:: MAXIMIZING WORK TIME ::

One of my favorite questions to ask employees is "Do you feel content and challenged in your role?"


If their answer is indicating in any way boredom the conversation usually follows with more open-ended questions about why the associate gets bored and what he/she is doing about it.


One of my least favorite answers to hear is "When my work is done, there is nothing else for me to do." What does that mean exactly? Does it mean team members truly lack the clarity to see that there always is something to do?


When team mates don't have the inherent vision to see their role's infinite possibilities it is time to break down the communication to the most basic of levels.



These question and answer exercises might seem simple but simple fixes have the power to avert huge mistakes. Think about the hospitals that have given 100 grams instead of 10 of a prescribed medicine, or more recently, the embryo implant mix-ups. Simple errors, sometimes with fatal results, abound not only in the medical but also in the corporate world. No streamlining of methods or processes that will help your productivity, safety and morale is ever too small.


Ideally, we'd all hire solely go-getters, but the reality of it is that sometimes people have to be taught to be seismic thinkers, sometimes people need a bit of a shake up to shape up, and many times with a little positive Q&A leadership people will surprise you with performances high on the Richter Scale. So go ask. Find out if the boredom is justified or not...but above all remind them to not to wait until you ask & give them the tools to fix and outgrow these challenges.


Here is a sample list for those times when there's "nothing to do":

■ Document patterns observed

Based on the premise that most processes can be improved at one time or another a good question to ask is, "When was the last time you got frustrated with another department?" Well, there it is! you have plenty to do. Spend time improving communication processes, if you repeatedly ask a department/co-worker to answer all of your questions and invariably some answers are missing, then perhaps you need to establish a system that everyone will follow when communicating in written form.

■ Document proposed solutions to patterns observed

Teach them, if necessary, to view all "issues" as growth opportunities.

■ Mentoring

To follow up on the prior point: even better, instead of teaching them yourself, pair them up by empowering someone to be a mentor and help others develop untapped skills.

■ Improve job description & requirements

Because of the rushed pace of the workplace the clear, written delineating of the day-to-day basic activities falls through the cracks and people learn as they go. Why not take a quick moment to jot down things that will save time and be helpful to others following in our footsteps?

■ Advance own skills by doing tutorials (online, books, etc.)

■ Present info learned from tutorials

This will enhance your team member's ability to communicate with larger groups and instill leadership qualities in the process.

■ Job performance update

■ Job shadowing

■ Goal documenting & updating

■ Clean up of computer files (email, Word docs, etc.)

This will help all your systems run more smoothly and avert technical problems.

■ Organize physical work materials

■ Offer assistance to a co-worker or department



It might not be a bad idea to customize a list to your associate's roles, print it and post it in a prominent area of their work space. Let's make today and all of the days to come No Excuses Day.

:: PARTNERING & PAIRING ::

TWO SIMPLE QUESTIONS TO CONSIDER

1. Did you ever have a job where the mere act of walking in would

make you feel that you could not breathe?

2. Do you ever stop to consider how many people in

your team could be feeling that way right now?

I bet all I have that question #1 made you go back in time & clench your teeth even at the brief resurfacing of those old feelings.

Remember the frustration?

That frustration that invariably leads to an increased employee issues, wasted time and sooner rather than later productivity loss? Well, just because it is not happening to you right now it does not mean that those feelings are not lingering in your workplace's corridors right as you seat reading this coffee in hand.

Funny thing is how much of this can be solved by the simple act of listening. Not the plain old listening, but the kind of intent listening that must take place during team meetings and any other gatherings, the kind of listening that does not involve the ears. The body language- listening, the results-listening, and the listening for one's team intrinsic mood.

If something does not sound quite right, to your ears, your eyes, or your intuition then action is a must. One of the key issues we find arise during this intent listening sessions is team construction and pairing.





The magic of pairing. So underrated. We insist that people must be able to work with anyone and be flexible at all times. True. Ideally that should work, and so should communism.

But the reality of it is that if you put two people that usually don't see eye to eye to work together for an extended period of time this won't translate into rewards of any kind. No matter what level of maturity, skill and professionalism is at work, if the heart and collaborative spirit is not there, you lose, and so will your company and your bottom line. History shows us that good partnering is essential to any great achievement, why ignore such tried and true wisdom?

While it is true that working with folks who have different points of view is likely to enrich us, if philosophies and personalities are diametrically opposite, the enriching part won't ever matter, because personal issues will inevitably blindfold & undermine more positive attributes.

The right pairings and team building won't take place overnight. This is an art with almost no science to it. So listen. Ask questions. Take the time to re-evaluate who sits next to whom, who seems unhappy to work with whom, what pairs/teams feed of each other's ideas and energy, and begin taking into account your team member's input when designing groups that will work side by side, departments, and shifts.

And why not go as far as to take more drastic measures and even consider having your current employees interview new hires that they'll work with? Studies show that companies that invest on that initial time to get to know potential new hires have a much lower turnaround than companies using more traditional interviewing/hiring methods.

Something to think about.

The most successful pairings occur naturally.

Don't get in the way of what works.

Photographs courtesy of GSN

Much more than physics-smarts...

How timely, here is Albert Einstein's take on hard times.

A good one to pass around the office and spark a solid motivational discussion.

“Let’s not pretend that things will change if we keep doing the same things. A crisis can be a real blessing to any person, to any nation. For all crises bring progress.

Creativity is born from anguish, just like the day is born form the dark night. It’s in crisis that inventiveness is born, as well as discoveries made and big strategies.

He who overcomes crisis, overcomes himself, without getting overcome. He who blames his failure to a crisis neglects his own talent and is more interested in problems than in solutions. Incompetence is the true crisis.

The greatest inconvenience of people and nations is the laziness with which they attempt to find the solutions to their problems.

There’s no challenge without a crisis. Without challenges, life becomes a routine, a slow agony.There’s no merit without crisis.

It’s in the crisis where we can show the very best in us.

Without a crisis, any wind becomes a tender touch. To speak about a crisis is to promote it. Not to speak about it is to exalt conformism.

Let us work hard instead. Let us stop, once and for all, the menacing crisis that represents the tragedy of not being willing to overcome it.”

Midday Slump

If your once-a-day-sluggish-mode is as predictable as Florida’s afternoon summer storms read on.

Creativity. Productivity. A focused mind. These days we want it all, all the time, 100%.

But how we go about achieving it is no standard formula. To combat sluggishness some reach for the coffee, some go for the sweets, but not that many of us go for a little exercise.

I wonder why.

After all, we all remember the first time we ever did something physically demanding or out of the ordinary, like skiing, riding a roller coaster, sky diving, having a faster than usual run or bike ride, etc.…how could we forget? That feeling of I CAN DO ANYTHING-ness mixed with James Cameron’s Oscar acceptance King of the World-ness. Why would we not want to recapture it daily?

What ever happened to us that we taught ourselves to compartmentalize so neatly our humanness and its needs inside and outside of the office? If our bodies have reached a slump why not get creative and truly look for what works for each of us?

"If it weren't for the coffee, I'd have no identifiable personality whatsoever." David Letterman.

Coffee, water, sodas, and sweets may do the trick –momentarily- for most of us (after all, Bach wrote his famous Coffee Cantata under the influence of, what else but caffeine...), but why not get friendly with natural endorphins all over again? Exercise causes these morphine-like compounds to naturally be released into the blood stream. Endorphins, in turn, enhance creativity and productivity. And, best of all, you don’t have to jump out of a plane to experience this natural high, something as simple as a brisk walk will do the trick.

My wife and I are runners and, since we run at a different pace, we often meet and share our ‘running thoughts’ during our cool down walk. These thoughts are usually the most creative of the day and often the catalyst to major ideas for our business and our lives.

Besides the obvious, how does this information affect you as a leader in your place of business?

Well, these days more and more companies are encouraging their employees to take measures to stay healthy (thus productive and creative), some build gyms on site, some offer free or discounted gym memberships, many have showers on site to accommodate those who ride to work, and a few go as far as remunerating their team members to stay fit and healthy. This is a win-win investment as studies show that, within the companies that advocate fitness and prevention, absenteeism is down and so are their overall health care costs.

So, if you are feeling sluggish, gray, unfocused and unproductive stop pushing yourself through that quick-sand pace and, instead, set the example and try something different. Take a walk, run or even grab a cup of Joe if that’s what works best for you. But when you come back to your desk share your running (or coffee) thoughts, they are likely to be some of the best of your day.

Write about what you know...

...that is what people say in literary circles.

During the last few weeks I have acquainted myself with blog procrastination.

Nothing is so fatiguing as the eternal hanging on of an uncompleted task. ~William James

I'd like to think that this is not a habit of mine. After all, I have been quite busy and these activity- filled days felt like the absolute opposite of procrastination. Busy analyzing job descriptions, meeting clients, planning...busy with life. So I never got around to posting anything in this site. I let it go into hibernation for almost a month, and now the process of waking it up has forced me to re-examine the true root cause of this dormant period.

Procrastination is the art of keeping up with yesterday.

~Don Marquis

All roads lead to Rome, and all my thoughts lead to the P word, as much as I hate to admit it. But I'd humbly argue that not everything we call procrastination is necessarily so.


In this case I'd like to think that I simply had more important items to tend to (like clients and writing assignments deadlines). So, yes, it is a form of procrastination that sprouts only after well-thought analysis. Some would simply call it prioritizing. But whatever you call it, in this instance, it is a good thing. Likewise, working with team members that can independently discern, prioritize and act in a manner that improves your company's productivity and engagement is something rare these days. It is also something tinted with what is known as common sense, and this is mighty hard to teach. So be sure to ask the right questions during your hiring interviews so that you won't find yourself doing the thinking for your team all the time.

If it weren't for the last minute,I wouldn't get anything done. ~Author Unknown

On the other hand, if I had chosen to push back my blogging because I went golfing, then that's just poor choice. That'd fall under what is, by definition, 100% pure procrastination.

What may be done at any time will be done at no time. ~Scottish Proverb

As a leader, when confronted with a true procrastination situation, you might be required to micromanage individuals who are simply not pulling their weight. As much as we all dislike being looked at over our shoulder or being the one doing the looking, some situations call for step-by-step analysis of a team member's daily routine. After the bad habits have been identified, it is a good idea to have the talk. After that, agreeing to a few specific action steps (e.g., job-shadow someone whose prioritizing and decision-making faculties aren't comatose) might do the job.

A year from now you may wish you had started today. ~Karen Lamb

There are many other reasons procrastination may knock on your team's door. Fear is the most pervasive root cause. As an employee, have you ever felt under trained to fulfill a project? I can remember being very young and having to analyze stats for an important meeting. The idea of presenting the results to the company's management made my stomach curl. I was frozen with fear. I had no idea what I was doing, but at least I had the common sense to talk to my boss and explain that unless somebody trained me for this assignment I'd have to defer the job to someone. The moral of the story is: you can unknowingly create procrastination for your workforce. This highlights, yet again, the importance of asking questions and truly listening to the answers. Something as simple as asking "Have you been properly trained to complete this task?" can save your company time, money, and keep your people's engagement high.

Other possible ways in which leadership may cause procrastination include: unrealistically high expectations, perfectionism, lack of motivational skills, poor listening skills, and work overload.


Just to clarify: laziness is not a form of procrastination. Laziness is a long loud yawn: highly contagious. Again, it all goes back to making it easier for yourself to focus your efforts in the goals that matter most to you and your company. Hiring the right people and asking the right questions during the first interviews is key.

There are a million ways to lose a work day, but not even a single way to get one back. ~Tom DeMarco and Timothy Lister

I must go now. I have the nagging feeling that I should be doing something else at this very moment.

What's your personality's weather?

When it comes to leading your team, and as cliche as this may sound, are you a half-full or half- empty type of leader?

Have you ever gave this some thought?

This is important in that, whatever our true nature is, it will bleed through our words and actions like cheap marker's ink. That is, unless we make a daily conscious effort to remain in the half-full mode at all times.

Your personality's weather is contagious, so here is a quick quote to help lead your team through the day in positive consciousness:

"We may be powerless to alter certain events, but we remain free to choose our attitude towards them, and it is in our spontaneous acceptance of necessity that we find our distinctive freedom."

Alain de Bottom, from The Consolations of Philosophy.

The Simple Art of the Apology

"Sorry, I did not mean what I said."

We've all been on the receiving end of this line. I wonder how many of us were ever satisfied by its meaning, or lack thereof. I wonder how many man up enough to actually speak the truth and say "I am sorry because I meant what I said."

Sincere apologies are hard to come by and hard to offer, we all know.

But just like there is an art to public speaking, to writing, to cooking, etc. there is also an art to the apology. And it is pretty simple.

Keep it short.

Own it.

Mean it.

Offer to do whatever it takes to fix the situation.

Keep it short--Most times a heartfelt "sorry" will do. Seriously. Once we start adding to it we run the risk of adulterating the meaning of it. These add ons mimic the artificial colorings of the culinary world. They may look good, but are completely unnecessary.
I once read this smart quote "Don't ruin an apology with an excuse." I think nothing could explain better than that what the offended party hopes to hear.

Own it--If you offended someone, then the apology should always start with "I." Not "we" not "they" and no passive voice (e.g., "The mistakes made had negative repercussions."). Don't insult the offended party further by resorting to these ways of hiding behind someone or something else.


How is this relevant to your business? An absurd amount of time is lost to workplace friction, most times due to one or more parties refusing to admit their wrong-doings. If it is necessary to walk your team through the art of the apology as part of a mini-training, do it. The rewards in time, money, productivity and overall work experience will be immense. In addition, a sincere apology is quicker as it does not allow for much he said she said, it is the first building block to repair a fractured relationship, and best of all, it makes feelings of frustration and resentment vanish on both sides. When a simple "I was wrong" is offered, even in the worse of situations, forgiveness is usually instantaneous and mutual respect is regained.

Here are some examples of how not to do it:

"I am heartsick about my personal legal situation and deeply sorry for the pain and difficulties it has caused our employees."
Martha Stewart

"The Duke of Edinburgh regrets any offense which may have been caused by remarks he is reported as making earlier today. With hindsight, he accepts what were intended as light-hearted comments were inappropriate."
Buckingham Palace, on Prince Philip saying a fuse box looked "as though it was put in by an Indian."

"If I caused anybody, including myself, any pain about the comments I made earlier, then I want to apologize to myself and Senator Obama and any of his supporters."
South Carolina's Senator Robert Ford's quasi-apology after being asked why he endorsed Hillary Clinton and replying, "Every Democrat running on that ticket next year would lose because he is black and he's top of the ticket. We'd lose the House and the Senate and the governors and everything."

In lieu of more effective apology examples, just remember chemist-inventor Orlando Battista's thought: "An error does not become a mistake until you refuse to correct it," and a good ol' apology is usually the best first step.

Training Strategy: should you choose to include an apology section in your communications or customer service training, discussing what is actually wrong with each of the above referenced apologies will be an effective way for your team to self-discover why following The Art of the Apology principles is the best way to go.