Better Business Management - Turn a Bad Employee Into an Asset

Learning how to turn a bad employee into a good one is just good business management. Generally I find that people are just the same as children. We are after all the same ones that were once the little ones. I have been teaching adults and children for most of my adult life and I have found that a little understanding goes a long way.

Most are looking for Attention

I remember my sister was teaching a Sunday School class and had a real trouble maker who was totally disrupting her class. She didn't know how to handle him, so she came to me for advice.

I explained, first of all, that she should consider him a good child with a problem. I told her to say nothing about his bad behavior and instead approach him and ask for his help in managing the class. He could, and indeed was, influencing the other children.

I encouraged her to see this power of influence as a talent and a positive trait -- she just needed get it working in her favor. I recommended that she make him her little helper and give him jobs to do. Get the other children working for him.

Some time later, I went back to check on her progress. She reported, with delight, that it had worked like a charm. After she got to know the fellow, she found that he was not getting any attention from his parents at home and was starved for attention. When he found he got all the attention he craved by helping, he was more than happy to change his ways and actually delighted in being helpful.

So many of us, adults and children are so starved for attention, that we will do some pretty silly things in order to get the attention we crave.

Not enough to do, or not challenged

I remember a young student of mine, when I first started teaching. He was an absolutely delightful little fellow, but he was also terribly disruptive in class. He wasn't mean or malicious or even trying to be disobedient. He was hyper and just could not sit still for two seconds. If I turned my back for more than a few seconds, he was into something.

Similar to the situation with my sister's young student, what he needed was something to keep him busy. The reason was different but the results were the same. He needed to be put to work and kept busy. So he became my little helper. Even if it was just handing out books to the other students, anything and everything I could think of, I kept him busy. Problem solved.

For adults in the work place it would be not quite the same, however you might find some employees don't do well in group training sessions or meetings. Give them something to do. Make them important. It can make all the difference in the world.

Some people can't sit for long hours at a job and maintain interest and productivity and some can. It is a real asset if you can see an employee and realize, that while they may be a good and loyal worker, another job could be better suited to their character. If you take the time to notice. Your productivity will definitely go up.

Take the time to get to know your employees

If you take the time to get to know your employees, you'll find that they are good people underneath, even if they are presenting themselves at the moment as a problem employee. Everyone has ups and downs in their life. The chances are good too that you could even get someone with worse problems if you opted for a new employee. Many good employees will experience dips in their performance from time to time. Some TLC goes a long, long way.

So there you have it. If you want to be efficient and have better business management, start with looking after your employees and they will look after you. Turn a problem employee into an asset.

Gail Karen (G.K.) Eckert is a vocalist, musician, songwriter, author and teacher. She founded Musikhaus Studio of Creativity in Kitchener, Ontario, Canada in 1987.

Do you want to find out how to be creative too? Get a FREE copy of her new e book Be Creative - a step-by-step guide to a More Creative Way of Life.

Creativity is her specialty. She believes that creative expressions enriches your life. For more articles on creativity, journaling and tips of positive ways of dealing with employees visit her site. http://www.gkeckert

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10 Tips For Managers

Managing people is a skill that can be learnt. This article gives you 10 rules or guidelines that you can follow to be an effective manager. Do not take them as absolute rules, but test them and use the ones that you think will work for you.

So very quickly, here are the 10 rules

1. Respect - Value everyone for who they are. Assume that everyone essentially has good intentions in all that they do. Respect the feeling of self-worth that is inherent in everyone in all your interactions. Remember, be their superior but do not act like you are superior to them.

2. Lead by Example - Exhibit the same work behavior that you would expect to see from your subordinates. Demonstrate each day strong work ethics and deep commitment to the company. Walk your talk.

3. Fairness - Be fair in your handling of all situations. Hear all views and focus on the facts, not the person. Never practice favoritism. Be fair when applying the rules to all in the team. Make everyone, yourself included, equally accountable to all the rules.

4. Accountability - Admit when you make a mistake and proceed to fix it. Have integrity. Own up when you fall short. Do not cover up or put the blame on others. People will still respect you in spite of the mistakes, as long as you take ownership of it.

5. Success - Do anything within your power to ensure that your people are growing and moving in the direction that they want to go. Provide resources, feedback, support and opportunities. Let them know you truly care for their success. Be their coach and mentor. Their success is your success.

6. Participation - If you can, try to encourage your direct reports to participate actively in their assigned task, from planning to problem solving. Of course, delegate some power of authority along with the responsibilities so that they can be involved in some form of decision making as well.

7. Be a listener - Always understand the message, and not merely hear it. Reply and query appropriately so they know you really get the message. Show that you care through active engagement.

8. Show your gratitude - Give credit when it is due. Celebrate achievement and acknowledge good work. When your direct reports feel your appreciation, good work continues to come forth.

9. Respect that everyone needs their own time - Never force others to follow your time and drop their work whenever you need their time Give ample time for them to schedule requests into their timetable.

10. Do whatever needs to be done - Deal with issues, pleasant or not. Most leaders procrastinate on the difficult issues, but it is exactly these issues that help clear the roadblock for your team to progress. Act on them now.

Mark loves to write articles on a broad range of subjects. Do check out his latest website at http://www.commercialcoffeemachineguide.com which is dedicated to helping people find information on how to buy a Commercial Coffee Machine

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Managing People

I have some good news, and some bad news. The good news is that you can get anyone you want to do what you want. You can get your boss, your spouse, your employee to do whatever it is you want. How is that for good news?

The bad news is that it costs. It costs in time and energy. There is no "Magic" in managing people. If you want to be more effective with people, you must understand that substantial increase in effectiveness have substantial costs and risks. Those costs and risks are both subtle and ego threatening; but if you are willing to accept them, there is virtually no limit to your potential for human influence. If you are not willing to accept them, then you must be content with your present level of influence because it will not increase.

Values are the Key. People do not engage in behavior because it will be good for the organization or because it will serve your values. They engage in a behavior only if that is the best behavior for them to engage in to take care of what is important to them.

Your challenge in influencing others is to show how what they perceive best serves their values. These values include: self-esteem, acceptance, affiliation, friendship, security, freedom, autonomy, recognition, success, and fun.

Power is the ability to affect the allocation of resources. Authority is an organizationally granted privilege to engage in certain behaviors and expect to be supported in those activities: e.g.: to hire, fire, make policy and direct procedures. Power is not authority, and authority is not power. If we want to influence others we must spend more time thinking through our words and gestures, our timing, and our approach. To do so might seem unnatural and forced.

(Behaviors that feel natural are merely behaviors we have repeated many times). What seems reasonable may be reasonable only to us. If we want to influence other we must take the time to find out what best serves their values and what is reasonable to them. Most of the effective techniques for human influence require you to make the first move and to accept vulnerability to failure.

Effectiveness requires persistence through rejections and repeated failures. To acquire such persistence we must overcome well-worn beliefs about failure and well-worn, emotional programs that have played thousands of times in our heads. You must give up rationalizing, subject yourself to charges of unfairness, take on costly and risky behaviors, give up some long standing feel good behaviors, and overcome your deeply entrenched fear of failure in order to increase your effectiveness in managing people.

This is neither easy nor pleasant, but no other route is as powerful. No other route may be possible. People have multiple values, many unrelated to money, and as long as they see those values will be served in an accepted way in exchange for the behavior you want, you can get anyone to do anything you want. Good Luck!

Donald N. Lombardi reveals more approaches to managing people on his blog, as well as, other business ideas that he has implemented, field tested and proven to be successful with over several hundred small business clients. DOWNLOAD BLOG NOW.

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5 Tips For Becoming a Genius Leader or Manager With Power and Influence

Hey! Got 5 minutes to learn how to become a respected, valued, relevant manager?

Just imagine: People are saying you are the most valued, powerful, influential manager around. And they like you to boot!

Are You Willing: To do whatever it takes for you to become a great manager/leader?

Are you: Open to corrective feedforward? Basically this is asking a colleague to describe to two future behaviours that might help you achieve a productive change in your selected behaviours. i.e. "I think that if you took notes during our briefing sessions you would be more likely to keep on track."

Name: 5 reasons why you would want to become a great leader/manager.

Identify: With each of those five reasons, One skill you already have that will get your there and one behaviour that will get in the way of you becoming a genius manager.

Find: Two models to live by. Hint: Herb Kelleher, former CEO of Southwest Airlines.

All of this is within your reach -- especially if you follow these 5 tips for becoming a highly-valued leader/manager...

1. Have regular conversations with people to find out how you can help them. What might you be doing that gets in their way? Do NOT take notes during your conversations. After each one, go right back to your office. Close the door. Write down what you heard. Start working it.

2. Give your co-workers the information and help they want. Action #1 will help you with this. Operate on "The Platinum Rule": provide others with what is valuable to them. This builds your relevancy, respect, and being valued as a useful resource by others.

3. Immediately deal with rumours, "hot" or controversial topics to spur discussion and snuff out the paranoid mill. When there's a controversy going on in your team, decide which side you're leaning towards. Have an open discussion about it. Consult with other trusted managers in or out of your organization.

Push emotional buttons sometimes to ferret out the hidden agendas.

Create a call to action at the end of discussions where you specifically ask your employees for their opinions and feedback. The call to action is written down by one of the team members - not you - and signed by everyone.

The more emotionally charged the issue, the more likely it is that you'll get feedback.

Remember, as manager, you have the silver bullet on decisions. Make sure everyone understands that -- and be very reluctant to use it. Let people experience the discomfort of working it out. Knowing you have the silver bullet and that you are not using it very often amps up the accountability energy.

4. Join in other departments' discussions if you are in a larger company. If you are in a small company join a group of peers. Meet with them monthly to get "outside-insights." Share your insights with your team in one-page blogs or...

5. Optimize your power and influence by keeping your manager(s) up-to-date. Be sure to praise your employees and colleagues.

Scan the blogosphere for relevant webinars. Take one a week. Listen for 10-15 minutes. If it is not well organized or relevant. Bail out immediately. No sense wasting time. If you don't do this you'll stop doing them. Yes, you may miss something. It's better to only stick with what's relevant and helpful. Ask a colleague to sit in with you so you can share the learning's.

Participating in the webinars will help you "converse-up" and be seen as sharp to your manager(s).

• What do you think?
• Did you think these tips useful?
• Which ones will you try out?

Human Principle #2: We behave in our best interests when we:

* Increase our competencies;

* Are aligned with our personal and business values; and...

* Choose to be engaged.
To get your FR.EE Instant Copy of -- A TASTE of GENIUS -- 7 steps to becoming a great manager. Go to http://www.subject2change.ca.

From Dr. Jim Sellner, PhD.,DipC. -- working with Zoomers & Super Zoomers to experience more joy, health and a sense of abundance.

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8 More Tips to Becoming a Great Leader

Following our post on how to be a great leader, we are providing 8 more tips you can stand up to be call a great and effective leader. When people are to describe you in a statement, you want to be described as a leader that is consistent, firm, resourceful and flexible to changes. You will also be supportive and allow participation from the ground in running the organisation. How do you achieve that? Read more to find out!

1. Be consistent in your expectations and delivery - This will determine your integrity and consistency. Your team members would not want to work with a leader that is always unpredictable.
2. Communicate positively and firm - Avoid negative remarks that will only will wash the moral from your staff. What you need is a highly motivated team that deliver wonder results right. Not a team of lousy feeling employees waiting for the next pay cheque to come.
3. Communicate regularly with your stakeholders - That includes your employees. You need to keep them updated of progress. When it comes to planning, as much as possible, involve your employees in day to day decisions and long term planning. Give them a sense of ownership and belonging. Everyone is important in the organisation!
4. Intervene when something is wrong - If you feel something is wrong with certain task; find out more of the problem. Terminate the task if that is an option. Sometimes, its better to terminate the task then to find alternatives to resolve it.
5. Teach your team members how to fish and not show them the fish - You will be tire out one day if you keep showing them the fish. Teach your team members ways to be productivity, let them learn new techniques (that works for them). Their productivity will be your input for your personal productivity.
6. Determine your staff abilities - Assess each and every one of your team members. Some maybe strong in certain areas of work while others may not be. Let's face it; you can't get the best people from your recruitment exercises every time. Therefore, it's best to optimize your staff by understanding what they are best at and grouping them together to boost productivity!
7. Create a pleasant, safe working environment - You do not you're your employees to come to office with a worried mind. Everyone is happy to come to office and no one is hurt.
8. Constantly evaluate your operating procedures and fine tune it for improvements - Processes do not dictate how you should do things. Processes are designed by human beings in first place so do not allow processes to dictate your innovation. Constantly find out the loop holes or areas of improvement in your organisation process so that your team can work more efficiently.

The author is well-versed in the area of personal productivity, personal growth and career advice, and runs a successful blog over at Lost In Cubes. You can also learn other proven career advice tips in Lost In Cubes

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Frontline Leadership Skills in Conflict Management

You are never going to be in an office where everyone agrees all the time. In fact, it's actually better for business to have disagreement as you'll see different perspectives and come to the best solution. One you may not have thought yourself.

Unfortunately all too often disagreements turn into conflict and before you know it there are behavioural issues being escalated to HR to sort out. With effective frontline leadership skills in place it doesn't have to be this way. Given the right tools to sort out differences in a constructive way at the level they happen, there is no need for these disagreements to become issues.

When I talk about frontline leadership skills, I mean a package of skills for frontline managers and team leaders. Perhaps one of the best places to start is your own behaviour and how you provide feedback and coaching.

Most of us are so focused on the result we forget to look at what behaviours we need to establish the result. I call these critical behaviours. If you look at your high performers you will soon spot a trend in the consistent use of several behaviours they apply in talking with their customers - these are your critical behaviours.

Learning to apply these behaviours to your average performers gives you a positive focus in your feedback. Don't look just for what your people are doing wrong, look for what they are doing right. Spend a significant amount of time with your team looking at what they are doing. You will soon have the opportunity to see what is what.

Giving positive feedback is more than just saying well done. For it to really work and reinforce the critical behaviours it needs to be timely (there and then), detailed and accurate. The same can be said for corrective feedback.

In addition for corrective feedback to work and the change to take place in your employees' behaviour they need to be in the right frame of mind. This is where the positive feedback comes in. I believe the most effective ratio is at least four positive comments to every corrective comment. The positive comments help your team believe in themselves, it builds confidence in a job being done well. They become engaged employees and are willing to go the extra mile.

In this positive work culture environment, it becomes a lot easier to deal with burgeoning conflicts. When an employee is engaged with their role they are much more open to change. With this approach, conflicts are a lot less likely to turn into behavioural issues that require HR intervention.

For more tips on helping your average employees turn into top performers see my blog http://www.frontlineleadership.com
James Brava is a specialist in Frontline Leadership Training which results in significant improvement in employee engagement and business performance.

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