Time Management " 3 Ways to Unlock Your Creative Potential at Work

Time Management

" 3 Ways to Unlock Your Creative Potential at Work " "

Tapping into your innate creativity requires making changes to what you do at work. 
You need to break your most destructive, focus-killing habits, such as spending a large portion of your day (or weekend) on email or giving in to persistent distractions.

(1) To start, give yourself time to quietly think and reflect. Practicing mindfulness can be extremely helpful for this because it aids cognitive functioning.

(2) The other thing to work on is managing stress about your deficiencies and failures.
This may be most difficult for achievement-oriented business people, but no one can possibly be creative without failing — a lot.

(3) Finally, focus on what makes you happy at work.
The positive emotions you feel when you are connected to your personal and organizational purpose will help you stay grounded and creative, even when things are tough !
Courtesy : Harvard Business Review

Make a transition plan,when a valued employee leaves !

Make a Transition Plan When a Valued Employee Leaves

When a valuable employee tells you they’re leaving, worrying about losing their institutional knowledge and experience is understandable. How can you oversee the transition in a way that helps you retain that expertise? Your first step is to outline how you will transfer the knowledge, whom you will transfer it to, and the timeline you’ll transfer it on. Resist the urge to ask the departing employee to compose a hefty here’s-how-to-do-my-job manual. Too often the person doesn’t bother to write it up, and no one ever reads it. Instead, have another employee shadow the departing employee to learn as much as possible about the job. If you’re short on time and don’t have an identified successor, hold a meeting in which the departing employee shares stories with colleagues about how they handled problems and crises that arose during their tenure. The goal is to reveal insights into the expert’s thought process.

6 questions to ask & answer, in motivating your sales team

Help Focus Your Sales Team on the Right Things

Sales executives often talk about how salespeople spend too much time with existing customers rather than focusing on high-potential prospects. Redirect your sales efforts by asking six questions:

1. Do salespeople know what’s important? Communicate exactly how you want people to spend their time.
2. Do salespeople have the information they need? Give them the data to match product offerings to customer needs.
3. Do salespeople have the competencies required? Train people on how to find and qualify buyers, describe the product’s competitive advantages, and convince customers to buy.
4. Are salespeople motivated? They need to perceive value from their efforts: career success, recognition, personal satisfaction, money, or all of the above.
5. Do salespeople have enough bandwidth? If not, consider creating specialized teams that find new clients, while others support existing relationships.
6. Do salespeople have the right characteristics? Look for “natural sellers” who can learn the industry.

(Communication) Don’t Lose Your Cool with a Passive-Aggressive Colleague

Communication 
Don’t Lose Your Cool with a Passive-Aggressive Colleague

Your colleague says one thing in a meeting but then does another.
 He passes you in the hallway without saying hello and talks over you in meetings.
 But when you ask to speak with him about it, he insists that everything’s fine and the problem is all in your head ! 

 What should you do?

 First, don’t lose your cool, and don’t accuse the person of acting passive-aggressively — that will only make him madder.
 Take a step back and ask yourself if you’re contributing to the issue in some way.

 Then talk to the person to address the underlying business issue in a calm, matter-of-fact way. Recount how some of your previous interactions have played out, explaining the impact it’s having on you and possibly others.
 If feasible, show that the behavior is working against something your counterpart cares about, like achieving the team’s goals.

" Change the Tone of a Difficult Conversation ! "

Office Communication 

" Change the Tone of a Difficult Conversation ! "

If you work with anyone long enough you’re bound to encounter a difference of opinion. 
But when a tough conversation starts spiraling out of control, how do you get it back on track?

 First, understand that when people disagree it’s often because one party misinterprets the feedback they’ve received as a personal attack, as in,

 “If you like my idea, you like me,” or, “If you don’t like my idea, you don’t like me.” 

To decrease tension, it’s important to deliberately reaffirm your commitment to the relationship at hand — this way there’s no confusion around what the argument is actually about.
 Disentangle personal issues from business issues by momentarily focusing on the relationship, using statements like “I really want to work on this with you” and “I bet we can figure this out together.” 

Reaffirming your commitment to the other person can significantly alter the tenor of the conversation.

Keep Your Team from Burning Out

Stress Management 

Keep Your Team from Burning Out

It’s tough enough to manage your own stress.

 But how can you help the members of your team handletheir feelings of stress, burnout, or disengagement?

 One approach is to focus on your employees’ personal growth and development. 

Offer tools like mindfulness and resilience training. 

Encourage people to take time for exercise or other renewal activities, such as walking meetings. Build buffer time into deliverables schedules so that people can work flexibly and at a manageable pace. 

Encourage mono-tasking by defining milestones that don’t overlap, and avoid the trap of mistaking the urgent for the important.

 Allow time and space for people to disconnect outside of work, and be deliberate about helping people pause and recharge during down cycles. 

Finally, it doesn’t cost anything to be kind. Doing well at work and encouraging people to feel well isn’t just possible — it’s the foundation of a high-performance team.

" Take Small Steps Toward a Big Career Change !

Career Management 

" Take Small Steps Toward a Big Career Change ! 

If you’d like to make a career transition but you’re worried about leaving a stable job, how do you take the leap? 
And how do you decide on your next move? Start by following your energy and interests. 
Pay attention to what engages and excites you.
 What stimulates your intellect? 
Once you know what you want to pursue, learn more about the work involved through research and networking. 
Instead of making a huge change all at once, try out the work in a low-risk way by taking on side projects or consulting. 

Remember,  that creating a fulfilling career is an ever-evolving process !