2016 - Page 4 of 7 - Optimus Performance

What Do Employees Need to Stay Motivated and Perform at their Best?

Jul 04, 2016 Comments

Leaders expect employees to meet certain performance expectations and most employees want to them. But often there is a gap between expected and actual performance.

What are the needs of employees that must be met in order for them to do their jobs as expected? Here is an exercise that I have done often with leaders to bring awareness to this issue. You can conduct this exercise in your organization and then take action.

On a flip chart draw a T and on the left side list the needs of employees. Conduct a brainstorm session with your co-leaders or managers or do this on your own. Doing it as a team is more effective and brings everyone on the same page. You can also just work with my list below to get going right now.

Some items could be:

Once you have the list, review who must or can fill these needs. You can also assess how well these needs are being met. This could vary by team as some managers may be doing a better job than others in filling these needs.

An interesting twist is to have the employees go through the same exercise as a team without the managers’ presence. You can then compare the two lists. However, do this only if you are sure to take action on at least one item that needs attention.

Another option is to have the managers evaluate their own needs. Many items would be the same but there might be some additional items like involvement in company strategic direction decisions.

Once you have your list determine the top three priorities and then set an action plan to address the most important or easiest to improve.

I always like to go deeper and ask the question, what would stop you from implementing your action plan on this one item? Usually there are two main obstacles; habit and a personal tendency related to the type of the person. I will get into these issues in future articles and videos.

______________________________________________________________________________________

How well do you know yourself and others? Socrates is famous for the two words know thyself. Having a better understanding of yourself and others is the key to being more effective as a leader and to work well in teams. The book CrazYZoo, Know-Thyself Made Easy by Fritz Glaus guides you step by step in discovering your classic type of person. Fritz does this as he tells the story about zoo animals who must learn to collaborate together in order to create an open zoo that is safe and peaceful, so humans could be closer to the animals.

Throughout the book, which is written as a fable, Fritz demonstrates how the different types of animals use mututal coaching techniques to help each other overcome their fears, which act as restrainers in leadership and teamwork.

We all belong to a classic type that is usually combined with another closely related type pf person. This book will clarify the qualities and fears of each type and provide deep understanding of how best to deal with the problems caused by the fear of each type.

Fritz had also integrated his types of people approach into his Style of Leadership and Team Develop and My Team & I and training programs, which we are pleased to have delivered to many organizations and still offer today.

Fritz is no long with us but his voice and spirit live on in his work. I encourage you to purchase his book and partake in the exercises to discover your classic and combined types. I am certain you will find this eye opening and will provide you with tools to become more balanced and more effective with others.

Stephen Goldberg

How to Stay Motivated at Work

Jun 21, 2016 Comments

Many people go to work everyday and do not feel motivated about their job. If you feel this way more often than not, then you have a problem that needs to be addressed. Avoiding dealing with this could lead to stress, anxiety and eventually burnout.

Psychologist Judith Kolomeir says that over half of her practice is dealing with people who are experiencing burnout or are headed towards it. She says the cost to companies is enormous due to absenteeism, cost of employee health benefits and the drop in productivity that results.

The main causes for this situation is poor life work balance and a bad relationship with a boss or co-worker. Toxic relationships at work can cause high stress and anxiety and contribute to physical conditions and strained personal and family relationships.

Sometimes there may also be a clash in values between an employee and the company or their boss. It is important to choose the right company or employee for the job based on fit with the company and not just for skills.

To stay motivated at work most people today value good relationships with their boss and coworkers, interesting and challenging work and opportunities to learn and grow. Of course fair compensation and rewards is also important but only really becomes an issue when the employee feels that they are not being remunerated equitably.

The boss, manager or supervisor has a core responsibility to make sure that employees are productive and able to perform their work. They need to be observant and sensitive to changes in performance, attendance and general demeanours of their staff members. When they feel something is off with a person, they need to address it right away through one on one meetings with the employee.

Each person is solely responsible for their own motivational needs. They need to address stress or a drop in motivation before it becomes a problem and starts causing physical problems such as poor sleep, drinking and overeating.

Psychologist Kolomeir says that employees appreciate when their employer provides workshops topics like stress management, work life balance, nutrition and fitness.

It is crucial for employers to be proactive and invest in employee health and wellness programs in order to prevent people from becoming stressed and demotivated.

As well management and teamwork training is equally as important to foster better interpersonal communication skills and to boost collaboration. People need to learn how to effectively handle conflicts so they don’t lead to back stabbing and toxic relationships, which will affect everyone in the department.

If you are an employee feeling demotivated and perhaps stress at work:

Speak to your boss or someone you trust about how you’re feeling
Find the cause of the problem
Workout an action plan to address the issue
Share your action plan with your boss or the person you trust to get support and follow up

If you’re the boss and feel that an employee is showing signs of stress or lowered energy:

Meet one on one with the person and let them know what you are seeing and ask them how they are feeling about their work and of any issues that are affecting them negatively.
Help them workout an action plan to address the issue
Provide support and follow up
Be proactive by providing workshops on stress management and good work-life habits

Stephen Goldberg

The Complete-Do-It-Yourself Guide to Business Plans

Jun 06, 2016 Comments

Interview with Business Planning Expert and Consultant Del Chatterson

I recently had the pleasure to interview Del Chatterson about the how to of business planning. The interview was based on his book “The Complete Do-It-Yourself Guide to Business Plans”.

What stood out for me when reading the book and what Del emphasized in our interview, was that the process is more important than the final product or document. I always knew this to be true and it was good to speak with someone who shared the same outlook based on his experience in his own business and working as a consultant.

The book gives a step-by-step explanation of the business planning process and why each component is important. In fact, Del says that completing the business plan is just the first step in the process. Implementing each aspect of the plan must happen over time. Each phase of growth requires business owners and directors to go back to their plan and measure how they are doing and then take corrective action or make adjustments.

You can connect with Del through his website http://directtech.ca/.

His books are available in book stores and online at Amazon.

Stephen Goldberg

Appreciation Lead to Happy & Productive Employees

May 23, 2016 Comments

Elise was feeling a bit down and a little demotivated with her job. She had been given new responsibilities by her boss Roger, as he needed to delegate work to free up time to implement a new payroll system.

Elise was not feeling appreciated for the new tasks she was doing. She was proud of her work and the new things she was contributing but it seemed to be ignored by Roger and even her team members. She felt taken for granted and was starting to wonder if she should keep making an effort to do her best.

Expressing appreciation for the work people do on the job is something that is easy to do but not done often. In a recent article Managing Employees for Change & Improved Productivity I wrote about Rogers dilemma and what a leader needs to do to avoid having employees become resistant to change and growth. The last item on that list was “express appreciation for the effort and accomplishments of employees to learn new skills”.

In my article Building Positive Self-Image of Employees for Improved Performance I touched upon appreciation and I want to elaborate a bit more. Appreciation is so important not just in the context of this article about motivating employees but in all aspects of life. If we develop a mindset of appreciation and practice appreciation in our lives every day we will be happier, more positive, open and collaborative. These are just some of the benefits and I can easily create a list of many more.

There are many reasons we could come up with for not being appreciative of the people and circumstances in our life. But that is a choice we make. Yes, we can choose what we think about and where we put our focus. If we don’t like what’s happening in our life the first thing we need to look at is ourselves. Why am I feeling this way? What thoughts are causing these feelings? On what am I putting more focus? What is really great in my life that I can appreciate right now?

The very first place to begin is simply to appreciate being alive. This may sound overly simplistic but it’s really about slowing down and seeing the possibilities that are before us simply because we are alive and we can make choices of what we think and how we feel.

In his book 59 Seconds, Change Your Life in Under a Minute, author and psychologist Richard Wiseman gives an exercise based on a study about happiness and appreciation. The study clearly shows that people who wrote down what they appreciated in their lives ended up feeling happier.

Wiseman suggests taking a few minutes each morning for five days to write down a few things you feel appreciative about. The resulting feeling of happiness from this simple exercise can last months. When the effect wears off just repeat the exercise. Print out this page and use it to keep an appreciation journal over a five-day period. The exercise below is based on Wisemans’ chapter on happiness.

Monday: Thanksgiving

List three things over the past week or days that you feel grateful for. This could be about a relationship, something you have, a hobby or your work.

Tuesday: Terrific Times

Think back of a terrific time in your life when you felt great or complete. Write about this event or experience and describe in detail how you felt.

Wednesday: Future Fantastic

Think about how you want your life to be in the future. Imagine having achieved your goals and ambitions. Describe the person you would like to become. Write that down how it feels as if it has become reality.

Thursday: Dear…

Think about a very important person in your life. Imagine you have only one opportunity to tell them how you feel about them. Write a letter expressing this and what special impact they have had in your life.

Friday: Reviewing the Situation

Think back over the last seven days and write down three things that went well. These could be trivial or important. Jot down why you think each event turned out so well.

When we shift our thinking to become more appreciative of our own life, we then can become more appreciative of others. As a leader coach, take time each month to meet individually with each team member for a coaching session. This will provide a prime opportunity to step away from the daily work schedule and urgencies and express appreciation for the person being on the job and making the efforts they do.

Stephen Goldberg

Yearly Archives: 2016