Fifty Shades of Grey for Leaders

Cristian was recently promoted to manager of the accounting department as a result of his remarkable performance, organizational skills, and ability to develop new processes. He is known for being a caring, warm, and cordial team player who was well liked by his colleagues. He has worked as a peer with six people on the team for the past three years. One of his team members, Ana, who has been with the company for almost ten years, had also applied for the same promotion but did not get it. Ana has now become jealous and bitter and is focused on “getting even” with upper management for promoting Crisitain over her. Cristian decided not to address Ana because he felt it would be too uncomfortable. However, in meetings Ana undermines Cristian’s ideas, does not share pertinent information with him on projects, and spreads negativity to the other team members about his lack of leadership skills.Watch movie online The Transporter Refueled (2015) Cristian has become increasingly frustrated with Ana’s behavior and because he dislikes confrontation, asks his other employees and former peers what he should do. His employees shared a few ideas with him, but none to Cristian’s liking. Recently Cristian emailed Ana asking her to “please watch your tone with him and other co-workers and cooperate better.” Ana replied with a carbon copy email to the entire department saying, “I am a professional team player who is here to get results, please be more specific with your criticism of my performance. By the way, have you developed our team’s vision or are you more focused on me instead of the rest of the team?” After many sleepless nights, Cristian attempts to terminate Ana but discovers that she is a remarkable performer who has exceeded expectations on her last three performance reviews. Feeling frustrated and lost for ways to deal with Ana, Cristian decides that he will do the unthinkable and finally confront Ana one-on-one in person. It’s Friday afternoon around 4:45 pm and most of the department has left for the weekend. Cristian has just finished rehearsing exactly what he will say to Ana in their meeting. His palms are sweating and his heart starts to race as he walks out the door toward Ana’s work area. He approaches Ana and asks to speak with her for a few minutes. Ana replies, “let me finish my last thought in this email and I’ll be right with you.” As she presses send she turns around and looks Cristian directly in the eyes. Cristian, feeling pierced and not confident, looks away and says, “lets talk in my office.” Ana replied, “I’d feel more comfortable if we talked in the conference room instead, plus it’s closer.” As they walk toward the conference room, Cristian is following Ana and for some reason feels powerless, he asks himself, am I the leader or is she? As they walk into the conference room, Ana sits down and asks “how can I help you?” Cristian says, “we have to talk about your attitude.” “My attitude,” Ana replied in a strong voice. “Yes, your attitude and arrogance like you,” Ana immediately interrupted him and stood up. “Let me tell you something buddy, I’ve been around alot of great leaders and high performers, and honestly, you don’t have what it takes. You and I both know you can’t fire me, so you’re all out of options. I suggest you act like a leader, take your paper thin promotion and leave me alone, because I have more influence than you know.” Cristian asks desperately, “why can’t you just play nice, what did I do to you?”...

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Why Your Employees Don’t Change after Training

Her name was “Negative Nancy.” She complained about everything and always looked at the downside of her job. In meetings, her responses to her co-workers were “that won’t work, we’ve always done things this way,” or “that’s not my job.” Nancy’s manager, Tom, decided to send her to a training seminar called “Communicating with Difficult People.” After attending the training and returning to work, Nancy made a negative remark about one of her colleagues in a regular scheduled team meeting. What happened? Was the training a total waste of time and money? After training thousands of supervisors, managers, directors, and senior-level leaders across the world, one of the most frequently asked questions we receive about employee training and leadership development is “how do you make the training stick when employees return to work?” Frustrated by the lack of behavior change after investing in employee training, many senior-level leaders are telling human resource managers to pull the plug on professional development training budgets. However, just as the great speaker and trainer Zig Ziglar stated, “the only thing worse than training your employees and losing them, is not training them and keeping them.” Perhaps what’s needed is training on why employees don’t change after training, so that senior-level leaders and human resource managers understand that training is an investment in their people and results are typically seen over time depending on the type of behavior change desired. Based on our research from managers and leaders of organizations that have obtained positive returns on their investment in employee training, there are three strategic best practices that can maximize employee behavior change and application back in the workplace: 1. Pre-Training (it must be positive and important) One of the first steps to making employee training successful is in the pre-training phase. Managers and leaders should set the tone that training is positive and an important process of individual and team growth, not negative or punitive. Although it’s not completely necessary, if an employee has a positive mentality about training, application of lessons learned will occur faster. Many employees confess that they have attended a training with low expectations and a defensive mentality, only to leave the training with a positive mentality armed with, and ready to use, new tools. Managers and leaders can help employees think positive about training by not making them feel like they need to be “fixed.” For example, it will be very counterproductive to tell an employee that you have signed them up for training because they need to “fix” or work on their attitude. It would be more effective to tell the employee that this is a professional development opportunity and a chance to develop specific skills that would not only help the team, but possibly prepare him or her for future opportunities. Using the “coach leadership style,” managers and leaders can help the employee see what specific skills they could improve, and then ask the employee to write down two to three goals he or she would like to attain from the training so they are focused before they attend.Watch movie online The Transporter Refueled (2015) 2. During Training (it must be engaging!) Whether you hire an outside training consultant, send employees to public training seminars, or create an in-house training program, the training must be engaging! Learn all you can about how the training is delivered, because it doesn’t matter how great the content is if the training means sitting through fifty powerpoint slides and listening to a monotone speaker all day. Employees will simply tune out, become disengaged, and/or completely fall asleep. An effective training program...

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Act Like a Leader, Think Like a Manager

Act like a leader and think like a manager. Really? Shouldn”t it be the other way around? No, because leadership is action, period! And if you don”t remember anything else from this article, remember that people judge you by your “actions,” not your thoughts or “intentions.” When it comes to leadership and management, many people mistakenly believe they are one and the same. Not knowing the difference and taking specific actions can cause teams to become disengaged, create a hostile work environment, and obtain minimum commitment and performance from people. As a result, people do just enough to meet expectations, not get fired, and become “paycheck employees.” Here are some of the fundamental differences between managing and leading: Managers maintain, leaders develop Managers focus on tasks and compliance, leaders focus on people and empowerment Managers rely on control, leaders rely on trust Managers accept the status quo, leaders challenge it Managers have sight (see things as they are), leaders have vision (see things as what they could be)  Watch The Channel (2016) Full Movie Online Streaming Online and Download How to Act Like a Leader Ultimately, leadership is people and action trumps everything. Just like you can think your way into a new way of acting, you can also act your way into a new way of thinking. There are three specific actions that you must continually perform as a leader to bring the best performance out of people.Watch movie online The Transporter Refueled (2015) 1. Communicate the vision (speak like leader and always remind your team of the ultimate purpose) in team meetings or one-on-one sessions, and inform the team of what they will ultimately become as a team and an organization. 2. Inspire! As a leader you must be a source of energy and inspiration for your people. They will get burned out, lose sight of the goals and expectations and take their eyes off the vision. You must sense when this happens (lack of participation, absenteeism etc…) and be like jumper cables for your team. 3. Care (empathy is the number one quality leaders must have) about your people. Leaders must know at least the two most important things to their people. Whether its family, going back to school, or obtaining a promotion, you must make time to connect with each person on your team on a personal level. This is the most important action of leaders. It facilitates trust and when people trust you as a leader, they take on more work without more pay and give you their all.  Watch The Channel (2016) Full Movie Online Streaming Online and Download How to Think Like a Manager If leadership is people, then management is tasks. Although leaders can inspire people to pursue a vision, a management mentality attempts to make certain the vision becomes a reality. There are three specific thoughts manager must focus on to accomplish the vision. 1. What are we trying to achieve? Once the leader establishes the vision, managers must think about the overall strategy and goals to achieve it. Although the vision does not change, the strategy and goals can change. Goals should be clear, measurable and have deadlines. 2. How are we going to achieve it? While developing the goals, managers must also determine if the team has the resources (people, money, tools etc…) to succeed, or if the team has been set up for failure. 3. How can each team member contribute? Great managers know that it does not matter how bold and wonderful the strategy and goals are, if the team cannot execute and ultimately achieve them....

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4 Things Leaders Must Do to Bring the Best Out Of People

According to a survey by the Conference Board, a global market research firm, most of today”s employees in the workplace dislike their jobs. In addition, a survey conducted by Right Management, a division of Manpower, illustrated that 60% of employees intend to leave their jobs when the economy improves. It”s no secret that the majority of today”s employees are unmotivated and disengaged in the workplace and their disengagement according to the Gallup organization costs employers roughly $300 billion annually. What can organizations, managers and leaders do to create a workplace environment where employees are inspired to perform? Based on my experience of training thousands of supervisors, managers and senior level leaders across the country, I have concluded that workplace leaders must focus on being at least four things to their employees which display specific qualities that inspire, motivate, develop and empower employees to want to perform. 4 Things Leaders Must be to Bring the Best Out of Employees: 1. Be a Coach: A coach is one who teaches, develops and helps employees identify obstacles that prevent top performance. Coaching is about strategically and tactfully asking your employees the right questions so they can learn to ultimately see things for themselves. Asking questions guides a person”s thinking. For example, instead of solving your employees problems and just giving them answers, a coach will ask a series of questions that probe the employee to solve the problem. This takes time, but if deliberately practiced, the employee will soon get in the habit of asking himself or herself the same questions and will ultimately develop a problem solving mentality just like the manager or leader who acted as the coach. Coaches are also energetic, passionate and lead by example. The coaching style is very attractive to employees who become receptive to the coach”s suggestions of new ways of working to improve performance. 2. Be a Sergeant: A sergeant, just like a drill sergeant in the U.S. Army is one who pushes, challenges and transforms an individual to prepare them to succeed. As a sergeant, you must ultimately be ready to make decisions in times of crisis, emergencies and deadlines and stand by your decisions as your employees execute your demands without question. Keep in mind, many managers and leaders make the mistake of applying this style frequently, which results in employees who are only performing out of fear or they are intimidated by the manager or leader acting as the sergeant. While the manager or leader who frequently uses this style may still get results, he or she must understand that employees are more than likely only performing at half of their true capacity. They are indeed only performing just enough to keep from being fired. The sergeant must also knew when to apply pressure and stress to particular employees and teams so that they do not become too comfortable, complacent and content. The sergeant serves to remind them that in today”s competitive economy and workplace, there is no comfort zone!watch Brooklyn 2015 film online now 3. Be an Encourager: An encourager is one who supports, empathizes and listens to employees who may be experiencing personal issues, low morale, burned out or simply frustrated at work. So many managers and leaders continue to fail to understand that they must connect with their employees on a personal level. They believe that employees should just do what they are paid to do and that it is not necessary to get to know them personally. This is one of the biggest mistakes managers and leaders make and what they continually fail to realize is that...

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The Fabulous Four Qualities of Top Performing Teams (Part 1)

What is it that makes certain people in a company or organization come together and accomplish extraordinary things? How can a team of people who may only be average performers individually, produce remarkable results when they work together? How do they consistently exceed expectations every year and have the audacity to set even higher goals, all while having fun as they work? Throughout my training experiences and discussions with thousands of supervisors, managers, directors and senior executives, I have realized that there are four things these workplace winners have in common: Shared Purpose, Open Communication, Trust and an Innovative Mentality. Some organizations are completely blind to the fact that they don’t have teams, they have groups. The main difference between a group and a team is that a group is just a collection of individuals who are only looking out for their self interest. They only care about their individual goals, promotion, salary etc.. A team consists of individuals who understand that none of us is greater than all of us and they genuinely care about each other and know they can only grow and win, when they help their team members grow and win.Watch Full Movie Online Streaming Online and Download The Fabulous Four Qualities listed below will help your team grow to the next level and eventually become a top performing team: 1. Shared Purpose: – Every team member knows the vision, mission, goals of the team and the overall organization. – Each team member knows why their work, tasks, duties and contribution matters, and how it impacts the entire team and organization. – Each team member knows their role, responsibilities, what they’re accountable for, and no matter how small their role, it is equally celebrated, valued and respected by the team.   2. Open Communication: – Each team member feels as though they can freely share ideas, opinions and potential solutions to the team without fear or being ridiculed. – High performing teams have feedback forums (meetings, social gatherings etc…) where feedback on performance, ideas, needs for assistance are communicated.   3. Trust: – High performing teams consistently do what they say, and they hold every team member accountable to the same standard. – Each team member shares personal interest and goals. (They become like extended family)   4. Innovative Mentality: – Each team member has an innovative mentality, which means they relentlessly see or do things in a new or more effective way. – Top performing teams have no comfort zone. Members of teams with comfort zones say things such as “if ain’t broke don’t fix it.” Top performing teams understand that a comfort zone in today’s rapidly changing economy means laid-off, outsourced or downsized. Instead, their mentality is “if ain’t broke don’t fix it, unless you can make it better!” – Top performing teams have innovative sessions, where they meet frequently to discuss how to improve the product, service, programs, reports, equipment, etc… They dedicate entire meetings to just thinking about better methods and improving things.   It’s no secret that top performing teams go from ordinary to extraordinary by doing certain things and having specific qualities. It may take some time, but your team can accomplish it.Watch movie online The Transporter Refueled (2015) In part 2, we will discuss the particular phases of team development and what leaders must do to make sure their team successfully graduates from each phase. Grind for...

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