How many times have you sat through a presentation that bored you to tears?  This is a great opportunity to use this experience to improve your own presentations.  Just what did they do wrong?  Was the content interesting?  Was the person boring?  Here are some tips that you can use to improve your own presentation:

1. Keep to an Agenda - people will only listen to what they want to listen to.
2. Speak clearly - don't mumble and don't be shy, you have only one chance at this and one chance at a first impression.
3. Be concise - don't waffle and make sure the audience understands, if the audience goes to sleep, vary your presentation style to suit.
4. Be interesting - find out about your audience before hand and their level of knowledge, vary your presentation to suit them.
5. Engage the audience - ask the audience a question, get them to put their hand up if they have had that problem themselves and then show them ways to solve their problem.
6. Be memorable - do something different or be someone different so that the audience can remember you in positive ways.
7. Give the audience a hand out to remember you including your contact details.
8. If using powerpoint, don't put too much detail on the overheads, provide the detail in a handout or an email address where they can down-load more information.
9. Practice, practice, practice.
10. Keep to your alloted time.

Please use this information to develop your own fantastic presentation and let me know how you go!

 

Why is it that we have resolutions in the New Year when we should be considering what we need to do throughout the whole year?  I invite you to think about what is important to you and to write goals (not resolutions) that encompass all areas of your life.

1. Develop some goal statements.  That is, what do you want to achieve?  These goal statements must be SMART, that is specific, measurable, attainable, relevant and timely.  For example I want to sell $10,000 in product next month.
2. Consider having goals for different areas of your life, one for personal, one for work, one for health, one for friendship.
3. Let others know about your goal so that you will be more committed to it.  For example, let others know that you plan to lose 20 pounds over the next 12 months, they may help you with it by suggesting that you exercise together or may even have some great low fat recipes.
4. If you are going to give up a habit, replace it with something else.  For example if you are going to give up smoking consider some nicotine substitutes (there are plenty available at the Chemist or drug store).
5. Write down your goal so that you are more committed to it.

A DISC Profiling System could benefit your business in the following ways:

• Clear identification of learning and working styles.
• To avoid the placement of 2 dominant people working together all the time as they would both want to be leaders.
• You can place people in roles which are more suitable to their behaviours.
• To get the right mixture of different people in a team when their roles and behaviours are varied and suitable for them.
• To know where your team members fit into the above categories and ensure their roles reflect their natural abilities.
• Most people will be a blend of several different behaviour types, they will generally have a dominant behaviour type and may be heading towards trying to be another behaviour type.
• Have the whole team assessed for their behaviour types and when recruiting, find someone that "blends" into the mix as well as having the relevant skills and experience.
• Behavioural identification is not something that can not be found out just from a job interview, but usually takes time in getting to know the person. In a job interview, it is common for a person to sell themselves into a role without addressing behaviour, as you are addressing other characteristics such as relevant experience and presentation.
• Some candidates many not present very well in a job interview but may have more of the behaviour characteristics to fit into your team and could possibly have the relevant skills and experience.

If you would like further information about Extended Disc or would like to see a sample report, please email This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it for further information.

We procrastinate at work in a number of ways.  Give yourself a tick for each of the following that you do:

• Paying bills
• Discussing complaints
• Returning phone calls
• Completing that project
• Updating your Resume
• Hanging around the water cooler
• Excessive networking to avoid working
• Showing an interest in office gossip
• Finding a new job if we are unhappy at work

How well did you score? If you got 6 to 9, then your ability to work is affected greatly by your procrastination.  If you scored 1 to 3, then you are doing well and if you scored 4 to 6 than you can still improve. Tips for improving procrastination follow...

The ideal Manager has the following abilitites:

1. Keeps people informed
2. Listens
3. Is trustworthy
4. Honest
5. Is accessible
6. Fair
7. Is approachable
8. Is positive
9. Follows up
10. Is supportive
11. Consistent
12. Lets them know where they stand

If you would like some tools to develop in the above areas as an effective leader, incorporating leadership development training, subscribe to our website where we can show you step by step how to be an effective leader.

The following relationship habits have been identified as being possibly current ways that Managers interact with employees.  They all have negative consequences as outlined below:

1. We play favourites with employees.  Employees see this behaviour and model their behaviour on yours.  They may have favourite Managers or employees too, that they know that they can talk to about what is going in the workplace.  Or they may be able to manipulate these Managers by playing games.
2. We micro manage employees.  By not giving employees the space to perform their jobs, you are indicating that you don't trust employees to do the right thing and therefore cause them to do the wrong thing as that is the behaviour that is expected of them.
3. We expect employees to stay late after work and not to be paid for over time.  Employees may have commitments after work such as children or sporting activities.  In order for them to feel balanced and happy, they need to engage in activities outside of work.  More follows....
4. We only meet with employees when they have done something wrong.  They will come to associate you being the School Principal and that the only time they come to you is when they are being told off.
5. We get emotionally involved with our employees.  To remain objective when dealing with employees, we should keep our emotions out of the discussion and request our employees to not become emotional.
6. We begin to believe the soap opera.  Staff members can hardly be expected to speak about facts if they are becoming emotional.  Try and address what the real problem is without directing blame to employees.
7. We get caught up in the dramas and stress of the workplace.  If someone wants to drag you into a witch hunt, refuse to be involved.  Don't contribute to the conversation and don't get involved.
8. We think we can "save people".  Does that person want to be saved?  What are they getting in return for acting that way?  Are you rewarding that bad behaviour by giving them attention?
9. We believe that if they like us, everthing will be OK.  We are all different in personality, background, how we look and the life experiences that we have had.  We cannot expect everyone to like us, nor should everyone like us, if we are saying and doing things just to benefit a person or a group of people, what have we sacrificed in order to maintain that relationsihp?  Is that in line with the business vision and mission?

Stress causes a rise in brain chemicals or changes the balance of chemicals, resulting in neurons in the brain not working properly.

This makes us look bad in front of others as we are unable to respond in an objective way. This can cause the following problems:

• You may say something inappropriate
• You will not be able to think one step ahead to solve the situation
• The argument will get worse
• You will get angry and frustrated
• You will look unprofessional
• If other employees are around, they will take sides

Before you go into a meeting with a customer or employee, consider the following:

1. Go in disconnected to your emotions.  Be objective right from the start and try and obtain a positive outcome without concentrating on the communication techniques of the other people in the meeting.
2. Make a plan.  Plan what you would like to achieve in the meeting, send an Agenda so that the attendees will know what to expect.  Allow twice as much time as you think it would take for the meeting.
3. Ask lots of questions and listen.  Don't get caught up in the drama.  Try and ascertain the facts.
4. Give everyone equal access to your time.  Ensure that you treat everyone fairly with your time, even those trouble makers.
5. Set a course for the discussion and consistently follow it.  It is a good idea to set an Agenda and send it before the meeting so that all attendees know what will be covered in the meeting.

If you liked this article, there are plenty more articles about how to run effective meetings.

How you react in your work environment influences the culture and morale at work in more ways than you realise. Can you identify with the following Management styles and how they impact on culture and morale?

Passive

• Only addressing major problems
• Won't confront poor performers
• Won't deal with difficult issues
• Retreats when challenged
• Narrow job descriptions to maintain control
• Procrastinates
• Blames higher Managers for unpopular directives

Aggressive

• Gives negative feedback
• Complains and criticises on impulse
• Does not identify the problem
• Treats employees as worthless
• "I'll talk, you listen"
• No discussion or listening
• Gets frustrated and yells

Assertive

• Is approachable and listens
• Encourages feedback
• Has clear and firm expectations
• Employee development is crucial
• Communicates often and has regular reviews
• Treats employees as individuals
• Offers praise and rewards
• Work is enjoyable
• Is fair and impartial, is consistent and predictable
• Gives time for feedback and improvements

Which manager are you? There are further articles about each type of manager and how you can influence employees in a more positive way. Please give us your feedback on this article.

How effective are you at completing your workload?  Answered honestly, this questionnaire will help you to understand how efficient you are at work and areas that you need to improve on.  For each of the questions, rate yourself out of 10, with 1 being the lowest, 5 being good or sometimes and 10 being excellent or always.  You can choose any number from 1 to 10 that honestly reflects your abilities.  Grab a piece of paper and write down your scores as you go.

1. Rate the effectiveness of your time management skills.
2. Rate your decision making skills.
3. Rate your ability to understand what is going on in the organisation.
4. Are you setting goals for yourself?
5. Are tasks being managed effectively?
6. Are effective communication strategies being used?
7. Are emails used effectively?
8. Are emails stored in an efficient manner so that they can be easily found?
9. Are individuals contributing effectively to teams?
10. Are team meetings scheduled when needed?

Now, tally up your score.