BLACKPOOL HEALTH LIBRARY: At the Heart of Quality Information on the Fylde Coast!

Management Update from your Library: a collection of interesting articles focusing on leadership and management.

 

How to Become a Transformational Leader

We’ve distilled Bass’ ideas into a process that you can use to become a transformational leader. This involves you:

• Creating an inspiring vision of the future.
• Motivating people to buy into and deliver the vision.
• Managing delivery of the vision.
• Building ever-stronger, trust-based relationships with your people.

Read the article… watch the video!

 

Recovering From Burnout: Finding Passion for Your Role Again

When Ron first started with his organization, he loved his job. He went into work every day filled with purpose and passion, and he was excited about the difference he could make in his new role.

Three years later, however, it’s hard to recognize him. Now, Ron dreads going to work. He feels as if his work is meaningless, he’s always stressed, and he calls in sick frequently.

These are classic symptoms of burnout. If you’ve experienced this yourself, it’s essential that you know how to recover from it, before you experience lasting damage to your sense of well-being and your career.

In this article, we’ll look at what burnout is and how you can recover from it.

 

How to Banish “Impostor Syndrome” and Own Your Success

We all feel the occasional twinge of self-doubt or dips in self-confidence. But people with impostor syndrome constantly feel that they don’t deserve success and will be “found out.”

The added stresses of the pandemic can magnify these feelings. In this article and new video, find out how to identify and overcome this debilitating condition.

 

7 Steps for Overcoming Perfectionism

Do you always feel dissatisfied, no matter what you’ve achieved? That’s not healthy! Learn how to beat harmful perfectionism.

 

7 Ways to Get Your Voice Heard in Online Meetings

Do you struggle to get your voice heard in meetings? Perhaps you find it difficult to speak up in a group, or get drowned out by louder, more dominating team members. Our latest article explores seven strategies for making sure that your voice and opinions are heard!

 

Managing an Underperformer Who Thinks They’re Doing Great

Almost every leader has been in the uncomfortable position of managing someone who thinks their performance is terrific when it’s actually just adequate, or worse. In fact, in my 30 years of consulting, it’s been one of the more frequent — and draining — performance problems I’ve observed.

What causes the mismatch between these employees’ real output and their perceptions of success? Some may not be receiving the resources and clear feedback they need to develop and improve; others may be unable to recognize that they’re struggling. Whatever the cause, if leaders fail to address the situation, the lagging employee’s work will not improve, and the organization will lose the value of a team member who could thrive if given the proper support. Perhaps a more insidious risk is that the leader will appear to condone substandard work, and competent employees may become demotivated and disengage. But if you can identify the likely cause of an underperformer’s lack of self-awareness, these five approaches will help you correct the problem behaviors — or understand whether that’s even possible.

 

How to Avoid Rushing to Solutions When Problem-Solving

It’s understandable that we leap to solutions. Crossing items of one’s to-do list and fixing problems provides a dopamine surge that is comforting, especially when the world around us feels more volatile and threatening. Nevertheless, an ineffective Band-Aid solution can make things worse, and can be just as damaging in the long run as the problem it’s trying to solve. In my work as a leadership consultant, I’ve devised a simple, four-step process that can help you get past the urge to rush to solutions…

 

How to Actually Encourage Employee Accountability

Managers must understand the weight of their own judgments. A recent study of the brain shows how other people’s opinions of us influence our sense of self-efficacy. When leaders believe their role is to create conditions in which people make their best contributions — and genuinely enjoy doing so — the following core foundations of accountability improve.

 

Copyright © 2020 Blackpool Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, All rights reserved.
We thought you might find this new Library bulletin of interest

Our mailing address is:

Blackpool Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust

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BLACKPOOL HEALTH LIBRARY: At the Heart of Quality Information on the Fylde Coast!

Management Update from your Library: a collection of interesting articles focusing on leadership and management.

 

How to Stop Procrastinating: Overcoming the Habit of Delaying Important Tasks

It’s Friday afternoon and the clock is ticking. You’re working furiously to complete a task before the five o’clock deadline, while silently cursing yourself for not starting it sooner.

How did this happen? What went wrong? Why did you lose your focus?

Well, there were the hours that you spent re-reading emails and checking social media, the excessive “preparation,” the coffee breaks, and the time spent on other tasks that you could have safely left for next week.

Sound familiar? If so, you’re not alone!

Procrastination is a trap that many of us fall into. In fact, according to researcher and speaker Piers Steel , 95 percent of us procrastinate to some degree. While it may be comforting to know that you’re not alone, it can be sobering to realize just how much it can hold you back.

In this article and video, we look at why it happens, and we explore strategies for managing and prioritizing your workload more effectively.

 

Motivation: Energizing Your People to Achieve Good Things

Your people may have all the expertise in the world but, if they’re not motivated, it’s unlikely that they’ll achieve their true potential.

On the other hand, work seems easy when people are motivated.

 

Motivated people have a positive outlook, they’re excited about what they’re doing, and they know that they’re investing their time in something that’s truly worthwhile. In short, motivated people enjoy their jobs and perform well.

All effective leaders want their organizations to be filled with people in this state of mind. That’s why it’s vital that you, as a leader and manager, keep your team feeling motivated and inspired. But of course, this can be easier said than done!

In this article, we’ll go over the key theories, strategies and tools that you can use to help your people stay enthusiastic about their work.

 

Motivating Yourself: Practical Tools and Strategies

Are you able to get excited about every task you need to do? Or do you sometimes need a bit more help to make a start, never mind getting the task done? Maybe you’re continuing to ignore those overflowing filing cabinets, instead of taking some time out to reorganize them.

Or, you’re avoiding that difficult conversation with a person who is always late, choosing instead to tolerate the tardiness. Perhaps you keep rearranging your priorities, so that the tasks you hate always end up at the bottom of the list.

The longer you delay doing something, the more stress and pressure you’re likely to feel. After a while, you may even start to lose confidence in your ability to complete the task at all.

Many of us sometimes need help getting motivated. And it can be very frustrating when we know we have to do something, but we just can’t get around to making a start.  Read on for some tips on self-motivation.

 

Emotional Intelligence in Leadership: Learning How to Be More Aware

When you think of a “perfect leader,” what comes to mind?

You might picture someone who never lets his temper get out of control, no matter what problems he’s facing. Or you might think of someone who has the complete trust of her staff, listens to her team, is easy to talk to, and always makes careful, informed decisions.

These are qualities of someone with a high degree of emotional intelligence.

In this article, we’ll look at why emotional intelligence is so important for leaders – and how you, as a leader, can improve yours.

 

Becoming a More Patient Leader

Leading effectively — especially during a crisis — takes patience. If you can’t retain your composure in the face of frustration or adversity, you won’t be able to keep others calm.

If you want to build your patience, you need to recognize when it might be tested the most. If you know a challenge is coming, you can be more mindful about increasing your efforts to stay calm. A good way to manage the pressure you feel from the clock ticking is to reframe how you perceive time. Here are some helpful strategies…

 

Take Ownership of Your Future Self

Most people, when asked if they are the same person they were 10 years ago, will say no — but we have a much harder time seeing potential for change in the future. Gilbert and others refer to this as the “end of history illusion.” Despite awareness that our past self is clearly different than our present self, we tend to think that who we are right now is the “real” and “finished” version of ourselves, and our future self will be basically the same as who we are today. Gilbert puts it simply: “Human beings are works in progress that mistakenly think they’re finished.”

Your personality, skills, likes, and dislikes change over time — whether you’re intentional about that change or not. A recently published study that spanned more than 60 years found that the personalities of nearly all participants were completely different than they had been 60 years prior.

Change is inevitable, but it’s not out of your control. Below, we provide three strategies to help you become your desired future self.

 

Copyright © 2020 Blackpool Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, All rights reserved.
We thought you might find this new Library bulletin of interest

Our mailing address is:

Blackpool Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust

Victoria Hospital

Blackpool, LancsFY3 8NR

United Kingdom

BLACKPOOL HEALTH LIBRARY: At the Heart of Quality Information on the Fylde Coast!

Management Update from your Library: a collection of interesting articles focusing on leadership and management.

 

10 Common Time Management Mistakes: Avoiding Common Pitfalls

How well do you manage your time? If you’re like many people, your answer may not be completely positive! Perhaps you feel overloaded, and you often have to work late to hit your deadlines. Or maybe your days seem to go from one crisis to another, and this is stressful and demoralizing.

Many of us know that we could be managing our time more effectively; but it can be difficult to identify the mistakes that we’re making, and to know how we could improve. When we do manage our time well, however, we’re exceptionally productive at work, and our stress levels drop. We can devote time to the interesting, high-reward projects that can make a real difference to a career. In short, we’re happier!

In this article we’ll look at 10 of the most common time management mistakes, as well as identifying strategies and tips that you can use to overcome them.

 

Activity Logs: Finding More Time in Your Day

How much time do you spend at work doing things that don’t contribute to your success? At first, you may say “not much.” But – especially if you haven’t used Activity Logs before – you may be surprised by how much more time you can find.

When you properly understand how you use your time at work, you can minimize or eliminate low value activities. This means that you can do more high value work, while still being able to leave the office at a sensible time.

So, how can you understand this? One useful way is to keep an Activity Log, and that’s what we’re looking at in this article.

 

Leadership in Hard Times

Leadership is especially critical when organizations have to adapt to difficult business environments.

When times are good, leading a company or a team is exciting. Resources are plentiful, customers are satisfied, and opportunity is everywhere. However, when the economic conditions are challenging, this excitement and positive energy can weaken. People feel the pressures of work, and they fear for their jobs.

These worries and fears present a major challenge for leaders who need to keep their teams productive and on target.

One of the keys to protecting yourself and your business in an economic downturn is to develop a culture that builds, and sustains effective leadership practices. After all, good leadership is good leadership, regardless of the economic climate.

However, during difficult times, top-notch leadership skills become even more important. Second-rate leaders might be able to keep a company going in a strong economy. However, you need high-performing leaders if you’re going to succeed in tough times.

Of course, you need leaders who can control costs and conserve cash. However, you also need leaders who see opportunity – and who will strive to seize that opportunity – despite all the negativity. You need leaders who remain committed to their people. And you need leaders who can transfer their positive outlook to the people around them.

 

How to (Actually) Change Someone’s Mind

If you’re a leader, it’s likely that not everyone who works with you will agree with the decisions you make — and that’s okay. Leadership involves making unpopular decisions while navigating complex relationships with colleagues, partners, and clients. But often, you will need to get buy-in from these constituents, and therefore you will need to convince them to change their mind.

There is little friction involved in convincing people who are your natural supporters. But trying to change the mind of a dissenter, or a detractor, is a different story. How do you go about convincing someone who, for one reason or another, doesn’t see eye-to-eye with you? Someone who gives you a flat out “no”?  Read on to find out.

 

Remote Managers Are Having Trust Issues

Covid-19 has thrust many leaders into remote management which requires a different skill set than face-to-face management. They have been forced to make this transition quickly, and for the most part, without training. While some jobs have proven adaptable, many sectors are not well-suited for the remote environment and many workers have home lives that present overwhelming challenges. As a result, some managers may be finding their roles more difficult than before — and making their subordinates’ lives more stressful as they struggle to adapt.

Even prior to the pandemic, managing teleworkers presented unique obstacles. Research shows that managers who cannot “see” their direct reports sometimes struggle to trust that their employees are indeed working. When such doubts creep in, managers can start to develop an unreasonable expectation that those team members be available at all times, ultimately disrupting their work-home balance and causing more job stress.

If we look at what is happening today and consider the many scenarios employees may be facing — especially those with compromised finances or families to care for — we can hypothesize that certain workers are struggling to perform at the same level as they did before, or at the least, are seeing some changes in their degree of productivity. This, in turn, could create a negative spiral in which manager mistrust leads to micromanagement, which then leads to drops in employee motivation, further impairing productivity.

 

5 Tips for Managing an Underperformer — Remotely

While a majority of employers believe that that their employees will return to their workplaces after Covid-19’s impact diminishes, working from home isn’t going to disappear. The reality is that a huge number of people were already working from home and that number is only likely to rise post-pandemic. As the manager of a remote team, you can’t afford to ignore underperformance from remote workers, whether they’re temporarily at home, working in local branch offices, or half a world away.

Although you might assume that managing an underperformer in a remote environment would be more challenging (who wants to have a series of difficult conversations over Zoom?), there’s actually an upside. You may actually be more effective in handling the situation because you have to plan and structure your interactions, rather than catching up in the hallway or waiting for them to stop by when you’re in the office. Here are five things you can do to help remote underperformers improve their game.

 

 

Copyright © 2020 Blackpool Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, All rights reserved.
We thought you might find this new Library bulletin of interest

Our mailing address is:

Blackpool Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust

Victoria Hospital

Blackpool, LancsFY3 8NR

United Kingdom

BLACKPOOL HEALTH LIBRARY: At the Heart of Quality Information on the Fylde Coast!

Management Update from your Library: a collection of interesting articles focusing on leadership and management.

 

Great Leaders Use Tough Love to Improve Performance

Frances Frei, professor at Harvard Business School, says that trust, empathy – and even a bit of tough love – are all essential ingredients to strong leadership in today’s world. Successful managers focus on the effect they have on others, not themselves. They also define a strategy and create a culture that drives employee behaviour in their absence.

 

Supporting a Friend or Co-Worker Suffering From Stress:  Lending a Helping Hand When Things Get Tough

In this article, you can learn how to identify stress in others, and explore a five-step strategy for tactfully offering your support, without becoming overburdened yourself.

 

Has COVID-19 created new inequalities in the UK workforce?

Richard Clarke, partner and head of the City Agency & Development team at Matthews & Goodman, has raised an interesting question in relation to the impact the coronavirus pandemic has had on workplace equality.

Richard, who has been helping businesses find suitable workspaces for over 28 years, proposes that since we have had to work from home to tackle COVID-19, we are no longer on equal footing in the workplace.

 

4 in 10 UK workers expect to work from home more often, survey finds

An end to Covid-19 lockdown may not mean an end to home working for many UK workers. A survey has found that 4 in 10 people expect to work from home more than they did before, even once the crisis is over.

More than 5,000 UK workers were asked to think beyond Summer 2020 and consider whether they were more likely, less likely, or equally likely to work from home in the future.

 

What Really Motivates Employees? 7 Research Studies To Look At

When you want to prove a point, it makes sense to have the data to back it up. Luckily, studies are run all the time on what makes employees feel appreciated and motivated. Here’s a round-up of our favourites.

 

Managers, Adjust Your Expectations (Without Lowering the Bar)

Most of the country has been sheltering in place and working from home for some time now. This change came with obvious challenges to getting work done for those who live with others — be they roommates, partners, spouses, or children. Then, there are those employees who do not have others at home and now have no commute. One might intuitively think these individuals would be just as productive or even more so, given that research shows remote workers get more done.

To be sure, this might be the case for some people. However, my conversations with dozens of clients and colleagues in the last two months tell me otherwise. Regardless of each person’s situation, the resounding theme that I’ve heard from working professionals, spanning multiple sectors, is that they are not only getting less done, but they are emotionally, mentally, and physically exhausted.

 

How to Cope with That “Always-On” Feeling

Tools allowing for instant communication have given us the ability to work from anywhere. With employees being only an email away, organizations are now omnipresent in the lives of employees. And now, with many working from home during the Covid-19 pandemic, managers and coworkers who were once in the office down the hall, are now in your living room, kitchen, or bedroom (wherever you can find a quiet place to plug in your laptop).

This has opened a door into our personal lives that can be quite difficult to close. The negative effects of this “always-on” lifestyle were becoming apparent even before the pandemic, with research demonstrating that spousal resentment and work-family conflict increased the more often employees checked smart devices during family time.

Now that constant connectivity is our new normal, it is even more important that we learn to set clear boundaries for ourselves, in order to sustain our productivity and our families’ well-being.

 

 

Copyright © 2020 Blackpool Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, All rights reserved.
We thought you might find this new Library bulletin of interest

Our mailing address is:

Blackpool Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust

Victoria Hospital

Blackpool, LancsFY3 8NR

United Kingdom

 

BLACKPOOL HEALTH LIBRARY: At the Heart of Quality Information on the Fylde Coast!

Management Update from your Library: a collection of interesting articles focusing on leadership and management.

 

How Working Parents Can Let Go of Perfectionism

When you’re juggling work and parenting, it’s inevitable that you’ll drop a ball periodically. You’ll chase someone down for information they already gave you. You’ll lose your child’s sun hat at the playground (or forget to bring it at all). Your child will ask you to make banana cupcakes for three months before you finally get around to it. Or you’ll read an email you need to reply to but promptly forget — and only remember when you’re awake at 3 am.

While these slip-ups happen for everyone, for perfectionists, these instances feel like an emotional bee sting. Mistakes provoke anxiety for perfectionists and shake their sense of identity. Memories of past mistakes can pop back into mind long after the fact, and this can leave the person feeling like they’re doing a terrible job in all their roles — at home and at work.

There are legitimate reasons working parents strive for perfection. When it comes to raising kids, the stakes feel very high, and perfection is culturally expected of parents. In the workplace, parents often feel pressure to demonstrate that they’re just as career driven as they were before they had kids. Those who’ve used perfectionism as a strategy for high performance and to feel in control can start to feel like their standards are impossible to maintain once they become parents, and this can cause tremendous anxiety.

While it’s commendable to want to excel to the highest extent possible (and show your boss and coworkers that you can), obsessing over mistakes can do more harm than good.

Social Distancing Doesn’t Have to Disrupt Mentorship

The current pandemic has many more people teleworking and adapting business to the virtual environment. While continuing to lead direct reports and collaborate with customers remain business imperatives in the new “workplace,” don’t forget your mentees. Great mentors show up and engage with mentees in crises and uncertain times, even when that requires creativity and adaptation. There are several reasons not to let your commitments slide.

First, mentors play a pivotal role in safeguarding retention and building organizational commitment, particularly in times of crisis. Research shows that when mentors are actively engaged with mentees, those mentees form stronger emotional bonds to the organization, report higher job satisfaction, and perceive greater support from the organization broadly. To retain high-potential junior talent and ensure strong post-pandemic succession planning, consistent and committed mentoring relationships are vital.

Second, at their best mentorships are life-altering relationships that inspire mutual learning and development. Every growth-fostering interaction in a strong mentorship bolsters a mentee’s professional and personal growth, identity, self-worth, and self-efficacy. Facing an uncertain future, mentees — now more than ever — will leverage connections with mentors to lower anxiety, overcome imposter syndrome, and grasp hold of their mentor’s hopeful vision of how they can not only weather the storm but continue to thrive in their careers.

Finally, moments of adversity offer golden opportunities to create indelible mental maps of what excellent mentoring looks like. In his book Leaders Eat Last, Simon Sinek reminds us that leaders don’t always appreciate the impact of their examples on those they lead. Mentors must own the power of modeling loyalty and commitment. Just as good leaders care for their people first, so too should mentors demonstrate commitment to their mentees through ongoing communication and expressions of care.

 

3 Tips to Avoid WFH Burnout

Millions around the globe have made a sudden transition to remote work amid the Covid-19 pandemic. Not surprisingly, this has some employers concerned about maintaining employee productivity. But what they really should be concerned about in this unprecedented situation is a longer-term risk: employee burnout.

The risk is substantial. The lines between work and non-work are blurring in new and unusual ways, and many employees who are working remotely for the first time are likely to struggle to preserve healthy boundaries between their professional and personal lives. To signal their loyalty, devotion, and productivity, they may feel they have to work all the time. Afternoons will blend with evenings; weekdays will blend with weekends; and little sense of time off will remain. It’s possible that some employees may be asked to continue working remotely for several months.

So how can employees continue to compartmentalize their work and non-work lives, given the extraordinary situation that so many of us are in today? How can we “leave our work at the door” if we are no longer going out the door? What can employers, managers, and coworkers do to help one another cope?

Based on our research and the wider academic literature, here are some recommendations…

 

Boost Your Team’s Morale and Creativity With These Virtual Ice Breakers!

Whether you’re getting into the swing of working remotely, or struggling to keep team bonds strong, it’s worth exploring new ways to keep creativity and rapport flowing.

Discover how to encourage your team to break down communication barriers with our article, Virtual Ice Breakers!

 

How to Stay Informed and Avoid Fake News

In times of crisis, how can you be sure that you’re getting the facts? In this article, discover six ways to spot and avoid fake news.

 

How to Prepare and Cope in Times of Crisis

A calm head, rational thinking, and good preparation are essential for surviving a crisis. Explore strategies for managing both the situation and your own responses to it in our article, How to Keep Calm in a Crisis.

Health and Hygiene at Work: Encouraging Good Habits for a Cleaner Workspace

Whether it’s a dirty kitchen, overflowing trash, or germ-ridden shared equipment, poor workplace hygiene is an everyday health risk for you and your team.

And, if you don’t tackle the problem straight away, chances are it will only get worse.

But personal hygiene at work is a delicate subject, and encouraging people to change their behavior can be tricky.

This article explains how to do it with the minimum of fuss, and without causing offense!

 

Control Your Emotions, Before They Control You!

Life in the workplace is not always a bed of roses! Chances are, you’ve felt angry, frustrated, disappointed, or anxious at one time or another.

During these periods of heightened emotions, it’s crucial for you and your team that you control your reactions. Find out how in our article, Managing Your Emotions at Work.

 

Seeing Red? Try These 12 Steps for Controlling Your Anger

Angry outbursts can do immense damage to your reputation. Use these techniques to control your aggression.

 

Copyright © 2020 Blackpool Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, All rights reserved.
We thought you might find this new Library bulletin of interest

Our mailing address is:

Blackpool Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust

Victoria Hospital

Blackpool, LancsFY3 8NR

United Kingdom

 

BLACKPOOL HEALTH LIBRARY: At the Heart of Quality Information on the Fylde Coast!

Management Update from your Library: a collection of interesting articles focusing on leadership and management.

 

Managing Email Effectively: Strategies for Taming Your Inbox

When we use it appropriately, email is an incredibly useful communication tool. But many of us feel overwhelmed by the amount of mail that we receive and need to respond to.

However, there are ways to manage your email so that you’re more productive. In this article, we’ll explore strategies for doing this, so that you can get on with the real work at hand.

 

How to Be a More Engaging Speaker: Learning to Connect With Others One-on-One

Why Is Engagement So Important?

Stop and think about the individuals you’ve spoken to in the past who grabbed your attention. Chances are, the conversation was dynamic and informative.

When you engage people, you spark their interest, connect with their hearts and minds, and immerse them in what you have to say. What’s more, when it’s their turn to speak, you give them your full attention. Showing people that you want to listen to them is a powerful way to build trust.

The ability to engage someone has many benefits. It allows you to communicate more effectively during meetings, negotiations or job interviews, and it can also make it easier to persuade someone to see your point of view. Finally, it can enhance your reputation and open doors in your career.

 

Running Effective Meetings: How Do I Start and Host a Meeting?

There are good meetings and there are bad meetings. Bad meetings drone on forever, you never seem to get to the point, and you leave wondering why you were even present. Effective ones leave you energized and feeling that you’ve really accomplished something.

So, what makes a meeting effective? This really boils down to three things:

They achieve the meeting’s objective.

They take up a minimum amount of time.

They leave participants feeling that a sensible process has been followed.

If you structure your meeting planning, preparation, execution, and follow-up around these three basic criteria, the result will be an effective meeting.

 

Communication – Keep It Simple: Avoiding Confusion and Complexity

In a complex world, simplicity is important. With so many things competing for people’s attention the more basic you can make something, the better.

Simplicity is why slogans can be so important. When you hear, “Just do it,” you think of the Nike® brand and all the things that go along with it – Michael Jordan, air, running, high quality, high performance, innovation, and so on. The power of those three little words can be incredible.

When you see several brochures, which one are you more likely to pick up – the brochure with lots of words written in tiny print, or the brochure with a bold background and only a few key words? The more simple the message, the more impact it can have – and the more likely it will be to attract someone’s attention.

So, in this article we’ll look at how you can turn complex messages into simple ones using the “Keep It Simple” or KISS principle.

 

Logical Fallacies: Spot a Dishonest Argument and Avoid Misleading Others

“In a study designed by a famous academic to test the effects of pleasant imagery on motivation, employees were shown images of baby animals and beautiful nature scenes for their first five minutes at work.

“Amazingly, results showed a 10 percent leap in profits in the first quarter and record earnings over the course of a year. So, showing employees pleasant images is a great way to increase their motivation and improve productivity.”

What do you think about the argument you just read? Do you believe the conclusion?

You shouldn’t.

The argument contains a number of logical fallacies. But don’t worry if you believed the conclusion: the passage contains some very common (and effective) tactics for manipulating reason and logic. This article shows you what they are, and how to spot them.

 

How Systems Support (or Undermine) Good Decision-Making

It’s about your process not your people…

 

How to Leave Work at Work

Some jobs have very clear lines between when you’re “on” and when you’re “off,” while in others the lines are blurred — or potentially non-existent. That makes not being distracted by work, especially mentally, a major challenge.

This can lead to sitting at dinner while your daughter tells a story about her day, but instead of hearing her you’re wondering whether an email from your boss came through. It can mean exchanging the time you could have spent on sleep, exercise, or talking with your spouse glued to your laptop. And it can look like keeping your work life in order, while your finances or home are a mess because you don’t take time to pay bills, plan for retirement, or tidy up.

These four steps can help…

 

Are You Ready to Serve on a Board?

To better understand what makes a director successful today, we conducted interviews with more than 50 board members representing some of the world’s leading companies. We found that boardroom capital is built on five different types of intelligence: financial, strategic, relational, role and cultural.  The categories might not surprise you, but it is important to understand why all are necessary and to think about how to improve in each area.

 

Copyright © 2020 Blackpool Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, All rights reserved.
We thought you might find this new Library bulletin of interest

Our mailing address is:

Blackpool Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust

Victoria Hospital

Blackpool, LancsFY3 8NR

United Kingdom

BLACKPOOL HEALTH LIBRARY: At the Heart of Quality Information on the Fylde Coast! Management Update from your Library: a collection of interesting articles focusing on leadership and management.

 

Asking for Help: Getting the Support You Need Without Looking Weak

We all need help at work from time to time, but it’s not always easy to say so. No matter how far you’ve come in your career, you may worry about seeming incompetent, weak, or simply annoying if you ask for assistance.

But seeking support isn’t a weakness. In fact, it’s often the difference between failure and success. It can prevent costly or embarrassing mistakes, and mark you out as someone with self-awareness, confidence, and an understanding of shared goals.

What’s more, drawing on other people’s skills can benefit the helper, and your wider organization, too.

In this article, we’ll look at how and when to ask for help at work, and how to do it right.

 

“Yes” to the Person, “No” to the Task…Asserting Yourself While Maintaining Relationships

The word “negotiation” conjures up images of high-pressure situations, where people have a lot to lose if they get things wrong.

In fact, you probably negotiate several times each day. You do it at home and at work for all sorts of things, from deciding what to make for dinner, to settling on terms for a job promotion.

Because of this, you are a negotiator, even if you don’t think of yourself as one! But how well do you negotiate? Do you know how to recognize situations where negotiating is appropriate? And do you understand the elements of an effective negotiation?

In this article, we’ll discuss some of the fundamentals of negotiating successfully, so that you can meet your needs without causing conflict when you do have to say “no.”

 

Using Working Styles to Build Better Teams – Deloitte’s Business Chemistry

Picture a team where the mix of people just doesn’t work.

Perhaps there’s a dominant individual who ignores consensus and insists that things are done their way. Or a blue-sky thinker who’s always flying off on tangents. Or maybe there’s a team leader who’s great with detail and planning, but can’t communicate their decisions.

Now imagine a team where everyone works together effectively, playing to their strengths to achieve the best results, even when they have conflicting priorities and needs.

Deloitte’s Business Chemistry® gives you a framework that can make that vision a reality. In this article, we examine how the model works, and how you can implement it using five simple steps.

 

How to Work With Irritating People: Dealing With Minor but Persistent Annoying Behavior

Greg grits his teeth and takes a deep breath. “Be calm,” he tells himself. “Don’t let it get to you. It’s just Carl being Carl.”

But Greg has been gritting his teeth for months now, and he’s finding Carl’s irritating behavior increasingly disruptive and distracting. There’s the frequent cursing, the “reply all” to emails, the smelly sandwiches, and the black hole of scattered papers that is his desk.

Greg doesn’t know what to do. Should he continue to ignore it and pretend everything’s fine? Confront Carl? Talk to his supervisor? Go to HR? Or maybe even look for a job in another department?

In this article, we look at the damaging impact that persistent, irritating behaviors like Carl’s can have on workplace relationships team morale, and performance. We’ll also explore strategies that you can use to tackle them.

 

Core Self-Evaluations: Using Self-Knowledge to Boost Your Success and Well-Being at Work

Which of these personalities best matches yours? Tina’s, who comes to work with a smile on her face, who talks about her role positively, and seizes new opportunities with relish? Or Rachel’s, who looks permanently stressed and upset, complains about her lack of success, and blames all her problems on others?

Tina and Rachel clearly experience their working lives very differently, even though they’re on the same team, doing the same job. Their differences may be due to their core self-evaluations (CSE) – how they view key aspects of their personality and outlook.

In this article, we examine how core self-evaluations can affect your success and satisfaction at work. You’ll also discover how you can use CSE to understand yourself better, improve what you do in your current role, and move forward in your career confidently.

 

What Is Psychological Capital? Becoming a Workplace HERO

Have you ever noticed that some people always seem to be able to forge ahead, no matter what gets thrown at them? This is likely because they have a high degree of psychological capital, or “PsyCap.”

Psychological capital is something we can all develop to help us overcome obstacles, lower stress and improve job satisfaction.

As a manager, focusing on psychological capital has the potential to transform your organization for the better – improving the performance and well-being of your team.

In this article, we explain what psychological capital is, and explore how you can develop yours and forge ahead on your career path while taking your team with you!

 

To Be a Great Leader, You Need the Right Mindset

Mindsets are leaders’ mental lenses that dictate what information they take in and use to make sense of and navigate the situations they encounter. Simply, mindsets drive what leaders do and why. For example, they explain why two different leaders might encounter the same situation (e.g., a subordinate disagreement) and process and respond to it very differently. One leader might see the situation as a threat that hinders their authority; another as an opportunity to learn and further develop. When leadership development efforts ignore mindsets, they ignore how leaders see and interpret problems and opportunities like this one.

You may wonder: if mindsets are so important, which ones should you help your leaders develop? In our recent work, we broadly scoured research across the social sciences to understand the various mindsets that individuals may possess. In doing so, we identified four distinct sets of mindsets that have been found to affect leaders’ ability to engage with others, navigate change more successfully, and perform in their leadership roles more effectively.

 

The Dark Side of Self-Control

An ability to override short-term impulses that conflict with long-term goals is a hallmark of successful people. Research has shown that people with strong self-control have better health, relationships, finances, and careers. They are also less likely to have problems with overeating, overspending, smoking, alcohol or drug abuse, procrastination, and unethical behavior. Overcoming temptation also seems to be intrinsically rewarding — people with high self-control are also more satisfied with their lives and experience their lives as more meaningful.

But is resisting temptation always beneficial? A small but growing body of research has begun to illuminate a dark side of self-control, with important implications…

 

Copyright © 2020 Blackpool Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, All rights reserved. We thought you might find this new Library bulletin of interest Our mailing address is:

Blackpool Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust

Victoria Hospital

Blackpool, LancsFY3 8NR

United Kingdom

BLACKPOOL HEALTH LIBRARY: At the Heart of Quality Information on the Fylde Coast! Management Update from your Library: a collection of interesting articles focusing on leadership and management.

 

7 Prioritization Tools to Turn Chaos Into Calm!

Knowing how to prioritize is one of the most valuable time management skills you can possess. It can turn chaos into calm when time is short, but tasks are piling up!

You can explore seven effective tools for allocating your time in this article.

 

What Are the HALT Risk States? Understanding the Risks of Working on Empty

Do you ever feel like you’re “running on empty” at work?

Maybe you skipped breakfast before working on a big presentation, or you struggled to speak up in a meeting after only a couple of hours’ sleep. Perhaps you’re emotionally exhausted because you feel like you just don’t “fit in.”

If so, you’ve probably encountered the HALT risk states.

HALT stands for Hungry, Angry, Lonely, or Tired. The model was first developed to help addicts in recovery see when they were most vulnerable to relapse. Since then, it’s been useful for other people, too – both in the workplace, and in their personal lives.

This article examines when you need to “call a HALT,” and how to act quickly on the warning signs.

 

Avoiding Burnout – Maintaining a Healthy, Successful Career

It’s the beginning of the week, and Mia is already longing for the weekend.

 

For the past few months she’s been feeling out of sorts at work, and she’s not quite sure why. For instance, she’s always tired, she feels disengaged and unmotivated most days, and she’s constantly checking how long it is until she can go home.

Mia is also snapping at her colleagues (something she never used to do), and she feels that there’s never enough time to get everything done. This leaves her feeling perpetually behind and demoralized.

Mia is showing classic signs of burnout. In this article, we’ll look at what burnout is, what its consequences are, and how you can avoid burnout in your career…

 

Don’t Let Frustration Get the Better of You!

American humorist Arnold Glasow wasn’t joking when he said, “The key to everything is patience. You get the chicken by hatching the egg, not by smashing it open.”

In this article, we explore different kinds of patience and how they apply in the workplace. We also examine the strategies that you can use to develop and nurture this essential quality.

 

Mindfulness in the Workplace – Focusing the Mind by Staying Present

Do you ever find yourself dwelling on the past? Perhaps you can’t stop replaying a conversation in your head and thinking about what you should have said. Or, maybe you’re anxious about the future, and ask yourself endless “what if” questions.

It can be easy to get caught up in a web of anxious thoughts. But this can negatively impact our productivity and our health and well-being, and lead to more reasons to worry.

One way of stopping this pattern is to practice mindfulness – that is, concentrating our attention exclusively on the present in order to focus the mind and avoid distractions.

But how can we use mindfulness in the workplace? And what benefits can it bring to our personal and professional lives? In this article, we seek to answer these questions and bring together findings from the latest research.

 

Why Employees Need Both Recognition and Appreciation

Recognition and appreciation. We often use these words interchangeably, and think of them as the same thing. But while they’re both important, there’s a big difference between them. For leaders who want their teams to thrive and organizations that want to create cultures of engagement, loyalty, and high performance, it’s important to understand the distinction.

 

Copyright © 2019 Blackpool Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, All rights reserved. We thought you might find this new Library bulletin of interest Our mailing address is:

Blackpool Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust

Victoria Hospital

Blackpool, LancsFY3 8NR

United Kingdom

BLACKPOOL HEALTH LIBRARY: At the Heart of Quality Information on the Fylde Coast! Management Update from your Library: a collection of interesting articles focusing on leadership and management.

 

Supporting a Friend or Co-Worker Suffering From Stress: Lending a Helping Hand When Things Get Tough

In this article, you can learn how to identify stress in others, and explore a five-step strategy for tactfully offering your support, without becoming overburdened yourself.

 

Using Affirmations: Harnessing Positive Thinking

“Why does my boss want me to present at the trade show? I’m a terrible public speaker, and I’ll just embarrass the company.”

“I wish I could stick up for myself at work. In every meeting, I let the others walk over my ideas. I’m never going to get ahead.”

Many of us have negative thoughts like these, sometimes frequently. When we think like this, our confidence, mood and outlook can become negative, too.

The problem with negative thoughts is that they can become self-fulfilling prophecies. We talk ourselves into believing that we’re not good enough. And, as a result, these thoughts drag down our personal lives, our relationships, and our careers.

But, if we deliberately do the opposite and use positive thoughts about ourselves, the effect can be just as powerful but far more helpful.

In this article, we’ll explore how you can use affirmations to drive positive change in your career, and in your life in general.

 

Five Steps to Beat Your Self-Destructive Demons!

There are many hurdles to overcome to be successful – but have you considered that the biggest obstacle is yourself?

Sometimes, it’s your subconscious thoughts and actions that hold you back. Find out how to identify and tackle these inner demons with our article and video on Self-Sabotage.

 

Overcoming Impostor Syndrome: Facing Fears of Inadequacy and Self-Doubt

When you think of your greatest achievements to date, do you feel proud of what you’ve accomplished? Or do you feel like a fraud?

Does each raise, promotion or accolade bring joy? Or is it accompanied by the dread that, one day, your cover will be blown, and everyone will find out that you just got lucky, and arrived where you are by mistake?

If you experience feelings of inadequacy and self-doubt, you may be surprised to learn that you are in great company. Impostor Syndrome is typically associated with high achievers. The more specialized you become in a particular subject, the more aware you will be of the gaps in your knowledge. Likewise, the more successful you are, the more impressive your peers are likely to be.

So, if you feel like a fraud, the chances are that you’re actually very capable. Real frauds don’t worry about this!

In this article, we’ll examine Impostor Syndrome: what it is, how it can limit your possibilities in life, and what strategies you can use to overcome it.

 

Managing Presentation Nerves: How to Calm Your Stage Fright

Your stomach is queasy, your palms are sweaty, and your mind has gone blank about your opening lines. What will you be like when you’ve been introduced and the room goes quiet?

Are you doomed to presentation panic or paralysis, or can you overcome that debilitating nervousness and deliver a speech that wows the audience? (Or at least leaves them feeling satisfied?)

If you are like most people, then public speaking or presenting is one of your major fears (it’s known as “glossophobia”). Yet these skills are often called upon. It might not be to an audience of hundreds, but giving presentations to staff or even team members is a common enough occurrence. You owe it to yourself to develop some strategies and techniques to manage your nerves so you can concentrate on delivering an effective and engaging presentation.

 

How to Get Your Voice Heard in Meetings: Finding the Best Way to Contribute and Get Noticed

Maybe it’s the oversized table and the closed doors. Maybe it’s the colleague who talks too much and too loudly. Or maybe you’re painfully aware that your manager’s sitting opposite you.

Whatever the reason, you can find yourself lost for words in meetings and filled with a sense of shame and self-consciousness as your nerves overwhelm you. On the other hand, you may have succeeded in sharing your thoughts, but have been ignored or “shot down” by bigger voices in the room.

Although it can feel like you’re the only one struggling with these issues during meetings, there are undoubtedly others who feel the same – and just as they have overcome their self-consciousness and can speak up, so will you…

 

Helping Your Team Feel the Purpose in Their Work

No one wants to be a nine-to-five robot. People want to feel inspired, find meaning, and see the impact their work has on others. And when they do, they’re more engaged, innovative, and productive. That isn’t a secret or a revelation. It’s common sense.

If you’re a leader, helping others feel a sense of purpose can be a powerful tool. So, why then do so many leaders have trouble lighting up their employees?

The simple answer is it’s extremely difficult to instill purpose in others. It takes more than motivational talks, lofty speeches, or mission statements to spread purpose. In fact, if overblown or insincere, those methods can backfire, triggering cynical reactions.

Purpose is a grand word, but in the end, it’s about helping people see their impact on others and helping them develop a story about why they love what they do. If you keep that in mind, and take a personal, authentic, and perpetual approach, you’re likely to find success.

 

How to Deal with Constantly Feeling Overwhelmed

Our work lives have become increasingly demanding, presenting us with ever more complex challenges at a near-relentless pace. Add in personal or family needs, and it’s easy to feel constantly overwhelmed. This has nothing to do with how smart we are, but with how we make sense of the world and how we operate in it.

The cognitive impact of feeling perpetually overwhelmed can range from mental slowness, forgetfulness, confusion, difficulty concentrating or thinking logically, to a racing mind or an impaired ability to problem solve. When we have too many demands on our thinking over an extended period of time, cognitive fatigue can also happen, making us more prone to distractions and our thinking less agile. Any of these effects, alone, can make us less effective and leave us feeling even more overwhelmed. If you are feeling constantly overwhelmed, here are some key strategies to try…

 

 

Copyright © 2019 Blackpool Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, All rights reserved. We thought you might find this new Library bulletin of interest Our mailing address is:

Blackpool Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust

Victoria Hospital

Blackpool, LancsFY3 8NR

United Kingdom

 

BLACKPOOL HEALTH LIBRARY: At the Heart of Quality Information on the Fylde Coast! Management Update from your Library: a collection of interesting articles focusing on leadership and management.

 

New Ideas – Strategies and Techniques – Inspiring Innovation Through Creative Thinking

An open mind is a valuable resource. When you’re interested in new possibilities, and able to think creatively, you’re more likely to stay energized in your role – and keep your team or organization one step ahead of the competition.

And sometimes, the success of a project depends on more than just small tweaks or suggestions for new ways forward. It needs someone to come up with a big, radical, innovative idea.

This article shows you how that “someone” could be you!

 

Discover 8 Ways to Connect With Your Team!

Are you engaged and connected with your team, with your “finger on the pulse”? Or are you seen as an out-of-touch, unapproachable boss?

One of the best ways to connect with your people is to get up, walk around, and chat to them! This practice is called Management By Wandering Around – and you can discover eight tips for doing it successfully in this article.

 

How to Stay “in the Loop” – avoiding nasty surprises in your team

Do you ever get that nagging feeling that you don’t know what’s really going on with people on your team? Maybe you feel like they’re talking about you behind your back. Or, worse, they’re deliberately leaving you out of important decisions.

 

No one likes to be left out. It can make you feel anxious, and might even cause you to question your ability as a manager. After all, how can you do your job if you don’t know what’s going on? Don’t people trust you? Have you done something wrong? And is the team on course to meet its objectives?

Your priorities, decision-making, working relationships, stress levels, and professional reputation all depend on your ability to stay “in the loop” with your people. So, when communication breaks down, it’s vital that you fix it as soon as possible.

In this article, we examine the impact of being “out of the loop,” and look at some strategies you can use to avoid it, and to reconnect with your team.

 

How to Hire the Right Person With the Right Skills

Learn how to use competency based interviews to make sure that your candidates have the right skills, knowledge and values for the role.

 

6 Tips for Working With People You Don’t Like

Follow these tips for remaining objective and professional when you have to work or collaborate with someone who “rubs you up the wrong way”!

 

How to Support an Employee with Social Anxiety

If an employee tells you they have social anxiety, there are several things you can do to be a supportive manager… read this article to find out more!

 

How to Keep Envy from Poisoning Your Team’s Culture

Envy is often born out of deep feelings of inadequacy. We resent the people we feel inferior to for what they have, what we want, or what we feel we deserve. We also tend to dislike ourselves for having these feelings in the first place. In an attempt to combat our emotions, we draw self-gratifying comparisons. Though human, when leaders behave in this way, they create a culture in which putting others down builds themselves up. Such cultures can be incredibly destructive.

 

What to Say When Your Employee Makes a Mistake – Difficult Conversations

It’s one thing to know how to communicate in a way that inspires others and brings out their best. It’s another to actually do it, in the heat of the moment, when your emotions are high.

 

Here are a few keys to making it happen:-

1.When you feel emotional, be suspicious of any instinctive reaction. Before saying or doing anything, pause and take a breath.

2.Pose a silent question to yourself: What is the outcome you want your next move to achieve? In other words, what do you want to happen as a result of your communication? Make sure you get to a real outcome. If your answer is that you want the other person to feel bad, ask yourself why. What are you hoping will result from their feeling bad? If your hopeful response is that they will make better decisions next time, then that is the outcome you’re going for. (The feeling-bad part is how you think they will get there — but you’re wrong.)

3.Decide what you will do or say that will most likely lead to your ultimate outcome. Often, what you’ll find is the conversation that holds the greatest likelihood of getting to your ultimate outcome is about the future, not the past.

If you’re a leader, and you’re dissatisfied with someone’s performance, take that breath, identify the outcome you want, and then ask them what they plan to do in the future.

 

Copyright © 2019 Blackpool Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, All rights reserved. We thought you might find this new Library bulletin of interest Our mailing address is:

Blackpool Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust

Victoria Hospital

Blackpool, LancsFY3 8NR

United Kingdom