What Should We Do When We Feel A Lack Of Respect For Someone?

Respect is an interesting, complicated thing, and it’s not one size fits all. The point I want to make is that very often we see respect as an absolute. We get caught up in the idea that, “If you don’t respect my idea or my work then you don’t respect me,” and that really doesn’t have to be the case at all… as I described in the four examples below.

Examples: we can:

• Respect the person as a human, but not respect their authority or their suggestion or their idea.

• Respect the company, but not the person we are engaging with from the company.

• Respect how a person is trying to help us, but not the company.

• Respect a person’s authority, but not their goals or tactics they use to achieve those goals.

And I’m sure you and I could easily continue adding to this list of examples if we were brainstorming examples.

So what should we do when we feel a lack of respect for someone? 

The answer is both simple and complex. It’s so complex there are whole books written and specialists dedicated to only this topic. But let me give you a few steps to get the conversation moving in the right direction. This approach is often the starting point I use when I work with leaders to help them solve a respect challenge with their team or in their company.

Firstly, at the very least we should acknowledge we should be able to show a person respect as a human even if we don’t respect their achievements (or lack of), goals (or lack of), or values (or lack of).

Secondly, we should take a moment to consider where our feelings of respect and lack-of-respect are coming from. Looking inwardly to what we are feeling is always a good starting point in any and every situation including this one. What are we respecting and why (hopefully there is something)? What are we not respecting and why? Do we have an internal, learned bias that is getting in our own way? Might they have an internal, learned bias that is getting in their way?

This is a great exercise to go through (by yourself) for everyone in your inner circle. Take the time to point out what you do and don’t respect / appreciate / admire for those closest to you. It helps especially if find you are feeling negatively triggered by someone because it will help you control (be mindful of) your response.

Thirdly, is our lack of respect creating a barrier between us that is making the situation worse? It’s important to note that this is often the case. You know that when you feel negative energy from someone your own defences usually go up; which in turn often gets reflected back to them as negative energy from you. It is an unfortunate and vicious circle. It’s important to note at this point that whenever respect falters so does trust. When we don’t trust each other everything usually is much more difficult and take much longer. This in turn usually translates to being more expensive and less effective. 

Lastly, having reflected on what and why we are feeling as well as what biases we are (or they may be) feeling, how might we be able to build respect and trust within this situation? Generally, there are two areas we can work on and they are:

1. What We Can Make Sure We Are Doing

2. What We Can Make Sure We Are Not Doing

Lets explore these two areas.

What We Can Make Sure We Are Doing

Whether we are a leader of a team or an equal member of a team, we can all take a leadership role and set an example through our own behaviour. So, even if we are not feeling respect we can strive to build it with others. To build respect with one or more people we can all practice the following:

• Smile and say hello when we pass in the hall

• Listen mindfully / with all of our attention in a meeting or conversation

• Treat everyone equally 

• Encourage everyone to be their true, whole self and bring all of their experiences, education and perspective to every engagement 

• Be transparent with goals and tactics

• Give people credit for their ideas… and use other peoples ideas (it can’t be ‘my way or the highway’)

• Have a safe environment where people can make mistakes… and learn from those mistakes

• Imagine what it’s like to be in someone elses shoes (display empathy)

• Everyone can disagree and of course, still be civil and not feel threatened

 I encourage you to add to this list because it is far from exhaustive.

The amazing thing is that people who feel respected are not only trusted and more creative, they are:

• 92% more focused

• 55% more engaged

• 61% more likely to embrace change

• 56% healthier (fewer sick days)

• Over 100% more loyal (far less turnover)

Simply put, there are no downsides to having respectful relationships. 

What We Can Make Sure We Are Not Doing

Again, whether we are a leader of a team or an equal part of a team, we can all take a leadership role and set an example through our own behaviour. So, how can we begin to build respectful, trusting relationships? The idea is to explore how to build relationships where everyone has an open, safe space where everyone can share ideas by not:

• Mocking someone – publicly or privately

• Teasing

• Telling offensive jokes

• Letting someone finish a sentence

• Taking credit for someone else’s work

• Texting in meetings

• Making inappropriate advances

• Putting up silos instead of being transparent

• Always saying ‘No’ when asked to do something 

As I said earlier, I encourage you to add to this list because it is far from exhaustive. But even better, do this with someone else or with your team. Have this and keep this as an open dialogue where you have open and safe dialogues.

If you have a challenging situation and are working to make it better, give it time. Conversations will help and are a sign of a healthy environment. You won’t be perfect at first, and neither will other people. And I dare say you will always make mistakes along the way. The solution isn’t to be perfect, the solution is to be aware of your actions and humble enough that you are able to help others have the confidence to talk with you about challenges or feelings they are having so they can be worked on early.

As I said at the beginning, respect is a simple and yet complex thing. It never happens when there is an environment of secrecy and where people can’t speak freely. As respect begins to grow it is like a seed planted, it will require care and attention and it will grow - seemingly slowly at first but before you know it, you will have a healthy, wonderful space filled with respect… and trust.

Thank you for reading.

Bruce

About Bruce and Bruce Mayhew Consulting.

Bruce is Corporate Trainer and Executive Coach.

As a Corporate Trainer Bruce Mayhew (of BMC) specialize in customized Time Management Training, Email Etiquette Training, Leadership & New Leadership Development, Generational Differences and other soft skills training solutions in Toronto and across Canada. Bruce is also an Executive Coach to a few select clients.

BMC helps your greatest assets think productive and be productive.

Bruce is an experienced motivational speaker in Toronto and has inspired audiences across Canada and within the USA and the UK. Bruce works hard to always make sure your training event, conference, retreat, or annual general meeting is a success.

Creating a Multi-Generational Workplace Culture

Everyone wants to know they are a valued part of the team regardless of what generation they belong to. And because generational differences of Boomers, Gen X, Millennials and Gen Z employees matter when creating a healthy multi-generational workplace, I thought I would take a moment to discuss how generational differences often influence the way your employees may or may not respond four important motivators.

I also want to point out that besides generational differences, there are many other variables including gender differences, ethnic and cultural differences, feelings of trust and respect that are also incredibly important when creating a healthy multi-generational workplace culture. But for now, lets explore how each generation may interpret and be inspired by the following four important opportunities:

1. Recognition

2. Autonomy

3. Coaching/Continuous Learning

4. Opportunity for Advancement

Additional Note: While the list above is not exhaustive, I have purposely not included salary in the above list. I do this because salary is considered a base trait – that as long as an individual is being paid fairly, monetary reward becomes a far less reliable and effective motivator. So, lets take money off the table and look at other ways to create a multi-generational workplace culture.

Recognition

Everyone enjoys recognition. And while Gen Zers and Millennials are used to frequent recognition and Gen Xers and Boomers are used to less frequent recognition, whether an individual prefers to be recognized in publicly versus more privately is often more dependent on if they are an introvert versus extrovert than what generation they belong to.

The great question is, “How frequently and how sincerely do you recognize your team and team members?” Recognition doesn’t have to be a party - and please don’t start an ‘Employee of the Month’ program because recognizing one person once a month is about as demotivating as you can get. Instead, look for opportunities where you can say to someone, “Your input into this report is amazing” or “You’ve worked really hard on that sales pitch and it shows”. Recognizing someones contribution and/or effort in-the-moment is right up there with some of the best recognition you can offer… ever.

Autonomy

Historically, autonomy in the workplace was largely defined as the opportunity to work from home and seen as a perk – something employees had to deserve. Most leaders now recognize that supporting autonomy can encompasses many things like flexible hours, what to work on, where to sit (if in-office) and even professional development opportunities… as well as the choice to work from home (or perhaps more accurately, working remotely).

Thankfully even the idea that autonomy as a ‘perk’ is being replaced by the reality that most people who work remotely actually are more productive (not less), are more creative, have greater job satisfaction and employee loyalty to mention just a few benefits.

So, as you strive to create a healthy multi-generational workplace culture, look to what flexibility you can offer your employees that will help them. Do they need time to take their kids into daycare before coming to work? Do they love being in the office because it gives them a break from their family and they are naturally extroverted? Is there a project that has nothing to do with their current job that you can assign them to because you know it is related to a career path they aspire to? Those are all healthy examples of how you can incorporate autonomy into your workplace culture.

Coaching / Continuous Learning

Coaching is something every leader should be prepared to do – to both their team and to the individuals they support. Coaching ties in well to a workplace culture that promotes continuous learning, helping the team and the company stay fresh while also helping to create an inclusive, multi-generational workplace culture and to promote both collaborative and inclusive behaviour. In addition, coaching, continuous learning and being inclusive are especially important to Gen Z and Millennials.

I invite you to recognize these two generations enjoy being coached AS WELL AS coaching others, sharing their experience and helping others grow. Reverse coaching and/or reverse mentoring are important opportunities for individual and team motivation. And don’t worry if your employees are working remotely. Help employees meet other employees outside of their immediate circle and build new, meaningful relationships from afar by implementing a virtual mentorship program. These relationships will not only create meaning and benefit for them in part by satisfying our natural need to connect with one another, they will also create new synergies within the company and improve employee productivity and loyalty. 

Wondering how to start and who to include? During your one-on-one meetings with each of your team, be sure to ask them how they want to be coached and if they see opportunities where they can give back and coach others.

Opportunity for Advancement

Higher salary and opportunities for advancement have always been high on the list for Boomers and certainly of interest for Generation Xers. Unfortunately for Gen Xers, the economic downturns of the late 1980’s, early 2000’s and then again around 2008/2009 meant that fewer Boomers left the employment market for their expected “Freedom 55”. This meant the career advancement opportunities and higher salaries didn’t materialize as quickly as young Gen Xers expected. Thankfully, Gen Xers are finally getting their chance, even though they are now also competing for leadership positions against bright, well-educated and technologically save Millennials.

It is still worth taking a moment of pause here however because the traditional definition of ‘Opportunity for Advancement’ is shifting. Millennials and Gen Zers don’t only see advancement as a promotion. They also see advancement as opportunities to gain experience and opportunities to broaden their network. So, while an employee may stay in their current position, take time to learn about what they want to learn and where they would like to gain experience because it’s possible you can inspire a very motivated employee by giving them opportunities that are easily within reach and where they actually may be able to add a new point of view.

Conclusion

If you are a leader I urge you to learn as much about everyone you work with and especially people who report to you. What are their wants, needs and preferences as they relate to what they work on, how they like to work, how they like to be rewarded and connected to their preferences specific to working remotely (or not). What are their career aspirations? How can you support workplace training for each of the generations who count on you?

In addition, take a moment to consider your own leadership style and how you support, mentor and coach your team. For example, is your leadership preference lean toward creating a workplace culture where you:

• Give team members a lot of autonomy and little supervision - let them come to you when they have questions or need something

• Intentionally work at creating a culture of equality, diversity, openness and belonging

• Feel you have to have total control and make all (or most) of decisions - especially the critical high-profile decisions

• Value collaboration and input from all stakeholders, listen openly, and watch out of biases in order to explore all options before making a decision

• Focus on strategy, vision and values while making sure everyone has the resources they need to deliver

There is great value for todays leaders to focus on their soft skills and to know what inspires and motivates themselves and the people around them as they lead and create a multigenerational workplace culture.

Thank you for reading. I hope you have enjoyed.

Bruce

About Bruce and Bruce Mayhew Consulting.

Bruce is Corporate Trainer and Executive Coach.

As a Corporate Trainer Bruce Mayhew (of BMC) specialize in customized Time Management Training, Email Etiquette Training, Leadership & New Leadership Development, Generational Differences and other soft skills training solutions in Toronto and across Canada. Bruce is also an Executive Coach to a few select clients.

BMC helps your greatest assets think productive and be productive.

Bruce is an experienced motivational speaker in Toronto and has inspired audiences across Canada and within the USA and the UK. Bruce works hard to always make sure your training event, conference, retreat, or annual general meeting is a success.

What is Respect At Work?

Respect and Trust go hand-in-hand. They are two of the most important components of a thriving, productive and diverse work environment… and must be shared among your team, suppliers and customers. Without respect and trust being intentional parts of your team development, employees will almost always feel disconnected, be low-producers and have limited employee loyalty. In addition, suppliers will be weary of working with your company and clients just won’t buy and/or refer business.

I’ve written about trust and team development before, so let’s focus on ‘what is respect in the workplace and how we can improve it?’

Let’s begin by noticing that respect is a feeling, but showing respect to someone is an action. Showing respect at work lets people know at an emotional level that they are valued. Nobody wants to feel they don’t matter or that the work they do isn’t important / respected.

We don’t have to agree with someone to treat them with respect and appreciate their knowledge and/or experience. Even if we don’t like someone, we should always be dignified because any negative behaviour on our part will diminished our point of view if others feel our opinion is based on us not liking the other person versus our experience.

How We Can Show Others Respect In The Workplace:

• Acknowledge them or as they say in the movie ‘Avatar’, “I see you.”

• Encourage people to bring their whole selves to work, embrace diversity

• Be transparent with your goals, values and resources

• Be aware of any conscious or unconscious biases you may be experience – and help others do the same 

• Listen to others with an open mind – turn off autopilot

• Be curious, ask questions (evaluation is healthy), but still remain open-minded and polite

• Recognize generational differences and how people from different generations add to the conversation

• Recognize cultural differences and how people from different places and backgrounds add to the conversation

• Delegate work and opportunities across the whole team, based on criteria like skill and interest

• Offer support, even when you have nothing to gain

• Inspire and reinforce others using intrinsic and extrinsic, verbal and non-verbal motivators

• Recognize different people are rewarded by different things (Competency, Autonomy, Purpose, Impact)

• Tap into your empathy and be aware of what others are feeling and needing… but not sharing verbally

Having disagreements is almost always a sign of a healthy relationship. It shows people feel comfortable to share their thoughts and unique experiences. And for this to be healthy everyone has to realize that disagreement doesn’t have to be steeped in conflict or disrespect. What is important is everyones ability to show respect and be able to listen to each others input in line with the agreed upon goals and shared values versus personal beliefs.

The thing is, when we show others respect and when we openly listen to them, most people – even people who are confrontational will most likely pull back and begin showing you and others respect (noting I said most people and most likely). When this does happen, it’s possible that over time a respectful relationship can be built or rebuilt.

Real Example: I coached a leader who took over a department and was having a challenging time with a leader from another department. Historically, my clients’ predecessor and the other leader didn’t work well together. My client started slowly; taking time to listen to the other leader, be transparent with their goals and share relevant information. It took some time and there were a few bumps along the way, but mutual respect and trust was built, which made everyone’s work easier, helped both teams be more productive and overall work for everyone was less stressful and more enjoyable.

For the record, the leader from the other department likely initially felt two types of disrespect:

• Owed Respect: Respect (or disrespect) of the work and/or contribution of their group or team

• Earned Respect: Respect (or disrespect) of their own work and/or contribution (including leadership)   

Part of having a respectful space is to know that from time to time there may be disagreement. To overcome disagreements in a respectful way it’s important for everyone to know the plan is to always share when you are not feeling respected and valued. Knowing in advance that from time-to-time there may be situations that require a difficult conversation, can be healthy because it demonstrates a learning-based corporate culture dedicated to growth versus negative confrontations where people feel attacked and blindsided and often lead to broken relationships.

Conclusion:

People often say, “Treat others the way you want to be treated.” I say no. Instead, treat other people the way they want to be treated. Part of showing respect at work means rewarding people the way they want to be rewarded.  As I mentioned earlier, there are four main ways people feel reward (Competency, Autonomy, Purpose, Impact). Using myself as an example, the only way to know how which of these four is my preferred motivator is to talk with me – get to know me. If Autonomy is my key motivator and I have a leader who rewards me with Purpose or Impact there will be a gap – and that gap is likely to grow over time as I don’t feel understood and respected.

Companies that have a respectful workplace almost always are more successful, more creative and more resilient / responsive to their market in large part because employees are satisfied with their work and are proud of the company.

Life is messy. Let’s stay open and embrace it all.

Thank you for reading. I hope you have enjoyed.

Bruce

About Bruce and Bruce Mayhew Consulting.

Bruce is Corporate Trainer and Executive Coach.

As a Corporate Trainer Bruce Mayhew (of BMC) specialize in customized Time Management Training, Email Etiquette Training, Leadership & New Leadership Development, Generational Differences and other soft skills training solutions in Toronto and across Canada. Bruce is also an Executive Coach to a few select clients.

BMC helps your greatest assets think productive and be productive.

Bruce is an experienced motivational speaker in Toronto and has inspired audiences across Canada and within the USA and the UK. Bruce works hard to always make sure your training event, conference, retreat, or annual general meeting is a success.

How I Help Leaders Explore How Leadership Has Changed

The following are an edit of my notes from a Podcast interview I gave about leadership and how to develop an energized corporate culture with motivated, inspired employees.

Because of the length of my notes, this is Part 1 of what will be a two-part series. 

Please enjoy… and watch out for Part 2. Also, please consider liking and leaving comments below.

How I Help Leaders

I help new and experienced leaders understand how leadership has changed over the years and how they may be able to do better. There have been important changes in how to approach leadership especially in the three important areas of; coaching your team, motivation versus inspiration, and how to create a diverse and thriving corporate culture. I help clients and conference attendees explore their experiences and ask important questions of themselves and the world around them by creating a safe space where learning is important.

I see leaders fitting within a couple of buckets. There are:

1. Leaders who have been around for 30 or more years and who came into leadership when everyone around them was just like themselves. Their co-workers and customers wanted the same things so it was easy to understand what someone else expected. They lived in a world where the leader was the boss, laptop computers were a novelty and the size of small suitcases, email was a new communication tool that few people had access to, and unless you were a sales person the only way you could be productive was to be ‘at work’ where you had a desk, a phone and likely a secretary and/or access to a typing pool. Even voicemail was a new thing.

2. Young leaders who have grown up in a very different world than their parents and likely their initial role-models. They see a world where everyone has a voice (or should), is constantly connected by the internet, their mobile phones have more memory and processing power than the Apollo 11 guidance computer – a spacecraft that landed on the moon in 1972 (source: RealClear Science), empowering information is only a Google search and YouTube video away, and where choice and individuality are not only robust, they are expected and most people correctly recognize diversity as an empowering asset. 

I believe exploring and acknowledging these differences and the generational differences in the workplace is important, not to marginalize anyone but because it is important for each of us to understand the world we live in and then recognize the world we came from. Before we can begin to understand others we have to understand ourselves and our experiences. And for leaders, understanding our own perspective and our experiences really matters in how we lead, mentor, coach and inspire the people that depend on us. 

The interesting component here is that when Boomers and Generation X raised their Millennial and Generation Z children, they told their kids they could do anything and have anything and not to compromise. Then when these generations entered the workplace their, Boomer and Generation X leaders often interpret their curiosity and independence as entitlement and wonder, “Why they can’t just sit at their desk and do the work I’m telling them to do?” even though Millennials and Generation Z are behaving exactly how their parents raised them.

So, as a Corporate Trainer and Executive Coach I help leaders of all ages see how the world has changed and explore research I share with them as well as their own experiences to help understand what motivates individuals from all generations in the workplace. Motivators like having a purpose, personal growth, making a difference, feeling like they are contributing and wanting to have fun at work are all the elements of a thriving corporate culture that inspires employees. It’s important to note that while approaches to leadership are changing, Boomers are not used to thinking this way (I say this as a Boomer). No fault of our own. When they were young most Boomers didn’t work to have a purpose and be inspired, they went to work to get a paycheck so they could get a house and provide for their family. Work for a Boomer was often separate from their life but for Millennials and Gen Z… and even some Gen Xers, all of it is integrated.

The beauty is that most people no matter what generation they are from can tap into this concept pretty easily because it makes sense and is empowering. They can reflect on what they feel and want themselves as well as what they see their employees asking for. The people I work with or the audiences I present to also recognize that seeing something and being able to implement it are two different things – but change is possible. For all of us to change means we have to break our old habits (or expectations) about being a boss… and with desire, attention and often a bit of guidance change happens and is wonderful for everyone.

This is the base line of where I start. I help clients and/or conference attendees take the next step to realize difference is ok; that great leaders use that difference and use each other’s strengths. That the world is far too complex and great leaders embrace the diversity of:

·      Four different generations being in the workforce (age diversity).

·      People being equal regardless of their gender or sexual orientation.

·      Cultural and religious differences.

·      Disability / Ability.

Being a great leader requires taking time to reflect on ourselves and the environment we want to create. It’s being a coach who believes that one of their primary goals is to empower and inspire their employees to be their best and to do their own work.

Conclusion - and prelude to Part 2.

To be a great leader we have to be able to create an empowered corporate culture that gives people space to contribute their ideas while they also learn, grow and be proud of what they are contributing… and the difference they and the company are making together. Great leaders build a corporate culture that is truly based on the values of the organization then that creates a space where trust and motivation and respect become a common environment. Part of that is hiring the right people… and that is one of the key focuses I’ll discuss in part 2.

Thank you for reading. I hope you have enjoyed. Please leave a comment if have a moment.

Bruce

About Bruce and Bruce Mayhew Consulting.

Bruce is Corporate Trainer and Executive Coach.

As a Corporate Trainer Bruce Mayhew (of BMC) specialize in customized Time Management Training, Email Etiquette Training, Leadership & New Leadership Development, Generational Differences and other soft skills training solutions in Toronto and across Canada. Bruce is also an Executive Coach to a few select clients.

BMC helps your greatest assets think productive and be productive.

Bruce is an experienced motivational speaker in Toronto and has inspired audiences across Canada and within the USA and the UK. Bruce works hard to always make sure your training event, conference, retreat, or annual general meeting is a success. 

How Your Virtual Body Language Impacts Your Personal And Professional Brand

Like many ‘business buzz-words’ I believe the term digital body language is evolving to include virtual body language. One of the first references I found of digital body language is the 2010 book by Steven Woods called ‘Digital Body Language’. Loosely speaking, this is what Steven calls the online viewing history you and I create when visiting and interacting with different websites. The idea was, and still is that our online history (digital body language) can be analyzed and interpreted by organizations with sophisticated marketing departments to predict what our present and future wants, needs and reactions may be. To give you an example, I think we have all noticed that shortly after we’ve done some online research about a potential purchase, the next thing we know that item begins to show up in our Facebook advertising feed.

How digital body language evolved.

The evolution of the phrase ‘digital body language’ now also refers to the often-unintentional tone our readers ‘read’ from every email or instant message (IM) we write. This is what many people call our virtual communication, and therefore, our ‘virtual body language’. Every time you and I send an email or IM our readers instantly and often unconsciously interpret our message many different ways but they generally fall into four different areas:

• Helpful / Supportive

• Respectful / Honest

• Pushy / Demanding

• Dismissive

In other words, every email or instant message we write impacts our personal and professional reputation.

Is Our Virtual Body Language Really A Big Deal?

Yes, this is a big deal. How many email do you write and respond to every day? Studies show most professionals send and respond to between 50 and 250 email a day, often addressed to multiple people; this doesn’t even consider all of the instant messages. The result is that every week your email alone are likely making thousands of impressions with coworkers, suppliers and customers. In other words, your virtual communication and / or virtual body language is building your brand / your reputation every time you hit send. Hopefully you are writing with that in mind.

Still not convinced this is a big deal? Take a moment to consider how may messages you receive that sound vague, bossy, rude and/or read like one long disorganized thought. I bet you get more than a few each day and I bet they also often come from the same people. Now, what is your opinion of these people? Do you rush to read their email and go out of your way to help them? The end result is that their virtual body language negatively impacts their performance and their success… even if they don’t even know it.

In short, the reputation we build over time is either favourable or unfavourable and it will impact our immediate and long-term career success. And, with more of us now working remotely and now also routinely using video calls, the impressions we make is more important than ever.

The success of the companies we work for depends on its reputation, and in many of the same ways the virtual brand you create is critically important to your professional future; it matters what others think of you. Being good at your job isn’t good enough anymore. To excel in this fast-paced, technology driven world, the people we work with have to trust us and feel that we respect them, their time and their expertise/experience.

Now that we agree every email and IM we write makes an impression and whether we mean it or not, the million dollar question is, “Do you intentionally write a positive (or at least neutral) message?” If we are not paying attention to how our readers may interpret our message it is highly likely at least some of our messages sound vague, bossy, rude and/or read like one long disorganized thought.

Conclusion

Companies spend amazing fortunes to control their brand and align it with the company’s values. Unfortunately every employee may be unintentionally undermining their and the company’s digital brand every time they click ‘Send’. This is where Email Etiquette Training is important and can help team members support their own reputation as well as the companies brand.

I don’t think it matters if we call how we communicate digital body language, virtual body language or virtual brand. The important thing is that every time we hit send on an email, instant message or every time we participate in a video call that we recognize others are quickly deciding if we are one-hundred different things. Are your email professional, knowledgeable, trustworthy, respectful, helpful, collaborative, dependable… or are we writing email and IM that are toxic, demanding, disrespectful of others time and needs, working with a hidden agenda, self-centered and egotistical? And, what reputation are we also building for our company?

Thank you for reading. I hope you have enjoyed.

Bruce

About Bruce and Bruce Mayhew Consulting.

Bruce is Corporate Trainer and Executive Coach.

As a Corporate Trainer Bruce Mayhew (of BMC) specialize in customized Time Management Training, Email Etiquette Training, Leadership & New Leadership Development, Generational Differences and other soft skills training solutions in Toronto and across Canada. Bruce is also an Executive Coach to a few select clients.

BMC helps your greatest assets think productive and be productive.

Bruce is an experienced motivational speaker in Toronto and has inspired audiences across Canada and within the USA and the UK. Bruce works hard to always make sure your training event, conference, retreat, or annual general meeting is a success.

How To Keep Your Team Inspired And Proud Of Their Contribution

More and more people are working from home and feeling isolated, disconnected and even forgotten. And, whether we realize it or not even those of us who love working from home and are thrilled to not have to deal with the commute, expensive food-court coffee and ‘office politics’ are almost certainly missing some of the brainstorming, creativity, information sharing and learning that routinely and often informally (and formally) happens when we are in an office together.

The net result of the isolation and disconnect we feel is that as time goes by we begin feeling less motivated and less excited about our work. Sure, we know we are working hard in our newly fashioned home office or the dining room table, but as we sit alone we begin to silently wonder, “Am I really making a difference, is my effort relevant / important and does my boss see the value I bring to the team?”   

This is where we as leaders need to make sure we are doing right by the people we are responsible for… and frankly… are by extension doing right for ourselves and the organization we serve. This is where we as leaders have to make sure that whether people are working in an office or at home that they are recognized for the contribution they are providing, especially if they have had to relocate (due to COVID-19 or a new company-wide directive) and working from home is not their choice.

So as leaders, I offer you the three ways how to keep your team inspired and proud of their contribution.

Task 1. Let Others Lead

Just because we are a leader it doesn’t mean we have to lead every project. This is a common trap many leaders, especially new leaders fall into. Sadly, they also often feel burnt-out because of it.

It’s important leaders show our employees we trust them and give them confidence they have what it takes to run a project or a team meeting. Perhaps we don’t even go to the meeting but instead get updates from the person who is the lead. Another thing we can do is try to go a whole meeting without talking – except perhaps to give others encouragement for good ideas or for making good points. One of the most demoralizing things we can do as a leader is to always be the person who always makes the first and last point.

Task 2. Recognize Contribution

Make sure our team members (and our teams) know their contributions are being noticed… and appreciated / respected. Make sure they know they are making a difference and that their work – their contribution has purpose. Because we are working remotely, when we are on a video call and one of our team makes a good point or adds to the conversation – say, “Patrick, that is a good point” or“I agree with Margaret”. Recognizing someone’s contribution or effort doesn’t mean there has to be a big celebration, it can be really simple, and sometimes simple is the best and feels the most sincere.

If our top talent is not getting the recognition they deserve, we can’t be surprised when they start quitting or looking to be transferred to another department. This is a serious challenge because good talent islikelydifficult and costly to replace and retrain. This is doubly unfortunate since saying “Patrick, that is a good point” or“I agree with Margaret” doesn’t cost a cent and has looong lasting value.

Task 3. Every Employee Is Unique

Recognize everyone is different. We can’t motivate and reward people the same way we want to be rewarded. And, if we have two people doing the same job, don’t be surprised they have completely different motivation and recognition needs from each other. We know this is true, especially if we have children or siblings. It is totally common for siblings to have very different needs – and they grew up in the same household.If you are a parent ask yourself “Are they motivated by and interested in the same things?”My guess is no.

Need more convincing? With four generations in the workforce it is highly likely that some of our team may be single and newly out of school while others may be having their first child and / or buying their first house. Some may be sending their kids away to university while others may suddenly need to manage a sick partner or aging parents. Now more than ever, we are recognizing different people have different needs and those needs may change completely next week.

The only way we are going to be able to keep your team inspired and proud of their contribution (while building trust, improving performance and employee retention) is to get to know each of our team. We do this by having one-on-one status meetings with each employee at least once a month, or better yet, every two weeks along with our regular team meetings.

Imagine how an employee is going to feel when we take the time to get to know. As I said earlier, this will inspire most employees with greater – longer-felt results than a monetary bonus. 

Conclusion.

To keep your team inspired and proud of their contribution, leaders have to always balance the corporate needs with their employees personal and professional needs (and fears); always! Inspiring their team starts with getting very familiar with the company values because these are the values and behaviours we want people to demonstrate.

If we are starting to build our team from scratch, we have to be sure we hire people who demonstrate those values as well as the strategic competencies we are looking for. My opinion, weigh those values as high or higher than tactical competencies. Skills are often far easier to teach than values… unfortunately, in the past business has mostly hired for skill not values and therefore cultural fit. Then, once we have hired the right people, reward those values regularly.

If we are working with an existing team, our goal has to be to encourage them to bring out those values in every aspect of their work. This may mean we have to change our corporate culture to reward and inspire often and in real-time. An equally important part will be to encourage our team to reward each other. Praise and inspiration should not only come from us – it needs to become a regular part of the corporate / team culture.

Earlier I discussed one-on-one meetings. When you are having one-on-one meetings with your employees, two questions you can ask them to get a better idea of what is important to them and what their motivators are can be:

1. Looking into the next month, what would you like to get better at and how can I help you?

2. Is there a project that interests you that we may be able to include you on or do you have a special project you have in mind that we may be able to include in your objectives? 

This will usually help employees be more engaged, self-motivated and as a result, more productive.

Thank you for reading. I hope you have enjoyed.

Bruce

About Bruce and Bruce Mayhew Consulting.

Bruce is Corporate Trainer and Executive Coach.

As a Corporate Trainer Bruce Mayhew (of BMC) specialize in customized Time Management Training, Email Etiquette Training, Leadership & New Leadership Development, Generational Differences and other soft skills training solutions in Toronto and across Canada. Bruce is also an Executive Coach to a few select clients.

BMC helps your greatest assets think productive and be productive.

Bruce is an experienced motivational speaker in Toronto and has inspired audiences across Canada and within the USA and the UK. Bruce works hard to always make sure your training event, conference, retreat, or annual general meeting is a success.

What Are Soft Skills?

Soft skills are some of the most important skills we can have. More and more of the top companies are recognizing that by exploring the power of soft skills is where / how a company really can thrive and demonstrate their corporate values.

I am not surprised at all that when we look at soft skills, many of the top ones are also found when looking at many companies’ corporate values. For example:

1. Communication Skills

2. Empathy and Compassion

3. Teamwork

4. Creative thinking

5. Adaptability

6. Dependability

7. Listening Skills

8. Teamwork

9. Work ethic 

10. Leadership (made up of motivation, time management and many others)

The reason hard skills have been so popular is because they are easy to measure and there is little room for ‘interpretation’… which means it is easy to predict outcome and streamline performance. On the other hand, soft skills are largely intangible and difficult to quantify… but this doesn’t make them any less important.

While trust in a person’s skill is one thing, soft skills help build trust in a person’s character and when these skills are shared among the team, soft skills build trust in a supportive office culture. And now, in today’s ultra-competitive world with four generations in the workplace (and sometimes five), when we look at some of the best, most successful leaders, nearly all have many qualities including… an awareness of and skill in exercising their soft skills.

Conclusion:

Without a doubt, in today’s workspaces, because soft skills demonstrate how we communicate with colleagues and customers, how we manage our time, how we solve difficult solve problems, and overall how we manage our work, soft skills are important for all work at all levels.

Question:

Now that we’ve discussed many of the most important of them, which of them are you most skilled at using… and perhaps more importantly, let me ask you this, “What soft skills do you need to exercise a bit more than you currently do?” Remember, your most important job is to stand out by doing your job well and gaining a reputation as being trustworthy, dependable and easy to work with. 

Thank you for reading. I hope you have enjoyed.

Bruce

About Bruce and Bruce Mayhew Consulting.

Bruce is Corporate Trainer and Executive Coach.

As a Corporate Trainer Bruce Mayhew (of BMC) specialize in customized Time Management Training, Email Etiquette Training, Leadership & New Leadership Development, Generational Differences and other soft skills training solutions in Toronto and across Canada. Bruce is also an Executive Coach to a few select clients.

BMC helps your greatest assets think productive and be productive.

Bruce is an experienced motivational speaker in Toronto and has inspired audiences across Canada and within the USA and the UK. Bruce works hard to always make sure your training event, conference, retreat, or annual general meeting is a success.

What To Expect When Using An Executive Coach

Knowing what you should expect when using an executive coach and how to choose the right coach to work with is really important to your success.

I offer you my approach to coaching which includes the agreement I strive to reach ahead of time with the people I work with. At the end of this post I also offer some coaching interview questions I try to answer when I fist speak with a potential candidate - whether they ask them or not.

Step 1. Find the coach with the right background:

Finding the right executive coach is like finding the right car. There are many makes and models out there with four wheels (and motorcycles have two and three wheels), so you really have to know what fits your style and goals before you go shopping.

Working with the right coach can help you solve your most pressing leadership challenges – whatever they may be. But anyone can call themselves a coach. There are many aspects to consider when looking for an executive coach. Some people have been trained and have credentials while some do not. Some have extensive experience (as a coach, a strategy builder, and/or a leader through change) while some do not. And now a days many coaches have psychology backgrounds, experience working through stress and/or evaluating psychometric evaluations, all of which may come in handy.

Also, there is lots of previous history you may want (or not want) in your coach that will give them a niche and therefore make them more… or less relevant. For example, I am currently helping an organization find a coach for an ED of a Not-For-Profit. We are realizing that while some experience with Not-For-Profits will likely be good, an executive coach with fundraising experience may actually be a disadvantage because there are specific areas, we want the coach and ED to focus on – and fundraising isn’t one of them.

Once you have a short-list of high-potential coaching candidates that your ‘boss / bosses’ agree can address your needs (your boss / bosses have to be part of the coaching goal definition), now is the time for you - the person being coached to interview each and find the right fit.

Step 2. Manage your expectations:

Coaching means challenging and changing the way you think about some things and the way you approach some situations / people. Coaching is all about changing behaviours – your behaviours, and in some cases those behaviours may have helped you get to where you are today and/or kept you safe. Coaching always means unlearning some of those behaviours and learning new ones. Learning, reflecting and changing is not easy; but it is worthwhile.

Coaching will also help you see some things are in your direct control and some things are outside of your control. Coaching will provide resources and suggestions you can learn from and use to approach challenges and find solutions. Coaching can also help you change a mindset that every leader has to be all knowing and in full control – and instead that being a leader sometimes might mean not getting your way but instead being OK realizing you have to find another path… one in which you may also have to empower and support others.

Other times, working with a coach means having a safe place to discuss the problem with someone who is so knowledgeable from a business perspective. Often, the right coach can instead of giving you answers, ask you the right questions and help you find an appropriate solution.

Step 3. Find the right style:

Just because you find the coach you like, the coach may not want to work with the client (or perhaps the leadership team). Any great coach is going to make sure you are ready, willing and able. Coaching means change – and if you are stuck in your current paradigm and only want someone to support and maybe even reinforce your way of thinking, I am sure you will find that person. Frankly, it sounds like an easy paycheck. But great coaches are interested in change – moving the needle, helping people stretch and feel uncomfortable and most importantly… grow.

All that said, I’m not sure I can describe style in much detail except to say most coaches are teachers who support their training with coaching. Teaching may include reading, videos and even attending conferences. Teaching may also be done during the coaching session and with time allocated for discussion of the client is interpreting the information and how it may be used by them. Coaching can continue in following weeks – building upon the clients’ experience and often feelings. For the coaching to be effective, fit and style are important since the client will sometimes have to share information and feelings that are personal. 

Step 4. Set coaching up for success:

Before a final decision is made, allgreat coaches, no matter what their style will establish clear goals in advance between themselves, the coaching client and the leader/leadership team who govern’ the client (like a board of directors). Everyone needs to clearly understand the goals are realistic and something that they can – and want to work on. Once that is done, success must also include being clear on:

• Coach and client meet between weekly and monthly.

• What happens if one or both begin letting meetings slip?

• Everyone to agree in advance that progress / growth should be measured every four to six meetings and be discussed with the coach, client and leader/leadership team. A wrap-up session is also important in order to review and reflect on progress and possible next steps.

  • Progress / growth discussions and key items worked on are evaluated and shared – not personal experiences / information.

• How will goals be measured – what metrics will everyone use, because they should all be in alignment. A 360-degree assessment is a good / common baseline.

• Results should be able to be experienced, seen and measured quickly… even after the first meeting.

• Coaches who are somewhat different from their client are often better. Good coaches know how to build relationships of trust and respect. Being different (but still relatable), means the coach is able to offer truly different ideas — the kinds of ideas the client may not be able to see for themselves or have brought to their attention by their current support network.

At every meeting cover two of the following three things:

1.    Executive Development & Leadership Growth:

• Awareness and discussion of gap

• Challenges that arise from gap

• Opportunity / Benefits from growth

• Identify and discussion of weaknesses

  • How to minimize weaknesses (find other solutions)

  • How to build on strengths

2.    Discuss and problem solve a tactical challenge you are facing:

• Evolving from being a boss to being a Leader

• Evolving from being a manager to being a Leader

• A difficult conversation

• Strategic a business decision

• How to support you team to live the values of the organization in everything they do

• Resistance to change 

• HR: Does not demonstrate Respect, Trust, Performance and a non-Passive Aggressive Employee Nature (others and/or self) and/or behaviour out of step with organization values, procedures or governance

3.    Future Vision:

• Strategic Vision of the organization and or a department

• Change Management

• Where you see yourself in the future

• How you see the world

Interview Questions for Selecting A Coach

Whether you are the client or leader/leadership team, these are sample questions you may want to ask the coach as you are doing your assessment. These questions will help round-out and give some structure to your conversation and help give you some concrete answers to why you think you could or could not work with a specific coach. Going on just ‘gut-feeling’ alone will likely not satisfy the client being coached – and especially the leader / leadership team since they will have to justify the time and expense of the coaching processes.

1. “Why did you become a coach?”

2. “What is your coaching specialty?”

3. “What makes you happy / brings you joy?”

4. “How will I (or my employee) get the most value out of working with you?” 

5. “Have you ever had to fire a client?” 

   1. “What happened?”  (without names)

6. “Please share an example where a client had great success?” 

   1. “What happened?”  (without names)

7. “How will I (or my employee) get the most value out of working with you?”

8. “What are the most important traits / behaviours of a great leader?”

9. “What is your background (professionally or otherwise) that is relevant to you being a coach?

10. “Your coaching credentials are…?”

About Bruce and Bruce Mayhew Consulting.

Bruce is Corporate Trainer and Executive Coach.

As a Corporate Trainer Bruce Mayhew (of BMC) specialize in customized Time Management Training, Email Etiquette Training, Leadership & New Leadership Development, Generational Differences and other soft skills training solutions in Toronto and across Canada. Bruce is also an Executive Coach to a few select clients.

BMC helps your greatest assets think productive and be productive.

Bruce is an experienced motivational speaker in Toronto and has inspired audiences across Canada and within the USA and the UK. Bruce works hard to always make sure your training event, conference, retreat, or annual general meeting is a success.

Why And How Employee Engagement Is Important To Success

In 1973 sociologist Mark Granovetter reasoned that healthy societies are supported by “strong ties” (important and well-known relationships like family and close friends), and also “weak ties” (casual, often disbursed relationships like neighbours, favourite waiter/waitress and many work relationships). He also hypothesized about “absent ties” witch we will not discuss at this time.

During these times of social distancing and large-scale working from home, the loneliness and isolation many of us are feeling is proving that all of our relationships are important to our personal well-being. I challenge the relationships many of us are not experiencing now are also very important to our professional success and well-being. 

One of the most efficient ways employees create happy, trusting relationships is through much of the informal contact we have with each other. Pre-pandemic, most of us took for granted the opportunities working in an office created for team members to get to know each other. You may have also noticed over the last few months how many decisions were actually made while speaking with an associate on your way to a meeting or as you went for lunch or to ‘grab’ an afternoon coffee. And now, because we are working from home those opportunities are gone unless we intentionally find new ways to have those informal meetings and discussions.

As remote working (not to mention social distancing), becomes part of what I believe will be our a new norm, I believe there is real risk to each employee’s personal job satisfaction and productivity and therefore their and the organization’s success. Why? Because many of our “strong ties” and “weak ties” as Mark Granovetter calls them are at risk of becoming even weaker… or disappearing altogether.

Strong Times Are Important, But Weak Ties Help Us Grow

You and I are naturally exposed to new ideas and perspectives as we meet new people and build new “weak ties”. This helps us challege our preconceptions and foster innovation and its diffusion. In essence, these weak ties are safe places where we can first learn about and explore new ideas without risking our social status within our more important relationships. Without these ties we risk becoming isolated, myopic in our perspective and out of touch with social (and technological) progress as we interact only with people who look, act and think like we do.

As individuals, intentionally broadening our weak ties is good for our mental wellbeing. It is also good to help us to evolve into healthy members of our community. As employees, intentionally broadening our weak ties is also a way to grow professionally and, as we are promoted, to increase our social status. I think it’s worth reflecting on an old saying that, “It’s not what you know it’s who you know… and who knows you.” Often it is our weak ties that provide us experiences and opportunities that informally (at least at first) lead to career promotions.  

Solution:

As leaders, we have to intentionally provide opportunities for our team members to build relationships - even the ones who may not work closely together every day. Whether our employees are working from home all the time, part of the time or not at all, it’s a company’s and leader’s responsibility to create a corporate culture that provides opportunities for everyone to build strong ties and weak ties.

The options are limited by our imagination. Possible solutions could be:

• Creating dynamic, interactive spaces at the office like a fun lunchroom with large, shared picnic tables to help employees build weak ties.

• Holding daily team updates where everyone participates online whether they are in the office or working virtually.

• Encourage each other to pick up the phone when you have a quick question - replicating how you might call over a partition if you were in the office. This means team members also have to get into the habit of answering the phone… something many of us are not good at.

• Providing flexibility so employees can choose a schedule that balances work with their family obligations (which have increased during the Covid-19 pandemic).

In addition to the above, team-based employee development opportunities and sharing learning experiences are a brilliant way to build weak ties within an organization. Study after study proves employees want a chance to learn, grow and thrive in their career of choice. Consider your own past. Lack of professional development opportunities is one of the primary reasons employees leave their current job / employer. Learning means advancement and advancement often means making more money and a higher social standing. Investing in our employees is the perfect way to improve employee’s satisfaction, increase productivity and build trusting relationships with employees who will be loyal to you and your organization.As leaders of great companies and great teams, it’s important to make sure we give our most important assets meaningful development opportunities that meet with their (not your) personal and professional goals. 

As individuals, we have to be really intentional about making sure we are seen and heard. It means we have a personal responsibility to make sure we are getting in front of all kinds of people at all levels. While it would be lovely if building weak ties at work were a partnership, the reality is the bulk of the responsibility for building our weak ties is our own. The important thing is to do it. And remember that all relationships are important; someone who is not strategically important today may become a very strategically positioned advocate tomorrow.

Now more than ever businesses are moving into a place that allow employees to shine. Workplaces are flatter and many projects have greater team involvement and team collaboration. This translates into greater opportunity for employees to ask to get involved with projects that interest them, provide learning and career development, provide exposure to more people (build a greater network by building more weak ties) and of course… use our existing skills to add to make a difference. This last part is important. When any of us join a project team at work we have to be prepared to contribute 110%. This may mean doing some less glamourous work and not only the work we ‘want’ to do or that will show off our specialty. This approach will allow even long-term employees to build great relationships while learning about everything from new markets to new technology to… anything.  But here is the thing, sometimes when we work on less glamourous / less exciting work we might cut corners or even complain. Don’t. This is our chance to show we are a team player who takes pride in our work and are proud to be part of the team no matter what. 

BONUS

Leadership Tips

As a leader, especially a leader of a virtual team, it’s important to find ways to build this familiarity with each other even though some… or all of you are working remotely.  Three things you can do to support this:

• Have one-on-one meetings with each of your direct reports at least once every two weeks. Learn what their goals are. Discuss what challenges they may be having at work. If they ask for it, give them some coaching / mentoring.

• Point out where and how they are succeeding and exceeding expectations. When you are clear about the behaviour you find important you are more likely to see that behaviour / work again… and perhaps with even greater success. Also, by showing you are noticing you are helping your employee be proud of their effort and the quality of their work which means, you are likely going to get even more in the future.

• Make sure each person not only is proud of their accomplishments, make sure they see they are part of something bigger than themselves and are proud with that the team and even the organization are doing. 

Thanks for reading.

If i can help you in any way, please let me know. Click HERE to link to my professional development website.

Bruce

About Bruce and Bruce Mayhew Consulting.

Bruce is Corporate Trainer and Executive Coach.

As a Corporate Trainer Bruce Mayhew (of BMC) specialize in customized Time Management Training, Email Etiquette Training, Leadership & New Leadership Development, Generational Differences and other soft skills training solutions in Toronto and across Canada. Bruce is also an Executive Coach to a few select clients.

BMC helps your greatest assets think productive and be productive.

Bruce is an experienced motivational speaker in Toronto and has inspired audiences across Canada and within the USA and the UK. Bruce works hard to always make sure your training event, conference, retreat, or annual general meeting is a success.

How Autonomy Leads To Motivated Employees

First, lets start with four positive motivators you and I can integrate into our day-to-day work environments and meetings that often lead to motivated employees and increased work performance. They are:

• Play at work improves creativity, decreases stress and builds stronger relationships between team members and even suppliers and customers. In addition, play has been proven to lower healthcare costs and improve employee loyalty.

• Purpose is one of the best ways to develop employee engagement. When people know that what they are working on is important, they are usually more attentive - and (if your culture embraces it), more creative.

• Competency / Mastery is a great motivator for individuals who want to learn and grow. When in the office people learn from each other or when organized professional development training is brought in. When employees are remote it is easy to forget the importance of skills development. Webinars and online training are always good options for remote workers.

• Autonomy is aligned with feelings of independence and trust. Employees who feel they have control ownership of what they do and when they do it are happier, more committed, more productive and more loyal.

And if I left it there you would be in great shape to be able to begin using these four techniques. Since working from home is something many of us have to do - and it’s likely going to be part of our work-life-balance from now on, lets take a closer look at how autonomy encourages a culture of motivated employees.

1.    Be Clear With Expectations:

Your employees have to know what you expect of them and how they can count on you. To be clear with expectations also share why their work – the project or task you are asking them to work on is important. Knowing why something is important gives them and their work a greater sense of purpose and direction… and therefore gives them a greater sense of responsibility. 

2.    Build a Culture of Trust:

Show your team you trust them and they are important part of your team by delegating project to them, asking for (and taking) their advice and encouraging them to be creative. When employees always feel ‘it is your way or no way’ then they start shutting down. If you receive a project from them, don’t word-smith it based on ‘your style’ versus ‘their style’, unless you are seriously making it better or adding additional insight. If you or they are new to the idea of autonomy, start small and gradually increase the importance or complexity of the projects. Another way is to partner them up with another team member.

3.    Help Individuals and Teams Learn From Mistakes:

Roll up your coaching sleeves. When mistakes happen encourage them to come to you quickly / early. When they do, don’t look for blame – help them be creative and together… find solutions. When the problem is solved, continue working with them to explore what went wrong, what they learned and what can be done differently next time. Leaders who look for blame kill not only one person’s initiative but that of the whole team. This also dismantles trust, creativity and employee engagement.

4.    Communicate Regularly:

Communicate often with your team as a group and with each individual in separate one-on-one meetings. Get a reputation for being transparent and supportive. Identify industry trends and opportunities with them. They are likely closer to suppliers and customers so encourage them to also share what they see around industry trends and opportunities.

Conclusion:

There is no one-size-fits all with motivating employees. What is right for one person isn’t right for the next; what is right for one team isn’t right for the next. The challenge for leaders is to find the right balance weighting individual needs with organizational and economic factors.

Thanks for reading about how autonomy leads to motivated employees and increased work performance.

If i can help you in any way, please let me know. Click HERE to link to my professional development website.

Bruce

About Bruce and Bruce Mayhew Consulting.

Bruce is Corporate Trainer and Executive Coach.

As a Corporate Trainer Bruce Mayhew (of BMC) specialize in customized Time Management Training, Email Etiquette Training, Leadership & New Leadership Development, Generational Differences and other soft skills training solutions in Toronto and across Canada. Bruce is also an Executive Coach to a few select clients.

BMC helps your greatest assets think productive and be productive.

Bruce is an experienced motivational speaker in Toronto and has inspired audiences across Canada and within the USA and the UK. Bruce works hard to always make sure your training event, conference, retreat, or annual general meeting is a success.

How To Work From Home With A House Full Of People

Are you working from home with a house full of people? For many of us our living rooms, dining rooms and bedrooms have become crowded offices for remote work and students of all ages.

Are you experiencing chaos and feeling the stress? Know you are not alone… and know we will all get through this. As someone who helps organizations with leadership, motivation, generational differences and time management I can assure you there are ways to be effective at work, kind to your family and minimize stress.

Lets take a look.

Give Yourself A Break / Give Everyone A Break

First thing I want you to do is give yourself a break… cut yourself some slack. You are going through something that is difficult and it’s taking a toll on all of us. A new Angus Reid survey showed that 50% of Canadians say their mental health is worse since COVID-19. And if you are a woman, you will not be surprised to find that women are most likely to be impacted due to increased stress working from home while also caring for children, partners the household and potentially parents.

That said, everyone in your home is having their schedule and routine completely messed up. And likely everyones physical activity level is down which might mean a bit more unused energy to go along with some of that shared frustration.

My recommendation is to make sure you find some alone time and make sure you find time to get some fresh air and exercise. I don’t mean run a 10K, but I do recommend going for a walk twice a day – either alone or with someone you (still), like. 

Come Up With A Plan And Communicate Intentions

Like at work, the best plans are designed with input from everyone. So, have a group discussion. That said, as the leader you need to set the goals and general structure (see below). But talk with everyone about how to implement the recommendations I’m sharing here. 

Once you have everyone’s agreement, I recommend putting it in writing. Then, share this document to everyone in the house. In addition, you know the best leaders communicate expectations frequently and in many ways because different people absorb information differently. So, do the same at home with your family regarding the expectations everyone needs to support.

After some time with the plan, revisit. Work has changed – their schoolwork has changed. You are all getting used to different things. You may all have ideas how to make things better. Be the great leader who shows flexibility and great listening skills… just like you do with your team at work.

At Home Create Work-Free / School-Free Space

Everyone needs to have a safe place. Perhaps it is everyone’s bedroom. Perhaps it’s the family room. Try not to make it the kitchen – because your fridge and pantry will be calling the whole time.

Whatever works for the household – hold that rule true. That includes no checking your work smartphone and answering email at 10PM while watching a movie.

This space should be a place of fun and rest. Watch movies, do family puzzles, play games, join in on online-painting or sign-along groups. As a family, try to get everyone in here once a day to do some fun group creative activity.

Everyone Has A Desk

Especially working adults need a dedicated desk that they can go to and get away from. 99% of us are going to be most effective if we are at an office-like desk. Having your own space will help you get into a routine and create an environment where you will be least distracted (especially if you are easily distracted).

Kids will do what they want anyway, so let them do what they need. My only recommendation is to not do work or schoolwork in bed. Your body and mind needs to think of your bed as a sanctuary of sleep and low stress – not a place where work is done.

Schedule Time To Help Your Kids

Your kids are at home but their schoolwork still exists. Kids are used to a school routine so try to keep one for them while they are at home. And, know that most of us are at our best after we get a good night sleep – which means we are at our best after we wake up and for about the next six hours.

If you have kids at home, try to get a few hours of work in before they get up which might be easy to do (and really helpful), because kids like to sleep in. Then, work with them for a few hours on their schoolwork. Give them a break where they can play games and let you get a few more hours in at the office.

If you are a two-parent family, find a routine where you can tag-team and share this responsibility. It will be good for your relationship with your kids and give your kids some variability as well which is healthy for them. 

In the end, my advice is just an idea. Do what works for your family.

Schedule Breaks

Most people who work from home often work more – not less. They don’t take the breaks they normally would have at work going for coffee or going for lunch. Even the break of walking to a meeting and informal chats with a coworkers are gone. The thing is, these breaks are important for our mental health and our creativity.

My suggestion is when you take a break, do exactly that! Don’t do things that are ‘work’ to you, so if you don’t enjoy doing laundry (and I know some of you do), don’t do that. Instead, put down work and have a cup of tea, take a walk or do something else you enjoy and helps you relax.

And when you can, promote this concept with your co-workers who are also working from home and need a reminder to take a break, especially if you are their leader.

Schedule Your End Of Day

As I mentioned above, people who work from home during times of isolation often work too much. Your body and brain really do need a break, so set quitting times for you and your family to establish boundaries and a routine. A routine will help you and will be even more important for your kids who are used to a routine when they are at school.

Conclusion

Like I said above, avoid judging yourself – or others – on what you can get done each day. All of us are adjusting to a new normal, including your coworker and your kids. Most of all, protect your health.

Thanks for reading about how to work from home with a house full of people.

If i can help you in any way, please let me know. Click HERE to link to my professional development website.

Bruce

About Bruce and Bruce Mayhew Consulting.

Bruce is Corporate Trainer and Executive Coach.

As a Corporate Trainer Bruce Mayhew (of BMC) specialize in customized Time Management Training, Email Etiquette Training, Leadership & New Leadership Development, Generational Differences and other soft skills training solutions in Toronto and across Canada. Bruce is also an Executive Coach to a few select clients.

BMC helps your greatest assets think productive and be productive.

Bruce is an experienced motivational speaker in Toronto and has inspired audiences across Canada and within the USA and the UK. Bruce works hard to always make sure your training event, conference, retreat, or annual general meeting is a success.

How To Work From Home When You Are New To Working From Home

Your workspace may have recently changed to a work from home culture, or perhaps you just joined a company that embraces work from home as an option. As someone who has worked from home for years, I believe it’s a great opportunity for you. This work from home blog post includes a few quick tips on how to help you set up a home office, so you can be productive, stay healthy and protect your professional reputation as you work from home.

Have A Routine From Morning To Evening

You won’t have to travel to and from work which is a great time and money saver. So your tendency may be one of two things.

1. Get out of bed and start working… which might mean you are on at 7AM

2. Use the travel time you’ve saved for a bit more sleep, or to spend time with family… which might mean you are on at 9AM

I think either are fine. Just make sure your choice works with the culture of your team / the organization. Also, try to keep your routine predictable so your coworkers and best clients can learn your schedule.

It’s important to note that as long as you went to bed before 2AM and are not exhausted, it’s most likely you are at your strategic and creative best between 7AM and 11AM (give or take). So, protect your mornings for your most important work. Time Management guru Stephen R Covey said long ago in his book The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, ‘Put First Things First’ (Habit #3). For example, do your best to book routine meetings, non-urgent phone calls and to respond to the bulk of your email (your non-urgent email) in the afternoon, just do it.

In addition to protecting your morning also schedule a few breaks through your day. Get up, go for a mini-walk, put in a load of laundry, phone your mom for 10-minutes while you make a coffee (she will love you for it). I don’t think it matters what you do – but you want a mental break. You would have informal, casual chats with your coworkers if you were in an office, so make it happen at home. Even a 10-minute break or change of scenery will help you refocus, feel fresh and see things a bit more clearly.

Now, about getting dressed and eating breakfast. Yes, do both. It’s likely you are going to be on a few video calls during the day (they are becoming routine). So, have a shower and get yourself ready similar to how you would if you were going into the office. And as far as breakfast goes – I totally recommend eating something – but basically, do whatever your doctor tells you.

Create A Home Office

You need a space you can walk away from at the end of the day and feel comfortable at during the day. Amazon has some interesting wall-mounted fold-down desk options that are affordable and great if space is a challenge. There are also easy plans on Youtube on how to build a wall-mounted fold-down desk. Whatever you do, I encourage you to find a solution that doesn’t include you hanging out with your dog on your couch or sitting at your dining room table while your children do laps. Distractions will have a negative impact on your productivity and your stress level… and cause a dozen other problems.

As best you can, have a desk that is the right height with a real office chair with the best back support you can find. It’s also great if along with all the technology you are supposed to be using, that you use a large external monitor and a special external microphone or proper headset with microphone… for those video calls

Mirror Your Technology With Your Coworkers

This may sound like a no-brainer, especially since your employer should be providing you your technology but there is a slight tendency when we are working remotely to sometimes use an app we like that is not standard issue. Or, it’s very common for co-workers to use the same technology differently… or should I say not to its fullest ability. Take the time to watch the proper tutorials on how to use the software and be sure you are using it the same way.

As we discussed above, it’s almost guaranteed you will be on a few video calls if you are working from home. Do yourself a favour - use the camera (and set it up properly - which means at or slightly above eye-level). Using the camera will be good for your long-term brand (and career success), because when people see you they are more likely going to remember you – and they will feel greater trust in you and your work.

Separate Work From Home

Do the best you can to set up your office space in an unused room or in a quiet out of the way place. This will be good for your productivity, and it will also be good for your mental health.

You’ll need to turn off work each day – and likely on the weekends. You don’t want to be staring at your to-do list or listen to that nasty ding of incoming email all night and all weekend. Be sure you turn off work – which also might mean leave your work smartphones in a drawer or use apps that stop email from downloading during non-office hours.

Do yourself this favour – and do it for your family and friends. And if you have extra time, go for a walk, go to the gym and / or pick up a real book – with a real book cover.

If you have any other suggestions and great work from home tips, leave me a comment below.

Thanks for reading about how to work from home when you are new to working from home.

If i can help you in any way, please let me know. Click HERE to link to my professional development website.

Bruce

About Bruce and Bruce Mayhew Consulting.

Bruce is Corporate Trainer and Executive Coach.

As a Corporate Trainer Bruce Mayhew (of BMC) specialize in customized Time Management Training, Email Etiquette Training, Leadership & New Leadership Development, Generational Differences and other soft skills training solutions in Toronto and across Canada. Bruce is also an Executive Coach to a few select clients.

BMC helps your greatest assets think productive and be productive.

Bruce is an experienced motivational speaker in Toronto and has inspired audiences across Canada and within the USA and the UK. Bruce works hard to always make sure your training event, conference, retreat, or annual general meeting is a success.

Send Professional Business Email: Make The Perfect Impression

I’ve written a lot about email etiquette. It often seems like every time I teach an email writing training workshop I’m inspired to write about the great questions I get asked – thankfully for my regular readers I don’t.

Like many of you, during the Covid-19 Pandemic my training schedule has changed. Even so, I’m thrilled people are still reaching out, which means I’ve been receiving “How do I” questions on a number of my training topics. Because it has been a long time since I wrote about email etiquette I decided to write an email blog post that focuses on the main body of a message. So, here are 8 email etiquette tips that help business professionals like you be proud of the professional email you send.

8 Email Etiquette Tips to Protect Your Email Writing and Make The Perfect Impression:

1. Link your attachments first. We’ve all sent email and forgotten to link the attachment… and then have to sheepishly send a second. This wastes time (yours and your readers) and can hurt your reputation, especially if it happens often. Solve this problem by linking your attachment first.

2. After you linked attachments use a professional email greeting. It only takes 2 seconds to write ‘Hello’ or ‘Hi’ but a greeting is polite and will take an edge off your email. Email that don’t have a greeting often are interpreted as abrupt or impolite.

3. Get to the point quickly. Let your reader know why they should read your email by writing your action item first and your background information second. Many of us do the opposite.

4. Write with your reader in mind. Is all the information they need included? Don’t leave out important details that are ‘natural’ for you but may not be common-knowledge for your reader.

5. Double check tone. Your goal is to be efficient but to also be respectful. Because email is only the written word it’s easy to sound abrupt and demanding by mistake. 

6. Make sure you use paragraphs. White space makes your message more inviting for your reader – which means your reader is likely going to read it. Also, using paragraphs makes your email:

   • Easy to read

   • Easy to understand

   A quick rule of thumb is if you are writing more than 4 sentences you might need to break up your copy and start a new paragraph.

7. Check your spelling and grammar. It seems half the messages I receive have a small typo in them… like a word with two letters transposed (adn instead of and or yrou instead of your). It happens all the time when we write, and while it’s minor problem, if you don’t catch the typo in your email it will distract your reader and may put your reputation for attention to detail into question.

8. Have you used words or phrases there is a chance they might not understand? The last thing you want is for your reader to misinterpret a word you’ve used. A good rule is to write as if you are writing to someone in grade 9.

Follow these basic email etiquette rules to make the perfect impression. I guarantee, they are guidelines you can trust every time when it comes to the do’s and don’ts of business email.

Thanks for reading about how to send professional business email and make the perfect impression.

If I can help you in any way, please let me know. Click HERE to link to my professional development website.

Bruce

About Bruce and Bruce Mayhew Consulting.

Bruce is Corporate Trainer and Executive Coach.

As a Corporate Trainer Bruce Mayhew (of BMC) specialize in customized Time Management Training, Email Etiquette Training, Leadership & New Leadership Development, Generational Differences and other soft skills training solutions in Toronto and across Canada. Bruce is also an Executive Coach to a few select clients.

BMC helps your greatest assets think productive and be productive.

Bruce is an experienced motivational speaker in Toronto and has inspired audiences across Canada and within the USA and the UK. Bruce works hard to always make sure your training event, conference, retreat, or annual general meeting is a success.

Leading Change Through Uncertainty

All of us have a love hate relationship with change.  Behavioural Scientist have demonstrated we love change when we when we get a new car or upgrade our smartphone and have an understandable aversion to change when it upsets our routine, our security and/or when it happens suddenly. We are certainly experiencing change that is upsetting our business and how our teams are feeling and working.

In her book ‘The Psychology of Fear in Organizations’, author Sheila Keegan explores fear at work and leadership. Yet it’s fair to say that as a leader who is dealing with the challenges the COVID-19 Pandemic is creating, it is more critical than ever you hold your team together and guide them – and your business to success. As a corporate trainer, keynote speaker and executive coach specializing in leadership, team motivation and soft-skills I am happy to share a few recommendations leaders like you can use when leading change through uncertainty.

Face The Challenge Head-On

It is temporarily comforting to pretend change isn’t happening. If members of your team try to keep everything as it was they’ll soon find themselves standing alone. Even in less critical times the one truth about change is that it is always present and very persistent.

When faced with uncertainly people will undoubtably be exploring and likely grieving the loss they may face – everything from their job to their own sense of worth and value. Make sure your team members know how important they are to you, the team and the company.

There will be bumps, bruises and compromises that everyone is going to have to experience or make; especially if change is sudden and you are in ‘reaction mode’. Still, encourage everyone to see change as glass-half-full not glass-half-empty. Change can be an exciting growth opportunity for your organization and for your team members, both personally and professionally. 

Your job as a leader is to help your team face the challenge head-on and give them some comfortable footing. Help your team accept that together you are moving into a new normal and yes, the new normal is still unclear. Encourage them to see the details of your business have changed which means the details of their work has changed. Flexibility and adaptability are now critical moving forward.

Give Your Team A Foundation

Remind your team of your mission, vision and values. In times of uncertainly your vision may need to be adjusted but in most cases your mission (why your business exists), and especially your values (your guiding principles), should stay quite steady. Your mission, vision and values are amazingly important because they provide you and your team a stable foundation everyone will be able to count on for inspiration and consistent direction for everything they say, everything they do and ever decision they make.

Communication is critical here. As the leader be sure the scope of each person’s responsibilities are clearly defined (verbally and in writing) and in line with the organizations mission, vision and especially values. It’s important to remember people communicate and respond to interactions differently—you need to ensure you’re sharing information in a way that resonates with them, and through a channel they’re comfortable using.

Note, I think it is important to point out that up to now we’ve explored solutions based in using soft-skills and emotional intelligence. This is important because how people respond to change and uncertainty is often highly emotional – and if managed well they can set a positive tone to how and why a team will commit themselves and work together.

Share Responsibility

It’s completely natural for leaders who are facing uncertainty to take greater control of all decisions – to close ranks so to speak. Fight against this nature tendency – don’t become a bottleneck. Your team has amazing experience and education; be sure you benefit from it. If you take control over every decision you will be isolating important decisions from their experience and creativity and perhaps worst of all you will be stifling your team members sense of value and purpose.

There are a few places where a leader needs to take full control. For example, be unyielding about your organizational values. Be resolute about frequent communication and transparency. Be consistent about making sure everyone has the resources and support they need and feel valued. If you feel you must be involved in every decision, it’s very likely you need to do some changing of your own.

Give Your Team Focus

Focus your teams in two places at the same time. Some of your team members are experts at yesterday; it might be managing client relationships, payables and receivables or production. It’s also likely some of your team members are great at innovation and at looking into the future which may include people managing client relationships but also sales, service and if you have a new product development area. While one group stays in contact with your core clients and suppliers – demonstrating your organizational values, your other team searches for a way forward based on your businesses core competencies and, you guessed it… values.

Delegation and empowerment are critical in times of change. Be sure you benefit from your teams’ experience and education. Make sure you are taking advantage of their creativity and most importantly, not stifling everyone’s sense of value and purpose.

This may sound like two directives, but it is not. There can only be one plan and everyone at the senior level must support a focused goal of finding a new normal and migrating your mission, vision, values and operations to fulfilling that goal. As a leader your job is to keep these two groups empowering each other and working toward a new future. Everyone’s expectations – from the most senior to the most junior employee must be managed by clearly defining (verbally and in writing), the scope of each position’s responsibilities. 

Conclusion

According to Gerd Leonhard, a speaker, author and one of the world’s most prominent futurists, “There will be more changes in the next 20 years than in the previous 300 years.”

If we ever needed to be nimble and agile it is now and as leaders we have to help our teams do the same. Moving forward there will always be a need for change within ourselves, our team and our organizations; this is true even if we were not experiencing the COVID-19 Pandemic. By training ourselves to both think strategically and to be the coach that our teams need will mean we will always be ready to lead change through uncertainty while also being the empowering support system they need for us all to experience continued success.

Thank you for reading Leading Change Through uncertainty. If you have questions please let me know.

Bruce

Suggested Additional Reading: ‘Switch’ by the Heath brothers is an excellent book on change and how we all dislike it.

About Bruce and Bruce Mayhew Consulting.

Bruce is Corporate Trainer, Keynote Speaker and Executive Coach.

As a Corporate Trainer Bruce Mayhew (of BMC) specialize in customized Time Management Training, Email Etiquette Training, Leadership & New Leadership Development, Generational Differences and other soft skills training solutions in Toronto and across Canada. Bruce is also an Executive Coach to a few select clients.

BMC helps your greatest assets think productive and be productive.

Bruce is an experienced motivational speaker in Toronto and has inspired audiences across Canada and within the USA and the UK. Bruce works hard to always make sure your training event, conference, retreat, or annual general meeting is a success.

5 Stages of Team Development

How can you help your team succeed as a team and as individuals?

One important lesson I learned a long while ago is there are 5 stages of team development that every team passes through on its way to becoming an inspired high-performing team.

Cohesive teams don’t start out that way; they form over time and with hard work. Team members have to get to know each other for the team to reach peak effectiveness (stage #4). This is true in every situation including if you are:

• A leader joining an existing team

• Adding others to an existing team

• Putting together a brand-new team 

This knowledge has helped me be a better leader and executive coach. Now let me help you.

The 5 stages of team development i’ll be discussing with you were identified in 1965 by educational psychologist Bruce Tuckman. They are:

1. Forming

2. Storming

3. Norming

4. Performing

5. Adjourning

#1 Forming Stage

This stage is where team members meet each other, or where a new person is introduced to an existing team. Usually everyone is on their best behaviour until they find their place and learn about the other people. There is likely lots of uncertainty at this stage including the goals of the project and what the culture of the team will be like.

The leader’s role in this stage is to help the team get to know each other and explore the values, vision and goals associated with the task. As part of the team development, activities and group training should be designed to help everyone get to know each other and to begin setting a foundation of how the team will work and what the project goals are. Key training and agenda topics should include:

• Mission (for Department / Company / Team)

• Values

• Project / Team Goals

• Project / Team Timelines

• Expectations of team, working groups and individuals in relation to communication methods, shared documents, feedback, evaluation / measurements of success and work styles (work from home as an example)

• Leadership Support – who is the ‘Project Champion’

• Individual responsibilities

In addition to the above, I recommend including an icebreaker and team building / orientation exercise during this stage. As the team begins to work through these details people usually become more comfortable with each other and their place in the group.

It is important to note that at this stage, the actual project goal is not moving forward. What is happening is the team is beginning to build a foundation of trust that will define the team culture and support progress in the future.

Fair warning, just because you select a group of high-performing individuals you may not get a high-performing team. High-performing individuals don’t always have the ability to work in a collaborative environment.

#2 Storming Stage

As team members learn more about each other they begin to experience behaviours they like and respect as well as behaviours that rub them the wrong way (as my dad would say). Conflict begins to emerge as the politeness of the Forming stage wears off and individual communication styles, personal goals and internal competition become clearer. As identified in the graph above, the team is even less effective at this stage; this is likely because the team members have lost trust, cohesiveness and purpose.

The Storming and Norming stages are usually where many teams fail because conflicts are not resolved and trust is not established. It is important to note that conflict is natural and all healthy teams – all the best teams experience conflict and have also have learned ways to resolve it.

The leader is there to support their team with coaching and training aimed at helping team members build a process for communication, trust and mutual respect. The leaders job is to reduce tension by helping their team / team members engage in difficult conversations and help individuals learn how to resolve challenges between themselves and understand that differences sometimes add not subtract from the team. 

If i am coaching a client, the Storming stage is where I like to have a discussion about biases, because this is the stage that an individuals conscious and unconscious biases will be surfacing and they should watch out for this within their team.

Questions that the leader needs to help their team answer include:

• What is considered acceptable behaviour?

• How can we maximize our strengths?

• What are our learning opportunities?

• What are each other’s strengths?

• Know that when someone else shines it helps the team, doesn’t take away from my spotlight.

• Are agendas required for all meetings (please say yes to this)

• What Project Management technique do we use… and do we all know how to use it?

• How do we track performance?

The important thing for leaders is to help train their team – or get external training to make sure everyone knows how to manage conflict in a respectful and healthy way. Don’t try to avoid conflict. It is normal and can be healthy and be a good sign of a diverse team that have a variety of experiences and expertise.

Whatever you do, don’t overlook or diminish the importance of this step. No matter how experienced someone is, everyone has to be open to learning about themselves and each other at this stage.

#3 Norming Stage

What goes down must come up.

In the Norming stage team members begin to appreciate their team members’ strengths as well as find their own place. Trust, cohesiveness and purpose begin to emerge if the team is on the right track.

The team accepts a clear goal and aligns behind it. A leader’s job is to help each person take responsibility for tasks based on their own abilities and interests to grow while also ensuring they are meeting the expectations of other team members and the project / team goals. In short, everyone begins working together as a supportive team.

While trust and understanding are building, a team and/or its team members may fluctuate between Storming and Forming for some or all of its existence especially if new challenges or new team members are added.

If trust is not firmly established and a leader doesn’t clarify roles and expectations, then the team and project will likely fail. As stated earlier, the Storming and Norming stages are usually where many teams fail because conflicts are not resolved, and trust is not established.

#4 Performing Stage

It takes time to reach this stage, but this is the stage where the team becomes productive. If the leader takes on the role of coach and mentor with a desire to inspire their team and make sure they have the organizational support and training they need versus be their boss, it is likely the team will become a high-performing team.

At the Performing stage, everyone knows the Mission, Vision and Values as introduced in the Forming stage. In addition, they have learned what the Mission, Vision and Values mean which allows them to make strategically appropriate decisions without having to always get someone else’s opinion.

The team works together toward outcomes. And while disagreements may happen, challenges are met head-on and everyone works together to resolve them quickly – often by the team members alone. Collaboration remains a core strength towards the goal.

During the Preforming stage team members know who to go to for information, saving time and potential duplication. Also, quality increases with less waste on people’s time or resources. People perform well together, therefore, often feel a sense of contribution and intrinsic satisfaction / pride which further boosts engagement and productivity.

During a project a team may fall out of performing should new people be added to the team and/or if the project goals change (for example). These may move the team back to Forming, Storming and/or Norming until a new equilibrium is established.

Instead of being a referee or task master, leaders take on the strategic roll including:

• Supporting the project with appropriate resources, talent and training

• Supporting team members individual goals and performance

• Inspiring and motivating employees and the team

• Coordinating value added messaging… and lots of it

• Managing project performance, budgets and timelines

When the team is working well, they will automatically adjust on a daily basis with little to no required ‘management’ from the leader.

#5 Adjourning Stage

Without surprise, the Adjourning stage is about saying goodbye, the project is over. Now, this may be seen as unfortunate, but if the process has been a productive one this can be a time of celebration. And, just because this project is over it does make time and resources available for the next opportunity and learning curve.

After Adjourning I would recommend the team and each individual take a moment to consider what they have learned about themselves and about specific skills. Strictly as a learning process (not to take away from the glory of their success), highly productive teams often reflect on the past project and ask, ‘If I could change how I did X, I would have…’ and then move on. 

While team development is the main topic of this blog post, you may also be interested in a blog I wrote called ‘Why Trust Matters and How To Build Trust At Work’.

Conclusion:

The leader plays an important role through all stages mentoring and coaching team members through these stages.

For teams to be effective, team members must be able to work together and contribute to their shared goals. But this does not happen automatically: it develops as the team works together and learns together.

Remember, teams that fail usually fail at stage 2 and 3. The best thing a leader can do here is help their team understand the conflict they are experiencing and to grow from it. Don’t try to avoid conflict; it is normal and can be healthy.

Thank you for reading. If you have questions please let me know

Bruce

About Bruce and Bruce Mayhew Consulting.

Bruce is Corporate Trainer, Keynote Speaker and Executive Coach.

As a Corporate Trainer Bruce Mayhew (of BMC) specialize in customized Time Management Training, Email Etiquette Training, Leadership & New Leadership Development, Generational Differences and other soft skills training solutions in Toronto and across Canada. Bruce is also an Executive Coach to a few select clients.

BMC helps your greatest assets think productive and be productive.

Bruce is an experienced motivational speaker in Toronto and has inspired audiences across Canada and within the USA and the UK. Bruce works hard to always make sure your training event, conference, retreat, or annual general meeting is a success.

Working Well: 8 Recommendations To Be Productive Working From Home.

Last night I was on a conference call with a friend who asked me what my working from home best practices were. They thought I would have some good recommendations since I’ve been working from home for close to 20 years and also teach / speak on Time Management, Email Etiquette, Generational Differences and Leadership – not to mention consult about creating productive teams who work from home.

So, because of my friends question, let me share with you 8 recommendations to be productive working from home.

1. Prepare For Tomorrow

A great time management tip whether you work from home or in an office is to always prepare for tomorrow.

As you finish your day, you are in the best place to plan your 3 most important things to accomplish the next day. I recommend writing them down on a pad of paper that will sit on your desk as a constant reminder – not electronically.  I find during the night I sometimes have ideas related to those tasks so, I send myself a quick email or write it down somewhere so I clear my head; I know that if I don’t write it down the idea will keep distracting me all night.

2. Have a Dedicated Space

Especially if you are new to working from home you might not have a dedicated office space. Do this as soon as you can… and especially, don’t work from your bed… for many reasons.

Here are two reasons to try to have a dedicated space: 

• You will be more productive at a desk with a large monitor than working on your laptop screen. I love my laptop – it is my main workplace, but I use a docking station that connects it to a large monitor and I have an external mouse, keyboard and perhaps most importantly… I have a good chair.

• You are able stop your day, get away and start up again the next day quickly. As best you can, set up a system where you are not looking at your work all night and all weekend. You have to be able to turn work off, and having a separate space lets you do this… but get back into whatever you were working on quickly when you do want to.

3. Eliminate Clutter 

There are a thousand studies that say we work better when we are not piled up with clutter. You might not be the tidest of people – fine, but don’t have your workspace piled up with old files, projects, magazines and dirty dishes. 

4. Use Appropriate Software

Other than your standard office suite which I won’t comment on, you and your office mates should get familiar with some cloud-based apps that are build to specifically help people who work remotely and are responsive to tablets, laptops, smartphones etc.. For example:

• For Instant Messaging and Team Chat – look into Slack

• For Video Conferencing, Web Conferencing, Webinars and Meetings – look into Zoom

• For Effective Project Management that lets you work more collaboratively – look into Trello

When exploring technology it’s also important to explore how Email fits with the newer communication tools like Video Conferencing (Zoom) and Instant Messaging (Slack) in order to create balanced communication throughout your team - especially with teams working remotely some or all of the time.

5. Assign Deadlines To Your Work And Expectations  

Set deadlines for yourself. If you need something from other people, agree with them on what the deadline / delivery date is.

Setting deadlines keeps you and other people productive, and I believe equally important, setting deadlines manages everybody’s expectations. Without setting expectations you may be waiting around for something that is not a priority for the other person which risks your current project and can put a strain on your relationship as well as future work.  

6. Pre-book Team or Project Meeting For The Same Time Of Day   

Meetings will come and go, but you should pre-book team or project meetings at the same time so they are predictable for everyone.

Another time management tip is to not book meetings until late morning or the afternoon. You are at your strategic, creative best in the morning so protect that time for your most important work. But, if you have to do brainstorming on an important project you might want to set a one-off meeting in the morning to get everyone when you / they are fresh and well-rested.  

7. Reduce Distractions  

You know what distracts you and what does not. Do your best to eliminate all distractions – even the subtle ones. Common distractions include:

• The TV or Radio…. Even as background noise they can pull your attention… and are annoying for others when you are on conference calls.

• Other people in the room

• Children – playing or wanting your help

• Cooking sounds / smells

• The refrigerator or pantry

Leave me a comment below to let me know what your distraction is… or distractions are.

8. Be Social  

Working from home can feel isolating. It’s mentally and physically healthy if you can get out for a walk a few times a day. Take advantage of the social opportunities you have… like when you go grocery shopping make a point of saying hi to the cashier. Get to know your neighbours – just saying hi to them when you see them is nice. And, of course call and meet up with friends / family.

For work, don’t always use email and text messages. It’s far too easy to let our fingers do all our communication, but we actually communicate much better information when we use our video conferencing software. Make a point to have a video chat even for quick questions. You will likely be more creative and save time and the bonus is you will have been social at the same time which helps us feel connected with the outside world and as an added bonus will help you build trusting work relationships.

One Last Thought:

"There are no secrets to success. It is the result of preparation, hard work, and learning from failure." - Colin Powell, American politician and retired four-star general in the United States Army.

I hope you enjoyed my 8 recommendations to be productive working from home. I would like to hear your tips and best practices. Email me or leave a comment below.

If i can help you in any way, please let me know. Click HERE to link to my professional development website.

Bruce

#WorkFromHomeTip #WorkRemotely #HR #stayhomechallenge #Work #TimeManagement

About Bruce Mayhew

Bruce is Corporate Trainer and Executive Coach.

As a Corporate Trainer Bruce Mayhew (of BMC) specialize in customized Time Management Training, Email Etiquette Training, Leadership & New Leadership Development, Generational Differences and other soft skills training solutions in Toronto and across Canada. Bruce is also an Executive Coach to a few select clients.

BMC helps your greatest assets think productive and be productive.

Bruce is an experienced motivational speaker in Toronto and has inspired audiences across Canada and within the USA and the UK. Bruce works hard to always make sure your training event, conference, retreat, or annual general meeting is a success.

Call me at 1 416 617 0462

Email me at bruce@brucemayhewconsulting.com 

10 Quick Tips for Video Conversations

Being able to hear… and be heard clearly is important while we are working from home and having video conversations / video conferencing.

A few easy adjustments can help you sound professional and remove distractions for you and the people you are speaking with. To help you, here are 10 quick tips for video conversations if you are using your desktop, laptop, tablet or phone.

1. Position your camera at eye level or a bit higher (rather than a bit lower), and make sure you are centered on the screen. Nobody needs to look at your forehead or ceiling during the call.

2. Try to get lighting that is pointed in your direction and close to the camera… not behind you (this is really important to take away shadows on your face). Overhead light is good to help balance light, especially if it’s on a dimmer and you can adjust it. Try using a shade mute the harshness of any direct light.

3. Use a headset so you can hear people more clearly, especially if there are many people on the call and so you don’t bother others near you.

4. Use an external microphone to improve the clarity of your voice, especially if there are many people on the call. This can also reduce background noise for the others on the call.

5. Try not to talk over other people.

6. If there are many people on the call let them know it’s you speaking… even if it’s a video call and especially if there are people who may not recognize your voice. A quick, ‘Bruce here’ goes a long way.

7. Speak slowly and clearly, especially if you know you typically speak quickly.

8. Know how to reach your audience by phone, text or email if you experience technical difficulties.

9. Spend 2-minutes ahead of time to write down a few notes about important information you want to share / cover. Use a pad of paper, not on the device you will be using for the call.

10. Dress as if you are meeting in person!

Video conferencing and video conversations are gaining in popularity because they are a great way to improve communication, understanding and build a sense of team between two or more people. Done well, video conferencing can be just as good as being there… without all the time wasted by traveling. Without a doubt, if you are trying to brainstorm a plan or talk through a challenge, video conferencing and video conversations are far superior than email or even phone conversations.

And don’t worry, you don’t have to break the bank to get your work from home station set up with better technology.

For me, points 3 and 4 were the ones I had to fix in my work from home office. Where do you think your biggest gains will be?

BONUS: A Few More Things.

1. Being able to share your computer screen is very helpful between team members. I won’t get into it here, but this is something you may want to look into and make sure everyone knows how to do this.

2. Minimize how many online tabs / websites you have open. Close as many as you can so they don’t slow down your computer and internet bandwidth.

3. Turn off notifications for your calendar, email and other apps. Do this also for other devices that are near by.

4. Clean up the space behind you. Nobody needs to be distracted by a mess… or wonder if your work quality is as messy as your office.

Thanks for reading 10 Quick Tips for Video Conversations.

If i can help you in any way, please let me know. Click HERE to link to my professional development website.

Bruce

#WorkFromHomeTip #WorkRemotely #HR #stayhomechallenge #Work #VideoConversations

About Bruce and Bruce Mayhew Consulting.

Bruce is Corporate Trainer and Executive Coach.

As a Corporate Trainer Bruce Mayhew (of BMC) specialize in customized Time Management Training, Email Etiquette Training, Leadership & New Leadership Development, Generational Differences and other soft skills training solutions in Toronto and across Canada. Bruce is also an Executive Coach to a few select clients.

BMC helps your greatest assets think productive and be productive.

Bruce is an experienced motivational speaker in Toronto and has inspired audiences across Canada and within the USA and the UK. Bruce works hard to always make sure your training event, conference, retreat, or annual general meeting is a success.

Working From Home Team Building Questions

Working from home or working remotely is suddenly something we are all doing. Unfortunately, working remotely can also make people feel disconnected and not important to a project which will in-turn hurt productively, employee engagement and employee loyalty.

A brilliant way to keep and build trust within your team while also helping them feel important, connected and engaged is to schedule regular team conference calls as well as one-on-one calls. But, remote calls – even if you include video can begin to feel dry, rehearsed and prescriptive… in short… un-motivating. The solution to keeping these calls interesting is to incorporate virtual team building into some (not necessarily all – especially if you have meetings every morning) of your calls.

I have a list of 100 virtual team building ideas so you’ve come to the right place if you are looking for ideas. Feel free to call me if you would like to discuss / brainstorm these in person. For now I’m going to offer you 25 'working from home team building questions that are safe (and not too personal) that you can use at the beginning of team conference calls.

I hope these 25 team building questions help you build connection and trust within your team… and most of all I hope they help your team communicate more effectively so that each person is a productive, creative and happy individual. 

1. Who has a Pet… or if you’ve had a pet what was it / which one was your favourite?

2. Who was born outside of Canada (or wherever you are located)? Where were you born?

3. Who has lived in more than one province in Canada (or wherever you are located)?

4. If you could live anywhere on this planet where would you live?

5. Who doesn’t drive?

6. Who likes Brussel Sprouts?

7. What is your favourite / least favourite thing to do? Laundry, Grocery shopping, Cooking?

8. Who is an early riser?

9. Who knows how to swim?

10. Do you speak more than 2 languages (doesn’t have to be 100% fluent)? Which ones?

11. If you could go back to school for 1 whole year and study anything, what would you study?

12. Are you a ‘sweet’ person or a ‘salty / savoury’ person?

13. What is your favourite concert or play you’ve ever seen?

14. What is your favourite book you’ve read? (or Who has read Catcher in the Rye or at least one Harry Potter book?)

15. Have you ever binge watched anything – and if you have, what was it and why?

16. What have you ever made that was artistic (paint, sew, draw, play music etc.)?

17. Who plays or has played a musical instrument? What do / did you play?

18. Who would consider themselves a ‘Treky’ (Star Trek)? If yes, which series was the best and why?

19. If you could choose one age and stay that age forever, how old would you choose and why?

20. If you could have one superpower, which one would you choose and why? (I would be Batman because he has great toys… and his name is Bruce)

21. Which season is your favourite? Fall, Winter, Spring, or Summer and why?

22. Would you prefer to go to the mountains or the beach?

23. What is the coolest vacation you have ever taken?

24. What is your favourite food?

25. If you could meet and have dinner with anyone would it be?

All remote teams face the challenge of positive, trusting team engagement. It’s easy to lose the laughter and comic relief… the familiar and trusting connection employees build when they see each other in person and have casual talks in the morning or when going for a coffee together. The more your team know of each other the more likely you will have a proud, creative, energized, productive team that will have each others back.

I hope this article has been helpful. There are more Leadership Skills, Email Etiquette, Time Management and Meeting Management articles and workshops train on, but these are some of the most important. If you want more information on those I’m happy to help – let me know.

Thanks for reading Working From Home Team Building Questions.

If i can help you in any way, please let me know. Click HERE to link to my professional development website.

Bruce

#WorkFromHomeTip #WorkRemotely #HR #stayhomechallenge #Work

About Bruce and Bruce Mayhew Consulting.

Bruce is Corporate Trainer and Executive Coach.

As a Corporate Trainer Bruce Mayhew (of BMC) specialize in customized Time Management Training, Email Etiquette Training, Leadership & New Leadership Development, Generational Differences and other soft skills training solutions in Toronto and across Canada. Bruce is also an Executive Coach to a few select clients.

BMC helps your greatest assets think productive and be productive.

Bruce is an experienced motivational speaker in Toronto and has inspired audiences across Canada and within the USA and the UK. Bruce works hard to always make sure your training event, conference, retreat, or annual general meeting is a success.

Call me at 1 416 617 0462

Email me at bruce@brucemayhewconsulting.com

An Employees Guide To Working From Home / Working Remotely

Lots of information already exists to help leaders introduce a ‘working from home’ / ‘working remotely’ culture. I thought now would be a good time for me to take a different approach and offer some coaching / professional development training aimed at everyday employees who are and/or will be working remotely perhaps for the first time.

The following are 7 main challenges… and solutions I believe are important to being a productive, proud and well-balanced employee. At the end of this post is also a link to my website and contact information in case you want to get hold of me and have some specific questions - I’m always happy to help.

Before I start however I want to say that as much as remote work seems like the latest trend that everyone should want more than anything, the reality is working remotely isn’t easy and certainly not for everyone. On that, it isn’t one-size-fits all either. What works for me might not work for you and visa versa. For example, I know many people who work well in a busy coffee-shop while for me they are simply places where I get distracted.

Challenge 1. Feeling Isolated

One of the biggest challenges you might experience is feeling isolated, alone and disconnected to your coworkers and to projects. This is understandable since many office workers don’t realize how much important information is shared during scheduled and impromptu meetings, hollering over each other’s partitions or chatting on the way to a meeting, lunch or grabbing a coffee. 

If you are finding yourself working from home / working remotely, make specific effort to do two things:

1. Look for opportunities to make a phone call or better yet, a video call to discuss a project or issue. It may seem like it takes time to ‘call’ or ‘link’ but I assure you, the quality and quantity of information you can share in a voice call is far greater than what most of us could type into an email… or that our readers would pay attention to.

2. Even if you have no business purpose, take the extra effort to make a call just to say hi and do a casual check-in.

Photo by Anna auza

Challenge 2. Introvert versus Extravert

Introverts gain energy and are often more productive when they work alone, while extroverts gain energy and work better when they have the opportunity to spend time with other people. Introverts will seek out quiet spaces with few people while extroverts will often seek out public spaces and crowds of people they can talk with.

For us introverts working from home / working remotely, this may be one of those odd times where we have an advantage because we usually do well working alone. But still, I encourage all you introverts not to forget to check in and hear other people’s voices.

For extraverts, because you do well when you are in contact with other people it will be natural for you to want to reach out by phone and with video conferencing. This is your opportunity to help your coworkers (perhaps the introverts), who may be hesitant to reaching out. Do them a favour and ask for a call and/or video call. 

Challenge 3. Manage Project / Work Expectations

It’s natural for us to use email - especially when we are not near to the person we need to connect with. But take care, as I share when I deliver Email Etiquette training, email was designed as a confirmation tool. Email is not good for brainstorming or discussing options. It’s natural for you and I to interpret something we read (or write), in an email as ‘decision made’.

Many people think writing very brief email is a good thing. The unfortunate thing is writing a brief email often sounds pushy, demanding or bossy. If you are feeling ‘triggered’ by what someone has written I recommend giving people the benefit of the doubt because email tone can be interpreted much differently than the writer intended. An interesting experiment would be to take a look at your own email; if you were to receive them do they sound positive and courteous or cold and abrupt?

When you have options, proactively manage your expectations and the expectations of your coworkers / suppliers / customers. As I said earlier, I recommend picking up the phone – you will share information more quickly and be more creative. If you do use email:

• Say Hi or Hello… and use their name (this lowers the abrupt tone of email). If you email with the person 20 times per day say hi only once.

• Mention you are offering an option for discussion and look forward to their ideas / input / suggestions.

• Use bullets if you have two or more points. Just like I’ve done in this example. Bullets are great because they create a visual reminder.

• Use a descriptive Subject Line with 5-7 words. 

Challenge 4. Prepare for Meetings

Meetings will continue… and make sure they do; they will simply be over the phone or on a video call. I very seriously recommend that even for a meeting with one other person that you write / share an email in advance to identify topics you want to discuss. This email will help you get clear on what you want to talk about (and why), and it will also help your coworker / supplier prepare. Topics you might like to cover include:

• Questions you have

• Ideas or suggestions you have

• Points of concern

I hesitate to call this a meeting agenda but that’s exactly what it is. Agendas have a bad reputation as being complicated… so don’t let them be. I bet you can do this with 2 sentences (which includes meeting time and connection information) and a few bullets. Give it a try.

Challenge 5. Follow Up after Meetings

I’m thrilled you’ve taken my advice in Challenge #4 and sent a quick meeting agenda email. Now, send an equally short message after the meeting by using the Reply All button which outlines the decisions that were made. This way, you will be managing everyone’s expectations (including your own), by having created a simple record everyone can fall back on days and weeks later. 

Challenge 6. Other People are Home With You

If working remotely was a hasty decision by your company you might find other family members are also at home and not used to you working from home. You may also have a partner who is working and/or children who are doing homework, playing or everyone in different rooms watching Netflix.

Focus is a priority if you are going to be able to concentrate and work strategically. Three things I recommend:

• Most of us do our best to work in a quiet area… or at least not chaotic areas. If you are like me and noise distracts you, consider investing in noise cancellation headphones.

• Try to find a space that is all your own - at least during the day. Find a comfortable table and chair and a water bottle / coffee mug (with a lid).

• When you are on a phone or video call do your absolute best to be in a quiet area and always use a headset / earbuds. I recommend using a headset / earbuds even if you are by yourself since it will help the other person / people on the call hear you clearly. 

Challenge 7. Take Time To Step Away - Take Breaks

When working from home you can often find you get to your computer and start working earlier in the morning than if you were traveling to the office. Then, before you know it the morning has passed. If you do stop to go to the kitchen for coffee or lunch… or take the dog outside, you rush back to the office. The thing is, study after study demonstrates the importance taking breaks and its impact on increased productivity and creativity.

When you work in a typical office there are distractions that are natural - from meetings, impromptu conversations to having to walking to a food court for coffee or lunch. These mental breaks are important. So, make it a priority to take the same time to stop working for 10 or 15 minutes a few times each day. Put in a load of laundry - or better yet, get some air by walking around the block. Just don’t fall down the social media vortex and lose an hour.

I hope this article dedicated to you - the employee has been helpful. There are more Email Etiquette, Time Management. Meeting Management and Leadership Skills I train on but these are some of the most important. If you want more information on those I’m happy to help – let me know.

Thanks for reading An Employees Guide To Working From Home / Working Remotely.

If i can help you in any way, please let me know. Click HERE to link to my professional development website.

Bruce

#WorkFromHomeTip #WorkRemotely #HR #stayhomechallenge #Work

About Bruce and Bruce Mayhew Consulting.

Bruce is Corporate Trainer and Executive Coach.

As a Corporate Trainer Bruce Mayhew (of BMC) specialize in customized Time Management Training, Email Etiquette Training, Leadership & New Leadership Development, Generational Differences and other soft skills training solutions in Toronto and across Canada. Bruce is also an Executive Coach to a few select clients.

BMC helps your greatest assets think productive and be productive.

Bruce is an experienced motivational speaker in Toronto and has inspired audiences across Canada and within the USA and the UK. Bruce works hard to always make sure your training event, conference, retreat, or annual general meeting is a success.

How To Host Your Perfect Meeting

I love meetings. But not so much that I call them or want to go to them when they are not needed.

I also love when everyone walks out of meetings thinking, “Wow – that was productive. I wish every meeting could be like that.” When that happens not only am I (and all of us), rewarded with the information we need in a timely manner, when it is a meeting I’ve called my professional reputation is also rewarded for hosting a meeting that was productive, managed peoples expectations and didn’t waste peoples time (a nod to good time management).

So, lets explore how to host your perfect meeting.

My recommendation on how to host your perfect meeting is to break the process down into three sections namely, Before, During and After the meeting.

How To Host Your Perfect Meeting: Before the Meeting

To host your perfect meeting I hope the word ‘Agenda’ is one of the first things that comes to mind. I don’t want you to despair thinking you have to create a formal - stuffy agenda. For most meetings, throw that idea to the curb.

First, imagine a simple email that includes a few sentences that will tell attendees ‘why’ they will want to go. Share with them the goals, the projected outcomes and a short overview of how these outcomes will benefit them. Then include a bullet list of key topics / headlines that will be explored. Also, if you send information you want them to review, state it as an action item. Just attaching the document does not mean they will read it. So ask them to.

Next, book an appropriate room. Find a room that is large enough (not too large) for the meeting and that has the equipment you need.

Lastly, include Logistical Information that a person will need to arrive on time. Especially if you have external employees, new employees or suppliers from outside the company, be sure to detail logistics like building address, directions, parking options for people not familiar with your office. Please, don’t glance over this – as someone who frequently attends meetings at buildings I’ve never been at, 1-minute of your time can save me loads of time searching for where to park. Also include room name / number and Start Time / End Time clearly on the agenda (and I recommend including in email subject Line if sending the notice out by email).

Agenda and Notice EXAMPLE:

Subject Line: Sales & Product Development: Meeting Design & Best Practices

I am scheduling a meeting so the Sales and Product Development team can explore best practices associated to running a meeting. Our goal is to design and agree upon / approve a format that everyone can use in the department moving forward.

As department heads, please come with a short list of your suggestions. You may wish to have a quick discussion with your team to get their ideas so you can bring them forward. I have also attached a one-page pdf file for us all to review in advance for context. At the meeting we will explore:

• Before A Meeting (Planning)

• During A Meeting

• Following A Meeting

Logistics:

• Sales & Product Development: Meeting Design & Best Practices [Yes, this is a repeat of the Subject Line]

• Tuesday: April 10: 1:30PM

• Rogers Building: 333 Bloor St E, Toronto

• 8th floor – Maple Leaf Room

• Paid underground parking off of Jarvis, south of Bloor

Note: If your meeting is going to be long – like a training event, snacks and possibly meals need to be considered.

At the Meeting

Hopefully you can get into the room a few minutes in advance to set up. I know this sounds pretty obvious but you might be surprised how often it doesn’t happen. Make sure the chairs are aligned as necessary and that any technology you need has been turned on and presentations are loaded and standing by. Having everyone sit and watch you set up for 10 minutes is not good and you just may lose people. If you don’t lose them at this meeting – you might not get them to come on time to your next meeting… because your reputation as an organized meeting host will have been compromised.

Note: If you can’t get into the room before, plan ahead, book the meeting room for 30 minutes before you need it so you will have loads of time to get the previous meeting out… and get you set up.

Start the meeting on time.

Begin by confirming attendees and introducing special guests. Then, formally go over your objective / goal and then the main points on the agenda.

Stick to your agenda. If someone brings up things that are not on your agenda, I recommend one of two things.

1. Park the item and book another meeting to address it.

2. Park the meeting to the end of your meeting, and if your meeting ends early you can review as long as all of the important people are in attendance. If they are not, discussing it will be a waste of time and you will need to book another meeting anyway.

Control people who are speaking a bit too much… and encourage people who are staying silent (they may need our help).

Before anyone departs, recap and confirm agreement on:

• Decisions made

• Action times (what, who and when)

End on time… or early.

After the Meeting

Send out Meeting Minutes as soon as possible. I mean in hours not days.

Like the Agenda, the minutes don’t have to be fancy or complicated. I like the idea of a quick email which outlines the agenda, discussion key points, decisions made and the action items including the what, who and when these action items be fulfilled.

Sending out Meeting Minutes – even really simple minutes are important. If you don’t, everyone will begin to slowly move the decisions made to align with their needs and goals versus the planned goals. So, if person A starts migrating their idea of the decisions to their needs and person B starts migrating their idea to their needs, within a very short week there can be a very large gap between what A and B believe they need to work on and what they actually agreed to. A simple 2 or 3 sentence summaries can solve that challenge… and eliminate the need for many difficult conversations.

Conclusion

In-person or video meetings are one of the best ways to share complicated or sensitive information, discuss / brainstorm options or to provide your team professional development training. Meetings are also amazing at building a cohesive, trusting team environment. But, they have to be done well… and the agreed upon structure has to be followed by everyone. This is where your leadership is imperative in supporting the meeting management standard you come up with. Employees have to see you walking the walk.

Thanks for reading up on How To Host Your Perfect Meeting.

If i can help you in any way, please let me know. Here is my website Meeting Management Training page.

Bruce

About Bruce and Bruce Mayhew Consulting.

Bruce is Corporate Trainer and Executive Coach.

As a Corporate Trainer Bruce Mayhew (of BMC) specialize in customized Time Management Training, Email Etiquette Training, Leadership & New Leadership Development, Generational Differences and other soft skills training solutions in Toronto and across Canada. Bruce is also an Executive Coach to a few select clients.

BMC helps your greatest assets think productive and be productive.

Bruce is an experienced motivational speaker in Toronto and has inspired audiences across Canada and within the USA and the UK. Bruce works hard to always make sure your training event, conference, retreat, or annual general meeting is a success.