Do you need a Remote Working Policy for your Team?

By Jessica Santos

The best way to go about implementing a monitoring policy is to:

Establish a goal from the beginning and use it to guide your policy
Remain transparent through the process to keep your team in the loop
Tailor the policy to your team and acquire software that they’re comfortable with
Adjust accordingly after evaluating the effects of your new policy

A good remote working policy comes down to what works best for you and your team.

Few people could have seen this coming; the importance of remote working to slow the spread of COVID-19. Many businesses had to send their workforce away to continue business operations at home. Working from home is a safe alternative to commuting to the office, but also creates new issues some project managers may not have faced before.

Work from home challenges

Transitioning to work from home has its own challenges since team members must practice even more self-discipline now that their colleagues are not around. It also requires employees to carve a space out at home to focus on their work.

On top of that, many may have stress and anxiety surrounding the state of our world and find it hard to push through the day.

Doctors and psychologists both recognize that our “new normal” is taking a toll on many aspects of our health and difficulty to keep up productivity, is expected. For project managers in the era of COVID-19, it’s important to strike a balance between being empathetic with our team while also keeping our projects on track.

Remote Work Policy

This balance gets tricky when deciding how to keep track of your team and project progress. A remote work policy can include a set of protocols to follow, protections for the business as well as increased monitoring.

Setting clear expectations and protocols might be all some teams need to keep projects on track and to keep project managers in the loop. Requiring periodic check ins and status reports might be enough to keep track of your team without keeping a closer eye on them.

However, this might not be enough if you start to see things falling through the cracks, deadlines not being met and other red flags. These red flags can signal issues with productivity or more serious matters.

Uncertainty with remote working can partly be mitigated by getting some protections for your business. If you don’t already, you should consider fidelity bonds. These bonds protect you and your clients from employees who commit things like theft and embezzlement. Although assuming the worst can put you down a rabbit hole, implementing protections provides at least some peace of mind.

Monitoring and time tracking

Remote monitoring software helps project managers keep a pulse on projects and how efficiently tasks are executed. Time tracking software is simple and can help manage project scope while more advanced software can track online activity to ensure your team members are on track.

There are many risks and benefits associated with monitoring. On the plus side, you’ll have clear, unbiased oversight of your team. Consequently, some team members may feel stressed and may interpret the increased monitoring as a lack of trust. You can consider a hybrid of self-reporting and software monitoring to streamline some tasks while giving your team some control.

Decide if monitoring is necessary

JW Surety Bonds put together this flowchart to help you decide if you should begin monitoring your remote team. This decision map walks you through key questions and scenarios to think of before diving headfirst into a monitoring policy. Take a look at the flowchart below and see if monitoring is the right move at this time for your team.

Please include attribution to JW Surety Bonds with this graphic.

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April 22, 2020April 22, 2020 Linky

31 Quotes to Inspire you to Launch the Change you always Dreamed about

Many people like to dream. Some people manage to make dreams come true by launching a change that brings about success.

Today you will find inspiration from well-known founders and CEO’s who have all dreamed big, people who didn’t let fear hold them back to pursue the big ideas and turn them into reality.

Infographic brought to you by Wrike project management web based software.

31 Quotes About Launching a Startup - by Wrike project management software

April 14, 2020April 14, 2020 Linky

How to Coach Virtual Teams for Optimum Performance

By Linky van der Merwe

When you find yourself leading a virtual team, you will often need to take on the role as team coach to facilitate optimum performance. In order to do so properly, a good place to start, is with your understanding of what a team really is.

Much about teams and team performance can be learnt from the authors Katzenbach and Smith. No wonder that their definition of Teams became an industry standard over the years:

“A team is a small number of people with complementary skills who are committed to a common purpose, set of performance goals, and approach for which they hold themselves mutually accountable.”
Katzenbach and Smith

In an article: “Organisational Culture” published in the Harvard Business Review, Katzenbach and Smith stated that teamwork represents a set of values that encourage listening and responding constructively to views expressed by others, giving others the benefit of the doubt, providing support, and recognizing the interests and achievements of others. They explain further that teams require both individual and mutual accountability. Teams rely on group discussion, debate, and decision, sharing information and best practice performance standards. Teams produce work-products through the joint contributions of their members. This is what makes possible performance levels greater than the sum of all the individual members, also stated as a team is more than the sum of its parts.

A team is a small number of people with complementary skills who are committed to a common purpose, set of performance goals, and approach for which they hold themselves mutually accountable. The essence of a team is common commitment towards a purpose in which team members can believe. The attainability of specific goals helps teams maintain their focus on getting results. The combination of purpose and specific goals is essential to performance. In essence, goals help a team keep track of progress, while a broader purpose supplies meaning and emotional energy.

In working with teams Katzenbach and Smith have found when a team shares a common purpose, goals, and approach, mutual accountability grows as a natural counterpart. When people work together toward a common objective, trust and commitment follow. Consequently, teams enjoying a strong common purpose and approach inevitably hold themselves responsible, both as individuals and as a team, for the team’s performance. This sense of mutual accountability also produces the rich rewards of mutual achievement in which all members share.

Project Lead as a Team Coach

Having the responsibility to facilitate positive change in teams you lead, whether in person or virtually, you have much neuro-science research to back you up according to the Neuro Leadership Institute. How can this help you to coach teams for optimum performance?

Well, virtual team members have differing skill sets and depending on their background also different levels of experience to consider. It is important for teams to have the right mix of skills including technical or functional expertise, problem-solving, decision-making skills and interpersonal skills. Interpersonal skills include risk taking, helpful criticism, objectivity, active listening, giving the benefit of the doubt, and recognizing the interests and achievements of others.

As a team coach it is good to be cognizant of behavioral differences in the virtual team. There are a variety of individuals with an even bigger variety of personalities. Having a basic understanding of personality types, will help you tailor your communication plans. Remember also that virtual team members may be at different levels of engagement and motivation.

Brain Based Team Coaching

The Neuro Leadership Institute teaches us that there are some brain based principles for team coaching. They are:

Establish a toward state
Let them do the thinking
Focus on solutions
Give positive feedback
Make them stretch
Clarify the important points
Choose your level of focus

Christopher Samsa from the Neuro Leadership Institute continues to explain important factors to consider as part of brain based team coaching. They are:

Collective intelligence
Collective emotion
Collective performance

Collective Intelligence

Collective intelligence is the prediction of the group’s ability to perform well. There is a correlation to how group members are social sensitive of one another, if there’s an equal distribution of conversation turn-taking and even the proportion of females in the group that can increase the collective intelligence.

As a team leader and coach you can help the team to be more meta-cognitive, to be mindful about planning out their work, tracking their progress, and assessing their own knowledge.

Collective Emotion

Collective emotion refers to the ability to empathise and to cooperate with one another. Some factors that come into play are:

Social regulation – a person’s ability to be explicit about their emotions. For example, if you join a meeting just after receiving some bad news, instead of trying to keep it to yourself, mention it and put it out in the open.
Mirror neurons – when we perceive some-one in pain, sadness, it fires the same emotions in your brain.
Social context, if are you friend or foe. A perceived similarity will help, perceived closeness will improve commitment. If one member shows progress, the whole team will feel they are making progress especially if they have a common purpose and shared goals. Work towards having positive connections and similarity in groups.
Help the team stay cool under pressure by managing expectations and helping other reappraise.

Collective Performance

Collective performance is about understanding the team behaviour at systemic and habitual level. Look at the culture of the team and figure out if they are generally positive. If they are connected to each other and are they contributing to team performance.

A common tool that many of you are familiar with, is the Tuckman model for teams. The Forming Storming Norming Performing theory is an elegant and helpful explanation of team development and behavior.

Principles for results coaching

The principles to use in order to coach for results are:

Self-directed learning – let people discover, find answers themselves, learning something new, making new connections.
Solutions focus – look forward into how to solve problems, instead of only discussing problems and issues.
Positive feedback to the team and individual members often.
Stretch – provide stretch goals that are not always easy to attain.
Structure – be consistent with the agenda and format of discussion, it will help to make people feel safe.

Model for Coaching

In their research, the Neuro Leadership Institute shares another very useful Model, called the Co-create Model. Based on this model you need to remember the following when coaching teams for optimum performance.

Co-create Model for teams — Source: Neuro Leadership Institute

Spend enough time in the Forming stage to establish a common purpose for the team based on the shared vision.
Agree on the performance objectives based on the common purpose; they could be business objectives or project milestones and deliverables.
Identify the gap between where the team is now, versus performance objectives and the common purpose. This is where you need to take into account the budget available, the project timeline, the team’s experience, skills and emotional status.
Explore all possible ways of bridging the gap. This is where the team can be stretched.
The Team decides on the best way forward and allocates who does what. Allow the team to discuss how they will manage progress and accountability and when they will meet next to review the actions.

Visit the Neuro Leadership Institute for more information about Brain Based Team Coaching.

Please subscribe to Virtual Project Consulting not to miss future articles, tips and success stories!

Source:

The Harvard Business Review: Organisational Culture, 1993. By Jon R. Katzenbach, founder and co-leader of the Katzenbach Center at Booz & Company, which focuses on cultural and leadership joint research within client situations, author of “The Wisdom of Teams” and “Leading Outside the Lines”. And Douglas K. Smith, Chairman of the Board of ‘The Rapid Results Institute’ and author of “On Value and Values: Thinking Differently About We In An Age Of Me”.
Neuro Leadership Institute: Managing your team virtually, April 2020

April 8, 2020February 14, 2022 Linky

Managing Organisations During the COVID-19 Vortex

Managing organisation during the COVID-19 vortex - ebook

Managing Organisations during the COVID-19 Vortex, is a comprehensive book to help leaders navigate their organisation through the Coronavirus crisis. From managing day-to-day practicalities, to scenario planning and sense-making, this book offers guidelines from over 20 leading experts to help executives deal with their most pressing challenges.

It helps leaders find the guidance, knowledge and will to persevere through this time, and offers them guidelines for navigating their organisation through the Coronavirus crisis.

Topics

Some of the topics covered by the book are:

How to manage uncertainty and complexity
Leadership excellence in the COVID-19 crisis
Promoting mental wellness in the workplace
Sense-making for better decision-making in a crisis
Effective crisis communication
Economic and social scenarios
Business contingency planning during COVID-19
Retaining resilience in chaotic conditions
How to navigate lockdowns with certainty
Best practices for managing virtual workers
The legal implications of COVID-19 for employers

This book will give leaders the context, tools, guidelines and perseverance needed to face this crisis head-on and lead their organisations into a future beyond the Coronavirus. It is available now in PDF e-format at WWW.KR.CO.ZA

Contributors

Contributors include among others:

Tim Cohen, Editor and Journalist, Daily Maverick
James Hebbard, Chief People Officer, Tencent
Michael Davies, CEO of ContinuitySA
Navlika Ratangee, Clinical Operations Director, ICAS SA

Feedback

What people are saying about the book:

“A global pandemic is not normal business disruption. It threatens workforce directly. It requires strong leadership, extensive set of activities to assess the risk, stress test pandemic plans and put people rst – safe, productive and engaged. This book will be a valuable resource for leaders during unprecedented times.”
Jeanett Modise, Chief Executive: Human Resources, Sanlam Limited

“As business leaders struggle to come to terms with managing their organisations through this vortex, it is heartening to see a great team of specialists coming together in the spirit of Ubuntu to share their perspectives and ideas on how to plan for this new world of work.”
Ronnie Toerien, HCM Strategy Leader, Oracle

“The multitudinous impact of COVID-19 forces humans to reconnect. An insightful read on a vortex of socio-economic impact and counter strategies grounded on rekindling neglected intra- and interpersonal relationships, novel depictions of leadership agility, re ections on breaking down walls of work and revaluing the power of organisational culture.”
Prof Daneel van Lill, Executive Dean: College for Business & Economics, University of Johannesburg

To buy this ebook today, visit Knowledge Resources. Use the code AUTHOR upon checkout, to receive a 15% discount.

March 16, 2020July 2, 2024 Linky

How to Deal with the COVID-19 as a Project Manager

By Linky van der Merwe

While the whole world is currently dealing with the Coronavirus, and more specifically known as the COVID-19 pandemic, the project management community has a responsibility to deal with this issue on our projects in a decisive, direct manner. What are the important things to do?

When faced with such an extreme risk, uncertainty and challenge, the first thing to do, is to arm yourself with accurate, comprehensive information to best prepare to manage through this crisis by making informed, thoughtful decisions. As Project Management Professionals we need to be planning for this on our projects. Of course this will include to put it on your Risk Register, including a series of scenarios, the expected impacts and mitigation actions with risk owners.

Take the project conversation to your Sponsor and Steering Committee to consider if the project should be put on hold or delayed. You will need signoff on decisions made.

Business Implications

According to a McKinsey article, on the COVID-19 implications for Business, published prior to the lockdown of several countries, there are 3 potential economic scenarios for the Coronavirus Disease. They are:

Quick recovery: The case count continues to grow, given the Coronavirus’s high transmissibility. However, countries are able to achieve rapid control, as seen in China and the virus is assumed to be seasonal.
Global slowdown: Most countries are unable to achieve the same rapid control that China managed. In Europe and the United States, transmission is high but remains localized, driven by strong countermeasures taken by individuals, firms, and governments, while virus is assumed seasonal.
Global recession: In this worst case scenario, the assumptions are similar to that of Global Slowdown, except the virus is not seasonal—i.e. unaffected by spring in the northern hemisphere. Infection cases grow throughout the year, resulting in healthcare systems being overwhelmed for many countries. A recovery in consumer confidence is pushed out to Quarter 3 or later.

The sectors to be most impacted by the pandemic, forecasted by McKinsey, are Aviation and Hospitality, as well as Consumers.

The immediate actions that organisations are expected to take, with application to dealing with this on your projects, are discussed in the next paragraph, based on the McKinsey recommendations.

#1 Protect Employees

Provide clear communication to employees on what to do. Companies, and specifically Project Managers, need to provide clear, simple language to local management and teams on how to deal with the Coronavirus pandemic. These recommendations should be consistent with best practices outlined World Health Organisation and other health agencies.
Secondly, provide autonomy to local managers, so they feel empowered to deal with any quickly evolving situation. With that said, corporates should also monitor and ensure guidelines are being safely followed.
The third one is very applicable to Project Managers to remember. For any crisis, telecommuting has been an important tactic for maintaining operations. Provide an infrastructure for remote work.

To this point, do the following:

Allow employees to telecommute.
Train our leaders. Leaders should be sensible and reasonable in their expectations as to when workers are available for work.
Identify employees who are most crucial to maintaining business continuity. Ensure these employees have the proper tools and infrastructure to work remotely.
Develop a disaster recovery scenario that incorporates telecommuting.

#2 Setup a cross-functional response team

We should set up a cross-functional Coronavirus response team that should include members from every function and discipline within the organization. The leader of the team should report directly to the CEO.

This response team will have several workstreams, focused on the following areas:

Center for communication and coordination
Employee protection of health, welfare and ability to perform their roles
Financials stress test and development of a contingency plan
Supply Chain Management including monitoring, response and long-term plan within the context of Business Continuity Management
Sales, Marketing and Customer engagement including responses to demand shocks.

It’s important for this team to think through different scenarios, to create a single source of truth, to provide clear policies and guidelines, to monitor issues with rapid responses, to track adherence to policies, to update demand forecasts, to support supplier stability and more as applicable to the industry or sector you are in.

#3 Ensure sufficient financial liquidity

It’s recommended to have at minimum 3 months of cash at hand, to have an adequate buffer of stock or other parts at hand, to understand how prepared key suppliers are.

#4 Stabilise the Supply Chain

The activities related to Supply Chain Management include medium-term risk management in our Supply Chain. In the aftermath, there are long-term actions to take related to Business Continuity Management (e.g. supplier regional diversification).

On projects you should consider procurement commitments, including possible delay in deliveries of materials or bringing in contracted staff. A common occurrence on projects, is where people are outsourced from national or international Agencies and you need to consider the implications for those commercial contracts too.

#5 Practice Customer centric design principles

Engage with customers and ensure transparency.

On projects you need to make communications on of your top priorities to address uncertainty, fear or possible panic. Be open with your team, stakeholders, and your sponsor. Communicate your scenarios and plans, and then update with how events are affecting your project and changes to those plans. Also plan for regular review cycles to reconsider plans and responses.

#6 Help the community

Look for ways to support the community. We should adopt strong Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) practices. Some important activities could include targeting nonprofits and community outreach organizations in your local area, encouraging our employees to volunteer. Let others know what your organization has done. The communication should include only the most pertinent details, including the amount of funds committed, the key beneficiaries and recipients, and what you aim to achieve with your donation.

As Project Managers we have valuable skills to offer, so it’s important to link into responses among your wider business and social communities and offer your help.

Finally, you need to consider your own role. Who will step into your role, if you are taken ill? What about work-stream leaders and other key people on your project? Convene your top team and sketch out alternates for everyone – and alternates for those, if your project is big enough. Even consider the possibility of an orderly temporary shut-down of your project.

Sources:

How Companies Can Respond to the Coronavirus, MIT Sloan Management Review, 2020
Coronavirus COVID-19: Facts and Insights, McKinsey, 2020. www.mckinsey.com
Flevypro – Impact, implications and immediate actions.

March 4, 2020March 4, 2020 Linky

5 Tips for Project Leaders on Millennials and How to Manage Them

By Raj Vardhman

5 Tips on Millennials and how to manage them

Half of today’s workplaces are comprised of millennials, while in the near future, they will make up to three-quarters of the workforce. Generation X, or people born 1965-1979, sometimes need a helping hand in dealing with them in the workplace. They might not have similar mindsets, and they might enjoy different working styles, but should be able to function properly and as a team in the same space.

Managing a team is a complex task, especially if you are leading a group of people with different outlooks on business and life in general. Being in charge can become that much easier just by understanding millennials as employees.

Here are 5 tips for dealing with millennials on projects.

#1 Offer words of encouragement

Regarding their employment, millennials tend to keep an open mind – meaning that they strive for more than just a regular desk job with low career goals. By approaching their work as something meaningful, they will feel appreciated and reciprocate accordingly.

Most of them would perform better at a job that promises a learning experience and the ability to grow within the company. The employer should be there to offer a face to face talk with an employee and land a helping hand or an opportunity to educate them further.

If you, as a leader, recognise a team member’s hard work, they would feel stimulated to stay and continue the good work. A simple ‘well done’ goes a long way.

#2 Work fewer hours

Even though statistics show that they work one hour less on average than Gen-X, millennials are hard workers. Almost 90% of them think that flexible working time makes for a more productive result. People feel motivated to finish their workload and would do it successfully if met with an adequate need.

Furthermore, many consider that working remotely can make a tremendous difference in how quickly a job gets done. So, a chance to work from home now and then can result in flying colors.

Consequently, if offered a dynamic and flexible working time and place while still delivering results, it will set the team and their work apart from the rest of the pack.

#3 Keep up with them

Millennials are curious and tech-savvy; they keep abreast of the latest fashions in technology and consider it to be an important part of progress.

Most of them grew up with electronic devices, and they can offer new insight into how tech can be an integral part of communication with co-workers within and out of the company. Being a part of their group chat can be significant. It is also a big advance in thinking innovatively while leading them on a project.

#4 Teamwork makes the dream work

Over 70% of millennials believe that teamwork is necessary for an effective working environment. They think that being able to rely on another person’s opinion helps their thought process.

Having defined roles in a team is a great way not to allow head bumping. It can be quite an advantage for a project manager to hear different ideas while simultaneously counting on millennial workers to accomplish projects successfully and efficiently.

#5 Create future leaders

Most millennials will not settle for stagnating in their work. This is a massive problem for not only millennials but any ambitious person. Nobody expects to be handed a promotion on a platter, but people must see an opportunity for growth. By offering a tip or a hint that an employee is heading up the ladder, you would motivate them to work harder.

A leader should not feel intimidated by younger employees with potential but should take upon themselves to train them to become future leaders capable of guiding and being ready for upcoming endeavors.

Conclusion

Having a good perspective on millennials in the workplace, might help project managers to deal better with them. Though not a different species, they are more conscious about the business world around them and how it works, how cruel it may be, and they are always on the lookout. They value hard and honest work, just like any other generation.

A significant number of them require a support system and solid relationships while still being given the freedom to express themselves through their work, whether that’s in an office with flexible hours or not.

Regardless of the negative connotation that sometimes comes with the word ‘millennial,’ they are tireless workers focused on the future and its perks, as well as constant improvement.

About the Author:

Raj Vardhman is the co-founder of GoRemotely.net. He is a WordPress virtuoso and white hat SEO expert with a passion for developing SEO strategies. His experience and work over the years have driven him to give other individuals lessons about taking control of their work and finding remote jobs.

February 25, 2020February 14, 2022 Linky

6 Leadership Skills Required for Project Management

By Jenny S

In many organisations there are distinct criteria that companies use to pick suitable individuals for leading their projects. The job of a project manager is not easy. You need to come up with good project plans, monitor proper execution and ensure that you deliver or exceed the expected results. It is for this reason that project managers require specific qualifications and some years of experience, including the possession of leadership skills. These are the things that often set project managers apart. With good leadership qualities, you will effortlessly lead a team of people who work efficiently. This article will highlight some of the most crucial leadership skills for project management.

Leadership skills for project management

Source: Pixabay

Patience

One thing that often ruins projects before they even start is the lack of patience of individuals involved. Patience is among the essential leadership skills for successful project management. You need to be patient with everyone involved in the project, including stakeholders, suppliers, your employer, and your team members. The moment you lose patience and start rushing the project, is the moment you start making errors. Such errors will ultimately lead to project failure and thus you need to move at a consistent pace.

Team organization skills

Being a project manager involves a flair for team management. A good project manager has to make sure that the entire team works in synchronization in order to deliver positive results. They should be able to organize the team in such a way that it functions efficiently and are able to ensure that the plan is executed in a coordinated way. A good project manager should keep in mind that high performing teams deliver better results.

Source: Pixabay

Risk management skills

Every project manager should have knowledge about risk management regardless of the project type. Such expertise enables you to identify potential problems, identify mitigation strategies and risk owners. You need to consider what the best mitigating actions are and implement them. This ensures that the risks don’t affect the continuity of the project. Your ability to efficiently plan for and respond to any risks, will help you lead your team through complexities that may occur throughout your project. A strategic project leadershipshort course can help you achieve this.

Communication skills

Any experienced project manager will concur that projects requires excellent communication skills. That is because you want team members to understand their roles and responsiblities clearly so that there is no misunderstanding about what is required of them and how to achieve this. You also have to be able to communicate with any additional stakeholders involved to ensure they understand what the project entails, how you will be implementing the project, and what your deadlines are. Remember that project managers spend the majority of their time collaborating with others to keep them engaged and informed about the various aspects of the project.

Source: Pixabay

Negotiation skills

Effective project management also relies on excellent negotiation skills. It is among the best project management skillsthat any project leader should possess. The question is, why is this skill essential? First, project management involves leading a group of people from different backgrounds. That means conflict could arise at any time. Thus, it is vital that you are able to negotiate with the parties involved in the conflict so you are able to diffuse the situation before it escalates. Negotiation skills could also help obtain the best possible agreement with your suppliers, which will enhance the overall outcome of the project.

Source: Pixabay

Critical thinking skills

Critical thinking is a skill that enables leaders to make the best possible decisions in any situation. You need to be able to think critically in order to come up with appropriate solutions to any problems that may arise throughout the duration of your project. Critical thinking skills can also help you create working solutions to impeding problems that will help prevent them from occurring.

Conclusion

The application of the above leadership skills, will help improve your project management capabilities. By developing and practicing these skills you are ensuring that a project runs smoothly and effectively from commencement to completion.

Please let us know in the comments which of these leadership skills do you consider important and what other leadership skills would you add?

About the Author:

Jenny is a passionate writer and guest blogger. Writing helps her to improve her knowledge, skills and understanding about her industry. She loves to educate her audience about education and technology via her writing skills. Apart from writing, she loves traveling & photography.

February 18, 2020February 18, 2020 Linky

5 Practical Steps to Improve your Self-awareness

by Dr Eben van Blerk

Prior articles in the Emotional Intelligence series:

Emotional intelligence has become one of the top predictors of success in life, in the office and at home. Emotional intelligence can be learnt and can be improved over time as we continue to learn from our daily experiences in life. Improving your emotional intelligence will probably be one of the most difficult personal challenges. You will not become more emotionally intelligent without practicing these skills. You have to believe there is room for improvement in managing your own emotions. Developing emotional intelligence skills is not easy. It requires commitment to the cause, ongoing hard work, persistence and acute self-awareness.

Lack of Self-awareness

How do you know you lack self-awareness? Some of the tell-tale signs of a lack of self-awareness may be as follows:

· You are not able to easily read a room and pick up emotional signals

· You find it difficult to put yourself in the shoes of others

· You do not know how you come across to others (and you do not care)

· You do not know who you are and how your behaviour impacts others

· You find it difficult to admit and take responsibility for your mistakes

· You do not react well to feedback and often become defensive

· You often do not know what you are feeling and why you are feeling that way

Where to start

Where does one start? First you have to get to know yourself in order to start understanding how you are coming across and when and how to manage your emotions. Self-awareness is the basis of our relationships with others. Once you have the self-awareness to know when and how to manage your emotions, you can develop the empathy to put yourself in the shoes of others and truly understand their feelings. This will be the ideal position to build and manage interpersonal relationships, manage conflict and effectively collaborate with others. The problem is often people do not know how to develop their self-awareness.

Steps to develop self-awareness

#1 Decide to change

You have to start this journey of self-development because you want to and because you are convinced that there is room for developing your self-awareness. Developing these skills does not happen overnight. If you are not committed and dedicated it will take longer and in all probability lead to frustration with very little personal growth.

#2 Build an emotional vocabulary

Before you can learn the skill to manage your emotions, you need to know what you are feeling. Compile a list of feeling words (emotions) and use the list to label emotions as you experience them. Examples are angry, hurt, inferior, jealous, irritated, happy, frustrated, insecure, anxious, motivated and concerned. Extend the list as you learn to identify your feelings and expand your emotional vocabulary. When you are able to name your feelings, it is easier to start managing your emotions that lead to unproductive behaviour and negatively impact others.

#3 Get to know your personality

Once you have built a level of emotional vocabulary, you need to know why you are experiencing the emotions you listed. This will help to manage your emotions. Get to know your personality. An easy way is to complete some of the many free personality tests on the internet. This will provide you with a good overview to start. Also, start observing yourself in the moment, during happy times and during conflict. What are you feeling in the situation and why are you feeling that way? How do you respond in the situation and how does your body respond? Additional to a personality test, ask others for feedback on how you come across.

#4 Ask for feedback

Ask family members, your spouse, colleagues and friends with whom you have a trusting relationship to give you feedback on how you come across. Ask for honest feedback on what they think of you and your behaviour. How they experience you when you are on top of the world as well as in the moments you are not that proud of? Compare your self-perception with your reputation with your colleagues and your circle of friends. Take their feedback to heart. Reflect and use their feedback as part of your development journey. Continue to ask for specific feedback as you work on specific development areas.

#5 Write your own eulogy

The idea of writing your own eulogy may seem grim and make you uncomfortable initially. This could however provide you with valuable insight to live a more fulfilled life. Take time to reflect on your life. Consider how much you mean to other people, what you do for others and what kind of person you are. Think of what have you accomplished thus far in your life. What will you say about yourself if you had to deliver the eulogy? What do you think others will say? Consider what you want to be remembered for and what you want people to feel and say about you after your passing.

Improved self-awareness

Now that you understand self-awareness better and you have the steps to improve your self-awareness, it becomes easier to commit to growing your emotional intelligence. You will find that improved self-awareness will provide a better understanding of your motives, behaviour and thinking. This will enable you to start making informed choices towards healthy and productive relationships with others.

About the Author:

Eben van Blerk, a Doctor of Technology, has more than 25 years’ practical team work experience. He has published articles and book chapters on leadership and emotional intelligence in local and international publications.

Contact him on LinkedIn if you need a speaker or workshop facilitator on emotional intelligence for your next team engagement. His emotional intelligence talks and programmes are popular in the corporate and private sector. It will equip your team with knowledge and tools for improved communication, effective conflict handling and managing their emotions towards a more productive and fulfilled business and personal life.

January 10, 2020July 2, 2024 Linky

5 Coaching Tips for Human Resources Professionals

Coaching tips for Human Resource professionals

By Sandra Azura

The aim of this article is to take a closer look at the important role that the Human Resources function has in today’s economy. Organizations that have efficient Human Resources are twice as economical as those with poor people management.

In this context, the HR professional is very important. The days when HR’s main assignment was selecting the best professionals for each position is over. Now more than ever, the HR professional needs to be aligned with the company’s business.

I have been assisting many HR professionals through coaching. A question that is frequently asked at the hiring stage is: “What can the coaching process add to the career of the HR professional?”

First, it is important to clarify what Coaching is.

Coaching is a high impact methodology applied by a specialized professional who aims to develop another person. Focusing on the solution, it is a process that looks to the present to build the future, setting aside the past.

Coaching for Human Resources professionals should be focused on identifying problems to be solved and opportunities to be grasped, while always staying focused on people’s development.

Here are 5 Coaching tips for the HR professional to note:

#1 In the Past only Learning, Focus on the Future

Focus on the solution that will enable you to find opportunities to develop skills and to succeed in the medium and long term.

We must think of today, act daily, but have attitudes that lead us forward, otherwise, you can become a stressed, unmotivated, unproductive professional, endangering your career, and that of the company you are part of.

#2 Power Communication

Because it is an efficient process of human development, coaching should always pay attention to the communication used. HR professionals are responsible for managing all parties involved in a market relationship, for brokering the company’s relationship with its employees, customers, and suppliers, which should always be done with good communication.

When people are well informed, they feel safer about the situation. Whether in a time of good or crisis, communication can counteract negative impacts and strengthen a company’s image and reputation.

#3 Train The Leaders

The leader is not created, the leader is born with qualities that make him a leader. But even those qualities need to be developed. Improving this professional to have a multidisciplinary look that can achieve team cohesion for great results, is an interesting human resources task for a company.

The leader also needs to adopt self-learning and self-knowledge to develop and become more responsible for themselves, motivating themselves to achieve high performance. Coaching is the perfect technique to help with this leadership training to be applied by HR.

The presence of the leader is what will motivate your team to seek the best results. It is he who will develop people’s competence, keeping them focused on the goals.

#4 Don’t be a Generalist HR

A modern human resources sector is one that is concerned with perfecting the processes used in its best practices. This improvement has a major impact on business and people because it builds on a business mission, vision, and values.

An analytical HR is concerned with aggregating employees around one goal. This is only possible with coaching techniques that will awaken a self-awareness that targets the present and the future.

#5 Improve Behavioral Skills

Adopting coaching is encouraging employees to leave their comfort zone. For each problem, there is always a solution that the person himself will discover from self-knowledge.

The result of this immersion itself is the improvement of employee behavioral skills, directly interfering with the company’s success.

The HR that adopts these coaching practices has solid, confident and motivated professionals ready to put the company’s goals into practice. Always keep in mind that in many cases coaching techniques, when applied by company managers, may not be as effective when applied by an outside expert.

Today the role of an HR professional is vital to the company that wants to be successful and thrive among the companies that survive the ups and downs of the economy.

Your HR professional has a key role in this process, both in the strategic aspect and in inspiring the achievement of people’s success. Do not miss the opportunity to change people’s lives through your role.

Find an infographic covering more effective management, with compliments from Zoe Talent Solutions.

About the Author:

Sandra Azura is from Zoe Talent Solutions where she works as a content writer. She creates online courses related to Business Mangament. She is part of a team who is very passionate about Management Skills and who always strives to offer professional, comprehensive information about any Business Management Skills.

November 28, 2019November 27, 2019 Linky

The Remote Work Business Model: 5 Fun Facts

The remote work employment model started from an idea of motivating the employees towards higher productivity levels by granting them many conveniences otherwise unavailable in their office spaces. This model proved to be very successful, with many industries and branches putting in great efforts to embrace it fully.

Remote work, as previously mentioned, gives the people full flexibility with time management, amount of work input, work hours, etc. If your job starts early in the morning at a distant office, with remote working, you’re cutting off the time needed for transport while saving money for the gas.

As the day progresses, you choose what time of the day is the most productive for you to work, when you want to have a lunch, what part of the day you want to commit to yourself and your loved ones, etc. Around 99% of surveyed Americans employed in all branches stated they want to work this way for the rest of their professional careers.

Several industries are leaders in converting their work from the 9-to-5 model to remote work. Some of these industries and branches include information technologies (IT), transport and freight forwarding management, media, design, finance, and legislation, with many more joining every year. With this many people leaving office spaces, employers cut office costs enormously.

Most importantly, this change in the working model vastly raised productivity levels in workers. As the employees start spending more time with their loved ones and taking care of themselves, the surveyed ones reported up to 82% less stress and anxiety posterior to their office days, with a better sleeping, eating, and exercising schedule, improving their overall wellness and health.

Goremotely.net has put together an infographic to inform you about remote work and everything it provides.

Enjoy, there’s a lot of information that could be useful for potential ventures into remote work. Let us know what you think in the comments!

July 23, 2019August 7, 2019 Linky

7 Misconceptions about Emotional Intelligence

by Dr Eben van Blerk

The concept of Emotional intelligence (EI) has captured audiences across the globe since the publication of Daniel Goleman’s research on the topic in 1995. Irrespective of the large body of scientific research published on the topic during the past two decades, there are many misconceptions about this field. EI is extremely important in modern day leadership, but it’s unfortunately easily misunderstood.

Here are 7 common misconceptions about Emotional Intelligence:

#1 EI and IQ is the same thing

EI and IQ is not the same. EI is often referred to as EQ or emotional maturity. Just as IQ is the measure of our cognitive intelligence, EQ is a measure of how emotionally intelligent or emotionally mature we are. Our EI indicates our ability to recognise and handle one’s own and the emotions of others. It determines how we interact with and treat people. On the other hand, IQ indicates a person’s ability to learn, recalling learned information and using it to reason and solve problems. The better we are at applying these abilities, the higher our IQ is expected to be and the better our chances of achieving high marks in school. It is possible for a person to have a high IQ but low EQ.

#2 Women are more emotionally intelligent than men

Probably the most well-known urban legend is that women are more emotionally intelligent than men. Women are not more emotionally intelligent than men and men are not better at understanding and managing emotions. In general, men and women are more similar than different when it comes to EI. Too few research studies regarding EI and gender have been done during the past two decades to conclusively state that one of the sexes is superior to the other. EI is definitely not a touchy-feely female attribute. Both men and women can be highly emotionally intelligent or seriously lack these skills.

#3 EI is about being empathetic

EI is often only associated with being empathetic or nice. Empathy is a core part of EI but not the only ingredient. Being emotionally intelligent does not mean being nice; it requires empathy for us to recognize the feelings of others.

EI starts with strong self-awareness and self-control skills to understand and manage our own feelings. In addition, it includes assertiveness to help us build and maintain constructive and healthy mutually beneficial relationships.High empathy together with other underdeveloped EI skills can do more harm than good.

#4 EI is born and not learned

IQ is an ability we are born with and typically develop until we reach our teenage years when our brain is fully developed and remains the same thereafter. EI can however be learned and can be improved over time as we continue to learn from our live experiences i.e. as we mature. The sooner we start developing our ability to recognise and handle our own emotions and the emotions of others, the sooner our EI will grow and help to building and maintain healthy and collaborative relationships in our lives. Developing emotional intelligence skills requires hard work. You also have to believe there is a need for change and you have to be in it for the long haul. Developing your EI will probably be one of the most difficult challenges you will ever face.

There is no easy fix and you will not become more emotionally intelligent if you do not practice these skills. Conscious effort and practice will lead to increased EI. It is also easy to fall back on old habits. Working on your EI is therefore a continuous effort. EI is not dependent on our genes and it is not just common sense.

#5 Emotionally intelligent people do not handle conflict

Emotionally intelligent individuals can deal with conflict

Having EI skills does not equate to an unwillingness to solve conflict or deal with difficult issues due to being too nice. Emotionally intelligent individuals are capable of dealing with conflict. Their ability to listen, understand, recognize and manage their own and the feelings of others, makes them highly successful in dealing with the issue at hand. They embrace and effectively solve conflict.

#6 Emotions do not belong in the workplace

The world of work is emotional. You cannot leave your emotions at the door when you walk into the office. Due to the physical structure of the human brain, emotions are a core part of our being. Emotions unavoidably inform our thoughts, actions and decision making and influence how we respond to others. The behaviour of others for example can influence how we feel and our emotions can influence our performance. Not being able to understand and manage our emotions in the workplace is often the cause misery and could potentially lead to losing our jobs or not getting promoted. Increasing research evidence the past three decades have shown that managing our own and the emotions of others can significantly influence our work performance.

#7 IQ is more important that EQ for success

Each job requires basic entry level technical skills and a level of IQ. On a daily basis as we operate in the trenches, we pick up more specialized knowledge and skill. We need this technical expertise to get the job done. Technical expertise alone however is not enough for superior performance. High IQ professionals often fail in their careers due to low EQ. They find themselves in trouble because they are not able to apply their expertise through productive collaboration with others. High IQ and technical expertise together with the lack of emotional skills to manage relationships often make clever people stupid. It is the emotional competence that adds the edge and contributes more to superior performance than IQ and technical expertise.

Also read: “What Emotional Intelligence (EQ) really means and how it can be a good predictor of success” by Dr Eben van Blerk.

About the Author:

Eben van Blerk has more than 25 years’ corporate experience and he holds a Doctor of Technology degree in ‘the role of emotional intelligence in information systems work‘. Eben has published articles and book chapters on leadership and emotional intelligence in local and international publications. His emotional intelligence talks and programmes are well received by the corporate and private sector.

Contact Eben on LinkedIn if you need a speaker and workshop facilitator on emotional intelligence for your next team engagement.

Your audience will be captivated by his emotional intelligence insight, strong interpersonal skills and practical teamwork experience. It will equip them with knowledge and tools for improved communication, effective conflict handling and managing their emotions towards a more productive and fulfilled business and personal life.

May 8, 2019March 21, 2020 Linky

Servant Leadership in the Agile Context

By Linky van der Merwe

The practice of Servant Leadership is not new, but it is embraced and adopted again with fervor, especially in the context of more organizations following an agile way of working.

What is Servant Leadership Again?

To refresh memory, I want to reiterate the Servant Leadership definition as per Wikipedia:

“Servant leadership is both a leadership philosophy and a set of leadership practices. Rather than exercising power at the top (traditional), the servant leader shares power, puts the needs of others first and helps people develop and perform as highly as possible”.

Servant leadership was coined by Robert K. Greenleaf in “The Servant as Leader” that was published in 1970. His definition states:

“Servant leadership is a philosophy and set of practices that enriches the lives of individuals, builds better organizations and ultimately creates a more just and caring world.”

The most important elements of servant leadership are:

Commitment to developing people
Empathy through trying to see a situation from the other person’s point of view; putting yourself in their shoes
Listening with the intent to understand, not respond
Authenticity through being yourself
Awareness of what is happening in the lives of your team members (including any conflicts and tensions between team members)

Servant Leadership is also known from a religious tradition where in the Bible Jesus is known as the ultimate example of a Servant Leader. In a business context, it can represent a decentralized structure that focuses on employee empowerment and encourages innovation.

Servant leadership is covered quite extensively in the Agile Practice Guide (PMI 2016). It’s because, once having practiced it, servant leaders can usually see how well servant leadership integrates into the agile mindset and values. When leaders develop their servant leadership or facilitative skills, they are more likely to become agile. As a result, servant leaders can help their teams collaborate to deliver value faster. Successful agile teams also embrace the growth mindset, where people believe they can learn new skills. When the team and the servant leaders believe they can all learn, everyone becomes more capable.

With this clarity of what servant leadership is, what are the responsibilities of Leaders in Agile organisations and what characteristics of servant leadership will enable project leaders to become more agile?

Servant Leader Responsibilities

Here are examples of the responsibilities a servant leader may have:

Educate stakeholders around why and how to be agile. Explain the benefits of business value based on prioritization, greater accountability and productivity of empowered teams, and improved quality from more frequent reviews, etc.
Support the team through mentoring, encouragement, and support. Advocate for team members training and career development. Through support, encouragement, and professional development, team members gain confidence, take on larger roles, and contribute at higher levels within their organizations. A key role of the servant leader is to nurture and grow team members through and beyond their current roles, even if that means losing them from the team.
Help the team with technical project management activities like quantitative risk analysis. Sometimes team members may not have knowledge or experience in roles or functions. Servant leaders who may have more exposure or training in techniques can support the team by providing training or undertaking these activities.
Celebrate team successes and support bridge building activities with external groups. Create upward spirals of appreciation and good will for increased collaboration.

Characteristics of Servant Leadership

According to the Agile Practice Guide (PMI 2016) the following characteristics of servant leadership enable project leaders to become more agile and facilitate the team’s success:

Promoting self-awareness;
Listening;
Serving those on the team;
Helping people grow;
Coaching vs. controlling;
Promoting safety, respect, and trust;
Promoting the energy and intelligence of others.

Servant Leaders on Agile Projects

Project managers acting as servant leaders will move from “managing coordination” to “facilitating collaboration.” Facilitators encourage the team’s participation, understanding, and shared responsibility for the team’s output. Facilitators help the team create acceptable solutions.

Servant leaders promote collaboration and conversation within the team and between teams. For example, a servant leader helps to expose and communicate bottlenecks inside and between teams. Then the teams resolve those bottlenecks.

Additionally, a facilitator encourages collaboration through interactive meetings, informal dialog, and knowledge sharing. Servant leaders do this by becoming impartial bridge-builders and coaches.

Honouring the first value of the Agile Manifesto: ‘individuals and interactions over processes and tools’, a servant leader can help to remove organisational impediments. On a practical level you can look at processes that are lengthy, causing bottlenecks and impeding a team’s or organization’s agility. It could be a process established by change control boards, or audits where you can partner and work with others to challenge them to review their processes to support agile teams and leaders. For example, what good is it for the team to deliver working product every 2 weeks only to have the product fall into a queue or process that could take 4 or more weeks to release due to lengthy release processes.

Servant leaders work to fulfil the needs of the teams, projects, and organization. Servant leaders may work with facilities for a team space, work with management to enable the team to focus on one project at a time, or work with the product owner to develop stories with the team. Some servant leaders work with auditors to refine the processes needed in regulatory environments, and some servant leaders work with the finance department to transition the organization to incremental budgeting.

The servant leader focuses on paving the way for the team to do its best work. The servant leader influences projects and encourages the organization to think differently.Because servant leaders understand agile and practice a specific approach to agile, they can assist in fulfilling the team’s needs.

A Mental Shift

Agile project managers need to shift from being the centre to serving the team and the management. In an agile environment, project managers are servant leaders, changing their emphasis to coaching people who want help, fostering greater collaboration on the team, and aligning stakeholder needs.

As a servant leader, project managers encourage the distribution of responsibility to the team: to those people who have the knowledge to get work done. Therefore, control of the detailed product planning and delivery is delegated to the team.

Ultimately, the project manager’s focus is on building a collaborative decision-making environment and ensuring the team has the ability to respond to changes.