Photo courtesy of curtis.kennington

This past Tuesday, I had the opportunity to appear as a guest on the Real Recognition Radio show, which airs every Tuesday at 1PM Eastern Standard Time (EST) on the VoiceAmerica Business channel.  In this week’s episode, titled “A Better Workplace Conversation”, hosts Roy Saunderson and S. Max Brown interviewed feedback expert Sonia Di Maulo and myself on the issues of leadership, workplace interactions and fostering motivation in employees (Sonia has written a follow-up piece about our interview on her blog.  I invite you to check it out and find out what key points stood out from this discussion).

For those who didn’t get a chance to hear the radio broadcast, or who’d like to hear the show again, you can listen to the interview using the audio player below.  Or if you prefer, you can download a MP3 copy of the show from the Real Recognition Radio show web page.

Some of the topics discussed during this show include:

• Why giving positive feedback is critical to creating a productive workplace.
• How listening can foster opportunities for growth.
• Why the best leaders are those who focus on serving those they lead.
• The importance of praise and recognition in the workplace and how we can start implementing it today.
• How we can engage our employees in these tough economic times.
• Why leaders should encourage a more emotional workplace.
• What are the most important opportunities facing organizations today.

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I want to take this opportunity to thank Roy Saunderson and S. Max Brown for inviting me to appear on their show.  It was a pleasure to share my insights on leadership and motivating employees with your listeners.  And I look forward to hearing your thoughts about this conversation on leadership and motivating employees.

What ideas resonated with you and what would you add to the discussion on these issues?

I would like to invite all of you to listen to my interview on the Real Recognition Radio show, found on the VoiceAmerica Business Channel, which will air Tuesday, March 16th at 1 PM Eastern Standard Time (EST).

The episode, titled “A Better Workplace Conversation”, will feature myself, along with feedback expert Sonia Di Maulo, discussing some of the issues facing today’s workplace and what leaders can do to improve the performance and productivity of their workforce.

Real Recognition Radio is hosted by S. Max Brown and Roy Saunderson of the Recognition Management Institute. The show focuses on the importance of recognition and appreciation in the workplace and through their guests, offers insights and ideas on what companies can do to improve their workplace culture and with it, employee morale.

Real Recognition Radio has already hosted such renowned speakers as John Hope Bryant, author of the bestselling book “Love Leadership” and in upcoming shows will be interviewing many industry leaders and thinkers including leadership authors Jim Kouzes, Michael Stallard and Jason Pankau, Dr. Matthew J. Grawitch, Dr. David W. Ballard, and Dr. Don Schultz to name but a few.

It’s truly an honour to be included in such an incredible list of guests and I hope you will check out both my interview, which will air Tuesday, March 16th at 1PM EST on the VoiceAmerica Business Channel website, as well as these upcoming shows for the wealth of information that will be offered on leadership and the workplace.

NOTE: I’ll be posting a piece about this interview later this week which will include a streaming version of this broadcast for my readers to listen to here on my blog.

Photo courtesy of Andy Ciordia

The following is a guest post by fellow blogger/writer Nacie Carson.  Nacie writes about personal development issues on her blog “The Life Uncommon“.

Ever since I left the corporate world to work for myself two years ago, I have been fascinated by the concept of productivity. How to get more done, accomplish more, see better quality, and then – as a reward – be able to enjoy greater and more satisfying periods of rest truly intrigue me.

My interest in the art and science of productivity began when I first started working from home in 2008. After months in a cubicle, I was thrilled to run my own schedule, work where I wanted, and focus on the business I wanted to do. However, within a few weeks I found that getting things done was a lot harder than it looked. “I was so productive when I worked at Company X,” I thought, “Why am I not getting the same result now that I am working for myself?”

I started investigating productivity techniques, tips and tricks, and found a wealth of information both online and in books to help me form actionable strategies. But I soon found that within a few days of implementing a new strategy my productivity level would slip back down again. What was the deal?

The problem was obvious, and the solution simple: the issue was my state of mind.

There are two elements that come together to shape our lives: Click here to continue reading »”The Productivity Mindset”

Like most people, I look forward to the arrival of the weekend as a chance to unwind, spend time with the family, and recharge my mind and body in preparation for the jump into a fresh work week.

There are times, though, where that continual push to maintain our productivity through the week takes its toll and we can find ourselves struggling to get out of neutral. This is something that happens to me at times and I know only too well how frustrating these moments can feel, especially when we see that large heap waiting for us in our “To-Do” basket. As such, I want to share some of the strategies I use to recharge my productivity batteries so I could complete my tasks for the week:

1. Review what you’ve completed so far

In the drive to maintain our level of productivity, it’s a good idea to take some time to review what we’ve completed up to that point. This will help in evaluating whether it’s really necessary to keep pushing to the max or whether we can afford to throttle down our efforts to give ourselves time to catch our breath. As marathon runners know, it’s not about Click here to continue reading »”Need A Boost? Strategies For Recharging Your Productivity”

This week I wanted to look at how our perspective in approaching a project or task can dramatically affect our ability to complete the work. In the first post looking at this concept, I demonstrated how striving for perfection, as opposed to aiming to make things better, is actually counter-productive as it limits the perspective to our own experiences.

Of course, there’s another factor that can impact our motivation and subsequent productivity in taking on an idea or fostering some form of change. In this case, I’m referring to those instances when we view these opportunities as something that’s “too difficult to implement” or which “we lack the resources to pursue” and subsequently, we end up doing nothing about it. As I’ll show in this piece, what we need in these cases is to re-adjust our perspective from one where we’re facing a single issue or challenge, into one where we tackle the individual parts of the problem. This will create an environment where we gain concrete, visible results that will help us push forward with the process. Click here to continue reading »”How to Transform Problems Into Wins”