Feedback: 11 Steps to Success: Performance Management – Mind Tools

Richard Lowe, the Director of Training and Digital Learning Solutions at Hewlett Rand, says: “There’s a misconception that PM is, effectively, an annual appraisal – yet feedback should never be just trotted out once a year. PM should happen every day.

“If managers are trained well in PM, staff should feel coached, stretched and motivated by the process. PM is as much about catching people doing things right as it is about correcting and feeding back improvement opportunities.“

Read more about the 11 steps to success…

https://www.mindtools.com/blog/2016/10/20/feedback-11-steps-success/

 

Make Strategic Thinking Part of Your Job – Harvard Business Review

It’s a common complaint among top executives: “I’m spending all my time managing trivial and tactical problems, and I don’t have time to get to the big-picture stuff.” And yet when I ask my executive clients, “If I cleared your calendar for an entire day to free you up to be ‘more strategic,’ what would you actually do?” most have no idea. I often get a shrug and a blank stare in response. Some people assume that thinking strategically is a function of thinking up “big thoughts” or reading scholarly research on business trends. Others assume that watching TED talks or lectures by futurists will help them think more strategically.

So how can we implement strategic thinking if we’re not even sure what it looks like?

https://hbr.org/2016/10/make-strategic-thinking-part-of-your-job?referral=00563&cm_mmc=email-_-newsletter-_-daily_alert-_-alert_date&utm_source=newsletter_daily_alert&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=alert_date&spMailingID=15746696&spUserID=OTE3Mjg1OTA1NDQS1&spJobID=882035014&spReportId=ODgyMDM1MDE0S0

Give Your Team More-Effective Positive Feedback – Harvard Business Review

Research shows that one of the best ways to help employees thrive is to give them feedback. It’s one of the primary levers leaders have to increase a sense of learning and vitality. Giving your direct reports regular updates on personal performance, as well as on how the business is doing, helps them feel valued. Negative or directive feedback provides guidance, leading people to become, over time, more certain about their behavior and more confident in their competence.

Highlighting an employee’s strengths can help generate a sense of accomplishment and motivation. A Gallup survey found that 67% of employees whose managers focused on their strengths were fully engaged in their work, as compared to only 31% of employees whose managers focused on their weaknesses.

https://hbr.org/2016/10/give-your-team-more-effective-positive-feedback?referral=00563&cm_mmc=email-_-newsletter-_-daily_alert-_-alert_date&utm_source=newsletter_daily_alert&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=alert_date&spMailingID=15736215&spUserID=OTE3Mjg1OTA1NDQS1&spJobID=881936531&spReportId=ODgxOTM2NTMxS0

 

We’re All Capable of Being an Abusive Boss – Harvard Business Review

Bosses are expected to be a source of support, motivation, and protection for their employees. But abusive behavior does occur, and it produces a host of unwanted outcomes for employees and organizations, with no apparent benefits.

When we’re the victim of an abusive boss, it’s easy to villainize that person because, surely, we ourselves would never ridicule a subordinate, put them down, or invade their privacy. The abuse must be caused by the boss’s poor temperament or desire to seek revenge in response to being provoked, right?

Not necessarily. Recent research on abusive supervision suggests that, given the right conditions, just about any of us can be an abusive boss…

https://hbr.org/2016/10/were-all-capable-of-being-an-abusive-boss

 

Why Busy People Should Journal – Mind Tools

When you’re a busy person, it can seem hard to find the time to keep a journal. You’ve got stuff to do – time spent reflecting seems wasted!

However, daily journaling helps you solve problems, learn better from experience, manage stress, improve your emotional intelligence, build self-confidence, think more positively, and move towards your goals.

Those are a lot of benefits for just 10 minutes effort each day!

Find out how to journal effectively – and intelligently – in our article.

https://www.mindtools.com/blog/2014/02/21/the-many-benefits-to-keeping-a-journal/

 

Do You Understand What Accountability Really Means? – Harvard Business Review

Every leader I’ve ever met sees accountability as a foundational ingredient in a healthy and sustainable culture. The problem is, as is often the case with leadership and management ideas, we use the word without really understanding what it means.

Usually, we make the mistake of holding on to one or both of these hidden beliefs:

  • We have a deeply held association between accountability and punishment — instead of considering it a tool to help people unlock their highest self.
  • We have a deeply held assumption that accountability is a one-off event — rather than thinking it’s a long-term personal conversation between manager and employee.

It’s ironic because most of us have had at least one experience that runs counter to that. When someone in a position of authority in our life — a boss, a parent, a teacher — didn’t let us take the easy way out: “This is where you are right now. This is where you say you want to be. Based on what I’ve learned in my life, this is what it’s going to take to get there. Because I care about you, I see it as my job to let you know when you go off track.”

So why are we depriving our employees of that kind of experience?

https://hbr.org/2016/10/do-you-understand-what-accountability-really-means

Forget the Monday Morning Blues and Find Pleasure in Your Career! – Mind Tools

You’ve just got into the swing of the weekend and, yep, you’ve guessed it, Monday’s here again. Cue setting alarm clocks, tossing and turning in bed worrying about that early morning presentation, the packed commute. Finally, you’re back home… only for it all to start again the next day.

Sometimes we get so caught up in the rigmarole of work that we forget to think about whether it’s what we really want to do, or whether we even like doing it!

https://www.mindtools.com/blog/2016/09/23/find-pleasure-career/

 

Too Much to Do? Too Little Time? – Mind Tools

Do you spend your days “firefighting” – rushing from one urgent task to another?

Or, perhaps you have so many tasks competing for your attention that you don’t know where to begin.

If this sounds familiar, then you’re in good company. Former President Dwight Eisenhower is known to have remarked that “What is important is seldom urgent, and what is urgent is seldom important.”

Our article on the “Urgent/Important Matrix” looks at this in more detail, helping you prioritize your workload and manage your time more efficiently.

https://www.mindtools.com/blog/2014/04/08/too-much-to-do-too-little-time/

 

Goal Setting: Don’t Lose Motivation! – Mind Tools

When we set ourselves a goal, we usually do so in a flush of enthusiasm and optimism. It can be a New Year’s resolution to get that beach body for the summer holidays, or a determination to finally achieve that long-held career ambition.

But, a few months later, we’re guiltily brushing cookie crumbs from our still too-tight pants, or still in the same workplace rut that we vowed to escape from years ago. How did that motivation and self-discipline evaporate so quickly?

https://www.mindtools.com/blog/2016/10/06/goal-motivation/