May 28, 2012

BE INSPIRING!

 History is full of remarkable people. Fighting against impossible odds, making incredibly significant discoveries or pursuing a dream they have helped to change the world. These people have transcended a world where mediocrity is accepted and inspiration an afterthought.

Aristotle, Martin Luther King, Winston Churchill, Helen Keller, Oprah Winfrey and Rudolph “Rudy” Giuliani. You would be hard pressed to find a single person who doesn’t see this impressive list of people as anything but inspirational leaders in their fields.

In a recent survey conducted by happening 48% of respondents believed they were not inspired by others in the work place.  Yet if much of our success lies in our being inspired who can we turn to when we are bereft of it in our place of work?

Inspiration was never harder to find than for Mother Teresa in the ghettos of Calcutta, yet she had the right idea when she said ‘Do not wait for leaders. Do it alone, person to person.’

In honour of the thousands of inspirational leaders, past and present, Happening People offer you our TOP 5 on going it alone and BEING INSPIRING

  1. Role model
    Model the behaviours you seek in others.  If you are a manager of a team it is very hard to ask your team to do something they do not see you doing.  For example if you expect your team to be on time for meetings yet you are late, you are not going to inspire them to follow your lead.  Be on time to every meeting, you will not only impress your team with your well-honed time management skills you will show them they matter and your time with them is valued.
  2. Show the vision
    People are inspired when they can see the path a head is well lit.  They are more willing to take chances and step outside their comfort zones when they can see the way forward.
    Rudy Giuliani Mayor of New York City during the September 11, 2001 attacks on the World Trade Centre has been awarded many times over for his leadership and inspiration during the attacks and the aftermath when most people could not see the vision or a way forward.
  3. Believe in others
    Inspiring people help others believe in themselves.  Great leaders help people believe in themselves.  Life has a way of knocking us about, we can lose heart but  when we meet someone or are told by our leader we are doing a great job and an important job it gives us the courage and motivation to keep going.
  4. Build a strong team
    It probably comes as no surprise that a good leader is supported by a strong team.  And an inspirational leader knows how to build such a team. Oprah Winfrey is an example of a leader who knows how to motivate people.  Oprah’s people strategy is simple. She invests in top talent, seeks out smart mentors, values her customer and consistently nourishes each relationship.
  5. Show gratitude
    In today’s world there is a lot of ‘wanting’ and much less ‘giving’.  Wanting is not nearly as inspirational as giving.  Remember, gratitude is not just a virtue; it’s a way of life.  Now that’s inspiring!

Now it’s your turn!! We would love to hear from you! Who or what inspires you?

Lacking Inspiration in the workplace?  It’s ok; Happening People are in the business of helping good leaders become great. Call Happening People on 1800 68 67 69 or go to www.happeningpeople.com

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May 21, 2012

Incentives that retain good staff

Gold class movie tickets, a harbour cruise, a dinner voucher, a hot air balloon ride, an all-expenses paid holiday or a free ipad. Has your employer offered you any of these for reaching that sales target, finishing that big project on time or meeting quality goals?  Or is your pay check your only incentive?

In a recent social media survey conducted by Happening People  73% of respondents said employee incentives were ‘important or very important to them’ when considering working for an organisation.

Yet a recent half yearly survey conducted by Accounting firm PWC of 1000 medium-sized clients with revenues between $10 million and $100 million has shown a shift in attitudes.  PWC Partner Gregory Will said ‘Non-financial staff incentives are being cut significantly’ compared with 18 months ago.  It appears according to the survey those incentives and benefits like childcare, flexible work practices and gym memberships  were ‘nice to haves’  and have been cut due to ‘tight times.’

The survey indicated that 9% of those organisations surveyed did not have a strategy for retaining staff, yet 42% responded that finding the right staff was their most challenging issue.

How can you incentivise and retain employees when you are being impacted by organisational cost cutting measures?  Happening People offer you ‘Our Top 5 for Incentivising and Retaining your Staff.’

1.      Decide who will be incentivised
Incentive programs were once associated with Sales roles and initiatives.  These days the remit has grown to include any employee whose work impacts on company performance.  You may have different teams under your guidance so you might choose to vary the incentive given different job roles or a more general scheme might be the answer if it all seems to complex.  If in doubt talk to your team, they will know what they want.

2.      Link incentives to business objectives
The saying what gets focused on gets achieved works well here.  Research shows when you link incentives to business objectives output for those objectives dramatically increases.  A well-known retailer offered incentives to their staff to reduce Occupational Health and Safety incidents to zero, a major cost to their business and impacted the well-being of employees and their families.  Whilst this is an ongoing target they have more than halved the number of OHS incidents and are on a strong trajectory to zero in the coming years.

3. Get buy-in and find out what they like
It’s easy to overlook the need to find out what your team wants when you are focused on getting the incentive program in place.  Take time out, meet with the team and let them do the ‘brain work’.  Set some guidelines around budgets and company policy and let them come up with the incentives.  This is a great way to get buy-in, a significant key to the success of the program.

4. Communicate
Create interest, a sense of anticipation and a general office buzz by communicating throughout a prelaunch and again through the incentive program to maximise engagement. This needs to be more than an email or office flyer.  Organise a morning tea, or team breakfast to launch the incentive, invite senior members of the organisation who will support the team along the way.  Regularly update the teams and how they are tracking against the program in team meeting and don’t forget if you have remote staff, include they by sending a video of the launch, or sending regular sms’s with updates to help them engage.

5. Keep it fresh and think outside the box
For any initiative to survive after the initial excitement you need to be constantly checking in and making sure the program is working, refresh the incentives on offer and to do this you need to think outside of the box from the standard movie tickets and dinner vouchers.  If your team is into fitness, offer them a weekly 1 hour team jog or invite a Health Consultant into your business for a lunch time session on improving health.  Keeping your team involved and engaged will ensure success.  Having visual tracking measures helps and linking incentives to the community can also motivate people to stay with your organisation.

Now it’s your turn!! We would love to hear from you! Tell us about some of the great initiatives you, your organisation or team have implemented to incentivise and retain staff.

HAPPY STAFF STAY! Call Happening People on 1800 68 67 69 we can help you implement an Incentive Program that will see your staff doing the ‘Happy-Clappy Dance’. Call or go to www.happeningpeople.com

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May 14, 2012

Managing a Major Mess Up at Work

Most of us go through our lives with the best of intentions and the desire to do the right thing. We pay our bills and taxes, we see our dentist, we take care of our relationships and we do our best to ‘not let others down’.

Whilst the picture painted is particularly rosy (and we all know life likes to throw some curve balls) we can go a fair distance in our personal lives before we stumble.  But when we are at work the pressure of deadlines, the complexity of the work, varying personalities and a competitive, fast-paced environment can result in us making mistakes.

What happens when we make mistakes in the workplace? Not a simple mistake like double booking yourself or forgetting to attend a meeting.  What happens when the mistake costs your organisation serious money, a lost account or bad publicity?

We conducted a survey and found almost 20% of organisations fire an employee when they have major ‘stuff up’.  To ensure you steer away from termination when you make a big mistake at work, Happening People have prepared our TOP 5 on Managing a Major Mess Up at Work. 

  1. Stay Calm
    Staying calm is one of those ‘easier said than done’ concepts.  It seems panic can rise just as fast as the feeling of dread from discovering we have made a mistake.  This is when you need to take some deep breaths, and logically step through what has occurred.  We have all heard the stories where the attempted ‘fix’ for a mistake is so botched it makes the original error seem like an ink blot.
  2. Qualify & Quantify
    Look at the mistake objectively.  Ask yourself is the mistake a genuine mistake, i.e. did you have the correct numbers, information or understanding and then look at what the impact has been.  Ask yourself, who is affected, how are they affected, what is the known and projected cost of any fall out.  Write a timeline of events.
  3. Tell the Truth
    Our political leaders would do well to heed the advice here at point 3. Covering up a mistake which turns a salvageable situation into a shambles.  All credibility is lost when you don’t own up.  Now that you have gathered the facts and understand the situation clearly, notify your manager or those affected and tell the truth.  Your manager will be better able to help manage the situation and fall out if they know all the facts, not just the ones you want them to hear.  More than likely you will be a little ‘red faced’ for a while but the shame of a lie being found out would be far more shameful.
  4. Resolution Time
    This is where the hard work really begins. It’s time to put a plan of action together for execution.  This is where you may need to involve others in the organisation, it might be your Communications department or Human Resources, you may need to talk to the Account Manager for a particular client and work up a strategy to minimise the fall out.  Execute this plan well and you might gain back some of that lost credibility.
  5. Learn from it
    Oscar Wilde is famously quoted for saying, ‘Experience is the name we give to our mistakes’. You do need to be able to move on from a mistake.  Accept that it happened, understand that you did your best to manage it and move forward knowing that you have more experience now to avoid the same mistake in the future.

Now it’s your turn!! We would love to hear from you! Tell us about a huge stuff up you witnessed in the workplace and how it got fixed.

Don’t make the same mistake twice!!  Call Happening People on 1800 68 67 69 we can train you and your organisation to make better decisions every time. Call or go to www.happeningpeople.com

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May 7, 2012

Get more leadership from your leader

 Are you one of the 29% of corporate Australian workers who believe their bosses are ineffective leaders?    Are you frustrated by the perceived lack of leadership from your leader? Is your company’s performance faltering under poor leadership?

Happening People conducted a survey which asked participants to rate the effectiveness of their current leader, 3 out of every 10 participants surveyed believed their boss or leader to be ineffective.

To add to this argument The Hays Group in 2010 reported that 70% of China’s managers did not help or encourage their people and they reported worldwide that leadership accounts for 70% of corporate atmosphere and corporate atmosphere accounts for 21% of company performance.

These statistics suggest Australia whilst fairing much better than China in its leadership effectiveness still has room for improvement.  It also suggests an ineffective leader has a significant impact not only on their own teams but on the company as a whole.

So what can be done so you can work for an effective leader? Short of an overnight leadership spill characteristic of the political arena it’s not likely your leader is going to change in the short term.  However there are steps you can take to get more leadership from your current leader.

Happening People gives you our TOP 5 on Getting more Leadership from your Leader

  1. Understand Your Leader
    Looking at your boss or leader objectively can be a difficult task in itself especially when their actions impact us directly.   You need to decide whether your leader is not demonstrating their leadership qualities because they simply do not possess them, they are under so much pressure to manage the business they aren’t able to lead as much as they desire or they really don’t have a clue that their leadership is crucial to their success, yours and the organisation. Once you know where your leader is coming from you are better equip to manage how to get the leadership from them you need.
  2. Let them know what you need them to do
    Don’t assume your leader knows what you need from them as a leader.  Don’t assume they know your capabilities and development areas and don’t assume they know what to do with them if they do.  Spend some time with them, understand how they work and in turn let them know what you need from them.  For example you could say in your next catch up with them, ‘I would like to develop my presentation skills.  When next there is an opportunity for a team member of yours to present to the General Managers Monthly Meeting could I do the presentation and you provide me with feedback?  “Or I really don’t understand how what we do affects the organisations bottom line; can you do a short presentation for us in our next team meeting?”
  3. Let them know when they aren’t doing it
    Sure, your leader may agree to work with you but other commitments and deadline pressures can get in the way. When next you catch up remain calm and cool headed, raise the issue, be honest but respectful and work to bridge the gap.
  4. “Be the change you seek”
    These famous words from Ghandi serves as a reminder that change starts from within. There is no point sitting in restless agitation and annoyance that you do not get to work with your ‘dream boss’ every day.  Be the change in spite of your leader.  Take the initiative and inspire yourself and those around you. For example if team morale is low and your leader doesn’t know how or seem to want to address it, why not organise a team lunch or morning tea or after work outing to reaffirm team commitment and bond. The idea here is not to undermine your leaders’ position but rather to work with those around you to create a positive atmosphere.
  5. Know when to walk away
    If after all this your leader still chooses not to engage in leading you and your team it might be time to have a quiet conversation with your HR department or a more senior manager and voice your concerns.  This takes a great deal of diplomacy and tact and needs to be actioned with caution.  If they seem resistant to discussing your concerns it might be time to consider a change!  There are loads of leaders out there as well as organisations that embrace strong ideals around leadership and endorse, encourage and train effective leaders and leadership it’s just a matter of finding one!

Happening People know good leadership when they see it. In fact they have been working with great Leaders throughout Australia and Asia-Pacific for over sixteen years. They provide a range of Leadership training programs as well as Executive Coaching to put leadership front and centre in your business. Call Happening People on 1800 68 67 69 or go to www.happeningpeople.com

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April 30, 2012

Time for a Truce?

 Happening People recently conducted a survey via social media to understand how conflict in the work place has affected Australian  workers and found that almost 60% of those surveyed have left their job due to conflict – a staggering figure.

This has a major impact on an organisation with increases in recruitment costs, lost team productivity, loss of talent and organisational knowledge not to mention the impact on the individual with both financial and emotional toll.  It can hit everyone’s bottom line.

We would like to think that organisations and the people in it are adept at managing conflict; the reality is that some work cultures seemingly invite conflict as a natural part of a competitive office culture while others detest it but fail to address the conflict appropriately.

In an aid to bring some clarity to the waters of conflict in the workplace Happening People offer you our Top 5 on Managing Yourself When Conflict Arises

  1. Understand how conflict arises
    Conflict arises when one or more parties push their desires and outcomes onto another or others without taking into account the preferred outcomes of others.  In addressing the conflict not only is it the behaviours that need to be examined but also the feelings that arise from the conflict. It is these feelings that can do damage to the relationship and team effectiveness long term.  It’s a good idea to get in the habit of knowing what you want, working to uncover and understand what others want and work to a best possible organisational outcome.
  2. Prepare for the discussion
    Depending on previous experience, personality and upbringing addressing conflict can be a challenging prospect, fighting it out or fleeing will only cause alienation and aggressive or passive aggressive behaviours. To ensure that as little damage is inflicted on the relationship in crisis it is important to approach the conflict with careful planning, sensitivity and self-control.  Objectively reflect on what has come to pass, do not assume the other party is completely at fault, or assume what they think or feel and work out how best to approach the other party.
  3. Have the tough conversation
    It’s tempting at this point to talk yourself into believing that ‘less said, soonest mended’.  Sure, that is an option but experience shows that it is a temporary Band-Aid to the problem and it will come back and when it does it’s usually a much larger issue. So dig deep, approach the discussion with considered assertiveness rather than a hasty reaction, treat the other party with respect, express your opinion and allow others to have theirs.   Go into the conversation to explore the situation rather than judge it.
  4. Set guidelines and boundaries around behaviours
    After having the tough conversation there is often a desire to quickly move on to more pleasant things. To truly address the situation and strive for peace and agreement, guidelines and boundaries need to be firmly established.  This is the ‘nuts and bolts’ of the new agreement.  In a work context it could be ‘We will talk face-to-face when we have a problem rather than hide behind our emails.’ Or it could be ‘We will support each other in the weekly team meeting instead of taking shots at each other.’
  5. Seek Help
    If you believe that the conflict arises due to the culture of the workplace it might be worth addressing this with your Manager and your Human Resources Department.  By discussing the nature of the conflict you may gain further insight into better managing the conflict and other times you may realise that your tolerance for conflict might be higher or lower than the department or organisation you are with.

Having too many farewell parties for all the wrong reasons?  It’s ok, Happening People are in the business of helping you hang-on to your people. Call Happening People on 1800 68 67 69 or go to www.happeningpeople.com

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