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.

 

Copyright © 2017 Blackpool Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, All rights reserved. We thought you might find this new Library bulletin of interest Our mailing address is:

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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 the recent news reports and updates!

How to Accept Delegation: Managing Confidently When You’re Assigned an Extra Task – Mind Tools

It can seem overwhelming when you’re delegated an extra task, especially if you’re in a junior role. But, with the correct approach, it doesn’t have to mean overwork, conflict or failure.

In this article we’ll look at why performing a delegated task can be a positive, rewarding experience, and how you can make it a route to professional and personal growth.

Prioritization: Making Best Use of Your Time and Resources – Mind Tools

Prioritization is the essential skill that you need to make the very best use of your own efforts and those of your team. It’s also a skill that you need to create calmness and space in your life so that you can focus your energy and attention on the things that really matter.

“Yes” to the Person, “No” to the Task: Asserting Yourself While Maintaining Relationships – Mind Tools

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”.

Why Everyone Should See Themselves as a Leader – Harvard Business Review

Sue Ashford, a professor at the University of Michigan’s Ross School of Business, breaks down her decades of research on leadership—who achieves it, and how a group grants it. She explains that the world isn’t divided into leaders and followers. Instead, it’s a state that everyone can reach, whether they’re officially in charge or not. She also explains why shared leadership benefits a team and organization.

A Simple Way to Be More Assertive (Without Being Pushy)

In the workplace, we all run into conflict. Many of us would love to speak up and assert ourselves to correct it. And, in a perfect world, it would be easy. You could finally tell that colleague who keeps interrupting you exactly how you feel. You could give him a piece of your mind, releasing the frustration and anger that’s been gnawing at you for months. You could finally express that part of you that feels so underappreciated and marginalized.

But speaking up can be difficult — and sometimes overwhelming — especially if you are shy, lack confidence, or come from a culture where it is inappropriate to speak up. It can feel pushy and overly aggressive to be assertive, especially if you’re timid or hate conflict. It can also feel awkward and unnatural, not least if you’re more inclined to voice your frustrations and discontent in an indirect or passive manner.

But there is hope for the chronically unassertive among us. Fears about speaking up are hard but not impossible to overcome. Voicing your frustration with an “assertiveness formula” can help.

Team Charters: Getting Your Team off to a Great Start

Working in teams can be fantastic – if team members work well together. However, if people are pulling in different directions, the experience can be awful. What’s worse is that, without sufficient direction, teams can focus on the wrong objectives, can fail to use important resources, can be torn apart by avoidable infighting, and can fail, with sometimes dire consequences for the organization.

Team Charters are documents that define the purpose of the team, how it will work, and what the expected outcomes are.

4 Signs That Your Focus Is Holding You Back at Work – Harvard Business Review

Focus is an invaluable trait. It helps you stay on task and get work done at a rapid rate. Yet too much focus can be a problem: It drains your brain of energy, makes you care less about people, and prevents you from seeing what is happening around you. In fact, too much focus is a surprisingly common sign of adult attention deficit hyperactivity disorder — a failed and paralyzing attempt to control a roving mind.

When you slip into your daily focus routine, its adverse effects may not always be obvious. Below are some common symptoms of too much focus. If any sound familiar, you should examine the role of focus in your routine. It may well be the culprit that needs to be addressed.

 

Copyright © 2017 Blackpool Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, All rights reserved.

All of us have experienced communication meltdowns. By the time you walked away from the conversation, you could have cut the tension with a knife. And your agenda didn’t play out the way you were hoping. You ended up carrying the conversation with you. It weighed heavily on your mind, adding more stress to your workload. For most people it can take a lot more time and effort to recover from a breakdown in communication than to avoid one in the first place.  Our review of research and company examples suggests there are three things you can do to avoid communication breakdowns like this.

https://hbr.org/2017/02/in-a-difficult-conversation-listen-more-than-you-talk

When we’re starting out on a new goal, we’re full of energy and enthusiasm. We eagerly make changes and take steps in our new direction in the first few weeks. But as time goes on, the newness wears off. Our energy drains, and we lose sight of our goal. Ultimately, we slide back into the status quo.

No matter how sophisticated your strategies to rid yourself of bad habits and create good ones, you’re less likely to succeed if you don’t track and review your progress frequently. Noting your improvements each day encourages you to keep going. And by identifying where you’re falling short, you’ll notice patterns and make adjustments, so you won’t feel stuck in habits that feel unnatural or aren’t producing real change.

https://hbr.org/2017/02/break-bad-habits-with-a-simple-checklist

 

Few topics have received more attention in talent management than motivation, defined as the deliberate attempt to influence employees’ behaviors with the goal of enhancing their performance, and in turn their organizational effectiveness. Indeed, other than talent, motivation is the key driver of job performance, for it determines the level of effort and persistence employees will exert. It is also clear that top performers tend to stand out as much for their motivation as for their talents.

However, while the science of motivation is robust and well-established, it is rarely applied to real-world management practices, which tend to be based on managers’ intuition and subjective experience. This is perhaps why Peter Drucker famously lamented that “we know nothing about motivation — all we can do is write books about it.”

https://hbr.org/2017/02/if-you-want-to-motivate-employees-stop-trusting-your-instincts

 

How many times have you been completely absorbed in your work, only to be ripped “out of the zone” by infuriating distractions? Then, when you try to get back to the task at hand, how long does it take you find the same level of focus?

Workplace distractions can have a heavy cost on your productivity, they can increase stress and pressure, and their sources seem to grow year by year. Smartphones, smartwatches, social media, and instant messaging are now common intrusions. They can be added to a list that includes phone calls, email, chatty colleagues, background noise, and, yes, our own lack of self-discipline and tendency to procrastinate.

So, other than quitting your job for a scientific outpost in Antarctica, what can you do to minimize distractions?

https://www.mindtools.com/blog/2017/02/01/top-tips-minimizing-distractions/

 

Curious about what leadership actually means? Me too. We all know leadership is critical to maximizing success, but what exactly is it?

To grasp how difficult it is to precisely define leadership, just consider the title of a recent article from Business News Daily: “33 Ways to Define Leadership.”

In this article, we’ll attempt to whittle down these definitions, distil the true meaning of “leadership,” and use it to answer the following questions:

Can I be a leader?

How?

And if not, what should I do?

https://www.mindtools.com/blog/2017/02/09/difficulties-defining-leadership/

 

Do you work hard to be successful, hoping that it will make you happy? Success = happiness, right? According to Emma Seppala, we’d be better off seeing it the other way around.

“I’ve worked in a lot of high-achieving environments, from Yale to Stanford, Silicon Valley, New York City, and I noticed too many people pursuing success at a cost to themselves,” she told me in our Expert Interview podcast.

“They were, in effect, postponing their own happiness now in pursuit of success, with the idea that, when they attained success, they would be happy… But, when I looked at the research, I saw that, overwhelmingly, happiness is actually the secret to success. If you prioritize your own wellbeing, you’ll actually be more productive, creative, resilient, energized, charismatic, and influential. You’ll have more willpower and be more focused, with less effort.”

https://www.mindtools.com/blog/2016/02/15/turn-off-the-negative-self-talk/

 

Prioritizing work can be frustrating, especially if you work for a hands-off manager or a company that doesn’t give you clear goals. Most of us face this reality each and every day. The frequently cited research of Robert Kaplan and David Norton shows that more than 90% of employees don’t fully understand their company’s strategy or know what’s expected of them to help achieve company goals. Compounding the problem, recent research shows that global executives say they have too many conflicting priorities. In a world where conflicting and unclear priorities are the norm, how can you learn to prioritize your own work and still feel satisfaction from a job well done?

https://hbr.org/2017/01/how-to-prioritize-your-work-when-your-manager-doesnt

 

Roosevelt was what we might call a “lifetime learner.” Learning became, for him, a mode of personal enjoyment and a path to professional success. It’s a habit many of us would like to emulate. The Economist recently argued that with all the disruptions in the modern economy, particularly technology, ongoing skill acquisition is critical to persistent professional relevance. Formal education levels are regularly linked to higher earnings and lower unemployment. And apart from its utility, learning is fun. It’s a joy to engage a new topic. Having an array of interesting topics at your disposal when speaking to colleagues or friends can boost your confidence. And it’s fulfilling to finally understand a difficult new subject.

But this type of continuous and persistent learning isn’t merely a decision. It must become a habit. And as such, it requires careful cultivation.

https://hbr.org/2017/01/make-learning-a-lifelong-habit