[tweetmeme] Around our house, nothing signals the end of summer more than helping our kids prepare for their return to the daily school routine. The arrival of the end of summer also means that companies are now returning to full strength with most of their employees having finished their vacation time away from work.
While taking a vacation break can provide us with the benefit of recharging ourselves and allowing us to clear our focus, there can be some feelings of ambivalence surrounding those first few days back on the job over what we may find awaiting us upon our return. This is especially true for employees who return to work after a prolonged absence from taking a maternity, paternity or sick leave.
Of course, returning to work after a prolonged absence can provide its own share of challenges to employees, issues which may not be obvious to the organization’s leadership or their fellow team members. Indeed, unlike employees returning from a holiday break, these employees have to contend with concerns over unexpected additions to their workloads or changes made to their role within the organization while they were away. Such issues can have a dramatic impact not only on their productivity, but also on their ability to ease back into their role as a member of your team.
With this in mind, here are three steps leaders can take to help their employees with the transition of returning back to work after a prolonged break. Click here to continue reading »
[tweetmeme] Today’s piece is a guest post by Susan Mazza. Susan is a motivational speaker, leadership coach, trainer and business consultant. With her unique understanding of people as well as human systems – and an unquenchable thirst to unlock potential of individuals and organizations – she has worked successfully with thousands of people and with many types and sizes of organizations around the world. She lives in Vero Beach, Florida with her husband, daughter and 2 dogs. You can learn more about Susan by visiting her blog, Random Acts of Leadership.
My husband and I were talking the other day about our choice to move to Florida 6 years ago. Things certainly have not gone according to plan. We have faced challenges we never imagined. And for a few moments we found ourselves talking about how things might have been had we just stayed where we were. Well that pretty much sucked the air out of the room! Of course that conversation came from that nagging little voice in our minds that tends to focus on what we did not accomplish that we had planned for and anticipated as well as laments our mistakes.
Fortunately that conversation lasted for only about 5 minutes. We noticed what we were doing and reminded each other that we have no idea what life would look like right now had we stayed or what it would have been like along the way. In an instant our conversation shifted, and so did our mood. We started talking about all the wonderful unexpected things we have accomplished, how much more time we have both had with our daughter, how much we have learned and grown, how much we love where we live and how well our life works here.
Have there been disappointments and unfulfilled expectations? Absolutely. Yet if we could turn back the clock would we want to choose to do it differently? Or would we choose to move back now? The answer to both is a resounding NO! Click here to continue reading »
[tweetmeme] Recognition.
It’s something we all seek in our workplaces and yet, it’s the kind of feedback so many of us find noticeably absent in our interactions with those who lead our organizations.
There’s been numerous studies that show how making time to recognize the contributions of others helps to create both a positive environment and a more productive workforce. So why then are there so many employees who feel under-appreciated or under-valued by their organization’s leadership? To answer this question, we need to examine two aspects which are behind this quandary.
The first part of the problem is the misguided notion among leaders that their employees already know how good a job they’re doing and as such, there’s no need to point out the obvious to them. However, the problem with such thinking is that it’s self-centric, in that the leader’s focus is only on their own perceptions, as opposed to taking into consideration how their team members perceive the situation.
This leads to the second part of the problem over why there’s this lack of genuine recognition in the workplace. In cases where recognition efforts are made, leaders tend to concentrate on how offering such feedback benefits the company’s image, rather than as a gesture of appreciation or acknowledgement for the contributions of their team members. Indeed, for many leaders, providing recognition to their team is something that is addressed only in annual performance reviews or through formalized processes like ‘employee of the month’ programs. As most employees can attest, it’s a rare if unheard of practice to have leaders providing spur of the moment recognition for their efforts.
So how then can leaders address these two problems which are responsible for this lack of recognition in the workplace?
To find out my answer to this question, click on this link to read this guest post over at ReadyToFeedback.com.
[tweetmeme] Today’s piece is a guest post by S Max Brown. Max is the VP of Organizational Learning at the Recognition Management Institute and in the last ten years, he has made nearly one thousand presentations in locations all around the world. He’s taken clients rappelling on the Great Wall of China, facilitated at the Parliament of World Religions Conference in Spain, spoken to a cheering crowd in the Netherlands, and even survived a severe winter presentation in Regina, Saskatchewan.
Recently, Max and I co-wrote the guest piece, “Is Your Leadership Serving Others… or Just Yourself?” for the “Wake Up and Shake it Up” leadership series organized by Shawn Murphy at Achieved Strategies.
Executives that secure big pay packages for themselves and then lay off thousands of employees don’t inspire much loyalty or confidence. Yet examples of such corporate excess and greed are plentiful. Why are we surprised when employees don’t feel like doing their best for the organization? Why are we surprised when our organizations suffer accordingly?
Recent research finds that we become more egocentric and self-centered as we gain more power. Sometimes, we believe that we can hide our insecurities by attacking, blaming, or otherwise tearing others down. Moreover, according to Harvard Professor Clayton Christensen, we often focus on activities that yield the most tangible accomplishments while neglecting relationships because we are driven by instant gratification.
Albert Einstein made a similar observation regarding human behavior when he said: Click here to continue reading »
