“I just want them to show up and do their job and not complain,” said one burned-out manager to me not long ago. He was struggling with how to motivate the performance of several members of his staff, and in his exhaustion to try to be a leader, had adopted a mindset of something far from leadership. So how do leaders influence and impact the performance of employees when sometimes we just want them to show up and do their job and not complain? 1. Adopt a Leadership Mindset. First, a mindset of leadership needs to be present. Leadership is
“This is why I’m not married anymore,” said a participant in a recent leadership training class. She was partly kidding, but it was obvious that the results of her personality assessment, which were being used to launch the leadership training series we were conducting for her company, had struck a cord. Her personality assessment showed that she was a highly dominant, take charge, get it done kind of person. These characteristics had served her well in her role in finance with the organization, but she realized that maybe her personality had impacted the success of her marriage. In another conversation
One of our favorite clients requested that we come in and conduct “sensitivity training” for employees. According to Wikipedia, sensitivity training “is a form of training with the goal of making people more aware of their own prejudices and more sensitive to others.” The client wanted to make sure that employees understood how to conduct themselves around each other and customers and to understand the legal standards around discrimination. Of course, we at Horizon Point aren’t very good at conducting your standard, run-of-the-mill employee training that revolves around an instructor standing at the front of the room telling you what you
Last month, we focused on introverted leaders and the characteristics they naturally exhibit that all leaders, introverted or extraverted, should strive to emulate. If you recall, extraversion and introversion can be defined as: Orientation of energy E EXTRAVERSION Energized when you are with people Talk out your ideas First you live it – then you understand it Enjoy the interaction Breadth of interest and direction of focus INTROVERSION I Energized when you are alone Reflect on your ideas before vocalizing First you understand – then you live it Enjoy the concentration Depth of interest The interesting thing about the three
At the recommendation of the Alabama Society of Human Resource Management’s Wellness Director, I downloaded a copy of Wellbeing: The Five Essential Elements by Tom Rath and Jim Harter. The book describes the five essential elements of wellbeing (in order of importance) to be: Career Social Financial Physical Community The authors emphasize how each element is intricately interwoven with each other. Here are some tips for maximizing work wellbeing by seeing wellbeing from a holistic perspective: Don’t be a workaholic. “While you might think that people with high career wellbeing spend too much time working, they actually take more time