Yearly Archives: 2016

Building Positive Self-Image of Employees

Building Positive Self Image of Employees for Improved Performance

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good self-imagePeople who have a good self-image are more confident in themselves and their ability to grow, learn new things and achieve goals.

Although we cannot change someone’s self-image we can have an influence on their self-perception. Leaders who understand this principle can have a positive and persuasive impact on employees that can lead to greater employee performance and engagement.

 

What leaders can do to build positive self-image of employees

  1. Set development and performance goals with employees that challenge them but are not too overreaching. Make sure to provide proper support for them to achieve these goals.
  2. Give positive feedback. This is a habit that the leader needs to develop, so it begins with being mindful of this and taking action. Look for what people are doing well towards achieving their goals or solving problems on their own and then recognize their effort with positive feedback.
  3. When giving positive feedback and recognition make sure to specify the personal attribute that the person demonstrated or used to achieve the goal or task. This reinforces the person’s awareness of this strength and is much more powerful than just saying good job. “You have a great eye for design and creative thinking and it really shows in this presentation” is an example rather than saying “nice presentation”.
  4. Provide training on personal development that has people learn about how their thoughts and emotions affect their self-image and the impact it has on their work and life. The more people learn about themselves and how to recognize and dispel untrue negative personal beliefs, the more they are able to develop a better self-image.
  5. Treat people with respect and express appreciation for the effort they are making in their work and for self-development. When people know their leader cares they feel better about themselves and the relationship.

These tips and practices are not rocket science and can be implemented right away, except for point four about training, which takes some research and planning. The only thing holding you back from applying these steps or being better at it is awareness and habit. Recognize the importance of doing these things and understand that it is an essential part of the role of a leader. Make it happen!

 

Stephen Goldberg

Creating an employee development plan2

Develop a Strategic Plan for Employee Development

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The old expression, “failing to plan is planning to fail” also applies to employee development. In my recent article about a leaders’ struggle to deal with employees being resistant to change, I wrote that strategic planning for employee development is a practice that a leader must undertake to avoid this dilemma.

employee development planDeveloping a human resource or employee development plan is often the responsibility of the human resource department if there is one. From my perspective, it’s the leader’s responsibility because the leader is accountable for the performance of the department and each employee.

Here is my list of things for the leader or manager to do to develop a strategic plan for employee development.

  1. Develop goals for the department based on the plans and goals of the organization. If these are not clear do what you can to get clarity or develop your own goals based on what you know. Involve the team members in this process as much as you can, as doing so will get their buy-in when it comes to their individual contribution and development needs.
  2. Consider each employees’ strengths and weaknesses in view of the department’s plans and goals. What strengths can you leverage? What weaknesses pose a challenge? What skills will the person need to learn in the future in order to reach the goals or plan of the organization and department. Consider soft skills as well as hard skills. Soft skills are those related to attitude and work habits that have an impact on personal productivity and teamwork.
  3. Meet with each employee individually to establish goals and objective relative to the department goals. Prior to the meeting ask each person to reflect on the goals they can set and what they will need to learn and develop. Discuss this at the meeting and put plans and goals in writing. Teamwork is crucial for companies to be agile and competitive. Consider the skills that employees need to learn to be effective in working with others. Set a followup meeting to complete this if needed.
  4. Research training resources for skill development. Schedule training sessions and plan individual coaching time to provide training you plan to deliver yourself.
  5. Review your plan monthly and conduct follow up sessions with the team and each member to review goals and development progress.

The items above provide a strategic approach to talent management and is the best way to ensure that people are ready and able to meet new challenges and keep the organization productive and competitive. Failing to do so will potentially result in the dilemma that Roger was facing in my previous article.

In future articles I will elaborate further on some of the above points especially regarding coaching employees. Subscribe to my newsletter or blog feed to stay tuned for that!

Stephen Goldberg

The Leadership Qualities of an Effective Leader Coach

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CoachA leader’s prime responsibility is to engage and develop people so they perform well and are highly productive. This means they must coach people as well as manage their performance. Becoming a leader who coaches people requires developing certain qualities. Failing to do so could result in that dilemma that Roger was facing in one of my previous articles. He was faced with employees who were rigid and resistant to change and growth.

Here are the leadership qualities I believe are essential to becoming a coach rather than just a manager, which is what employees prefer today.

  1. Cultivate an interest in developing people. The role of a coach just as in sports to get your talent to perform at their best. This requires understanding their strengths and weakness and how to develop the strength to the max
  2. Set aside time regularly (I recommend once a month) to meet with each direct report for a coaching session. This is where you discuss their development, get to know them better and build trust. You can of course act as a manager in this session to review goals and projects, but if you want to be a coach, you must keep time to focus on development and training. This offers an opportunity to recognize people for their efforts and accomplishments.
  3. Learn to listen actively. This is an essential skill that requires developing as most high energy leaders can be impatient and could tend to listen in order to figure out the solution to an employee’s problem. Active listening means you listen to understand first and use empathy to show that you recognize what the other person is feeling.
  4. Empower people to solve their own problem. Leaders are great problem solvers but a coach’s role is to get people to use their talents and abilities to solve problems for themselves. Teach your employees to bring you solutions not problems.
  5. Delegate responsibilities to employees effectively. This involves training and coaching them on assuming responsibility for the new tasks and making sure they are well supported. This will free up the leader to take on bigger more strategic responsibilities and build confidence in the employee.

I recommend choosing one of these 5 points to focus on developing in the coming weeks. Where can you improve as a leader?

I will cover these points and qualities of an effective leader/coach in future articles and videos so subscribe now to stay informed.

 

Stephen Goldberg

first step in bcoming a great leader

The first step in becoming a great leader/coach in business

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Creating great companies and organizations requires good leadership and management. Before you can be considered a great leader, you must first develop personal leadership.

 

In my last article and video, I covered the five things a leader must do to have his team of employees be flexible and self understandingcontribute to continuous improvement initiatives.

The leader must first cultivate self understanding and the mindset for personal development and continuous improvement. They must also have a true interest in developing and coaching people so that their engaged and empowered.

Here are some steps to take to develop the right leadership mindset for personal development.

  1. Understand your role as a leader/coach. People prefer to be coached rather than managed. This is especially role as a leadertrue for the millennials who this year are becoming the largest demographic in the workplace. People are often put into leadership roles and not given proper training or direction in terms of what’s involved in dealing with employee performance and developing people. Small business owners also tend to be very knowledgeable about their product or service but may not have had skill development in leadership and management. This can be a big impediment for growth. Knowledge and understanding of leadership and coaching people must become part of the ongoing development of the leader and not left to happenstance.
  2. understand yourselfLearn to understand yourself either through self reflection or psychometric and behavioural assessments. These tools are like having a mirror for your inner world and will better help you understand yourself and others. A leadership skill 360 survey would also be very useful to increase self-awareness.
  3. Set personal development goals for yourself. Once you better understand your role as a leader you can set goals to improve in certain functions such as listening, giving feedback, delegation, training and coaching, etc.
  4. Engage a coach that will help you better understand yourself, set goals and hold you accountable.
  5. Read books on leadership and attend trainings and events where you can meet other leaders who have similar interests and aspirations to develop themselves.

Start now by reviewing the list of items and information above and choose one thing that you set as a goal to develop yourself as a leader. Read my article and listen to my video on goal setting and download the goal setting template. Get going on the road to being a better leader now.

 

Stephen Goldberg