was speaking at the moment.

2. Customize your training. Learn all you can about managing people, and then choose what will work best with your style and your employee. If one method isn’t working, be willing to try something else. I’ve had at least one dog in my home almost my entire life, but recently I read two books with very different approaches to dog training. Both authors agreed that their wolf heritage influences dogs’ behavior, but one emphasized discipline and corrections while the other seems to reward every action with food. We’re raising Stormy with lots of praise and a firm “No” when necessary.

3. Explain your workplace. Just because a new hire has worked somewhere else doesn’t mean that person will understand how to fit in at your organization. Stormy spent her first few months in a barn, so things like the dishwasher and oven are new to her.

4. Send consistent messages. You can’t expect your new employee to understand how to prioritize tasks and do the work when other members of the team offer conflicting advice. Our family members had to agree to use a common set of commands. If one person said “Off” when Stormy jumped on the table and another said “Down,” it would take her longer to know what to do.

5. Reinforce positive behaviors. Managers often make the mistake of talking with employees only when they do something wrong. It’s also important to be attentive to what employees do right and to praise them so that they will repeat that behavior. Stormy learned the command “Sit” quickly because we would say “Good sit” when she sat on her own. Later when we said “Sit,” she knew what to do again.

6. Accept mistakes—and be accountable for your role. How you respond to mistakes is critical to your relationship. If you yell and fuss, your employee will be tempted to hide problems in the future. That will make it harder for you to know what is going on and make corrections. If you respond harshly when a puppy has an accident, the dog may try to hide future evidence of those mistakes. Many times while we were house training Stormy, her mistakes would frustrate us. Instead of punishing her, however, we learned to be more attentive and recognize the signs that she needed to go outside. When your employee makes a mistake, ask yourself “How could I have prevented this?”

7. Learn from them. Just because you have more experience doesn’t mean you know it all. Observe, listen and be willing to change because of what you learn from your employees. Stormy has been a great reminder to me to take breaks from the computer and exercise.

What is your biggest challenge in managing employees?

[Image Source: Amy Beth Miller]

Embrace your inner leader this summer

 

If you’re ready to reach your potential as a manager—and even more importantly, as a leader—we have three great training camps for you this summer:

1. First, there’s this blog’s namesake, the Bud to Boss Training Camp, featuring trainers from the Kevin Eikenberry Group. That workshop is designed specifically for first-time supervisors, giving participants confidence in their new roles by teaching important leadership skills such as mediating conflict, hiring, firing and dealing with HR issues. In June we’ll be in the following cities:

• June 4-5: St. Louis
• June 6-7: Orlando, Fla.
• June 7-8: Memphis, Tenn.
• June 19-20: Minneapolis
• June 25-26: Seattle

If your June calendar is already packed, check out the other Bud to Boss sessions scheduled for later this summer.

2. If you’re not brand new to management—or if you’ve already attended Bud to Boss—the Leadership Training Camp would be a good fit for you. Kevin Eikenberry brings out the “remarkable leader” in each of his workshop participants.  June will include both an Advanced course and an Original course:

• June 19-20: Chicago—Advanced Course (Hurry! The early bird registration discount expires Friday, May 18!)
• June 27-28: Seattle—Original Course (Hurry! The early bird registration discount expires Sunday, May 27!)

3. The next session of the Coaching Training Camp won’t happen until August, but it should be on your radar now, because summer will be over before you know it. That workshop, also led by Eikenberry, teaches leaders how to bring out the best in their team members. Sign up now for that session:
   

• Aug. 28-29: Orlando, Fla. (The early bird registration discount expires Monday, July 30!)

Have you attended one of our training camps? Let us know what you learned!