10 Tricks for a Fabulous Workday

Want to have the best workday ever?  Day after day?  It's not as difficult as you think.
These 10 tweaks to your everyday behavior will virtually guarantee you a day that's not just enjoyable but allows you to get more done than you ever thought possible.

1. Start with 15 minutes of positive input.
It's easier to achieve and maintain a positive attitude if you have a "library" of positive thoughts in your head, so you can draw upon them if the day doesn't go exactly as you'd prefer. Start each day by reading (or listening to) an inspirational book to ensure that you have just such a resource at hand.

2. Tie your work to your life's goals.
Always remember that there's a deeper reason why you go to work and why you chose your current role. Maybe it's to support your family, to change the world in some way, to help your customers, to make a difference: Whatever the deeper motivation, remind yourself that this workday--today--is the opportunity to accomplish part of that deeper and more important goal.

3. Use your commute wisely.
Most people waste their commute time listening to the news or (worse, especially if they're driving) making calls, texting, or answering emails. In fact, your commute time is the perfect time to get yourself pumped up for the day, and there's no better way to do this than to listen to music that truly inspires you and gets you in the right mood. Don't depend on a DJ: Make your own mixes!

4. Stick a smile on your face.
It's likely, if you followed the first three steps, that you'll already be smiling. If not, stick a smile on your face anyway.

It doesn't matter if it feels fake: Research has shown that even the most forced of smiles genuinely reduces stress and makes you happier. Does this mean you should be grinning like the Joker in the Batman comics? Well, yes, if that's the best you can do. But something a bit more relaxed might be less alarming to co-workers.

5. Express a positive mood.
When most people are asked social greetings--questions such as "How are you?" or "What's up?"--they typically say something neutral ("I'm OK") or negative, like "Hangin' in there." That kind of talk programs your brain for failure.

Instead, if anyone inquires, say something positive and enthusiastic, like: "Fantastic!" or "I'm having a wonderful day!" It's true that there are some people whom this annoys--but these are people you should be avoiding anyway. (See No. 7, below.)

6. Do what's important first.
Everybody complains about having too much to do, but few people do anything about it. As I explained in "The Surprising Secret of Time Management," 20% of your activities are going to produce 80% of your results.  So do that 20% first, before you get to the 80% of your activities that is mostly wasted time. You'll get more done, and you'll get better results.

7. Avoid negative people.
If you've been following Steps 1 through 6, you'll probably find that the most negative people in your orbit will be avoiding you, while the positive people will want to hang out with you and help you. Though it's true you can't avoid all the Debbie Downers, you can certainly find something else to do when they start grousing about stuff they won't or can't change.

8. Don't work long hours.
Long hours are simply a bad idea. For one thing, as I have pointed out before: Long hours, after a short burst of productivity, actually make you less productive. But frankly, if you've followed Steps 1 through 7, you'll be getting so much done that you won't need to work those long hours.

9. Wind down and relax.
Once you're done with the workday, fill the remainder of your hours with nonwork-related activities that bring you joy and help you relax. The analogy of "recharge your batteries" is valid. Failing to take time to relax and stop thinking about work guarantees that you'll begin the next day with a "hangover" of resentment that will leach the joy out of what can, and should be, a positive work experience. overconcentration.

10. End your day with 15 minutes of gratitude.
As I pointed out in "The True Secret of Success," exercising your "gratitude muscle" is the best way to make certain that you experience more success. Before you go to sleep, get out a tablet (paper or electric), and record everything that happened during the day about which you are (or could be) grateful.
You'll sleep better and be ready for tomorrow--which will probably be even more fabulous than today.

But What About ...
Now, I know some of this can sound like a stretch. It may take a leap of faith to give this approach a try. But before you push back too much, let me answer some of the questions I sometimes hear. 

• What if something really horrible happens during the day? You'll be much better prepared to deal with challenges than if you were already halfway to miserable--which is how most people go through their workday. 
• What if I simply have to deal with a negative person? Tune out the negativity. Learn to shrug it off. If the negativity becomes too much of a burden, start using the extra energy you're producing to reorganize your team or (if the person is outside your company) find a different partner. 
• What if I'm too depressed to do any of this? If that's the case, you may need professional help. None of these tricks require more time and effort than making yourself miserable, however. 
• Do these tricks really work? Yes.

http://www.inc.com/geoffrey-james/have-a-fabulous-workday-10-tricks.html

Motivate Your Core Performers to Become Star Performers

No sales force consists entirely of stars; sales staffs are usually made up mainly of solid performers, with smaller groups of laggards and rainmakers. Though most compensation plans approach these three groups as if they were the same, research shows that each is motivated by something different.

As the largest cadre, core performers typically represent the greatest opportunity, but they're often ignored by incentive plans. At the same time, they're the group most likely to move the needle — if they're given the proper incentives.

Why does this valuable group tend to be off the radar screen? One reason is that sales managers don't identify with them. At many companies the managers are former rainmakers, so they pay the current rainmakers an undue amount of attention. As a consequence, core performers are often passed over for promotion and neglected at annual sales meetings. But this is not in the best interest of the company. Core performers usually represent the largest part of the sales force, and companies cannot make their numbers if they're not in the game. Here are some proven strategies for keeping them there.

Multi-tier targets. A project that Mike recently worked on with a national financial services company shows that such targets help motivate core performers. At the company a major proportion of the salespeople fell into this category. In bearish months they almost always found a way to hit their targets, but in bullish months they seldom exceeded their numbers substantially. In an effort to nudge them upward, the company experimented with tiered targets.

The first-tier target was set at a point that a majority of the company's sales agents had historically attained, the second-tier target at a point reached by a smaller percentage of the sales force, and the third-tier target at a point hit only by the company's elite. All the firm's agents were divided into two groups: The first was given targets at tiers one and three, and the second group got targets at all three tiers. The hypothesis was that tiers would act as stepping stones to guide core performers up the curve.

The tiered structure indeed had a profound impact. Core performers striving to achieve triple-tier targets significantly outsold core performers given only two tiers. By contrast, multi-tier targets did not motivate stars and laggards as much: No significant differences in performance were found for those segments.

These results suggest that core performers exert more effort if given additional tiers. Stars are presumably unaffected by the extra stepping stone because they view the top tier as attainable regardless of the number of targets. And the inattentiveness that laggards show suggests that they typically aim for and are satisfied with achieving the first-tier target.

Prizes. A research project that we're both currently working on investigates how prize structures in sales contests can engage core performers. The problem with contests is that stars usually win them. Knowing this, core performers don't bump up their own efforts. You can handicap contestants on the basis of their prior performance, which alleviates the problem to a certain degree. But that creates its own problem: What's fair about core performers' and laggards' taking home the top prizes, if stars are left with lesser prizes or no prize at all?

Ideally, sales executives would design contests so that both stars and core performers would go home satisfied. This isn't easy to do, but if you keep in mind that people are hardwired to adapt to their position in a social hierarchy, it is possible. The key is to offer gifts (not cash) for the lower-level prizes that can be seen as equal, or even superior, to the top-level prizes on some dimension. Suppose a prestigious golf vacation is awarded as a top prize and a local family getaway is awarded as a lower prize. The family getaway has a lower market value than the golf vacation, but core performers can adapt to their central position on the performance curve by shifting their preferences. They can rationalize their prize by saying, "I've golfed plenty lately — what's important to me is spending time with my family." We consistently find that core performers work harder and perform better in contests of this kind than they do in contests with cash prizes.
Furthermore, their increased effort does not come at the cost of decreased effort from stars or laggards.
However, this approach won't work if the gifts offered at lower performance tiers are simply lower-grade versions of those at the top tier. Core performers will never perceive 18 holes at a run-of-the-mill golf course as more desirable than 18 holes at a prestigious course. The lower-level prize must have some quality that the higher-level one does not. In this example, it was the local getaway's family appeal that allowed core performers to remain engaged in the contest.

You will be able to coax better performance from your team by treating your sales force like a portfolio of investments that require different levels and kinds of attention. Sales compensation plans that take into account the different needs of different salespeople — and that are based on real evidence rather than assumptions — will ensure that your sales department gets a significantly higher return on its investments.

http://blogs.hbr.org/cs/2012/08/incentivize_your_core_performe.html

Nine Things Successful People Do Differently

Why have you been so successful in reaching some of your goals, but not others? If you aren't sure, you are far from alone in your confusion. It turns out that even brilliant, highly accomplished people are pretty lousy when it comes to understanding why they succeed or fail. The intuitive answer — that you are born predisposed to certain talents and lacking in others — is really just one small piece of the puzzle. In fact, decades of research on achievement suggests that successful people reach their goals not simply because of who they are, but more often because of what they do.

1. Get specific. When you set yourself a goal, try to be as specific as possible. "Lose 5 pounds" is a better goal than "lose some weight," because it gives you a clear idea of what success looks like. Knowing exactly what you want to achieve keeps you motivated until you get there. Also, think about the specific actions that need to be taken to reach your goal. Just promising you'll "eat less" or "sleep more" is too vague — be clear and precise. "I'll be in bed by 10pm on weeknights" leaves no room for doubt about what you need to do, and whether or not you've actually done it.

2. Seize the moment to act on your goals. Given how busy most of us are, and how many goals we are juggling at once, it's not surprising that we routinely miss opportunities to act on a goal because we simply fail to notice them. Did you really have no time to work out today? No chance at any point to return that phone call? Achieving your goal means grabbing hold of these opportunities before they slip through your fingers.
To seize the moment, decide when and where you will take each action you want to take, in advance. Again, be as specific as possible (e.g., "If it's Monday, Wednesday, or Friday, I'll work out for 30 minutes before work.") Studies show that this kind of planning will help your brain to detect and seize the opportunity when it arises, increasing your chances of success by roughly 300%.

3. Know exactly how far you have left to go. Achieving any goal also requires honest and regular monitoring of your progress — if not by others, then by you yourself. If you don't know how well you are doing, you can't adjust your behavior or your strategies accordingly. Check your progress frequently — weekly, or even daily, depending on the goal.

4. Be a realistic optimist. When you are setting a goal, by all means engage in lots of positive thinking about how likely you are to achieve it. Believing in your ability to succeed is enormously helpful for creating and sustaining your motivation. But whatever you do, don't underestimate how difficult it will be to reach your goal. Most goals worth achieving require time, planning, effort, and persistence. Studies show that thinking things will come to you easily and effortlessly leaves you ill-prepared for the journey ahead, and significantly increases the odds of failure.

5. Focus on getting better, rather than being good. Believing you have the ability to reach your goals is important, but so is believing you can get the ability. Many of us believe that our intelligence, our personality, and our physical aptitudes are fixed — that no matter what we do, we won't improve. As a result, we focus on goals that are all about proving ourselves, rather than developing and acquiring new skills.

Fortunately, decades of research suggest that the belief in fixed ability is completely wrong — abilities of all kinds are profoundly malleable. Embracing the fact that you can change will allow you to make better choices, and reach your fullest potential. People whose goals are about getting better, rather than being good, take difficulty in stride, and appreciate the journey as much as the destination.

6. Have grit. Grit is a willingness to commit to long-term goals, and to persist in the face of difficulty. Studies show that gritty people obtain more education in their lifetime, and earn higher college GPAs. Grit predicts which cadets will stick out their first grueling year at West Point. In fact, grit even predicts which round contestants will make it to at the Scripps National Spelling Bee.

The good news is, if you aren't particularly gritty now, there is something you can do about it. People who lack grit more often than not believe that they just don't have the innate abilities successful people have. If that describes your own thinking .... well, there's no way to put this nicely: you are wrong. As I mentioned earlier, effort, planning, persistence, and good strategies are what it really takes to succeed. Embracing this knowledge will not only help you see yourself and your goals more accurately, but also do wonders for your grit.

7. Build your willpower muscle. Your self-control "muscle" is just like the other muscles in your body — when it doesn't get much exercise, it becomes weaker over time. But when you give it regular workouts by putting it to good use, it will grow stronger and stronger, and better able to help you successfully reach your goals.

To build willpower, take on a challenge that requires you to do something you'd honestly rather not do. Give up high-fat snacks, do 100 sit-ups a day, stand up straight when you catch yourself slouching, try to learn a new skill. When you find yourself wanting to give in, give up, or just not bother — don't. Start with just one activity, and make a plan for how you will deal with troubles when they occur ("If I have a craving for a snack, I will eat one piece of fresh or three pieces of dried fruit.") It will be hard in the beginning, but it will get easier, and that's the whole point. As your strength grows, you can take on more challenges and step-up your self-control workout.

8. Don't tempt fate. No matter how strong your willpower muscle becomes, it's important to always respect the fact that it is limited, and if you overtax it you will temporarily run out of steam. Don't try to take on two challenging tasks at once, if you can help it (like quitting smoking and dieting at the same time). And don't put yourself in harm's way — many people are overly-confident in their ability to resist temptation, and as a result they put themselves in situations where temptations abound. Successful people know not to make reaching a goal harder than it already is.

9. Focus on what you will do, not what you won't do. Do you want to successfully lose weight, quit smoking, or put a lid on your bad temper? Then plan how you will replace bad habits with good ones, rather than focusing only on the bad habits themselves. Research on thought suppression (e.g., "Don't think about white bears!") has shown that trying to avoid a thought makes it even more active in your mind. The same holds true when it comes to behavior — by trying not to engage in a bad habit, our habits get strengthened rather than broken.

If you want to change your ways, ask yourself, What will I do instead? For example, if you are trying to gain control of your temper and stop flying off the handle, you might make a plan like "If I am starting to feel angry, then I will take three deep breaths to calm down." By using deep breathing as a replacement for giving in to your anger, your bad habit will get worn away over time until it disappears completely.

It is my hope that, after reading about the nine things successful people do differently, you have gained some insight into all the things you have been doing right all along. Even more important, I hope are able to identify the mistakes that have derailed you, and use that knowledge to your advantage from now on. Remember, you don't need to become a different person to become a more successful one. It's never what you are, but what you do.

http://blogs.hbr.org/cs/2011/02/nine_things_successful_people.html

10 Habits of Remarkably Charismatic People

Charisma isn't something you have. It's something you earn. Here's how.

Some people instantly make us feel important. Some people instantly make us feel special. Some people light up a room just by walking in.
We can't always define it, but some people have it: They're naturally charismatic.
Unfortunately, natural charisma quickly loses its impact. Familiarity breeds, well, familiarity.
But some people are remarkably charismatic: They build and maintain great relationships, consistently influence (in a good way) the people around them, consistently make people feel better about themselves--they're the kind of people everyone wants to be around...and wants to be.
Fortunately we can, because being remarkably charismatic isn't about our level of success or our presentation skills or how we dress or the image we project--it's about what we do.
Here are the 10 habits of remarkably charismatic people:

1. They listen way more than they talk.
Ask questions. Maintain eye contact. Smile. Frown. Nod. Respond--not so much verbally, but nonverbally.
That's all it takes to show the other person they're important.
Then when you do speak, don't offer advice unless you're asked. Listening shows you care a lot more than offering advice, because when you offer advice in most cases you make the conversation about you, not them.
Don't believe me? Who is "Here's what I would do..." about: you or the other person?
Only speak when you have something important to say--and always define important as what matters to the other person, not to you.

2. They don't practice selective hearing.
Some people--I guarantee you know people like this--are incapable of hearing anything said by the people they feel are somehow beneath them.
Sure, you speak to them, but that particular falling tree doesn't make a sound in the forest, because there's no one actually listening.
Remarkably charismatic people listen closely to everyone, and they make all of us, regardless of our position or social status or "level," feel like we have something in common with them.
Because we do: We're all people.

3. They put their stuff away.
Don't check your phone. Don't glance at your monitor. Don't focus on anything else, even for a moment.
You can never connect with others if you're busy connecting with your stuff, too.
Give the gift of your full attention. That's a gift few people give. That gift alone will make others want to be around you and remember you.

4. They give before they receive--and often they never receive.
Never think about what you can get. Focus on what you can provide. Giving is the only way to establish a real connection and relationship.
Focus, even in part and even for a moment, on what you can get out of the other person, and you show that the only person who really matters is you.

5. They don't act self-important…
The only people who are impressed by your stuffy, pretentious, self-important self are other stuffy, pretentious, self-important people.
The rest of us aren't impressed. We're irritated, put off, and uncomfortable.
And we hate when you walk in the room.

6. …Because they realize other people are more important.
You already know what you know. You know your opinions. You know your perspectives and points of view.
That stuff isn't important, because it's already yours. You can't learn anything from yourself.
But you don't know what other people know, and everyone, no matter who they are, knows things you don't know.
That makes them a lot more important than you--because they're people you can learn from.

7. They shine the spotlight on others.
No one receives enough praise. No one. Tell people what they did well.
Wait, you say you don't know what they did well?
Shame on you--it's your job to know. It's your job to find out ahead of time.
Not only will people appreciate your praise, they'll appreciate the fact you care enough to pay attention to what they're doing.
Then they'll feel a little more accomplished and a lot more important.

8. They choose their words.
The words you use impact the attitude of others.
For example, you don't have to go to a meeting; you get to go meet with other people. You don't have to create a presentation for a new client; you get to share cool stuff with other people. You don't have to go to the gym; you get to work out and improve your health and fitness.

You don't have to interview job candidates; you get to select a great person to join your team.
We all want to associate with happy, enthusiastic, fulfilled people. The words you choose can help other people feel better about themselves--and make you feel better about yourself, too.

9. They don't discuss the failings of others...
Granted, we all like hearing a little gossip. We all like hearing a little dirt.
The problem is, we don't necessarily like--and we definitely don't respect--the people who dish that dirt.
Don't laugh at other people. When you do, the people around you wonder if you sometimes laugh at them.

10. ...But they readily admit their failings.
Incredibly successful people are often assumed to have charisma simply because they're successful. Their success seems to create a halo effect, almost like a glow.
Keyword is seem.
You don't have to be incredibly successful to be remarkably charismatic. Scratch the shiny surface, and many successful people have all the charisma of a rock.
But you do have to be incredibly genuine to be remarkably charismatic.
Be humble. Share your screwups. Admit your mistakes. Be the cautionary tale. And laugh at yourself.
While you should never laugh at other people, you should always laugh at yourself.
People won't laugh at you. People will laugh laugh with you.
They'll like you better for it--and they'll want to be around you a lot more.

http://www.inc.com/jeff-haden/10-habits-of-remarkably-charismatic-people.html

9 Beliefs of Remarkably Successful People

I'm fortunate enough to know a number of remarkably successful people. Regardless of industry or profession, they all share the same perspectives and beliefs.

The most successful people in business approach their work differently than most. See how they think--and why it works.

And they act on those beliefs:
1. Time doesn't fill me. I fill time.
Deadlines and time frames establish parameters, but typically not in a good way. The average person who is given two weeks to complete a task will instinctively adjust his effort so it actually takes two weeks.
Forget deadlines, at least as a way to manage your activity. Tasks should only take as long as they need to take. Do everything as quickly and effectively as you can. Then use your "free" time to get other things done just as quickly and effectively.
Average people allow time to impose its will on them; remarkable people impose their will on their time.

2. The people around me are the people I chose.
Some of your employees drive you nuts. Some of your customers are obnoxious. Some of your friends are selfish, all-about-me jerks.
You chose them. If the people around you make you unhappy it's not their fault. It's your fault. They're in your professional or personal life because you drew them to you--and you let them remain.
Think about the type of people you want to work with. Think about the types of customers you would enjoy serving. Think about the friends you want to have.
Then change what you do so you can start attracting those people. Hardworking people want to work with hardworking people. Kind people like to associate with kind people. Remarkable employees want to work for remarkable bosses.
Successful people are naturally drawn to successful people.

3. I have never paid my dues.
Dues aren't paid, past tense. Dues get paid, each and every day. The only real measure of your value is the tangible contribution you make on a daily basis.
No matter what you've done or accomplished in the past, you're never too good to roll up your sleeves, get dirty, and do the grunt work.  No job is ever too menial, no task ever too unskilled or boring.
Remarkably successful people never feel entitled--except to the fruits of their labor.

4. Experience is irrelevant. Accomplishments are everything.
You have "10 years in the Web design business." Whoopee. I don't care how long you've been doing what you do. Years of service indicate nothing; you could be the worst 10-year programmer in the world.
I care about what you've done: how many sites you've created, how many back-end systems you've installed, how many customer-specific applications you've developed (and what kind)... all that matters is what you've done.
Successful people don't need to describe themselves using hyperbolic adjectives like passionate, innovative, driven, etc. They can just describe, hopefully in a humble way, what they've done.

5. Failure is something I accomplish; it doesn't just happen to me.
Ask people why they have been successful. Their answers will be filled with personal pronouns: I, me, and the sometimes too occasional we.
Ask them why they failed. Most will revert to childhood and instinctively distance themselves, like the kid who says, "My toy got broken..." instead of, "I broke my toy."
They'll say the economy tanked. They'll say the market wasn't ready. They'll say their suppliers couldn't keep up.
They'll say it was someone or something else.
And by distancing themselves, they don't learn from their failures.
Occasionally something completely outside your control will cause you to fail. Most of the time, though, it's you. And that's okay. Every successful person has failed. Numerous times. Most of them have failed a lot more often than you. That's why they're successful now.
Embrace every failure: Own it, learn from it, and take full responsibility for making sure that next time, things will turn out differently.

6. Volunteers always win.
Whenever you raise your hand you wind up being asked to do more.
That's great. Doing more is an opportunity: to learn, to impress, to gain skills, to build new relationships--to do something more than you would otherwise been able to do.
Success is based on action. The more you volunteer, the more you get to act. Successful people step forward to create opportunities.
Remarkably successful people sprint forward.

7. As long as I'm paid well, it's all good.
Specialization is good. Focus is good. Finding a niche is good.
Generating revenue is great.
Anything a customer will pay you a reasonable price to do--as long as it isn't unethical, immoral, or illegal--is something you should do. Your customers want you to deliver outside your normal territory? If they'll pay you for it, fine. They want you to add services you don't normally include? If they'll pay you for it, fine. The customer wants you to perform some relatively manual labor and you're a high-tech shop? Shut up, roll 'em up, do the work, and get paid.
Only do what you want to do and you might build an okay business. Be willing to do what customers want you to do and you can build a successful business.
Be willing to do even more and you can build a remarkable business.
And speaking of customers...

8. People who pay me always have the right to tell me what to do.
Get over your cocky, pretentious, I-must-be-free-to-express-my-individuality self. Be that way on your own time.
The people who pay you, whether customers or employers, earn the right to dictate what you do and how you do it--sometimes down to the last detail.
Instead of complaining, work to align what you like to do with what the people who pay you want you to do.
Then you turn issues like control and micro-management into non-issues.

9. The extra mile is a vast, unpopulated wasteland.
Everyone says they go the extra mile. Almost no one actually does. Most people who go there think, "Wait... no one else is here... why am I doing this?" and leave, never to return.
That's why the extra mile is such a lonely place.
That's also why the extra mile is a place filled with opportunities.
Be early. Stay late. Make the extra phone call. Send the extra email. Do the extra research. Help a customer unload or unpack a shipment. Don't wait to be asked; offer. Don't just tell employees what to do--show them what to do and work beside them.
Every time you do something, think of one extra thing you can do--especially if other people aren't doing that one thing. Sure, it's hard.
But that's what will make you different.
And over time, that's what will make you incredibly successful.

http://www.inc.com/jeff-haden/9-beliefs-of-remarkably-successful-people.html

Best Way to Make Employees Better at Their Jobs

Forget trying to come up with motivational tools and "tricks." There's a better--and simpler--way to get more out of your staff.

You've been there. You've stared at a blank document as you struggled to come up with incredible words of wisdom that will inspire and motivate your employees.
So has Scott Moorehead, CEO of The Cellular Connection, which has over 800 stores and is the largest Verizon premium wireless retailer in the U.S.

"I was sitting in front of my computer, trying to come up with something I could tell all these smart people in my company that would help them do their job better," Moorehead says, "and I realized that what I really should be doing is asking them what I should do."

Make them CEO
The ground rules were simple: Yesterday you were a regional manager. Today you're the CEO. What would you do to make the company better?

Moorehead says many of the answers related to the person's job, but some related to broader issues. And regardless of the answer, employees were able to indirectly express their emotions out without offending anyone.

"Overall I loved the feedback," Moorehead says, "but it was also depressing because a number of people said, 'I would do whatever I could to bring back the family atmosphere we used to have in the company.' Those responses made me feel like such a fraud. Every day I was talking about how our business is a family and about really knowing our employees.... and that's not how employees in the field felt.

"We have 800 locations and people across the country," he continued. "It was hard for all of our employees to feel like they are part of the family. I hadn't recognized that. I still saw us as a mom and pop, but they saw us as a giant bureaucratic company. So I immediately changed my mindset from growing the company to fixing who we are."

Keep in mind Moorehead is used to listening to employees. His parents started the company, and they put him through a rigorous training process that required him to work in more than 30 positions throughout the company--from customer service to sales to delivery truck driver to accounting.

"Everyone asks me if that was hard," he says. "I thought it was easy. I didn't have anything to hide and treated the task at hand as the task at hand instead of dwelling on what I would do next. I just stepped into every job and worked hard. I learned a lot, but I also earned the respect of our employees... something I didn't realize I was doing until it was done."

In 2008, at age 30, Moorehead took over the company reins from his father. Since then revenue has grown 239%, from $137 to $466 mil.

Get Rid of What Makes Them Unhappy
"By getting to know our employees and their jobs," Moorehead says, "I could eliminate things that made them unhappy and kept them from doing a better job. Sometimes it's not spreadsheets--it's company morale."

Feedback also convinced him to open satellite offices in other cities so the company could recruit better talent. "Most of our new hires were commuting from up to an hour a day," he says. "To have someone outside my normal circle tell me we needed to go where the talent is was huge."

Of course there is no reason to give employees a voice if you aren't willing to listen, so if you decide to try something like "CEO For a Day" (and why wouldn't you?), respond. Tell each employee what you think about their ideas and input. Be as open and honest as possible. Provide a thoughtful response: yes or no, and most importantly why.

"My secret to success is to be the same person at work that you are when you're having a great day with your best friend," Moorehead says. "You listen to your friends, right? So listen to your employees.
"Then just be that person, each and every day. If you are brave, honest, forthcoming, and transparent you don't have to try to be a leader. You can be yourself."

3 Interview Questions That Reveal Everything

Interviewing job candidates is tough, especially because some candidates are a lot better at interviewing than they are at working.

To get the core info you need about the candidates you interview, here's a simple but incredibly effective interview technique I learned from John Younger, the CEO of Accolo, a cloud recruiting solutions provider. (If you think you've conducted a lot of interviews, think again: Younger has interviewed thousands of people.)

Here's how it works. Just start from the beginning of the candidate's work history and work your way through each subsequent job. Move quickly, and don't ask for detail. And don't ask follow-up questions, at least not yet.

Go through each job and ask the same three questions:

1. How did you find out about the job?
2. What did you like about the job before you started?
3. Why did you leave?

"What's amazing," Younger says, "is that after a few minutes, you will always have learned something about the candidate--whether positive or negative--that you would never have learned otherwise."
Here's why:

How did you find out about the job?
Job boards, general postings, online listings, job fairs--most people find their first few jobs that way, so that's certainly not a red flag.

But a candidate who continues to find each successive job from general postings probably hasn't figured out what he or she wants to do--and where he or she would like to do it.

He or she is just looking for a job; often, any job.

And that probably means he or she isn't particularly eager to work for you. He or she just wants a job. Yours will do--until something else comes along.

"Plus, by the time you get to Job Three, Four, or Five in your career, and you haven't been pulled into a job by someone you previously worked for, that's a red flag," Younger says. "That shows you didn't build relationships, develop trust, and show a level of competence that made someone go out of their way to bring you into their organization."

On the flip side, being pulled in is like a great reference--without the letter.

What did you like about the job before you started?
In time, interviewees should describe the reason they took a particular job for more specific reasons than "great opportunity," "chance to learn about the industry," or "next step in my career."

Great employees don't work hard because of lofty titles or huge salaries. They work hard because they appreciate their work environment and enjoy what they do. (Titles and salary are just icing on the fulfillment cake.)

That means they know the kind of environment they will thrive in, and they know the type of work that motivates and challenges them--and not only can they describe it, they actively seek it.

Why did you leave?
Sometimes people leave for a better opportunity. Sometimes they leave for more money.
Often, though, they leave because an employer is too demanding. Or the employee doesn't get along with his or her boss. Or the employee doesn't get along with co-workers.

When that is the case, don't be judgmental. Resist the temptation to ask for detail. Hang on to follow-ups. Stick to the rhythm of the three questions. That makes it natural for candidates to be more open and candid.
In the process, many candidates will describe issues with management or disagreements with other employees or with taking responsibility--issues they otherwise would not have shared.

Then follow up on patterns that concern you.

"It's a quick way to get to get to the heart of a candidate's sense of teamwork and responsibility," Younger says. "Some people never take ownership and always see problems as someone else's problem. And some candidates have consistently had problems with their bosses--which means they'll also have issues with you."
And a bonus question:

How many people have you hired, and where did you find them?
Say you're interviewing candidates for a leadership position. Want to know how their direct reports feel about them?

Don't look only for candidates who were brought into an organization by someone else; look for candidates who brought employees into their organization.

"Great employees go out of their way to work with great leaders," Younger says. "If you're tough but fair, and you treat people well, they will go out of their way to work with you. The fact that employees changed jobs just so they could work for you speaks volumes to your leadership and people skills."

http://www.inc.com/jeff-haden/3-interview-questions-that-reveal-everything.html

Secrets of a Master Negotiator

Life is negotiation. So much of our daily lives revolve around this practice and yet so few of us spend any time truly learning what it takes to become great at this requisite skill.
Think about it, how much of your life involves negotiation? Most people don't realize when it is taking place. But it surrounds us. It is who we are.
Sure, everyone knows that you have to negotiate to buy a car. Some may even know that almost every retailer—if pushed—will negotiate a better price for an item. But what about the more subtle forms of negotiation? Do you even recognize when these occur?
Have you ever said to your spouse "I'll take out the trash, can you load the dishwasher?" Negotiation. When you ask for a raise. Negotiation. Who's driving? Negotiation.
Since I was a child my parents have always told me I was good at manipulating others. Negotiation. Perhaps it was inevitable that I went into law, at least initially. A profession that heightened my abilities at reading people and knowing how to react to the tells they were giving me.
After a half a lifetime of negotiating and learning the techniques to do so better here are a few of the secrets I have picked up:

Basic Skills

1. Listen

To negotiate you must learn how to listen and apply what you hear to formulate your next move. Every word has a purpose. Every statement a hidden tell. If you listen carefully, I mean really carefully, you will be able to hear and understand what your opponent in the negotiation truly wants. Listening is the bare minimum skill you must have to start building your abilities as a good negotiator.

2.  Be Willing to Walk Away

When two sides are negotiating one of the other most basic skills you must retain is the ability to walk away if the deal does not satisfy your requirements. Some may think this is axiomatic but it is not.
Once I was assisting a friend to negotiate the purchase of a new car. At the end we were close but the dealer refused to remove some extra charge which was just more fat on the bone for their sales price. After much back-and-forth over this item we reached an impasse: the salesman would not take it out of the price and I would not move on him taking it out. I stood up, politely thanked him for his time, and said to my friend "Let's go."
To my surprise my friend remained seated, turned his eyes towards me, his expression quickly changing to that of a child's wanting a toy in a toy store, and said, "But I really want the car." At that point any chance of continuing to negotiate a better deal evaporated like a puddle on a hot Southern summer afternoon. If he would have stood and walked we would have never made it to the door before that item was taken off the cost. But by not being willing to walk away we gave the other a critical advantage: he knew we would not walk. Always be willing to walk away from a deal and let it be known in either a subtle or not so subtle manner, as the situation dictates.

Intermediate Skills

1.  Feign Indifference, Don't be Indifferent

Obviously we care about the thing we are negotiating for, otherwise there would not be a negotiation. But just as we must be willing to walk away from the deal, equally as important is that you must never let the other party know how much you want or need to make the deal.
For example, for anyone who is familiar with my other writings you may recall that I am a trial attorney that has tried hundreds of cases in my career litigating thousands more. At some juncture during the course of litigation the parties will eventually discuss settlement. Irrespective of my client's concerns and directives I always feign indifference during settlement discussion. Why? Because if the other side ever gets a whiff that you are not willing to try the case they will have a decided advantage over you in the negotiation process.
So no matter if my client is ready to take the case to the mat or can't afford or does not want to move forward anymore opposing counsel gets the same routine from me every time: "We can try to settle the case or just go to trial. I'm good with whatever." The goal in feigning indifference is to be as difficult to read as a blank page. In the end, however, it is a valuable skill to have in any negotiation. So you may not be indifferent, but never let them know.

2.  Have the Ammunition You Need

In litigation this is about having your case ready to go to trial if it does not settle and making sure the other party knows you are ready. In other negotiations, such as in real estate, it's about letting a prospective purchaser know you have another buyer on the line and that if they do not meet your terms you'll just sell it to the other guy. In any negotiation that involves an alternative action if the terms are not met you must let the other party know you can, and will, do a specific act they do not want you to do in the event terms are not met. In short, let the other party know that you have your ammo and are willing to use it.
Many years ago my then firm represented a man who had been horrifically injured by a product. Our firm was brought in to represent his interests against the manufacturer. Because of certain confidentiality provisions I cannot mention the product or even the type of product it was. Suffice to say, however, it was the first case of its kind and had significant national exposure on not only a media level but political as well. Well, as in any litigation case the parties are required to exchange documents whether they are detrimental or not to your case.
We knew that the defendants were holding out on us and saying that these specific very damaging reports did not exist despite the fact we had witnesses that testified to the contrary. We knew if we got our hands on these reports they would be shaking in their boots. Well, to make a long story short while referencing a great episode from Seinfeld, we employed a special team of people to "retrieve" the reports for us and "yadda yadda yadda" we appeared at pretrial with these ultra-damaging reports in hand. The case, one of the most contentious and longest I had ever been involved in, settled minutes later. Why? Because we had the ammo.
So it does not matter if it is litigation, real estate sales with an alternative buyer, or otherwise, always have the ammo—or appearance thereof—to support your side in the negotiation.

Advanced Skills

1.  What Motivates Them?  Use it

As a prerequisite, you must always listen. Listening, as stated above, is critical to hearing what the other side wants. But on a higher level, you must strive to understand why. What is motivating the "Why"? If you can listen between the lines to understand that which truly motivates the other party you will gain a decided advantage in the negotiation of the deal.

Let's take an example from McDonald's, the iconic company that is now making significant inroads in China. A few years ago, I watched a special on McDonald's that was fascinating. It went through the company's history, business philosophies, and plans for expansion. In regard to expansion, the company has at least one team of individuals canvassing China looking for great locations for future McDonald's.
In this show, McDonald's found and built a restaurant on a relatively undeveloped plot of land on the outskirts of an industrial city. Why? Because McDonald's had done its research and knew that within three months of the purchase or lease of that land the local development authority would be approving a mixed-use high-rise community situated adjacent to McDonald's new location that would house over 20,000 residents. So, sure, McDonald's wanted the land to build a restaurant.
But if you were the owner of that land, wouldn't you find it helpful to understand what motivated the selection of that site? Armed with that knowledge, is it not reasonable to ask for a higher price in the negotiation process? That what in this instance is McDonald's desire to acquire the property. The why, however, and a more thorough understanding of the why, is what would really drive the deal.
So listen and figure out what motivates the other side. It will give you a leg up in the negotiation.

2.  Lead Them to the Water and Let Them Drink

A good negotiator knows you can lead a horse to water but you cannot make it drink. Despite your best efforts, the horse must drink on its own.
In litigation, our clients are often frustrated at the length of time it sometimes takes to settle a case out of court. Sometimes this frustration even boils over into demands that we speed the process up or make the other party sign or respond to an offer of settlement.
At the end of the day, however, no amount of complaining, yelling, or otherwise can make the other party sign an agreement. In the end, you can negotiate the deal but the final negotiation—where you ultimately get the party to sign on the dotted line—well, that is all up to them.
You cannot hold their head underwater until they sign. But you can subtlety remind them that every day the agreement is not signed they are just racking up more attorney's fees. Heck, I like to even throw in a little humor referencing the fact I will soon be sending two kids off to college, and I certainly don't mind if they take their time; they are just helping with my kids' college-education fund.
So as in any negotiation, you must be tactful and subtle and lead them to the deal but always mindful you cannot force a deal to be made. A strategy of repeated subtle influence in this regard is often required.

3.  Accent Morphing

Familiarity breeds comfort. Comfort leads to a heightened ability to get a deal done. Let's face it, we are comfortable around those with whom we feel some common bond. Years ago, when we got out of a lengthy negotiation, my co-counsel turned to me and said, "Never realized you had a Southern accent before." As the day wore on, my accent dissipated, and I returned to my normal manner of speaking.
Well, it seemed that I had, during the course of negotiation with the opposing counsel, started speaking in a slight to moderate Southern accent during our marathon discussions before a court in Western Virginia. The opposing counsel himself was a large, imposing Southerner much like Fred Gwynne's portrayal of Judge Chamberlain Haller in My Cousin Vinnie. Well, it seems that somewhat subconsciously after hours of stalemate in this heated discussion I had started adopting the accents of the opposing counsel and the judge, a local legend himself. I know this may sound crazy, but we traced when the ice broke in regard to the settlement talks back to around the time I started speaking in a more gentile, Southern manner.
And so began a practice of mine of sometimes morphing my accent, ever so slightly in some instances, more so in others, to create a bond of familiarity between myself and the person with whom I am negotiating. Now, I'm not saying if you are from the deep South and are negotiating with someone from Brooklyn you should suddenly lose your drawl and go all Vinnie Barbarino on them. Rather, slight almost imperceptible changes in your accent to mirror your opponent in the negotiation can create an unconscious feeling of familiarity with you without the other side even realizing it, to the extent that it can, and often does, assist in the negotiation of a deal.

4.  Vilify, Unite, and Conquer 

Often we are placed in a position that no one wants to be in. A position that someone else has put us in. But the only way out is to negotiate a truce. This is often the case in law when you receive a preliminary ruling that does not support your case or, as is often the case, a ruling that makes trial more difficult for both parties. When this occurs, use the master technique of vilifying the third party, using it to unite those parties in the negotiation, and then conquer the deal through the aforesaid vilification and uniting of common interests.
For instance, we were once in a proceeding in which the judge made a ruling on evidence presented at trial by opposing counsel that was going to fundamentally change the outcome of the case. It was evidence the opposing counsel had offered and, upon our objection, should have been denied but the judge was new, did not know this area of the law very well, and let it in over very stern objections. Even the opposing counsel was stunned it was received.
At the end of the day, all trial counsel agreed that the party offering the evidence was actually in a very bad position. They would likely now win the case, but because the ruling on that critical piece of evidence was simply wrong, we had an absolute grounds for appeal that would be victorious years later, with the matter most likely having to be retried at significant cost and expense.
So what did we do? Vilify, unite, and conquer. Realizing our good fortune, we quickly vilified the court to the opposing counsel, making it appear like the enemy. We established that all parties were now in the same boat, having been sabotaged by this bad ruling. And we settled the case, because no one wanted a three-year appeal that would result in a new trial four to five years from the date of the current trial.
Vilify, unite, and conquer. It won't always be available for you. But when it is, use it to get a deal done.

http://www.inc.com/matthew-swyers/secrets-of-a-master-negotiator.html

How to Get People To Do What They Say

Most of the time when I write for Inc., I feel I have useful tools I can impart to help other small businesses. 

When it comes to accountability, I could use some help myself.

At BerylHealth, I've built a great culture rooted in employee engagement and loyalty.  I'd describe it as a family atmosphere where people love to get up every morning and come to work. But I've found one of the risks of this warm company culture is that it might not always have the type of structure and processes that other businesses have. As a result, we haven't always held people as accountable as we should.

Recently I had to have a "talk" with my senior leadership team.  I felt frustrated with deadlines being missed and lack of communication about projects, and I knew that the team was likely being even less diligent with peers and direct reports (than it was with me).  I have a real pet peeve about this.  Do what you say you're going to do.  But more importantly, communicate your progress if you're not going to hit your deadline. I'm 100% flexible if you renegotiate in advance, but have no tolerance when someone lets a date slip and tries to explain afterward.

Here are some examples of practices that are working for us as a company as we learn how to tighten the reigns without negatively impacting our culture:

Make accountability a core value.
A couple of years ago, many on staff were starting to complain about the lack of accountability for co-workers.  How could they succeed if others didn't meet commitments?  It became such a big issue that we added accountability as a fifth core value of the company.  We called it "commitment to accountability."  We hadn't added a core value in 15 years.

Put a system in place.
There are lots of books, articles, and systems out there to help improve accountability.  We settled on the Oz Principle, which focuses on simple models of "see it, own it, solve it, and do it," and designs a way to communicate either "above the line" or "below the line."  We are now well on our way to institutionalizing this system.

Measure accountabiility in multiple ways.
Just last week, I had my senior team take a self-assessment test on personal accountability.  After all, accountability starts with me, right?  We're also two years into a customer survey through which we measure the accountability and responsiveness of all our departments.  We have found a healthy competition between departments that want to make it to the top of that list or improve scores from the previous year.

Institute consequences for non-compliance. 
What good are deadlines if it doesn't matter if you meet them or not?  Why be at the meeting on time if no one does anything about it?  Everyone has to have skin in the game and be held responsible when they don't comply.

As we've begun to get better, I've found that when people are accountable to themselves and each other, trust improves, and walls fall down.

http://www.inc.com/paul-spiegelman/management-create-a-culture-of-accountability.html

Where does trust come from?

Where does trust come from?

Hint: it never comes from the good times and from the easy projects.
We trust people because they showed up when it wasn't convenient, because they told the truth when it was easier to lie and because they kept a promise when they could have gotten away with breaking it.
Every tough time and every pressured project is another opportunity to earn the trust of someone you care about.

sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2012/06/where-does-trust-come-from.html

Positive Thinking: 7 Easy Ways to Improve a Bad Day

Don't let a bad morning ruin your entire day. Use these mental tricks to change your momentum.

Had a lousy morning? Things looking grim?
Not to worry. The rest of your day need not be a disaster. It can in fact become one of your best, providing you take these simple steps:

1. Remember that the past does not equal the future.
There is no such thing as a "run of bad luck." The reason people believe such nonsense is that the human brain creates patterns out of random events and remembers the events that fit the pattern.

2. Refuse to make self-fulfilling prophesies. 
If you believe the rest of your day will be as challenging as what's already happened, then rest assured: You'll end up doing something (or saying) something that will make sure that your prediction comes true.

3. Get a sense of proportion.
Think about the big picture: Unless something life-changing has happened (like the death of a loved one), chances are that in two weeks, you'll have forgotten completely about whatever it was that has your shorts in a twist today.

4. Change your threshold for "good" and "bad."
Decide that a good day is any day that you're above ground. Similarly, decide that a bad day is when somebody steals your car and drives it into the ocean. Those types of definitions make it easy to be happy–and difficult to be sad.

5. Improve your body chemistry.
Your body and brain are in a feedback loop: A bad mood makes you tired, which makes your mood worse, and so forth. Interrupt the pattern by getting up and moving around.  Take a walk or eat something healthy.

6. Focus on what's going well.
The primary reason you're convinced it's a bad day is that you're focusing on whatever went wrong. However, for everything going badly, there are probably dozens of things going well.  Make list, and post it where it's visible.

7. Expect something wondrous.
Just as an attitude of doom and gloom makes you see more problems, facing the future with a sense of wonder makes you alive to all sorts of wonderful things that are going on, right now, everywhere around you.

Is This Your Employees' Idea of Service?

When an employee flipped off a key customer, this CEO realized his company had a culture problem. Here's how he fixed it.

Many years ago, I received a call from an irate customer. "Your driver," she yelled, "dropped off our fruit and then gave me the finger!"

After calming her down and assuring her that we would correct the situation, I caught up with the delivery driver. "What happened?" I asked.

"Traffic was bad," he said, "and I was running 15 minutes behind. On top of that when I got to the office my normal contact wasn't there. This woman came out of nowhere and started yelling at me that I was late and to put the fruit in her conference room and not in the kitchen where I normally do. So I put the fruit on the table like I do every week and threw up my hands and left."

"That woman," I said, "was your normal contact's boss." I paused. "Why would you do something like that and not try to figure out how you could make the situation better and help her?"

The driver looked at me skeptically and said: "My dad taught me a long time ago that if someone disrepects you then you have to disrespect them right back."

It was at that moment that I realized not everyone had the same definition of customer service that I did.
How do you communicate your customer service values to people who may have never had a good service experience or models of positive ways to treat people? You need to go past just defining what you do and explain why you do it. And this explanation--your philosophy of business--needs to permeate the entire culture and find its way into all of your processes in order to be truly impactful.

The FruitGuys 5Rs©
I spent a good year after that delivery driver experience thinking about how to articulate the company's values to my staff and embed them in everything we do at our fruit delivery business. I realized that those values weren't just about treating our customers in a certain way, they were about the way we treated each other, our peers, our suppliers, our customers, and even the world at large. I needed a system, a philosophy, that allowed for self-reflection, so that when people came up against a challenge in their workday they had a tool to assess themselves as to how they did and how they could improve.

What came out of that year was the 5Rs©--a series of five questions that are deeply aligned with our ethics at The FruitGuys and drive our pursuit of greater meaning through decisions we make every day at work.

Be Respectful:
"Have we been respectful at all times?" This first question in our 5Rs© process is key. To us, respect comes from a place of equality rather than status or forced authority. This means that we should be respectful of people not because (like a police officer) they have power over us, but because they are human just like us.

Be Responsive: 
"Have we been responsive to people's needs?" We talk about the difference between reacting (which tends to be emotional and often without thought) and responding. You need to observe, listen, and understand the problem and think about what solutions will produce positive outcomes in a timely manner.

Be Realistic:
"Have we been realistic about what we can and/or can't do?" This is one that is often overlooked but it's deeply important to admit when you can't do something. This is not to say that you can't strive or push to accomplish goals, but setting realistic expectations with clients, vendors, and other business partners is really the base from which success or failure will flow. We want to clearly assess potential roadblocks and be realistic about what it will take to be successful in our delivery of service.

Be Responsible:
"Have we all taken personal responsibility for outcomes?"  Running a business that is growing is like running a lengthening relay race in which you keep adding runners. The points at which you pass the baton will become greater and greater and you need to make sure that everyone in the organization takes personal responsibility for not just his or her leg of the race, but the handoff, the approach, and the departure of that baton. If everyone in the chain does this--takes the kind of responsibility that touches their work and the work of others--then you have a much stronger system in which everyone constantly communicates.

Be Remembered Positively: 
"Will our actions allow us to be remembered positively?" If, in your analysis of how you solved or didn't solve a problem, the first four Rs don't give you insight, then this last one acts as a catch-all. If you can't walk away from an interaction, scenario, project, or experience and feel that you will be remembered positively, then something went wrong and you need to figure out what that was. This last R truly drives more than just our philosophy of customer service at The FruitGuys, it drives our mission and desire to do good and create positive environments. It reinforces what I think is an inherent cultural value at our company--being humanists as business people who care about positive outcomes and healthy lives.

How to Thank Your Employees in Only 8 Words

Genuine appreciation goes a long way. Here's a guide to get the most out of a brief note, no matter who you're thanking.

The other day I was given the challenge to recognize 30 people by writing each one of them a note, which got me thinking about the amazing implications of recognizing employee's contributions. It shows you are paying attention. It shows you care. It makes people feel valued. And as business guru Tom Peters notes, "People don't forget kindness."

The analytical readers among you are already thinking this article is entirely too touchy-feely, so let me add that there is also a self-serving aspect of thanking people. When you recognize the contributions of others, you reinforce the kind of behavior you want to see again. People who feel their efforts are noticed, and their work makes a difference, are more likely to go the extra mile in the future. Leadership is about empowering others to realize their own abilities. Communicate your belief in your people, and watch them rise to meet your expectations.

Some of you are now thinking, 'How am I supposed to find the time to write personal notes when I have [insert important obligations]?' Well, I can show you how to thank someone appropriately in eight words or fewer. You can do that. Also, you don't want to be that boss who has her assistant order flowers once a year on each employee's birthday. Save your money. Everybody knows someone else did it for you.

When you thank your employees, be prompt. Recognize the kind of effort you want to see again soon. And be spontaneous. Don't wait for a holiday or company-wide event to thank your employees. Of course, be specific, too.

Our research at Emergenetics indicates that most employees would enjoy a personal thank-you note, but they want it customized to them. For example, to say, 'You're doing a good job,' is fine for a "social" thinker, but a "structural" thinker doesn't trust you unless you add a specific task he has accomplished.

So how can you most effectively thank and recognize your employees, based on their individual personalities and traits?

Here are 10 tips, according to brain research:
1. People who are at the gregarious end of the "expressiveness" spectrum use their gift of gab as a work asset. You might write to them: 'I celebrate how you share your enthusiasm,' or 'Thanks for keeping the lines of communication open.'

2. People who are on the quieter end of the "expressiveness" spectrum appreciate one-on-one contact with you. You could say: 'Mary, I prize your well-considered solutions,' or 'I appreciate your respectful attitude toward everyone.'

3. Those employees who are forceful in terms of "assertiveness" especially appreciate the prompt response from you. You could let them know: 'Thank you for keeping the momentum going!' or 'I appreciate your decisive action.'

4. But those who are more easygoing when it comes to "assertiveness" want everyone to get along. You might say: 'Thank you for helping to keep the peace,' or, 'I appreciate your amiability more than you know.'

5. When it comes to "flexibility," staffers who are change-seekers don't get flustered easily. You might write:
'I recognize your easy resilience' or 'Thanks for how you handled [difficult client].'

6. On the other end of the "flexibility" spectrum is people who are focused and have strong opinions. You might jot down: 'I depend on your support,' or 'I honor you for your convictions.'

7. Analytical thinkers value intelligence and individual, rather than team, recognition. To them, you might note: 'I appreciate your penetrating questions,' or 'I respect the depth of your knowledge.'

8. Structural-minded folks want to hear details. You could let them know: 'Thank you for transferring all that data perfectly,' or 'You always meet your deadlines--impressive!'

9. Since social thinkers want to please you, you ought to write them: 'I am so grateful for your teambuilding skills,' or, 'I couldn't have done it without you.'

10. Those on your team who are conceptual by nature want to feel unique. You could let them know: 'Your solution to the XYZ problem was stunning,' or 'I treasure your creative long-term views.'

The power of sincere thanks cannot be overestimated. And when you become a master of employee recognition, you can start thanking your clients, too!

 http://www.inc.com/geil-browning/how-to-thank-your-employees.html

The Problem with Perfection

If you're not familiar with the law of diminishing returns, it states that at a certain point adding more effort will not produce significantly more gains. The challenge is knowing when you've reached that point. For many managers this is an important question: How far do I keep going on a project before I declare that it's "good enough" — and that further effort will not significantly change the outcome?

Several years ago I worked with a project team charged with increasing sales to its large corporate customers. At the first meeting the team brainstormed ways to drive up sales, but before moving ahead decided to collect data about current sales and survey sales managers and customers. Since it wasn't clear which ideas might work, this seemed like a logical next step — until the data analysis work dragged on for months as the team tried to reach the perfect answer.

I've seen this pattern in many organizations where, instead of moving into action, managers insist on doing more analysis. In some cases this is part of a company-wide "paralysis by analysis" culture, while in others it is a personal tendency of the manager or team involved. Either way this oft-repeated pattern results not only in wasted effort, but significant delays in moving forward.

From my experience, there are two often-unconscious reasons for this unproductive quest for perfection. The first is the fear of failing. In many organizations, coming up with a recommendation that doesn't ultimately succeed can be career limiting. So to avoid this fate, managers put in extra effort to get the "right" answer, and back it up with as much data and justification as possible. Then, if it doesn't work, nobody can say that they didn't do their homework.

The second driver of unproductive perfection is the anxiety about taking action. Studying problems and coming up with recommendations is safe territory; while changing processes, procedures, incentives, systems, or anything else is much higher risk. Action forces managers and teams out of their comfort zones, driving them to sell ideas, deal with resistance, orchestrate work plans, and potentially disrupt work processes for colleagues and even customers. So one way to avoid dealing with these messy issues is to keep the study going as long as possible, thus delaying any action.

Because of these psychological dynamics, breaking free of unproductive perfection is not easy. But if you are a project sponsor, leader, or team member, and want to move into action more quickly, here's an approach you can try: Instead of viewing "action" as something that follows research, think about how action can occur parallel to research. In other words, rather than coming up with perfect recommendations and then flipping the switch months later, start by testing some of your initial ideas on a small scale immediately — while collecting more data. Then you can feed the lessons from these experiments into the research process, while continuing to implement and scale additional ideas.

For example, in the sales case described above, the team shifted its patterns by selecting three corporate customers where they could quickly test some of their ideas, in a low-risk way, in collaboration with the sales teams. With one customer, the sales leader experimented with selling products and services together, rather than having services as an after-sell. A second sales leader added a paid advisory service to his offering. The third worked on building relationships higher up in the C-suite. The lessons from these experiments were then incorporated into the team's recommendations, which were then tested with several more customers and so on. Within a year, most of the corporate sales teams were working differently and increasing their overall sales.

Clearly the ideas that first emerge through this iterative approach are not going to be perfect, but by sharpening them through field-testing rather than theoretical analysis they will eventually become good enough to deliver results. Working in this way also reduces the risk of recommending the "wrong" ideas and the anxiety about managing change, since small-scale tests provide rapid feedback and engage others in the organization right from the beginning.

Perfection certainly makes sense when designing an airplane or an office building. But if the search for perfection is leading you to diminishing returns and an avoidance of action, it might be worth taking a different path.

Does your organization have a problem with perfection?

http://blogs.hbr.org/ashkenas/2011/08/the-problem-with-perfection.html

Learned Helplessness in Organizations

Here’s a cautionary tale of cultural disempowerment: A number of years ago, one of my colleagues was asked to help reduce bureaucracy and speed up decision-making in GE’s former nuclear business — but was told that nothing could be done because every procedure was based on government regulations. “We’re talking about nuclear reactors here,” the managers said, “If we change the way we do things, something could blow up!”

Undaunted by their response, my colleague asked the managers to simply list all of their reports, approval procedures, reviews, audits, metrics, decision forums, standing meetings, and other management processes. He then had them identify which ones the government required, and which had been created internally. Much to the managers’ amazement, the vast majority of these management processes were self-generated — which meant that they could streamline much more than they had thought.

In the past year I’ve heard variations on this same theme across completely different industries: Pharmaceutical and financial services managers say that their hands are tied because of regulations or new legislation. Managers in a defense-related firm are constrained because of cuts to the Federal budget. Leaders in a professional services firm can’t take actions because of long-standing partner agreements. And the list goes on. Everyone can blame some kind of external circumstance for his or her inability to act.

Of course all of these explanations are at least partially true. However, around these kernels of truth, managers build concentric circles of excuses that absolve them of accountability for change or improvement. So instead of finding creative ways to deal with regulations or budget cuts, they accept the status quo and blame external conditions for the problems that exist.

This phenomenon — which one of my clients has dubbed “learned helplessness” — has the power to permeate the culture of an organization. Like a spreading infection, managers pass on learned helplessness from group to group and level to level. Eventually the standard response to any initiative is some variation of, “We’d love to do that, but we really can’t.”

From the outside, this kind of culture doesn’t make any sense. As my colleague pointed out to GE’s nuclear managers, many of the constraints are self-generated. But you’ll find most managers are unwilling to courageously challenge their beliefs about taking risks. To fight this resistance and start down this path, here are two steps that you can take:

First, shine a spotlight on the pattern. The first lever for changing a recurring cultural behavior is to make people aware of it. To do this, make an inventory of initiatives that people say they want, but haven’t carried out. Ask why these kinds of initiatives die on the vine. Put together a list of the ten most common excuses for not taking action. The more dialogue you can create around these issues, the more your colleagues will become aware of their largely unconscious behaviors.

Second, prove your organizational power to act. Find one initiative that can demonstrate, even on a small scale, that taking action will not result in catastrophic failure. In one company for example, managers in the field were asked to identify requests from the head office that they thought were silly or redundant. Field managers had always complained about these requests, but never pushed back. Once they were given permission to challenge these “requests” and actually won a few victories, they began to develop the confidence to tackle more ambitious changes.

All managers face real constraints. Effective managers differentiate between those that must be accepted and those that can be challenged.

How can your organization overcome learned helplessness?

http://blogs.hbr.org/ashkenas/2012/06/learned-helplessness-in-organi.html

The Value of Your Attention

Most of our attention is stretched across a bunch of ideas at once and it’s increasingly difficult to stop and pay attention to the world around us. However, our attention span is limited and many of us undervalue its importance.
It’s no secret that in order to form a memory you first have to pay attention to an event, but it’s easy to forget as you’re rushing to work or jogging through the park. As a digital trend, this is prevalent in the idea of the attention economy where attention is a limiting factor in how we process and consume information. It’s one of the essential reasons why notifications are evil as well: we consistently break focus and stop paying attention to a task at hand.
As The Information Diet author Clay Johnson points out, it’s not just about extending your focus so you can pay attention longer, it’s about choosing when it really matters:

As we continue to improve our critical thinking skills, we also need to be more selective about the information we put in our bodies. We need to think critically about the source before we think critically about the content. And we need to think critically about the type of information we’re consuming.

Johnson’s example is with news sources, but the idea is the same for everything you pay attention to. Attention, much like willpower, depletes over time so it’s important to concentrate on what really matters.
One way to practice focusing your attention is to try and memorize a situation and think critically about it. Scientific American sums this up when they address the idea of memorizing a block of text:

Memorization, it seems, is another way of forcing our mind to pay attention-to really pay attention. And it can serve to stop us, to force us to think and reconsider, in a more basic fashion that we would were we to choose the stopping (or reflection) points ourselves-because instead, our brain has oddly enough chosen for us in the way it is storing, processing, and recalling information.

The example in Scientific American is about memorizing and understanding text, but the idea is that when you’re memorizing something you force your brain to pay attention to it because you value that information.
In a recent article in TIME Magazine, researchers suggest a similar idea as a means to increase your power of observation, an idea not too far off from attention. Their suggestion is to keep a field notebook that trains your brain to learn to look for new details:

One of the best ways to do this is through the old-fashioned practice of taking field notes: writing descriptions and drawing pictures of what you see. “When you’re sketching something, you have to choose which marks to make on the page,” says Michael Canfield, a Harvard University entomologist and editor of the recent book Field Notes on Science and Nature. “It forces you to make decisions about what’s important and what’s not.”

TIME suggests that when you force yourself to look for these smaller details by drawing out a scene you teach yourself to differentiate between seeing and observing. Doing so can help you decide where and what is worth your attention.
We tend to put more value on increasing focus and forget to invest in our ability to pay attention. To retrain your brain you could implement the training techniques employed by scientists and start keeping a field journal. You could take the extra time to sit and memorize a scene. The point is that you’re stopping and thinking critically about what you see throughout the day instead of just running past it. It’s a reminder of the importance of being mindful of what you spend your time consuming and digesting.


http://lifehacker.com/5915794/the-value-of-your-attention

The Making of a CEO: Getting Superior Performance from Ordinary People

We'd all like to have a team of superstars, but that's just wishful thinking. What you need is extraordinary performance from ordinary people.

As leaders, we all want a team of superstars. But by definition, there are more ordinary performers in the world than there are extraordinary, and Murphy’s Law ensures that they always wind up on your team. The result: You’ve got a group of average, normal people that must take on formidable challenges.

How do you get an average team to produce extraordinary results?  It is possible. The key isn’t in getting folks to work harder, although that can help. The key is getting them to work smarter, first by making better decisions. Once the decision-making is improved, it makes more sense for people to work harder. Incremental improvement on good ideas can produce a step change in terms of performance. To improve your decisions:

Educate. Helping your group understand the difference between an average decision and a superior one. When a member of your team makes a decision, show them how it can be improved. Make everyone stretch. Eliminate the propensity of average employees to do what has always been done in the past, using the same tools and approaches as before.

Set expectations. Create a culture that instructs and enlightens individuals to consistently make better decisions. At the beginning, it may feel like you are the only one making any good decisions at all. You need to encourage everyone to buy into the bigger mission and to make better decisions.

Empower. As you begin to see that the team is on the right path, empower the folks who have leadership potential to continually improve upon the plan and keep it on the right course. Impress upon each of them their specific role, and celebrate both individual and team results. Don’t let anyone slip back into their comfort zone of the status quo.

Stay the course. Take a page from Peter Schultz, the CEO of Porsche. He turned his company around in the mid-80s, and wrote a book about it. He is famous for saying that one should “plan democratically and implement like a dictator.”

Achieving superior results will always get you noticed, but doing so with an ordinary team forces you to show your mettle a lot faster.

http://www.inc.com/don-rainey/the-making-of-a-ceo-getting-superior-performance-from-ordinary-people.html

Accessing remote file shares with BES 5

One new feature made possible with the release of version 5 of the BlackBerry device software (when used in conjunction with a BES 5 server), is the ability to access and search remote file systems: both Windows and Samba-based.

To add the file share to the BES, log into the BlackBerry Web Administration Console (remember that if using the BAS' internal authentication mechanism, the default username is 'admin' rather than 'besadmin').

Browse to Servers and Components --> BlackBerry Domain --> Component View --> MDS Connection Service. Click on the File tab and select the option to Edit Component:

Enter a name for the share, this can be anything to identify the share to the administrator, as well as the UNC path to the file share [in the form \\(server)\file_share]

This share must be available to the BES, ideally on the same local network.

Enter the details of a domain user account to be used to access the share. This user account must naturally have permission to access the share.

Click Save All.

Click on the Configuration Sets tab:

Enter a name for the Configuration Set and add the file share created earlier.

Now browse to the specific MDS Connection Service instance you want to assign the component to and click on the Component Configuration Sets tab:

 
Add the Configuration Set you created earlier and click Save All.

Now click on the Instance Information tab and select the option to Restart Instance.

The file share has now been configured. To access the share from the handheld device, open the Applications folder and select the Files icon:

Select All Documents and enter in the name of the file if you know it, or a partial match to search for:

http://blog.brightpointuk.co.uk/accessing-remote-file-shares-bes-5