The ‘Meeting Culture’ is under challenge – many organizations are changing the way they run meetings and it’s going to be stand-up job.

I just read this post on the Wall Street Journal blog – No More Angling for the Best Seat; More Meetings Are Stand-Up Jobs – it discusses a software company in Grand Rapids that’s insisting on stand-up meetings. This is the sign of things to come.

You’ve probably been in meetings yourself where the chair is a comfortable zone in which you can listen, day-dream or completely switch off. But more and more organizations are stamping down on the chair, and mandating that employees stay attentive, and erect.

Why? The pace of the modern organization is demanding employees to be sharper and keener, and slouching has no place.

I agree.

I’ve been in countless meetings where it’s been obvious that some attendees are present only to be there for the roll-call, slouching throughout. Have you?

It’s frustrating when, as the meeting holder, it’s clear that some attendees are not there in spirit. Sure, if the meeting is pointless, or it has a flawed agenda, perhaps I’ve deserves it. But that is rarely the case. If we take the right steps to run a meeting properly, and still the meeting is carrying passengers, then we’ve gotta try a different tactic.

Demand the Stand

So if our meetings are failing to create the right momentum, we can try demanding that they’re conducted stood-up. We choose a room with no central table and chairs, and we get right to it.

Standing meetings have to be sharper and punchier, or attendees will start to flag – shuffling from foot to foot, so we’ve gotta be prepared to drive the meeting forward at pace.

We must cut the chit-chat. We must ask direct questions and demand direct answers. We have to maintain pace. This happens easier than you might think.

When I’ve ran standing meetings, the very nature of being upright means that oxygen courses through our veins quicker.  It just works!

©2012 SimonStapleton.com. All Rights Reserved.

Want to make a great impression at your next interview? You only have 15 seconds to do it…

We have only a brief time to make a great impression at an interview. Fifteen seconds – that’s all. That’s according to research conducted by Oregon State University.

A study showed that an observer could predict whether or not the interviewee would be offered the job just from watching just the first 15 seconds of an interview – that’s the handshake, the greeting… and very little else. Those first few seconds determine whether we will be offered the job, or not.

Early mankind and its ancestors had to decide 3 things from an encounter with another creature:

1. Can I Eat it?
2. Can I Have Sex With It?
3. Can I Be Killed By It?

First impressions were (and still are) a survival instinct. And through social development, we still employ it. Our assessment of new people is much more sophisticated and extends to the point employers ask, on meeting a candidate: Do I Like This Person? Can I Work With This Person? Is This Person Trustworthy? Will This Person Be A Good Ambassador For My Organization? All these things questions are assessed and concluded within seconds.

“First impressions are the fundamental drivers of our relationships [..] In a sense, it’s a little like the principle of chaos theory, where the initial conditions can have a profound impact on the eventual outcome. A first impression is your initial condition for analysing another human being.” – Professor Frank Bernieri of Oregon State University

The Factors of the First Impression

What makes up the ‘First Impression’? You already know, but perhaps don’t know that you do. Because you assess them every time you meet someone. In an interview, there are a handful of factors that form the First Impression.

• Your appearance: Are you neat and tidy? Do you have good personal hygiene? Are you attractive? Are you considerate of your appearance?
• Your smile: A smile is crucially important and should appear natural
• Your handshake: A firm handshake is essential
• Your greeting: Make sure you use the other person’s name
• Your location: Sit only if asked to, or often your interviewers have

Your Appearance

• I advise wearing simple, clean and well-ironed clothes – e.g. a suit
• Wear solid, neutral colors. If your suit has stripes, make them be think ‘chalk’ stripes
• Wear a white shirt, or one close to white
• For pete’s sake, make sure the colors are coordinated
• Don’t wear bulky jewellery

Your Smile

• Don’t enter the interview room already beaming a smile. This looks phony. Instead, take a moment to glance around the room at the people present, and then smile at who you think is the person in charge (they’re normally in the center)
• Make it a full, but relaxed smile
• Your mouth should be a little open – don’t be tight lipped
• Use your eyes in the smile too – they should sparkle and be fully open

Your Handshake

• A strong, firm handshake is what you should aim for
• And when I say aim, try to make sure both hands in full contact and the clench extends to each of your thumbs
• Don’t clench too hard – broken fingers are not a good start
• Don’t shake too ferociously too
• Make sure your hands are dry and grease free
• Maintain eye contact at all times

Your Greeting

• Say something like ‘Nice to meet you, Jane’ or something to that effect
• If you’re ever asked ‘How Do You Do?’ (common in my native UK) – the CORRECT answer is ‘How Do You Do?’, too

Your Location

• Your most likely to be sat during the interview – sit only when asked to, or once everyone else has sat down
• If offered a choice of a number of chairs, choose the one most central in aspect to your interviewer or interview panel
• Don’t sit in a sofa or soft chair – this will make you slouch
• Sit with a straight back
• Rest your arms on your knees or legs
• Don’t sit cross-legged
• Don’t sit with your arms crossed
• Don’t fidget or tap your foot
• Don’t dump your bag or briefcase on the table in front of you

All of these factors will be assessed within those first few moments. Your actions and appearance are what are used to assess them. Don’t bungle any of them, and you’re well on your way to making a great first impression and landing that job!

Become an Expert at the First Impression

I recommend this book if you’re SERIOUS about making that First Impression perfect: First Impressions: What You Don’t Know About How Others See You by DeMarais and White.

This book shows how your body language affects peoples view of you, and how they affect your conversation. It even demonstrates how sex appeal has a bearing on it. Each chapter has a checklist that you can fill out to see what areas you may require development in. The methods are simple and sensible. You will find this a constant reference! Buy First Impressions: What You Don’t Know About How Others See You today!

©2012 SimonStapleton.com. All Rights Reserved.

Want to know the most effective way of discovering your ‘next big thing’? Try copying an idea from somewhere else…

‘New Ideas’ are rarely new. Innovation is mostly about using other people’s ideas and executing them better. The greatest inventions in history haven’t been conjured up entirely from scratch. Instead, they’re improvements on other ideas and technologies.

Take the iPod. Not a new idea. MP3 players already existed. The Mac already existed. All Apple did was to combine the musical function of an MP3 player and apply their User Interface philosophy (that’s the way people interact with something). And then mix in already established technologies (e.g. the first iPod used firewire technology for connecting the device to a PC – now replaced with USB).

It’s unrealistic (and uncommercial) to attempt forming new ideas in business from scratch. Technology (used in the loosest sense of the word) is about creating new thinking by improving old thinking.

Mashing Up

‘Mash-ups’ is a term to describe the emerging trend in combining technologies to create a new product or service. For example, many web and smartphone apps use Google Maps within their core. Twitter and Facebook too.

Mashing-up goes beyond the technical implementation – its a term that can be used to describe the thinking and idea-generation process too. Someone had the idea of combining a number of ideas to produce one unique idea, or perhaps, a similar idea to another but implemented it better.

Mashing up doesn’t just have to be about computer technology. It can be about anything. We can generate ideas for new products, services and businesses by combining stuff that already exists and improving on them. Just imagine – we could create an idea for a new fashion store by combining franchises from apparel brands, Starbucks, and a bookshop. It could be a place for people to hang out, see what other the young and trendy are wearing, and offer deals on complete outfits that gain popularity.

A post on the Jurgen Appelo’s NOOP.NL blog – The Mojito Method – describes this perfectly.

When you mix different ideas from multiple sources, a new idea can emerge that both aggregates and improves on the pre-existing ideas – Jurgen Appelo, NOOP.NL

Jurgen describes the ‘Mojito Method’: “The mojito method makes sense for anyone who wants to innovate without the trouble of inventing entirely new stuff.” It’s a shortcut!

Take my impromptu idea of the fashion store above; why bother inventing the coffee outlet and popularizing beverages, when Starbucks have done it already? Why bother developing a supply-chain for book distribution, when Barnes & Noble has done it already? Get the picture?

This principle can literally be applied to anything: a new process to speed up processing insurance claims; a new sales technique; a blog or website; a new way to discover your customers interests…

©2012 SimonStapleton.com. All Rights Reserved.

In days of old, managers were the king-pins of their domains and were to be obeyed without question. Not so today. Managers must understand their employees to build an efficient and effective working environment.

If you’ve read Charles Dickens’s A Christmas Carol, then you’ll know how Ebenezer Scrooge ruled with an iron-fist and commanded his staff to comply to his every word without question. It seems a ridiculous management style, now, but (in fact) in wasn’t that far away from the norm back in the early 19th century. Managers (thankfully) can’t behave like that now, so management style has shifted over the decades to be based on relationships, persuasion and collaboration.

A strong relationship between manager and employee means that trust and respect forms and grows. Not just that. When they understand each other, they capitalize on each other’s strengths, and make allowances for each other’s weaknesses. They’re symbiotic relationships.

Managers employ a number of techniques for getting to know their employees. And from my own experience, it requires a variety of tactics:

Getting to Know Their Jobs, Career Aspirations and Work Style

Most new managers take time to get to know the division of labor within their team, and how the labor is performed, using one-on-one meetings. Armed with resumes or other documentation, a manager has a great opportunity to get the lay of the land and discover who is doing what and how.

Alison Green‘s blog post what should a new manager ask to get to know employees better? offers a great list of questions for doing this. Here’s some of them:

• What do you see as the main goals of your role?
• What are the most important things for you to achieve this year?
• Are you on track to doing that? Are there milestones to meet on the way? What things are you worried might get in the way?
• What do you like the most about your job? The least?
• What would help you do your job better?
• Is there anything I should know about how you like to work?

I find it also helpful to ask questions that discover how employees see their work in relation to their colleagues. For example:

• What’s the most important thing you need to achieve as a team this year?
• How does doing X help John do Y?
• If you didn’t do X, what would happen when Mary did Z?

Getting to Know Each Other’s Personalities

We only really get to know about how someone ticks is when we have seen them in a variety of situations. This is why team-building exercises became popular. But you don’t need to go on an organized event to do it. I’ve used quite simple techniques to great effect. I like to take my team bowling. It puts people in a competitive situation, and it’s also a good way of discovering how people react to wearing the crazy shoes and performing the strange bowling techniques. I certainly root out the competitors, the vain, the show-offs and the clowns! Here are more examples of things I’ve done before:

• Paintballing
• Mini karting
• Dining out
• Volunteer work
• Sailing

Getting to Know Each Other’s Families

The impact of work on family life is an important consideration for employees, and their employers. Families are the supportive framework underneath our employees. It’s important to create opportunities for our employees to bring their families together (whether individuals take them, or not). BBQs and family-days are a great way to create these opportunities. It’s fantastic to see all the kids play together, spouses to chat over a burger and a glass of something. It’s a wonderful way of discovering the real person away from the desk and the hubbub of work.

Do you have other ideas on how managers can get to know their employees? Please share them by leaving a comment.

©2012 SimonStapleton.com. All Rights Reserved.

If disaster or disappointment strikes, it’s normal to ask ourselves why. Why did I fail? Why didn’t I get the job? But these questions aren’t the RIGHT questions to ask. They’re not helpful!

I was just checking out Michael Hyatt‘s blog and found his post The Power of Asking the Right Question. Michael proposes that asking questions that reinforce the reasons for failure destroy hope. If you were to ask yourself Why didn’t I get that job? you might then answer yourself that you’re under-qualified, too arrogant, too old, unattractive, etc…

What help are those answers? None at all…

As Michael says, this is a good example of a bad question.

It’s pointless asking ourselves questions that further deepen our crisis and damage our self-esteem. It’s best not to ask these questions in the first place!

What Makes a RIGHT Question?

Firstly, here’s a clue. Avoid starting your question with WHY. ‘Why’ starts us down the negative route.

Much better: start your questions with HOW. ‘How’ puts us into a problem-solving mode. How is open ended, and lubricates the wheels of action.

For example:

• How can I avoid these failures again?
• How can I become a more suitable candidate?
• How do I make my resume stand out?

These questions helps us think of the problem from a fresh perspective, and gives us hope. When I do this, I instantly feel the buzz of hope in the pit of my stomach. I feel energized.

So if you find yourself asking yourself WHY something didn’t happen, then reevaluate the question and ask yourself HOW you can change future opportunities.

©2012 SimonStapleton.com. All Rights Reserved.

Do you accept requests from people and the dollar signs flash over your eyes, or do you view them as a way to add value to your colleagues/customers?

This is what fellow blogger Eric Brown is asking in his post Are you building an “order taker” or “solution maker” environment?

Eric’s post is IT-oriented, but the principle applies to any job or business: what’s your motive?

When I read Eric’s post, it got me thinking about my experiences with suppliers whose motive is to sell more stuff. They weren’t interested in making me a happy customer. They weren’t concerned with whether what I was asking for was, in fact, right for me. They didn’t care less if I was making a mistake when ordering something – even when they knew it wasn’t the best value, or even compatible with what I had bought from them in the past.

These people are coyotes, scavenging off the naive, uninformed or vulnerable.

Then I think about the people who have told me that I don’t need that… this would be a better and cheaper option… it’s best if you did this yourself with what you have already invested in.

These people are angels. They have integrity. They know what I needed, and when I needed it. And they cared about making my life and work better.

Have you had experiences of coyotes and angels?

Guess which I would rather buy from?

©2012 SimonStapleton.com. All Rights Reserved.

Is your Performance Review looming? Let me share a little secret with you about how to answer questions in your review.

You might be expecting me to say something like “Honesty is the Best Policy.”

And you know what, you would be right. But it would be trite of me to leave it there.

The best way to answer Performance Review questions is to take a ‘holistic approach’.

So What’s a Holistic Approach?

I’ve written, many times before, that your Performance Review/Appraisal is about YOU. This is a very true statement. But perhaps (in this context) a bit misleading, because YOU work in an organizational context of other people.

If all you were to do, when answering questions from your reviewer, were to talk about how your work and performance impact and benefit you only, you’re missing a trick. Because people are inherently selfish – they don’t really want to know about you – they want to know about themselves. Their ‘listening’ filters are continuously scouring your answers for information that they can understand in their own terms… or even for information that benefits themself, as opportunities or for vanity’s sake.

So we must use this to our advantage, and of course, we must do it with integrity, too.

When I use the term ‘holistic’, I refer to viewing what you do, and the value you create through your work, in a wider context – a context that includes the people around you – upwards, downwards and across-ways in your organization. They’re your colleagues, direct reports and your bosses. It also considers the business and organization contexts, such as management, financial and strategic.

So when you’re answering questions about your work performance, you must include the people around you, and the business benefit in there too. Here’s what I mean. I’ll use two examples, each with a ‘bad’ and ‘good’ answer.

Example One

Q: Julie, what has been your greatest achievement over the last 3 months?

Bad A: Bill (Julie’s boss) I thought I totally rocked the Acme Associates deal. I used an even better approach to structure the proposal and worked the finances to make it really appealing. I’ll bet the stockholders will be pleased with me!

Good A: Well Bill, we really made great progress when you and I went to see Acme Associates and landed that distribution deal. Our structured approach in our proposal really worked – without it I struggled last time. It was also great to work with Mary (Julie’s colleague) on the finances as we needed to offer a very competitive discount this time around before quarter-end. I’m sure you’re the same in thinking that our stockholders needed some good news.

See what I did in the good answer? Julie didn’t just answer the question by talking about herself, like before. Julie included her boss and a colleague in the answer. And she also included the benefits to stockholders, to boot. Her answer here also included a development point (about using the structured proposal) – something Julie has learned and applied during the review period.

You might also note that I used the word ‘I’ when referring to a past issue or failure in the good answer. This is important as Julie doesn’t want to imply a) that she is devolving a past mistake, and b) that she wants to take the credit for the learning point.

My last point is also deliberate: “I’m sure you’re the same in thinking…” as she is opening up the point for confirmation, or challenge, without directly asking a question. This allows Bill to step in with his own thoughts which can move the conversation along.

During each point made, Julie has answered honestly and considered not just the impact of my performance on herself, but instead she considered the wider impact.

Example Two

Q: So Julie, the general feedback from across the team is that you’re not communicating issues quickly enough. Sometimes with painful consequences. How will you resolve this?

Bad A: Bill – don’t just blame me on that. John and Eva (Julie’s direct reports) were telling me way too late about the issues. I will sort it out. You don’t need to worry about it – leave it with me.

Good A: I know – sorry Bill. I’m working on it. Often I hear about the issues late myself, but I think that’s because I am not making it clear enough to John and Eva at what point they should give me an early warning. I am going to review the procedures with them so that we can build in this early warning system without it causing too much disruption to us. I’ll then come back to you with what I am going to do.

Julie has a problem! In her good answer, she starts out by saying she knows about the problem, and that she takes responsibility for it. Sorry is a powerful word. The problem may be as a result of a combined failing with colleagues, but she doesn’t spread the blame or defend the indefensible. In her answer, Julie discusses a joint solution with colleagues, and acknowledges that a solution must work for everyone involved – not just her. She then reaffirms her accountability for the solution by promising to personally discuss the plan with Bill.

Both examples demonstrate the difference between an individual approach and my recommended holistic approach.

Before your next Performance Review, why not consider how you can answer questions with a holistic approach?

©2012 SimonStapleton.com. All Rights Reserved.

There are six people you should avoid becoming ‘friends’ with on Facebook. Want to know who they are?

CBS News have just published a neat post ‘Facebook: 5 people never to friend from work‘ – a list of people who you should avoid linking to in Facebook. Perhaps, already, some of them are already there? You better check, quick!

And I just added a sixth.

The CBS post says you should avoid these people…

1) Your Boss

2) Your HR Rep

3) Your office ‘frenemy’

4) A previous Boss

5) Anyone you manage

and here’s an additional one I’ve thrown in:

6) Anyone who sells to you, or buys from you

Why? Well I don’t know about you, but I’d hate for a situation to occur where a person I was transacting with had more than the necessary leverage over me. Or, perhaps, claim some false affiliation or relatedness to break down some of my barriers. Agreeing a price through negotiation is all about leverage, and a game of wits, so it wouldn’t be helpful if I was compromised in some fashion. Or they might not choose to do business with me at all, based on some real (or misinterpreted) opinion I had written.

We really do have to be careful about our friends on Facebook. They should be real friends. People you trust and can share your world openly with, without fear of it being used against you or misinterpreted!

©2012 SimonStapleton.com. All Rights Reserved.

I am two weeks into my yoga experiment, and I share the results…

Two weeks ago, I started yoga.

I was getting a bit fed up with neck and shoulder pain, brought on by tension and bad posture. It was becoming a pain in the neck.

Coincidentally, a buddy of mine was thinking of starting a yoga group for a bunch of guys and I agreed to join to experiment if it could be a solution to my problem.

The Class

Another buddy offered a room in his house for six of us to start the class. We begin the class at 7pm on a Tuesday evening. We committed to a four-week stretch, with an expectation we’ll continue in 2012.

The group is myself, Andy G, Andy D, David, Mike and Bob – a bunch of average guys from a Cotswold village.

Our instructor is Anne who has been doing yoga for 20 years, and the reason why we chose her is because she started yoga because she too suffered from back pain, and, she offers a simple and flexible style where we’re not expected to be tying ourselves up in knots. This yoga style is all about suppleness and flexibility.

So we got started, and to be honest, I wasn’t sure what to expect.

The ‘Moves’

We did a number of stretches and relaxation techniques. These were intended to stretch the back, legs and neck. Anne talks a lot about creating more room between our joints and vertebrae. They’re quite simple moves that anyone can do. A lot of it is about lying on the floor and concentrating on breathing. Easy!

Because I was doing it with a group of buddies, I didn’t feel self-conscious about some of the strange positions we were getting into. Sticking my ass in the air with a bunch of strangers might not have been as easy-going.

The Results

So I am two weeks into the experiment, and the results so far have been great. I have no pain in my back and neck, and I already feel looser and more supple. I really enjoy the class; spending time with my buddies and feeling great health benefits afterwards.

I am already confident that yoga will be a great solution, and preventative, for my back and shoulder pain.

But wait, there is an effect I hadn’t expected which is even more powerful. I can sleep better! Yoga has taught me how to relax and switch off my brain. Lying in bed, when I am not 100% exhausted, is a breeding ground for unhelpful thinking which keeps me awake. But practising breathing techniques through yoga has helped me learn how to switch them off and get to sleep far quicker than before.

So here’s the thing: yoga is wonderful for relieving and preventing pain, and getting a good nights sleep. At least it is for me. And in such a short time, too!

I’ll share my latest results at the end of the fourth week.

©2012 SimonStapleton.com. All Rights Reserved.

We’re almost at the close of 2011, and it’s been quite a year. If you’re like me, then a good rest over the holidays is badly needed. But what next? 2012 can be a GREAT year for us, when we focus on productivity.

I’ve just read a post on the Harvard Business Review blog, Five Things You Should Stop Doing in 2012, and it shares some great tips on how to sharpen up our productivity.

My two favorites are stop doing work that’s not worth it and stop making things more complicated than they should be.

For most people, their annual performance appraisal is due over the coming weeks (is yours?) This is an ideal time to bring up issues connected to the above points.

Over time, some tasks we’re doing lose their effectiveness, because the world moves on, and technology speeds things up (or makes tasks redundant). Often, though, these tasks aren’t reviewed to ensure that they’re a good use of our time. These things might be stock-checks, or regular meetings… you’ll know what you do that isn’t effective.

Use your performance appraisal as a point to ask “should I REALLY be doing this any longer?”

This is a powerful question.

And ally this to the second point. Tasks we regularly perform can become unnecessarily complicated, because the process is inflexible. Such as filling out paperwork that nobody reads, or sending out letters that clog up the mail-room. When a task is ‘new’, our competence in it is low, so check-sums and balances are used to help identify problems. But when we’re adept at a task, we no longer need those checks and balances.

I’m not suggesting that we take additional unnecessary risk; some things HAVE to be done to comply with regulations or policy.

What I am suggesting is you review the effectiveness of every sub-task (like filling out a section on a form) and review whether it really adds to the quality of your product/service, increases profit, or reduced risk.

And it’s OK to challenge policy too, if that policy is ineffective.

This is a powerful challenge.

So use your coming performance appraisal as a way of introducing these questions and challenges. Done objectively, it can be a powerful means of stimulating change, and innovation.

©2012 SimonStapleton.com. All Rights Reserved.

Business Readiness is a measure of how ready an organization is to take on change.

This may be a new technology, as a result of a project.

This may be a new process, as a result of business improvement.

This may be new people, as a result of growth.

This may be fewer people, as a result of rationalization.

Whatever the change, it’s always a good idea to make sure your organization is ready for it.

Business Readiness is hard to define, as there is no discreet measure. Being 85% ready means nothing, without context. Somehow, we have to put some measures in place to know. These can be qualitative, and quantitative.

For example:

• A customer service team is 60% ready when 6 out of 10 staff have been trained in a new system.
• A manufacturing team is 80% ready when 8 out of 10 units output meets quality tests.
• A sales team is 100% ready when they have all gone through product training and passed certification.
• An engineering team is 90% ready when they’ve recruited 9 out of the 10 new hires.

Get the picture?

However, it’s rare to see just one dimension (measure) when looking at Business Readiness. There can be many measures, each with its own weighting and importance.

For example, the two measures of business readiness for a new IT system maybe ‘People Trained’ and ‘Upgraded IT Equipment Provisioned’. ‘People Trained’ may have more weighting, if the new system can run on older equipment, albeit less efficiently.

It’s important to construct a simple model (as simple as possible) to measure Business Readiness so that employees and management have a target to aim for which is properly understood.

Then, the business decision to GO or NOT GO can be made on an informed basis. An organization may choose to go-live with a change when the organization has reached 80% readiness. The gap of 20% is an expression of business risk, which should be mitigated (the mitigation, or backup plan, should be an input to the decision itself.)

The beauty of this concept is that it brings clarity to something that is otherwise very difficult to articulate. It’s good management practice.

©2012 SimonStapleton.com. All Rights Reserved.

Being influential is something we can all develop. In my years in both the corporate and SMEs, I’ve met people who are great and influencing others, and people who are lousy at it. Here are five observations I’ve notice in the latter!

1. Forcing your own agenda

Without a doubt, the biggest mistake in influencing is when someone is on broadcast-mode, talking only about what THEY want to talk about. This is annoying, and I hate this. When I am in this situation, I switch off and my eyes glaze over, and all I then do is to find the best way to get this idiot out of my face. I was at a business show not that long ago and some guy approached me to talk about his financial wizardry, telling me that his scheme was far safer than my pension, and and that I should disinvest my retirement fund and use it to make loads of money in his caper. Not once did he ask me about my situation. He didn’t even listen to the answers to the questions he did ask. He clearly wanted to say his well rehearsed pitch. I couldn’t wait for this ass to leave me alone, and made my exit as soon as I could.

This experience isn’t unique. It happens all the time. You’ve probably experienced it too.

Last time this happened to me, I simply said, “So is it my turn to talk now?”

2. Schmoozing

One other thing I dislike intensely is when someone is clearly trying to be-friend me through insipid sycophancy. Slimy creatures, they are. They smile, nod their heads, but I can see there is no interest in me or my needs whatsoever. Instead they say what they think I want to hear. They buy lunch, and throw in all the treats. They buy our favor, rather than our reasoned agreement. It might feel good to be treated like a king, for a while, but when the reality of making an important decision (from which our OWN performance will be judged by our peers), the technique falls flat on its face.

You see, these people try to buy us into a ‘psychological contract’ that has nothing to do with the product, service or solution. It’s a crude and ineffective use of personal and reward power, with an edge of coercion.

One time this happened, I looked over the oyster shell I had just emptied and asked “So when are you going to get to your point?”

3. Picking Holes

This kind of influencer constantly picks holes at our own statements or situations. They’re relentless. This CAN be a great sales technique if it’s done subtly, and in balanced way. Instead, the person who continually attacks is a dreadful bore, and brings us down. We generally know where our problems are – they don’t need to be irritated or scratched. It’s a negative technique that can only work against the weak-minded, who will say YES just to find relief (only to say NO from a safe distance).

Some chump was doing this last week, so I put on a sad face and said “You’ve made me feel very unhappy now, I don’t want to talk any more.” And left the room.

4. ‘Yes…But’ moments

Don’t you hate it when someone is just waiting for us to catch our breath to interject a ‘Yes… But…’? They’re not listening! When I find myself in one of these conversations, I’m wasting my time. Because the other person is filtering out what I say and listening only for the pauses. It’s similar to point 1, but even more annoying! Someone doing this often moves with a rocking motion – almost as if they’re throwing their body into the gap. Even worse is when they deliberately talk over me.

I sometimes fight fire with fire, and say “Yes… But you’re not listening to me” – this is a good way of disarming your foe without getting aggressive.

5. ‘Divide & Conquer’

These people pick targets off, one by one, and look for their weaknesses – often choosing one of the above tactics to influence them. This is cunning. They expect to build consensus by getting individual agreement to their caper. The thing is, people talk. The whole sham comes crashing down when the group responsible for the decision actually congregate to make the decision, only to discover this flawed tactic.

I’ve dealt with this situation by inviting the enemy into a meeting, only to be faced with the whole group involved in the tactic. Squirm? They can hardly keep their ass on their seat!

©2012 SimonStapleton.com. All Rights Reserved.

I’ve just added a Google +1 button to my blog, and I need your help to test it out.

OK so I am a bit slow on uptake on Google+1. But I’ve taken the plunge and added a button to each post to test it out.

I am a bit cautious about adding yet another rating solution to pages as there are oodles of them already. I’ve added the google one because… Well it’s google.

Are these rating widgets just about vanity?

For some, perhaps, but the value of Google +1, and the like, is centered on providing great content. When I get feedback that gives insight into the content you like and find useful (and the content you don’t) then I then know what I should write more about. Simple!

So will you help me test it out please?

Please click the google +1 button next to your favourite posts.

Thanks!

[this post is also another breakthrough for me - it's the first post I have written completely on my new iPad 2]

©2012 SimonStapleton.com. All Rights Reserved.

French giant Atos has just announced a ban on internal emails. Others are bound to follow suit. So is this the end of internal emails?

According to BusinessInsider, the company intends to do away completely with internal email, instead opting for instant messaging and Facebook-like communication.

BOMBSHELL: Huge Company Bans Internal Email, Switches Totally To Facebook-Type-Stuff And Instant Messaging

I’ve also been working on a project recently with a large financial services institution in the UK – they’re looking at using these technologies for internal communications too. The prevalence of Facebook and instant messaging has changed the game for communication on the whole, and now business is waking up to the potential. Not just that, internal users are demanding it.

Workers are becoming so adept at using social-media platforms that business really has to look at the most effective and efficient means of communication. Organizations are a social enterprise, whether they see themselves that way or not, and social enterprise tools are driving the agenda.

So does this mean you will be replacing your internal email, too?

I think not, in the short-term. Atos are making a brave step, and because of their deliberate and energetic move towards social enterprise functions, they’re ready to make the move.

Most organizations are not, to be blunt.

But I predict over the next 5 years, there will be a big change.

And here is YOUR opportunity.

If you can see the benefit to your organization of using social enterprise technology, you can drive the debate. Like any business change, there needs to be a good case for it… normally stated in increased revenue, reduction in costs, increased profit, better customer service, faster delivery, etc.

It can be a struggle, I admit, to build this case. Straight away, at least. Until you’ve ‘had a go’, it’s hard to measure what the benefit will be. And, of course, there will be the cynics who are scared of change to stifle progress.

But we all have to start somewhere. One thing I’ve seen that works is to begin developing an enterprise community around tools like Facebook and (preferably) LinkedIn. Test the appetite; test the culture; test the technology. And be prepared for frustration – you won’t change things overnight!

©2012 SimonStapleton.com. All Rights Reserved.

I’m getting a bit fed up of the shoulder and back-pain I’ve been carrying. Mostly through tension. So I am going to experiment with yoga to see if it can help me banish the ache, so I can continue with living and working!

If you’re anything like me, then you’ll know how much back and shoulder pain can be a grisly distraction. You see, I sit at my desk (or I should say, hunched at my desk), affixed on my PC monitor. My posture isn’t great. But, like many people, I often don’t know I am doing it.

But it’s not just bad posture that explains the pain. This year has been a tough one for me personally. I’ve separated, and divorced, from my wife. I’ve had to adjust to a new home and lifestyle – I’ve also been under pressure to keep the wheels turning in my job and, with the economic climate as it is, things have been tough. It’s been tough for most people this year!

So with all things considered, back pain isn’t a terrible consequence… but if you know me from my blog, I don’t just let things carry on or accept it as ‘the way things will be’. So I am going to try yoga, as a release for tension and a possible resolution for my back and shoulder pains.

Why Yoga?

Why not? I’m told it can be a great solution for these kinds of ailments.

Also, I’ll be starting it with a group of my buddies, too. So I will get the support and camaraderie from the guys, and it will be fun. Doing something new, like this, with a bunch of pals also means we hold each other to account and it’s healthy peer-pressure.

What Do I Want From Yoga?

I’m not interested in tying myself in knots. I’m also disinterested in achieving an ‘inner peace of mind’ through yoga – although if it happens, it will be a nice consequence. What I really want is just to loosen up. This will mean I can release my pain and stop it happening again. I don’t want to be distracted in important meetings any more by the constant ache. I just wanna be loose!

We’ve chosen an instructor whose style is just that – offering lessons in a type of yoga that aims to build suppleness and flexibility, without going over the top. I’m not sure if it has a name, but to be honest, I don’t think this style needs a label for me to know it’s what I want!

So I will keep you uptodate – when I’ve had my first class on Tuesday, I’ll let you know how it goes!

©2012 SimonStapleton.com. All Rights Reserved.

This is the first post in a new series ‘Managing Your Manager’. In this post, we’ll be looking how to influence your manager in making decisions.

One thing I have learned as a manager is that making decisions based on information provided by direct reports can be very difficult. All too often, people bamboozle and confuse the decision-making process by providing too much information, and too much choice.

Managers are busy – and we tend to have a wide portfolio of responsibilities. Equally, we employ people to bring expertise and judgment into a situation, so that we don’t have to. This is what delegation is all about, after all.

But when managers receive wide choice, without judgment being applied to narrow the options to a small number of choices, it creates a problem. In most cases, that’s what a managers reports think they want. Wrong.

The Paradox of Choice is a very real concern. In today’s culture (been to a coffee-shop lately?), we’re bombarded by options from which we must choose. Making a choice from a huge array of options is difficult. It can be stressful – especially when the benefits of one option, when compared to the other, are intangible or non-existent. It’s a paradox, because the choices are there to give us what we want and make life easier!

Simple choice makes life easier, and choices happen quicker.

How To Influence Your Manager’s Choice

You can help your manager, and influence their decisions.

It’s so much easier for a manager to make a decision when the number of options are few. In my book, less than six is perfect. Any more than that, then I’m forced to spend much more time and energy weighing up the options.

Even better is when I’m given choices, and a single recommendation. If I trust the judgment of my people, then why shouldn’t I trust them to make a recommendation?

As a manager, (after probing a bit more into how the options were formulated) I still reserve the right to reject all the options, and request more. But this happens infrequently.

What Makes a Good Range of Options?

A decision is based upon facts and assumptions:

• Assumptions about the meaning of facts
• Assumptions about the consequences of the decision
• Assumptions about what has happened in the past, what’s happening now, and what will happen in the future

Assumptions are good, if they’re arrived at through judgment and reasoning. So each option must be justified about what assumptions have been made. Each option may be based on different assumptions. This is good too. We don’t always get our assumptions right, and presenting the possibilities of different assumptions being true demonstrates good judgment too.

Each option must also be backed up with the Business Case – benefits to the organization if that option was to be selected.

Each option must also be backed up with the consequences – i.e. the downsides and impact on other organizational activities.

And each option must also be backed up with the resources required to execute that option: people, money, time, etc.

I find it helps a lot if the limited range of options is presented as a table, with each of the supporting factors (listed above) listed, and even scored.

If you don’t do these things, then your manager has to do it themself!

Taking this approach helps to make the decision as objective as possible. Which, after all, is what a manager (who is making a decision with the best intentions of the organization in mind) desires the most!

©2012 SimonStapleton.com. All Rights Reserved.

If you’re like me, then you have the occasional sleepless night. I find myself tossing and turning and I can’t stop thinking about what’s troubling me. Most of these worries are work-oriented. What can we do about it?

The problem with a sleepless night is that we tend to be worrying about something we have no immediate control over. This is why many people worry about what’s going on at work. Lay in bed – we can’t fix the problem. We can sometimes make decisions, but we can’t put them into action. It’s frustrating.

And then we’re left tired the next day, with little energy and motivation to fix the problem! And the wheel turns again…

I hate this. Don’t you?

In the past, I’ve tried drinking beer and wine until I was drunk enough not to worry about my problems. But then wake up feeling like crap. Better, I try reading until I can’t keep my eyes open. This is a healthier option, but still it can take some time to get to the point of utter tiredness, especially if the book is stimulating.

These things don’t really solve the problem.

So What Do I Do To Avoid Sleepless Nights?

It’s something I’ve learned over the years. And it’s tried and tested by many people, too.

What I do now, is this.

Before I go to bed I get a notepad and pen, and write down what worries me. Or whatever is on my mind. That’s it.

But don’t think that this is too trivial to work. It’s not magic, but it is a mind-trick.

When we write something down like this, we can ‘dump’ our worries onto the paper. Our worries are captured in ink. The very act of doing this, somehow, makes the problem drift away from our immediate conscious. I guess because we know we can pick it up, afresh, in the morning.

And you know what, a good night sleep can result in the problems being fixed, anyway. When we sleep, our brains sort and file information – it’s a sleeping problem-solver.

How many times have you gone to bed with a problem on your mind, only for it to feel easy-peasy to solve the next day? I know I have, many times.

It really does work: Ivy Lee, a management consultant back in the early 1900s went to Charles Schwab and advised the management team to write down the six things they didn’t do each day before they went to bed.

There was such a noticeable improvement in performance, Ivy was paid $35,000 USD for this single piece of advice (millions in today’s money!)

So, get your notepad and pen ready before you go to bed tonight!

©2012 SimonStapleton.com. All Rights Reserved.

It’s foolish to think that the great people of our day, and yesterday, did not experience defeat. High-performers learn to cope with defeat – actually they relish defeat, as a learning opportunity to win, next time.

Any high-flyer that tells you that they’ve got where they are today without tasting failure is lying, or possibly, not what they say they are.

Defeat, of any kind, is a failure to win (I know, obvious.) But here’s the thing – winning or losing is always about playing the odds. A win where the odds are stacked heavily in our favor is not much of a win to brag about, and it’s likely to be something that many other people can win at, too. High-performers are such because they win when the odds are stacked against them. So the chances of failure are great. And fail, they do. It’s the successes they’re remembered for though.

Failure is something that all aspiring high-performers should expect, and plan for.

A wise man fights to win, but he is twice a fool who has no plan for possible defeat
- Louis L’Amour

Take Charles Edison; he was fired from his first two jobs for under-performing! He’s known for inventing the light-bulb (ah but not the energy efficient ones we have to use now…!) It’s said that he tried 1,000 times, and failed, to produce the filament that eventually brought him success. That’s 1,000 failures, for 1 success. That’s a failure rate of 1000:1. Now imagine if he gave up after the 999th attempt. Or the 10th attempt. Or the first? People would have been sitting in darkened rooms, only dimly lit by lamps burning whale-blubber, for decades after. But Edison persisted, learning and refining his materials and methods, until Eureka! A light-bulb came on above his head…

Defeat is not the worst of failures. Not to have tried is the true failure.
- George Edward Woodberry

Now take Walter Elias Disney (that’s Walt to you and I); he was fired by a newspaper editor because “he lacked imagination and had no good ideas.” Can you believe that? He even went bankrupt several times. That’s before he built up his empire. Even Disneyland was rejected by the city of Anaheim, on the grounds that it would only attract “riffraff” to the city. Funny! Disney took defeat on the chin, and thought again. He used each failure as a learning opportunity and was stimulated further to achieve his dreams and goals. Failure was the making of Disney.

Defeat should never be a source of discouragement, but rather a fresh stimulus.
- Bishop Robert South

If you’re an art-lover, you’ll know all about Vincent Van Gogh. Even if you’re not, you’ve probably heard about him. He’s the guy who cut his own ear off and died at the age of 37 from a self-inflicted gunshot. He was a miserable man, for most of his life. Perhaps not a high-performer? He didn’t think so. It’s no surprise though, because he sold only one painting during his life. This was to the sister of one of his friends for 400 francs, which was approximately $50. But in his life, he completed over 800 paintings. Many of these are beautiful, and breath-taking. He is revered today and his works exchange hands for $millions. He didn’t cope with his personal defeats, which is why he didn’t live to see how successful he has become. Shame.

Defeat may serve as well as victory to shake the soul and let the glory out.
- Edwin Markham

High-performance is about learning from our defeats, coping with the fall-out, but then moving on, re-invigorated and a little more wise. More defeats – more invigoration – more wisdom. We shouldn’t be afraid of defeat. As high-performers, we embrace them and expect them, and accept them as the way we get to the top.

We have to first admit our defeats, before they’re in any way useful for our development.

Defeat never comes to any man until he admits it.
- Josephus Daniels

©2012 SimonStapleton.com. All Rights Reserved.

Looking at my Google Analytics stats, a quarter of visitors to my blog last month were in India. Welcome! So I was wondering, what would YOU like to see on this blog?

India is as an international power-house in IT and professional services (amongst other things), so it’s no surprise that my readership is growing in this country. So I’d like to know what you would want to see on this blog.

Are there any subject areas or problems that you face that are unique to Indian business and culture?

What would you like to know about doing business in the North America and Europe?

My Experience with Working with Indians

I’ve had the pleasure of working with colleagues from India on a number of occasions, mostly through IT outsourcing programs. When colleagues from the West and India work together, the difference in style, communication and culture were always evident, yet I always experienced a strong willingness (on both sides) to learn and bridge the gaps (often in tough times of organizational change). I found the challenge to ‘make it work’ refreshing and an enjoyable caper.

How do you find working with Western colleagues?

So here’s your opportunity to influence the content on my blog!

Post a comment, or contact me using my details on the About page, or connect through LinkedIn.

©2012 SimonStapleton.com. All Rights Reserved.

Happy Thanksgiving to you and your families!

Let’s give thanks to the good things we have in life today!

• Let’s give thanks for our families
• Let’s give thanks for our health
• Let’s give thanks for our home
• Let’s give thanks for our wealth
• Let’s give thanks for our friends
• Let’s give thanks for our job
• Let’s give thanks for our neighbors
• Give thanks for the food on our plates

Don’t eat too much today!

©2012 SimonStapleton.com. All Rights Reserved.

©2012 SimonStapleton.com. All Rights Reserved.

Are you thinking about buying a home? Or re-mortgaging your existing home? It’s very tempting to over-state your income to get what you need. Here’s why you shouldn’t!

I was tempted myself, once, when I needed an extra $50k to get the home I really wanted. It was everything I wanted in a new pad, and much more. Gardens front and rear, a double-garage with rollover doors, more bedrooms than I could fill. A kitchen with the full works. I had already begun to move into the place, in my head. That lie… that little lie… a small one when I thought about the prize.

WRONG. I’m glad I didn’t. There are 17 reasons why.

1. It’s fraud, after all. You could land yourself in serious deep water, be black-listed by lenders, etc. Do you want to be tarnished with this brush?
2. It’s lying too. Bad karma. Not good for the soul.
3. It’s a crude way to get what you want. There are better ways that a mortgage broker can help you with, using good practice and industry knowledge.
4. The sub-prime crisis has meant that lenders are more scrupulous! You won’t see the likes of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac for a while- at least business who have a sustainable business model.
5. It’s partly the reason why our economy is in the deteriorating state it is in! If fewer people took on mortgages they couldn’t afford, who knows where we would be?
6. Why take on a mortgage that you can’t afford? It’s a world of misery. Think about the sleepless nights; the neck and shoulder-pain caused by stress; that sour feeling of everyday life. No new home is worth all that.
7. Even if you can manage to scrape together the repayments – it will mean a drop in your standard of living. (If things weren’t bad enough already?)
8. What if you foreclose? You’d lose pretty much everything but your shirt. Between 2004-2008, 6.4% of mortgages foreclosed. That’s 2.7million loans! 2.7million families without a roof over their head.

Am I making sense, yet?

Are these good enough reasons for you not to bump up your income a notch or two? If not, here are some more!

9. Mortgage lenders now claim to be ‘responsible lenders’ and many are being measured against this.
10. If your application is rejected, then chances are, all subsequent applications will. Don’t think that news doesn’t travel fast.
11. Mortgage underwriters that review your application are not stupid – they’ve seen it before. They know what to look for. They can spot it a mile away!
12. Mortgage lenders expect some people to lie. It’s the nature of the beast. It’s a statistical fact that the industry takes as given.
13. Mortgage lenders use statistics about your job, location, etc to know what is a typical income for your demographic. They’ll inspect ‘outliers’ closely as your application will be lit up like a Christmas tree.
14. Mortgage lenders are skilled at spotting inconsistencies in your personal finances. Why would you be claiming a $150,000 income if you’ve slammed your credit cards for all they’re worth, and paying off only the minimum payments? Go figure!
15. Most mortgage lenders have complex computer models that detect income discrepancies. Mortgage lenders invest millions into these systems, because they limit their risk. Mortgage lenders will always try to limit their risk and exposure to default (especially now).
16. Mortgage lenders can withdraw your approved finance right up to the point you’re ready to get the keys, which will mean you’ll have spent more money on preparing for the move,
17. And even worse, if you have given up your job to take on work in a different city. This would be the worst (the very worse) situation of all. Then what would you do?

You should also take a look at the website for the Centre For Responsible Lending to learn about the scale of the mortgage market and the challenges it faces – which will go a long way to explain why the 17 points I make above are critical factors of why you should be 100% truthful about your income when applying for a mortgage. Or any other loan for that matter.

Just look at some of these statistics I found on the the Centre For Responsible Lending website. See what you think!

I don’t know about you, but I can’t help but feel alarmed about these statistics. What’s more, these stats are only for 2004-2008. What about now, with the financial crisis as it is? It’s unlikely to be any better now than it was between these years.

The best thing to do is, rather than lie, seek a qualified mortgage broker whose objective is to get you a deal (so they can get their commission). Their commission is a small price to pay for the sound advice that they provide. They’re professionals, they have to data and the tools, and they know your predicament. And after all, they’re on your side!

Have You Suffered Foreclosure?

What would YOU say to people who are considering taking on a mortgage they can’t afford? What’s your story? Share your experience by leaving a comment below.

©2012 SimonStapleton.com. All Rights Reserved.

This week in the US, the congressional debt committee disbanded. Parties can’t agree on the way forward. So what do we do next? We better find out because debt affects every one of us.

The hope was that the committee (which was granted unprecedented power) would address the tough problems facing the US budget; issues like the growing cost of health care. This failure means that Congress has let the opportunity go to address the long-term financial problems before they get worse.

The REAL problem is that the growing debt still grows, without a clear intervention. Congress has failed US citizens (this time, at least).

But it ain’t just Congress that are burying their heads in the sand. To a certain extent, every single one of us is.

• We still want to drive gas-guzzling autos
• We still want to sit at home in a t-shirt whilst it’s sub-zero temperatures outside
• We still want to eat high-protein, high-fat foods, and delicacies shipped from far-flung corners of the world
• We still want to wear cool apparel from designer labels
• We still want to fly everywhere
• We still want, want, want…

We don’t wanna change our lifestyles, really (do we?)

Until our consumerism is adjusted (I am not suggesting abandonment) we’ll carry on consuming the same old stuff, ignorant of the fact we can’t afford it. Consumer debt will continue to mount up.

There’s no need for revolution, just yet – we can evolve to adjust what we consume appropriately to our economic situation. I hope.

To do that, we’ve got to first admit that we can’t go on as before.

©2012 SimonStapleton.com. All Rights Reserved.

Just found out your pregnant? Way to go! When should you tell your employer the news?

I guess you want to tell EVERYONE. I remember when I heard that my first child was on the way… I had to bite my lip everytime I had the urge to tell someone. My wife was just the same.

Before you tell anyone at work, you need to understand your rights, and consider the health risks and hazards. You need to be armed with the knowledge, just in case the announcement doesn’t go to plan.

Will Your Pregnancy Affect Your Job?

Quite possibly. Before I go into your rights, I should mention that in some cases, early disclosure is very important.

If you’re in a job that involves hazards, then this may require you to tell your boss as soon as you can. I mean…

• Jobs that involve heavy lifting or operating heavy machinery
• Jobs that require you to be exposed to hazardous chemicals
• Do you work with animals? Then your baby is potentially at risk from the blighters bugs and diseases
• Jobs that require you to work for long hours
• Jobs that require you to stand or sit for long periods

In these cases, your pregnancy really will affect your job.

Even in jobs that are considered ‘safe’ compared to those listed above, it’s likely that you will have to make some adjustments in your work pattern and environment. Your body will be undergoing significant changes!

• If you’re in a desk-job, you must have your work environment checked over so that is setup for comfort and ergonomics
• You could suffer from ‘morning sickness’ which could impact your journey to your workplace
• If you work in an environment with strong odors, you may feel nauseous
• You’ll probably take many more bathroom breaks
• It’s likely that your speed of movement will be impaired later on in your pregnancy
• Discrimination aside, your co-workers will probably treat you differently

Your Rights

In the US,  the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission monitors discrimination and complaints against employers. Pregnancy-bias complaints recorded have surged to more than up 40% from a decade ago. The U.S. Federal law protects you from pregnancy discrimination – The Pregnancy Discrimination Act (1978) – passed to prohibit discrimination based on pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions. The main points of this act are:

• An employer may not single out pregnancy-related conditions for special procedures to determine an employee’s ability to work. However, if an employer requires its employees to submit a doctor’s statement concerning their inability to work before granting leave or paying sick benefits, the employer may require employees affected by pregnancy-related conditions to submit such statements.
• If an employee is temporarily unable to perform her job because of her pregnancy, the employer must treat her the same as any other temporarily disabled employee. For example, if the employer allows temporarily disabled employees to modify tasks, perform alternative assignments, or take disability leave or leave without pay, the employer also must allow an employee who is temporarily disabled because of pregnancy to do the same.
• Pregnant employees must be permitted to work as long as they are able to perform their jobs. If an employee has been absent from work as a result of a pregnancy-related condition and recovers, her employer may not require her to remain on leave until the baby’s birth. An employer also may not have a rule that prohibits an employee from returning to work for a predetermined length of time after childbirth.
• Employers must hold open a job for a pregnancy-related absence the same length of time jobs are held open for employees on sick or disability leave.

When MUST You Tell Your Employer About Your Pregnancy?

The general rule is that you should inform your employer 15 weeks before your baby is due. The Family and Medical Leave Act stipulates that pregnant women working in organizations of 50+ employees have the right to a combination of paid and unpaid leave of twelve weeks (equivalent) to care for a newborn. The act also emphasizes that employees have the right to a leave of absence in the case of pregnancy-related medical problems. Any time off MUST be paid at your normal rate of pay. It’s also against the law for your employer to refuse to pay you at your normal rate of pay, or reject your requests for reasonable time off for ante-natal care.

Can You Be Fired As A Pregnant Worker?

Yes! No more or less than any other worker. You can be fired for breach of contract. You can still be caught up in lay-offs.

However, employers cannot single you out for worse treatment.

Health Insurance

If you receive health insurance by your employer, then the policy must cover expenses for pregnancy-related conditions on the same basis as costs for other medical conditions. If you incur medical costs related to your pregnancy, then they should be reimbursed just like any other costs incurred for other medical conditions.

Other Benefits

If your employer provides benefits to workers on leave, then they must provide you with the same benefits. If you’re also on leave because of any pregnancy-related conditions or illness, then they must be treated the same as other temporarily disabled employees, e.g. vacation calculation, pay increases, bonuses and temporary disability benefits.

Now You Know Your Rights…

Choose the right time to tell your boss – at least 15 weeks before your baby is due, unless you work with hazards that increase the risk to your baby. Have a smooth pregnancy!

©2012 SimonStapleton.com. All Rights Reserved.

If you run meetings, then you need an agenda. It’s not a surprise, though, how many meetings go ahead without an agenda! (No wonder they don’t really work…!) Here are some tips that will help you put together an A* agenda for your next meeting.

A meeting agenda is YOUR powerful tool to ensure that your meeting achieves its aim. But wait a minute – do you know what the aim of your meeting is? Modern business is plagued by a fixation on meetings. And what I’ve discovered is that meetings are held, week-in, week-out, without a clear purpose. Without a clear agenda. Agendas help steer a meeting effectively towards the goal, but first we gotta know what that goal is. So onto…

Step One: Be Clear About the Purpose of the Meeting

If this isn’t clear, then cancel the meeting straight away! Our meetings must have a desired outcome. E.g. agree an action, make a decision, communicate change. The purpose should be easy to articulate and specific enough so that all attendees know what it’s about. For example:

‘Bad’ purpose: listen to what people have to say about product X.

‘Good’ purpose: gather feedback about product X, and then agree a list of prioritized actions to be performed by the team.

‘Bad’ purpose: to share information about team activity.

‘Good’ purpose: to monitor team activities and agree any management interventions required.

One way to look at it is to take your current meeting ‘purpose’ and then consider: does this meeting actually result in something that can then be carried out?

Step Two: Then Create the Agenda

Once you’re crystal clear about what your meeting is for, you can then begin to put the agenda together. Your agenda should have to following components:

• Date/time/location
• Attendees & other participants – and state who should be present at which agenda item, if not all
• Absentees/apologies – it’s always helpful to state who you know WON’T be there, as this may cause the meeting to be postponed
• Agenda items, to include:
• Agenda item (title and description)
• ‘Inputs’ – any documentation to be used in the agenda item
• Desired outcome (decision, action, or shared information)
• Agenda item duration
• Agenda item owner(s)
• Chairperson
• Minute taker (see Minute-Taking, Made Easy) – to be agreed upfront

Distributing Your Agenda

I recommend that you distribute your agenda as soon as you can. Why? Because:

• It gives people enough chance to prepare agenda items, inputs and any supporting material
• It gives people chance to challenge the agenda, its purpose and participants
• It allows people to consider the appropriateness of the meeting without absent attendees
• It allows enough time to get the meeting into attendee’s diaries

I also suggest you don’t just send the agenda to participants only, but also to anyone else who needs to be informed, such as department heads, supporting staff and people who have made their apologies upfront.

A Note On ‘Quick’/'Heads-Up’ Meetings

Not all meetings require a formal agenda, but nevertheless, a quick meeting still needs a purpose. These meetings work well when everything above holds true, even if it’s communicated quickly in a few statements. For meetings to be effective, participants need time to prepare and get into the ‘zone’ of the meeting, ie. putting aside current tasks so they can focus on your meeting.

©2012 SimonStapleton.com. All Rights Reserved.

Don’t work late tonight! There are so many other things you can be doing, so take a break and relax.

I don’t know about you, but I find it so easy to work late, sometimes well into the night. Do you? I enjoy my work, so I don’t grumble about putting in a few more hours, but I am finding I am doing this almost every night now.

So it got me thinking; what else could we do tonight instead? Here are some ideas:

1. Go home, cook a quick dinner, and watch some TV. This isn’t something I do very well, but it is also something I enjoy. I am far from a tele-addict, yet I can find entertainment in a wide variety of shows. With the multitude of TV channels, as they are, there is certainly something on there so that we can sit back, relax, and switch off.
2. Take in a museum. If you’re city-based, there will be many museums to have a wander around. Get lost in the place. I find that museums have a calming effect. Not sure if it is the musty smell, or the echo of footsteps – it’s something – but we can immerse ourselves into a completely different world for a while here.
3. Take in a show. I am not a big show-goer, really, but since meeting my partner I have begun to watch more (as she is in the Performing Arts industry). Shows come in all varieties – musicals, tragedies, classical plays – you name it. What I’ve discovered is that I can enjoy a show I never thought possible I would do. All it took was an open mind! See what shows are going on near you – pick one – and go along and discover something new.
4. Watch a movie. Grab some popcorn and watch a movie. Try a genre you wouldn’t normally go for and see if you like it. Concentrate on the movie, and not your work – you’ll switch off just like that!
5. Take a walk. Instead of riding in your car, or taking a bus, why not walk home this evening? Go a different way than you would do normally, and see what’s going on in your neighbourhood. It’s a great way to discover new stores, enjoy parks and take in new sites.
6. Cook something new. Rather than throwing the usual ready-meal into the microwave tonight, you could go to a supermarket and buy fresh ingredients to cook yourself something spectacular. I find cooking a great distraction, it helps me relax, and it’s also far more healthy if done right.
7. Visit a friend. Don’t go straight home, but visit a friend instead. And then maybe do one of the above with them!
8. Browse a bookstore. I can get lost in bookstores, especially when there is a cafe in there. They’re treasure-troves of undiscovered passions. I like to browse all the shelves, even the stuff that I wouldn’t normally read. Time just melts away for me. Even if you’re not a bookworm like myself, bookstores have so much to offer. As much as I like Amazon, it will never replace the experience of browsing.
9. Fix something. I’ll bet you have something at home that needs fixing, right? There’s always small fixing jobs to do, that (if you’re like me) you never get around to. Why not fix it, tonight? Switch off the TV. Shut the door. Get out the tools/glue, and get fixing. Why? You’ll feel a sense of achievement afterwards, and it will immerse you into something other than work. And, just maybe, it might be fun!
10. Sleep. Yeah, sleep. Who isn’t overworked, and tired? Take this opportunity, once and for all, to get an early night and catch up on some Zzzzzzzzs. It will do you a world of good my friend!

©2012 SimonStapleton.com. All Rights Reserved.

Some tasks seem to take much longer than they should, don’t they?

But it’s no surprise, when you think about it…

1. Tasks take too long because there are too many people involved. Too much subjectivity (opinions, tastes, preferences and the like). Too many diaries to get in sync. Too many egos. Too many jobs to justify the existence of.
2. Tasks take too long because they are too big, and unwieldy. Big tasks scare people. Tasks are not manageable in bitesize chunks.
3. Tasks take too long because of process. Process (i.e. bureaucracy) can stop tasks starting, continuing, and even stopping when they should. Too much process stops people actually executing (getting on with the work). Too much process means that tasks can be too expensive, or time consuming, so they don’t get done.
4. Tasks take too long because people don’t see the benefit of doing them. When workers can’t see the benefit of completing a task, it can be stalled or dropped in an unfinished state. If you don’t know what a task results in, why do it?
5. Tasks take too long because they are the  wrong task. Some tasks shouldn’t even be done in the first place, because they’re inefficient, unethical, or plain stupid. Workers know this, so they stall or delay in completing these tasks.
6. Tasks take too long because they are being performed alongside other tasks. Other tasks compete for time. Unplanned work gets in the way. Too many concurrent tasks creates complexity and uncertainty.
7. Tasks take too long because they are difficult. Difficult tasks (not to say impossible tasks) are delayed in favor of easier tasks. Difficult tasks require energy that people just don’t want to give, or have.
8. Tasks take too long because people don’t want to do them. Some tasks are just not pleasant, or interesting. Some tasks aren’t cool. Some tasks are below our pay-grades. Some tasks make us look stupid. Some tasks are embarrassing. Sometimes, we just can’t be bothered.
9. Tasks take too long because they are too badly defined. Too little information to know how to start, process or end. Too little data as input. Too much confusion about what a good result looks like. Too much ambiguity in the task’s definition. Some school examination papers are like this.
10. Tasks take too long because the people doing them are ill-equipped. Too little time, too little knowledge, not enough tools, money or resources. Incompetence.

Now when any number of factors are combined, the likelihood of the task NOT being done on time is exponentially greater.

Just imagine: a badly defined, difficult task performed by a large number of busy people who don’t have the tools to do it…… think it will be late?

Bet you’ve had a few of these in your time.

©2012 SimonStapleton.com. All Rights Reserved.

Did you know there are four kinds of knowledge?

There are four kinds of knowledge. But not many people know that. But here’s the thing – understanding what the four kinds of knowledge are, and their implications, is a kick-ass tool for making decisions, diffusing arguments and getting through life…

1) You Know What You Know

This kind of knowledge is the most obvious. You know your name. You know that you know your name. Being consciously knowledgeable about something means that we’re confident to apply that knowledge. At work, we’re known as experts when we know we know something. Other people who don’t know it (and know they don’t know it – see below) come to us because we can apply that knowledge with authority.

2) You Know What You Don’t Know

I don’t know the square root of the radius of the earth in inches. Do you? I know I don’t know that, as (probably) do you. Now if I ever needed to know that number, I could go and find out. In less than five minutes I expect. So in our jobs, there’s stuff we know we don’t know. Work, research, listening, etc. to do. It’s important to be clear about our knowledge of what we don’t know. When we know we don’t know something, we then have the choice to learn it.

Some people try to ‘wing it’ – by pretending they know something they don’t. Bad decisions can be made this way. There’s nothing wrong with not knowing something. We can’t all know everything!

3) You Don’t Know What You Know

We’re bombarded with information in our lives. A lot of that information turns to knowledge, and most of that is knowledge we don’t know we have. We are information sponges. How often have you answered a question correctly when you didn’t think you knew the answer beforehand?

We often need our memories to be jogged, somehow, to know something that is hidden away in the depths of our memories. Until that happens, we’re left with an inkling.

There is a big difference between this kind of knowledge and the preceding one. Here, we might make a decision despite a tangible lack of knowledge (call it a hunch), but we won’t be making it based on deceit.

4) You Don’t Know What You Don’t Know

This kind of knowledge is most definitely the widest spread. This is ignorance. This is naïvity. We’ve all had it, and still do – every single one of us. Think of the journey that children go through as they learn about the world around us. My 5-year old son asked me what an iceberg was last week. He knew he didn’t know this knowledge, which is why he asked. A month ago, he didn’t know he didn’t know this. In work, this happens all the time. You might step on somebody’s toes because you didn’t know what you did was their job. You might also sell a car at a discount-rate no longer offered, because you didn’t know it wasn’t being offered any more.

This is a fact of life. We shouldn’t blame, chastise, punish or penalize people if they do something out of ignorance, and nor should we expect it. But this is why we must have published policies. And disclaimers. And warning signs. And education. Because they attempt to turn our ignorance into knowledge we know we don’t know!

©2012 SimonStapleton.com. All Rights Reserved.

Consider yourself a superstar? Then tell the world by contributing to the third edition of my popular eBook!

My eBook “The Ten Habits of Highly Effective Professionals” was first released in 2008 and since then it has been downloaded 32,482 times (updated in a second edition in 2010). Three years on, it’s time for the third edition – and this time it will be launched on Amazon Kindle too!

Note got your copy of my eBook yet? Then subscribe to my free newsletter to get YOUR free copy today.

Since it was first published, the world has moved on…

• Recession, economic crises and job security are greater concerns
• Social networking has exploded
• Barack Obama is President
• China is the world’s dominant economic force
• Followed by India
• The Euro-zone is in crisis
• Outsourcing and temporary contracting is up…

So it’s time to update the book. Can you help?

I’d love to hear your ideas and stories about what you believe makes a really effective PROFESSIONAL:

• What do you do that makes you effective?
• How do you perform well?
• What do you see in role models that is inspiring?
• How do you win awards and accolades?

Please, send your thoughts or contributions to the email address as found on my About page.

Thanks!

Simon

©2012 SimonStapleton.com. All Rights Reserved.

It’s nice to be remembered. And I don’t just mean for vanity’s sake. When we create a lasting impression in someone, they’re much more likely to remember us when a job opportunity comes along!

How do we become ‘memorable’?

To start, we gotta be something different. Would you remember one standard carrot from the next in the grocery section? But you might remember one that looked like Barack Obama. Being memorable is about standing out.

But it’s not just about being amusing, or shocking, or somehow bizarre. Standing out is being different, and for that difference to be tangible.

Dare I say it – we need to be pigeon-hole-able. We’re told that we shouldn’t pigeon-hole people, but in truth, that’s what we do by nature. So being memorable is about being THAT person who springs to mind when a subject comes up, such as a job opportunity. I’m the innovator. I’m the cancer-survivor. I’m the guy who can talk business about tech-stuff. That’s how I am pigeon-holed to my colleagues and friends.

How Do We Communicate How We’re Different?

Errr… tell them? OK, not so simple. We can’t just blast out on broadcast mode to everyone we see. People have to be receptive, and then influenced – to connect ‘you’ in their memory-banks to something they have experienced and understand.

Here’s what I know works for me.

• Telling stories. A story is a great way of communicating ‘you’. A story is much more memorable than a series of statements. Listeners construct the story in the head, then gaps filled in by imagination. Use stories to create a strong memory of you. For example, rather than telling people what you do, tell them a story about a situation you applied yourself in.
• Humor. Most people like to be amused, and communicate amusement. Humor is spread (if it is good) and it makes people happy, and creates happy memories.
• Emotion. Do you remember someone if they cried in front of you? Yes, probably. But I am not advising using a flood of tears! Thing is, emotion is contagious. Emotion is shared. Emotion is more easily remembered. Emotion comes in many forms, but it’s usually expressed as a feeling. So talk about your feelings about something – share how something impacted you personally, good and bad. It’s a good chance that other people will share this emotion, in part, and then you have got them!
• Opinion. There is a clear difference between a fact and an opinion. Opinions come from you, and they’re an embellishment or protraction of facts. Sure, opinion can divide a room, but it sparks debate and emotion (see above). Use your judgment… expressing an opinion about something provocative can backfire on you!
• Failures. Becoming memorable is about helping people form an impression of you as a person. You’ll talk about the good things, but why not talk about the bad things too? Somehow, people tune into failure more – I guess because it alerts people to risk (opinion!). However it works, talking about failures, problems or issues – if done appropriately, and not done as a whine – provide a more balance impression of you.
• Inspiration. Inspiring someone is a gift, and it’s also a reward to you. When we inspire, we create a desire for action and it’s normally connected to emotion (again). You can inspire by telling people a story (get the picture?) of overcoming drastic odds, an insurmountable problem, or achieving something beyond hope. It’s a story, after all.

©2012 SimonStapleton.com. All Rights Reserved.

If you haven’t, why not? It only takes a few seconds. Here are some ideas on how.

Updating our LinkedIn profiles should be a regular occurrence. Because, who knows, that employer with a lucrative job offer might just be on the hunt for someone like you?

LinkedIn makes it real easy for us too. Here are some ideas to get you going:

1. Add your skills. On your profile page, you can now add skills really easy.  Just scroll down and begin adding them. Be as broad as you can be realistic!
2. Add sections. Here you can add your achievements, courses, awards, publications, projects and test scores.
3. Add languages. Tell people about what languages you speak, even at a basic level.
4. Add education. Don’t forget this!
5. Request recommendations. Ask new contacts for a recommendation. My tip is to give them an overall brief as to what you want them to recommend you for.
6. Make recommendations. Not only does this increase the chances of you receiving a recommendation, it looks good on your own profile too.
7. Add groups. New groups relevant to your niche, interests and organization spring up all the time, so scour for news ones and join them!
8. Contribute. Make comments in groups, ask or answer a question in LinkedIn Questions & Answers.

Give your LinkedIn profile a polish!

©2012 SimonStapleton.com. All Rights Reserved.

Good News! 80,000 jobs were added in October, but the U.S. economy is still growing at a snail’s pace.

I guess it’s better than nothing.

With unemployment at 9%, the economy is still sluggish.

The economy needs an additional 125,000 jobs a month to keep up with population growth. And even more to bring down the unemployment rate.

Private sector additions totally 104,000 for the month. 22,000 jobs were added by restaurants, hotels and entertainment companies. Professional and business services (including engineering and accounting) added 32,000 jobs.  Health care added 12,000. However the construction sector cut 20,000 jobs for the month (that’s the most since January of this year.)

Without a significant growth in jobs, the tax-burden rests on fewer people. Without more jobs and higher wages, consumers will probably curb their spending in the months ahead – especially over the holiday season. Consumer spending is critical for the US economy because it accounts for about 70% of economic activity.

But let’s take this as a small victory, yes? In fact the unemployment rate dropped to just 9% from 9.1%, but it’s the first time it has fallen since July this year, the government said.

The underlying momentum of the economy is better now than we thought it was a few months ago – Augustine Faucher, director of macroeconomics at Moody’s Analytics.

Is this a beacon of hope, or a damp squib? Only the next few months will tell. We’re all in for a tough ride, but this news at least is something to cling onto whilst we wait an see.

Sources: NY Times; Guardian Newspaper; Fox News

©2012 SimonStapleton.com. All Rights Reserved.

Whether it’s saving for the holidays, or paying off the bills, we could all use some extra cash, right? Here are a few GREAT IDEAS for turning your skills and resources into cash, quickly.

So we’re unlikely to get a raise from our main job right now, and the pressure is on to maintain our income in an increasingly uncertain economic climate. A few extra dollars a week can make a big difference. There are ways to turn your spare time, skills and resources into cold, hard cash, right now.

Want to know more?

I’ve compiled a list of some of the best ways to generate some greenbacks quickly:

• FIVERR.COM is a rapidly growing exchange of ‘gigs’ people will do for a fiver ($5). For a bewildering array of tasks. Whether it’s writing a slogan, or balancing a tax return, almost anything goes. If you can do something worth a fiver, then publicize it here. It’s free to join! I love this site. I’m going to use it more and more to outsource those fiddly tasks that take up a lot of my time – tasks that other people are far better skilled and tooled up to do (like you!)
• Justafive.com is similar to FIVERR – not as polished but jobs are not limited to $5 chunks.
• GigMe5 is another FIVERR clone.
• Zeerk – another FIVERR clone (there are a few!)
• GigBucks – another FIVERR clone with jobs ranging from $5 to $25.
• Amazon Mechanical Turk is another labor exchange where small jobs are posted and agreed for small value. Publicize your services and get short-term interesting work on your terms!
• LinkedIn is a great place for finding small jobs. I am a member of several groups where gigs are regularly posted. Joining groups relevant to your niche, interests and area and check back daily. It’s also a good idea to make an announcement that you’re available to do small jobs there too.

And there is always…

• eBay – sell some of your old stuff. We collect a lot of junk, so why not do yourself a favour to generate some cash and free up some living space?

©2012 SimonStapleton.com. All Rights Reserved.

The Holidays are only weeks away. How are you going to pay for it?

I can already smell the cinnamon and nutmeg. The tacky ads have long been on the TV telling us how to impart our hard-earned cash on gifts. Oh joy. Won’t the bills mount up? Well we’re all going to be busy before the holidays hit us, so we won’t have much time to think about it.

What if you could save $1,000 to pay for it?

Well I’ve got 3 videos below which tell us how to do that. Imagine – an extra $1,000 to pay for the holidays…

1. CNN Money – great tips on finding that $1,000! (use link)
   
2. Money Talks News help you find that $1,000
   
   

3. Kiplinger with more money-saving advice
   
   

Note the common theme – cancel your gym membership! How much do you really use it?

©2012 SimonStapleton.com. All Rights Reserved.

You’ve finished college.  You’re done with your student teaching.  Maybe you’ve been subbing, or maybe you’re a teacher’s aide.  Ready to get your full-time teaching job?

The Guide to Getting the Teaching Job of Your Dreams is written by Tim Wei (a veteran teacher and experienced teacher interviewer), to help you get your teaching job.  He’s worked in two different school districts and has many years of public school teaching experience.  He’s also been on many interview committees, where he helped to seek out and hire the most qualified candidates.

Tim wrote this eBook to share his experience and ideas to give you an advantage over the many other teachers gunning for the (all too few) teaching vacancies.

In this guide, you’ll discover:

• The 50 Most Common Teacher Interview Questions and How to Answer Them
• Insight into the Teacher Interview Process
• What to Include on Your Teaching Resume
• Secrets to Making your Cover Letter stand out
• Sample Resume, Cover Letter, and Thank You Letter
• All About References and Letters of Recommendation
• Seven things you should avoid saying at an interview
• How to Prepare and Present your Teaching Portfolio
• Go inside the minds of two interviewers as they describe what an interview committee looks for, what they notice, and how to impress them.
• A candidate describes her struggles and successes throughout the job hunting process. She explains what worked and what didn’t!

Who is it for?

If you’re a teacher at the start of your career – e.g. if you’ve just completed your teacher training – then this book is for you.

I also recommend this book to teachers who are also struggling to get back into a teaching job following a lay-off, a break for raising a family, or any extending absence from the profession. Like in any job or industry, the game changes, often subtly, so equip yourself with the latest insight and tools here.

Buy Guide to Getting the Teaching Job of Your Dreams. At just $19.95, and with the 60-day satisfaction guarantee, it’s a great investment into your teaching career.

©2012 SimonStapleton.com. All Rights Reserved.

Unless you’ve been living on mars for the last 5 years, you’ll know that we’re in a global financial crisis. So asking for a raise, right now, will probably lead to disappointment or even conflict. There are, however, alternatives to a raise you can consider.

Most of us need a raise when the income we take doesn’t cover our expenses (of a modest lifestyle). And sometimes we could be asking for a raise to increase our well-being. Here are 20 things you should look at first, before going in with financial demands:

1. Ask for overtime or additional shifts.
2. If you haven’t done so, get clear on what you need to achieve to be promoted.
3. Challenge your organization’s bonus scheme to discover if you can be awarded more for higher performance.
4. Request to telecommute (that’s work from home) a couple of days a week, which will save on your travel costs, car parking, possibly childcare and even on small costs like eating out for lunch.
5. Negotiate benefits to reduce your costs, such as additional health-care,
6. Child-care,
7. Or other insurance.
8. To increase your hourly rate, you could try asking to work less hours in the week for the same salary.
9. Request to adjust your working hours so that you can avoid costs (like childcare as above.)
10. Ask for more paid vacation days.
11. Encourage your employer to negotiate corporate discounts for the local fitness club,
12. Or local car parks,
13. Or local restaurants,
14. Or other local stores that supply expensive large items like white goods (that’s washing machines and fridge-freezers),
15. Or vacation packages.
16. If your organization provides internal training, then request more training.
17. Ask your employer to provide interest-free loans.
18. Discover if your employer can offer you subsidized/discounted travel on trains or subway,
19. Or even air-fare.
20. Request college scholarships for dependents.

If you’re still hell-bent on a raise, then take a look at my post “How To Ask For a Fair Raise or Pay Increase During a Recession“.

Do YOU Know of Other Alternatives?

Then please share it! Leave a comment below.

©2012 SimonStapleton.com. All Rights Reserved.

Smartphones are meant to make us more efficient, right? Well DO they? I’ve got some data to share with you that paint a different picture!

I’ve had a smartphone for years. Have you? I started with a Blackberry, then moved onto an iPhone (until someone relieved me of it at an airport) and now I use an older Samsung handset, until I change to an iPhone 4S. I love ‘em. I can do my job from my smartphone, just like many people say they do, but does it make me more efficient? Does yours make you more efficient?

According to Nielsen, though, statistics on downloaded apps tell a story that we probably wouldn’t want our bosses to hear. Most apps downloaded today are games. See for yourself.

Only 21% of downloaders chose productivity tools, versus 64% of downloaders choosing games, and 34% of downloaders selecting video/movies.

Are smartphone users more efficient, or are they entertainment devices that distract us from work?

It seems that most users see them as entertainment devices. Especially those with iPhones, as this data shows:

But these figures are hiding something – that the growth of the smartphone is a consumer phenomenon as much as it is a business one. I don’t know about you, but I really struggle to do my job as efficiently when my smartphone isn’t held safely in my pocket. And one thing is certain, it isn’t the downloadable apps that make that so, it’s the very basic features of the smartphone that I use the most. For example,

• Email on the move is a feature I just can’t do without. I’m on the road all the time and I can’t wait until I get back to my desk to reply to important emails.
• Calendar functions; where would I be without them? Not at the meeting I am expected in.
• Contact Management – my smartphone contacts are my rolodex. My smartphone makes contact management easy, and saves me heaps of time.
• Document viewing – I can view most document types on my smartphone. OK the resolution isn’t great but I can work with that – it’s enough to review a document on the road.
• Messaging – I am not always contactable. Messaging enables communication that allows me to respond when I can do so.
• Google Maps – Essential when trying to find the offices of a client!

Then there ARE some apps that I use all the time, and the best one of all is Skype. It’s a life-saver if I need to bridge calls whilst on the move, or call internationally at cheap-rates. I also use a sat-nav app which is great because I don’t need a separate device, and, I can use the sat-nav whilst walking or cycling as well as in the car.

So What About The Games?

I’d be lying to you if I said I didn’t have any. Some are for fun whilst waiting at the airport, and most are for amusing my 5-year old son (James) if we’re waiting around for something. He loves driving games and anything to do with monster trucks.

Other than that, my smartphone really is used as an essential productivity tool.

What About You?

Is your smartphone merely an extension of your body? Can you live without one to do your work or run your business?

Share your view:

©2012 SimonStapleton.com. All Rights Reserved.

When paperwork is piling up, and our boss is yelling at us, it’s easy to forget why we’re really working. Believe it or not, we work for selfish reasons. In this post we’ll take a look at exactly what those selfish reasons are.

I wrote this article because I’ve been at the grindstone so much lately, I’d begun to lose sight of why I am working in the first place. When I took the opportunity to stand back and examine the benefits of my graft, I saw something very different than what I normally look for and see. In other words, I hadn’t ‘lifted my head above the parapet’ for an age, and when I did I saw something surprising.

Rather than seeing a growing list of tasks, deadlines, email storms, project plans, etc. I began to see something else: time with family, a moving bank-balance, food on the table, warmth, fellowship, an exciting journey… it was these things that I was working for…. but I had forgotten about them. I’d become a slave to ‘work’.

What Needs Does My Work Satisfy, Anyway?

When I looked at why I work, I was asking myself what needs it satisfies, and which of my needs it satisfies the most.

We prioritize our needs (almost always without knowing we’re doing it.) Abraham Maslow conceived a model that demonstrates how we prioritize, and why – it’s known as Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs.

Maslow’s model is drawn as a pyramid that depicts the levels of human needs, psychological and physical.

First Level: Our Basic Needs

At the bottom of the pyramid (where our needs start from) are our Basic needs or Physiological needs. These are: food and water and sex. (These needs not necessarily satisfied at the same time!)

These are the very ‘basics’ of life, as the name suggests. If our work doesn’t satisfy these things  (OK, perhaps the first two), then we’re in trouble. And, what’s more, if we feel that these needs are not being satisfied, then it creates the most worry, stress and excitement. Until these needs are satisfied, we’re unlikely to think about anything else.

Second Level: Safety Needs

We need security, order and stability to simply get on with the pursuit of life; otherwise we’re too busy erecting defence barriers or putting our environment into some kind of livable state. When we don’t feel safe, we are in a state of high alert. So we work to provide shelter and a safe environment for our families. We need order to make sure that when we’re not there, things will tick along. We must establish rules and control before we can even think about anything else.

These first two steps are important to our physical and mental well-being.

Third level: Love and Belonging

These are ‘psychological needs’. The degree by which we need these, and the layers above, vary between person to person. Some of us need to feel loved more than others, right? Still, we work to be part of something. Either directly in our work, or as a result of what our work provides (i.e. cash to spend with our family and friends)

Fourth Level: Esteem

Level 4 is achieved when we are content with our accomplishments so far. This is the Esteem level. Low self-esteem is when we don’t feel good about what we have done. Being recognized for our hard work boosts our self-esteem. As does just knowing we’ve done a good job. Sure, many people go through their whole lives without high self-esteem (so it isn’t essential for survival), but it is essential for the next level up.

Fifth Level: Self-Actualization

Way up at the top of the pyramid, self-actualization is satisfied when we reach a state of harmony and understanding with ourselves, our associates and our environment. And our jobs.

We Are Inherently Selfish

Often without knowing it, we are inherently selfish. We take resources from the world (mostly, from other people in a fair exchange) to survive, develop, procreate, enjoy, and relate. When we work, we take money from our employer in exchange for our time and effort. Maslow’s model shows that we prioritize our needs, and our work creates a means to satisfy these needs.

Thing is, we’re wired (most of us) to think about, and achieve, success in satisfying low-order needs first. Once one level is satisfied, we can seek satisfaction above. The point being, if we’re slaving away and forgetting to eat, or not creating a safe home for ourself and our family, we won’t satisfy higher-order needs. We won’t feel good about ourselves. We won’t feel satisfied in respecting others. We won’t get satisfaction from the respect of others. We won’t be fulfilled.

If we’re not feeding our own needs through work, then why are we working? Be Selfish: otherwise, there is no point.

©2012 SimonStapleton.com. All Rights Reserved.

Do you want to work for a company with great perks and growth opportunities? CNN Money has just announced the The Best Global Companies to Work For. 

Surprisingly to me, Microsoft is at number one. I’m surprised because over the last few years, this software giant has failed to have the impact it enjoyed in previous years. Reading the blurb though, I can see why. Employees are citing a wonderful Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) policy (which is delivered!) This is a recent phenomenon in employee satisfaction results, and testament to the fact that employees everywhere are typically conscious of the plight of the under-priveleged, and gain satisfaction from doing what they can.

Does your organization have a satisfactory CSR policy?

SAS comes in at number two – and the major reason for that is the organization’s focus on training and staff development. The company also avoids outsourcing where there isn’t a clear need to – using internal staff for maintenance and catering. Goes to create a united family!

Does your employer outsource basic services? Do YOU feel like you’re all part of the same family, batting for the same side?

In at number three is NetApp, where employees (after a period of downsizing) are saying that the organization is working towards a commonly understood goal, and that everybody feels part of it. Another example of where establishing a corporate family unit pays dividends (quite literally).

Do you feel part of your organization’s mission? Or are you in a ring-fenced stove-pipe?

At number four is Google. They had to be in at the top-ten somewhere. (Interesting that the top four are tech companies). Employees cite great leadership in mentoring with their Google-to-Googler (g2g) program, for developing talent. Google’s ’20% time’  initiative also gives employees 20% of their work time for brainstorming and creativity – a real investment.

Does your organization invest in thinking and supporting innovation?

Coming in at number five is Fed-Ex – the first non-tech company. Measuring customer satisfaction has helped the global courier to gain numerous internal and external awards for excellent service.

Does your employee regularly measure your satisfaction, and award employees for great work?

At number six is Cisco who invite employees to an informal Q&A with the CEO, John Chambers, demonstrating that the organization really cares about the views of employees and invests the time of the head-honcho in the process. Employees also enjoy job-sharing and on-site childcare.

Does the big-cheese of your company listen to YOUR views?

Sliding in at number seven is Marriott, the global hotel-chain that provides new recruits with a enviable opportunity to learn and engage in company culture by a three-day stint in one of their hotels in Mexico, with a graduation ceremony and an extra one-night stay. Employees begin every shift with a team briefing where company information is shared and employee excellence is acknowledged.

Does your organization share and communicate news about company and employee performance, and bring you into its culture?

Munching its way to number eight is McDonalds where diversity and fairness is a core value, and training is at the heart of providing great customer service.

Is your employer ‘fair’ and treats everyone with the same consideration?

Clinically entering at number nine is Kimberley-Clark whose employees can informally chat with management teams over coffee about their concerns, worries and careers. Job sharing and on-site childcare are benefits that help the challenges of modern life that bit easier.

How does your employer listen to your concerns and give you a voice to communicate them?

Sweeping up the last top-ten spot is S C Johnson whose ‘family company’ motto resonates with employees by considering the balance of work with family life. In their Canada operation, they provide opportunities to try different jobs to discover if they suit you better.

Does your organization support your needs when running a family?

Conclusion

It’s clear that the top-ten best global companies to work for really care about employee well-being, and have invested in it. So often, I see organizations who talk-the-talk, but don’t deliver. Another round of internal re-branding and a review of ‘company values’ just doesn’t cut it if nothing positive is actually delivered or changed.

Managers need to take note: if you want to be recognized as a great place to work, you have to create one!

©2012 SimonStapleton.com. All Rights Reserved.

I like to travel with business. Staying in swanky hotels in the lap of luxury can be a real perk, but after a few days of living out of a hotel room it can get tedious. There is an alternative that is growing in popularity.

I used to travel a lot on business. I’ve stayed in hotels all over the US, in Europe and in Africa. I felt, after about 3 days, I wanted to get home. I’d had enough of the dining, sitting in the lounge bar, or congregating in rooms with people I didn’t always choose to be with. I’d have given my right arm for an alternative. There is one!

I just found this post on CNN – Business travelers opt for homier digs on the road – and it discusses a growing phenomenon with business travellers that seems like just the ticket I desired: short-term corporate rentals.

There really is nothing like a home-cooked dinner, or lounging on a comfy sofa with my feet up. Things you can’t do out of a hotel. I’m not ashamed to say I like to relax in a t-shirt and sweat-pants in front of the TV after a hard days work. (Do you?) Hotels can’t give me that.

There are a growing number of homes-away-from home that business travellers are flocking to. They’re basically apartments where all the home comforts are available – there so you can shut the world out, relax, and watch Oprah (or whatever you choose to spend time doing).

On a recent trip to Newcastle-upon-Tyne in the UK, I stayed in a serviced apartment where I could wear comfy attire and not feel like a tramp. I cooked spaghetti and drank wine of my own choosing (at a fraction of the bar price.) Bliss.

So next time you’re planning an extended business trip, why not look for a short-term corporate rental? If your organization doesn’t currently allow you to use them, then ask them to. Speak about the well-being benefits. The cost is roughly the same and the advantages are far greater than a sterile hotel room!

Slippers Featured: Merino Wool Comfort Slippers (Gizmodiva.com)

©2012 SimonStapleton.com. All Rights Reserved.

According to real-time US National Debt clock, the USA is nearly $15 Trillion in debt (at time of writing). So how far will this go?

Take a look at the current US National Debt… what does it tell ya?

The most scary figure of all is the Debt Per Taxpayer – right now at nearly $133,000. That means for everybody who pays taxes (that’s you, by the way) in the US, there is $133k debt outstanding. And growing. YOU are $133k, to someone else. Nearly $5Trillion is owed overseas.

How are you going to pay?

You’re gonna have to dig deep (my pockets aren’t that deep, are yours?) so what’s the plan?

Work hard? Spend more? Use less public services? Pay more tax?

Probably all of them.

So be prepared.

©2012 SimonStapleton.com. All Rights Reserved.

It feels like our jobs have been under threat for years… doesn’t it? With the recession starting back in 1998 with no improvement since, job security is something that many of us are feeling unsure about. How do you feel?

Take a look at this table of top ten jobs of 2010 in the US (from CNN). Note the top job roles, and levels of perceived job security. Then take a look at the table from the year before. Spot the differences? You’ll see a major drop in job security figures in 2010 from 2009, and a whole different set of top ten jobs. So how will it look this year, do you think? (I’ll announce when the figures are published, so follow my RSS feed!) I doubt, very much, there will be any improvement. Looks scary, don’t it?

But wait.

Earlier in the year, I wrote What Is Job Security (and does it really exist?) Job security is very dependent on our own outlook. It’s a feeling, connected with emotions, and it’s subjective. We won’t be told not to worry.

Job security can’t be given to us. We gotta feel it.

If the economy were to suddenly bounce back, would that change our sense of job security? Probably, but not directly. First, we’d need to believe that a fixed economy actually results in more assurance that our jobs are safe. The responsibility will still be ours.

It will still matter.

Adjusting our Perception

We’re all being subjected to a heap of news full of Fear, Uncertainty and Doubt (FUD). TV, blogs… it’s everywhere. I’m having the odd sleepless night about it – are you? But here’s the thing – the ‘soothsayers’ who broadcast the FUD are only giving us a macro-level view – stuff that concerns the global, national, state or city-wide problem. Your own particular situation, however, is unique to you. We gotta look at that too.

Our sense of job security is rooted in the work we do, the value we create, the skills we possess and the opportunities we can grasp. These things matter too – and much more than what we see on CNN. So look harder at them. Take an objective view:

• Understand what your work does in your organization, and its impact on it
• Identify the skills you have, and not just the ones you write on your resume
• Identify the opportunities you have – whether you’re taking them or not
• Think about the journey you have been on since you began your career, and how far you have come

Spend a little time jotting them down.

I am 100% confident that you will feel better about your situation afterwards. This ‘taking stock’ is a reminder that there is more to job security than news tells us. Job security DOES matter. And because it matters to us, it’s within our control.

©2012 SimonStapleton.com. All Rights Reserved.

Older workers, we’re told, cost more to employ than younger workers.

It’s ‘easy’ for employers to pick on older workers because they have cushy retirement plans, right…? And older workers cost more money to employ because of ‘ill-health’, right…? And older workers stop younger workers getting jobs, right…? Older people are more distracted or less willing to embrace change, right…?

Let’s ask, where is the proof?

Older workers don’t have as many children (dependents) sucking on their healthcare plans. Older workers, on average, require less on their home repayments (if they require anything at all) – so they don’t require as much income. Older workers are more engaged and less distracted.

Where is wisdom, and experience, and a level-head factored into the equation? In the round, how more or less productive are older workers than their younger counterparts?

Employers mustn’t get away with discriminating against older workers. Age discrimination is illegal in most countires, so why is it still a problem?

Let’s not give credence, or a second thought, to what we hear about older workers. There is little proof that there is any difference in overall productivity or cost of employment. Why should we worry about it? Why should we care?

We must only worry about how old we are when we don’t have enough money or room for all the candles on our birthday cake!

©2012 SimonStapleton.com. All Rights Reserved.

Google ‘Team Management’ and ‘Organize a Team’ and we’ll find countless people telling us countless times how to do it. In my experience, it comes down to just a few simple things…

And here they are:

1. Be clear what the objective is – share with our team the purpose of being in a team in the first place. E.g. to make our customers happy; to build a widget; to help people find stuff.
2. Give tasks to people who are best at doing them – use people strengths. If Bill is good at communicating to customers, then give him that job. If Sharon is the best at writing reports, give her that job.
3. Set deadlines – every task, no matter how small, must have a start time, and an end time.
4. Set standards – every task, no matter how small, must be measurable, and the target measurement must be set, communicated and achievable.
5. Share progress – team progress must be communicated for all to see.
6. Have backup – if a team-member is off sick, or unavailable, someone else must be able to step in to plug the gap.
7. Review history – we should look back, with our team, and identify what works, what doesn’t work, and learn from it.
8. Forget job titles – job titles mean nothing if there is work to be done. Everyone in our team must feel empowered to fill gaps if they go unfilled.
9. Define roles and responsibilities – notwithstanding point 8, lay out to our teams who is responsible for what, who is accountable, who must be informed, and who must support. If it helps, plot these in a RACI matrix.
10. Share success – a team is a machine that depends on all its working parts, so reward must be shared across the team.

©2012 SimonStapleton.com. All Rights Reserved.

Do you need THAT job interview like Yesterday?

Getting that interview is a stressful time – so much is riding on it. Your income, well-being, confidence, self-esteem. Everything, right?

And you’re probably feeling like you have sent your resume to every possible organization this side of the moon. You’ve probably filled in heaps of online job posting too – until your fingers bleed. Sucks, doesn’t it?

We are just a number. It’s frustrating, being just a number. Is there another way of getting our resume to the top of the pile?

Being Different

We can be different. (We are all unique). The first thing for us to do is to present our resume differently. If you’ve not read my post ‘10 Tips to Make Your Resume Pop‘ then go ahead now and refresh your resume to make it stand out. It MUST appeal to recruiters.

Then, it’s also essential that our resume arrives with an outstanding cover letter. This is as important as our resume, as its the first thing a recruiter sees, and it’s at this point where your resume is filtered to the top, or to the bottom. Read my post ‘Great Resumes Arrive With Even Greater Cover Letters‘ to discover just how to do that!

Target Your Resume

So we might have been using a stock resume to send to all our prospects. This is a good volume tactic, but it’s unlikely to appeal directly to recruiters, compared to those candidates who prepare a targeted resume.

A targeted resume specifically addresses the job opportunity or advertisement, and uses text that mentions aspects of the job description; organization; the organizations practices, products and industry; technologies; regulatory environment; skills required and other features.

I also recommend that we used LinkedIn or other professional social network in our research, and discover people within the organization we are connected to, with links to the organization, and ask them if they have ideas on how to approach.

This requires research. And therefore takes time. You’ll need to:

• Research the organization
• Use LinkedIn (or similar) to gain intelligence on the organization
• Discover the organization’s recruiting process, and make sure you stay within it
• Understand its products, market, industry, regulations, challenges, and technologies
• Send your resume to reply to a specific vacancy or job, and (if possible) to a specific named person in the organization (such as hiring manager)

Following-Up

Following-up is important. You’d be surprised how few people do it, and it’s following-up that presents a great advantage to us!

The best time to follow-up is two or three days after mailing your resume (add another two days if you mailed it on a Thursday, Friday or Saturday), or just 24 hours if you used an online submission. Call the hiring manager and introduce yourself as a candidate for the specific job vacancy, and mention that you’re in the area and that you’re available for an interview. My recommendation is to suggest a specific day and time, and ask for an alternative if your suggestion isn’t convenient. At this stage, you should also have ready a brief overview of why you are a great candidate for the vacancy, and propose why your experience and career achievements make you a good fit for the job. If you want to know how best to describe your career achievements, then take a look at my post “7 Keys To Describe Your Achievements… Know Any More?”

In these situations, we should be assertive, confident, but not pushy. Let the hiring manager do most of the talking.

Your Black Book

If we’re going for a  job in sales, business development, or recruitment, it’s real important to remember that our ‘black book’ is a big asset. Our connections, leads and customers are like gold to potential employers. Notwithstanding any rights our existing employer may have to them (and any restrictions placed on us when we leave their employ!), we should use them to our advantage. So if we have a list of known buyers for product X (and our prospective employer supplies product X) then make it known!

Lastly, Keep It Personal

Remember, we don’t want to be just a number, so the more personal we can make it, the better. If we feel it’s appropriate to, then we should invite hiring managers for a chat over coffee, or even lunch. Create opportunities to use our personality!

After following-up, why not connect with your new contact using LinkedIn?

©2012 SimonStapleton.com. All Rights Reserved.

For many, working under the hood of a car doesn’t sound like an ideal situation. In fact, thoughts of car trouble make most people shutter. But a career in the automotive industry can be a great option for people who enjoy building and fixing things (while earning a decent paycheck with excellent perks).

Below are the most common jobs in this line of work and what they pay:

Automotive Technician – An automotive technician is responsible for the repair of automobiles, trucks, buses, and other vehicles. They can either repair any part of the vehicle or specialize in a certain area. Automotive technician salaries typically fall into the $20,000-$50,000 range depending on experience.

Mechanic – Similar to an automotive technician, a mechanic will diagnose, adjust, repair, or overhaul automotive vehicles. They can operate as an employee of a larger service center or independently as a business owner. Mechanic salaries are similar to automotive technicians, falling into the $20,000-$50,000 range.

Parts Technician – A parts technician typically works in a customer service-oriented position, assisting others with the sourcing and purchasing of automotive parts. They must be knowledgeable about vehicle issues and where to find the parts to fix them. Parts technician salaries also fall into the $20,000-$50,000 range depending on experience.

Service Manager – An automotive service manager is responsible for the direction and management of automotive service staff and operations. Many service managers were previously employed as either a mechanic, automotive technician or parts technician, and were promoted due to length of service or performance. These positions are typically well-paid, ranging anywhere from $30,000-$90,000 annually.

If you’ve been considering a career in the automotive industry, it’s time to get in gear! These jobs are usually in demand and require minimal training. You’ll have the ability to earn a handsome paycheck while perfecting your trade and helping others get back on the road.

©2012 SimonStapleton.com. All Rights Reserved.

That ‘New Manager’ handbook that HR passed onto you when you took the job is incomplete. There’s stuff these books just don’t tell you, and what’s more, they miss out the most important elements of leading and managing teams. Want to know more?

When I first became a junior manager, I was given a management handbook. It talked about managing performance, goal-setting, assigning tasks, delegation – all the management speak we hear about day-to-day that gives us reason to draw boxes and arrows. It gave me education, and confidence.

I thought I was ‘da man’. Puffed out chest, cufflinked shirts.

But what I discovered is that management isn’t just about numbers, or tasks, or goals, or individual performance.

I’ve written about these times before (see 5 Major Gaffes I’ve Made as an IT Manager) and they still embarrass me today, but they were a great lesson. Or so I thought. I look back on my ascendancy through managerial ranks and still see goofy things I did. Mistakes that I wasn’t warned about in the management handbooks. Things I could have done, if I had known.

Let me give you an example. I took a role where budgets were tight, timeframes were short, and delivery was king. No room for pussyfooting. So I thought that being a no-nonsense, no-excuse leader that got things done meant walking around like a bad-ass. Yeah, I got things done. Things happened, for sure. But I found that as soon as I took the pressure off, things stopped happening. Because I hadn’t brought the people with me. And worse still, a revolt began to brew within the very cohesive department underneath me.

I learned that management can be tough.

So I look back on those days and think about what I would have done differently to be a better manager, and here’s what I’ve concluded. Leadership is a critical element of management. Management, without leadership, is like being a selfish lover. The business gets done but the people under us don’t get anything from it, if you pardon the pun, and it leads to despondency and eventually revolt.

Leadership is the ‘suring up’ of our management practice, and leaves our environment in a better state for continuous success.

I’ll just use another example.

In my recent post Why Projects Fail, I commented that setting people to stack bricks is one thing, but telling them that they are building a hospital is another. We can manage brick-laying, and set standards, targets and manage performance of bricklayers – they never need to know that they are building a hospital. But I’d bet that when they knew what they were building, productivity increases would be observed, and if you took your eye off their toil, it would continue without your presence.

Management handbooks don’t really show us how to lead. That’s how to create the environment and impetus for our people to flourish, under their own steam. Instead they show us how to inspect stuff.

The Management Handbook I Would Use

42 Rules for Your New Leadership Role: The Manual They Didn’t Hand You When You Made VP, Director, or Manager describes practical and effective actions for us to make a strong start in our new manager job. It draws from extensive interviews with corporate leaders plus the author’s twenty years as a strategy consultant and executive coach. These ‘rules’ form the manual they forgot to hand us when we got that promotion or offer letter.

Subjects include:

• how to gain cooperation from our team,
• read the business culture at our new level,
• tee up smart “quick wins”,
• show others how to work with us,
• assess the business risks in our new role,
• make the most of our strengths without overdoing it,
• work around our weaknesses,
• use team screw-ups to our advantage,
• redesign our undoable job,
• and stay focused on our plan when everyone wants us to fight fires and solve the problems on their desks.

Pam gives us specific guidance for each step of those first few critical months. Her recommendations are shaped by current and classic leadership research, as well as fresh insight from her interviews with executives and surveys of leaders at all levels. With her background as executive coach to top Silicon Valley companies, corporate strategist with Bain and Accenture, and Guest Fellow at Stanford GSB’s Center for Leadership Development and Research, Pam translates the experiences of thousands of leaders into easy-to-read guidance.

Let this book remind us what we did right before, help us avoid common missteps that cause leaders to stumble, and give us new strategies for acing those critical first months. Adjust what we find here to serve team needs, market condition, cultural context, our goals and our personal leadership style.

Buy this book when making a step up, moving to a new organization, or for our friends as they move up. This book is also an ideal reference for executive coaches, HR business partners, management trainers, executive assistants, and others who help new leaders be successful.

©2012 SimonStapleton.com. All Rights Reserved.

Do some tasks take much longer than you want them to? Do you dread some tasks? Well it’s likely your are suffering from procrastination.

I have a friend who, if procrastinating was an Olympic sport, would be a triple gold-medalist. Some tasks take her an age to complete – much longer than they really should. What’s more, she hates these tasks. And it’s amazing how inventive she can be about what other jobs should be done first, like sharpening pencils or cleaning her PC monitor.

Procrastination is a psychological effect. It is when we replace high-priority and urgent activities with less important tasks, therefore putting off the important stuff to a later time (which, by the way, may never come). For example, we might have an urgent report to write, but writing the report is boring, so instead we tidy our desk.

Why do we procrastinate?

Procrastination can be a result of anxiety. Perhaps we’re worried about poor performance in the task, or, we don’t know where to start and can’t (or won’t) get help.

Researchers from the University of Michigan, St. Joseph University, and Ohio State University have also researched the links between the benefit of completing a task and our willingness to do the task. They found that people who feel more ‘entitled’ (i.e. expect to gain a lot from performing any activity) have less patience for activities that don’t provide them with an immediate benefit. In other words, people who believe themselves to be a high-achiever feel less inclined to do things where they don’t get an instant result.

What effect does procrastination have?

Procrastination often results in stress (because that task hasn’t been completed!), a guilty feeling, and a severe loss of personal productivity. The feeling of guilt can be compounded when we know that the lack of action impacts other people.

And here is worst of it. These feelings can then have the effect of further procrastination. It becomes an expanding, vicious cycle.

If we procrastinate, are we bad, or lazy?

No. It is quite normal for most people to procrastinate to a certain extent. I do it. My mom does it. And we’re not lazy. Nor is my super-procrastinator friend.

‘Chronic’ procrastination can be linked to an underlying psychological problem, and often these people don’t seek help because they don’t want to be seen as lazy or unambitious.

For most people, procrastination can be overcome by a few coping tactics. Although this isn’t an exhaustive list, below are a few things to try that I know work for me, and they’re beginning to work for my friend too:

1. Visualize the benefit of performing the task – imagine what our world will look like once it’s done. Often, this is as simple as knowing you don’t have to think about it again. Try and form a vivid image of yourself after the task has been done. This helps us perceive the immediate benefit.
2. Ask someone for help – it’s amazing what a bit of help can do. It can result in a new understanding of the task that makes it easier, or even just emotional support.
3. Avoid low points in your day – I get tired after lunch quite often. Do you? If so, then avoid performing this task then as it will be even more difficult. Either do the task before the low point, or postpone it briefly until afterwards.
4. Manage your time – if you don’t have a set deadline, then create one and hold yourself to it (I find committing this to someone else helps my commitment.)
5. Break the task up into smaller chunks – it’s far easier to focus on a small task than a big one! Identify the sub-tasks, prioritize them in a logical order of importance and start from the top.

If you’re a procrastinator, then I hope these tips help, and please share your experience by leaving a comment below.

©2012 SimonStapleton.com. All Rights Reserved.

Projects fail when the reason why the project is being done isn’t clear, or is a good one.

Projects fail because when we hope that what it will deliver will be good. Fingers-crossed, yes?

We need to know what a project will deliver before we start it. This is known as a Business Case.

When we don’t have a Business Case, or when the Business Case doesn’t prove that the project will deliver the desired outcome, we start the project with a great deal of risk.

So if you’re involved in a project – any project – then ask yourself this: why am I doing this?

If you don’t know, then ask your manager. Chances are, they don’t know too.

©2012 SimonStapleton.com. All Rights Reserved.

Does your boss hate you? (Sucks doesn’t it?) Here is a tip that could make a break-through…

You might be surprised to know that this is a common problem. More common than you might think! Some of my most read posts are on this subject (I’ve written about this subject before in my posts What Should You Do If Your Boss Hates You? , ’5 Reasons Why Your Boss Hates You’ and ‘The ‘mystery’ boss: why your bosses behavior may occasionally look strange’.)

One thing I’ve learned, in helping people with this tough problem, is that (wherever possible) building bridges is the best way to go. Feuds, fights and snipes almost always fail. Your boss, rightly or wrongly, is in a ‘legitimate’ position of strength. Unless you can prove some major mis-doing, bad behavior or discrimination, it’s not an easy situation to get out of. But that doesn’t mean it’s impossible, or, that you have to suck-up.

Building bridges is about creating channels of communication, and there’s no better way than to facilitate an open discussion. There is a simple question I’ve found works – one which can be repeated over-and-over and it never gets stale:

What Can I Do Better?

Its simplicity and directness deliver a powerful message to your boss; that you take responsibility for yourself and your work, and for your relationships. Whether the answer you get is poignant or pithy, the question that makes it tough for your boss to avoid criticism. But it’s criticism that you’ve requested, and this is what makes all the difference.

Asking for criticism from a hostile boss puts you in control of the situation. It’s disarming and confident. Don’t be afraid of what will be said, as you probably know it already. Open up communication, and put improvement on the agenda.

Ask your boss today “What Can I Do Better?”

©2012 SimonStapleton.com. All Rights Reserved.