Your Best Day

Did you enjoy your day off?  Starting the week on Tuesday can be challenging if that means you have a full Monday’s worth of work to do on top of your Tuesday portion. 

And if you are anything like me, it takes me a little more time to get back into the swing of my work routine after a day off. 

So how do you organize your day when your to do list is longer than your hours in the day?

Everyday you should order your day by priority not urgency.  Think through what you want to accomplish long term.  What are your business goals? Do the things first that directly work towards those goals. 

Write out your “have to do’s” and assign them a time slot.  Then fill in the rest of the day.  At the bottom of your list you can put things that you’d like to accomplish if time permits. 

Of course we all have days when the urgent takes over and that is all we get done.  But when you work at prioritizing you are much more likely to also achieve forward progress towards your business goals.

If you don’t know how to set goals, spend some time with a mentor and ask how they set goals.  If you don’t have a mentor, find someone at work whom you admire and ask them if they would be your mentor.  They will most likely be honored.  If not then you don’t want them to be your mentor anyway.

So tomorrow get up and have more purpose in the way your day is structured. 

Still learning,

Honey

www.interaction-training.com

Give Yourself & Staff a Performance Booster Shot

I get letters from all over.  I decided to share a note from one of my favorite bankers who is dedicated to professional development - for herself, as well as her team.  She learned to use the weekly report in my Supervisor Boot Camp a few years ago.  I am passionate about utilizing a weekly report.  Not everyone shares my passion but everyone who uses one knows the value of it.  Here's how I teach it. 

Every Friday by 3 PM, everyone turns in a weekly report to their supervisor.  It's basically an outline with the current date and the name of the individual completing it.  The outline contains   three headings, Accomplishments, Problems and Plans.  Under each heading, you list bullet points or key factors that are important to remember or vital to communicate to the boss.  The manager is to create one as well and share with all his/her direct reports.  The Weekly Report ensures communication and it provides tracking and accountability for both parties.  When I receive an employee’s weekly report, I like to write directly on it, offering my responses, copy the report and give it back to my employee.  Now we both know that we both know what went on that week.  

Here is what my friend, the banker sent me:

I have been using the weekly report with my staff since last year.  I have seen a decrease in what is in the reports and even them skipping completing them.  What suggestions if any would you have to re-stress the importance of the content and completion of these reports- outside of the obvious that I require it?

Here was my response:

Are they doing a "to do" list every day? 

I have always reminded my team that the "to do" list and calendar are the perfect tracking tools for pulling together the weekly report.

Manage by walking around and ask to see their daily to do list every day or every other day.  If they don’t have one, help them create one on the spot.  A to do list helps you focus and prioritize.  Helps you to not waste time or forget what needs to get done.

Ask them to do a quarterly summary (right now this week you could ask for a “first six months of 2013 summary”) of the their weekly reports and self-assess how well they think they did with regard to planning, problem solving and getting goals met and stuff done. Nothing is more motivating than to see what progress you’ve made or need to make!

Remind them the report is for them.  It empowers and enables them to track their success, to provide them accountability, credibility and planning.

The key to success is having a plan and executing it.  Act like a turtle.  Stick your neck out when you have to get where you are going.  Slow and steady.  Pull back occasionally, stay headed in the right direction, watch out for getting run over and you will get to where you are trying to go!   Learn to read the signs for when you need to step it up and when you need to kick it in gear and have a sense of urgency.  Responsiveness and persistence will pay off.  

Managers remember this; develop a culture that supports learning. Demonstrate by your actions that you believe continuous learning is vitally important. Invest some of your budget dollars in training and education. Consider a reimbursement plan for courses employees take through local colleges. Allow employees to click here to continue reading Ten Techniques for Developing Others!

Still learning,

Honey

Coaching Yourself & Others Series – Goal Setting

Goals are dreams in writing with a deadline!

If you don’t know what you want, what direction to take, when you plan to get started and when you plan to get there you could end up with regrets and disappointment about not getting anywhere.

Get busy in your spiral notebook looking over your wants and making your list of goals.  Don’t leave any wants out, don’t discount one thing you want to make better or go for or wish you could achieve.  You can weed out and prioritize later.

The intention of goal setting is to place the focus on results. 

A key success tip in goal setting is the powerful SMART tool.  There are many variations of this dynamic mnemonic:

S             Specific (Spelled out or Significant)

M            Measurable (Meaningful)

A             Attainable (Action-Oriented or Achievable)

R             Relevant (Realistic or Rewarding)

T             Time-bound (Trackable)

You get more than one shot at writing out a goal, so plan on several drafts as you work toward learning how to coach yourself and others.    Keep this tip sheet handy as you craft your goals.

Pick up your pen – Writing out your goals will help to crystallize your thinking and move you from wishing and hoping to truly shaping up a formidable goal.

Go for precision – Spell out precise, short, to the point goals.  Putting dates, times, and amounts so you can measure results. 

Set realistic goals – Remember, these are your goals.  Others in your life will hand you goals (your employer, society, etc.).  Your own goals need to be achievable.  Be cautious to not set goals that are too difficult.  As you investigate what obstacles might need to be considered and what skill sets are required you may need to tweak your goals.

Set goals that are dependent on you and your performance – Examine your goals to be certain you have as much control as possible on reaching the goal. 

Express the goal in a positive framework – State the goal positively.  “Write in my journal 15 minutes five days a week” is precise, action-oriented, meets the criteria that you are in charge and is worded in a positive manner.  “Stop procrastinating about writing in my journal” is the polar opposite and ineffective.

Sift out the goal – This is challenging.  Ask yourself is this goal a true reflection of my values?  Who besides myself will benefit from me accomplishing this?  These are hard questions for goals to get past.  You will find the greatest satisfaction from working on and accomplishing goals that sync well with what matters most to you.  You will find a groundswell of support when what you focus your time, energy and resources on is beneficial to others.

More to come on Coaching Yourself & Others so stay in the loop!  Sign up for the blog so you don’t miss any segment of the series!  Sign up for our newsletter, too.  It’s free and full of tidbits that will help your personal and professional development.

Still learning,

Honey