January 2020

HOW THE PSYCHOLOGICAL MATURITY OF AN EMPLOYEE CAN DEFINE THEIR BEHAVIOR & PERFORMANCE

Jan 28, 2020 Comments

When we reach adulthood, we may think we become fully mature. But if we stop growing in all the dimensions of life, we can become stagnant and lose our effectiveness.

The dimensions of life according to Dr. Michael Durst who developed the training program Management by Responsibility are:

Emotional Response
Intellectual Functioning
Activity Involvement
Self-Discipline
Relationships
Physical State
Spiritual Dimension

The key according to Durst is to continue to grow and be conscious of ourselves. This becomes apparent in how we respond to situations. The more conscious we are, the more effective we are in responding to and dealing with people and circumstances. Durst call this stage of growth the Responsible level.

When someone blames something or someone for what’s happening at work or in their lives, they are not taking responsibility for their own response to the situation. They are then functioning at one of the lower levels called unconscious or self-protective.

Suppose someone has a bad turn in their relationship with their spouse and they become very emotional. If they don’t show up for work or come to work and not get anything done, they are being ineffective in their response to the situation.

Of course, it’s normal to feel down when something negative happens like this, but more emotionally mature people will bounce back quickly and find solutions to the problem. Less effective people will let their emotional state worsen and could become depressed and unable to function.

When someone is functioning poorly in one of the seven dimensions it affects all the other dimensions of life. For example, if someone does not take care of their health properly their physical state will be poor. This will lower their emotional state, their ability to think and to complete their activities properly. It will also affect their spiritual well-being and their relationships.

The only way to become effective in all the dimensions of life is to continue to grow, understand oneself and be balanced in all the dimensions. Taking full responsibility for oneself is really the key, no fault, no blame.

So how do you develop employees to take full responsibility for themselves in all the seven dimensions of life? First is to hire mature employees who not only have the skills you require but also have developed a responsible attitude towards work and life.

The other way is to provide ongoing training that includes aspects of personal development so people continue to challenge themselves and understand they can continue to reach higher.

The result of highly responsible and mature individuals is greater personal satisfaction, better health and a longer more joyful life.

Here is an interesting resource to help people better understand themselves and become more responsible https://www.tprf.org/programs/peace-education-program/

Employees Today want a Coach not a Manager

Jan 21, 2020 Comments

I am helping a client recruit a new employee and while going through some resumes found one person who seemed to fit the job well regarding experience, knowledge and skills.

I arranged a phone interview and discovered that the person wanted to change jobs because they felt they were not being developed and that the boss was micromanaging them.

The job market is very competitive for good talent and as an employer you need to do everything you can to retain your staff, especially good performers. You need to provide more than a dental or medical plan but also career growth opportunities, training and good leadership.

The Right Leadership Style

Good leadership today means a style of leadership that uses coaching more often than managing or supervising. You still need to manage performance, but you do it differently. Rather than checking up on the person you set goals and objectives with them and coach them on reaching their targets.

This is done much easier with experienced employees because they know the job well and can see what can be improved. As a coach your job is to make sure that the goals they set are aligned with the team, department and organization and include a personal development goal.

Support Commitments by the Leader

It is also important that as a leader you commit to specific support initiatives so that they are not blocked in doing their job and achieving their goals. For example, an employee goal could be to reduce errors by paying more attention to detail on certain tasks, but they are also forced to answer customer calls while they are working. Perhaps the support required is to transfer the task of taking calls to another employee, at least for part of the day.

Set Coaching Review Sessions

Once you have agreed on the performance commitment goals with the employee, you then set review coaching sessions. There are more like discussions on how well the employee is doing and to help them overcome obstacles. It is also an opportunity to discuss your support commitments and set new action steps if required.

You can use my goal planning worksheet to set goals with employees and the win-win agreement process and form to put agreements in writing.

How to Deal Effectively with Employee Complaints

Jan 14, 2020 Comments

It is important to deal effectively with employee complaints otherwise you can make matters worse and cause the employee to feel even more discouragement or anger.

If an employee comes to you with a complaint it could be a sign that they feel comfortable with you to bring you their grievance. Otherwise they might just start spreading negativity amongst the other employees. This gives you a chance to deal with the complaint and avoid any negative consequences.

In most cases the employee is upset with someone or something and at first, they just need to air out their feelings. As a leader you need to give them the space to do that and just hear them out without judgement. Just acknowledge that they are upset, and you are there to listen and provide support to work things out.

Many leaders and managers like to take charge of people and situations and are good at solving problems and telling people what to do. So, it would be easy to do just that when an employee comes with a complaint. But in most cases, this is not what the employee wants. They just need to be listened to and feel understood.

Once you respond with listening and understanding you can then move into problem solving mode and deal with the complaint. If you start telling them what to do right away, they may think you are not taking them seriously and don’t care about how they feel. This can cause further stress and be demotivating.

You may feel that the complaint is groundless, and the employee is being irrational and that may be the case. But you still need to let the person voice their complaint and how they feel without judging them or telling them their wrong. Listen, show you understand and then give your perspective.

Of course, if the employee is just being manipulative or revengeful this might constitute a more direct response as you do not want to encourage that behaviour. I have other articles and videos on active listening and employee confrontation that you can consult for more in depth explanations.

Try This Brain Hack Researches Say Will Improve Action on Your Goals

Jan 07, 2020 Comments

When you set a goal for change or improvement you intend to act on it but don’t always succeed. In my last article and video achieving your New Year goal or resolutions I talked about using mutual coaching to stay accountable to your commitment.

From that someone sent me a link to an article about a brain hack or technique that is being studied at the Ottawa Hospital Research Institute with promising results.

The researchers suggested using the if/then technique to trigger a jolt in the brain at an appropriate time.

Suppose your goal is to eat healthier foods for reducing weight and that means less fat and sugar. You are at a family get together and are offered a second piece of cake that you would normally gladly accept. Using the if/then technique you would say to yourself “if I eat that cake, then I’ll gain back the few pounds I just loss and feel bad about myself”.

This could also work for a behaviour change in leadership such as giving less negative feedback and more positive. You could say “If I tell that person how they performed badly then they will feel de-motivated and may eventually want to leave”. Or “if I tell that person how well they performed that task, then they will be happy with themselves and feel appreciated.”

Combining this technique with my suggestion to write down your goals and use mutual coaching will give you fantastic tools to hack your brain and act on your goals.

The one thing the researches point out is that the technique only works if you are motivated by the goal. That is why in my goal planning form there is a section for writing down the benefits of achieving the goal. You need to come up with at least five benefits for the goal to be considered motivating enough.Download my free goal planning worksheet or follow my goals training on Eloquens. This course is on sale until January 31, 2020 for half-price with coupon SETGOALS2020

Monthly Archives: January 2020