Successful Blog

If you want to be happier at work, quit doing these 5 things

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By John Murphy

Forests have been demolished for the paper that has been taken up by books written about things to do to be happy at work, and in you life overall. In my experience, I think it has been an awful waste! I would say that 10% of those books have been great, 50% are pretty ok, and the other 40% absolute rubbish!

However, I have not come across too many that talk about things NOT to do! Maybe it is just me, but I learn best by not just knowing what I should do, but also by what I should not do!

So, in the interests of those like me, here is a list of 5 things to quit doing – and I promise you that not doing these will make you happy!!

1. Being fearful

Fear is something that is so prevalent, but no one wants to talk about it. People fear losing their jobs, not getting their targets, not getting that promotion – and even, people finding out that they are not as good as they think they are.

They are afraid to start that new business, go for that new job, change their career. And what happens? They do nothing!

They do not take that first step today because they are afraid that this is not the right moment, the right time of the year etc.

Now is the right moment – take the first step today!

2. Moaning

Moaning about anything only makes you feel worse – along with those who have to listen to you.

There will always be something that is wrong or not to your satisfaction, but don’t moan – do something to correct it!

Focus on doing whatever it takes to make it right. Also, don’t participate in general moaning – be the one who demands that you all do something about it. Show leadership!

3. Interrupting

Let others speak! Yes, I know you have loads of pearls of wisdom to share with all and sundry, but remember the golden rule – if you want to be listened to, you must first be a good listener.

No one listens to the orator on the orange box! So, practice the art of listening, and then you will become the person whose opinions are valued.

Also, just so we are clear – being silent is not the same as listening! For most, when they are silent they are not listening, just thinking of what they are going to say next!

4. Lecturing

There is nothing worse than being that boring “know it all” who keeps telling others what they should know, and, by definition, what he or she knows!

I have seen it far too often as people progress in their careers they take on the air of the pontificator and the fountain of all knowledge. Very often it is well meaning, but it just doesn’t work – you sound like a bore!

The sad thing? Even when you do have something to contribute, no one notices!

Share knowledge with humility, don’t lecture.

5. Not letting go

Last, but not least, and this one is a biggie. Let’s be honest, this challenges us all! This creates such a bad atmosphere and destroys the culture you want.

We all work in teams, and not letting go destroys any hope of that team growing and flourishing.

We all make mistakes, we all get things wrong – so forgive and move on. If you don’t, you will let this become a cancer in your business – and I don’t say that lightly or glibly.

What would you add to this list?

Author’s Bio: John Murphy a business coach who writes about what makes executives and business owners more productive at www.johnmurphyinternational.com. You can find him on Twitter as @jmicoaching.

Employee Rewards Programs: Work Smarter to Get Your Employees Working Harder

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By Christopher Wallace

As hard as it is to find good help these days, sometimes it’s even harder to keep it. Even with high unemployment rates, you are not guaranteed to hold on to valuable employees if you do not convey how much you appreciate them. One of the best ways to recognize the worth of your staff is through an employee rewards program. If your business has already instituted some sort of rewards system to incentivize excellence from your people, you are already ahead of the curve!

But creating the program is only as good as the degree to which employee motivation and productivity increases as a result. If only there was a way to quantify the success of your own employee rewards program. Well, you’re in luck, because someone else has already done the lion’s share of the heavy lifting for you.

Recently, Amsterdam Printing conducted a survey of 1,277 business customers. Fifty seven percent of them indicated they had some sort of employee recognition program in place. Amsterdam asked both employees and managers to comment and rank various aspects of the programs to determine what works and what doesn’t. Although many different facets were discussed, several overall themes emerged: employees wanted to be rewarded and managers noticed increased productivity when workers were recognized for their efforts.

Positive Work Environment Translates to Increased Productivity

Not surprisingly, the survey revealed that the highest positive correlation between recognition programs and increased productivity came through programs that improved an individual’s working environment. Think about it: it’s hard to get anything done when you’re absolutely miserable or in an environment that hinders progress throughout the day. Accordingly, when the company sponsors events or programs that aim to improve one’s working conditions, increased productivity naturally follows.

It’s effective because it’s a nice little circle: when your employees want to be there, they’ll invest more of themselves in their work and because of that. The company turns back around and rewards them for it, which only motivates your employees to continue their good work to keep their positions within your so obviously appreciative company, and well, you get the idea.

Morale Must Haves (and also some things to avoid!)

In the same way that effective employee rewards and incentive programs improve productivity, nothing will kill employee motivation faster than “rewards” that don’t work or impact the working environment in a negative way. Here are a few things to keep in mind when you are designing your employee rewards program.

Clarity

Make sure the scope of the program and the criteria for success are clearly defined and uncomplicated. When the rules and conditions are easy to understand and everyone is on the same page about which things earn them what, there is little room for confusion and hurt feelings when all is said and done.

Consistency

Not only should your program be clear, but it should also not change before it has concluded. For example, Amsterdam’s survey revealed that the number one thing people wanted to be recognized for was “Performance Excellence” (by a whopping 69.5%). If you have a program in place that has historically awarded prizes for performance excellence, you can’t switch mid-stream and suddenly decide to promote “Flexibility” (much lower on the list of preferences, receiving only 22.8% of the popular vote).

Equality

And speaking of popular votes, if it becomes clear that the program you have in place is really a front for the company “popularity contest” in which only the “cool kids” ever win anything, the majority of your employees will start to feel insecure about their own merit and worth to the organization. In addition, you are creating the perfect breeding ground for suspicion and resentment. This is easily avoided by making sure your team managers know to spread around the rewards and to switch gears if the same person is consistently earning the honors.

Variety

This is not to say that a person who is clearly superlative should not be rewarded for being amazing; rather, the trick is in developing a program designed to reward the superstar in us all: we all excel at different things and are important in different ways. If you include enough factors for consideration, you increase the likelihood that different people will win each time you award the honor, and you highlight their success due to the quality that makes them unique.

The Most Enticing Rewards

Now that you have determined that you do indeed need an employee rewards program, what should you offer as incentives? Without fail, Amsterdam’s survey revealed that people still respond to the classic monetary prize: cash, gift cards and bonuses always work. The employees also indicated that they value personalized gifts and employee perks, such as a desirable parking space or paid time off.

There are also priceless rewards that don’t cost a company anything other than a moment of time. For those businesses without the means to convey lavish gifts, a good old-fashioned pat on the back still goes a long way to let those around you know that you appreciate them.

For those of you with a program already in place, what are the most effective rewards for your employees? If you are going to develop a program now, what sorts of benefits do you plan to include?

Author’s Bio: Christopher Wallace is Vice President of Sales and Marketing for Amsterdam Printing, a leading provider of custom business pens and other promotional products such as imprinted clothing, mugs and customized calendars. Christopher regularly contributes to Promo & Marketing Wall blog.

6 Tips to Boost Your Productivity

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By John Murphy

I don’t think I have ever met anyone who does not want to be more productive each and every day.

The day just never seems enough to get all you want done! Recognize this? Let’s be honest, it is an issue for all of us and is a constant challenge that comes up in all my coaching work.

Books have been written, courses delivered and seminars run on this subject – many wonderful (some not so much!) but the volume of advice can be so overwhelming that it actually inhibits your productivity. Not quite what you were looking for!

So, to assist in the elimination of the overwhelm I have set out my 6 Tips to Boost Productivity, which, if undertaken, will vastly improve your productivity and give you that sense of achievement at the end of the day that you are really seeking.

1. Be Razor Sharp About Priorities.

You can never be effective unless you have clarity about your priorities – otherwise you are just engaged in the next activity that lands on your desk or in your head. Busy? Yes. Efficient? No!

To get really clear about your priorities you need clarity about your goals so that you can decide if the specific activity you are undertaking is moving you towards the achievement of your goal.

Your priorities are those actions that will support the delivery of your goals. So, those things on your to do list today – do they progress your goals or not? If they don’t why are you doing them?

Get your priorities crystal clear!

2. Schedule Your Activities

This is fundamental to any discussion about time management and effectiveness! Schedule your activities as if they are appointments with yourself – and make that time as sacred as a meeting with your most valued client.

If one of your priorities this week is to prepare a performance review of your staff, or draft a proposal to a prospective client, then do not leave that activity on some to do list to do when you find time. Be disciplined about it and schedule to do it at a specific time and then be resolute about adhering to that.

An item on your to do list is an aspiration, a scheduled activity is a commitment! Being productive is all about commitment!

3. Be a Continuous Learner

Never be content about how productive you are – we can all get better! So have an attitude of continuous learning about ways to improve productivity. Now, just to be clear, I am not suggesting you spend your life trying out different systems for productivity. What I am saying is that new technology is being developed all the time that can really help your productivity, and don’t just ignore it. Check it out to see if it will improve your productivity – if it does, then incorporate it. If it doesn’t just dump it!

For example, I have become a recent convert to Evernote – a great tool to capture “stuff” on the go that I can refer to later. It really does help me to be more productive – I can have folders for various pieces of information I want to keep to look at later, and I know it is all in one place.

4. Celebrate Progress.

Every day celebrate your progress! Sound naff? Not at all! There is great value in reviewing your day and celebrating your successes and the progress you made towards your goals.

It is the fuel that boosts your energy for the following day.

5. No Multi-Tasking

I take real exception to those who laud “multi-tasking!” I do not believe it is a male/female thing – I believe it is simply a bad habit we can get into and then justify as a virtue!

Multi-tasking has to be inefficient because we are not giving full attention to any one thing, and consequently the output will reflect the input, which is divided and lacking focus!

Do one task at a time, and do not move to the next one until you have completed it. If you have scheduled the time for that activity, then give it 100%.

6. Restrict Your Time on Email

Email is one of the great tools we posses but it is also one of the greatest time stealers and inhibitors to productivity.

How often do you check your emails every day? Go on, be honest!

Checking your emails that frequently is only ensuring that your agenda is being run by everyone else – you want to know who has sent you what, and then you find that really interesting link.. ! 15 minutes later you realize that you are not doing what you should be.

I heartily advise that you allocate 3 periods in the day to check your email – and that is it! The world will not stop turning because you have not checked your email for 2 or 3 hours! Be in control of your time, not reacting to other people’s priorities.

We all can do something about our own productivity – and it is our responsibility to do so. So, now that you have read this – what are you going to do? And when are you going to do it?

Author’s Bio: John Murphy a business coach who writes about what makes executives and business owners more productive at www.johnmurphyinternational.com. You can find him on Twitter as @jmicoaching.

3 Killer Collaboration Tools

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Great collaboration is about sharing, accessibility, and trust. As more and more people are telecommuting and working with remote teams, it can be tricky trying to coordinate tasks and stay connected.

Today’s tip includes three of my favorite remote collaboration tools that I use every single day.

Flow by MetaLabs

Flow app

You know how, when you’re doing something you love, time just slips away unnoticed? They call that the state of flow, and this app is appropriately named. It’s available as a web interface as well as an iPhone app, and it keeps the whole team together.

I get notifications when someone posts to a Flow task, it kills the whole chain-of-emails torture, and everything syncs up nicely. It’s so easy and fast, I have been able to provide input on an urgent Flow task while standing in line at Disneyland.

HipChat by Atlassian

HipChat

When you’re working in the same office, you can yell through the wall when you have quick questions (or if you want to talk about the latest Survivor episode). HipChat gives you the same immediacy, with public and private text chat rooms, notifications, and file sharing. It’s totally cross-platform on mobile, and available as a web client or desktop app.

Picture this scenario…you are on the phone with a client and they ask a question you can’t answer. You pop into HipChat, and get the answer from another member of your team, without skipping a beat. You look like a genius.

Google+ Hangouts

Google+ Hangout

Sometimes text just isn’t enough. If you really want to build strong team relationships, there’s no substitute for face-to-face. Google+ Hangouts are a wonderful solution for remote teams to share project information and — hangout. They are so simple to set up and use that there’s no excuse for not trying it yet. How else are you going to bust that colleague you suspect is working in their pajamas?

How do you collaborate with remote colleagues? Share your favorite tools in the comments.

Author’s Bio: Rosemary O’Neill is an insightful spirit who works for social strata — a top ten company to work for on the Internet . Check out the Social Strata blog. You can find Rosemary on Twitter as @rhogroupee

Overcoming the three fears of telecommuting

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By Kelly Gregorio

home office space
Is telecommuting right for you?
In today’s digital world telecommuting is becoming more of a common practice. Increased productivity, a “greener” business approach, time and funds saved from a commute are just a few of the benefits. Still, as an employer there are some drawbacks to consider. Below are the top 3 fears of telecommuting and tips on how to overcome them.

Will Everyone Want to Telecommute?

It is important to remember that telecommuting is not the right fit for every employee. Positions that require constant supervision and collaboration are not ideal. However, independent positions that are results-oriented might make a good candidate for telecommuting. Another thing to consider: equipment. Someone who requires a photocopier, scanner and the latest software might not make for an ideal telecommute worker; however a job that simply requires a laptop and access to the internet could work. When making the decision to offer the telecommute option remember it will not apply to the entire company, decide first which jobs are the right fit.

Is Anybody Out There?

As an employer you might be hesitant to allow employees to work from home because of the potential communication gap. Luckily, instant messaging, emailing and texts can put you in direct contact with your virtual workers during normal business hours. Need the face-to-face? Skype is a great (and free) advancement that will allow you to look your employee in the eye while discussing upcoming and ongoing projects. Finally, weekly, bi-weekly or monthly trips to the office are a great way to reconnect and to allow your employee to still feel like he/she is a part of the office team.

How Can I Make This Work?

Before undergoing any telecommuting option it is most important to draw out expectations with your employee. Requiring your worker to send daily follow-up reports of productivity is a smart way to stay on the same page. Routine scheduled phone calls can keep the lines of communication open and objectives on track. By establishing clearly defined goals and checkpoints, you and your employee will be clear on what is expected to be produced in and outside of the cubicle.

Telecommuting is a viable option for the right company. If you feel like your business might be a candidate consider the benefits. Fewer interruptions make for a more productive employee, employee retention and job attractiveness are bound to increase, and temporary inter-office problems such as sickness or power outages are less of a problem for the at-home worker. By preparing for the possible downsides, employers can assess if telecommuting is a feasible option for their employees, creating a happier work environment both near and far.

Author’s Bio: Kelly Gregorio writes about relevant topics that affect small businesses while working at Merchant Resources International. You can follow her daily blog at http://www.cashprior.com/blog.

Image: Flickr creative commons – mccun934

Have you outgrown your blog subscriptions?

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By Rosemary O’Neill

So many blogs, so little time. And our RSS feeds and email in-boxes become a one way tube, vacuuming up new subscriptions every day.

How often do you take a moment to prune out blogs that no longer meet your current needs?

My favorite shirt

That surf shirt from high school was so comfy. The t-shirt material was soft and thin from years of use, and it almost conformed to the shape of my body. I loved it for so long. And then one day I realized that I didn’t have enough room in my drawers to keep it anymore. Further, as a 40-something business owner and mom of three, I had no use for a 30 year old t-shirt. It had to go.

Some of those old blog subscriptions are like faded t-shirts too. Perhaps you needed to learn how to start a Twitter account, or the ABCs of Facebook, at one time, but you’ve grown, your perspective may have shifted. Heck, your entire business model may have shifted.

Get some new input

The great thing about tossing the old clothes (or blog subscriptions) is the ability to add new stuff to the drawer. When was the last time you actively sought out new voices for your subscription stream?

Action items for today

  • Each time you get a new blog post (via email or RSS), evaluate whether it is still relevant to you, where you are today. If not, unsubscribe.
  • If you haven’t read the posts from a blogger in more than 3 weeks, time to unsubscribe.
  • Go to Technorati.com or AllTop.com and browse the subject areas that interest you to find new bloggers to follow.
  • Go to the Twitter profile of someone you admire and look at the people he/she follows. Then use their bios to find their blogs and subscribe.
  • Do a Google search for “blog” and your favorite keyword to find new blogging voices.

Are you ready to update your content wardrobe?

Author’s Bio: Rosemary O’Neill is an insightful spirit who works for social strata — a top ten company to work for on the Internet . Check out the Social Strata blog. You can find Rosemary on Google+ and on Twitter as @rhogroupee

Thank you, Rosemary!

You’re irresistible!

ME “Liz” Strauss