I read this story today and I thought I would share this with you.  It is great food for thought!

"A successful business man was growing old and knew it was time to choose a successor to  take over the business. Instead of choosing one of his Directors or his children, he decided to do something different. He called all the young executives in his company together.

He said, "It is time for me to step down and choose the next CEO. I have decided to choose one of you.. "The young executives were Shocked, but the boss continued. "I am going to give each one of you a SEED today - one very special SEED. I want you to plant the seed, water it, and come back here one year from today with what you have grown from the seed I have given you. I will then judge the plants that you bring, and the one I choose will be the next CEO."

One man, named Jim, was there that day and he, like the others, received a seed. He went home and excitedly, told his wife the story. She helped him get a pot, soil and compost and he planted the seed. Everyday, he would water it and watch to see if it had grown. After about three weeks, some of the other executives began to talk about their seeds and the plants that were beginning to grow.

Jim kept checking his seed, but nothing ever grew.  Three weeks, four weeks, five weeks went by, still nothing.  By now, others were talking about their plants, but Jim didn't have a plant and he felt like a failure.. Six months went by -- still nothing in Jim's pot. He just knew he had killed his seed. Everyone else had trees and tall plants, but he had nothing. Jim didn't say anything to his colleagues, however he just kept watering and fertilizing the soil - He so wanted the seed to
grow.

A year finally went by and all the young executives of the company brought their plants to the CEO for inspection.  Jim told his wife that he wasn't going to take an empty pot.  But she asked him to be honest about what happened. Jim felt sick to his stomach, it was going to be the most embarrassing moment of his life, but he knew his wife was right. He took his empty pot to the board room. When Jim arrived, he was amazed at the variety of plants grown by the other executives. They were beautiful -- in all shapes and sizes. Jim put his empty pot on the floor and many of his colleagues laughed, a few felt sorry for him!

When the CEO arrived, he surveyed the room and greeted his young executives.

Jim just tried to hide in the back. "My, what great plants, trees, and flowers you have grown."said the CEO. "Today one of you will be appointed the next CEO!"

All of a sudden, the CEO spotted Jim at the back of the room with his empty pot. He ordered the Financial Director to bring him to the front. Jim was terrified. He thought, "The CEO knows I'm a failure!  Maybe he will have me fired!"

When Jim got to the front, the CEO asked him what had happened to his seed - Jim told him the story.

The CEO asked everyone to sit down except Jim. He looked at Jim, and then announced to the young executives, "Behold your next Chief Executive Officer!

His name is Jim!" Jim couldn't believe it. Jim couldn't even grow his seed.

"How could he be the new CEO?" the others said.

Then the CEO said, "One year ago today, I gave everyone in this room a seed. I told you to take the seed, plant it, water it, and bring it back to me today. But I gave you all boiled seeds; they were dead - it was not possible for them to grow.

All of you, except Jim, have brought me trees and plants and flowers. When you found that the seed would not grow, you substituted another seed for the one I gave you. Jim was the only one with the courage and honesty to bring me a pot with my seed in it. Therefore, he is the one who will be the new Chief Executive Officer!"

* If you plant honesty, you will reap trust

* If you plant goodness, you will reap friends

* If you plant humility, you will reap greatness

* If you plant perseverance, you will reap contentment

* If you plant consideration, you will reap perspective

* If you plant hard work, you will reap success

* If you plant forgiveness, you will reap reconciliation

So, be careful what you plant now; it will determine what you will reap later."


  Author Unknown

Most people I come into contact with have a very real sense of stress because work keeps coming at them and they have to constantly shift gears and absorb the extra work.   What typically happens is a new priority is communicated by executives and employees put aside their current activities to start a new project.  The projects that are put aside start piling up and there is a very real sense of not being in control. 

Getting organized can have multiple benefits for your performance.  You will be able to improve your productivity because you will have a better sense of your priorities and what needs to be done right away.

Clear Your Clutter

The first step in getting organized is to clear your clutter.  If you have clutter around your office or on your desk, get rid of it.  But before you get rid of anything, go through your active files and create a diary system of some type so you can keep track of what you are doing and what you have delegated to your direct reports so you can diarize active files as you de-clutter.

A Diary System

A diary system will only work if you have the discipline to record what needs to be done and to follow up on activities on a daily basis.  An effective diary system can help you to get projects done before they are due and to track simultaneous projects. 

There are many types of diary systems you can implement.  If you prefer paper based systems you can purchase a diary, log or notebook and record your activities, due dates, delegated activities and priorities.  Another paper based diary system is one where you date and file active files and pull them on the date they are due.  You will need additional filing space for a diary system of this type.

Then there are electronic diary systems that are part of your email solution that can be synchronized with your Personal Digital Assistant (PDA) to facilitate reference to diarize items and activities while mobile.

“To Do” Lists

Once your information is diarized you need additional discipline to build your “To Do” list.  It can be a daily list which some people find perplexing because they can rarely finish a daily list due to interruptions.  Some of you prefer making a weekly list because over a period of a week you are more likely to see progress, even if you don’t get to everything you planned.

“To Do” lists work better if you include a column for prioritization.  If you miss this step, you may end up with a long list of things to get done and this may not help reduce your stress level.  You can create any system of prioritization you prefer: (High, Medium, Low), (1,2,3) or (A, B,C) – whatever your rating system, prioritization helps to take the pressure off because it lightens the load by helping you to focus on what needs to be done first. 

When creating “To Do” lists, some of you prioritize to get the quick wins first and others prefer to tackle the slower, more complex activities first to get them out of the way.  Sometimes a combination approach has to happen because of impending deadlines. 

Avoid Procrastination

We sometimes put projects or activities on hold because we are not quite sure where to start or because it will take too much time.  Whatever the reason for your procrastination, make a conscious decision to get to it.  It takes will, discipline, planning and sometimes problem solving skills.

Learn to Negotiate Deadlines

Many of you feel that you shouldn’t say no to your boss because you may appear to be uncooperative.    The truth is that you don’t want to face your boss at the end of the year and have the fact that you said “No”, revisited and become a cost to you.  If saying no is not an option, learn to negotiate your deadlines.  If one assignment becomes a top priority and you have a competing priority, ask your boss if you can have more time to complete the other assignment/s. 

Delegate More

If you have someone you can delegate to, go ahead and delegate.  Don’t hoard the work, train someone to help you so you can be freed up to do more.  Just be sure you are delegating to someone who can do the work and then remember to always follow up.

So Get Organized!

Getting organized improves your productivity, your capacity and it helps you to appear to be more professional and prepared.  One of my clients went through a process of organizing her work and office instituting a diary system and de-cluttering.  Once she was done she said to me,  “I was stressed out because I thought I had so much work to do but now I realize I have time to do much more!”.  

The Trust Walk is a popular training exercise designed to demonstrate the transformative potential of trust.  Participants are grouped in pairs.  One member of the pair is blindfolded and the other member guides the blind folded participant through an obstacle course.  The blindfolded participant has to fully trust the leader to make it through the obstacle course without seeing a map of the obstacles.

This is a great metaphor for how trust can work in an organization.  Leaders  guide employees through changes and at times, employees won’t see or understand the big picture so they have to rely on and trust the person leading. 

A lack of trust can surface in many different ways.  It can look like micromanagement, a lack of transparence, an inability to delegate, suspicion, disrespect or double talk, this is by far not an exhaustive list but it gives you an indication of some of the tell-tale signs. 

Tips for Building Trust that Lasts

When trust is impaired, it is difficult to build.  In some cases it will be impossible to rebuild and you will have to determine if this is the case.   In cases where trust can be built here are tips you can use to start your trust walk:

• Transparence – This goes both ways.  Employers sometimes withhold information because information is power.  These bosses neglect to understand that the right information is empowering and keeping employees abreast of needed information is not luxury.  Employees often cover up issues that managers need to be aware of.  They probably withhold information because they want to avoid an unpleasant outcome.  So where does the trusting behaviour have to start – with the leadership and the opening lines of communication.

• Consistence is important for building a track record.  Employees and employers will trust you if your behaviour follows a predictable pattern.  Consistence can refer to walking your talk or it can refer to establishing a pattern of behaviour.  Whichever the case, consistence is necessary.  A simple tip someone told me once that you trust people to be who they are so learn about who you are dealing with and trust them to be who they are.  This was a huge AHA moment for me.

• Confidence can instill trust.  This is true if employees are confident you will be fair and balanced.  Or if employees are confident that  you know what you are doing.   One tip for building confidence is as simple as being prepared.   Lots of people show up and try to wing it.  This is a detectable practice that whittles away at trust levels.

• Intentional, frequent and relevant communication lends itself to transparence.  Developing effective systems of communication is about, constructive, deliberate communication through established channels.

• Confidentiality – If you are perceived as being a gossip, you will undermine your efforts to build trust because you will be viewed as lacking integrity.

• All I have to say about authenticity is, “Get real if you are not already”.  Anyone can spot a fake.  Integrity can also lend itself to your authenticity. 

• Holding team members accountable – This builds the integrity of the team and it assumes that goals are clear and team members are being given the tools they need to succeed.

• Build an environment of mutual respect where differences are harnessed as positive instead of being viewed as concerns or complications.  To be more specific, acceptance and inclusion help to build mutual respect but so does the demonstration of developed conflict resolution skills.

• Attempt to understand your blind spots or the things you do unwittingly that can sabotage your efforts to build trust.  Talk to someone who will be real with you and make a list.

It takes a village to build trust, the team should be open to making changes within the dynamics of the team.  Once you build trust and, leaders will need to train employees how to think because they were probably in self preservation mode for so long that they lost the use of their creativity and critical thinking muscles. 

In closing I am leaving you with a quotation from an unknown author.  “Trust as a foundation for high performance means just that: trust comes first. When we try to make the plan before the trust issues are resolved, we deal with symptoms rather than causes and repeating problems just change names.”

 

You have been assigned to a team and you are excited about the prospect of working on a project with your coworkers.  You start attending meetings and in the first session you notice a few things that cause you some concern.  You sit in the meeting expecting a team agenda but everyone seems to have their own agenda.  You listen to the conversations, you even try to participate, but the discussions go absolutely nowhere.  At the end of the session you feel you just wasted your time because there are no solutions, no next steps or no actionable items.

Now the deadline for your project is approaching and you attended a number of meetings already.  Team members are still showing up to meetings with incomplete assignments.  There is no accountability at the meetings because there are no minutes taken or if minutes are being taken they are so long that no-one reads them.  In meetings, there is still no agenda and team members are still having unfocused discussions.  So what do you do?

Working in teams is usually a complex proposition because many times we are appointed to a team and we don’t collaborate on team and member expectations.  What we do is get caught in the trap of focusing on the project and not how we are going to get our team members to work together in a functional team environment.

Based on a team building model by Bruce Tuckman, teams should go through five typical stages of evolution in order to deliver results: Forming, storming, norming, performing and adjourning.  The first stage is the formative or beginning stage where the team comes together as an entity.  This is usually followed by the storming stage where the team begins to form expectations, processes and roles.  The storming stage can be chaotic and teams sometimes try to achieve results without laying the groundwork that leads to norming. 

In building your team, be sure you are not lulled into thinking you are past the storming stage because the team members seem to be getting along well.  Sometimes team members have hidden, individual agendas and personal agendas range from a need for visibility to achieve a promotion, to sabotage. 

When you are building your team, the ideal is to move from storming into the norming stage where team processes and expectations are clearly defined for your team as a whole and for each member.   Here are a few tips to help you to move your team through the storming and norming stages to high performance:

1. Team members should be assigned roles like taking minutes or collating information between meetings.  Be sure the minutes are brief with clear action items listed, responsibilities assigned and deadlines set.

2. Team members should be held accountable for bringing completed assignments or updates to each meeting because team members are usually interdependent.  Be sure your update indicates there is some progress and if not, there should be an acceptable reason.

3. The leader or meeting facilitator should ensure there is role clarity, accountability and high performance by:
• Defining team objectives and member roles.  This can be done as a team for optimal buy-in.
• Planning for meetings by preparing an agenda
• Ensuring the team adheres to the agenda by effectively bringing conversations back to the objectives. 
• Determining if a digression can add to the quality of the discussion and nipping it if it doesn’t. 
• Effectively managing conflict among team members.  This can be done both during and between meetings.
• Keeping track of action items and ensuring there is follow up during and after each meeting.
• Managing meeting discussions, ensuring everyone has a fair opportunity to contribute.

Teams can function optimally when members trust each other and the process.  Integrating trust building as part of the team building equation can lead to higher levels of commitment, accountability and results so trust building is a useful exercise.  To achieve trust, it is important to be transparent, fair and open during the team building process.

If the team is stuck at the storming stage, measures should be taken to move the team beyond the stasis.  This may mean considering a change in leadership or having a candid discussion about the performance of the team with its members.  Once there is progress at the storming stage, the team has a good chance of successfully moving through the norming and performing stages.

Team building can be an intricate process riddled with subtle and obvious obstacles or it can be simple and seamless.  If a capable leader is at the helm, you can successfully identify and navigate the obstacles and move gracefully through the forming, storming, norming, performing and adjourning stages achieving your desired results. 

Here is a story by Stephen Gunawan for you to contemplate:

"Once upon a time a tortoise and a hare had an argument about who was faster. They decided to settle the argument with a race. They agreed on a route and started off the race.

The hare shot ahead and ran briskly for some time. Then seeing that he was far ahead of the tortoise, he thought he'd sit under a tree for some time and relax before continuing the race. He sat under the tree and soon fell asleep. The tortoise, plodding on, overtook him and soon finished the race, emerging as the undisputed champ. The hare woke up and realized that he'd lost the race.

The moral of the story is that slow and steady wins the race. This is the version of the story that we've all grown up with.

But recently, someone told me a more interesting version of this story. It continues:

The hare was disappointed at losing the race and he did some soul-searching. He realized that he'd lost the race only because he had been overconfident, careless and lax. If he had not taken things for granted, there's no way the tortoise could have beaten him. So he challenged the tortoise to another race. The tortoise agreed.

This time, the hare went all out and ran without stopping from start to finish. He won by several miles.

The moral of the story? Fast and consistent will always beat the slow and steady.

But the story doesn't end here.

The tortoise did some thinking this time and realized that there's no way he can beat the hare in a race the way it was currently formatted. He thought for a while and then challenged the hare to another race, but on a slightly different route. The hare agreed. They started off.

In keeping with his self-made commitment to be consistently fast, the hare took off and ran at top speed until he came to a broad river. The finishing line was a couple of kilometers on the other side of the river. The hare sat there wondering what to do. In the meantime the tortoise trundled along, got into the river, swam to the opposite bank, continued walking and finished the race.

The moral of the story? First identify your core competency and then change the playing field to suit your core competency.

The story still hasn't ended.

The hare and the tortoise, by this time, had become pretty good friends and they did some thinking together. Both realized that the last race could have been run much better. So they decided to do the last race again, but to run as a team this time.

They started off and this time, the hare carried the tortoise to the riverbank. There, the tortoise took over and swam across with the hare on his back. On the opposite bank, the hare again carried the tortoise and they reached the finishing line together. They both felt a greater sense of satisfaction than they'd felt earlier.

The moral of the story? It's good to be individually brilliant and to have strong core competencies but unless you're able to work in a team and harness each other's core competencies, you'll always perform below par because there will always be situations at which you'll do poorly and someone else does well.

Teamwork is mainly about situational leadership, letting the person with the relevant core competency for a situation take leadership.

There are more lessons to be learned from this story. Note that neither the hare nor the tortoise gave up after failures. The hare decided to work harder and put in more effort after his failure. The tortoise changed his strategy because he was already working as hard as he could.

In life, when faced with failure, sometimes it is appropriate to work harder and put in more effort. Sometimes it is appropriate to change strategy and try something different. And sometimes it is appropriate to do both.

The hare and the tortoise also learned another vital lesson. When we stop competing against a rival and instead start competing against the situation, we perform far better.

Remember, one is too small a number to achieve greatness."

Author: Stephen Gunawan

 

 

In 1837, Hans Christian Andersen wrote a fable about an Emperor that is very similar to interpersonal dynamics you can witness in today’s work place.  In the story, the Emperor was deceived by two salesmen who convinced him that they would make him clothing that only persons of an elevated status will be able to appreciate.  Everyone, including the Emperor, saw that they were being deceived but no-one said anything for fear of being labeled low in status, incompetent, ignorant or stupid.

Now let’s fast forward to the present.  Think about your organization.  Are there managers around you, or, are you a manager who sets the stage so employees will say what you want to hear for fear of being labeled?

This can happen for a number of reasons.  For instance, some managers think like President Bush who once said “You are either for us or against us”.  Managers who think this way feel that everything that happens falls within a zone of two possibilities.  They fail to recognize that there are so many other possibilities that they don’t even consider them.  Consequently, employees in this kind of environment are afraid to say anything that can lead the manager to think the employee is against them.

Another variation on this theme occurs when employees are negatively labeled because they have a different point of view.  In cases like this, when employees have another point of view, the Manager decides the employee either doesn’t understand, is wrong, is not a team player, is incompetent or is unsupportive.  This way of thinking tends to short circuit any attempts by employees to communicate their ideas for fear of the backlash.

From a performance management perspective, Managers avoid telling employees about their true performance because they want to keep the peace and avoid confrontation when appraisals are completed.  Therefore, a company can end up with increasing staff costs through merit increases and bonuses that are rewarding marginal performance.   In these cases, the managers see what is really going on but again, they want to avoid conflict.

Managers aren’t the only employees who demonstrate “Emperor” behaviour.  There are some coworkers who appear to be untouchable because of their connections.  Co-workers refrain from saying anything that can potentially upset or frustrate them for fear of the potential ramifications.  This happens in highly political office environments and whittles away at trust and integrity within the team.

Impact on Your Business

In Hans Christian Andersen’s story “The Emperor’s New Clothes”, it was clear that everyone, including Emperor, knew what was really going on but because they would be viewed as incompetent, no-one said anything except an innocent child.  Interestingly enough, when the child blew the whistle on the staged effort, everyone continued to pretend that it was business as usual.

In your organization, if everyone turns a blind eye to executive, manager or employee dysfunction there can be an impact on the performance of your company or organization.  One of the negative effects can be on employee morale and productivity. 

Let us take a deeper look at this.  If a Manager is known to be arrogant and not open to other opinions he will feel threatened when an idea isn’t his and so he will find ways to discourage input by suggesting that you don’t understand the situation or process. 

What is really happening is that he is destabilized by your idea because he thinks the best ideas should come from him.  Therefore, instead of supporting your ingenuity, and seeking to integrate your suggestion, he seeks to hold onto his sense of security by trying to dismiss your idea, use it as his own or convince you into thinking you are making a mistake.    As a result of this type of behaviour, employees back off, entering into an apathetic mode.  This can be costly because when things go wrong employees will hide bad news, system inefficiencies or recommendations because they want to avoid the perceived consequences. 

Why Does this Happen?

When employees perceive they are unable to be authentic without suffering some sort of consequence an elaborate system of avoidance will inevitably result.  On one hand, there are managers or employees in survival mode, trying to maintain the façade of power and status and they are willing to do what it takes to keep their power alive by feeding fear within the work environment.

On the other hand, employees are in another type of survival mode.  They want peace and harmony and so they create a façade of harmony, productivity and competence which they protect at all costs.   Sometimes this protective mode  becomes evident when newcomers join the team.  Newcomers generally want to impress the boss because they are on probation so they inadvertently upstage existing employees.   Team members naturally want to avoid the implications of disrupting the system of false harmony so they influence the newcomer into changing his or her behaviours.  Managers often assume that employees pressure new employees to reduce their performance levels because of laziness.  However, as managers we need to ask ourselves if the apparent laziness is a cause or effect.  Is it an unwanted bye-product of an elaborate system of behaviour we helped to create? 

What You Can Do About It

o In environments where authenticity is non-existent, so is trust.  So rebuilding the team becomes a trust building exercise.  This is a difficult process because most times, an entire system of behaviours supported the “Emperor’s” behaviours. 

There are a few options you have if you are a primary decision maker and you want to turn this around.    You can attempt to rehabilitate the “emperor” through training and coaching and if they don’t respond, a restructuring exercise can be considered.

o Another way to build trust and authenticity is to develop the ability to encourage and integrate diverse points of view.  Diversity conscious behaviours can improve team performance significantly because it creates a safe space where different points will be heard and used to create holistic solutions. 

Your ultimate goal is to rebuild the team and trust building can take time, particularly if the “Emperor” is going to undergo a rehabilitative process.

The other thing to remember is that one person doesn’t create the system of behaviour so the team should be a part of the rehabilitative effort to make the changes stick.

Yvette Bethel is CEO of Organizational Soul, a company that offers Business Consulting and Leadership Development services.  If you are interested in creating authentic change at your organization, her contact details can be found at www.orgsoul.com.

 

Authentic listening involves much more than responding to the words that present themselves.  It is an intricate, complex system that is multilayered and much deeper than it appears on the surface. Here is a list of ten ways you can improve your listening:

• Understanding your body language and the body language of others.  This includes facial language.
• Understanding cultural expectations and practices.
• Reading between the lines.
• Developing your instincts.
• Consciously filtering out your biases.
• Understanding your patterns and the patterns of others.
• Asking useful questions.
• Paraphrasing.
• Navigating your emotions and recognizing when someone else needs to calm down and how to help them diffuse their emotions.
• Resist taking bait.

Each person in the communication exchange comes to the communication experience with an intricate web of belief systems.  No one has exactly the same experiences so communication can sometimes become a complex process. Therefore, in addition to navigating your own conscious and unconscious belief systems, you should be aware that the person you are communicating with has their own filtration system.  

One key to attaining a deeper level of connection through communication is the practical application of the knowledge that when you are communicating with someone, whether or not they are self aware, you need to be able to read beyond the surface. 

Whether you are an employee, manager or business owner, you should ask yourself this question regularly:  “Is there a more efficient way that I can do this?” 

I constantly hear employees lament about how hard they work and how their hard work is not noticed.  Well the good news for all you hard workers is that hard work is part of the equation for success but the bad news is that it isn’t the only component of the equation.  If you are a hard working employee, you probably believe the success equation looks like this: Time + Hard Work = Results. 

I would dare to assert that Time + Hard Work = Results is an outmoded formula for results.  In place of it, I would submit a more holistic, multi-dimensional formula that will help you to work smarter: Hard Work + Efficiency + Interpersonal Skills + Adaptability + Self Discipline + Leadership = Results.  In this equation, I have replaced Time with Efficiency because the amount of time spent on anything is not necessarily an indicator of positive results. 

I added soft skills to the equation as demonstrating the right behaviours is an equally important component of generating enhanced results.  You will see that leadership is also part of the equation.   I added leadership because whether or not you have a formal leadership position, leadership qualities can help you to work smarter.

We are all working in dynamic environments that are subject to external fluctuations in the economy and internal machinations of office politicians.  Hard work and time spent can no longer be the primary, relevant measurements.  Even for consideration for a promotion.

Another reason why working hard is becoming outmoded as a solitary work ethic is because competition and other external pressures are causing companies to focus more and more on reducing costs.   This means, companies expect higher productivity from employees who are expected to do more with the same or less resources which includes frozen or reduced levels of staff.  All of this is expected while your volumes of work are increasing.

With this is mind, if you are constantly working late, your boss may not view your hard work and dedication in the same way as before if your results are not increasing.  Executives want to see increased productivity especially if profit margins are shrinking. 

Don’t get me wrong, there are employees who work hard who are quite productive.  Sometimes this happens because they are pulling someone else’s weight or because they love what they do.  But at some point they are going to reach a threshold where their capacity will plateau and they will have to find new ways to work in order to meet growing demands.

There is one more category of “Hard Workers” who can benefit from this advice.  There are employees who appear to be working hard but are really spinning wheels and blowing smoke focusing on low priority items.  If you fall into this category, you are probably in a slow moving or static pattern.  This is can be attributable to a lack of proper training, placement of the wrong person in a position or an attitudinal problem caused by an unaccepted performance rating.

So whatever your reason for being in a productivity holding pattern, it is time to consider working smarter.

Tips for Working Smarter

o Know the difference between being a Team Player and Team “Sucker”.  There are many of you who, at one time or another, thought that our manager or team members had confidence in you because they gave you a constant stream of work knowing that you would get it done.  While being a team player is important, you need to determine:  a) If you are really part of the team and are being developed or; b) if you are being used.  If you are being used, your time is being used to achieve other’s people’s priorities so you need to decide if the extra work is aligned with your goals.  Employees who are chronic doers who want to be accepted or validated easily get caught in this trap. 

o Learn the art of saying “no”.  The bottom line is that you should not take on more than you can manage because eventually your lack of boundary setting can lead to an experience of reduced personal performance levels.  Jory Des Jardins once stated that you should, “Try to make your boss happy.  If you can’t, then move on.”

o If you can delegate, identify what you should delegate, keep or share.  If you delegate or share any of your work, be sure to have an organized, reliable system of follow up to ensure your deadlines and volumes are met or exceeded.

o Get organized.  I have witnessed transformations in stress levels and productivity with the introduction of prioritized “to do” lists and a diary system.  Getting organized helps you to ensure the right things are focused upon at the right time.  Additionally, it helps you to focus on the big picture instead of getting lost in the fear caused by the static stacks of files on your desk.   Please remember that getting organized is contingent on your ability to be disciplined about creating your lists, managing your diary and following up on a regular basis.

o Whether you are a manager or employee, if you are humble and approachable you will get things done faster and through more people than arrogant, condescending team members.

o Upgrade your technology skills.  The world is becoming more and more technologically savvy so if you are not able to use technology optimally you will not have access to tools and other resources that can make your life a whole lot easier.

o Work/Life balance is another route to working smart.  Taking breaks gives you time to see your work from a different perspective.  Time off also helps you to tap into your creativity.  Many great ideas for improvement happen when you are away from your place of work.  So if you are going to focus on how to become more productive, try to find the time to focus on how you can make meaningful changes that can lead to your increased productivity.

o Ask again for the tools you need.  The previous “no” may change into a “yes” given different circumstances or a different approach by you.

Bob Stoops asserts that, “Just because what we’ve done in the past has worked and worked well doesn’t mean that it will continue to.  We have really got to be smart in what we are attempting to do.”  What Stoops is saying is that you should be open to modifying how you think about how you do what you do in order to achieve expanded capacity.  I believe changing your thinking is actually the first step in working smarter and it can happen if you can let go of the old procedures and tools and become curious about how you can perform your duties in new ways.

Finally, it is also important to reinforce that while results do matter, how you treat your employees and coworkers in the process of working smarter is of equal importance

Yvette Bethel is CEO of Organizational Soul, an HR Consulting and Leadership Development company.  If you are interested in exploring how you can create a platform for empowerment, you contact her at www.orgsoul.com

Here is a quote by Ralph Marston that I thought I would share with you:

"The people whom you find most difficult to deal with can also
be your most valuable teachers. For your problems with them are
not really due to how they are, but rather to how you respond
to how they are.

Learn to deal successfully with difficult people, and you learn
valuable lessons about yourself. Work to relate positively to
difficult people and you develop skills that can serve you well
in many other challenging situations.

People are the way they are. Get past the need to try to change
them, past the need to judge or condemn, and look for the value
they offer. Sometimes that value is deeply hidden, and when you
find it you've found a real treasure, something few people take
the time to uncover. In every difficult person you encounter,
make a point to look past the difficult part and focus your
attention on the person part.

The other people with whom you interact are mirrors that help
you to see things within yourself. With some people, that mirror
can be difficult to view, yet when you have the courage to do
so, the rewards can be many and great."

Ralph Marston

To all of you out there who have trouble setting clear boundaries at work and otherwise, here is a quotation from an anonymous author:

"Everyone Can't Be In Your Front Row

Life is a theater so invite your audiences carefully. Not everyone is healthy enough to have a FRONT ROW seat in our lives.There are some people in your life that need to be loved from a distance. It's amazing what you can accomplish when you let go, or at least minimize your time with draining, negative, incompatible, not-going-anywhere relationships, friendships, fellowships and family!

Everyone Can't be in Your FRONT ROW.

Observe the relationships around you. Pay attention to: Which ones lift and which ones lean? Which ones encourage and which ones discourage? Which ones are on a path of growth uphill and which ones are just going downhill?

When you leave certain people, do you feel better or feel worse? Which ones always have drama or don't really understand, know and appreciate you and the gift that lies within you?

Everyone Can't be in Your FRONT ROW.

The more you seek God and the things of God, the more you seek quality, the more you seek not just the hand of God but the face of God, the more you seek things honorable, the more you seek growth, peace of mind, love and truth around you, the easier it will become for you to decide who gets to sit in the FRONT ROW and who should be moved to the balcony of your life.

Everyone Can't be in Your FRONT ROW.

You cannot change the people around you...but you can change the people you are around! Ask God for wisdom and discernment and choose wisely the people who sit in the FRONT ROW of your life. Remember that FRONT ROW seats are for special and deserving people and those who sit in your FRONT ROW should be chosen carefully.

Everyone Can't be in Your FRONT ROW. "

Anonymous