How to Spot Winning Talent

Allow yourself as much time as possible to fill the role.

As the boss, you’re responsible for hiring and promoting the best. Whether it’s gauging a candidate’s qualifications on an interview, or determining an existing employee’s ability to move up within the company, you need to be sure the job is in the right hands.

But spotting that winning talent can be challenging. When throwing their hat into the ring, everyone has on their best game face. How can you see beyond that and truly tell if the person is the best for the job?

Go Slow - When you’re in a rush to fill a position, you’ll look for reasons to hire or promote people that may not really deserve it. Allow yourself as much time as possible to fill the role because finding the right fit isn’t going to happen overnight.

Get Input - You have your own perspective of the company and what needs to be improved, but your colleagues and employees may have a beneficial perspective as well. When possible, get input from others; just those few you already know and trust.

Pay Attention - Everyone says if you want a position that doesn’t exist, create it. Guts and glory are the most common ways to get ahead. But what if you have a hidden diamond in the rough standing before you; someone quiet and not necessarily confident but nonetheless perfect for the job? Be sure you know enough about your employees’ strengths and talents, both the things they boast about and the things they’re modest about.

Push the Limits - If you think you’re facing someone with hidden potential, challenge them. Give them a task that falls outside of their comfort zone and see how they respond. Once you find out what someone is made of, you can figure out what they need to be motivated to move up to the next level.

Sometimes the talent is right under your nose, sometimes you have to wait for it to walk in the door. Whatever package it comes in, when you see a glimmer of talent, be patient and challenge it to reveal its true potential.

____________________________________________

Do you want to motivate and lead your staff more effectively? My executive coaching services can help you hone your leadership skills and clearly define your goals and objectives.

5 Steps to Ease Difficult Conversations with Coworkers

1. Include Them

Everyone has faced workplace tension at one time or another. With different personalities trapped in an office all day long, disagreements and competition are sure to arise every now and again. You might even be forced to work on projects with someone you simply don’t get along with. The key to being professional is learning how to work with people despite your differences.

You can’t change your coworkers and you can’t change their actions but you can change how you interact with them. Here are some ways to ease communication with those pesky colleagues.

  1. Include Them

Your actions and communications should show your coworkers that you find them to be an equal and valuable member of the team. When meeting to discuss a project or brainstorm ideas, be sure to ask them to offer their thoughts. Speak of the group or pair as “we” instead of an “I” to let them know you see them as a partner, not an enemy.

  1. Give a Pat on the Back

If your colleague does a good job or has a particularly useful strength, congratulate them on it. Be sure your compliment sounds sincere and not patronizing.  If offered correctly, the compliment can go a long way to bridging the gap between you.

  1. Don’t Brag

If your boss gave you praise or a customer wrote a great review of your work, be modest. This is especially important if the person you have most tension with is particularly competitive. When communicating with this person, try to focus more on company or team successes and less on personal ones.

  1. Listen

Your input is not the only thing that matters in this scenario. Making it clear you’re interested in what someone else has to say is crucial to easing tension. If you don’t take an interest in their thoughts or, worse, interrupt or ignore them, you are most definitely not helping matters.

  1. Scale it Back

It’s true that even the people you think you can trust might not be trustworthy after all, so this is a good general stance to take with anyone. But easing tension between coworkers means protecting your own interests and that includes not sharing too much. If something you say can be turned around and used against you, be sure to keep it under wraps.

It may be difficult easing the tension with your coworkers but there are easy steps to take that can ensure you’ve taken the high road to success.

____________________________________________

Do you need help increasing job visibility or improving your relationship with your boss or coworkers? My executive coaching services can help you hone your communication skills and clearly define your goals and objectives.

5 Steps to Ease Difficult Conversations with Your Staff

1. Be Clear and Consistent

Managing a team of varying personalities and characteristics can be challenging but communication is one of the most important ways to keep your employees happy and motivated. It can be difficult to ease tension with your staff sometimes but if you follow these steps, it should be a whole lot easier.

  1. Be Clear and Consistent

When you offer advice, explain the rules or provide instructions, be clear. Ambiguity is one of the most stressful things to occur in the workplace. Be consistent, also. If you’re always changing your story, you’ll add unneeded pressure to your employees because they’ll never know what it is you actually need from them.

  1. Be Fair

When there are conflicts among employees and you need to step in, handle with care and diplomacy. Sometimes conflict can be a matter of small misunderstandings and it might just be your job to stop it before it gets more serious than that.

  1. Listen

From an employee’s perspective, one of the most frustrating and de-motivating things that can happen at work is the boss just doesn’t listen. When someone’s trying to tell you something, hear them out and consider with genuine interest what it is they’re trying to express. They work in the trenches and might have important things to say about things you’re out of touch with.

  1. Ask Questions

Not only does asking questions show you care, it will also help you gain a new perspective. Sometimes reconnecting with the group is a necessary thing for the boss to do. Asking questions to make sure you know how things are going also opens the door for comfortable two-way communication in the future.

  1. Avoid Getting Too Personal

Having a friendly relationship with your employees is a good thing. But you want to avoid getting too personal, which includes disclosing too much information, asking for too much information and showing too much emotion. These things have the potential to cause a loss of respect and boundaries between you and them and thus all authority will cease to exist.

Open communication with your team is a key factor to overall business success but it can be difficult sometimes. You’re busy and up against your own deadlines, taking the necessary time for proper communication just doesn’t fit into your schedule. But spending some time to implement these 5 steps can turn it all around for both you and your employees.

____________________________________________

Do you want to motivate and lead your staff more effectively? My executive coaching services can help you hone your leadership skills and clearly define your goals and objectives.

Is Your Work Ethic Up to Par?

How high on your personal priority list is this job?

So you’re wondering why it seems every time there’s a promotion in your grasp, you’re overlooked and it’s given to someone else. You’ve put in a lot of time with the company and you know you’re ready but you seem to be the only one who thinks so.

In the past I’ve given you some tips on how to put your best foot forward in the office, keeping things positive and making yourself more visible. But those aren’t the only ingredients to continued work success. One of the most basic things you need is a solid day-to-day performance, the willingness to buckle down and get the job done. You need a great work ethic.

You’re probably thinking that’s no problem because you’ve always prided yourself on a great work ethic. But consider that over time, you’ve loosened up. There are several reasons your work ethic could have taken a hit over the years or more recent months, and being overlooked for a promotion could be one of those reasons. Getting too comfortable at work could be another one.

No matter the reason, it’s an easy thing to fix because you’re 100% in control. Find out if you have a great work ethic; next time you’re at your desk in the middle of a work day, ask yourself if you display these characteristics:

Willingness to learn – Sure you may be experienced, but that doesn’t mean you know it all. If you act like you do, this doesn’t bode well for your work ethic. Continue to grow, always learn new things and be open to what others have to share.

Commitment – How high on your personal priority list is this job? If it’s not high, you’re not committed. That may be alright but understand that others do notice. If you’re not willing to stay a little longer to get the job done but someone else is, who do you think is more likely to get the promotion?

Dependability - If you start something, are you there to finish it? If someone needs your help on a project do you show up or make excuses? Do you get to work late? Do you call out often? If you’re not someone people can trust, your bosses may not be eager to give you that promotion.

Honesty - If you have a reputation around the office as being dishonest about anything from small work gossip to important work matters, you might want to address it.

Ownership - So you missed a deadline or made a mistake on a task. Have you owned up to it and worked to fix it? Or have you denied it was your fault? Finding others to blame instead of taking responsibility for your own contributions may be what’s holding you back.

If you’re looking to advance at work or even just make a good impression, your work ethic is a crucial element. Don’t let frustrations at work make you stop working as effectively. If you really feel you deserve to move to the next level, you have to continue to prove it.

____________________________________________

Do you need help increasing job visibility or improving your relationship with your boss? My executive coaching services can help you hone your communication skills and clearly define your goals and objectives.