Bulletin – November 2017

BLACKPOOL HEALTH LIBRARY: At the Heart of Quality Information on the Fylde Coast! Management Update from your Library: a collection of the recent news reports and updates!

How to Deal with the Know-It-All in Your Office

I have met many know-it-alls in my years in human resources. Many of them are new to their circumstances. Some are acquired in a merger; others are hired to bring new skills or experience to their work group. Their first impulse is to say, “When I was at Big Company, we did it this way,” not realizing that their new colleagues couldn’t care less about how they did it at Big Company.

These know-it-alls are unsure of their status in the group and are trying to establish their position. One such HR newbie told me she knew everything about outplacement, and I didn’t, because she had laid off far more people than I had. This time I didn’t rise to the challenge. Instead, I tried to make her feel comfortable in her new position, and as that started to work, she relaxed her know-it-all behavior. If your know-it-all is new to the organization, you might try that approach first.

Know-it-alls don’t have to be newbies, though. Some become know-it-alls because of their success. These people are harder to deal with, particularly if they are your superiors. They believe that because of their accolades they really do know it all. And because of their success, they are entitled to tell others how to do things, down to the smallest detail. Here’s how to work with a know-it-all, no matter where they are in the company hierarchy.

 

Don’t Let Your Inner Fears Limit Your Career

Fear is a natural and universal human phenomenon, affecting top executives as much as anyone else. The majority of management literature is focused on helping leaders conquer their fears. The problem is that stifling fear doesn’t make it go away. In fact, failing to address it can lead to highly unproductive and dysfunctional behaviors.

Through our firm’s work with thousands of executives over 30 years, we have come to believe that unrecognized or unacknowledged core fears are almost always a root cause of professional distress and unattained potential. Yet those fears are not necessarily bad. We have met met many leaders who have chosen to understand and learn from their fears, turning them into fuel for performance. If you are willing to take a hard look at your fears and where they’re coming from, you can channel them productively.

 

There Are Two Types of Performance — but Most Organizations Only Focus on One

Our research into over 20,000 workers of all skill levels across U.S. industries, and a review of hundreds of academic studies on the psychology of human performance, shows that most leaders and organizations tend to focus on just one type of performance. But there are two types that are important for success.

 

A Survey of How 1,000 CEOs Spend Their Day Reveals What Makes Leaders Successful

What makes a CEO effective? The question has been studied extensively, of course, including in HBR. Yet we still know fairly little about how CEOs behave day-to-day and how their behavior relates to the success or failure of the companies they run. Previous studies have typically had limitations. Some have been of small samples, or relied heavily on the researchers’ interpretation to classify different “types” of executive.

 

Pink’s Autonomy, Mastery and Purpose Framework: Encouraging Self-Motivation

Why do you work? What’s your motivation? Is it the prospect of that end-of-year bonus? The promotion that you’ve been promised? Or do you just, quite simply, love what you do?

Many people work in environments that are dominated by “stick and carrot” motivation: do well and you’ll get a reward, but do badly and you’ll be punished. However, with this approach, the satisfaction of doing a job well can often get lost in the drive for praise and promotion.

Research on employee engagement suggests that people perform better when they are motivated. But there’s still widespread debate about whether traditional motivational strategies, like “stick and carrot,” really work.

So, in this article, we explore a model that casts away the idea of reward and punishment as motivational tools and, instead, focuses on what it takes to make people really care about what they do.

 

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.

 

Improving Physical Health and Well-Being at Work: Avoiding the Dangers of Sitting Down

Seph imagines that his body is a temple. But the reality is that he sits all day at a computer. He works late, feels stressed, eats junk food, and spends his evenings on the couch watching TV.

He knows that his physical health and well-being are suffering. Seph wants to make changes, but he’s struggling with the “practicalities.” He’s finding it tricky to break his sedentary and stressful work routine.

In this article, we’ll look at ways to tackle situations like Seph’s – by building activity into your working day. We’ll also show that, by focusing on fitness and health, you can boost your own productivity, performance and resilience, and that of your team.

 

The JD-R Model: Analyzing and Improving Employee Well-Being

Indira works in a high-pressure role. However, she is rarely stressed or upset by this – in fact, she thrives, despite the demands of her job.

One reason for this is that her boss and her organization are so supportive. They provide a comfortable working environment, frequent mentoring and development opportunities, and regular constructive feedback.

Indira is also friends with many of her colleagues, and she sets aside time each week to meet them for coffee.

Indira’s situation illustrates the idea behind the Job Demands-Resources (JD-R) Model. This model states that even if you work in a demanding role, you can experience less stress if your organization provides resources to support you…

 

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.

 

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