Time Management Advice from a six year old

I was complaining about my workload over dinner with the family last night and my six year old came out with his own brand of Time Management advice for me. I thought I'd share it with the world. He said...

"I don't know what the problem is..."

"Just do half the work today and then half the work tomorrow. Then do half the work the next day if you haven't done it all."

Very helpful advice I'm sure you'll agree and I encourage everyone to follow the same plan.

If you're looking for training on Time Management or any other management elements for that matter take a look at Trainer Bubble.

Talent Management

The concept of talent management has evolved into a common and essential management practice and what was once solely attached to recruitment now covers a multitude of areas including organisational capability, individual development, performance enhancement and succession planning

Organisations find greater value in formulating their own meaning of what talent is than accepting universal or prescribed definitions and there are considerable differences in how talent is defined across different industries and sectors. That said it is helpful to start with a working definition for both ‘talent’ and ‘talent management’:

- Talent consists of those individuals who can make a difference to organisational performance, either through their immediate contribution or in the longer-term by demonstrating the highest levels of potential.

- Talent management is the systematic attraction, identification, development, engagement, evaluation, retention and deployment of those individuals who are of particular value to an organisation, either in view of their ‘high potential’ for the future or because they are fulfilling business/operation-critical roles.

*source CIPD

The issue with many companies today is that their organisations put tremendous effort into attracting employees to their company, but spend little time on retaining and developing talent.

This definition underlines the importance of recognising that it is not enough to just attract individuals with high potential. Developing, managing and retaining those individuals as part of a planned strategy for talent is equally important, as is adopting systems to measure the return on this investment. More organisations are also now broadening their definitions, looking at the ‘talents’ of all their staff and working on ways to develop their strengths.

If you want to develop your staff and help them understand the implications of talent management, visit Trainer Bubble and download our Talent Management training course materials.

Accredited Materials - New Partner

We are extremely pleased to announce that Trainer Bubble have recently partnered with the Institute of Commercial Management (ICM) who have reviewed and accredited our training materials. ICM are an internationally recognised examining and awarding body for business and management students and, as part of this accreditation, ICM will provide certification for participants that complete a Trainer Bubble training course. Visit us now to find out more at Trainer Bubble.

Trainer Bubble will also be providing training materials to support ICM's social and economic development programmes overseas.

We are very proud to be part of this initiative. We would like to personally thank the team at ICM who have supported us throughout the entire partnership process. We are happy to be working with such a professional organisation.

Great Leadership Skills - Delegation

The great leader realises that they cannot have hands-on control of every aspect of their work. In order to effectively deliver on the demands placed on them, they should rely on relevant members of their team for support. The leader that can successfully delegate will enjoy a greater level of achievement.

The Benefits of effective delegation are:

Top performers will be attracted by your approach and want to join your team, poor performers won’t!

You will have more time to focus on strategy and forward looking tasks

Team members will be motivated by the responsibility

Team members will be given the opportunity to ‘shine’

Your team will be more efficient

When carried out effectively, delegation can be a huge motivating factor for a team. Conversely, the team can be deeply de-motivated when a leader abdicates responsibility for tasks, palms off work that they do not like or delegates the task, but not the responsibility to complete it.

With this in mind, we must ensure that we are delegating work for the right reasons, at the right times and in the right way. First we must establish what it is we should, and should not, be delegating.

Do not delegate work that you can remove completely. If it is something that really does not have to be done, remove it.

Delegate routine activities that you may use to procrastinate. Things like filing, photocopying, data entry, collecting data – If it takes up a lot of time and someone else is better placed to do it, pass it on.

Things that you are not the expert at. If another member of the team will do a better job of it, let them.

Small projects – if a project can be completed by one of your team and you know it will develop their skills, discuss it with them and see if they want to take up the challenge.
Do not delegate something just because you don’t like doing it. This isn’t fair and will lose you respect.

Do not delegate jobs that require your level of authority or tasks that have a high level of responsibility and accountability i.e. job interviews, disciplinary meetings etc. (unless of course this is part of the role your team deal with).

The key is to be practical about delegation. Think about your motives behind why you are delegating. If you are honest with yourself, it is likely that you will choose the right reasons to delegate.

It is also important to delegate the authority and responsibility with the task. There is nothing worse than a leader who delegates the task, but then restricts the team member’s ability to complete it because they somehow feel they must retain control. If you are happy for that person to take on the task, you should be comfortable that they have the ability to get results.

Having said this, you should delegate the task, not abdicate it. The individual should not be left feeling that a task has been dumped on them with no more involvement from you. Schedule regular updates, ask casually how the person is progressing, give and ask for feedback and allow them to find their own way with guidance from you if required.

For positive results, you can follow this simple process...

1. Define Your Desired Results
   
2. Select an Appropriate Team Member
   
3. Clarify Expectations and Set Clear Parameters
   
4. Give Authority and Responsibility to Agreed Level
   
5. Provide Background Information
   
6. Establish a Clear Feedback Process

By following this simple process you will ensure that the person you delegate to feels that they have your full support throughout the process. Where they feel that the challenge is too demanding, they should have every opportunity to let you know.

One final thought to consider is that once the team member completes the task, you should ensure they receive the credit and your thanks. By celebrating their success you not only build a motivated workforce, you also ensure that your team are willing to work on further tasks for you.

This article is an excerpt from the Trainer Bubble training materials, 'Great Leadership', which you can purchase from our website at http://www.trainerbubble.com

Managing Negativity at Work

Unfortunately, negativity is a natural part of wokring in a business environment. There is often discontent in some form or another and a good leader recognises this. By developing an inclusive approach to leadership and involving your team in decision making processes it is possible that the likelihood of negativity arising is minimised, but you should be prepared to deal with it when it does appear as even the most effective leader will run into negativity at some point in their career. The big problem is that negativity can be contagious and once it rears its head, can be very difficult to manage.

Sometimes negativity will arise as a result of company processes or changes required to make an organisation more effective. It can also arise over time for what appears to be no obvious reason.

An organisation that is in the grip of negativity will display an increase in the amount of complaining, a focus on why things cannot be done, a ‘what’s in it for me’ attitude and a view that things will never get better.

When negativity arises, it can sap your energy as a leader and potentially pull you into its grasp. A great leader will use simple techniques to manage negativity in the workplace and ensures their own attitude remains positive and focused.

The following suggestions will help you to overcome negativity when it arises:

Acknowledge negativity

Negativity will not go away if you ignore it, in fact it will most likely get worse. If it is not acknowledged, you will lose credibility as a leader. Discuss the negative feelings with those concerned, show that you care and ask for suggestions on how you might overcome the issue.

Identify the positives in all situations

It is easy to be dismissive and ignore the input from our team members. Celebrate the small victories and where suggestions will not work, try and identify the elements that you can work on. Positive actions are often a result of lots of little actions rather than one big one.

Give positive recognition often

This is something that is often overlooked and leaders can fall into the trap of considering the efforts of their team as ‘part of their role’. Everybody likes to be recognised for their success, so be prepared to acknowledge it at every opportunity.

Avoid colluding on negativity

This can be hard! We all like to have a moan about things. However, by remaining upbeat and positive, we put out the flames of negativity before they start.

Focus on issues, not personalities

When you are addressing negativity head on, you should remove the focus from the person and instead look at the issue at hand. Otherwise you risk undermining that person and might escalate the negativity.

Understand their feelings

Put yourself in the shoes of the person who feels negative. This does not mean for you to become negative too, but for you to understand how they might feel in this situation and resolve it accordingly.

Express your ideas and feelings

Don’t be scared to let people know how you feel and provide an insight into what you are thinking. Most negative issues can be resolved when everyone is open and honest about their feelings.

Be willing to compromise

As long as the new position is fair, you lose nothing by moving your stance slightly on an issue to ensure all parties are happy. Just because you are the leader, it does not mean that you cannot modify your position.

It’s not unusual for organisations to go through periods of negativity. How long that negativity progresses is often down to you as a leader. By displaying the correct attitudes and behaviours, you are likely to managing negativity and stop it from becoming an inherent problem. With an open and honest approach to the workplace, you might even remove the likelihood of negativity arising in the first place.

This article is taken from an excerpt in the training course materials, 'Great Leadership', which are available to buy from our website - Trainer Bubble training course materials. Visit today for this and many other great training courses.

How Our Body Responds to Stress

Once we are put under stress our body immediately begins to react and there are certain specific things you will be able to notice in your body. Over time, these stress elements can build up and often cause inherent health problems with our bodies. Once we are stressed, our body immediately begins to react.

Humans have innately developed a “fight or flight” response to stressful or threatening situations over the years. Several things happen under stress: On occasion, these responses can be good, but most of the time, it is merely an overreaction to a situation that causes this stress and it can eventually harm your physical health.

Resulting symptoms could be...

Blood flow to brain and muscles increase/Concentration heightens – Tension headache, migraines, anxiety, moods

Your heart rate increases – Chest pains, raised blood pressure

Breathing becomes more rapid – Clammy, sweaty feelings.

Digestion pauses to allow for more energy – Heartburn, indigestion, ulcers

Muscle tension increases – Aches, pains, muscle spasms

Other than the physical functions carried on by our body, stress can damage our bodies in other ways. When we are under stress, we often tend to abuse our body. This can include poor lifestyle choices such as eating fatty and greasy foods, drinking too much caffeine or alcohol, or even abusing prescription or illegal drugs. All these can have a secondary affect on the body caused by stress

.

This article is an excerpt from the workbook in the training material, 'Stress Management', which is available from our website at http://www.trainerbubble.com/

Sales Culture – Beware of the broken window

There’s a park I walk through on the way home each day. It used to be a very pretty park with vast areas of green freshly clipped grass, commemorative benches with gleaming plaques, pristine toilets that won countless awards, trees that have been there for decades and freshly painted playground equipment for the kids to climb over.

About a year ago I happened to notice that one of the windows of the toilets had been smashed, I could have been wrong, but it looked like someone had thrown a stone through it. I tutted to myself and continued on my way. The next day as I was walking, I noticed that someone had added to the broken window with another and someone else had scrawled their name next to it in giant, sprayed on letters.

Over the year, things have got worse. The green grass has yellowed and is littered with rubbish, the benches have become worn and broken in places and the playground is more rust than paint and seems held together by the marker pen graffiti.

A sad tale of urban decay you may be thinking, but what the heck has it got to do with sales?

The thing that tripped off this series of events was the broken window. I would argue that had that broken window been fixed the day after it’s breaking then the person who broke the second window and left graffiti would not have done so. Consequently the park would not have become an area where it was ‘ok’ to treat with disrespect and it would not have fallen into steady decline.

Again I hear you thinking, I get it, but what the heck has that got to do with sales?

Let’s say you have a team and in the majority they are pretty successful with sales. They are all doing ok and you can see that their skills are developing progressively. However, there is one member of the team that is not on board with the concept. They are disruptive, they complain, they challenge every product by comparing it negatively against competitors and they do their utmost to undermine the process at every opportunity.

Many managers will ignore this person in the hope that they will get so fed up that they move on to another part of the business or even to the competitors they so admire. They’ll invest little time in them and ignore their development. This is a mistake. The person we have described is your ‘broken window’ and all the time they are left ‘un-mended’ they will encourage the same negative behaviour in others, until your business looks as tired and worn as the park I go through every night.

Other people will start to model the behaviours displayed by the broken window and you will notice a steady decline in sales development, after all, ’if they can get away with it, maybe I can too’. It is far easier to change the methods of one than it is to alter the habits of one hundred.

I would even go further than this and say that they are the catalyst and, if turned around, they will move your culture of sales on to the next level. When negative obstructers, who generally court a lot of influence, become flag wavers for the business, you have found a method of ensuring that things happen even when the boss isn’t looking.

Like mending a broken window, it’s not fun and nobody wants to spend the time, money and effort on it, but it’s a lot better than having to re-develop the whole damn park.

Trainer Bubble provide some very useful sales training resources, why not visit and see what we have? Trainer Bubble - Training Resources

Two new courses added!

Trainer Bubble today proudly announce the addition of two more training course materials to our growing selection.

These courses are; Time Management and The Power of Influence.

The first of these, 'Time Management', looks practically at the topic of personal effectiveness and how you can help your participants stop and take stock of how they are working and then make the best use of their time.

The second is 'The Power of Influence', which has been developed to help your participants understand the core principles of influencing and how they can be practically applied.

Both courses are priced at just £68, have never been available before and will make an excellent addition to your training resources. Visit us at http://www.trainerbubble.com/ to view the contents of these and our growing selection of Trainer Resources.

Achieving Sales on the Telephone - Effective outbound calls

The key to making effective outbound calls is structure. The most effective telephone sales person will have a set process for contacting customers and will stick to it, no matter what the temptation to alter their methods. Most outbound call agents will use a ‘working list’ to contact customers, it is important that you approach this list methodically and the following approach will help you to remain effective.

Define your ideal customer – The best way to predict who your future customers will be is to understand who your past customers have been. For instance, if by looking at your past client base you realise that the majority of your orders have come from the 18 – 30 year old bracket, then this would likely be the best people to focus your attention on. Of course age isn’t the only consideration to make. You may also want to look at geography, past buying patterns, interests etc.

Develop a good ‘script’ – A good script or series of specific questions is the most important thing you can do to improve your effectiveness when selling on the telephone. This becomes even more important when you are making outbound calls.

Some people resist the idea of using a script. They argue that it is better to sound natural and this will help build the relationship with the customer. The trick is to use the script as a series of prompts or reminder of what to say rather than reading it verbatim. This way you can concentrate on how you say things as opposed to what you are saying. More importantly, it allows you to focus on what the customer is saying and helps you tailor your conversation to suit.

The script should be seen as a method of allowing you to be flexible in your approach as opposed to being a restraint.

Eliminate – The trouble with making outbound sales calls is you usually have absolutely no idea of the level of interest of the recipient until you have called them. It may be that the first ten people you call are all interested in what you have to sell. Alternatively, it may be the last ten! You role is simply to find those people that are interested and temporarily eliminate those that are not. It is useful to methodical in your approach to calling customers.

It is tempting to disregard the customers that you couldn’t reach or did not show an immediate interest. However, a good salesperson will ensure that they follow-up on all of these opportunities. In order to ensure you keep track of the customers you have previously called, it is useful to create a system of note-taking. If a customer is not available then you should make a good clear note of this next to their contact details, or you could mark their level of interest from 1 – 3. By using this system you will ensure that you are fully prepared when it is time to call them again. Although this may seem tedious, it is a lot better than having to call a prospect ‘cold’.

Persist – A good telephone salesperson will develop a thick skin throughout their career. You will need to accept rejection as part of the job and consider each new call as a new opportunity. Even the most hardy individual will get despondent at times, it is useful to set your expectations early on and realise that you will not be able to convert the large majority of calls you make. This does not mean that the customer will never buy from you, just not today.

By making clear notes on your call list, you will be able to re-work an old list and even convert some previous rejections. The key to outbound sales is to never give up!

You can find valuable training material on Achieving Sales on the Telephone on our website Trainer Bubble. These course materials include everything you need to develop your sales team and can be downloaded instantly.

Continuous Improvement - One small step...

There's a true story about a group of Japanese managers of a steel manufacturing plant that visited a UK plant. Both plants were very similar only the Japanese one was making profit and the UK one was losing money.

At the end of the visit, the owner of the UK plant turned to the Japanese boss and said, "There's obviously something you've got right, that we haven't. What 's the big difference?"

The head of the Japanese steel plant politely turned and said, "There is not one big difference, but we do have one or two suggestions..." He then proceeded to list 124 ways the manufacturing plant could improve! An example was this...

When the blast-furnace doors opened to let a steel ingot roll out, the Japanese doors opened two inches less than the UK doors. So less heat was lost and it took less time (and money) to heat the furnace back up again. It wasn't much, but over time the saving was worthwhile. Added to the other 123 examples, the changes made a profit.

The moral?

Stop looking for the one big thing that's wrong with your business or even your life and realise that sometimes it's the little things that make a big difference.

Understanding People's Behaviour - Banging your head against a wall?

I just came home to find my 13 month old son giggling loudly to himself whilst banging his head against the living room wall. My immediate response was to say, "Son, you're an idiot." and only once I'd managed to distract him from this pain inducing activity did I consider the possible consequences of my words.

Maybe this one time I was right to call him an idiot. Certainly banging your head against a wall is not the action you would expect from a sound mind. However, let's consider I call my son an idiot consistently over the next few developmental years. The likely outcome is.......an idiot.

You see everyone's behaviour is driven by their own self-image, and that self-image is built around the adult influences they receive in their childhood. These influences come not only from parents, but grandparents, uncles, aunts, teachers, sports coaches and pretty much anyone that they have regular contact with.

It is these influences that create our attitudes and ultimately our behaviours. For example; somebody that has always been told that they should stand up for themselves may ultimately become aggressive when placed in a stressful situation. Or somebody that is encouraged to always share and make others happy may develop a need to please people and will display submissive behaviour at times. I experienced this last type of behaviour with an old colleague of mine. Whenever we held a meeting he would wonder why he always walked away with more action points than anyone else!

Think about your own experience. Is there something you believe about yourself, which has been influenced by others? You may find that hard to do, as these beliefs have become a part of you and are shaping your behaviour all the time. However, they are there in all of us in varying forms.

Now, these drivers are not in themselves a problem. We all need drivers in our life, without them we would not achieve anything. It is when these drivers become negative or destructive that issues arise. There may have been times in your own experience where a person’s behaviour has seemed out of control or perhaps it was just that their driver was conflicting with yours.

So what can you do?

One thing you have to accept is that every person’s behaviour makes perfect sense to them at the time. Nobody sets out to make their life difficult and often it is because they feel they have no alternative in the given situation. No matter how bizarre the person’s action seems, it is rarely something they have manufactured.

Now you know that these drivers exist. The best thing you can do is start to identify them in yourself. Realise when you are being driven by an inner desire to react in a certain way and prepare for it. Once you know why you might be acting in a certain way, it becomes a lot easier to adapt and understand the consequences in an effort to minimise their impact.

Next, be prepared to spot behaviour drivers in others. If you can tell that they are being driven by an inner belief, consider how you might be able to have conversations that will provide antidotes. Often we do not consider how we present a message before we do so. Taking a little time to consider how the message is going to be received can really save a lot of time in the long run…otherwise your just banging your head against a wall.

You can find training course materials that help you get the best out of people from our website www.trainerbubble.com.

Team focus - How to re-set the sights.

I was at a training event recently and during the opening 'set the scene' intro the senior director in the company asked the group to list all the things that were stopping them providing a good service to their customers.

The team took great pleasure in listing all the concerns: Morale, time, work pressures, customer issues, the products etc etc.

The director gleefully added each and every comment to the flipchart and when no more issues were given he looked up and said.."I have only one problem with this list......." He let the question hang in the air for a few seconds and when the team's started to look around non-plussed, he said, "You're not on it!"

It may not have been what they wanted to hear, but Wow, did it have an effect.

Identifying a team members complacency is often the key to re-generating a workforce, it's a common problem and one that can have disastrous effects. In my experience, there tends to be two main reasons behind it.

1. The team member has been doing extremely well and has taken their eye off the ball.

2. The team member is not doing as well as his counterparts and so feel de-motivated and unable to achieve.

In both situations the key is to encourage the team member to 'buy-in' to the business once again. They need to appreciate the consequences of their action, or in-action, and learn to change.

So how do you do it?

The best approach is to identify the team member's drivers, that is, what it is that makes them want to succeed. For some, it will be the desire to get away from how they currently feel, for others, it will be the hope of reaching a better future state. Once you know what approach your particular team member prefers, you can encourage them to work towards, or away from it.

Of course it's not always easy to identify a person's drivers without asking them. So that's exactly what I suggest you do! You don't have to be so upfront with the question, using coaching as a method of understanding is a great way to achieve this.

I have absolutely no doubt in my mind that through a good use of questioning and an even better use of listening you will be able to not only identify your team's drivers, but also help them establish a need to change.

Why not re-focus your management team with our great one day training materials pack on 'Leading Effective Teams', or help develop your manager's coaching skills with 'Coaching Skills for Managers'. At just £53 each, they provide a perfect solution to your management team's development.