Joni Rose's Blog

Posted by Joni Rose

In Supporting Adult Learners, a case study was presented where an adult learner’s circumstances lead to her wanting to withdraw from the last course she needed to complete her adult education certification. The real life solution to the question, “What would you do as her instructor to keep her engaged?” is presented below.

The instructor in this situation saw this as a unique opportunity to practice what she preached and asked Donna what she needed in order to finish this course. The answer was to not have to drive the two and a half hours in the snow to get to the course. The instructor then came up with a plan to allow her to work from home until the snow was not a concern. The solution included sending lecture notes, assigning discussion questions that had to be responded to in writing prior to each class, and that all assignments had to be completed on time – no exceptions. An agreement was made.

During class discussions, the instructor would say, “…and Donna’s comment is…” to include Donna in the class discussions as participation was part of the evaluation of the course.

When the snow was gone, Donna returned to the classroom. She struggled to reintegrate and was confronted by one student who said, “You won’t get 10% for participation, as you were not here!”. Donna chose to not defend herself as she had been participating, albeit from a distance.

The experience taught Donna more about adult education than the classes she took. She understood how some adults need flexibility to remain engaged and that it is challenging to reintegrating into a classroom.

Related articles in this Principles of Adult Education series:

Part 3: Inner Factors, Styles and Setting: Learner Focused Delivery

Part 4: Socializing, Content and Coaching: Concise, Fun Facilitation

Posted by Joni Rose

Donna was a single mother of a teenager and had one last course to take in order to receive her certificate in adult education. To take this course, it required a long two and a half hour drive each way. The course ran from January to April and so the added stress of driving in snow was a huge concern. She had made this drive countless times to complete her other courses but had recently opened a business that was successful and taking up a lot of her time. The thought of adding the last course to her already crazy life seemed over the top. Donna was at the end of her rope and was worrying that this added responsibility would cause her to have a nervous breakdown. The problem was that if she didn’t take the course at that time, she’d have to wait another year to complete her credential.

She made the decision to withdraw from the course and prepared a speech to deliver to the instructor. With tears in her eyes, Donna told the instructor that she would be withdrawing from the course. Her instructor, an astute adult educator, asked her, “What can I do to help you finish this course?”. She was dumbfounded and repeated her problems. The instructor repeated the question and this time got the response, “Not to have to drive the commute in the winter”.

What would you do as the instructor in this situation? The solution to this case will be presented in the next blog.

Related articles in this Principles of Adult Education series:

Part 1: Self Direction and Experience: Learner Control and Prior Learning

Part 2: Learning Needs and Application: Design Practical, Vital Training

Posted by Joni Rose

When I meet with various employers to discuss employee performance, one of the most common complaints I hear is that an employee has an over exaggerated sense of entitlement. Second to an over zealous sense of entitlement, employers complain about employees that do not communicate their needs.

An employee with a high sense of entitlement can cause a lot of friction on the job. A boss who must contend with a demanding employee will eventually shut down and not respond to yet another selfish request from this employee. On the other hand, having a low sense of entitlement can be just as detrimental. Bosses and coworkers can label you as a push over and take advantage of your low sense of entitlement.

An Example of a High Sense of Entitlement

• Your cover letters and interviews focus on what the employer can do for you and your career.

An Example of a Healthy Sense of Entitlement

• Your cover letters and interviews focus on what you can bring to the company while you consider the fit with the company and management.

An Example of a Low Sense of Entitlement

• Your cover letters and interviews poorly represent your skills and show a lack of confidence. You are at the mercy of an employer being desperate.

Determine whether or not you have a sense of entitlement that will dub you the office prince or princess, the star talent or the office door mat by completing this quiz.

The copyright of this blog is owned by Joni Rose. Permission to republish in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.

Posted by Joni Rose

I had a conversation recently with a manager who relayed a story about how she struggled to quit her first job and move on with her career. She had been with the company for five years. She had bonds with fellow employees and fit in well with the corporate culture.

Although the opportunity before her was an obvious choice as it was more in line with her education, she struggled to let go. When we spend a significant part of our career with one employer, especially our first employer, the bonds can be deep. Like a first love, the first employer reserves a special place in our hearts as they helped to initiate the development of our professional side.

Her wise supervisor said to her at the time, with a gentle smile, “We will be able to function without you”. The phrase eased her mind and helped her to realize that although she had made a contribution to the company, she was replaceable. That is not to say that her replacement would be able to offer the same skills and talents, but the company would survive without her. He continued to encourage her to do what was best for her career and to make that the forefront of her career decision making.

She is not alone in this struggle as loyalty to an employer is a common career value that is demonstrated not only by employee behaviors but as a company value on which performance is assessed. Also, while first employers can be difficult to leave, the same can be said for most long term employer commitments regardless of when they occur in a career. Keep the wise words of this supervisor in mind. Move on with confidence and make career decisions that serve you.

Posted by Joni Rose

Finding a person who is attractive, shares a similar lifestyle and has similar interests can be tough. One common solution is to date someone you work with. While the chances are high that you’ll share some interests if you work in the same industry, it can also mean complications to the relationship simply because you share the same employer.

Be sure to check your policy and procedures manual to ensure that your company permits coworker dating. You may need to disclose your relationship to your HR department and your boss. The disclosure may mean that one of you is transferred to a different department or branch.

Pros

1. You can see more of each other
2. You can car pool
3. Your partner can empathize when you complain about a work situation
4. You can eat lunch together
5. You can reduce the cost of benefits if plans are the same
6. You can both be part of a solution to a big corporate problem

Cons

1. If you break-up, it could be awkward to see them daily
2. Business decisions that affect your partner are harder to make
3. Your personal life isn’t as private
4. You may be violating company policy and could be fired
5. If you work in the same office, you may find that you spend too much time together
6. It lessen your chances for a promotion

If you work in an industry that makes it tough to have a social life such as working in a remote location or in a job that requires a lot of overtime, it can be tempting to look at coworkers as potential romantic partners. If you don’t see yourself staying at the company for long, it may be a good alternative to meeting someone outside of work.

Posted by Joni Rose

A good course outline will give you a clear idea of what content to include when designing presentations and handouts, make sure you have all of the supplies and equipment you need as well as attract enrollments.

Title

The title needs to be descriptive enough to stand alone and convey the content of the course or workshop. This is especially important if the titles are listed without the course descriptions in any of the promotional materials (web site, brochures, posters etc.). Be careful with cute titles that are not descriptive of the content as they can deter potential enrollments.

Course Description

The course or workshop description is a vital part of promotion of the session. The benefits to the participants will need to be clearly articulated. For participants to enroll, they need to clearly see how this training will improve their performance on the job. The course description also needs to include the main concepts that will be discussed in detail in the workshop or course. The description should be between 80 - 125 words for most web site or brochures, especially when multiple workshops or courses are being promoted. If this outline is to be used as a handout to students on the first class, add a detailed session by session break down and description.

Basic Facts

The basic facts are the important details that participants require apart from the course content. They include:

• Start time
• End time
• Start date
• End date
• Number of sessions
• Location

Instructor Profile

The instructor profile or biography is important to establish the level of expertise of the instructor. A typical profile describes the instructor’s past employment, education, and any relevant special projects or volunteer work.

Optional Sections

• Course ID
• Fees
• Supplies
• AV requirements
• Registration instructions
• Target audience
• Promotional ideas

Posted by Joni Rose

Employers want to hire people that get along with their coworkers. How can you demonstrate that you don’t leave dead bodies in your wake? Demonstrate these behaviours and you’ll find that your coworkers genuinely enjoy working with you. This will not only make your boss smile, it will be seen as a sign of leadership potential. Dale Carnegie in his book, How to Win Friends and Influence People shares his pointers for making friends in and out of work.

Show Genuine Interest

Be sincere with your attention and focus on being interested in what others are sharing with you.

Smile

People want to work around happy people. Smile, stay positive and have fun! Participate in social activities and other opportunities to have fun.

Remember Names

Use memory tricks to remember people’s names. If you are good at remembering someone’s name, they will remember you. The company org chart or directory will give you the spelling of their name and the department they work in. Also, some companies post pictures of their staff beside profiles which can really help you learn who is who.

Listen

Spend more time listening than talking. If you hope to really understand someone, you need to listen carefully when they are talking.

Discuss What Interests Others

Being knowledgeable about someone’s interests, especially if it is a person you want to impress, will create an immediate bond that can weather difficult situations or challenges.

Make Others Feel Important

Everyone wants to feel they are important. Offer your respect and look for ways you can appreciate the contribution of others.

Getting along with coworkers is an essential skill if you see yourself in a leadership role in the future. Hone these skills now so that you will be seen as someone who people want on their team.

Posted by Joni Rose

If you require quantitative results to assess corporate training, multiple choice, true or false, fill in the blank, or matching questions should be used. If a more qualitative result is what you are after, then short or long answer questions will provide more detail.

Multiple Choice

Multiple choice questions are a great option when you want quantifiable results for statistical purposes or need to reduce the amount of marking time. Make sure that the options offered are worded in a parallel grammatical structure.

True/False

True or false questions are an easy option for a quiz or other shorter test. The statements need to be all true or all false i.e. very black or white in order for this type of question to be valid.

Fill in the Blank or Matching

When your goal is to teach terminology, fill in the blank or matching questions can test participant’s knowledge of the definitions taught.

Short Answer

Short answer questions provide the learner an opportunity to elaborate on their level of understanding of a concept. Short answer questions allow a more vivid picture of the learning but also require more marking/reading time.

Long Answer or Essay

When it is necessary to test participant’s ability to apply the different concepts they have learned, case studies or broader essay questions may be the best choice. Some good starts to essay questions are:

• Compare and contrast…
• Give an example of…
• Describe the process where…
• Explain why…
• Give a counter argument to the statement…

A mixture of short answer with multiple choice, filling in the blank or true or false questions can provide a good snap shot of the learning and a mix of qualitative and quantitative results. The marking time is manageable with this approach and the short answer questions can offer a bit more detail on the depth of the learning.

Posted by Joni Rose

If your training is content heavy, one strategy to cover a larger amount of material than you can in one session is to assign tasks that participants complete outside of class. These assignments can require extensive time to learn new concepts outside of class or can be a refresher or reinforcement of material covered in class. Homework can be completed in teams or individually.

Assigned Reading

Reading can be assigned from a course text book, articles or web content. Be sure to let the students know that you will be discussing the material in the reading in the next class if you feel this reading is mandatory to their learning. If it is very important, you can quiz them on the reading. Readings can also be of a more supplemental nature, to help students gain another point of view or reinforce the concepts discussed in class.

Research Assignment

Research assignments are a great way for students to delve deeper into a subject. The assignment can be a series of questions they need to answer, a list of facts they need to gather or can form the basis for a large assignment such as a research paper.

Interviews

Asking students to create a list of interview questions and interview people with a specific background or expertise can be a creative way to reinforce learning.

Field Trip

Take students on short excursions to learn about different environments or meet a group of people that can offer them a new view point. Learning is enhanced when the concepts are demonstrated in a real life setting. For example, if you are teaching customer service, a trip to a mall where students observe customer/sales staff interactions can be very enlightening.

Breaking up a lecture format delivery by out of class assignments can increase student engagement and ensure learning.

Posted by Joni Rose

Sometimes employees are their own worst enemy. They set standards for their performance that far exceed the expectations of their bosses. They then feel extremely stressed when there performance doesn’t match these expectations.

Typically over achievers don’t listen to their bosses praise and if they do hear it, they quickly minimize it. Over achievers dismiss their boss’s opinion as it doesn’t match with their opinion of themselves.

These exaggerated expectations can translate into a very negative, blaming, victim mentality and can even lead to bad references or dismissal. No one wants to work with miserable person.

The irony is that their boss could have a very different opinion of their performance and wish that they understood that they don’t need to work as hard or beat themselves up for each minor mistake. In fact, most managers look at mistakes as learning opportunities and therefore expect employees to make mistakes. If an employee admits to their mistakes and takes responsibility for correcting and analyzing the problem to prevent a repeat of the issue, then a manager is happy.

Perfectionism is great in moderation, but if it is so extreme that it is impossible to be happy on the job, it is time to question whether the perfectionism is the real issue.

1. Do you spend a lot of time feeling inadequate despite your boss’s raves about how well you are doing?
2. Do you complain about not having skills or resources and yet meet deadlines and produce results that far exceed your predecessors?
3. Are you suffering from stress related illnesses?
4. Was your performance review above average according to your boss and/or coworkers and yet your self review was well below average?

If you can resonate with these statements, ask yourself one final question: Is it serving me to have such high expectations?

Posted by Joni Rose

When considering whether to involve your team in a decision, consider the following factors.

Impact on Work

Will the decision impact their daily work? Will it require that they change processes or procedures? Will it mean a restructuring of their role?

Expertise or Experience

Do one or more of the members of your team have specific expertise or experience that would be useful in the decision making process? This is an important factor if their experienced and expertise compensates for your areas of weakness.

Buy-in

If you know that the changes you want to see happen will require big changes, you will need buy-in for the change to be implemented with ease. Allowing the team to participate in the decision making will engage them in the process and create buy-in if they have made the decisions collaboratively.

Team Building

Do you have new members of the team? Does the team’s ability to work collaboratively need work? If so, then allowing your team to be a part of the decision making process and coaching them through the process will be an opportunity to build team unity.

Encouraging Innovation

One of the best ways to encourage innovation is to be open as a leader to unique perspectives. Invite an open dialogue where all opinions and suggestions are respected and considered.

Accountability

Will the team members be as accountable for the outcomes or products of the decisions? If so, then their contribution to determining the correct course of action will also be an opportunity for a discussion around responsibility and accountability for any change in process or procedure.

If these factors are not relevant to the decision, then making the decision without consultation makes sense.

Copyright © 2008 Joni Rose and Suite 101. All rights reserved. Any unauthorized use will constitute an infringement of copyright.

Posted by Joni Rose

One way for participants to get acquainted in a training session (workshop, conference or other gathering) is to provide them with questions and ask them to interview the other participants. The group can then come back together and share their most interesting answer.

An alternative is to send the questions to the participants in advance of the training session and ask them to reply with their answers. Then prepare cards or slips of paper with individual questions and the participant’s answer. Distribute the cards at the event and then ask participants to guess who gave that particular answer to the question. This can be a great icebreaker for people that work together and know each other a little bit, but not enough to predict their fellow participant’s answers easily.

Create a series of questions based on a theme.

Childhood

• What did you dream of being as a child?
• What was your favorite toy as a child?
• What was your favorite activity as a child?
• What frightened you when you were a child?
• Where did you grow up?
• Were your parents strict or lenient?

Hobbies and Interests

• What do you collect?
• What do you hate to shop for?
• What is your favorite outdoor activity?
• What is your favorite type of music?
• What is your favorite movie (or book)?

Nutrition and Cooking

• What do you like to cook?
• What food do you refuse to eat?
• What is your favorite food treat?
• What food do you crave most often?

Be creative a pick a theme that makes sense with the topic of the training or something that is completely off topic to stir up the creative juices of the participants. A well planned icebreaker exercise can make a huge impact on the collaberation and teamwork that is demonstrated throughout the training.

Copyright © 2008 Joni Rose and Suite 101. All rights reserved. Any unauthorized use will constitute an infringement of copyright.

Posted by Joni Rose

Need a gift idea for someone who just received a new job offer, starting their first job after graduation or received a promotion? Here are some ideas to help celebrate your friend or colleague’s new career direction.

Desk Accessories

Pencil cup, drawer organizers, in box trays and the like are great gift ideas for someone starting a new job.

Fancy Sticky Notes

Take a pass on the boring yellow sticky notes and purchase a variety of shapes, sizes and colors of sticky notes.

Coffee Maker

If the person who is starting the new job will have their own office (not a cubicle) a small personal coffeemaker can be a great gift.

Travel Mug

A mug the new employee can use on their commute or to be green at work can be a good idea for the environmentally conscious worker.

Briefcase

A briefcase, laptop bag, or commuter’s knapsack can be a great gift for someone who needs to bring home reading, marking, editing or other project documents.

Meeting Portfolio

Someone who will have to participate in multiple meetings will appreciate a portfolio with a pad of paper that can be taken on sales calls and client meetings.

Business Card Holder

A fancy business card holder to hold the new employee’s business card is a great idea for a small gift that is practical as well as impressive.

Office Decorations

A plant, vase or framed print can be another great gift for a new office.

Practical gifts can be some of the best gifts especially for young employees that may not have the financial resources to purchase these items for themselves.

Copyright © 2008 Joni Rose and Suite 101. All rights reserved. Any unauthorized use will constitute an infringement of copyright.

Posted by Joni Rose

Consider some of these cost saving ideas to help trim expenses.

Reduce Phone Expenses

Phone expenses, including cell phone and long distance expenses, can be reduced by shopping around for a better plan. If you have ten or more employees that expense cell plan charges and you are not on a corporate plan, consult local providers. Have an estimate of your current monthly and yearly spending patterns in mind when negotiating a new plan.

Reduce Travel (Flights, Hotel and Car Rental) Expenses

If travel expenses are a large part of your operational budget, there may be ways to trim expenses before having to ban traveling all together. To reduce travel expenses, negotiate a contract with a travel agent by committing to using them exclusively to book travel in exchange for discounts. Another alternative is to sign up for a corporate plan at a hotel chain or car rental chain and using them exclusively or if a plan is already in place, research a plan at a hotel chain that is one or one half of a star rating lower.

Reduce Office Supply Costs

Companies such as Corporate Express will give significant discounts for companies with multiple branch offices that spend a certain dollar amount annually. Alternatively, buy commonly used supplies in bulk if you have storage available.

Reduce Advertising Costs

Trim advertising budgets by placing display classified ads instead of regular display ads or inserting black and white ads in place of full color ads. Other options are to reduce the number of ad placements, reduce the size of regular placements, and look for niche print advertising options. Analyze the results of advertising over the past year and determine the most effective vehicles and eliminate the vehicles that did not produce impressive results.

Related Article: Reducing Training Costs

Posted by Joni Rose

Improving customer service requires attention to details. Pay attention to promptness of service, how you treat your customers, your product knowledge, and how you listen to customer’s requests.

Promptness

• Answer a customer inquiry line by the 3rd ring
• Reduce order processing times to 24 hours or less

Treatment

• Treat a customer the way you want to be treated
• Treat all customers equally – new prospects, repeat clients, online, in-person etc.
• Develop relationships with your customers so that they feel special
• Use positive language – compliments, highlight strengths, frame everything in a positive light
• Make things easy for the customer as much as possible
• When a mistake is made – apologize, fix it happily, quickly and liberally and resolve to not have this happen again
• Don’t underestimate the power of word-of-mouth advertising. Bad service is talked about as much as good service.

Product knowledge

• Know the differences between product lines and models
• Understand what has been improved upon or changes with the new model
• Be able to speak to the benefits of the product – specifically, how it saves time, money or energy, solves problems or brings pleasure
• Offer the customer the least expensive option that meets their basic needs and then let them know clearly what a higher price can offer them

Listen

• Be a detective searching for clues as to what the customer wants
• Don’t waste a customer’s time focusing on what you want, not what they want
• If you show them a product or service and you get a negative reaction, ask questions and listen carefully as to why they did not like the suggestion

Adhere to these principles of excellence in customer service and your customers will keep coming back for more!

Posted by Joni Rose

Evaluation of training whether it be before (needs assessments and audience polling for training design), during (evaluating learning of key concepts) or after the training (feedback on delivery methods and other aspects of the training experience), can be obtained using qualitative and/or quantitative methods.

Quantitative

Quantitative methods involve gathering information that can be tabulated in the form of statistics. A common quantitative method is surveying using a rating scale. Here statements are rated along a three or five point scale. Three or five points are needed to ensure that the data you collect is meaningful and meets research protocols i.e. you need to have end extremes and a neutral middle rating to give participants enough options to choose accurately.

Examples of three point scales and five point scales:

3 point scale: good, average, poor; 5 point scale: excellent, good, average, below average, poor

3 point scale: agree, neutral, disagree; 5 point scale: strongly agree, agree, neutral, disagree, strongly disagree

Other examples of qualitative measurements are: multiple choice questions, true or false statements or yes or no questions. The advantage of using quantitative measurements is that you can provide statistics to stakeholders e.g. 89% percent of participants strongly agreed that the material covered will help them improve their productivity.

Qualitative

Whereas quantitative research is closed, qualitative research involves asking open-ended questions to gather thoughts, opinions and suggestions. This level of detail can help the trainer understand exactly why certain elements need improvement and if suggestions are made, how they can be improved.

Some examples of open-ended questions are:

• What exercise or activity did you enjoy the most? Why?
• What would you like to receive additional training on?

Using a combination of qualitative and quantitative research methods will help you obtain a well rounded feedback on the training.

Posted by Joni Rose

To choose the interview questions to ask a potential mentor, first determine what you want to gain from the guidance. Once you know your intentions, choose interview questions from the list below.

Move into a More Senior Role

• How long have you been in a leadership role?
• What is the largest team that you have lead?
• What are some of the challenges you have faced as a leader?
• How would you describe your leadership style?

Change Industries

• How long have you worked in this industry?
• Have you worked in other industries? If yes, how did you make the transition?
• Can you review my resume and let me know areas I can highlight to be more attractive to hiring managers in this industry?
• Are you a member of any professional associations that you’d suggest I join?
• Are you aware of any networking opportunities coming up?

Improve your Interpersonal Relationships

• What strategies do you use to work with difficult people?
• Can you give me an example of a difficult situation you’ve been in with a colleague and how you resolved it? What did you learn from the experience?
• How do you deliver bad news to your team?
• What have you found works in [insert specific situation]?

Learn New Skills

• How did you learn to [insert skill]?
• How many years have you [used this skill]?
• Have you completed training on [insert skill]? If yes, where did you take your training?

Improving Job Satisfaction

• Do you love your job?
• What keeps you motivated?
• What discourages you?

It is incredibly important to choose the right mentor by ensuring they have the background, experience and talents that you will need to guide your career. Asking tough questions will help you determine if your potential mentor has the know how to help you.

Posted by Joni Rose

To memorize a large amount of information, try one or more of the following strategies.

Break Information into Chunks

To retain a large amount of information, break it into smaller sections. Can you break the information into three or five groups? Can you find common themes that can be used to group the information? If it is a large text or book, break your studying into chapters or sets of pages and colour coding each chunk to aid retention.

Flash Cards

Create flash cards if you need to remember definitions of terms or concepts. Recipe cards are handy as they can be bought in a rainbow of colours and can be hole-punched (use a single ring to keep them bound) and are portable. Write a term or short phrase on the blank side of the card, and use the back to elaborate with details. To make the cards quickly, photocopy information to glue onto the back of the card.

To memorize the information, test yourself by looking at term or phrase to see if you know the information on the reverse of the card. If you get it right, put it in the “right” pile. If you get it wrong, put it in the “wrong” pile. Go through your stack of flash cards and then pick up the “wrong” pile and work through it again. Your goal is to get all the cards in the “right” pile.

Summary Sheets

Summarize the information using:

• flow charts to demonstrate a process
• tables comparing similarities and differences
• bullet points of important notes

If you have comments or suggestions on this blog entry, please start a discussion

Copyright © 2008 Joni Rose and Suite 101. All rights reserved. Any unauthorized use will constitute an infringement of copyright.

Posted by Joni Rose

A radical spring cleaning of your office space is a great idea if you’ve found that over time the clutter has taken over and the furniture and equipment needs to be rearranged for a better work flow.

Start by packing the most important items that will return to the office after cleaning. Purge old files, out-of-date reading materials and office supplies that are not used. Wipe out drawers, desk tops, shelves and filing cabinet exteriors. If possible, put a new coat of paint to unify mismatched office furniture.

Once all the furniture and office supplies have been removed, clean windows and wash down the walls and window sills. Have carpets cleaned or wash hardwood floors. If possible, give the walls a fresh coat of paint in a trendy color that unifies the decorative scheme.

Create a floor plan that will allow a better work flow. If the office felt cluttered before, reduce the amount of furniture to create more of an open space. Put office supplies back grouping like supplies together. Rearrange files so the ones that are used daily are in the desk filing drawer and files used less frequently are in a filing cabinet.

Other tips to update the work space:

• Purchase new matching desk accessories – business card holder, pencil cup, letter tray, stapler and organizer for paper clips and sticky notes.
• Replace an older monitor with a flat screen monitor
• Replace a wired key board and mouse with a wireless model
• Replace dated art with contemporary photos or prints

If you have comments or suggestions on this blog entry, please start a discussion

Copyright © 2008 Joni Rose and Suite 101. All rights reserved. Any unauthorized use will constitute an infringement of copyright.

Posted by Joni Rose

Executives are busy people. When presenting to them, consider that they need the information in small chunks that show relevance to their areas of concern. Consider the audience.

If the CFO is present, relate the information presented back to the bottom line. In other words consider how the information presented will cut expenses or generate revenue. If the CEO is present, show a link between the information presented to one or more top corporate goals you know they are passionate about. If the CIO is present, make sure that the presentation is technically flawless and that technical implications have been considered in any proposals.

If using a PowerPoint presentation, use the rule of 5 - use no more than 5 bullet points per slide and 5 words per bullet. This will prevent slides that are text heavy and miss delivering key points. If more detailed information is necessary, then provide a take-away document for the executives to review after the presentation.

Avoid the temptation to present without audience interaction for more than 6 minutes. Engage the executives by asking for their input, suggestions and answers to questions that will aid in the delivery of the information. The more they feel that they are part of the suggestion and decision making process the better.

Another important tip is never to present just the problems. Present problems with viable, well researched solutions and be prepared to answer any questions about your solution and how you arrived at it.

If you have comments or suggestions on this blog entry, please start a discussion

Copyright © 2008 Joni Rose and Suite 101. All rights reserved. Any unauthorized use will constitute an infringement of copyright.

Posted by Joni Rose

The difference between a good assistant and a great one is that the great assistant takes their job one step further than the good assistant. Compare your work ethic with the comparison below to determine areas of improvement.

Good Assistant

• Learns from mistakes

Great Assistant

• Never makes the same mistake twice

Good Assistant

• Provides information in a concise way

Great Assistant

• Organizes information in order of priority

Good Assistant

• Makes sure all requests are completed by deadline

Great Assistant

• Anticipates requests and completes them without prompting
• Uses powers of perception to think ahead

Good Assistant

• Works well with their supervisor

Great Assistant

• Works well with everyone in the company
• Loyal to their supervisor

Good Assistant

• Resources supplies quickly and easily

Great Assistant

• Anticipates supply needs and shows initiative when maintaining a well stocked supply room

Good Assistant

• Conscious of all expenditures

Great Assistant

• Creative budgeter - looks for ways to cut costs including reducing, reusing and recycling

Good Assistant

• Manages their schedule well

Great Assistant

• In addition to managing their time, looks for ways to help their supervisor be more efficient and simple

Good Assistant

• Prioritizes tasks based on requested deadlines

Great Assistant

• Prioritizes and reprioritise with ease and shows a real alignment with the priorities of their supervisor

Good Assistant

• The tone of all communication is highly professional

Great Assistant

• Navigates corporate political waters with grace and charm

If you have comments or suggestions on this blog entry, please start a discussion

Copyright © 2008 Joni Rose and Suite 101. All rights reserved. Any unauthorized use will constitute an infringement of copyright.

Posted by Joni Rose

To prepare for the priorities session, start by creating a handout that clearly articulates the corporate goals. Also prepare notes on what priorities you feel, as the team leader, should be your team’s priorities to help achieve these corporate goals.

To start the session, ask your team to brainstorm a list of their current priorities. If you manage a large team, break them into small groups or pairs and then ask each group to report back. Create a master list on a flip chart. Once the master list of priorities is established, ask each individual, group or pair to identify the top three priorities that they spend the most time on during a typical work week.

Record the votes for the priorities on the master list by writing a 1, 2 or 3 beside the priority as each group or individual reports their top 3 priorities.

Now circulate the corporate goals and discuss how the priorities are or aren’t aligning with the corporate goals. If there is a misalignment, discuss strategies for creating more alignment and reinforce what you want the top priorities to be. If there are issues around why they are not the top priorities, determine solutions and task someone to implement the solution.

Using this technque you will build team alignment with corporate goals.

If you have comments or suggestions on this blog entry, please start a discussion

Copyright © 2008 Joni Rose and Suite 101. All rights reserved. Any unauthorized use will constitute an infringement of copyright.

Posted by Joni Rose

Ask first

If you communicate by asking if they would be receptive to constructive criticism, you give them the opportunity to prepare themselves. Remember, they may be oblivious to the problem and you may have had much more time to process the information you are about to deliver.

Talk about positives too

An emphasis only on the negative will make the delivery of the feedback hard to hear. Couch the negatives with what you appreciate about their work and contribution to the team’s effort.

Convey how this problem impacts you and your work

Telling someone how they should do their job removes their power. Empower your colleagues by describing the problem as to how it impacts your work and leave determining the solution and its implementation up to them. If they take pride in their work, they will welcome the sensitively delivered feedback and see it as an opportunity to develop and grow.

Remember your role

If the problem you want to bring up has nothing to do with your ability to do your work and is ethically and legally sound, leave it unsaid unless they openly ask and encourage you to share your impressions. It is their supervisor’s job to manage their performance so your only concern should be your performance.

If you have comments or suggestions on this blog entry, please start a discussion

Copyright © 2008 Joni Rose and Suite 101. All rights reserved. Any unauthorized use will constitute an infringement of copyright.

Posted by Joni Rose

Subject Matter Expertise

Hiring outsourced training consultants or sending staff to training institutions can expose employees to great thinkers and innovators. New perspectives can fuel creative thinking and solutions to problems that haven’t been solved using tried and true methods.

Concentrated Learning, Less Distractions

If the training is offered offsite, this can allow staff to focus on learning and not be distracted by demands of the office.

Up-to-date Information

Often, outsourced trainers are more up-to-date with changes in technology than in-house trainers. However, some outsourced trainers are not familiar with certain industry advances so it is wise to pick someone who is knowledgeable about your industry.

Networking

The opportunity to network and discuss issues with like minded people can be one of the biggest advantages to outsourced training. Understanding how others in similar roles or industries have coped with some common problems can be encouraging and validating. Also, networking provides connections for resource building for projects and researching ideas in development.

Training Expertise

In young companies that haven’t established a human resources department and/or hired a training manager or trainers, outsourcing can be a great way to offer staff development. Outsourced training consultants offer adult education expertise and can ensure learning goals are met.

Related Blog: Outsourced Training Disadvantages

If you have comments or suggestions on this blog entry, please start a discussion

Copyright © 2008 Joni Rose and Suite 101. All rights reserved. Any unauthorized use will constitute an infringement of copyright.

Posted by Joni Rose

Cost

Most outsourced training is pricy, especially programs that are built by outsourced vendors for individual companies. Travel, software purchases, room rentals, equipment purchases must be factored into the budget. It is important to do a cost analysis to ensure that the outsourced provision of training is the best cost alternative. If the program is something that is needed by a select group of staff, it can be much more cost effective to outsource the training rather than building a training program in house.

Not Customized to the Individual Corporate Culture, Vision or Goals

If the training provider is offering this training to a wide range of participants, the generalities in the training may make the training irrelevant and not as useful as a more targeted approach.

Workload on Return to the Office

Being away from the office can cause work to pile up. This alone can deter staff from participating in training programs that require being away from the office for long periods of time.

More Time Consuming

If taking outsourced training requires travel to an institution in another city, travel time and time away from home can cause stress. Short term programs or programs that are offered in modules offered frequently can be a better alternative.

Related blog: Outsourced Training Advantages

If you have comments or suggestions on this blog entry, please start a discussion

Copyright © 2008 Joni Rose and Suite 101. All rights reserved. Any unauthorized use will constitute an infringement of copyright.

Posted by Joni Rose

Do you want to improve customer relations? Here are suggestions for improving customer service and creating a climate that is more customer-focused.

Creating a Customer Service Vision with Employees

Improving customer relations starts with creating a corporate vision of good customer service. Create a list of vision statements that express what this company wants to communicate to customers regarding the customer service experience they can expect. A brainstorming session will not only allow employees an opportunity to create the vision but it will also serve as a way to make sure everyone is on the same page.

Communicate to Customers What to Expect

Another way to maintain a corporate image of great service is to clearly state to customers what they can expect when buying your products or services. Does your web site, packaging, promotional materials, print advertising and other marketing materials send a clear, unified message of:

• Return policies
• Satisfaction guarantees
• Warranty and extended warranty information
• Call back response times or project timelines
• Prices or cost estimates

Listen to and Invite Feedback

If you don’t have a consistent way of dealing with both customer complaints and celebrating positive customer comments, it will help you respond to changing customer needs and also make sure your team feels appreciated for their hard work.

If you have comments or suggestions on this blog entry, please start a discussion

Copyright © 2008 Joni Rose and Suite 101. All rights reserved. Any unauthorized use will constitute an infringement of copyright.

Posted by Joni Rose

Saving on Venue Rentals

One of the easiest ways to reduce the cost of a conference is to choose a location that will save money. Look for a city that is central for all the travellers coming to the conference. If the location has a large airport that is a hub for connecting flights, you’ll save a great deal of money when flying in participants, workshop instructors and staff. Choosing a location that is trying to increase convention traffic is a great bet as they will work hard for your business. Be careful though to pick a location in a safe area that has entertainment options within a short distance when planning a conference.

Saving on Catering

Food can be another big ticket item on the conference budget. Ways to cut costs on conference catering include: cash bars, drink tickets (limiting the number of free drinks), serving only beer and wine, serving cold foods for some of the meals, buffets and menus based on seasonal foods.

Saving on Audio Visual Rentals

If you have equipment at the head office that is easily transported to the conference city or if you have a local office in the conference city with equipment you could use, this can be a great way to cut the conference budget. Strategically plan the room layout to reduce the need for multiple screens, microphones etc.

If you have comments or suggestions on this blog entry, please start a discussion

Copyright © 2008 Joni Rose and Suite 101. All rights reserved. Any unauthorized use will constitute an infringement of copyright.

Posted by Joni Rose

Communicating by email has become a standard practice in corporate settings. Consider the following emailing guidelines to ensure that you are acting professionally when copying other recipients on emails.

Carbon Copy (Cc)

If you have been copied on an email, it is important to distinguish if you have be copied as an FYI (For Your Information) or whether the author is trying to let you know that this needs follow-up and/or other actions. Typically, cc’ing someone means that you want them to have the information, but you expect the person who the email is directed at (i.e. the person on the “to” line) to perform the action. When you are working on a project, it is important to make sure that everyone involved on the project is copied on any emails regarding that project. Pay attention to the Project Leader – if he or she copies certain people, follow suit. Also, when you are new on the job, your supervisor may want to be cc’d on all of your emails until a level of trust has been built.

Blind Carbon Copy (Bbc)

Blind copying is used to inform another person about a situation without the person the email is directed to (i.e. the person on the “to” line) knowing. This can be a passive aggressive form of communication and so it should only be used in extreme situations. Another use for blind copying is in institutions or organizations where privacy policies are strict and recipients must remain anonymous.

If you have comments or suggestions on this blog entry, please start a discussion

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Business Email Communication

Office Gossip

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Posted by Joni Rose

To quit a job and maintain a good reference requires some strategic planning to ensure that it becomes as much of a win-win for all concerned.

Give a Minimum of Two Weeks Notice

It is common courtesy to give at least two weeks notice of your resignation. It allows time to post your job and at least start to interview potential candidates if the company acts quickly. If possible, give more than two week's notice but also balance your needs with the needs of the company you are leaving. If you give much more than three weeks notice, you may find it awkward to carry on business as usual during your notice period. If possible, give more than two weeks notice but take a week of holiday time.

Provide Documentation to Train Your Replacement

Prepare for your departure by creating a binder of helpful documents, reference materials and emails to pass on to your replacement. If possible, create a mini operations manual for your job that outlines important tasks using checklists or flow charts. This will not only make the transition easier for everyone, it will impress your boss – your reference.

Leave Files and Records in Good Shape

Make a point of organizing papers into easy to find files and make sure all records are up-to-date before you leave. Be conscious of the information that is stored in your head or in your email in box that could be useful for your replacement.

If you have comments or suggestions on this blog entry, please start a discussion

If you liked this blog entry, try:

Quick Fixes to Career Problems

How to Find Job Fit

Ten Signs of Burnout

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Posted by Joni Rose

Consider these tips to help you improve your job performance and chances of promotion.

Take Advantage of Training Opportunities

Regularly review training options offered by your company and take advantage of courses. Conduct web research to find courses, workshops or conferences that would sharpen your skills and see if your company will pay for the training.

Adapt to Change

Be a change champion by emphasizing the good that will come from the new direction. Your positive attitude will be recognized.

Set Professional Development Goals

Do you want to be a leader in 5 years? Do you want to complete your Master’s while working? Do you want to improve your computer skills? Plan your career future by setting goals and creating an action plan to stick to in order to achieve your goal.

Exceed Expectations

Don’t just meet a deadline, beat it! Don’t arrive on time, be early! When asked to complete a task, go above and beyond what is expected.

Share your Knowledge

Offer to train new staff or present a workshop at a conference. Create checklists, flow charts, manuals and other reference materials that can help new staff.

Take Criticism with Grace

If someone criticizes your actions or questions your plans, take the feedback without getting defensive or arguing. Listening to performance review feedback and focusing on how you’ll use this information to improve your performance not only shows grace, it shows that you strive to be the best you can be.

If you have comments or suggestions on this blog entry, please start a discussion

If you liked this blog entry, try:

How to Get Promoted

Career Success

Can Do Attitude at Work

Copyright © 2008 Joni Rose and Suite 101. All rights reserved. Any unauthorized use will constitute an infringement of copyright.

Posted by Joni Rose

The New Year brings hopes for a prosperous and happy beginning. To inspire and motivate change, here are some wise words from those who have thought about what career success is and how career success happens.

Michael Jordon’s Thoughts on Success:

“I’ve missed more than 9,000 shots in my career.

I’ve lost almost 300 games.

Twenty-six times I’ve been trusted to take the game winning shot and missed.

I’ve failed over and over and over in my life and that is why I succeed.”

Failure isn’t about making mistakes, failure is not learning from mistakes. Take each mistake as a learning opportunity this year. Examine why the mistake occurred and look at ways to prevent the same mistake in the future. Michael Jordan practices. So should you.

Thomas Edison was not afraid of hard work:

“Opportunity is missed by most people because it was dressed in overalls and looked like work.”

This year, don’t take the easy route out of laziness. Take a chance and decide to work hard. If you miss an opportunity because it looked too hard, decide to take a different approach the next time.

Anita Roddick makes a great point about effectiveness:

“If you think you’re too small to make a difference, you haven’t been in bed with a mosquito.”

This year, make a difference. Perform random acts of kindness on your coworkers. Be more patient and accepting of differences with colleagues, subordinates and upper management.

Here’s to a prosperous New Year that brings tremendous personal and professional growth to all!

If you have comments or suggestions on this blog entry, please start a discussion

If you liked this blog entry, try:

Professional Goals for 2008

Preparing for Career Resolutions

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Posted by Joni Rose

Get a Raise

More training and especially added credentials could mean a raise in pay. Check with your Human Resources department to see if an automatic pay increase happens when you attain a credential. Also, it is good to check with your Training Manager to see what training is recognized by the company and what training costs can be subsidized or reimbursed.

Feel More Confident on the Job

Knowledge is king, so gaining knowledge will help you feel more confident. Technology is constantly changing and so this means ongoing technical training is imperative to most workers today.

Be Recognized and Promoted

Being proactive in your professional development is seen as a big plus to employers. Your initiatives to better yourself could lead to recognition and a promotion especially if you develop advanced techniques or your leadership skills.

Challenge your Brain

It is important to keep your brain active. Life-long learning can be a terrific way to keep your brain power strong. Choose courses or workshops that will stretch your brain in a new direction.

Improve Processes and Procedures

The motivation to make productive changes in company policies and procedures can come from more up-to-date knowledge of technological advances, resources and market trends. Choose courses that will help you and your team adapt to changes and improve efficiencies.

If you have comments or suggestions on this blog entry, please start a discussion

If you liked this blog entry, try:

Assessing Professional Development

Choosing Professional Development Educational Programs

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Posted by Joni Rose

Variety of Tasks

In a smaller company, you tend to wear multiple hats. The smaller the company, the more hats you’ll wear and be expected to be flexible, adaptable and have a generalists skill set. For people that like variety, working for a smaller company can allow them to stretch and develop skills beyond the technical or hard skills required for the job. Often, your creative, marketing and business strategy skills will be utilized to think out of the box to solve problems.

Closer to the Bottom Line

Your work in a smaller company will impact the bottom line more directly than working for a larger company. This responsibility can be very positive as your contributions will be appreciated as the small team strives to build the company and increase profits.

Work with Subcontractors

Smaller companies tend to outsource more of their support services. This means that you could work with experts in their field instead of in-house staff that may not be as talented.

Smaller Teams, More Independence

In smaller companies, the teams (if there are any) are small and that means that independent work is not only expected by necessary. If you like working alone, or with minimal supervision, work for a busy start up. You’ll be highly accountable for your work, but your initiative, drive and ability to make decisions that respect the overall missions and goals will be appreciated.

If you have comments or suggestions on this blog entry, please start a discussion

If you liked this blog entry, try:

Working for a Large Company

How to Shift into a New Industry

How to find Job FIt

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Posted by Joni Rose

More resources

Larger companies have larger profits. This usually means that resources are easier to attain and maintain. Larger companies tend to invest more in technology and other efficiency improving resources.

Leadership Potential

You may have an assistant or other junior staff working under you in a larger company. This may be intriguing if you see yourself in senior management one day and want to develop your leadership, coaching and mentoring skills.

Ability to specialize

In larger companies, there tends to be multiple staff in each department. The opportunity to specialize in one aspect of your area of expertise tends to be easier to do in a large company where you are part of a larger team.

More job options

Larger companies tend to have openings more often and even if the opening isn’t in the same department, the work may be similar enough that you would be considered for the role. As an internal candidate, you have the advantage of knowing the company values, policies, procedures and strategic goals.

International Travel

If the company is large enough to have branch offices in other locations around the world, it could mean that international travel will be part of your job.

If you have comments or suggestions on this blog entry, please start a discussion

If you liked this blog entry, try:

How to Shift into a New Industy

How to Find Job Fit

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Posted by Joni Rose

Achieving professional goals can take great time, effort and money. Recognize achieving major career goals by celebrating in a way that will acknowledge the impact this will make on your professional growth. This list is meant to be a starting point. Get creative. Think of new and innovative ways to celebrate your career achievements either privately or publically.

Buy a New Suit

A new power suit that is fashionable and fits well can make you feel successful and confident!

Plan a Holiday

Reward yourself by planning a get away that will help you distress after a major goal is achieved. An all-inclusive holiday where you are pampered can be a terrific way to take care of yourself after a stressful period.

Purchase a New Work Accessory

A new blackberry, cell phone, printer or other gadget or tool can also be a fun way to celebrate achieving a career goal.

A Symbolic Gesture or Ritual

Be creative and come up with a symbolic ritual that marks the professional achievement. It could be lighting a candle in the feng shui career section of your house to cooking a nice meal and toasting your achievement with a glass of wine or champagne to climbing a mountain and shouting out “I did it!” when you reach the peak.

If you have comments or suggestions on this blog entry, please start a discussion

If you liked this blog entry, try:

Preparing for Career Resolutions

Professional New Years Resolutions

SMART Goal Setting

Career Success

Copyright © 2007 Joni Rose and Suite 101. All rights reserved. Any unauthorized use will constitute an infringement of copyright.

Posted by Joni Rose

Determining the career or job that will be the best fit with personality traits, transferable skills, career values, work environment preferences and career passions takes time and energy. Many adults who decide to start a career exploration process expect that the answers will come to them instantly, as if a flash of light will expose the deep seated issues and reveal once and for all the ideal career path. For a rare few, this may be the case but by far it is the exception not the rule.

The problem with expecting that career nirvana will be achieved through quick and easy assessments or other quick fixes is paramount to someone healing a chronic illness overnight. For some adults in career chaos, it has been years of bad choices and actions that have lead to this chaos. Expecting that bad habits will be changed instantaneously is not only erroneous, but it sets up the career explorer for failure.

Instead, if the career exploration process is embarked with an understanding that it is a process and that it may take a great deal of time, the chances for success increase. The other motivating factor is that the more time and energy that is put into the career exploration and development process, the greater the pay off in the end.

If you have comments or suggestions on this blog entry, please start a discussion

If you liked this blog entry, try:

Good Job Fit Profile

Work Environment Preferences

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Career Passion

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Posted by Joni Rose

The starving artist is a cliché. Not all artists starve. It is up to you, the artist, to choose how your art will be presented to the public. It is also your choice if you want to make money from your art and use it as your main source of income. If you do decide that art is your career and your primary professional focus, then to survive financially, you will need to look at your art from a business perspective.

Often I find that my creative clients struggle with creating sellable art as they feel that going commercial is selling out. They look at the art buying public with distain and cringe at the thought of them buying a painting to match a couch. They see money as dirty, do not feel their art can have a price put on it or feel shy to ask a price that reflects their talents and time.

Certainly there are artists who take the business aspect to the extreme and pump out art with little regard to artistic expression. There is also the other extreme where artists create with little or no intention to make money with their art.

To build a career with art, however, the creative process needs to happen freely but with enough regard to what is sellable art.

Art as a Career Tips:

• Create a business plan
• Determine your demographic and create an promotional strategy
• Study your competition
• Price your art guided by market research
• Get an agent if you are poor at sales

If you have comments or suggestions on this blog entry, please start a discussion

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Work and Life Balance

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Posted by Joni Rose

Industries or sectors go through transitions due to economic downturns or upswings. If you are currently working in an industry that is no longer in a boom phase, you may be looking at a new industry that can offer your career a boost.

Setting a career goal to make a change from retail to tourism, or corporate accounting to film production accounting, requires a strategic approach. You may need to take a slight drop in pay or position as you gain experience in a new industry. On the flip side, moving to a hot industry may actually mean your pay increases as does your position.

To make the transition smoother:

1. Research the new industry to find networking opportunities. Learn who is who locally, regionally and internationally. Volunteer at important industry events such as tradeshows, festivals or product launches.

2. Research the new industry to find companies that are in a high growth mode. Create a list of target companies. Monitor their websites for job postings, and seek a connection within the company at networking events.

3. Get experience or specialized education in the new industry. Volunteer in your new industry or in some area that your new industry will value. Take on projects in your current role that will hone existing skills or develop new skills that will be an asset in your new industry. Take training that specializes in your new industry be it a workshop, seminar, talk, certificate or degree program.

If you have comments or suggestions on this blog entry, please start a discussion

If you liked this blog entry, try:

Choosing Professional Development Educational Programs

Career Success

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Posted by Joni Rose

Vague Goal Statement: I want my job to be a good fit.

SMART Goal Statement: By the end of November of [insert year], I will be in a position that fits with my Myers Briggs Type Indicator (e.g. ENFJ), utilizes my top ten transferable skills, fits my top five career values, correlates with my top 5 passions, provides for the top five work environment preferences I have (e.g. short commute, open concept office, matrix management style, natural light in work area and perfume free environment). I will join a job search club, research to create a list of 50 companies that fit with my good fit profile and participate in ten or more networking events.

Vague Goal Statement: I will take some professional development courses.

SMART Goal Statement: By January 1st of [insert year], I will have researched and decided on five courses I want to complete over a three year period. I will register in my first course to start September of [insert year]. My course plan fits with my five year career plan and I will have determined a budget and gathered the financial resources and family support in place prior to January 1st [insert same year as above].

Vague Goal Statement: I want a raise.

SMART Goal Statement: By December 1st of [insert year], I will have positioned myself to ask for a raise of a minimum of 10% of my salary by cutting my department’s budget by 10% and increasing my departments sales by 10%.

If you have comments or suggestions on this blog entry, please start a discussion

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Achieving Professional SMART Goals

Professional New Years Resolutions

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Posted by Joni Rose

Job Role has Changed

You are now supervising a team or getting involved in training of new staff. Your responsibilities are closer to the bottom line so your accountability has increased as well.

No Cost of Living Increase

Inflation continues to happen. As housing prices soar in some cities, the cost of covering the basics – food, water and shelter – take over pay cheques. If you have not seen annual increments in your pay, prepare for your meeting by researching the stats on cost of living increases since the date you started.

Bonus is Based on Salary

From a monetary standpoint, if your bonus is based on a percentage of your base salary, then asking for a raise to your base will also affect your bonus amount.

Inequity of Pay with Coworkers or Industry

An inequity of pay based on gender differences is a reason to ask for a raise. Also, if your compensation package is not competitively aligned with industry standards, present your case to your supervisor.

Increased Sales, Decreased Wastes

If your efforts have directly affected the bottom line e.g. you’ve introduced a product or service to a new market, then you have great evidence to support a pay increase.

Taken Further Education

You’ve been proactive in your professional development. You’ve gained a credential. Bring this to the attention of the HR department and your supervisor.

Excessive Overtime

You are on a fixed salary and are consistently putting in over time with no time off in lieu.

If you have comments or suggestions on this blog entry, please start a discussion

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Danger Signs of Stress Overload

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Posted by Joni Rose

When taking notes at a conference, make sure that the inspirational information you gain becomes actionable items when you return to work. Suggested readings (books, articles, web sites), new ways of approaching a process, people you want to follow-up with (promises to send information or discuss a potential collaboration or project further) are examples of actionable items. Remedy this by choosing one of the following note taking styles that best suits you.

Use a Highlighter

As you are taking notes, highlight actionable items with a bright coloured highlighter and information you want to remember with another colour of highlighter.

Create a To Do After the Conference List

On a separate piece of paper, make a list of the actionable items from the conference.

Make Annotations

Using the margin of the page, note actionable and informational items. These notes become a quick reference to the content within the main body of notes.

If you have comments on this blog entry, please start a discussion

If you liked this blog entry, try:

Choosing PD Educational Programs

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Posted by Joni Rose

When setting up and office from scratch, it can be difficult to think of all the expendable office supplies and small office equipment that the office may need for your desk and work room. Below is a list of basic supplies you may want to consider purchasing for your staff or yourself when setting up a new office. Some of the more inexpensive and/or expendable supplies you may want to consider buying in bulk from a warehouse type vendor.

When choosing a vendor, consider one with next day delivery and a great exchange or return policy. In the beginning, it is hard to judge how quickly the office will go through the expendable supplies and what preferences staff have so it is best to monitor use over the first month and order replenishments based on usage over the first month and then the first three to six months.

DESK SUPPLIES

Expendable

• Pens – black, blue, red, medium and fine
• Pencils – mechanical and wood
• Erasers
• Highlighters – yellow, pink, blue, green
• Pads of paper (lined, 3-hole punched)
• File folders – assorted colours, letter and legal
• File labels
• Sticky notes – assorted sizes

Non-expendables

• Ruler
• Scissors
• Stapler
• Hole-punch
• Hanging files
• Hanging file tabs

WORK ROOM SUPPLIES

• Paper – coloured and white, letter and legal
• Printer toner – colour and black and white

If you have comments or suggestions on this blog entry, please start a discussion

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New Job Organization

Budget Office Decorating

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Posted by Joni Rose

I recently had a discussion with a person that really got me thinking. Her perception was that someone with an MBA is undoubtedly intelligent and certainly someone to align with professionally. She contended that the more education a person receives, the more successful they are professionally. She dismissed colleagues with little or no credentials as incompetent and less knowledgeable.

This began a discussion around the connection between intelligence and education. I argued that the there are many people on the planet that are uneducated and very successful and that street smarts, life lessons and experience can account for wisdom beyond that gained in an academic environment.

From a combined list of 714 famous high school drop outs, 25 are billionaires, 8 are US Presidents, 10 are Nobel Prize winners, 8 are Olympic medalists, 61 are Oscar winners, 55 are best selling authors and 27 have been knighted, among other honours. (Source: Noted High School and Elementary School Dropouts )

Being a university instructor, I value education. But I also value practical experience. There is no teacher like experience. Innovative thinking does not require a degree.

If you have comments or suggestions on this blog entry, please start a discussion

If you liked this blog entry, try:

Can Do Attitude at Work

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Posted by Joni Rose

Learning to Say No

It is tough sometimes but often the best practice is to say no more than yes at peak demand times in either your professional or personal life. Setting boundaries and clearly stating your intentions and priorities will help others understand what you are trying to accomplish and help you, not cause you more anxiety. Draw up a schedule that allows them to clearly understand when you are available and when you are busy and make sure the schedule allows for flex time and alone time for regrouping.

Cut Down on Extras

Yes, your volunteering is important to you, but when it comes down to having the time and energy to regroup, it may mean cutting back on extra curricular activities for awhile while in a crunch situation or to regain control after a period of overwhelm. The extras to look at reducing are: extra projects at work, volunteering, guest stays at your home, parties and other entertaining, elaborate cooking, hobbies that require extensive time and energy commitments and travel. This does not mean that these must be aborted permanently, only temporarily so that you can get your balance back. After all, some of these extra activities can bring great joy to your life and ultimately create more balance on a spiritual and emotional level.

If you have comments or suggestions on this blog entry, please start a discussion

If you liked this blog entry, try:

Improving a Bad Day at Work

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Posted by Joni Rose

Create a Feature Wall

Decorating an office can be tough if you do not have permission to paint. If you do, paint is an inexpensive way to add colour. Try creating a feature wall by painting it a strong colour.

De-clutter

Clutter can make a small room look smaller. Spend some time purging and if possible, sell office equipment and furniture you don’t use and use the profits to buy paint or other decorations for your new spacious office. Clear off desk space by putting items away in drawers.

Cover Up Open Shelving

If your office has many open book cases with clutter and mess, try rearranging them and expose only supplies that can be organized neatly (like books or printer paper) and cover the rest of the shelves with an inexpensive blind, curtain of fabric, white board, cork board or metal surface with magnets.

Flowers or Plants

Fresh flowers can make a real impact in an office. Treat yourself to an inexpensive new large vase and buy daisies, gladiolas or other inexpensive flowers to add colour and life to your office. Plants are also an inexpensive way to add character to an office. Watch out for sales of large plants and end-of-season clear outs of clay or fibreglass pots.

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Decorating an Office

Spring Desk Cleaning

Copyright © 2007 Joni Rose and Suite 101. All rights reserved. Any unauthorized use will constitute an infringement of copyright.

Posted by Joni Rose

Is there a great secret to finding the right career? I am not sure if there is a great secret but there is one element to professional development that I find certainly can help people come closer to discovering a best fit career and work that makes their heart sing.

That element is determining what type of work comes easily and naturally to you. Sound too simplistic? “But”, you say, “I need to stretch myself to see my full potential, Joni”.

If find too often that clients feel this uncontrollable need to put themselves outside their comfort zone and not listen to their core values. It is like they have a devil on their shoulder that says, “You can’t do that, it is too easy!” or “that isn’t using your potential”.

Often when my clients stop and reflect on the work that has brought them the most joy and that they feel most passionate about, it is the work that has used their innate talents. That allusive right career was there all along. It was the one that uses these innate talents daily and to the extreme.

If working to your career potential is working at something that utilizes your strengths, then I think you’d be using your strengths if the work came so easily to you that you could do it in your sleep. Struggle? I say, “Why?”. Why not make it easy to succeed. Identify the work that comes easily to you and you’ll be on the road to career success.

If you have comments or suggestions on this blog entry, please start a discussion

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Career Goal Attainment Tips

Solutions to Career Problems

Barriers to Career Goal Attainment

Copyright © 2007 Joni Rose and Suite 101. All rights reserved. Any unauthorized use will constitute an infringement of copyright.

Posted by Joni Rose

Often good work is not acknowledged or spoken about. Celebrating employee success and achievements not only lifts morale, it help builds a case for more resources. Upper management likes to support successful teams with more resources so having accomplishments documented is can be a very powerful tool to include in a proposal or presentation during a resources bid.

Create a simple process for recording accomplishments. Encourage your staff to participate in the record keeping by creating a page on your intranet site where staff can upload accomplishments. Provide guidelines and headings of the types of accomplishments that should be recorded on the tracking system. For example, an increase in sales (a new customer, account or market discovered), a decrease in expenditures (change in a system or process that reduces staff time, raw material amounts, shipping costs, eliminates outsourcing (if it is costly) etc.), a customer or client compliment, media coverage, handling a crisis well, achieving a target or goal, innovation and so on.

Acknowledge employees that have posted with an encouraging response to their post. Create an incentive system for the top accomplishments that are judged by the biggest difference to the bottom line (decreased expenditures or increased revenue), to staff morale or to displaying a corporate core value. Award the top accomplishments once a month or once a quarter with a physical prize, cash bonus or a day off with pay.

Not only will this new program provide a valuable way to record departmental accomplishments, it will also increase morale and encourage positive performance by clearly articulating what exceptional work looks like. Too often, employees are unclear what their supervisor or upper management would consider an accomplishment. It may be obvious to you as their leader and an executive involved in strategic planning but not so obvious to front line workers.

If you have comments or suggestions on this blog entry, please start a discussion

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Performance Review Tools and Tips

Leadership Best Practices

Encouraging Teamwork

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Posted by Joni Rose

Go for a brisk walk

Clear your head by getting outside for a break. While walking focus on three things you appreciate about your job and your working conditions. Shift away from feeling sorry for yourself into thoughts of appreciation and plans of action that will create positive change.

Invite your favourite colleague out for lunch

Having lunch with a colleague that has a great sense of humour and can encourage you to laugh can really motivate a shift to a more positive afternoon. They can also offer some constructive criticism and a new perspective to your problems.

Re-read a positive employee evaluation, client thank-you or other compliment

Hopefully you’ve kept a file of these positive pick me ups! If not, start one and collect compliments, recognitions and other forms of positive reinforcement. Take some time to re-read these notes when you are feeling incompetent and need some reassurance. They will reaffirm that it is just a shift in your thinking and feeling, not that you lack ability.

Buy someone flowers or a coffee

Brighten someone else’s day and yours will also brighten. Performing a random act of kindness can turn around a day full of challenges and give you that boost of energy you need to get through the day.

Ask for help

If you are overwhelmed with your workload, ask for assistance. If you can delegate, delegate. If you require more support, present your case to your supervisor but be sure to present a solution not just complain about a problem.

If you have comments or suggestions on this blog entry, please start a discussion

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Self Awareness at Work

Ten Signs of Burnout

Can Do Attitude at Work

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Posted by Joni Rose

Hiring a wrong new employee is a costly proposition. It makes sense to consider the selection carefully so that you are not back screening resumes a month later.

What a Leader Looks for in a New Employee

Attitude

1. Do they give examples when answering questions that show that they have a positive attitude?
2. Are they open and willing to learn? To change? To adapt to a new environment?
3. Do they seem happy and interested in the work?
4. Do they miss opportunities to bash their previous employer or boss?

Organization

1. Do they demonstrate preparedness by coming to the interview having researched the company or organization, its values and mission, its products and services and its winning proposition?
2. Did they show up to the interview a few minutes early?
3. Were their documents organized and neatly presented?

Cultural Fit

1. Can you envision them integrating in to their new team of colleagues?
2. Do you like them?
3. Do they share the corporate values demonstrated by their preferences, lifestyle choices and career priorities?

Skill Set

1. Do they possess a skill set that will add value to the team?
2. Will they need excessive training to get up to speed?
3. Is their education and training current and relevant?
4. Are their skills transferable to this new role?
5. Do they want to learn?
6. Do they show leadership potential?

References

1. Did the candidate’s former boss hate to see them leave and would hire them again if possible?
2. Did the candidate’s former boss respect them and their skills?
3. Did the candidate’s former colleagues state that they got along with everyone and is sorely missed?

If you have comments or suggestions on this blog entry, please start a discussion

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How to Keep Star Talent Motivated

HR Training for New Managers

Copyright © 2007 Joni Rose and Suite 101. All rights reserved. Any unauthorized use will constitute an infringement of copyright.

Posted by Joni Rose

A good leader is always on the lookout for star talent that can be promoted to more senior roles. Many employees fantasize about being promoted but rarely think about positioning themselves to be recognized by senior staff. How many of the following competencies do you excel at?

Producer

You make the company money. You get results. Your statistics are impressive as you’ve found new and innovative ways to increase sales or decrease expenditures.

Well Liked

Colleagues think you are terrific. You have many supporters and your boss hears a lot of good compliments from your coworkers.

Politically Savvy

You know who is who in the upper management and work hard to impress them. You never step on toes out of inconsideration for the efforts of others or other departments. You are known for your cooperative approach and create buy-in to new ideas and directions.

Not Greedy but Ambitious

You know the difference between being greedy and being ambitious. You understand that you’ll have to get your hands dirty and no job is beneath you in your climb to the top.

Positive Thinker

You are an optimist. You never complain about the company or your boss, instead you only look for solutions to problems that others identify. You appreciate your boss and his/her efforts and you let them know it. You are too busy focusing on the positive and appreciating what is great about your work, not what is missing.

Change Leader

You like change and adapt well to new directions, strategies, processes and procedures. You don’t spend energy asking why, you roll up your sleeves and focus on implementation supporting upper management’s decision regardless of whether you see the rationale.

If you have comments or suggestions on this blog entry, please start a discussion

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Barriers to Career Goal Attainment

Career Goals

Career Success

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Posted by Joni Rose

Defining the corporate dress code when it isn’t clearly stated in an operations manual can be tough. Here are some general guidelines to follow. A great clue is to see how your boss dresses and mimic them (unless they are new to the company in which case you may want to choose someone at their level that has been with the company longer).

Business Formal

Business formal is the dress code of choice for professionals that are working in an environment where you are meeting or exposed to customers or clients on a regular basis. Business formal is common in financial services (accounting firms, banks, venture capital firms etc.) and law offices.

• Dark suits (navy, black, brown, grey)- blazer and pants or skirt in the same fabric)
• White/off white or pastel blouses or shirts
• Panty hose
• Closed toe shoes
• Modest jewellery and accessories
• Ties

Business Casual

Business casual is taking a very formal dress and taking it down a notch. Be careful though not to go too far and dress too casually. Again, play it safe when starting a new job and wear a skirt or dress pants and a white shirt or blouse on day one and see how others dress.

• Blazers (sport jackets) with pants or skirts that match but are not the same fabric
• Cardigans in place of jacket – or no jacket
• Blouses or shirts with patterns or brighter colours
• Dressy sandals
• Dress pants

Typically Unacceptable Attire for Business Environments

While some of these things would be acceptable in an artsy clothing store or café, they are commonly on the what not to wear lists in dress codes.

• Excessive piercings or visual tattoos
• Revealing clothing (low cut tops, low rise pants with stomach showing, tight fitting tops or pants)
• Beach wear (flip flops, shorts, tank tops, halter tops etc.)
• Capris or clam diggers in kaki fabric, muslin or other casual fabrics
• Jeans or denim clothing
• T-shirts with political or offensive statements
• Clothing with holes or weathered appearance

A great site with pictures to help demonstrate dressing for success is Dress to Achieve

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Fitting into a New Job Culture

New Job Organization

Copyright © 2007 Joni Rose and Suite 101. All rights reserved. Any unauthorized use will constitute an infringement of copyright.

Posted by Joni Rose

You’ve landed a new job, congratulations! How exciting! Before your first day on the job, prepare yourself for the new environment. Corporate culture can be hard to define but here are a few definitions:

• The basic assumptions and beliefs held by employees about the enterprise they work for.
  • Memorial University of Newfoundland - Business 1000 Glossary Page 110
• Corporate culture refers to a company's values, beliefs, business principles, traditions, ways of operating, and internal work environment.
  • University of Alabama - Strategic Managment Glossary
• Organizational culture comprises the attitudes, values, beliefs, norms and customs of an organization. Whereas organizational structure is relatively easy to draw and describe, organizational culture is less tangible and difficult to measure.
  • Wikipedia

So how then do you determine what the corporate culture is that you are now a part of? Breaking it down into the components:

Company Values

These are usually posted on the company’s web site under “about us” or “careers” or they may have a separate section dedicated to the corporate values. Once you’ve read them, ask yourself – how can I demonstrate these values in my first month on the job?

Company Customs

Customs are something you need to have an ear open for during your orientation. Remember that customs change with each organization and although you may not be used to the new way of celebrating birthdays (for example), go along with the new custom and focus more on the positives and less on the differences – demonstrate that you are flexible and adaptable. Most companies have a policy and procedures manual (also known as an Operations Manual) that will give you a clear idea of some customs around things like breaks, holiday booking, smoking areas, etc.

Other Clues to Corporate Culture

• How employees dress – is it business casual or formal? Do different levels of employees dress differently or is the CEO in jeans (if all levels dress the same, expect a matrix i.e. a culture that abhors hierarchy)?
• Hours of work – does the office empty out at 4 pm or is it still lively at 6 pm?
• Holiday practices – have your employee peers taken holidays this or banked many days? What about your supervisor?
• Lunch – do people go out for lunch in groups? Is the lunchroom a beehive of activity or just a place with a fridge?
• Social events – are they pub nights with open bars or subdued wine and cheese affairs in the board room?

If you have comments or suggestions on this blog entry, please start a discussion

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Learning a New Role

New Job Organization

Copyright © 2007 Joni Rose and Suite 101. All rights reserved. Any unauthorized use will constitute an infringement of copyright.

Posted by Joni Rose

They inhabit most workplaces. Walking working zombies that go through the motions without passion or interest in what they are doing. It makes you wonder how they manage to get out of bed in the morning. Burnout can be caused by many factors. Identifying the signs of burnout can lead to the recognition that a positive career change is in order.

1. Tasks that need to be accomplished are left undone. Deadlines are being missed.
2. A feeling of overwhelm or complete boredom prevails more than 50% of the time.
3. Negative comments are the norm, not the exception. It is portrayed that there are enormous hurdles that are insurmountable.
4. Punctuality and absenteeism are becoming issues. Sick days and holiday allotments have been exhausted.
5. Lunch breaks are extended and coffee/smoke breaks are frequent – more frequent than what is acceptable.
6. Contributions to group discussions and tasks are non existent or minimal. Frequently excuses are made to avoid participation in group events.
7. Parties and other social gatherings are passed up. Again, excuses are made to justify a lack of interest or commitment to social gatherings.
8. Alcohol, drugs or other addictions may start to surface or are exaggerated if already present.
9. An opportunity to either move to a more reclusive work area or office it is often a priority or at least an idea. The desire is to be less out in the open for others to recognize the general lack of participation and passion.
10. Fantasies of dramatic career changes, moves to other countries or other exotic changes are frequent.

If you have comments or suggestions on this blog entry, please start a discussion

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Increasing Career Motivation

Copyright © 2007 Joni Rose and Suite 101. All rights reserved. Any unauthorized use will constitute an infringement of copyright.

Posted by Joni Rose

A friend of mine is a new manager and she had to give her first set of performance reviews this week. Delivering a negative performance review is never easy. What I found interesting about our conversation was how she wished the employees who were under performing would listen to and read the performance review as constructive criticism. She wished they would focus on how they could improve their performance and not wallow in the negativity of it or argue its validity – especially when the performance review process was a collaborative effort of many managers and peers. “How can she argue with the performance review when ten people agreed with my assessment of her performance, including her peers?”, my friend said in a frustrating tone.

People that have a tough time handling criticism from a boss tend to argue, sulk or ignore negative feedback even if its intention is to be constructive and instructive.

They see this as an attack and become defensive – the armour goes up as they attempt to protect themselves from harm.

What can the manager do to help the situation? Understand that when the employee argues or withdraws they are feeling attacked and have shut down the listening and dialogue. Take a step back and turn into a coach asking them to focus on what can be improved and how they plan to improve. Let them do the majority of the talking and refrain from vagueness – state the facts and have examples prepared and be able to define what excellence looks like.

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Performance Conversations

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Posted by Joni Rose

Breakfast

Breakfast is typically the meal for starches. Remember that many people are on low carb diets and so continental breakfasts can leave them unsatisfied. Adding yogurt, fresh fruit salad, hard cheeses, cottage cheese and cold cuts such as ham can round out a continental breakfast and keep the low carb dieters happy. For beverages, offer coffee and tea (both caffeinated and decaffeinated), and juices.

AM Break

Muffins and pastries tend to be the most popular morning snack. Some caterers get creative with protein bars or smoothies. Beverages are essential at break times so add water to the coffee, tea and juices.

Lunch

If budgets are tight and hot meals are not possible, look at adding soup to sandwiches or wraps to give an inexpensive hot option. Remember the vegetarians in the crowd and always offer meatless options. Pasta, although usually an inexpensive option, can be very heavy and slow down the mental alertness for afternoon sessions. Offer a variety of salads, some including a source of protein such as chicken or shrimp to lighten the meal.

PM Break

Offer something light for afternoon break such as fruit kabobs and mineral water. Other snack foods such as popcorn and nuts offer a fun alternative with an assortment of pops.

Dinner

Have fun with theme dinners. Choose a country, a colour or an activity and create a menu, decorations and networking activities to fit. If the training event is a conference over many days, try to book at least one meal off site at a local pub or restaurant – or both. A pub offers a more casual atmosphere and can be a great way to break up more formal or intellectually challenging activities.

If you have comments or suggestions on this blog entry, please start a discussion

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Training Room Layout

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Posted by Joni Rose

S for Strengths

What are your professional strengths? What comes easily to you? One of the biggest mistakes I see clients make is that choose jobs that are difficult because they think they need to challenge themselves to be happy. The truth is that if you ask people who are very happy in their job why they like their job, it is common for them to say things like “Oh, it comes so easily to me” or “I can’t believe they pay me to do this!”. Figure out your strengths and make career choices that will utilize those strengths.

W for Weaknesses

What are your professional weaknesses? Your performance review and informal feedback from your supervisor can help you determine what area needs work.

O for Opportunities

Is there training you can take to help you improve on your weaknesses? If your company offers reimbursement for training and will give you time off to take training, you have so much to gain from researching your options . You company may also offer in-house training. If a degree will increase your income and opportunities, see if your company or organization will pay your night school tuition. Will counselling help you learn to balance your career and home life? If you have extended health benefits, have a look at the types of claims you can make. You may be pleasantly surprised as many extended health plans will cover career coaching, debt counselling and a variety of other services. What other opportunities are there for you to take a step up the career ladder?

T for Threats

What threatens your job security or career advancement? Take a good hard look at what is holding you back from your career success so that you can be strategic with your career choices.

If you have comments or suggestions on this blog entry, please start a discussion

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Workaholic Assessment

Copyright © 2007 Joni Rose and Suite 101. All rights reserved. Any unauthorized use will constitute an infringement of copyright.

Posted by Joni Rose

How well do you listen to your staff? Ask yourself the following questions to determine if you are actively listening or giving staff a deaf ear.

1. Do you strive to listen to staff and not do all the talking in coaching conversations?
2. Do you walk through a conversation in your mind and determine its outcome before the conversation has happened?
3. Do you allow your cell phone or other staff to interrupt meetings or discussions with staff?
4. Do you keep eye contact with your staff and lean forward slightly to engage in listening?
5. Do you keep your hands free when listening?
6. Do you repeat what a team member says to you to confirm that you heard them correctly?
7. Do you ask questions when you are not clear on what has been said?
8. Do you encourage staff to talk more by keeping your door open and encouraging them to meet with you when you have a concern?
9. How have you scored on a 360 degree review on your listening abilities? Did your subordinates rate you as a good listener?
10. Do you promise an action based on listening to a suggestion but then not carry through on delivering on the promise?
11. Do you interrupt a speaker and offer your opinions and advice when it hasn’t been asked for?
12. Do you lecture and lead a meeting and not allow staff to talk and share ideas and solutions?
13. Have you created a mechanism for suggestions on procedural improvements to be recorded and acted on?
14. If your supervisor isn’t listening to you, do you project your frustrations on staff by not listening to them in return?
15. Have you given a staff member a bonus or incentive to reward a great suggestion?

If you have comments or suggestions on this blog entry, please start a discussion

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Effective Team Leadership

Communication Styles

Copyright © 2007 Joni Rose and Suite 101. All rights reserved. Any unauthorized use will constitute an infringement of copyright.

Posted by Joni Rose

Traveling for business may seem glamorous to those who look in from the outside but the reality is often loneliness, fatigue and resentment.

Being on the road can be very isolating and lonely. Going back to an empty hotel room after working a long day (as often on business trips you work longer hours to pack in more work as you may not get to this city often) can be really tough. One tip I found useful is to use the time to call a friend or family member and have a good chat or write a letter or email to someone. Get a good long distance plan on your cell or ask for it as part of your perks if you don’t have it already.

Fatigue can also be a problem. Sleeping in a different bed can cause sleepless nights. To counteract sleep deprivation, try packing your favourite pillow or spraying the pillow with a scent that reminds you of home. Bring your favourite pyjamas on the road and make sure you’ve closed the curtains tightly as unfamiliar lights can jar you awake or make you rise before your alarm clock reminds you it is time to get out of bed.

Resentment can build if you constantly miss out on social engagements back home. To reduce the amount of resentment, try planning get-togethers for when you plan to be home. These gatherings will give you something to look forward to and help loved ones and friends to not feel ignored or out of mind when you are away from home. Work on your party plans while back in the hotel or shop for party decorations or favours while on the business trip.

If you have comments or suggestions on this blog entry, please start a discussion

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Organizing Business Travel

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Posted by Joni Rose

There are many ways to deliver professional development to staff. If you find that your staff is tired of workshops, here are some ideas to spark some new enthusiasm into your training program.

Contests

Host a contest with a great prize for the group that produces the most innovative marketing plan for a new product line or service. Create a panel of judges that includes upper management, representatives from different departments and/or clients.

Employee Trades

Offer employees the opportunity to exchange their job with someone else for 1-3 months. If funds allow, include exchanges to other branch offices in different cities. This type of exchange can be very eye opening as it is an avenue for a powerful exchange of ideas

Think Tanks or Retreats

Host a one day retreat or think tank to resolve an ongoing problem. Clearly state what the expected outcome of the day is in order to see a solution generated. Provide the necessary tools such as computers, flip charts and white boards so that the process can be documented.

Best Practices Exchange

Create a web page on the company intranet or other vehicle to document best practices. Dedicate a day for each department to make their contributions. Provide guidelines for a planning meeting to determine who will document certain best practices.

Create a Library

Purchase copies of books that are highly relevant to your company’s industry, corporate values or strategic goals and loan them to staff for one or two week periods. You could also purchase subscriptions to industry magazines or newspapers for the lunchroom.

Do you have an innovative idea that worked in your company? Please start a discussion.

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Internal Training Promotion

Group Activities

Copyright © 2007 Joni Rose and Suite 101. All rights reserved. Any unauthorized use will constitute an infringement of copyright.

Posted by Joni Rose

Often I hear from clients that they feel their professional development is at a roadblock. Here are some common problems and possible solutions.

Problem: I need a Master’s Degree

Solution: Start a Master’s Degree program part-time. Look for a program that will let you extend your studies to eight or ten years so that you can take a course a year and state on your resume that your Master’s is “in progress”. Many employers consider an “in progress” degree for jobs requiring a Masters. An added benefit is that they may support you attaining your degree by tuition reimbursements and time off to study or flexible schedules around class times.

Problem: I can’t afford a degree program

Solution: Take a certificate or diploma program instead as they are usually shorter in duration and geared to increase employability. Also, look into scholarships, bursaries, employer tuition support and loans before you rule out the cost of an education. Consider your return on investment. If a degree will mean an increase in your salary above $10K a year, then you will recover your investment quickly.

Problem: I don’t have time to go back to school

Solution: Talk to your employer to see if you can take a course during work hours. Consider an online course that is self-paced so that it can work around a busy schedule. Look at your priorities – is there something you can cut out of your schedule to free up some time? Can you ask your parents or partner to take on some chores so that you have more time for your professional development?

If you have comments or suggestions on this blog entry, please start a discussion

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Choosing PD Educational Programs

Career Success

Copyright © 2007 Joni Rose and Suite 101. All rights reserved. Any unauthorized use will constitute an infringement of copyright.

Posted by Joni Rose

1. You can’t find things easily. You spend a large part of your day looking for things, rummaging through piles, files, drawers and brief cases/tote bags
2. You miss deadlines. You justify missing the deadline by some wild excuse and it is always someone or something else at fault.
3. You forget important appointments and important tasks. If you have a daytimer, you don’t look at it or have a wall calendar, a daytimer, an electronic calendar and slips of paper/sticky notes with some appointments on each and some duplicated but most appointments are recorded once.
4. You buy doubles or triples of things. When you do find time for cleaning, you discover that you’ve got multiples of things and had them on a shopping list somewhere as well.
5. You pile things without sorting them. You have stacks of papers, magazines, etc. everywhere you look. Some haven’t been touched in months or years. You have no idea what is in the stacks.
6. If you file things, you can’t retrieve them easily as your filing system doesn’t make sense. Your labels are too vague or folder label sections are left blank. The colour coding (if it exists) has been changed and no longer makes sense.
7. You discover papers that needed your attention ages ago and now it is too late. You forget to prioritize or note important tasks on a calendar.
8. Co-workers have commented, “Don’t give it to Jack/Jill, they’ll lose it”. You find that co-workers are reluctant to give you originals and if they must, they make a duplicate copy first.
9. You rely on others to keep you organized and criticize them for not being organized. You are lost without your assistant or significant other as they are the ones that keep you on top of things.
10. You do not have an organized contact management system. Key contact information is found in multiple places. You have business cards in miscellaneous places and no way to monitor when you’ve talked to a client or customer and what the last conversation was about.

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Time Management

New Job Organization

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Posted by Joni Rose

Deliver a message they want to hear

Tap into why your audience came to hear your speech and make sure your content is highly relevant to them. If you miss the mark, you will create a lack luster atmosphere and it can be extremely uncomfortable to present to an audience that isn’t interested in what you have to say. Give them value for their time. Offer them something (a tip, a new technique) that they can take back to their workplace and apply today.

Describe a light bulb moment

Describe the reason you feel compelled to share this information and the discoveries you’ve made while researching or practicing this topic. Insightful, thoughtful realizations can make a profound impact on an audience and give them quotable moments.

Connect emotionally with the audience

The best speakers know how to elicit a range of emotions in an audience. Feeling sad, empathetic or horrified one minute, then made to laugh the next gets endorphins rushing.

Be energetic, show passion

A boring presenter is one who delivers a message without enthusiasm in a monotone voice. Emphasise points by increasing your voice’s volume and pitch. Walk around and get close to your audience. Use hand gestures or other movements to show emphasis.

Visual aids are there to support you

Don’t make the mistake of reading your PowerPoint slides or turning your back to the audience to look at your visuals. Use them as background to highlight your points and not detract from your delivery.

Be heard

Use a lapel microphone so that you are able to move around and be heard. This is especially important in larger rooms or if you typically have a softer voice.

If you have comments or suggestions on this blog entry, please start a discussion

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Focused Workshop Design

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Posted by Joni Rose

Delivering bad news to staff is never easy. Here are some tips to help guide your delivery.

Be honest – if you sugar coat the news, it will be transparent so it is important to respect that the adults you lead will appreciate the straight and honest truth.

Check your information – make sure that your information is accurate and that you have the facts and figures to back up any claim. Realise that without the solid proof, acceptance will be tough. Provide the data in charts or graphs and give staff copies or access to this information on the internal web site.

Anticipate questions – think of what questions you’d have if this news was being delivered to you or your loved ones. Prepare your answers to these questions so that you will not be caught off guard. You may want to create an FAQ or Frequently Asked Questions page on the company’s internal web site to help give answers to common questions.

Show empathy – take a walk in your staff’s shoes. Show them you care and that their feelings matter. Give them the support they need i.e. counsellors, time off etc.

Face time – bad news needs to be delivered face to face. Do not send a memo or email with bad news. The bigger the impact this news will have, the more important it is to be face to face with your audience.

Clear message – make sure your message is clear. Ambiguity can cause confusion and misunderstandings. Speak with your communications department as they may be able to help you craft the message to the company communication style and to ensure the message is inline with corporate values.

If you have comments or suggestions on this blog entry, please start a discussion

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Change Management and Innovation

Copyright © 2007 Joni Rose and Suite 101. All rights reserved. Any unauthorized use will constitute an infringement of copyright.

Posted by Joni Rose

Some interesting research out of Kwantlen University College on the intergenerational reward preferences and their implications on business was presented at the British Columbia Human Resources Management Association Symposium (March 2007). This research points out how some rewards or incentives may not motivate certain generations. The impact of this on business is that as there is an employee population shift as baby boomers (born 1946-1967) retire, Gen X (born 1965-1980) are promoted to management and Gen Y(born 1981-2000) are hired into junior roles, incentives will need to address this shift to motivate performance and engagement as well as attract and retain employees.

The research points out that while baby boomers value career building and help to balance priorities, Gen X value building transferable skills and built-in mechanisms for work/life balance now, whereas Gen Y value a synergy between personal values and corporate values.

Some incentives that work across the generations were found to be flextime, telecommuting, amenities, and time off in lieu. Retirement planning and child or elder care is attractive to Gen X or Baby Boomers but Gen Y will take a pass. An informal workplace will appeal to Gen X and Y, but not to Baby Boomers. Gen Y employees will smile when technological advances are implemented whereas Baby Boomers will smile when they are promoted to a position of status.

Google has taken incentives for employee engagement, attraction and retention seriously. In a very dramatic way, they are redefining the world of work as evident by this journalistic view of Google's HR practices.

To view the powerpoint slides of this research presentation, go to this site and choose HRMA Presentation: Intergenerational Reward Preferences Slides.

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Motivational Tasks and Incentives

Copyright © 2007 Joni Rose and Suite 101. All rights reserved. Any unauthorized use will constitute an infringement of copyright.

Posted by Joni Rose

Keeping your desk and work space tidy can make a big difference in your efficiency. Spring is the time of year when we typically clean house so don’t forget to clean up your work space.

Filing

Filing systems get out dated and then they are not used. Put aside some time to revise your system for efficiency. Look at colour coding different types of work you do by using colour file folders and/or hanging file labels. Create new folders and proper labels for ones in use. File those piles of papers you’ve been meaning to file.

Drawers

Purchase a new drawer divider or trays to help organize the contents of your drawers. Regroup like things to each drawer. Throw out bent paper clips and donate other supplies that you don’t use. Oil drawer slides and give drawer bottoms a good wipe as you clean.

Desk Surface

Purchase desk organizing units to keep your pens, paper clips, sticky notes in one place. Keeping pre-moistened cleaning wipes in your drawer can make keeping the surface clean easier.

Lighting

Poor lighting can not only cause eye strain and headaches, it can make working frustrating. Invest in proper lighting and notice the difference it makes!

Atmosphere

Sometimes our work areas get neglected when it comes to art work and decorations. Spend some time and money to create a mood around a colour or decoration theme. Frame some of your favourite photos.

Desk Ergonomics

To arrange your desk for ideal office ergonomics:

• your arm should be at a right angle to your keyboard
• the top of your monitor should be 20 degrees below the horizontal line of sight and the screen should be anti-glare
• you should have minimal bending of the wrist
• the area behind your knees should not be touching the chair seat and your chair back should be adjusted so that your body is at a 90-120 degree angle

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New Job Organization

Email Inbox Management

Time Management

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Posted by Joni Rose

When I work with supervisors and their staff, I often see clashes that can be traced back to a difference in Myers Briggs Type Indicators (MBTI). The differences in personality types can cause misunderstandings as people tend to want their boss or subordinates to be like themselves. Learning to appreciate the difference by understanding the personality traits of your opposites can make a world of difference in corporate climates.

Problems often arise when T or Thinking and F or Feeling types work together. If you have a feeler for a boss, and you are a T or Thinker, you’ll be frustrated by their lack of concern for results in the form of concrete stats. They’ll be too busy giving you the warm and fuzzy appreciation that you feel is a waste of time and energy. You’d much rather they got down to work and made some practical changes. You also wish they’d fire the under performers and stop letting their feelings get in the way of the job getting done. You may argue with your boss or at least find yourself in long debates.

If you have a thinker for a boss and you are a feeler, you’ll feel upset by their cold approach to things and lack of words of appreciation and encouragement. You believe that they don’t care how you feel and your job satisfaction is unimportant to them. You take their words personally and their candid approach can be hard to take. They seem to focus on all the flaws in your work or in a process.

Learning to understand that your feeling boss is great at motivating and encouraging team work and generally making the climate peaceful and calm may help you appreciate them more. Understanding that your thinking boss is stat conscious and can bring resources your way by supplying positive stats to the powers that be, may make you see them in a different light.

If you have comments or suggestions on this blog entry, please start a discussion

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Feelers and Thinkers at Work

Sensors and Intuitives at Work

Extroverts and Introverts at Work

Myers Briggs and Career Training

In Praise of Introverts

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Posted by Joni Rose

Terrible PowerPoint Slides

• font is too small
• too many words on the slides
• font and/or background colour makes slides illegible
• lack of graphics to show key concepts
• too much animation, hard to stay focused

Reading from Slides or Handouts

• Instead of presenting and adding content as they speak, all of the content is presented and then simple read to the audience

Unaware of the Audience

• Clueless as to their educational background, level of experience or other factors that could influence the level of the presentation, key messages and activities
• Addressing one side of the room
• Turning their back to the audience
• Blocking the view of the presentation to some participants

Lecturing not Active Training

• Not engaging the audience using active training techniques such as brainstorming, group work, Q&A or other ways to create an interactive learning environment

Information Overload

• Too much information for the time allotted
• Information that is not relevant to the key message
• Too much detail, too little message

Lack of Flow

• Jumping around from topic to topic and jumping back
• No logical progression from simple concepts to more complex concepts
• Lack of agenda

Lack of Substance

• Too little detail to make any substantive claims or conclusions
• Wild claims without statistics or facts to back them up
• Case studies that have been striped down too much (usually to protect confidentiality) and therefore lack key details to make them relevant to the discussion

Lack of Clear Topic or Message

• Too many or too few key messages
• Lack of content on the key message(s) and/or too much content on non-key messages

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Information Overload Workshops

Self-direction and Experience

Copyright © 2007 Joni Rose and Suite 101. All rights reserved. Any unauthorized use will constitute an infringement of copyright.

Posted by Joni Rose

Demonstrating leadership excellence is more that preaching best practices it is living by the standards that you set as a leader. If you don’t walk the walk, your staff will quickly lose respect and ignore or dismiss any of your directions or suggestions. When this disregard of direction starts to happen it can be a very quick downward spiral.

Ask yourself these questions about your leadership style to see if you are a role model for leadership best practices.

1. Do you ask for a change in process, but then use the old method?
2. Do you ask your staff to put in overtime but then leave early?
3. Do you ask your staff to generate new business but then miss opportunities or fail to follow up on a lead?
4. Do you ask your staff to be budget conscious but then buy a big screen TV for your office?
5. Do you complain about your workload but then either fail to delegate or make extra work for your staff?
6. Do you criticise staff for being late and then come in to work late or return from meetings or lunch later than expected?
7. Do you ask staff to follow company policies but then disregard them when it comes to your work?
8. Do you emphasize living and working to the company values but then push your own, contradictory values?
9. Do you expect staff to dress professionally but then come to work dressed too casually?
10. Do you expect staff to represent the company well in public but then act unprofessionally outside the office?
11. Do you set a rule against dating coworkers but date staff yourself?

It is important to demonstrate best practices by your actions so that staff see you as a mentor and role model.

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Change Management and Innovation

Performance Management Series

Copyright © 2007 Joni Rose and Suite 101. All rights reserved. Any unauthorized use will constitute an infringement of copyright.

Posted by Joni Rose

1. Provide variety

Tedious, repetitive tasks can cause burn out and boredom over time. If the job requires repetitive tasks, look for ways to introduce variety by rotating duties, areas of responsibility, delivery of service etc. For example, if some of the staff provides customer service on the phone and some in person, allow a rotation. If some staff are assigned to be responsible for a certain department, industry or product line, offer variety by rotating the assignments every 6 months to a year. You may be able to provide variety by location from transfers to a new city to changing office or desk assignments.

2. Match skills/interest to job roles

Taking a skills and interest inventory of your staff can really be an enlightening exercise. Sometimes leaders forget that staff come from different backgrounds and have a variety of educational and work histories. Create a database where you can document staff skills and interests so that when a project arises that requires a certain skill set, for example event planning, then the employees with either an interest in event planning or training related to event planning can be searched for and a list retrieved. Employees will feel valued and appreciated when they can apply past learning and become more engaged when they are doing work they are interested in.

3. Offer training to improve weak skills or encourage job advancement

Training can often improve employee engagement. If a new technology or process has been introduced recently without adequate training, staff can become disengaged and unproductive. If training can be offered that would allow staff to advance to a more senior or more responsible role, advanced level training will help engage staff that are ambitious and/or are looking for a change if they have been doing the same role for a long period of time.

If you have comments or suggestions on this blog entry, please start a discussion

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Performance Management Series

Encouraging Teamwork

Copyright © 2007 Joni Rose and Suite 101. All rights reserved. Any unauthorized use will constitute an infringement of copyright.

Posted by Joni Rose

I am an extrovert however I have always been fascinated with introverts. I enjoy their calm, deliberate approach to things. All too often my extraverted self wants them to make decisions more quickly and contribute ideas and suggestions on the fly, but then I remember how incredible the results are if I allow them time to process what is before them.

Introverts will carefully consider the information in front of them and give an insightful response if they have been given the time to process the information and collect their thoughts. They are the note takers in the meetings and often have unique perspectives and ideas since they have been absorbing all of what has been said and assimilated it into their decision making.

Introverts are the calm ones. They can handle difficult clients and situations without an external display of frustration fireworks. An introvert’s calm demeanour can keep the peace in an office. Introverts balance the high energy, in-your-face extroverted energy with a serene, contemplative energy.

Introverts are often sharp witted and highly intelligent. It can sometimes be shocking to an extrovert to see their sense of humour surface but it is usually far more intelligent humour than the extravert who tends to use physical or shock value comedy to make someone laugh.

Over the years, I’ve gradually taken the time to appreciate the different approach to work that an introvert takes and have been highly rewarded with the insights gained. Introverts have helped me see that sometimes gathering all the facts and reflecting before making a decision can be very wise. They are the kings and queens of responding and not reacting to stressful situations.

If you have comments or suggestions on this blog entry, please start a discussion

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Extraverts and Introverts at Work

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Posted by Joni Rose

To be highly productive it is important to focusing on how things can be accomplished. If you are constantly making excuses or finding all the reasons why something can’t happen, you not only will be hard to work with, you won’t be considered for a leadership role. Leaders are expected to bring results.

The next time you find yourself making an excuse for why something isn’t done, stop yourself. Look instead for a new strategy to get it done. Ask for help, delegate, work around resource shortfalls, do whatever it takes to make sure you deliver.

Sometimes roadblocks come your way that seem insurmountable. The best option when faced with a problem you can not solve is to seek out advice from a mentor. Sometimes an objective opinion is all that is needed to find a solution to a problem. Don’t be afraid to seek out someone with more experience. Their experience is incredibly valuable. They know what doesn’t work and have probably already thought of what would have worked if they could do it over.

Present problems with solutions. You will gain the respect of your supervisor and colleagues if you offer a solution as you identify a new issue to resolve. Even if it is not the solution they will choose to implement, it still demonstrates that you see problems as challenges that require some creative thinking.

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Career Success

Copyright © 2007 Joni Rose and Suite 101. All rights reserved. Any unauthorized use will constitute an infringement of copyright.

Posted by Joni Rose

It is not uncommon for there to be a loner in the department. The only problem is that they may not be contributing an equal share to the workload let alone offering their good ideas and input into discussions if they stay off on the fringe.

To encourage them to contribute to the team efforts, try one or all of the following tips:

• clearly state your expectations around team contribution to the loner and all staff
• schedule a coaching session with the loner to determine why they are choosing to work alone (Personality clash? Fear? Lack of skill?)
• put a disincentive in place that discourages working on projects alone
• reward team efforts with group incentives such as a new coffee maker or another reward that the group would appreciate
• offer team building training to the loner and/or to the group as a whole
• assign the loner a leadership role on the next project and ask the loner to report back on the teams progress

Once you have tried these tips, see if the team moral improves. If it doesn’t improve, you may need to look at transferring or terminating the employee. Once one person goes off and works alone on projects, it can lead to a disintegration of the team. For this reason, it is important to watch for signs of staff becoming loners and try to get to the root of the problem quickly.

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When to Fire an Employee

Building Cooperative Teams

Copyright © 2007 Joni Rose and Suite 101. All rights reserved. Any unauthorized use will constitute an infringement of copyright.

Posted by Joni Rose

To be a great assistant it takes an incredible knack for multi-tasking and priority setting.

Learn all you can about time management techniques. Learn how to prioritize everything you touch. This includes when you send an email to your supervisor – ask yourself, “Does this need immediate attention?”. If so, mark the email with high importance using the exclamation mark. Use the exclamation mark sparingly though. Use it only when the email contains information or an action item for something that is time sensitive within the next few hours.

The same holds true for voice mail messages. If your message is urgent, call their cell. If your message isn’t urgent, leave it on their land line or send an email instead. Always leave the most important information at the start of your voicemail message or email. If the email is only for their information and does not contain something urgent, put FYI at the start of the subject line. Keep all communication brief and to the point.

When you are first getting to know your boss, it is important to determine their work style. Do they like to be involved in decisions on certain areas but not others? It is important to determine when they need to be consulted and when you need to make a decision.

Keep a notebook of questions to ask when you have a weekly meeting. Do not send an email or voicemail with each individual question. If possible, collect your questions for one meeting, voicemail or email. It will not only save your boss time, it will help you prioritize your communications and save you time and energy.

If you have comments or suggestions on this blog entry, please start a discussion

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New Job Organization

Copyright © 2007 Joni Rose and Suite 101. All rights reserved. Any unauthorized use will constitute an infringement of copyright.

Posted by Joni Rose

I have seen it too many times to count. Clients or students that I talk to that have taken a training program to increase their chances of getting a job or switching careers only to find themselves in debt and still unemployed or under employed.

Choose your professional development wisely. Consider how much time and money you are spending and make sure you do the necessary due diligence before paying your tuition.

The most common mistakes I see are:

1. Students who have been weak to the pressure sales tactics from slick private school recruiters
2. Students who choose a program because it is what their parent, spouse or boss wanted them to do.
3. Students who are desperate to get North American training or work experience and do not understand what they are signing up for because their English language skills are poor.
4. Students who choose to take training as a quick fix to their stagnant career and do not consider whether the program will actually improve their career on graduation.
5. Students who procrastinate until the eleventh hour and must make a decision very quickly to make the registration deadlines.

If you know someone who is making a training program decision and they fit one of these scenarios, please warn them that their mistake could cost them thousands of dollars, months of time and large amounts of energy.

If you have comments or suggestions on this blog entry, please start a discussion

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Choosing PD Educational Programs

Copyright © 2007 Joni Rose and Suite 101. All rights reserved. Any unauthorized use will constitute an infringement of copyright.

Posted by Joni Rose

Office gossip is something I try to avoid. It is tough though, as gossip is sexy. It is intriguing to know who is sleeping with whom and what the boss is like on his off time. As intriguing as it is, it isn’t so funny when you are the subject of the gossip.

Avoiding gossip is tricky. You don’t want to be the outcast for not participating in the juice fest, but then again, you don’t want your reputation to be tarnished by being associated with the queen or king of office gossip. My advice is to tread very carefully and participate only in office gossip that isn’t hurting anyone. Talk about the changes that are happening in the business or the industry, not the people involved and you should be able to steer clear of playing a part in a personal vendetta.

Comments taken out of context seem to be the favourite flavour for office gossips. They twist and bend a situation for its sex appeal. They look for Achilles heals. Don’t fall for it. Ask questions and get the real scoop from the people involved if you can. Don’t trust a gossip.

Be careful when exposing a gossip to the person the gossip centers around. There is no worse enemy than a gossip scorned. They can retaliate in evil ways especially if they have a following. Instead, let them dig their own grave. They usually do at some point. Besides, you have better things to do than to discuss someone’s indiscretions at the company picnic, right?

If you have comments or suggestions on this blog entry, please start a discussion

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Communication Styles

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Posted by Joni Rose

Many things can prevent professional goals from being achieved. Sometimes the roadblocks to goal attainment are internal. They persist as negative thoughts that prevent progress. Sometimes the road blocks are external. They are the physical limitations that need to be moved out of the way.

Internal Roadblocks

Fear of the unknown, fear of looking foolish, fear of failure, fear of success, fear of being dumb, are just some of the common fears that create negative messages that play in our heads when we work on our goals. Feeling the knot in your stomach but forging ahead is the best medicine to prove those internal messages wrong. Acknowledge your fear but don’t let it cause so much anxiety that it paralyses you from progress. Understand that fear is a good thing. It helps to prevent uncalculated risk taking.

External Roadblocks

Physical roadblocks tend to be blamed more often for career goal derailment than internal roadblocks. It is far easier to blame something external than to accept that we have the power to choose change. Lifestyle factors can become limitations. Lack of money; the demands of family, kids and work; religious beliefs; cultural definitions of roles and responsibilities all become physical roadblocks to career progress. Step back and look at these roadblocks objectively. Can you use your power of choice to make changes in your life so that these hurdles are cut down if not removed entirely?

Tackling your internal and external roadblocks will take an attitude of persistence and patience. You may need professional counselling in order to determine the root causes of your fears or to devise a strategy to deal with the external roadblocks you are facing. Journaling is another technique that can be very helpful. Sometimes writing down your negative thoughts and external roadblocks allows you to see them with an objective, rational perspective.

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Achieving Professional SMART Goals

Professional New Years Resolutions

Professional Goals

Time Management

Copyright © 2007 Joni Rose and Suite 101. All rights reserved. Any unauthorized use will constitute an infringement of copyright.

Posted by Joni Rose

Many career gurus have said that the secret to loving your work and uncovering passion for what you do is to focus on what comes easily to you. If you ask a person who loves their work, often you’ll hear them say, “I can’t believe they pay me to do this!” and “It comes so naturally to me”.

All too often we try to stretch ourselves with roles and responsibilities that are outside of our comfort zone. Sometimes that approach can be energizing and motivating but other times it can cause anxiety and stress. Creating challenges can be a way to set yourself up for failure and sabotage your career.

To get yourself out of a career rut, try focusing on the areas that come easily to you first. When you feel your energy level rising and your stress levels decreasing, then look to tackling something that is outside of your comfort zone to give you a stretch if you start to feel bored. However, I have found that sometimes the root of the problem is not boredom but fear. Fear that you’ll become stagnant or lose your edge.

As an experiment, try spending your professional development funds and energy on something that comes easily to you and keep the stretching to a comfortable level. You may find that being an expert in an area that flows naturally for you will bring opportunities your way that you never thought possible. Try to set yourself up for career success and be gentle with your career development.

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10 Danger Signs of Stress Overload

Career Goals

Copyright © 2007 Joni Rose and Suite 101. All rights reserved. Any unauthorized use will constitute an infringement of copyright.

Posted by Joni Rose

As an assignment for my career coaching clients, I often ask them to interview people they feel are successful and others who never seem to make the right career choices to help determine what the secrets to career success are. It is a very interesting exercise and can be very enlightening. It reveals why some people sabotage their careers and others take opportunities and run with them.

1. What does career success look like to you? Define and describe career success in your eyes. For you, is your level of career success dependent on (circle those that apply and describe what they mean to you):
   • Level of income
   • Fame or recognition
   • Social status
   • Material possessions
   • Feelings of satisfaction, happiness, love and/or respect
   • Tangible accomplishments
   • Being a role model to someone
   • Overcome an obstacle (growth)
   • Achievement of a goal(s)
   • Living to an aspired ideal
   • Solid sense of self esteem/self worth (spiritual fulfillment)
   • Other factors, please specify
2. What do you feel you are succeeding at now in your career/work life (list them)?
3. How are these career successes impacting your life?
   • What actions do you take when you have a career success?
   • What emotions do you feel when you have a career success?
4. How do you define career failure? Is it simply not achieving those things that you identified as factors of career success or is it something else?
5. What do you feel you are failing at now in your career (list them)?
6. How are these career failures impacting your life?
   • What actions to you take when faced with a career failure?
   • What emotions do you feel when faced with a career failure?

When we examine the results some common threads appear. The common threads from these interviews are presented in the article Career Success: Defining what makes a person professionally successful.

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Career Success

Copyright © 2007 Joni Rose and Suite 101. All rights reserved. Any unauthorized use will constitute an infringement of copyright.

Posted by Joni Rose

I realise that at times it is easier to edit someone else’s work than create something from scratch. So, to make it easier for you to set your New Year’s professional resolutions, I thought I’d provide you with some SMART goal statements that you can customize to suit your specific situation.

1. To obtain my certification in fork lift operation (insert any certification) by March 1 and apply to openings for a fork lift operator from March 1 on to secure a position as a fork lift operator by the end of the year.
2. To meet with my boss by the end of January to discuss how I could advance to a leadership role with 1-3 direct reports (insert any role) within my company. Use the information gained in the meeting to create an action plan for the rest of 2007 to gain the necessary skills (training) or experience (work assignments) and to then apply for suitable openings within my company.
3. To make a list of all possible career paths that I am interested in by the end of January. I will then spend February and March researching the options and recording my findings in a table that is structured to analyse career fit with my values, Myers Briggs type and other work style elements that are important to me (e.g. short commute, outdoor work etc.). I will narrow down my options to my top 3 by the end of March and then arrange informational interviews to determine my top career choice by the end of May.

Happy New Year and good luck achieving your career goals!

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Professional New Year’s Resolutions

Copyright © 2006, Joni Rose and Suite 101. All rights reserved. Any unauthorized use will constitute an infringement of copyright.

Posted by Joni Rose

Be proactive in your training

Expecting your boss or coworkers to train you on all aspects of your job is not reasonable. Expect that you will have to take some initiative to learn the new role and connect the dots between the tasks and the people you need to work with.

Ask questions if you are unsure

Don’t be shy to ask a question if you are not sure. It is far better to get clarification and avoid making a mistake than to bumble along and make more work for your colleagues while they correct your mistakes.

Introduce yourself to key people

Learn who the influential and important people are and record their names and contact information. Make sure you start of the relationship on a good foot by introducing yourself early so that they are aware of who you are and how you are bringing value to the workplace.

Organize your work space

For tips on organizing your work space, refer to the article New Job Organization

Expect it to be exhausting at first

It will be a learning curve and that means extra time, energy and effort on your part. Try to streamline any out of work responsibilities for at least the first week to allow time to adjust. Sleep well, eat well and prepare your lunch and outfit the night before so that you are not adding to your stress.

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Career Goals

Copyright © 2006, Joni Rose and Suite 101. All rights reserved. Any unauthorized use will constitute an infringement of copyright.

Posted by Joni Rose

We are all guilty of it. Wasting time on distractions or simply being unconscious of how our time is managed at work. Look at the following list to see which of these time wasters apply to your work day.

1. Watching something print or photocopy
2. Waiting for your computer to boot
3. Making a list, then making a list from the list
4. Recording a meeting in 2-3 calendars
5. Doing a task that is low priority because you want to do it
6. Not filing an important paper(s)
7. Not putting away something so you can find it easily again
8. Chatting with coworkers
9. Attending meetings that you don’t need to or participating in discussions that are not relevant to your work

Here are three rules that can help you put an end to some of the above time wasters and increase your efficiency at work.

The one touch rule.

Read an email or piece of paper and classify it so that you are not re-reading it multiple times.

The one calendar rule.

Have one calendar that you record everything on – personal and work commitments and time-sensitive tasks.

The three priority rule.

Each day set your top three priorities that need to be accomplished. Complete those three priorities first before taking on any other tasks.

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How to Delegate Work

Copyright © 2006, Joni Rose and Suite 101. All rights reserved. Any unauthorized use will constitute an infringement of copyright.

Posted by Joni Rose

Micromanagers have a tough time giving up control and delegating work. It can lead to poor staff morale, high stress and doubling up on efforts. Take a hard look at how you are delegating work and supervising its completion to determine if micromanagement is your style of leadership.

One of the guiding principles of good management is to allow your staff to make mistakes. Mistakes can be tremendous learning experiences and made with all the right intentions, they can be harmless. All too often it is a leader’s need for perfection that gets in the way of staff feeling free enough to experiment and with experimentation comes innovation. Innovation is what will keep your business competitive in this global, ever-changing marketplace.

Step back, give your staff room to breathe and appreciate the fact that they are taking calculated risks. Let them know the end result you are looking for and if necessary, point out the things you don’t want to see as part of the process but allow them to determine the best path to get to the end result you want. There are many ways to Rome and it is just that concept that you want to encourage as discovering new ways may save the company time, money and effort.

Another tip is to ask them for a plan B if plan A doesn’t work. That way you are giving them the freedom to try plan A but also have a back up if plan A turns out to be a mistake.

Try not to let your preconceived ideas color the process. New people bring new perspectives and isn’t that why you hired them in the first place? I doubt your paying them to be a machine.

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How to Delegate Work

Communication and Teamwork

Copyright © 2006, Joni Rose and Suite 101. All rights reserved. Any unauthorized use will constitute an infringement of copyright.

Posted by Joni Rose

How does mismanagement happen? Do egos cloud judgement? Does power create some sort of blindness (the forest-for-the-trees variety)? If so, how can we prevent it from happening?

To help correct this, some companies are using 360 degree feedback. This type of performance review process, in theory, means that everyone who works under, beside and above the individual being reviewed has input into the evaluation. The trouble is that even though these reviews tend to be pricey in time and dollars, they are sometimes dismissed. The queens and kings go into denial and blame the negative feedback on “disgruntled” workers. Hello! They are disgruntled because no one seems to care or notice that the company is being run by nincompoops!

These low flying leaders find ways to miss being detected by radar. They are expert butt-kissers and find ways to manipulate people to their advantage. Some are corporate bullies and rule by creating fear preventing constructive and honest feedback from being obtained and acted on.

My suggestion to companies who are trying to weed out the bad leaders is to evaluate leaders on metrics that demonstrate effective leadership. A key metric is the amount of turnover of staff in their department. If you can, break it down into the percentages that are due to voluntary termination (quitting), involuntary termination (firing), medical leave (especially stress leaves) and transfers. Also look at departmental performance numbers, absenteeism rates and number of incidents involving the HR or legal departments for resolution. You can track the amount of severance dollars paid per department as another metric.

Keeping track of these numbers will help to evaluate the leaders more objectively.

If you have comments or suggestions on this blog entry, please start a discussion

If you liked this blog entry, try:

Performance Management Series

Copyright © 2006, Joni Rose and Suite 101. All rights reserved. Any unauthorized use will constitute an infringement of copyright.

Posted by Joni Rose

If you want your words to ring credible, make sure you practice what you teach. If you plan to use senior management to train staff in areas such as safety, legal issues or soft skills, be sure they demonstrate best practices on-the-job to their audience.

Recently a shop steward was asked to teach a workshop on Warehouse Safety. One of the “don’ts” he preached was to not jump down from the 6’ high loading dock. Later the same day, he jumped down from the loading dock and sprained his ankle. A month later, he was seen putting his hand on a moving conveyor belt of rollers and almost lost his hand. Is it any surprise that staff now ignore any of his policy around safety issues?

The VP of HR in another company led a workshop on Communication. She proceeded to tell staff that emails should not be used to relay emotionally sensitive information and that a face-to-face meeting is called for in these circumstances. Two weeks later, she sent out an email to staff that singled out by innuendo one of the staff and chastised her for her poor customer service skills. This email embarrassed the person in question and caused the rest of the team to lose respect for the VP due to this ironic behavior.

If you have comments or suggestions on this blog entry, please start a discussion.

If you liked this blog entry, try:

Business Email Communication

Self Awareness at Work

Copyright © 2006, Joni Rose and Suite 101.

All rights reserved. Any unauthorized use will constitute an infringement of copyright.

Posted by Joni Rose

Posted by Joni Rose

Leading a change initiative requires some planning. Change can be seen as a very frightening experience for some. It is best to take a temperature of your team to see if they feel ready for the change. It is also imperative to make sure the resources to back up the change initiative are in place.

1. Time

Big changes take time to implement. To roll out a large change initiative, try implementing it in stages or phases so that the adjustment is a gradual one. If time is not on your side, you may need to hire/transfer/borrow extra staff to give those that need time to get up to speed, the time they need.

2. Technological equipment

Are you making a change that requires technology? Do you have up to date equipment to support this? I see this time and time again, someone at the executive level thinks new software will revolutionize a process but forget that most of the staff have dinosaurs for computers.

3. Technological knowledge/comfort

If you are introducing new technology, have you designed training and technical support during the initial upgrade period?

4. Man/Woman power

Are your staff over-worked as it is and now you want to make radical changes or are on a dynamic growth curve. Be careful that you don't burn out your top performers by asking them to take on more and more with less and less.

If you have comments or suggestions on this blog entry, please start a discussion

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If you liked this blog entry, try Communication and Teamwork

Copyright © 2006, Joni Rose and Suite 101. All rights reserved. Any unauthorized use will constitute an infringement of copyright.

Posted by Joni Rose

Exchanging emails has replaced phone and in person conversations. Emails have their advantages for sure - they are fast, they can be sent 24/7 without disturbing anyone, they create an information trail and they can help distribute documents, graphics, mp3 files and so on.

Emails are not always an appropriate way to communicate. Here are 3 instances when email is not the recommended communication tool.

1. Do not use email to communicate information that is top secret.

When it is so easy for someone to forward and/or blind copying another person on your email, it is unwise to convey information that would be considered competitive intelligence.

2. Do not use email to terminate and employee.

Yes, scary but true, some employers resort to a pink email - as opposed to a pink slip! If you can't find the time, energy and respect for the person, then it says more about your leadership that it does about their reason for termination. Common courtesy means using common sense and commonly held ethical beliefs to guide your actions.

3. Do not use email when conveying performance criticisms.

Emotionally sensitive information should not be conveyed via email. Body language, tone of voice, etc. can not be interpreted and you risk that a misunderstanding can happen due to the coldness of an email. Performance conversations should happen in person whenever possible.

If you have comments or suggestions on this blog entry, please start a discussion

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If you liked this blog entry, try Communication and Teamwork

Copyright © 2006, Joni Rose and Suite 101. All rights reserved. Any unauthorized use will constitute an infringement of copyright.

Posted by Joni Rose

Team building is taking a group of people and showing them the benefits of cooperating. Many minds are better than one acting alone. This philosophy is the cornerstone for business performance and goal attainment.

So how do you heard a bunch of personalities together and get them to cooperate? Find an incentive. Incentives can be elaborate or simple. Whatever you choose, be sure it represents how important you feel teamwork is to business success. Some examples of incentives would be:

• taking the team out for lunch or bringing in catering at the completion of the task
• naming a process or invention after the group of people involved in it's development
• giving the group a gift they'd all benefit from (e.g. cappuccino machine)
• financial bonus divided by the number of people involved (not individual bonuses)
• recognize excellence in teamwork at an awards ceremony
• measure results of team innovation or problem solving by it's effect on the bottomline. Offer a financial bonus to the team that saves the company the most money or increases revenue by the greatest amount
• create a think tank - a room designed for brainstorming and idea generation where employees can work without interruption to solve a business problem.
• give team members time off in lieu (each member gets a Friday afternoon off with pay).

If you have comments or suggestions on this blog entry, please start a discussion

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Posted by Joni Rose

Team building is a topic that most leaders need to develop. It takes a genuine effort to look at people as more than individuals but part of a bigger picture. The importance of team work and cooperation is something that a leader must demonstrate if he or she wants to see group efforts. Constantly rewarding individual efforts will create a climate of competition, not cooperation.

Through a series of articles, I will provide assessment questions to help leaders determine their level of competency at creating a climate for team building. I will also provide suggestions of ways to improve the climate if your self-assessment shows that your climate promotes individual effort and not team effort.

1. Do members of your team work cooperatively?

2. Do the personalities of your team work well together?

3. Do your team members feel free to disagree with you?

4. Do you have an open door?

5. Do your team members react to change initiatives well?

6. Are team members innovative and creative?

7. Do team members willingly take on added work or responsibilities?

8. Do your team members own their work?

Do you have a story to tell about the worst or best team you've been a part of? I am sure other readers would appreciate hearing your stories and learning from what works and what doesn't. Share your thoughts by starting a discussion

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Click here for the first article in the series: Building Cooperative Teams

Copyright © 2006, Joni Rose and Suite 101. All rights reserved. Any unauthorized use will constitute an infringement of copyright.

Posted by Joni Rose

Stress can influence many aspects of life. Working in a high stress environment can have devastating affects on your health and happiness. Consider these danger signs of stress overload:

• difficulty concentrating on your work, easily distracted
• withdrawing and avoiding social gatherings
• physical symptoms: ulcers, skin irritations/rashes, nausea, headaches, racing heart, heartburn
• abuse of drugs, alcohol or food
• irritability and emotional outbursts
• lack of sleep
• no joy or happiness, pessimistic outlook
• decrease in the quality or quantity of work performed
• panic or anxiety attacks
• feeling paralyzed due to the overwhelm

If more than three of these danger signs apply to you, take action immediately. You can not continue down this path for long without experiencing serious side effects. Look at your options, get some exercise, see a doctor, get a pet - do whatever will bring back the joy in your life.

If your work environment is toxic, consider talking to your HR representative and look at possibilities such as stress leave, a transfer to a new department or role, working one day from home each week or taking your holiday now.

Look at what is in your control to change and make a conscious effort to make changes that will put you in a healthier environment. Blaming others for your situation will not solve the problem. Taking action will.

If you have comments or suggestions on this blog entry, please start a discussion

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If you liked this blog entry, try:

Self-Awareness at Work

Improving Self Awareness and EI

Evaluating Self-awareness and EI

Posted by Joni Rose

When faced with an emotional trigger at work, regaining emotional composure can require some conscious effort. Take the time and energy to allow you a chance to recover from the stressful situation. You need to allow your body time to circulate and disseminate the fight or flight chemicals coursing through your blood vessels.

Some strategies work for some and not others. The key is to find the stress reliever that will work for you. Experiment with different methods to find a best fit for your interests and lifestyle.

Ways to Regain Emotional Composure:

• breathing exercises
• brisk walk
• meditation
• cardiovascular exercise
• journaling or writing poetry
• listening to soft music
• sports that combine these elements: martial arts, yoga

Of course, some of these methods require time away from work i.e. after hours.

When you must remain at work, the best remedy may be to tell coworkers that you are going out for coffee. Walk briskly to and from the coffee shop but avoid highly caffeinated drinks, instead choose green/herbal teas, decaffeinated coffee or other healthy alternatives.

Have you found a method that works for you? Please start a discussion and give other readers an insight into practical solutions to regain emotional composure at work.

If you liked this blog entry, try Self Awareness at Work

Copyright © 2006, Joni Rose and Suite 101. All rights reserved. Any unauthorized use will constitute an infringement of copyright.

Posted by Joni Rose

I have noticed an increase in career coaching clients coming to me all stressed out because of corporate bullying. They are desperate to either figure out how to cope with the situation or devise an exit strategy. Their stories are tragic and completely avoidable.

Working with bullying can lead to burn out and stress leave as well as other very serious health issues. It is not something to take lightly. It can crush a high performer to the point they are paralyzed.

I am hoping that as more and more corporations adopt 360 degree reviews and other forms of gathering honest, comprehensive feedback from employees that the incidences of corporate bullies continuing their rein of terror will decrease. The biggest problem with corporate bullies is that they lead by fear and persuasion. If they are good at bullying, they will have people so fearful that the truth about their leadership style remains a secret.

In my opinion, companies need to evaluate leaders by looking at metrics like departmental turn-over (both involuntary (firing) and voluntary (quitting), requests for leaves (medical and personal), requests for transfers, overall performance and departmental morale. All too often it is the worker bees that are blamed for poor performance when their leaders are the incompetent ones.

If you have comments or suggestions on this blog entry, please use the link on the side menu to start a discussion.

If you liked this blog entry, try Self-Awareness at Work How Reacting to Emotional Triggers Affects Professional Performance and your Level of Emotional Intelligence (EI)

Copyright © 2006, Joni Rose and Suite 101. All rights reserved. Any unauthorized use will constitute an infringement of copyright.

Posted by Joni Rose

Internal promotion of training programs usually means finding inexpensive ways (read no outsourced printing allowed) to promote programs. I have found that a company's intranet and group email distribution can be great ways of promoting programs, courses and workshops.

You can be simple or fancy depending on how tech savvy you are. You can create an HTML rich email by using purchased software or web based applications that have templates. You may want to call it a training newsletter and use a template for a newsletter and produce a catalogue of training options.

If you have the technical support and capability to have an online information and registration page(s) on the intranet site, then that is a great option to not only promote the training offered but collect registration data.

If you offer courses or programs on an ongoing, quarterly or monthly basis a training calendar is a great option. A training calendar that can be updated easily with course descriptions and registration information will allow potential participants, HR and managers to look for dates that will work with schedules.

Keeping staff informed of professional development options is not only important to ensure numbers of participants in programs, it shows a dedication to staff development that can set an employer apart from the competition. In the current climate of increasing skill shortages, training and professional development of talent will be more vital then ever.

Posted by Joni Rose

If you are an auditory learner, you will learn best when information is presented in a lecture, teleconference or presentation. You need to hear the words to understand them. You'll remember a person's voice more than their appearance or name on a piece of paper.

To increase your chances of memorizing information, read it out loud or have someone else read it to you. Talking books are designed for the visually impaired or for those who want to learn as they drive but they are also great for auditory learners. Another memory tool for auditory learners is to create songs or jingles containing the information you need to memorize.

Recording devices are must have learning tools for visual learners. Use a voice recorder to practice or create an auditory record of information you need to learn. Voice recorders are also handy for recording ideas, solutions to problems and new strategies. Videos will also help you learn, not the pictures, but the sound track.

To work through problems, you may catch yourself talking about it to friends, family or anyone who will listen. You love brainstorming sessions and discussions as they help you to understand the issues and creatively problem solve.

Choose training that is presented as lectures or teleconferences. Record lectures for future play back and review. Coordinate and/or participate in study groups where you discuss the concepts you are learning.

Not sure of your learning style? Try this learning style self-assessment.

If you have comments or suggestions on this blog entry, please use the link on the side menu to start a discussion.

If you liked this blog entry, try Inner factors, Styles and Setting: Learner Focused Delivery

Copyright © 2006, Joni Rose and Suite 101. All rights reserved. Any unauthorized use will constitute an infringement of copyright.

Posted by Joni Rose

Here is a series of links to articles and blogs on performance management:

Articles:

Performance Management 1: Root Causes for Performance Issues: Lack of Skill or Motivation

Performance Management 2: Coaching Performance Improvement: Skill or Motivation Problems

Performance Management 3: Motivating Positive Performance: Understanding Motivational Needs

Performance Management 4: Motivational Tasks and Incentives: Individual Motivational Needs

Performance Management 5: Performance Review Tools and Tips: Choosing a Performance Review Tool

Performance Management 6: Performance Conversation Tips: Effective Performance Coaching

Blogs:

Measuring Your Performance

Example Conversations

Stress and Performance Reviews

Performance Compliments

Performance Fix

Posted by Joni Rose

If you are a kinesthetic learner, you will learn best when learning takes the form of doing. You need to get your hands dirty and dive right in order to grasp the new concept.

To increase your chances of memorizing information, find a way to make your learning more active. Creating or using games, computer software, puzzles and other hands-on activities will help you to learn through doing. Like visual learners, drawing flow charts and mind maps are useful tools but it is the act of creating them that will cause learning, not the visual tool in the end.

Experimentation is how kinesthetic learners learn. They try things using past experience as a foundation and see how it turns out. If you learn kinesthetically, introduce experimentation where possible and learn from any mistakes. Taking calculated risks is where you'll shine.

Avoid lectures and look for online learning opportunities, especially online courses that utilize multi-media interactivity such as self-assessment quizzes. If you do choose in-person training, look for classes that have labs or other active forms of training (simulations, projects etc.).

Keeping organized may a big challenge for you as your priority is to keep doing, not to stop and organize. Try to find ways to make your organization active. Purchase filing cabinets on wheels, label makers, sorting systems/supplies and create databases to store valuable information. Form and colour are not as important to you as function is so look for office supplies and tools that are designed to be highly functional.

Not sure of your learning style? Try this learning style self-assessment.

If you have comments or suggestions on this blog entry, please use the link on the side menu to start a discussion.

If you liked this blog entry, try Inner factors, Styles and Setting: Learner Focused Delivery

Copyright © 2006, Joni Rose and Suite 101. All rights reserved. Any unauthorized use will constitute an infringement of copyright.

Posted by Joni Rose

If you are a visual learner, you will learn best when information is presented in the form of a graph, chart, picture or text on a page or screen. You need to see the information.

To increase your chances of memorizing information, find a way to test yourself with visual clues. Flash cards work well for visual learners especially if you introduce colour coding and images with the words. For example, say you need to memorize a bunch of medical terms. Create flash cards that have the term on one side plus an image. On the other side of the card, define the term. When you work through the pile - look at the image/term and ask yourself the definition. If you get it right, put it in the right pile. If you get it wrong, put it in the wrong pile. Once you are through the pile, take the wrong pile and cycle through it creating new right and wrong piles. Continue to work through the wrong pile until it doesn't exist anymore i.e. they are all in the right pile!

Colour coding is also a great tool for visual learners. Introduce colour wherever you can to help you retain information and stay organized. There are many wonderful colourful office supplies that could really add to your efficiency and information retention.

To work through a problem, especially one with sequential steps, creating a flow chart will help your brain sort out the best solutions. Another problem solving and idea processing tool is a mind map. Mind mapping documents a flow of ideas that branch from the central issue. Checklists are another helpful tool to organize visual learners.

Not sure of your learning style? Try this learning style self-assessment.

If you have comments or suggestions on this blog entry, please use the link on the side menu to start a discussion.

If you liked this blog entry, try Inner factors, Styles and Setting: Learner Focused Delivery

Copyright © 2006, Joni Rose and Suite 101. All rights reserved. Any unauthorized use will constitute an infringement of copyright.

Posted by Joni Rose

As part of the needs assessment process when developing an entry-level internship program, I flew around North America with a researcher to hold focus groups with recent hires in the company. We were interested to find out how these new hires coped in their early days with the company. Some had received training through an internship program from an acquired company, others had not received formal training when they started.

The feedback we consistently received was that the new program should consider prior learning. Some of the new hires had degrees directly related to their work - others didn't. Some had many years of experience in the industry - others didn't. They stressed that they would be frustrated if they all were expected to sit through the same training.

The challenge was that upper management wanted them all to receive the same training so that we could be sure they were all on the same page.

The solution was to give the participants an entry assessment and to build into the program a learning plan that could be customized to prior learning only if their supervisor felt they demonstrated competency strongly enough to receive an exemption.

This amount of flexibility requires extra record-keeping but it is worth it to keep learners engaged.

If you have comments or suggestions on this blog entry, please use the link on the side menu to start a discussion.

If you liked this blog entry, try Self Direction and Experience

Copyright © 2006, Joni Rose and Suite 101. All rights reserved. Any unauthorized use will constitute an infringement of copyright.

Posted by Joni Rose

Many people I know don't take full advantage of their PD fund allotment. Many companies put aside a dollar figure per employee for training and some give each employee a fixed dollar figure to spend on external training such as continuing education, eLearning courses and books or magazines.

If you haven't checked to see if you have dollars coming to you - please do! I can't stress how much of a benefit this can be to you. It can increase your skill set, motivate you, improve your confidence level, boost efficiencies and help you stay on top of industry trends and developments.

In fact, creating your own professional development plan to match your career goals is a great way to help those goals come to fruition.

If your goal is to move into management one day, start a plan to take leadership development courses, read books on leadership and management and subscribe to an industry magazine or journal.

If your goal is to move into a new industry, start by joining a professional organization in that industry and attend networking meetings, conferences or events.

If your goal is to make more money, start researching ways to increase your salary. Sometimes the answer is to get a promotion into a leadership role but in other cases, your salary can increase if you learn a new software program or earn a certificate (first aid, safety training, project management, event planning, fork lift operation, etc.).

Use your PD funds to help you get where you want to go in 5 years. Think ahead and plan ahead and those training dollars won't go to waste.

If you have comments or suggestions on this blog entry, please use the link on the side menu to start a discussion.

If you liked this blog entry, try Free Professional Development

Copyright © 2006, Joni Rose and Suite 101. All rights reserved. Any unauthorized use will constitute an infringement of copyright.

Posted by Joni Rose

Group activities are a great way to give social interaction and show how cooperation can produce amazing results. Multiple minds working together can produce amazing results!

Flow Charts

Creating a flow chart is a great idea when you are introducing a new process or procedure to staff. Give them shapes of coloured paper (sticky notes work well) and flip chart paper to map out a sequence of events. Show them that they can have various side paths in the flow chart that are determined by the answer to a yes or no question. Flow charts are great for visual learners and the activity of building one appeal to kinaesthetic learners as well.

3-D Construction

Provide the supplies and ask the group to construct something. There are two objects to this activity; to emphasize a key message and to build cooperation and teamwork towards a goal. For example, if your workshop is on leadership, ask them to design the CEO's office and ask them to unveil their design to the group and answer questions about why they chose certain furniture and placed them in the office as they did. It is interesting to see how they depict a leader's role through their office. If your workshop is on communication, you can ask them to construct a bridge, building or a piece of clothing or furniture using an odd assortment of objects and fasteners (glue, paper clips, tape etc.) but they must communicate non-verbally throughout the process. Use your imagination to relate the construction to your key messages

If you have comments or suggestions on this blog entry, please use the link on the side menu to start a discussion.

If you liked this blog entry, try the articles Keeping Workshops Practical or Focused Workshop Design

Blog series on active training methods:

• Case Studies

• Simulations

• Discussions and Brainstorming

• Games

Posted by Joni Rose

Longer workshops provide an opportunity for learning to take the form of playing a game. Creating a game that can be reused every time the workshop is presented can be a real time saver. It also helps to rejuvenate tired participants, especially in all-day workshops.

Board Games

A board game can be created where participants gather pieces of what they need as they go around a board by the roll of a die. The person to gather all their pieces first, wins. Make it challenging by having spaces that force them to answer knowledge questions in order to receive their piece. Create road blocks, for example, squares that make them go back 3 spaces or give up a piece to the person to their left. There are many variations - use your imagination and make it fun!

BINGO

You can create BINGO cards that have information that the player has to gather in order to completely black out their card. The information can be something they must ask other participants for, find in a manual (and quote the page number on the BINGO card) or gather in some other means. For example, a great ice-breaking exercise is to ask participants ahead of time to give one piece of juicy information that others in the group would not know about them. Fill the squares with a short snip-it of this information. Players must go around the room and ask questions to discover whose story belongs to whom and write the name in each square. The player who finds all the names, wins.

Puzzles

Crossword puzzles, word searches and the like offer kinesthetic learners a way to learn through hands-on activity. If the subject matter involves learning new vocabulary then word puzzles or crosswords are ideal.

If you have comments or suggestions on this blog entry, please use the link on the side menu to start a discussion.

If you liked this blog entry, try the articles Keeping Workshops Practical or Focused Workshop Design

Blog series on active training methods:

• Case Studies

• Simulations

• Discussions and Brainstorming

• Group Activities

Copyright © 2006, Joni Rose and Suite 101. All rights reserved. Any unauthorized use will constitute an infringement of copyright.

Posted by Joni Rose

Discussions and brainstorming are the easiest active training techniques to incorporate into all delivery modes. They can be part of the workshop design as an in-class discussion or small group brainstorming exercise, or as discussion board postings or conference call discussions in distance learning settings.

Allowing the audience to have a voice is a very powerful way to keep them engaged and thinking about what is being presented. Challenge them with a question that will stir the pot and allow for multiple opinions to be discussed. If you feel the topic may get a bit heated, make sure you state the ground rules (no interrupting, tolerance of other's viewpoints, and so on).

A good opening discussion is to ask the audience what they hope to learn on the topic or what their experience has been with the topic. A good closing discussion is to ask the audience what they found to be the key take-away messages.

Brainstorming can be stimulated by presenting a problem that they have to solve or a list they need to generate. If time permits, you can break the audience into groups and then have them report their findings to the larger group. If time is limited, lead the brainstorming with the larger group.

A challenge will be presented if your audience is primarily introverts. Introverts prefer time to process and think about their answers. Instead of putting them on the spot, leave them with a question to ponder and ask them to email their answers in at a later date and time.

The information gathered in brainstorming sessions and discussions can be very valuable! Multiple viewpoints are always better than one.

If you have comments or suggestions on this blog entry, please use the link on the side menu to start a discussion.

If you liked this blog entry, try the articles Keeping Workshops Practical or Focused Workshop Design

Blog series on active training methods:

• Case Studies

• Simulations

• Games

• Group Activities

Copyright © 2006, Joni Rose and Suite 101. All rights reserved. Any unauthorized use will constitute an infringement of copyright.

Posted by Joni Rose

Simulation exercises model a common workplace scenario and allow for problem solving. A common simulation exercise is the in-box exercise where participants sit at simulated desks and are given an in-box of documents common to their role. They are then instructed to determine their actions using this information and may be given road-blocks along the way to again simulate the real work environment where distractions and changing priorities are a fact of life.

Simulation training is often used for emergency preparedness training. Here an emergency is simulated and everyone from volunteers, to first aid attendants, to administrators can practice procedures to ensure they are understood and are realistic. It is a great way to be sure all the bases have been covered.

Simulation training is commonly used in retail training. Some companies go to the length of creating a dummy store that simulates a real store in every way except that it is not open to the public. This allows trainers to teach all aspects of the business without compromising customer service or inconveniencing staff at a fully functioning outlet. The other use of a dummy store is to test out new systems or procedures to make sure they work before introducing the change to the real stores.

Actors are sometimes hired to role play in simulation exercises. The great thing about hiring an actor is that they are unknown to the staff and can act out distractions and twists and turns convincingly. It is a great way to give a student actor some extra cash!

If you have comments or suggestions on this blog entry, please use the link on the side menu to start a discussion.

If you liked this blog entry, try the articles Keeping Workshops Practical or Focused Workshop Design

Blog series on active training methods:

• Case Studies

• Discussions and Brainstorming

• Games

• Group Activities

Posted by Joni Rose

To design a case study exercise, choose a problem that staff actually faced that demonstrates one (or all three) of the key messages you are delivering. Describe the problem in a narrative paragraph. Provide details of who, what, why, where and how this situation arose at the company. Be careful to not use real client names or other identifying information in the case study description. Also do not give away the solution to the problem.

Break the larger group into 4-5 small groups and provide them with three questions to help guide them towards a solution to the problem. Give each group a flip chart or section of a white board to record their discussions. You can either let the group determine a recorder and a leader or the workshop presenter can assign a role or task to each member of the small group.

Once the small groups have had enough time to discuss the three questions (30 minutes is usually sufficient), come back as a big group and discuss the possible solutions.

A great ending to the workshop is to reveal how the staff handled the real problem and the result of their chosen actions. You can choose and example where the outcome was not as hoped and discuss why and how it could be corrected or showcase an example of excellence in problem solving.

Case studies are very useful when the workshop is on business ethics, sales, customer service, communication, time management, or performance management. Asking the supervisors of the workshop participants for case study examples is a great way to understand the needs of the audience and build practical content.

If you have comments or suggestions on this blog entry, please use the link on the side menu to start a discussion.

If you liked this blog entry, try the articles Keeping Workshops Practical or Focused Workshop Design

Blog series on active training methods:

• Simulations

• Discussions and Brainstorming

• Games

• Group Activities

Posted by Joni Rose

POLL RESULTS

To get a promotion or a raise and stay with your company (0.00%)

To get a new job or start a new career (60.00%)

To go back to school for professional development (0.00%)

To retire as soon as possible (30.00%)

Other - start a discussion to explain (side menu) (10.00%)

For a discussions on this and other topics go to Discussions

Copyright © 2006, Joni Rose and Suite 101. All rights reserved. Any unauthorized use will constitute an infringement of copyright.

Posted by Joni Rose

I have been asked to coach senior executives and managers on their workshop presentation skills. The most common mistake I see inexperienced workshop presenters make is that they try to cram in too much information on PowerPoint slides and then proceed to read the slides in front of their audience.

Reading slides is presentation suicide. Your audience will fall asleep, and worse, will not absorb your key messages. PowerPoint presentations are great if used to project bulleted points and are there only to jog your memory so you can speak to those points.

Some presenters are not aware that there is a place for presenter's notes below each slide. When I design a PowerPoint presentation, I create two versions. One is the Presenter's Version and the other is the Audience Version. The Audience Version contains the slides only. The Presenter's Version includes the presenter's notes below each slide. I can then circulate the Audience Version in advance, especially if it is to be presented in a teleconference. I can also use the Audience Version to print and make hard copies for the day of the presentation. I print out the presenter's version using the notes pages format option chosen in the "print what:" menu bar options. This gives me a copy of the slide and my detailed notes below to refer to before I present.

I find that this technique helps me keep only the most important phrases on the slides and move the more detailed information to the notes section. Also, I have a more detailed version to give to participants that miss the presentation or want the full presentation notes as a review tool. I am careful to review my notes prior to the presentation and not read them to my audience.

I also use handouts and create on-line reference libraries (downloadable documents) for information that is too detailed to include on a PowerPoint slide.

Stayed tuned for my next article Workshop Facilitation which will discuss tips and techniques to help you design a great workshop!

If you have comments or suggestions on this blog entry, please use the link on the side menu to start a discussion.

If you liked this blog entry, try Quick and Easy PowerPoint Tools

Copyright © 2006, Joni Rose and Suite 101. All rights reserved. Any unauthorized use will constitute an infringement of copyright.

Posted by Joni Rose

I am a big believer in goal setting. I routinely make new years resolutions that include a goal or two for my career. For me, setting goals allows me to strive towards something and keep me on track when side-steering temptations come my way. It is easy to let my goals get fuzzy and not set timelines for achievement. I use the SMART goal setting technique in all aspects of my life - professional growth/career, hobbies, finances and personal growth.

I look at my career like a race. The finish line is retirement (although I doubt I ever will retire). I want the race to be exciting and challenging. I want to experience beautiful scenery along my path. I also want to walk some of the race to allow my body a chance to recuperate from the fast pace I must move to be competitive.

Sometimes a hurdle comes my way and I must find a way to jump it. Other times I look for a way to minimize it first before jumping it. I can't walk around it because I'd lose momentum and speed. I'd also lose the satisfaction of tackling the hurdle head-on.

And then, the competition...they want to win the race as much as I do. They will do things to get in my way and thwart my victory. They come in various disguises, so I must be careful not to underestimate intentions.

I need to constantly look at my positives and convince myself that they are worthy of success. I coach myself to be resilient and win though mental and physical conditioning.

When I cross the finish line, I fully expect to look back on the race and not want to change a thing.

If you have comments or suggestions on this blog entry, please use the link on the side menu to start a discussion.

If you liked this blog entry, try

Achieving Professional SMART Goals

Barriers to Career Goal Attainment

Professional New Years Resolutions

Time Management

Copyright © 2006, Joni Rose and Suite 101. All rights reserved. Any unauthorized use will constitute an infringement of copyright.

Posted by Joni Rose

POLL RESULTS

Estimating the time it will take (0 vote, 0.00%)

Prioritizing multiple tasks (0 vote, 0.00%)

Staying focused and sticking to a plan (8 votes, 100.00%)

Breaking down the big picture into steps (0 vote, 0.00%)

Other - please explain in a discussion (side menu) (0 vote, 0.00%)

100% of voters state that staying focused is a difficult part of managing time. I was so struck by these results that it prompted me to post a blog with suggestions for staying focused on the job. I also asked the question in a discussion "What distracts you from staying focused on your goals?". I'd love to know your thoughts.

Posted by Joni Rose

My daughter is in her first year of university. When I attended the parent night, I sat in on a workshop on co-operative education. The presenter and the student who spoke both raved about how the program helps students to gain valuable experience and can lead to jobs. I have to agree. I have seen companies hire interns and benefit from having interns. I have also seen interns exposed to projects and experiences that they may never have been exposed to in their entire career.

Why are companies smart to have interns? It gives them an opportunity to see the student on the job and see how they perform and fit into the culture. The internship or co-op term becomes a long job interview. It also can be a very helpful set of hands on a big project.

What are the benefits for the student? They too get to test out the company but also the industry and the type of work. Most internships and co-ops give students valuable access to company experts as coaches. If not a job, it provides an excellent reference for the student.

I hope my daughter signs up for the co-op term. It is her decision, of course, but I do see the value in testing the waters in a potential new career. She is taking sciences so it means an opportunity to work with researchers or companies on the forefront in advances in science. Opening the door to a great employer is not always easy and this training and PD option can open that door wide!

If you have comments or suggestions on this blog entry, please use the link on the side menu to start a discussion.

If you liked this blog entry, try:

New Grad Training

New Grad Programs

Copyright © 2006, Joni Rose and Suite 101. All rights reserved. Any unauthorized use will constitute an infringement of copyright.

Posted by Joni Rose

100% of poll votes show staying focused and sticking to a plan is a challenge on the job. Here are some tips to help you stay focused.

Creating an action plan or to do list and then prioritizing the tasks may come easily to you. Sticking to the plan and staying focused may be a completely different story. What can you do to over come this time management problem?

1) Recognize a distraction

Recognizing when you are off course is the first step in gaining focus. Do not beat yourself up when you recognize this as it will keep you stuck if you self-punish. Instead be proud that you caught yourself and use it to learn how to avoid the distraction next time. Recognizing you are off track is a good thing!

2) Define your goals and guiding principles more precisely

If you consistently lose focus it may mean that you have not clearly defined your goal(s). When a surprise comes your way you need to ask yourself, "Will this help or hinder the attainment of my goals?". A great strategy is to define your guiding principles - a list of statements that reflect the methods you'll use in attaining your goals - and then check your surprise against these guiding principles. If it doesn't fit the guiding principles, don't give it your attention and energy. Go over your goals and guiding principles with your supervisor to be sure you are meeting his/her and the company's expectations.

3) Remove distractions

Trying to work in a home office with a kitchen sink full of dirty dishes or children needing attention is not conducive to staying focused. Look for ways to eliminate distractions such as hiring a student to take your kids to the park every day after school or spending an hour each morning doing a few household chores so that they are not an irritation.

4) Delegate

If your to do list is long and it overwhelms you so much that it prevents you from keeping your focus then delegate. Asking for help can be difficult for some people. If that is you, realize that your lack of delegation is keeping you stuck. Look for things that are easy to delegate: tasks that don't require a lot of instruction, tasks that are time consuming, tasks that you procrastinate on, tasks that you know someone else could do a better job on.

6) Make a realistic To Do List

Sometimes we overwhelm ourselves with a very long to do list. Break it down into the top three priorities for each day. Your goal is to accomplish your top three before you work on other priorities.

If you have comments or suggestions on this blog entry, please use the link on the side menu to start a discussion.

If you liked this blog entry, try Time Management or Timing Tasks

Copyright © 2006, Joni Rose and Suite 101. All rights reserved. Any unauthorized use will constitute an infringement of copyright.

Posted by Joni Rose

One of many techniques I use to help people who need to improve their time management skills is timing tasks. The goal of the exercise is to improve their ability to estimate the time to complete a common repetitive task. To start, I choose a common household task or tasks that require some planning. Some examples include grocery shopping, laundry, cooking or gardening. I tend to use grocery shopping as the task to estimate and time most often.

I ask them to estimate how long it will take to create a shopping list (including looking through the fridge or cupboards or asking family members for suggestions). Then, I ask them to estimate the time it will take to drive to the store, shop, drive home and put the groceries away. We record time estimates for each phase of the process. I then ask the client to time each phase and see how their actual times compare with their estimates. Sometimes, I then repeat the process with other common tasks specific to their lifestyle if their original estimates were really off and if I feel they need more practice.

I then move to work-related repetitive tasks like regular reports, month-end processes - tasks that can be timed and happen regularly. We chart and look at the progress over time as they become better at estimating their time.

Typically it is a real wake-up call for those with poor time management skills! Many don't realize that they have been grossly underestimating their time. They tell me that honing their ability to time tasks helps to reduce stress and improve their job performance.

This technique can be used in one-on-one training sessions or as part of a multi-session time management course.

If you have comments or suggestions on this blog entry, please use the link in the side menu to start a discussion.

If you liked this blog entry, try:

Time Management

Staying Focused

Procrastination by Grace Flemming

Copyright © 2006, Joni Rose and Suite 101. All rights reserved. Any unauthorized use will constitute an infringement of copyright.

Posted by Joni Rose

Listening (1 vote, 9.09%)

Supporting your professional development (3 votes, 27.27%)

Empathizing (1 vote, 9.09%)

Communicating expectations clearly (5 votes, 45.45%)

Other - start a discussion to explain (side menu) (1 vote, 9.09%)

We want our leaders to not only empathize, listen and support our professional growth but make it really easy for us to succeed. To succeed, we need clearly articulated expectations. For Leaders to accomplish this, they need to describe what Rome looks like but be careful not to dictate how to get there. It is important to mention things that may get them in trouble. For example, unethical or illegal activities are not acceptable means to the end and need to be clearly avoided. Once we are clear what is expected of us, we can work with confidence towards the shared goals. Performance conversations are powerful motivators if handled with care and attention.

Thank you to those that voted in the poll!

Posted by Joni Rose

Relying on external sources of praise and recognition can lead to burn out and frustration when the powers that be are not proactive in their coaching. Learning to set your own benchmarks of success and learn from any bumps in the road will keep your self esteem high.

The note:

Write a note to yourself that includes a timeline (chosen dates) when you expect to achieve a benchmark of success. Describe each of these benchmarks by defining what success will look like.

The reminder:

Enter a reminder in a date book or calendar to review your note. Choose one of the following and answer the question(s):

1. You succeeded as predicted.

a) What would you have done even better?

b) How will you celebrate your success?

2. Success looks different than you predicted.

a) What factor did you not consider when describing your benchmark of success or your timeline?

3. You did not succeed at all.

a) Was the road block to success external and truly insurmountable or a shortcoming of yours?

b) What will you do differently in the future?

Adapted from Naked in the Boardroom by Robin Wolaner (p. 27)

Posted by Joni Rose

Below are three examples of performance conversations. The last example illustrates how a performance conversation can lead to problem solving and motivation. The first two examples illustrate how not to have a performance conversation.

Example 1

Joe brings Alan into his office and says, "Alan, you have been late a lot. This has got to stop as customers are complaining and so are your coworkers." Alan bounces his leg and does not look Joe in the eye. "I want to see you in on time every day. I will be keeping a record of any late arrivals and their will be consequences if this continues. Okay, back to work."

After Joe finishes his speech, Alan responds with "Okay" and walks out. He then complains to his co-workers that Joe is a jerk and doesn't care that his wife left him and he has to drop his kids off at school now.

Example 2

Joe brings Alan into his office and says, "Hi Alan, I need to talk to you about something. Can you tell me why you are always late?"

Alan responds abruptly "I am not always late! Sometimes I am five minutes late but that isn't often!"

Joe starts to feel his blood pressure rising, "It is enough to have customers and co-worker complaints! This is a big problem!"

The performance conversation continues and the air fills with frustration and tension because they both become defensive. It turns into a battle of who is right and who is wrong. Joe never learns the reason for Alan's tardiness. Alan walks away bitter and resentful and has no interest in working productively.

Example 3

Joe brings Alan into his office and says, "Hi Alan, thanks for coming in. I am very pleased with your customer service ethic and your attention to detail. Your display on the new line of snack foods is terrific! However, I would like to discuss a performance problem that has been brought to my attention. I am interested in hearing your point of view on this so that we can come to a solution. Are you willing to have a problem solving conversation?"

Alan has an intrigued look on his face but is hesitant, "Okay, I guess so..."

Joe smiles and says, "Great! The problem is that you have been late on 5 separate occasions over the last few weeks." He then lists the dates and the times of arrival. "Is this correct?"

Alan responds with a worried look, "Yeah, that's correct"

Joe then leans forward and says, "Okay...is there something interfering with your ability to get in to work on time?"

Alan hesitates and says, "Yeah, my wife left me and now I have to take the kids to school each morning. Their school is 15 minutes out of my way and they can't seem to get ready earlier."

Joe responds with, "Wow Alan, I am sorry to hear that. It must be a big adjustment. Do you have any ideas that might solve this problem? We have had two customers complain last week that they had to wait past the store opening time." Joe has the complaint cards to show Alan.

Alan looks surprised, "Really, they complained? That's not good. Oh man..." Joe suggests, "Is there any way you could prepare the kids more the night before?" Alan looks up, "Yeah, I could make their lunches ahead and we could figure out what they'll wear." Joe looks encouraged, "Great! I am sure that would help. Are there any other things you can do to help the situation?" Alan, now in problem solving mode says "Well, I could try a different route to school or see if I can find another parent to drive them to school. I can pick them up from school as I am off at 2 pm." Joe smiles, "That is a great solution!"

They then proceed to document the solution to the problem and Joe also lets Alan know about the extended health counseling services that are available if he needs to work though the separation. He also suggests that he takes a day off soon to give himself time to re-group. He reminds Alan that he is a valued employee and that he wants to support his professional development. He lets Alan know that there needs to be an improvement over the next two weeks and that he will have to start a formal progressive discipline process if the late arrivals continue. He refers Alan to the human resources manual where the progressive discipline process is explained.

If you liked this blog, try the article Performance Conversations

Copyright © 2006, Joni Rose and Suite 101. All rights reserved. Any unauthorized use will constitute an infringement of copyright.

Posted by Joni Rose

POLL RESULTS

Annually (0 vote, 0.00%)

Every 6 months (1 vote, 14.29%)

Every quarter (every 3 months) (0 vote, 0.00%)

Once a month or more (1 vote, 14.29%)

Performance Review? What's that? (5 votes, 71.43%)

I am surprised to see that many who voted do not have formal written performance reviews! This is such a crucial part of professional development! I would encourage these employees to ask their supervisor or HR team for a performance review if they have not received one. It is important to let the supervisor know they are open and receptive to working on any performance issues and would also like to know about the things they are doing that meets or exceeds their supervisor's expectations. If they want to make it easy for their supervisor, find a form they like and ask their supervisor to complete it. They can also complete the form as a self-evaluation tool.

Posted by Joni Rose

Many managers panic when it is review time. It can be a very stressful part of being a leader. They ask me for advice on how to tell an employee that they are not meeting their expectations. They stress and fret over the wording and how the employee will react to the criticism.

When I coach managers on this or lead training sessions on performance management, I point out that performance coaching is an ongoing process. If employees are caught off-guard at review time by "out-of-the-blue" comments on their performance review, then they have not been effectively coached the rest of the year. The performance review should ideally be the final documentation of a series of coaching conversations. The continuous dialogue between leaders and their subordinates should produce some conclusions about areas that need work. There should not be any surprises at the annual review time.

If a manager is stressed out due to review time, I explain that it is time to work on their ongoing coaching skills so that next year will be better. I use a parenting analogy, "If you didn't let your toddler know that biting is not socially acceptable when it happened, and waited until an annual behavior modifying conversation - how many bite marks (or other behavioral issues) would you be talking about?".

Once they understand that coaching is an ongoing process, we strategize some damage control for the current reviews. The best strategy is simply to be honest and admit to subordinates that coaching has not happened as the manager would have liked and that things will be changing. Explain to team members that this review is a starting point for a dialogue on their professional development. Suggest weekly meetings if necessary to get in the habit of regular coaching conversations. I also suggest that they begin recording any incident as they happen - good or bad. This ongoing documentation of performance strengths or weaknesses and the results from informal coaching sessions provides content for the annual review and takes away the surprise element.

Copyright © 2006, Joni Rose and Suite 101. All rights reserved. Any unauthorized use will constitute an infringement of copyright.

Posted by Joni Rose

POLL RESULTS

Money - raise, bonus (5 votes, 55.56%)

Recognition - award, announcement, thank-you's (2 votes, 22.22%)

Increase in responsibility - promotion, important projects (2 votes, 22.22%)

Professional development opportunity - training, conference (0 vote, 0.00%)

Other - please comment in a discussion (side menu) (0 vote, 0.00%)

Show me the money! Money is clearly the winner in this poll. The interesting thing about money as an incentive is that it can meet multiple motivational needs. It can meet the need for the basics, the need for security and safety, the need for status, the need for power (if the increase in salary comes with an increase in status) and even the need for balance (if the extra money is used to create balance). Which need does money fulfill for you?

Copyright © 2006, Joni Rose and Suite 101. All rights reserved. Any unauthorized use will constitute an infringement of copyright.

Posted by Joni Rose

A dear training and development colleague of mind relayed to me a message her mother told her about interpersonal relationships and performance management, "If someone does somethiyng nice for you, say 'Thank You', if you make a mistake say 'I'm sorry'". It is a simple message but it is amazing how many leaders forget this simple philosophy when managing the performance of a team.

Thankless work can lead to burn-out, stress and high turn-over. If you want to motivate your team and build a climate for open communication, you need to be conscious about recognizing outstanding work and admitting when you've made a poor decision. Trying to be super-human in front of the troops is a lose/lose proposition. You lose as it is difficult to maintain perfection and your team loses because they must work in fear, hide mistakes and fly under the radar to live up to your super-human standards. Admitting mistakes helps to keep things into perspective and foster a problem solving climate.

One workshop closing exercise to help make the point about the value of positive feedback is to ask participants to write one compliment about each of their fellow participants on an index card. Then place the cards in an envelope with the participant's name on it. In the end, each participant can read the compliments they have been given by their fellow participants. These envelopes can become great pick-me-ups when you or your team members are having a bad day.

Both team members and leaders need to remember that an "I'm sorry" or "Thanks" supports a harmonious, happy work environment.

Posted by Joni Rose

POLL RESULTS

a) attendance, tardiness & scheduling issues (0 vote, 0.00%)

b) not completing work as assigned or to deadlines (3 votes, 27.27%)

c) negative, pessimistic attitude (2 votes, 18.18%)

d) frequent errors & incompetency (4 votes, 36.36%)

e) other - please comment by starting a discussion (side menu) (2 votes, 18.18%)

It is nice to see that employees are showing up on time and as scheduled, according to this poll. Not completing work as assigned or to deadlines could be either a skill or motivational issue. They could be procrastinating because the task does not mesh with their performance needs (see Performance Management 4). If so, then this is a motivational issue. If they are procrastinating because they don't have the skills - training is an option (see Performance Management 2). A negative or pessimistic attitude is usually due to a motivational issue. Errors and incompetency is usually a skill issue.

Thank you to all that participated in the poll!

Posted by Joni Rose

I find that training is commonly used as an automatic quick fix for behavioral issues. This is an example of leadership laziness. For example, a new technology is introduced and all of a sudden productivity drops substantially, customers are complaining and employees are disgruntled. What is management's response? Send in the trainers!

The problem with this slap-happy approach is that is may not be a skill-based problem that training can fix. Training corrects a skill deficiency. It will only correct a motivational issue if all of the employees that are receiving training value learning and are motivated by opportunities to learn. If they are unmotivated because the new technology decreases their independence, changes their job role, creates anxiety over potential job loss or challenges some other need, then all the training in the world will not correct the situation!

It would be wonderful if more managers listened carefully to what employees are saying when they are asked for the reasons behind performance problems. Often employees will be very up front about their motivational issues and fears. They may have terrific solutions to suggest. Training is not always what is needed or wanted and it is a waste of money if other solutions are a better option.

To be effective when managing the performance issues in your team, leaders need to understand the drivers behind a performance problem and then how to prepare for and have a coaching conversation with the employee to resolve the issue.

In a series of articles on performance management we'll look at ways to determine the root cause of unwanted behaviors and ways to encourage positive behaviors. We'll also explore how to prepare and have a coaching conversation and ways to keep performance management an ongoing process.

Performance Management 1

Performance Management 2

Copyright © 2006, Joni Rose and Suite 101. All rights reserved. Any unauthorized use will constitute an infringement of copyright.

Posted by Joni Rose

POLL RESULTS

a) lack of time - workload issues (3 votes, 37.50%)

b) poor leadership - our CEO or supervisor does not value it (0 vote, 0.00%)

c) conservative approach - they like tried and true methods (3 votes, 37.50%)

d) fear - resistance from leadership to new ideas or suggestions (1 vote, 12.50%)

e) other reason - comment by starting an discussion (side menu) (1 vote, 12.50%)

Thank you to all who voted in the poll. It is interesting to see that lack of time and conservative approaches has prevented companies from being innovative.

Copyright © 2006, Joni Rose and Suite 101. All rights reserved. Any unauthorized use will constitute an infringement of copyright.

Posted by Joni Rose

Creating a company culture that promotes innovation can be a challenge. It requires an executive that is keen on hearing ideas and determining best practices. Some people are very threatened by creative thinkers if they struggle with being innovative. We have all had an idea stolen by a coworker or worse, a boss. This type of idea raping can prevent the sharing of ideas in the future.

To ensure that ideas are shared, give credit where credit it due. Incentives such as rewards, announcements or a share of any cost savings in the form of money to a department's budget or cash bonuses can encourage idea sharing.

Leaders need to resist the temptation to suggest their ideas as the only solution. There are many ways to Rome and giving staff the opportunity to find their own method or pathway can reveal very unexpected and unique ideas that may generate a lot of revenue or save the company thousands of dollars!

It would be difficult to put a price on what innovation means to the bottom line. I would take an educated guess though that the price of not innovating would affect profitability more than any cost associated with generating a culture of innovation.

For more on the topic of innovation, read the article Faciliting Innovation

Posted by Joni Rose

POLL RESULTS

Word (5 votes, 62.50%)

Excel (1 vote, 12.50%)

Access (0 vote, 0.00%)

PowerPoint (2 votes, 25.00%)

Project (0 vote, 0.00%)

Microsoft Word wins the training dollars! Thank you to those who participated in this poll. Stay tuned for future articles on how to promote, facilitate and structure technical training.

Posted by Joni Rose

I, on behalf of workers globally, would like to openly thank technical support guys and gals that make our techno-headaches go away. Their undying patience and knack for simplifying techno-garble is truly amazing!

They never scold us for not emptying our email inbox but gently remind us by limiting our memory.

They look the other way when we download cute puppies or cartoons for our screen savers.

They patiently help us with that presentation that is happening in 10 minutes that we didn't prepare in advance.

They laugh with us when we forget to plug something in, turn something on or boot something up.

They hand us a tissue after trying everything they know when we forget to save a file we have spent hours on.

They have a spare cord, a spare disc and a spare minute to hold our hand.

They never roll their eyes at us when we don't read, don't listen or don't look for answers.

They get excited with us when we learn a cool new feature like colour coding our appointments in Outlook.

They are our techno-heros - saving the day with their support and guidance. Praise for the tech support guys and gals! We need you!

Posted by Joni Rose

POLL RESULTS

cost (3 votes, 42.86%)

length of program (0 vote, 0.00%)

location of program (0 vote, 0.00%)

credential upon completion (2 votes, 28.57%)

job search support (2 votes, 28.57%)

Thank you to those who participated in the poll. The cost of training is something that stops a lot of professionals from pursuing training. Stay tuned for low and no-cost alternatives for professional growth.

Posted by Joni Rose

POLL RESULTS

Listening (1 vote, 16.67%)

Team building (0 vote, 0.00%)

Delegation (0 vote, 0.00%)

Coaching performance (3 votes, 50.00%)

Time management (2 votes, 33.33%)

Thank you to those who took part in the poll. The results show that coaching performance, time management and listening are topics of interest to readers. Bookmark this page to see articles on these topics in the near future!

Posted by Joni Rose

There are many funny stories to tell about training and professional development. Send stories by email that you'd like to share with readers. Have your funny bone tickled by bookmarking this page in your favorites!

One of my favourite stories involving professional development was the company that hired a professional to teach time management to a group of employees. The employees assembled in the classroom and eagerly awaited the presentation. The start time came and went. More than ten minutes passed so one of the students contacted the Training Manager to let them know about the situation. When the instructor was called, the response was "Oh, was it this week? I thought it was next week! Should I come now?". I assume you know the answer to that question. Class cancelled!

Another classic was the continuing education class held in an elementary school. The oil painting class had a nude model that day so that students could experience something more than painting fruit. That same evening, parent and student teacher interviews were scheduled. The coinciding events would not have been a problem except that the studio had an open concept design. You could walk along the upper level of the building and look down into the studio. It caused quite the stir!

Posted by Joni Rose

I think back fondly of the leaders that I've worked with that were a positive influence. They saw my talents and energy and gave me the room to make mistakes and learn from them. They didn't know how to micromanage as they were very comfortable trusting me to work hard with the caveat to come to them with questions when I felt unsure.

When I became a leader, I remembered the words from my father (the CEO) about leadership. He had a "No surprises" policy.

He told his staff that he didn't want to find out about something indirectly or after the fact. I found that this tip encouraged open, honest dialogue and motivated my reports to come to me with any mistake or problem. I worked with them to find solutions that empowered them and ensured a similar dialogue in the future.

I constantly work on my leadership competencies as there is always more to learn and improve on. It is easy to become complacent and let your ego get in the way of professional growth. I challenge myself to remain open to new ideas and perspectives as I read biographies of great leaders. It is no surprise that great leaders have learned from their mistakes and can pass on their learned wisdom.