Since the invention of ‘work/life balance’ many of us have added ‘guilt’ to our list of personal attributes as a self employed person.  We must run successful businesses, spend quality time with our children, make time for date nights with our partners as well as find the time to stay fit.  It’s no wonder we struggle to find the time to relax just for us.

What you may not realise that even a short amount of time spent doing some positive relaxation every day can make a huge difference to your stress levels.

Spending even 2 minutes sitting still can help you relax.  I found a site recently called Do Nothing for 2 Minutes http://www.donothingfor2minutes.com/ .  It might surprise you how difficult it is just to sit in front of your PC or laptop for such a short length of time without touching the keyboard or the mouse!  Give it a try.

If sitting in front of a machine isn’t your thing try this:

• Find a space that you can sit in and not be disturbed.
• Switch of all of your devices so that you won’t be disturbed.
• Sit comfortably in a chair with your feet firmly planted on the ground and your hands lying in your lap.
• Take 3 big deep breaths through your nose and then let your breathing come down to a natural rhythm.
• Close your eyes and just sit, focussing on the sensation of the breath as it enters and leaves your nostrils
• Sit for at least 5 minutes or longer if you can

This article can also be seen at http://www.nefollowersonline.co.uk/.

When asked why they haven’t disciplined a particular member of staff for poor behaviour or performance the responses I often get would fill the pages of a rather fantastical novel.  ’It would make the situation much worse’, ‘They would turn the rest of the staff against me’, and ‘My life would be a living hell’ have all been quoted at me as justifications for not taking appropriate management action.

Often my job consists of breaking down some of these arguments and bringing them down to the facts.

How would it make the situation worse? If you have followed the correct procedures appropriately then it is likely that the member of staff will realise that they need to improve or there will be consequences.  If that member of staff creates ‘an atmosphere’ following a disciplinary then it is likely there will be grounds for a further disciplinary.

Why would the rest of your team turn against you for taking appropriate action? Often team members will be delighted when they see their manager taking action on something that has been a thorn in their sides too.  Many staff feel that not dealing with an under-performing member of the team makes things much worse and means that they are less likely to respect their manager.

And why would your life be a living hell? A living hell for me would be being separated from those that I love – not working in an office with a bad atmosphere.  Applying a sense of realistic perspective to any potential scenario can often take the high emotion out of imagined possibilities.

All of the above are imagined catastrophes that rarely have a basis in real fact.  However, if management is done by catastrophe prediction then it is unlikely to be effective.

Are you a catastrophiser?  The next time you find yourself saying ‘if I do that then I bet X will happen’ try talking the situation through with an impartial observer. Look for the facts of the situation in all that you plan and you will find that things will go much more smoothly.

As human beings, our ability to imagine new and different possibilities is what makes us unique creatures on the planet.  However, at work, using that imagination to create catastrophes will hold us back from making appropriate management decisions.

Go forth with the facts!

And let me know how you get on.

Jules

x

She replied that she was really frustrated because she felt that she had explained this information request ‘a million times’ but still wasn’t getting the information in the way she wanted it.

I wonder how many managers and leaders feel and even show this sort of irritation with their teams?  Probably quite a lot if my work is anything to go by!

I think it’s really easy to avoid the overly emotional reactions people have at each other by following a few simple steps:

Training – Make sure your staff have the proper training to carry out their job effectively.  If someone has been in their job for a long time, don’t assume that they are still doing it correctly.  Check in on a regular basis to ensure everyone is doing what they should and make any appropriate corrections.

Delegation – Don’t be a control freak and have the attitude ‘if I don’t do it myself it won’t get done properly’.  Take the time to show, explain and support staff in delegated tasks.  Delegation doesn’t work effectively if you don’t take the time to ensure that your staff know exactly what they are doing and that they fully understand your expectations.

Discipline – Companies put a lot of time and effort into ensuring their disciplinary procedures are fair and appropriate for the organisation.  In my experience many managers spend a lot of time and negative energy avoiding using their disciplinary procedures for fear of creating a negative atmosphere or suffering the potential repercussions.  Leadership sometimes requires having conversations with others that will make them unhappy or uncomfortable but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t do it.  Applying the rules consistently and fairly will ensure that everyone in your team is aware of boundaries, rules of operation and the potential consequences of deliberate failure to work to the appropriate standards.

Perspective – Work is not a social club.  It’s a place where we get paid to carry out tasks and activities that contribute to the success and profitability of an organisation.  It often surprises me how often managers spend energy on being worried about lots of issues that appear in the workplace which are not strictly work related.  Try shifting your perspective away from the personal and you will feel a great deal more in control.

If you work on all of the above you will begin to feel in control.  Once you are in control there will be no need to get annoyed and damage potentially brilliant working relationships.

Let me know how you get on.

Jules x

There have been a couple of key themes that clients have raised this year which appear to be common to all businesses regardless of the industry they operate in.

Negativity is a Choice. For me negativity spreads like an infectious virus.  Many people are naturally drawn to a negative view of the world and of other people.  This helps to perpetuate the myth that “this is a crap place to work”.  However, positivity radiates like the sun but because it’s seen as false or unsustainable most people see positivity as slightly irritating.  Through the work I have done with clients I have shown them how, if you choose a positive attitude to your job, your colleagues and most importantly your business problems, your working day can be transformed into something enjoyable that doesn’t require you to go home and open a bottle of wine.

You are in Control. Many teams and individuals this year have expressed frustration at the issues that make them angry, stressed and miserable.  Yet, once identified, closer examination of the majority of these issues show that the team have complete control over resolving it.  What issues are you currently unhappy about that you feel you have no control over?  You may not be able to stop the team bitching and moaning but you can stop doing it and perhaps that different attitude will rub off on the other members of your team.

You can have Fun. When things become difficult within a team one of the first things to disappear is everyone’s sense of humour.  The culture becomes very serious and most people walk around with their own little rain cloud of doom above their heads.  It’s not obligatory that you take yourself seriously.  You can have fun.  Not at people but with them.  Try having a conversation with your colleagues about how you can inject some fun into your workplace.

I hope 2010 has had some magical moments for you and if you need some in 2011 then come and talk to me and I will do what I can to help.

If you are a client and are reading this I would like to thank you from the bottom of my heart for allowing me to help you and making 2010 a great success for U Turn.

I hope you have a wonderful Christmas and a spectacular 2011.

See you very soon.

Jules

xx

I hope the world is treating you exactly as you would wish it to.

Jules

x

One theme that is regularly raised is the relationship, interaction and effect of other teams or individuals on the team.  Comments such as ‘they are rude’, ‘they don’t listen to us’, ‘they never give us enough information’, ‘they don’t trust us to do our job’ have been highlighted by teams on a regular basis.

The discussion that usually follows is often focussed on all of the negative aspects of working with this team, who is at fault, who is the worst culprit etc.  However, many teams in this situation rarely take the time to examine their own behaviour to see how it might be having an effect on the people they work with.

So, here are some tips to having better working relationships with every team in your organisation:

Consider if you are actually delivering.  Do you deliver what is required, when it is required?  When was the last time you checked that you are still doing it right?

Stop bitching and moaning about them. Ask yourselves how much time you are spending talking about how much things don’t work.  Be aware that no matter how ‘confidential’ that coffee machine conversation was – the person you were talking about will find out about it.  That’s just the law of people.  They talk.

Have a relationship with them. A good one. Why would you want to go to work every day just so that you can be miserable and unhappy all day about what’s not working and griping about who is the most rubbish in that team?  Wouldn’t it be better to have a good working relationship with them so that you can all do a good days work?  How would you feel if you were able to go home every day knowing that you and that other team are delivering consistently on that major project?

Wear someone else’s shoes. Obviously not literally but take some time out to do some creative thinking and try and look at the issues you can see from their perspective.  If you can’t manage that then…

…Ask.  Ask.  Ask. Ask.  Ask.  Ask. You will never know what someone else is thinking unless you ask them.  If you take the time to sit down and talk to a representative from another team (or better yet the whole team!) the sky will not fall in and neither will you contract a horrendously contagious disease.  Yes, you might feel a bit uncomfortable but if that is the worst that will happen in the pursuit of better working relationships then surely it would be worth it?

Work is not a social club. It’s a place where you are paid to go and achieve tasks in a given number of hours in a day.  If you meet someone that you end up socialising with or even marrying then that’s a bonus.  You are not paid to whine about someone else’s behaviour or performance.  You are not paid to stand at the coffee machine and tell anyone who will listen that the boss of that team is about as much use as a chocolate fire guard.

Be positive. Every time I work with a team I notice that the first stance on any issue is often the negative one.  Negativity is like a virus but so is positivity.  Try spreading a bit of positivity and see how quickly everyone catches the bug.

If you want to learn more about Moments of Clarity I am holding a free seminar that still has a few places left.  If you would like to attend please use this link to book your place: http://happierstaff2.eventbrite.com/

Be happy.

Over the last couple of years ‘social media’ is a phenomenon that has exploded across all of our PC’s and laptops.  There has been commentary from some quarters that if you haven’t rolled up your sleeves and dived in then you’re behind the times, a bit of a dinosaur and in danger of being left behind while the rest of us techy geeks take over the world and win all of the business.

Well obviously that’s nonsense.

However, for those of you that don’t know a tweet from a retweet, this article will help clear up some of the questions you might have about Twitter and how it can help your business.

Twitter’s official definition reads:

Twitter is a service for friends, family, and co–workers to communicate and stay connected through the exchange of quick, frequent messages. People write short updates, often called “Tweets” of 140 characters or fewer.

What the official definition doesn’t include is ‘business owners’ as one of the groups who use Twitter.  Twitter has become a very useful tool for businesses who realise that it can be a quick, free marketing tool that can help them to:

• Raise brand awareness
• Reach a huge number of local, national and international people who might be interested in their product or service
• Stay in regular contact with their customers
• Deal with complaints effectively, efficiently and publicly
• Identify new customers
• Increase sales
• Share information about new products
• Share information and news about things they are interested in
• Publicise events – either their own or someone else’s
• Show the world what wonderful, engaging, interesting and kind people work in your business – more on that later!

If you don’t think your IT skills are sharp enough to delve into this medium, don’t worry.  It’s a great deal simpler to use than you think.  If you are a total novice, I would recommend going to Twitter Basics http://support.twitter.com/groups/31-twitter-basics to learn the mechanics.  All of the information you need is there and written in plain English.  You don’t even need to create an account to read this information as it is freely available on the Twitter Home page.

One of the most powerful aspects of any social media platform is the etiquette or ‘twitiquette’ you need to adopt when socially engaging.

TWITIQUETTE

One of the most important things about Twitter, and in fact, any social media platform, is that there are some unspoken rules how you should conduct yourself in the ‘twitterverse’.  Here is a list of things to be aware of:

Good Manners

If someone mentions your username, or retweets one of your tweets, always, always respond appropriately.  Even if it is days later it’s just good manners to acknowledge anyone who has taken the time to include you in a conversation or pass on one of your tweets.

Positivity

Remain positive.  In the same way that you are positive about your business when you meet people face to face your twitter comments should be positive – no-one wants to buy from a grump!

Drop the Hard Sell

Don’t make it all about business.  This will only get dull and everyone will realise that you are only interested in selling and not connecting and sharing.  You will lose a lot of followers this way and could end up being blocked and even reported.

Share

Remember your mother’s advice about sharing?  It’s good to share.  Look for things that you think your followers would find interesting, such as music videos, websites of people you do business with, a local news story etc.

Language

If you use foul language in your tweets I will stop following you and I’m pretty sure I’m not unique in that respect.  I know there are lots of tweeters who don’t care one way or the other, however, my view is that Twitter is simply an electronic version of a face to face networking event.  You wouldn’t use bad language when shaking someone’s hand and saying hello so why do it in Twitter?

Have Patience

Unless you are selling something that the whole world wants for the lowest price it takes time to build your reputation in Twitter.  Don’t expect to have huge successes overnight.

You Aren’t Playing

Remember that for your business, Twitter is an excellent free marketing tool.  Many people feel that being on-line and ‘chatting’ to random folks is pointless and a waste of their valuable time.  You must see social media as one aspect of your marketing strategy.

People Buy From People

There’s no substitute for meeting someone face to face so use Twitter as a way of introducing yourself.  Once you have established a tweet connection it’s much easier to suggest meeting someone for coffee.

Policy

Make sure that anyone in your organisation who is using social media is aware of your policy on the inappropriate use of Twitter.  Your company reputation can be destroyed by one thoughtless tweet so everyone involved must be made aware of the tone, content and purpose of using twitter.  It’s also critical to ensure that you make staff aware of the consequences of not adhering to the policy.

Happy Tweeting!

If you’ve ever had one of those days when you get nothing done because you’re dealing with staff crises, then this is the seminar for you.

Whether their woes are justified (let’s face it times are hard) and they really need your support, or whether the tantrums and twisting are down to internal issues, there’s a way to solve them all.  In just two hours you’ll learn:

• How to spot the problems before they start
• How to deal with each issue as a team
• How to get your team working together happily

Book Online now: http://happierstaff.eventbrite.com/

You’ll hear from UTurn’s own Jules Rutherford, who used her vast experience in team management to develop the Moments of Clarity programme.    In this insightful and interactive seminar, Jules will share her real life tales – some will amuse you, some will amaze you, including:

• How a Snickers Bar improved my performance
• What happened when I hit my target to employ 72 people in just 3 months

Book Online now: http://happierstaff.eventbrite.com/

You’ll learn something from each tale to help you work in a caring and compassionate way and keep your staff happy.

Places are limited so book your place today for the chance to experience how it feels to have a MOMENT OF CLARITY LIVE in the seminar.

Book Online now: http://happierstaff.eventbrite.com/

Check out Richard Denny’s website at www.denny.co.uk

Jules