Please register by Friday, February 24, 2012

Workplace conflict comes with a heavy price, both emotional and financial. The longer it continues, the greater the impact to all concerned—employees, teams and organizations.

Imagine also the loss of creative ideas, quality decision making and productive teamwork if conflict causes employees to leave.

Conflict, if left unchecked, may also draw the attention of customers and clients who, in turn, may choose to take their business elsewhere.

You can limit the damage by resolving conflict as quickly as possible…but preventing it in the first place is far less costly.

As an employer, manager or team player, how can you help prevent conflict among colleagues or employees becoming damaging?

Join Cori in a roundtable where we will discuss:

• Conflict awareness skills
• Tried and tested techniques to deal with conflict (that translate beyond just the work environment)
• Effective strategies to prevent conflict occurring in the first place

Cori will help answer any questions you may have on conflict. If you have any prior concerns and would like to contact Cori before the discussion please email cori@jouta.com.

Light refreshments provided.

Parking: many free parking spots available in the area

Session one: The Coach Approach, May 25th 11am to 12:30pm

Helping superintendents and site supervisors coach and motivate staff at all levels

So often in organizations, Managers are expected to take on the role of “team coach” because of their position. And, by virtue of their position, it is assumed they have the necessary skills to coach.

Managers who do have these skills can have an incredible, lasting impact on their team and organization, however many shy away from this role as they are afraid they will not know what to say.

What would you say if we told you the secret to being a good coach actually has very little to do with knowing what to say? The secret lies in knowing what to ask.

Learning outcomes:

• The application of coaching in the workplace
• Using coaching to support co-workers, employees and leaders
• Identifying and acting on coachable moments
• Moving forward when you don’t know what to say

Strategies and tools:

• Coaching framework
• Questions to ask when you don’t know what to say

Session two: Succession Approach, May 25th 2:45 to 4:15pm

Focusing on strategies to help superintendents and project managers build a framework to recruit future talent and fill gaps

Do you know why people choose to stay…or choose to go? As an organization, how can you build a framework to cultivate and retain future talent or fill the gaps created by them as they succeed?

This presentation explores the role and importance of establishing Organizational Clarity and company goals (for any company in any industry) during succession planning; provides practical and innovative strategies to assess, identify and retain your future successors; and discusses the top 20 reasons employees choose to stay with one company rather than look elsewhere.

Learning outcomes:

• To understand a basic succession framework for looking at your organization, its goals and your talent
• Core approaches to assess and identify your future successors (or succession gaps)
• Practical and innovative strategies to cultivate and retain your future talent (e.g., use of career management, etc.)
• Common pitfalls in cultivating and keeping your people and how to avoid them

Strategies and tools:

• Succession framework / model for viewing the organization
• Two models to assess / identify potential
• 3-4 best practice and / or innovative strategies to cultivate and retain talent
• Cheat sheet of tips / tricks for avoiding common pitfalls

Register

Writing them can be quite a challenging process and, as a manager, you not only have your own to write but you will most likely help your team write theirs (quite a responsibility when you consider that objectives are essential not only for personal growth but also that of the organization).

One of the biggest challenges you may face is explaining the difference to your team between an objective and a goal. A goal states what you want to achieve whereas an objective states how you will achieve it.

BUT not all objectives are created equal. When setting them with your team aim for SMART objectives (those that state what needs to get done, by when and to what standard).

What are SMART objectives and how do you write them?

Consider the difference between these two equally admirable commitments:

1. To get fit in the New Year
2. To improve my fitness by following 12 workout plans for each and every month throughout 2012, ending Dec 31st 2012

The second commitment contains the following:

• An action word (to improve)
• A target of the objective (my fitness)
• A description of the main activity/activities (following workout plans)
• Measurements (12 work out plans for each and every month in 2012)
• Target date (Dec 31st, 2012)

Can you spot which is “SMART”er and more measureable than the other?

When setting your own objectives or those of your team, ask the following questions of each and every objective. If your objectives pass they test, you’re off to a great start and are actually more likely to succeed.

The SMART test

1. Set the target: if you could do one thing to push yourself to improve your performance as an individual what would that one thing be?
2. Describe the main activity/activities: what do you need to do to push yourself? What specific activities or actions?
3. Measurement: what does it look like to prove you have improved your performance? How does it contribute to your personal growth?

What does SMART mean?

SMART stands for: specific, measurable, achievable, results-focused and time bound.

• Specific: spell out what you intend to achieve. Use language that “describes” what you are doing. Be clear and precise
• Measurable: in order to prove success you need measurement. Your objective should be able to be tracked. If not, you shouldn’t have it as an objective
• Achievable: set a target that is ambitious, yet attainable. It should be a “stretch” objective, requiring you to move away from your comfort zone
• Results focused: there should be a definable outcome. If the result doesn’t contribute to improving the current state (of you or your organization), your objective should be reconsidered
• Time bound: you must set your deadlines for achievement. This will allow you to set priorities, define benchmarks and, most importantly, marks your end date. If the commitment is ongoing, it may not be an objective but a vision.

However frequent your review process, when it comes to sitting down with your team members to review their progress, their carefully thought-through, SMART objectives will be invaluable. So too will yours.

What would you like to achieve this year? Feel free to share some of your 2012 SMART objectives below. There’s nothing like writing them down (or saying them out loud) for adding a little pressure!

It seems addiction to technology is leaving employees unable to resist answering calls, texting and tweeting during meetings, creating a workforce with poor etiquette.

Has the “pressure” to stay connected, caused us to leave our manners behind?

Stats:

• 82% complain about colleagues’ tendencies to disrupt proceedings by answering a mobile phone, tweeting, sending an instant message, responding to emails or updating their social status
• During face-to-face meetings, 41% remain glued to their communication devices, sending instant messages; responding to texts; listening to voicemails; or checking emails. This figure rises to a staggering 70% during virtual meetings and webcasts
• 31% even admit to disrupting face-to-face meetings to answer their mobile phones. Paradoxically, 4 out of 10 of these individuals agree it is rude to do so
• Age plays a major part in workplace etiquette. One in three workers aged 20-39 will take a mobile phone call while in a meeting, compared to 20% of people aged 40-60 and just 10% of people over the age of 60
• 19% percent of respondents willingly defy their superiors and stay connected when they’ve been told to explicitly disconnect

Is our desire for instant gratification becoming too much? Do we really need to answer emails as soon they land in our inbox? Does being disconnected feel like losing control? We’d love to hear your thoughts.

Read the full article

Victims of bullying are often competent hard-working individuals, but bullied employees are between 10% and 52% less productive due to their time being increasingly occupied by defending themselves, networking for support, thinking about the situation, being demotivated and stressed, and taking sick leave taken due to stress-related illnesses.

Not only can the result of their lost efficiency can be devastating to an organization, but high staff turnover, severance packages and law suits all come with a price.

What do you do if you’re aware of bullying or harassment in your workplace? How do you deal with it? Do your employees know who to turn to if they need to talk?

This kind of information should be included in an anti-bullying or harassment policy, because without one in place organizations are gambling with both their bottom line and their employees.

Do you have a policy in place? Is it right for your organization? Our Employer Checklist will help you determine if you’re on the right track and identify potential areas for improvement.

Bullying facts:

• 1 in 3 people face some sort of bullying in the workplace (Workplace Bullying Institute)
• 72% of bullies are bosses, some are co-workers and a minority bully higher-ups
• A bully is equally likely to be a man or a woman
• Bullying can take many forms ranging from verbal abuse, to the undermining of work, constant criticism, humiliation, hurtful comments or the setting up of someone to fail. Bullies may ignore, overrule, isolate and exclude the target
• Healthcare resources are affected by increased visits to the doctor for symptoms of stress, prescriptions for antidepressants, and long-term counselling or psychiatric care

Benefits of a bully-free workplace

• More peaceful and productive workplace (organizations who manage people well out-perform those who don’t by between 30% and 40%)
• Better decision making
• Less time lost to sick leave
• Higher staff retention
• Lower risk of legal action

February 29th is anti-bullying day. We encourage you to show your support at www.pinkshirtday.ca

What’s everyone else planning this first quarter?

In a survey of more than 1,000 C-level executives from corporate lawyers to CFOs and HR managers, an average of 16% said they were planning to hire more employees for their organization in the first quarter 2012.

On the other hand, 2% foresaw declines.

Although the resulting net 14% isn’t quite as much as expected, experts are confident that companies are continuing to invest in professionals to help them grow.

The standard isn’t the same across the board though. In the transport sector 34% of executives said they expect to make staff additions, followed closely by the legal sector at 32%.

What does the New Year hold in store for you? Where does your organization fall?

Just remember that how you hire reflects who you will hire. Always aim to hire right, first time.

Hiring expectations

Profession	Increase	Decrease	Net increase
Accounting, finance	10%	1%	9%
Advertising, marketing	21%	6%	15%
Human resources	13%	1%	12%
Information technology	10%	2%	8%
Legal	36%	4%	32%
Sales, business development	24%	3%	21%
Total	16%	2%	14%

Their top frustrations are:

• Waiting in line: 30%
• Tight travel budget: 18%
• Finding their way around unfamiliar cities: 15%
• Remembering to obtain travel receipts: 14%
• Last-minute changes to travel itinerary: 10
• Abiding by an employer’s travel policy: 5%

How do you feel? Is work-related travel a perk to be grateful for or a frustration that takes you away from your desk?

Biggest expense tracking troubles

The survey of 97,000 employees (including 4,000 in Canada) took place across 30 countries.

Highlights from Canada

• Both Gen Y (aged 18-29yrs) and Gen X (aged 30-47yrs) agree Gen X make the best leaders but baby boomers (aged 48-65yrs) strongly believe their own generation make superior business managers
• The most important qualities in a good boss are communication style and leadership style
• 44% describe their organization’s leadership culture as either “empowering” or “inclusive” but 26% describe it as “authoritative” or “oppressive”
• 52% say their efforts are recognized and rewarded, including notices from management (68%), formal programs (15%) and bonuses or incentives (13%)

Read the full report

When it comes to career development and future success, how much responsibility do you think an employer has and how much rests with the employee?

It’s highly recommended that all companies, no matter what size, invest in an employee handbook. A word of caution though: avoid using templates. An employee handbook should be as personal and unique as your company, and customized entirely for your needs and culture. Don’t let anyone persuade you that one-size-fits-all!

Read more

If you have any questions about employee handbooks please don’t hesitate to conact us on 604 488 8885 or email Cori at cori@jouta.com

TAG Financial are experts in Group Benefits for small business, Corporate Insurance and Family Insurance.

Research from Gallup set out to find the answers.

Great workplaces, they discovered, share 12 characteristics, all of which correlate with higher employee retention, higher customer satisfaction, higher productivity and higher profits.

They also found that while it’s relatively straightforward to influence perks such as pay, parking, discount in the cafeteria, etc. these weren’t factors that really made a difference. Not that they aren’t important, it’s just that they don’t differentiate great workforces from the rest.

Here are the 12 key indicators:

I know what is expected of me at work:

• Expectations guide us towards achievement and are the milestones against which we test our progress. Expectations must be clear and properly set otherwise employees may be hesitant, indecisive or unsure of themselves

I have the materials and equipment I need to do my work right:

• It’s incredibly frustrating to try to meet expectations without the necessary tools

At work, I have the opportunity to do what I do best every day:

• An employee’s full potential can only be realised if they are in a position that enables them to use their talents and strengths. When an individual’s natural talents fit their role, they can achieve great performance. Matching the right person with the right job is a huge challenge faced by organizations and managers

In the last seven days, I have received recognition or praise for doing good work:

• Praise and recognition are essential in a great workplace (we all like to feel a sense of accomplishment) but it’s one of the items that consistently receive the lowest ratings from employees. Praise needn’t be costly or complicated, but it must be genuine (see Cori’s press coverage on this topic)

My supervisor, or someone at work, seems to care about me as a person:

• The research indicated that employees don’t leave companies, they leave managers and supervisors. A supervisor’s impact in the workplace can be either very valuable or very costly to both the organization and the people who work there

There is someone at work who encourages my development:

• We possess a natural yearning to learn and grow, yet despite frequent new challenges and situations at work we have a tendency to stall or stagnate. Why is that?

At work, my opinions seem to count:

• We all want to feel like we are making significant contributions at work. The ways in which workplaces and managers hear and process employees’ ideas will help shape whether or not they feel valued for their contributions

The mission/purpose of my company makes me feel my job is important:

• We all want to belong to (and contribute to) something with importance, significance and meaning. Having a deep-felt sense of purpose helps employees reach excellence. The best workplaces give their employees a sense of purpose, help them feel they belong, and enable them to make a difference. Do your employees embrace their organization’s purpose?

My fellow employees are committed to doing quality work:

• No matter how large or small the team, the research found that highly productive employees need to be able to trust that other team members are equally committed to producing quality work. Each worker will possess different strengths and characteristics. Helping them identify these in one another will lead to greater efficiency and increased productivity

I have a best friend at work:

• Many of us spend more time with our colleagues that we do with non-colleagues. It’s therefore quite natural that long-term relationships are formed. In the best workplaces, employers recognize that employees want to forge quality relationships with their coworkers, and that company loyalty can be built from such relationships

In the last six months, someone at work has talked to me about my progress:

• The infamous annual or semi-annual job performance review (where the first two minutes are focused on what’s good, and the remaining 58 minutes on “areas of opportunity” (areas where we are weak and need improving)) leaves many employees deflated and demotivated. While they have a clearer understanding of what they didn’t do well, they have little understanding of what they did do well. How does your performance review measure up?

This last year, I have had opportunities at work to learn and grow:

• It’s our natural instinct to want to learn and grow. And where there is learning, there is innovation, leading to a more positive and refreshing environment. In today’s work environment, productivity does not come from working harder; it comes from working “smarter”. That is why work environments that reinforce and promote learning are attractive to employees

Is your workplace a great place to work? We’d love to hear from you.