In today’s climate, nearly everyone is stressed out about their jobs in some form or another, which is why more and more people are trying to reduce job stress they simply can’t handle being worried or stressed all the time. Unfortunately, not everyone knows how to reduce it so they end up just doing nothing.

These people then end up dealing with the effects of stress in other parts of their lives too and they suffer for it. Luckily there are things you can do to reduce this all you have to do is put in the time to do them!

If you can, delegate your workload this will help. Many people have found themselves taking on new responsibilities lately and some people don’t feel qualified to do it, so that adds a lot of stress. If you can find someone willing to help out and who maybe knows the project better, don’t be afraid to delegate it’s a great way to reduce your tension.

Another popular way of reducing job stress is becoming more organized. Organization ensures that nothing gets lost in the shuffle and it just gives workers a sense of security a chaotic workplace is inherently stressful and an organized one feels a bit more relaxed. This includes doing things like making lists of tasks you have to accomplish and making up a consistent schedule. These things let you know exactly what you have to get done and when it needs to be finished by.

Most people don’t realize that another great way to reduce job stress is to always make sure they are only thinking positive thoughts for instance, instead of thinking, “I can’t do anything right,” they should always keep in mind how skilled they are at something so they don’t get bogged down and depressed.

Perhaps one of the best ways is to clearly define the line between work and home. So many people bring their work home and this helps let job stress bleed into the rest of their lives. If you clearly define a work atmosphere and a home atmosphere, this lets you relax when you need to and get serious and work when you have to. There are lots of little things you can do to reduce job stress and they all add up to big changes.

Caroline Bourke is a full time therapist in Florida. Check out these great Symptoms Of General Anxiety resources and articles or the more general Physical Symptoms Of Anxiety.

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The United Nations declares workplace stress to be a worldwide epidemic. In the United States alone,
forty-six percent of workers report that their job is very stressful. This adds up to a million stress
related workplace absences each day.

Individual stress control techniques are important. Meditation, soothing music, biofeedback, and other
techniques work well to help people cope with the stress of our modern workplace.

The real solution, however, is to recognize that stress control is a leadership responsibility.
Leaders and managers can do more to control stress than all of the individual stress relief techniques
combined. Leaders who implement stress control strategies see the results in reduced absenteeism,
medical costs, health care insurance expenses, workers comp payments, accidents, complaints, and
so on.

The following 13 stress control strategies minimize costs such as these and productivity
soars. The workplace is improved. Employees and their families are happier. Business owners make
more money.

Management can control stress by:

++ Eliminating unreasonable expectations

++ Positioning people in jobs that use their skills and abilities

++ Adjusting pay for the level of responsibility assigned to individuals

++ Correcting vague and arbitrary promotion policies

++ Including employee in making decisions that affect their jobs

++ Avoiding excessive overtime, even if there is additional compensation

++ Distributing unpleasant tasks fairly

++ Enforcing policies equally throughout the organization, from top to bottom

++ Implementing problem-solving strategies and acceptable mediation of conflicts

++ Using family stress control strategies to minimize the impact of family separation

caused by travel or long office hours

++ Demonstrating concern for employee welfare

++ Eliminating or minimizing intolerable conditions such as temperature, hazards, noise, light, and

odors

It is difficult to remove some of these stressors when the competition is attacking your company or
when you are faced with unfavorable economic conditions, but this challenge is just as important as anything else  facing those who wear the mantle of leadership.  Making all of these changes can seem overwhelming.  However, you can make an impact by selecting a single strategy and making a plan to improve it.

Just as corporate leaders are responsible for  maximizing performance and increasing net profits,
they are also responsible for controlling stressors that affect the bottom line.

To learn more about stress reducing strategies, send for f*ree auto responder about the top ten
causes of workplace stress –
toptenstressors@couragebuilders.com

Dale Collie - professional speaker, former US Army Ranger, CEO, and a Fast Company top 50 innovative leader. Author of “Winning Under Fire.” (McGraw-Hill) collie@couragebuilders.com

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How many productive working hours did you get yesterday? In 1994 I engaged myself proactively in a time and motion study over a working week to determine where my time was going. I wanted to do this to understand how many value-adding hours I actually worked.

I wanted to share it with my superintendent as he had his own perceptions on how many useful hours the average employee works. It proved an interesting exercise!

I read recently that employers actually get more from their employees when they allow them 10-15 minutes every hour to relax and de-stress, however that might be facilitated.

My time and motion study findings were surprising–I thought out of an eight-hour day I’d work probably 6.5-7 hours easily, being a pretty conscientious worker and all. I actually found that my ‘productive’ hours ranged between 4.5 and 6; only rarely would I surpass six hours productive time from the eight-hour day. And I wasn’t wasting any time! I was diligently going about my normal business.

This brings me to the perception that the process of work is actually inefficient and supervisors and managers should quickly re-assess the demands and expectations they place on their people.

Perhaps a 50/50 day where only 4-hours of productive time might be worked could be considered a drastic waste, but it’s far from it in reality, especially when we consider the little rabbit holes people can unknowingly find themselves in. These are often no fault of their own as we’re all victims of routine circumstances conspiring against progress.

A 75/25 6-hour day, on the other hand, should be seen as an outstandingly productive day; both where the most effective work is done and where the employee might balance a little ‘relax and de-stress’ time in their day–doesn’t allow for a lot of waste though, does it?

Perhaps it’s time to re-think the expectations we’ve placed on ourselves–as well as those we place on others–around working hours and productivity? Realistically, we aren’t as efficient as we think we are.

Copyright © 2009, S. J. Wickham. All Rights Reserved.

Steve Wickham is a registered safety practitioner (BSc, MSIA, RSP) and a qualified, unordained Christian minister (GradDipBib&Min). He also has training and leadership Diplomas. His passion in vocation is facilitation and coaching; encouraging people to soar to a higher value of their potential. Steve’s key passion is work / life balance and re-creating value for living, and an exploration of the person within us.

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Are you over 50? Which attitude generating behaviors are you choosing? Younger people will look up to us or write us off depending on how we behave. They will then tend, over time, to model our behaviors.

What behaviors does our company’s culture condone?

Interpersonal behaviors have a serious financial impact on any business, both positively and negatively. Who hasn’t had a sleepless night or two, replaying a conversation with a boss, co-worker or irate customer?

Ever lost a great employee because of a manager’s bullying behaviors? How many customers never return to a firm because an employee has treated them badly?

Googling “impact of bad behaviors in the workplace” yeilds 736,000 results. Put in “impact of bad behaviors” and you get 59,000,000 results. Clearly this is an issue that is a problem in many companies.

How does this apply to Zoomer bees — those of us over 50 or 60 years old and still labouring in the workplace?

We are faced with ever increasing complexities and anxieties at work. Computer systems, Twitter, Facebook, POS programs, rambling, semi-hostile emails, or the latest and greatest IT system that crashes constantly. Gosh, I remember getting our first TV in 1955. I didn’t get my fist computer until 1984 — 1984 how ironic is that! All this new stuff can be frustrating for the average Zoomer.

My experience working with teams made up mostly of Zoomers is that we can get overwhelmed in two functions quite quickly.

Our brains — that part of our body, which processes the flood of data and stimulation. Our brains can “short circuit,” much like a computer system can get over loaded. The result is that we just cannot take in any more. We blow the “function switch” in our ability to respond to any kind of problem. Our eyes glaze over, we start becoming belligerent as our system goes into fight or flight mode to try to deal with the over load.

Our minds. If the brain is like a car, our mind is like the driver. Our mind is that part of our operating system that is influenced by education, beliefs, previous personal and work experiences, and anxieties about the uncertain future. Our fuse-blown mind can lead us into a hyper state of feeling over stimulated, unable to cope.

Then we can get short-tempered and anti-social, which is exhibited by “bad” behaviors such as bullying, argumentativeness, “you can’t do that” thinking, often sliding into giving up by disengaging. When we get like that we are definitely not pleasant to be with. Our younger co-workers get really frustrated with us and write us off as dinosaurs. Customers will simply walk away.

Imagine this:
My boss jumps into my office and slams me with an accusatory comment about my work. I am shocked! My body-mind goes into reaction. Armpits are sweating. Mind is racing. Confusion floods my being. I may tear up, lash back or freeze up. All those latter reactions betray my negative beliefs (”I am a bad person!”) and unresolved past experiences (being scolded by dad for coming in late). The result? Bad behaviors beget more bad behaviors.

Or:
I could react differently by saying to my boss, “Wow, you must be upset. Can you sit down for a bit so we can talk this over? Can I help?” These responses would arise from beliefs like, “I am a good, competent person. Something seems to be bothering him. I am more than capable of handling this situation.” With these latter responses my body-mind could be relaxed and ready to have a crucial conversation.

So, here’s the big message. From the 35 years of being a psychologist, it has become very clear to me that bad behaviors reflect a person’s internal self-hatred. And, the number one technique for dealing with another person’s bad behaviors is to get it clear in my mind that this as nothing to do with me — which is a difficult thing to pull off if I’ve got my own self-hatred stirred.

The job one priority for dealing with my own bad behaviours is to deal with my internal self-hatred. Not other people. Not the company. Not the media. Not my age.

And this is how all of this applies to Zoomers. Most of us grew up in families, school systems and professional trainings, which delivered the message, “You will never be good enough!”

As we go through life we do things that reinforce that belief so by the time we reach our 50’s or 60’s we have barrels of negative self-talk to deal with. We’re tired. We don’t have the stamina to overcome the negative messages. We get worn down. So we collapse into bad behaviors. It’s like an athlete that gets exhausted and can no longer keep his form. Then we don’t feel good about ourselves, which adds to the downward spiral of more bad acting out.

The way to change this pattern is to change my beliefs. I do this is by getting some one-on-one coaching over a period of at least 12 — 18 months.

I don’t know of any other method that works so effectively. For Zoomers it’s our last chance to create a life of joy and a sense of abundance, or become grumpy old men and women — should we choose to take the assignment.

We cannot do it alone — because “I am alone, I have to do it myself” is the very tactic that got us into trouble in the first place.
Human Principle #2: We behave in our best interests when we:
* Increase our competencies;

* Are aligned with our personal and business values; and . . .

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There are some very good reasons why managers and executives DO give time and resources to performance measurement. And understanding these reasons is your key to reframing the value that performance measurement can have for the manager or executive who so far has no interest in supporting it.

REASON 1: Strategy is easier to communicate and cascade.

Todd is a CEO of a not-for-profit organisation. And one of the reasons why he supports performance measurement is that it helped him to clearly define what success meant for this organisation. Measuring success makes it far easier to communicate, and have people understand, the organisation’s strategy and purpose.

REASON 2: Feeling a sense of control over the destiny of the organisation or company.
Rod is a CEO of a mid-sized company, and in his own words, performance measurement is important to him because he wants to take his company’s destiny into his own hands. Measuring and tracking success helps leaders to feel in control - and sleep soundly at night because they know what’s going on and how they’re addressing it.

REASON 3: Stronger cohesion and clarity among their management team.
Paul is a Managing Director of a mid-sized company, and one of his strongest reasons for supporting (and championing) performance measurement was the power it gave him to build cohesiveness and clarity among his team of General Managers. Developing measures of success together, he saw how easy it was to check the level of shared understanding of goals and priorities, and each of his executive’s roles in executing these within their own departments.

REASON 4: Easier for them to manage upwards.
Col is a CEO of a government owned organisation, and one of his reasons for supporting performance measurement in his organisation was that it makes it much easier to give his Board of Directors confidence that the direction is clear, and progress is really being made. Using measures to communicate clear direction and progress is far easier than reacting to every question or concern the Board has, when they have no objective feedback about priorities or progress.

REASON 5: Improving their own career prospects.
Peter, the manager of a procurement department, was able to demonstrate his management capability through achievement of some very aggressive performance targets. He was able to save the organisation $40M in a couple of years, and objectively demonstrate this saving, by diligently measuring and tracking his procurement strategy. This looks great on any manager’s resume when they’re applying for a senior executive position.

The point is that if you want your manager or executive to support performance measurement, to give time and resources to doing it and doing it well, telling them about Balanced Scorecards or dashboards or mantras like “you can’t manage what you don’t measure” simply won’t work. You must frame the benefits of measuring what matters, which mean something to *them*, rather than trying to sell them the features.

TAKING ACTION:
Which of these reasons do you think would resonate most with your managers and executives? How can you start talking about performance measurement differently, so you’re emphasizing the benefits they care about, rather than the features you care about?

Stacey Barr is a specialist in organisational performance measurement, helping corporate planners, business analysts and performance measurement officers confidently facilitate their organisation to create and use meaningful performance measures with lots of buy-in. Sign up for Stacey’s free email tips at http://www.staceybarr.com/facilitators and receive a complimentary copy of her renowned e-book “202 Tips for Performance Measurement”

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It seems that there has been a large increase in the instances of bullying in the workplace over the last few years. Whether this is really the case or it is an area which is being spoken or written about more might be open for debate.

I am not sure that it is bigger problem than it has been in the past. Also, bullying is not just something which occurs in commercial organisations, it also happens in the health service, the forces, emergency services and government - local and national, and may be even more prevalent in some of these.

What is bullying? Is it really bullying or just a perception from those who feel that they are on the receiving end? A definition of bullying is: “a process of systematic and repeated aggression by a person or group towards a workmate, subordinate or superior”. There are a few key elements in this definition. Firstly, it is systematic and repeated - not just a one-off incident. Secondly, it involves an aggressive intent (and is often targeted at individuals who cannot defend themselves). Thirdly, it is not always about bosses bullying their staff, it can occur in any direction.

Whatever the definitions, reasons or apparent causes bullying has a significant, and negative, impact on the organisation and individuals. As such, it is an issue which needs to be recognised and tackled where it does occur. At the same time, organisations need to help the people working there to understand the difference between being bullied and someone communicating poorly or inappropriately. In this politically correct day and age too many people feel that if a boss speaks to them firmly or even slightly harshly then it is bullying.

Behind this is one of the biggest dilemmas in the whole bullying debate. The right of a manager, and an organisation, to demand certain levels of performance - and the perception and reaction of individuals to these expectations are where the problem starts.

Why do people bully?

I think this depends on the context and the level of the people involved. When it is the “typical” downward bullying, i.e. boss to staff there might be several reasons.

• a) The manager is under pressure to produce results and is struggling, so behaves aggressively with their staff or an individual.
• b) The manager is out of their depth in the job, does not want to acknowledge it and get help, so they take it out on their staff.
• c) The manager has poor communication or interpersonal skills.
• d) The manager has low Ei (Emotional Intelligence) rating, especially around self-awareness and self-regulation and areas such as empathy and awareness of others.

However, if you look back at the definition of bullying, many of these reasons do not necessarily fit with the part which is about systematic aggression. Often, it is not the intention of a boss to bully, although their behaviour might come across that way.

Looking at bullying within peer groups it is often a result of someone perceived to be “different”. Think back to school days and how some poor individuals seemed to be picked on quite frequently. The difference could be in someone’s approach to work, in appearance, the way they behave or speak, or even their age. Unfortunately, if a loud or bossy person decides to start to pick on an individual there are usually a number of sheep-like colleagues who will follow them for a variety of reasons. The ringleaders of this type of bullying are often doing it to make themselves appear bigger and more important - whilst covering some insecurity or bigotry of their own. In many respects this type of bullying (sometimes known as “mobbing” when a group are doing it) can be more damaging for the recipient rather than that from a boss.

What happens to people who are being bullied?

There can be a wide range of reactions to being bullied, or feeling you are, and consequences for the organisation. For the individual it can lead to a sense of isolation, make them anxious, trigger feelings of depression and ultimately cause them to become stressed. Regardless of where the bullying is coming from, the reaction might go on to low morale or demotivation, lower productivity and possibly more errors happening within their work. They may not communicate properly with colleague at all levels. These various feelings may then be taken home, with knock on effects to personal lives.

For the organisation, bullying may lead to absence through stress related illness, or just feeling unable to be in the workplace. In extremes, it could lead to an increase in staff turnover, which is expensive! (Either of these might be compounded if the individual goes to an employment tribunal and proves they were bullied.) On a slightly less dramatic scale the organisation will suffer if morale drops, if more errors occur or productivity goes down. Therefore, it makes sense to put the issue high on the agenda of things to address.

Preventing bullying within the organisation

The simple answer is to create a corporate culture which encourages open communication, supportive behaviour at all levels and making sure that any form of bullying is seen as unacceptable. The corporate culture is shaped by those at the top - they need to be the role models of the behaviours they want throughout the organisation. There are a number of specific actions which might help in working towards this. If organisations want to take this subject seriously the need to become proactive and preventative in their approach.

Ensure that managers have the appropriate skills and training to do their job effectively. They need to have the appropriate job/technical skills and a good understanding of people, communication and interpersonal skills. Over this, incorporate specific elements about the risks of coming across in a way which might be perceived as bullying and how to handle situations where this might be a concern. It can also be useful to include some training on managing pressure and stress management, both for the managers and spotting potential problems within their teams and dealing with them constructively.

Be clear and consistent about people’s roles and responsibilities. Everyone needs to understand that the organisation and its managers have to make decisions and achieve goals and objectives.

Do not assume people will behave in the right way all of the time! Be specific about what is acceptable behaviour with clear definitions. Consequences for not sticking to it must be made clear - and implemented! (This should include what is expected of managers’ behaviour.)

Create a process where individuals can raise concerns if they feel they are being bullied. People need to feel that they can do so without any worries about reprisals or that they will not be believed. (It is important to remember that bullying is often about the perception of the person on the receiving end even if it is not the intention of the one who is being accused of doing it!) This is not always easy to achieve, as research suggests that most people who feel they are being bullied will tend to talk to friends, family or colleagues and few will discuss it with their bosses or others in the organisation.

When the problem is peer to peer bullying, especially with a group involved, there is perhaps a greater fear of reprisals. Managers should take more responsibility for spotting when this form of bullying is happening and take action to stop it.

Consider some organisation wide training and development giving people the skills to raise issues in a clear, assertive manner without using over-emotive language or personal attacks. Encourage everyone to pay attention to behaviour and not applying labels or presumptions about people’s intent.

What can people do instead of bullying - or being seen as a bully?

There are a number of things which someone could do to avoid being seen as a bully, or to make sure they don’t use behaviour which might be given that label. One characteristic which some people have is to deny they are bullying and blame it on the recipients. Stop it! It may not be your intention to come across as bullying, but that is not the issue. Take responsibility for your behaviour. A simple starting point is to stop and think before you say or do anything. What is it you want the outcome to be? What will be the best way to achieve it? It can be helpful to put yourself in the other person’s position and think about their situation or point of view. How do you think they might react to you?

If you find that you do get frustrated with others, or feel pressurised by workloads or anything, consider doing something to change your response. Possibly approach the organisation to have some training or coaching to help you develop more flexibility to deal with people. Maybe find yourself a mentor, or ask the organisation to find someone for you. If you find you do get angry or really irritated by situations or people to the point where it is potentially damaging think about some anger management training.

With these various options for development a key learning outcome should be to raise self-awareness about your behaviour and its impact on others. For many managers and individuals, there is no intent to come across as though bullying, but a lack of self-awareness means that they do not think about how they are perceived. By improving this, you can behave slightly differently and achieve even better results. If you do need to get people to produce more or to achieve certain outcomes, make sure you comment about performance or behaviour - and not personalities! By doing the former you can stick to facts and be more objective which is less likely to stand up to accusations of bullying.

Solutions for individuals who feel they are being bullied

If you feel that your boss is bullying you it can be intimidating. However, you do not have to react in a way which implies you are powerless or helpless. To do so is your choice - tough though it is to accept that! Remember, a one-off incident or criticism is not bullying, even if it is delivered poorly.

To help your develop more positive responses think about doing some, or all, of the following.

1) Get some assertiveness training if available within the organisation or check what you can find outsid

e. You can then respond calmly and firmly explaining what you are not happy about. This also applies to instances of peer to peer bullying.

2) Focus on the message (rather than the way it is delivered) and if it is about something to do with your performance or behaviour acknowledge it and ask for clarification of what is expected. If it is about you as a person or your personality, either respond assertively or just ignore it.

3) Find some support, such as a mentor or someone whose advice you can trust. They might be internal within the organisation or external to it. It can be very useful to have someone who will act as a sounding board for you to talk to, and talk through what is happening.

4) If you are the target of a peer, or group of peers, recognise that it is probably because of their own lack of confidence or esteem. You might be seen as “different” for some reason - which is their problem in reality, but if they are taking it out on you it seems as though it is yours! You could confront the person, or ringleader, and challenge them about the perceived issue or problem. Although it might feel threatening, make you feel depressed or isolated doing nothing will only make it worse.

5) Keep in contact with people who value and respect you to maintain your own self-esteem. You do not have to allow others to erode it.

6) If your organisation has any form of grievance process or anti-bullying policy, take advantage of it. It is not a weakness to do so. Quite the opposite, it can require courage to enter into the process. Generally, organisations which have these policies will be supportive of their staff, so use them.

It could be that bullying is on the increase. Maybe the fact that there is more publicity about the issue makes people think about it more. I believe that many organisations and managers do communicate with, and treat, their staff better than in previous generations. Possibly, these recessionary times are creating more pressures on managers and causing them to behave more aggressively, often without realising it. What has changed in recent years is that people expect to be treated with respect and do not accept some of the perceived bullying from bosses. Whatever the reality of bullying within organisations, it is an issue which will not just go away or be considered as normal.

If it is happening, or the perception is that it is, then organisations need to address it. There will be wide ranging direct and indirect costs involved if people are feeling bullied - and there is the risk of forms of legal action. For a variety of reasons, it makes commercial sense to tackle bullying - and if people really are the organisation’s biggest asset, make sure they are treated properly.

Graham Yemm is a partner in Managing Pressure and has 20 years of experience of working with organisations and individuals, internationally and in the UK, to help them manage time more effectively and to deal with pressure and stress. He can be reached through info@managingpressure.com or  +44 1483 480656  .

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Many organisations are in a position where they are having to reduce the number of staff that they employ. Often when there are job cuts the people who continue to be employed also struggle. Why? Quite simply they are human. They:

• Care about their colleagues
• Worry if they might be next
• Worry about how they are going to deliver the work on a day to day basis.

So as a leader, what are 5 things that you need to consider when it comes to helping the survivors during times of job cuts?

Be honest
Probably one of the first questions you will be asked is whether there will be further cuts or alternatively what is going to happen next. As a leader you need to ready to answer this question openly and honestly. And if the answer is you don’t know, say this and don’t make up something.

Be authentic
Let people see that you are a human being. Chances are you will be as sad as anyone else that people have had to go. Being able to say this should not be regarded as a sign of weakness. In fact, research by London Business School and Insead suggests that it is a positive quality.

Muck in
Tough times are not the time to sit in an Ivory Tower divorced from reality. Get out and about around the organisation and see what help and support you can offer.

Set clear goals
Let people know what you want to achieve and by when. Make sure that when setting goals you answer the question that your staff will be asking- what’s in it for me? People tend to tune in and jump on board when there is some personal benefit.

Be patient
People react to events in different ways. Some will come to terms with what is happening straight away and be ready to move forward. Others will need more time so recognise this and be patient where you need to be.

Bottom Line - Dealing with job cuts is never easy and requires delicate handling. So what steps are you going to take to set yourself up for success should you need to deal with job cuts?

Duncan Brodie of Goals and Achievements (G&A) works with professionals, teams and organisations to develop their management and leadership capability.

With 25 years business experience in a range of sectors, he understands first hand the real challenges of managing and leading in the demanding business world.

And I invite you to take advantage of my free audio e-course Leadership Success at http://www.goalsandachievements.co.uk

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Whole new ball game…selling to top management.

Selling to your customers’ top management is a whole different ball game than presenting products to middle managers or purchasing agents. The people at the top of the corporate hierarchy may not be directly responsible for buying products or services, but their backing or recommendation can clinch a deal.

When calling on top managers, realize this: Their time is valuable and needs to be respected. Any time that executives spend with salespeople just adds hours to their already busy days, so the last thing they want is to meet with a salesperson who’s unprepared. Any salesperson meeting with an executive should have a definite agenda of what is going to be covered and how long it should take. You have to show that you care about the executive’s time.

This means that salespeople must do a lot of research on executives’ companies prior to calling on them. Corporate leaders want to make money for their companies, so a salesperson calling on an executive should be prepared to show how his/her product or service can help the CEO’s company boost productivity and profits. This requires the salesperson to have extensive knowledge of the customer’s industry, what the trends are, and what the leading companies are doing to get ahead.

A proposal to a senior executive can’t just be a surface sale, where product, price and delivery are discussed. A salesperson needs to be able to hold an intelligent conversation about the CEO’s business and prove along the way that his/her product or service fits in with success in that industry.

Two points that I research prior to a high level meeting are:

• The CEO company’s Web page should be completely reviewed — often the CEO is not aware of all the information on his/her company Web site and,

• The CEO’s personal history — being able to talk about the executive’s family, boat, whatever can often be a good icebreaker. It will keep the conversation going, and should help to start a good relationship. Ask the decision-maker’s assistants to help you with helpful information.

Make more money faster by easily connecting with hard-to-reach decision makers who can buy your products and services…NOW! Get started free by getting Michael McCann’s new Special Report excerpted from his newest edition of his popular business development book, Connecting with Key Decision Makers (How to Reach Hard-to-Reach Businesspeople Who Can Say “Yes”)…just for asking at http:/www.GlobalBusinessCafe.com/

http://Twitter.com/MikeHMcCann - Go now!

Michael McCann is a 25-year veteran of developing unique and professional business development programs that create tangible results for individuals and companies. Let him help you instantly…free!

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Finally: After years of speculation about what motivates people at work, we now have some hard facts - a million of them, to be exact.

That’s the number of employees who were surveyed over a 25-year period by the Gallup Poll about what they really want from the companies they work for. Pollsters also interviewed another 80,000 people identified as high-performing managers about what makes them such great leaders. What’s it all add up to? A great boss.

Let’s be clear here. Perks, parties, and bonuses alone won’t do it, nor is it enough to have a strong leader at the top of the company, or even a team of hot-shot executives. What really makes the difference to people is an immediate boss who interacts well with them on a daily basis.

Here are three ways to become that great boss and inspire employees who report to you.

Build on Their Strengths
Too many managers spend too much time ignoring what their people do. No wonder - they’re trying to keep five balls in the air themselves. When they do pay attention, it’s usually because someone has messed up: After all, nothing demands the boss’ consideration when a worker quietly and efficiently does what he’s supposed to do. But let the company’s best customer complain about the rudeness of an employee, and the boss will be on him in no time.

To motivate your employees, then, try to focus on their particular strengths. Maybe they’re strategic thinkers, or exceptionally good with people, or great with technology. Whatever that core talent is, great managers cultivate it over and over again. No wonder their people are so motivated - they’re given opportunities to do what they do best, and that means they want to do even better. As the authors put it, “Don’t waste your time trying to put in what was left out. Try to draw out what was left in!”

Give Them Direction and Tools
According to the survey, the happiest employees in business cite clear expectations and sufficient tools - both provided by their immediate boss - as two key determinants of their on-the-job happiness. In consulting with many small to mid-size companies, I’ve found that on average, managers spend too little time or energy showing employees what to do and how best to get it done. They don’t mentor, coach, or tutor their people well. The result: Among new hires, upwards of 50 percent leave for just one reason…within the first six months of employment. Those who survive always do better, as the survey reports, if they know what’s expected of them.

So when you delegate a piece of work to employees, make sure that they know exactly what it is you want (yes, actually ask them to repeat it to you in their own words), and have all the tools they need to accomplish the task.

Catch Them Doing the Right Thing
Another simple way to keep people motivated is to give them recognition for a job well done. This makes excellent business sense as well. In the survey, employees were asked whether they had received recognition or praise for good work in the previous week. Those who answered “yes” were not only happier, but also the department or division they belonged to was ahead of the curve in productivity, sales, or other performance criteria. When employees know their work is valued, they’re more motivated.

The simplest and most efficient way to let your people know you appreciate them is to literally pay attention to what they’re doing on a daily basis. When you see something positive, comment on it, then move on.

Over the years, we’ve been trying to build great companies for people to work in when we really should be building great managers and leaders for people to work for. It’s better to work for a great manager in an old-fashioned company than for a terrible manager in a company offering an enlightened, employee-focused culture. Now we know.

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Michael McCann is a 25-year veteran of developing unique and professional business development programs that create tangible results for individuals and companies. Let him help you instantly…free!

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Log into any business networking site, like LinkedIn or Ryze, and almost daily will you see someone asking a question attempting to determine the difference between Leadership and Management. What are really interesting are the people who are asking: people in management or leadership positions.

Now one can only postulate why these “leaders” and “managers” are attempting to have others extol the virtues of their positions: because they either don’t know the difference themselves or they are looking for more ammunition in order to fill themselves full of self-importance.

The difficulty is not so much in who is asking or why they are asking, the difficulty is in the responses. Seemingly rational, successful (one would believe) veterans of commerce are filling their responses to these inane questions as a shopping list of traits, responsibilities and descriptors as though Leadership is some sort of goal you magically attain once you have checked off enough traits. It’s as though Leadership is the result of scoring high against a benchmark set of tangible criteria.

Leadership and management are no more related than parenting is to being a manager. Anyone can be a parent. All that is required is a moment of passion and in nine months, voila, you’re a parent. You can be a drunken, drug-abusing, derelict and still be a parent. There is no specific set of criteria to it at all other than the exchange of bodily fluids at one point.

In the same regard, anyone can become a manager. All that is required is to show up to work for nine months until the current manager leaves and voila, opportunity to be manager. Simple really. But the truth is, a manager can also be a drunken, drug-abusing near-derelict and still remain in his position provided the terms of employment are being met (barely).

Neither example above describes a “good” parent or a “good” manager. Parent, like manager, is a title achieved when a specific set of criteria are met. But not so with leadership. Leadership and management are opposites.

Leadership is an attitude. Management is a position. Parenting is an attitude. Parent is a position. Therefore, parenting is more closely related to leadership than management is. Do you see the distinction? Leadership is not a title on a business card. Leadership is an attitude which might be used in management or being a parent but it is not a prerequisite.

You are expected to perform for your manager but you are not expected to like him, respect him or follow him outside of your assigned duties. On the other hand, a leader will have people who want to follow voluntarily. Leaders lead because others follow voluntarily. Those who possess the leadership attitude will attract followers. Managers who don’t have followers, other than by expectation, are not leaders. However, someone with leadership attitude could choose to become a manager.

To manage is to handle whatever it is you are handed. Managers manage crisis, difficulty and setbacks. They also manage goals, targets and assignments. Leaders don’t manage crisis, difficulty and setbacks. They forge ahead in spite of them. Leaders don’t manage goals, targets and assignments. They set the goals, targets and assignments.

Just because someone has been given a supervisory title does NOT mean they are in a leadership position. In fact, the person who undermines the manager at work and manages to convince others of his incompetence is obviously more adept at leading others than the manager himself.

Leadership is not reserved for those with a corner office and a shiny new business card. Leadership is an Attitude - an attitude not required to be in management. In fact, a manager who thinks himself a leader would be neither well.

Let’s use the sports analogy to better define the distinction between leadership and management. Leadership is offense. Management is defense. Playing defense is trying to manage your opponent’s scoring attempts. Leadership is scoring despite what your opponent does to try to stop you. Do you see the distinction now?

Perhaps a few questions will help you. Do you try to manage the events of your life or do you forge ahead in spite of whatever happens? Do you manage your kids and attempt to manage their chaos or do you lead them, inspire them, and teach them to be great human beings? Have you, up to now, simply accepted your career results or have you taken the lead in actively climbing to where you are today? The answers to those questions are the difference between leaders and managers.

If you whine about the weather and/or whine about the economy, you’re attempting to manage what is out of your control. Leaders enjoy their days regardless of the weather. Leaders succeed in a struggling economy. Leaders don’t dwell on the things that can not be controlled but instead forge ahead despite them.

Stop thinking and believing that leadership and management are one in the same. Stop espousing that you must achieve a specific set of criteria to be considered a leader. Stop muddying the waters of an obviously clear distinction. You’re showing that you really have no idea of the difference and you’re starting to annoy the leaders who do.

Kevin Burns, Author & Attitude Adjuster is a worldwide authority on Attitude. He is the author of seven books including his latest, “Go Ahead. Give Me Attitude!” He is an outstanding keynote speaker, worldwide columnist and international Blogger of influence. He is opinionated, blunt, direct, funny, thought-provoking, incredibly well-researched and usually right!

Kevin’s Web Site - http://www.kevburns.com
Kevin Burns - Author and Attitude Adjuster
Adjusting Attitudes in Service Leadership, Engagement and Safety
http://www.kevburns.com/blog

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