Category: Leadership

Staff Appreciation: The Hidden Key to Solve Resistance to Change

Posted by Phillip Wilson | Oct 14, 2016 | Leadership

What does staff appreciation have to do with managing change?

Everything.

ATD’s Change Again? article gives some hard-to-ignore reasons for why you want to focus on staff appreciation when managing change.

“When staff feel appreciated, resistance diminishes.”

Remember the three reasons people resist change.

They don’t get it (an information gap);
They don’t like it (an emotional reaction); or
They don’t like you (a relational trust issue).
Think about how staff appreciation impacts each of these three areas.

When a person doesn’t feel appreciated, it’s safe to assume that there’s a lot of noise going on in his head. Most of the time he’s just talking to himself. Why does he stay? Is there some place else he could be? Somewhere he could get more recognition? Do something different? Maybe make more money? Meanwhile, he’s trying to find the headspace to actually get his work done. Then you throw a new change effort on top of that.

Managing Change: 3 Reasons People Resist Change

Posted by Phillip Wilson | Oct 7, 2016 | Leadership

Managing change is difficult.

It’s one of the hardest things for leaders to get right. This is because effectively managing change requires leaders to put strategy aside and get real with their people.

Remember our article on Boston Consulting Group’s DICE model? This model is such a valuable resource for those looking to assess the hard factors behind managing change. Have you set a clear and attainable timeline? Did you thoughtfully configure the team? Did you designate the appropriate kind of leader? (The people person rather than the over-achiever.) Have you considered how this change project affects the other duties of your team? Does some work need redistributed?

How to Be a Good Manager: Create the Right Space

Posted by Phillip Wilson | Oct 3, 2016 | Leadership

Wondering how to be a good manager? Great question.

Do you want to know how to be a good manager? For us, it’s simple. You must be less invading and more inviting. When things get stressful (and let’s face it, these days when aren’t they stressful) it is easy for you to become an additional burden to your team. But that’s when leaders get headed down the wrong path. People don’t grow, excel, or shine when they have no room to breathe.

When we teach leaders how to be a good manager we explain the key to keeping morale high without suffocating your team through micro-management is to create a comfortable space where they come to you when things are off track. Think about the space around you. The energy you put off. The ease with which someone feels they can approach you. When they do approach you, do you invite the interruption or are you put off by it?

Change Your Perspective and Change Everything: Fall in Love with Your Job Part 3 of 3

Posted by Phillip Wilson | Sep 29, 2016 | Leadership

Can you really change everything if you change your perspective?

Why not? There is one thing we know for sure. The way you see your self, your work, your friends, your world, has a direct connection to the way you feel about your self. Your work. Your friends. Your world. There are many things in life that are outside our control. But our perspective is not one of them. Change your perspective and you just might change everything.

This is the last bit of advice David Allan gives us on how to fall in love with your job. We wrote about the first two steps – hacking your job and improving relationships with coworkers – here and here.

People want to feel like their work is meaningful. We say that a lot these days. Do you believe it yet? Maybe you’re one of the people still trying to come around to that perspective. (Ah, perspective). We understand. Twenty years ago, few people required meaning to stay at a job. That doesn’t mean they didn’t crave it. Or didn’t feel the effects of the lack there of. It just means they wouldn’t quit their job over it. That’s not true anymore.

How to Get Along with Coworkers: Fall in Love with Your Job Part 2 of 3

Posted by Phillip Wilson | Sep 26, 2016 | Leadership

If you can’t get along with coworkers you won’t love your job.

Recently we discussed David Allan’s first tip for falling in love with your job—hack it. This is part 2 of 3 in the How to Fall in Love with Your Job series.

Allan’s second tip has to do with how to get along with coworkers.

We all know that coworkers mostly fall into the “things about my job that I don’t have control over” category. We don’t get to pick who we work with. But the fact is, how we get along with coworkers (our relationships with them) has a direct impact on our daily lives. It can impact how we feel about ourselves and our work. And we do have control over how we choose to interact with people placed into our lives.

Here are three tips for how to get along with coworkers.