Friday, February 27, 2015

5 Unsual Yet Effective Ways To Impress Your Boss




Do you want to impress your boss? Then the first thing you need to do is get things done. However, there are many other things that you need to do to leave your mark on your employer so that he thinks about you first when the next big promotion comes up. 

Here I am going to talk about some unconventional tips and tactics that can not only improve your work performance, but also make you the star in the eyes of your boss. Read on.... 

Write your emails shorter


Trust me on this one. I have made a habit of writing 3-4 sentence emails by getting rid of the fuzz and focusing only on the important parts. It will not only save the time of the reader, but also save your time as well. When drafting a new email, think how you can make it more concise and effective. Instead of writing longer emails, save time by talking on the phone or in a meeting. Time is the most valuable item for any business. 

Be obsessive and compulsive
 
Let me tell you a little story: Van Halen, the popular rock band from the 80s, followed a unique control tactic. In their 53-page tour contract, a stipulation was hidden that there must be M&M’s in the backstage green room, in all possible colours, excluding brown. If they found even a sing brown coloured M&M they cancelled the gig. Why? If your contractors don't think that it is important to read the fine print, then they cannot be trusted with more serious work. So if you want to boost your performance, then don't skip the small stuff. 

Walk out of a group meeting 
 
But why? The truth is meetings are ineffective; you can resolve some issues within minutes while some agendas take hours. Issues that might be important for a particular group may be totally irrelevant for your group. So make sure that you excuse yourself when the meeting does not seem to be productive for you any more. It's better to utilise the time by doing some work than simply sitting and absorbing useless information just to be polite. 

Manage down
 
You need to develop the skill to work with everyone, including people who are under you and not just your superiors. Make sure that you analyse how new recruits are treating clients, colleagues and strangers. Most bosses often value traits like courtesy, civility and caring for others. Keep your ego outside the office. 

Fail...Yes, you read that right
 
But keep in mind that 2 main kinds of failure: failure due to ambition and failure due to inability. Your boss will be able to identify the difference between both and encourage employees who might fail for the former reason. It is better to work on projects that are too ambitious or big than not to try at all. A good employer always knows that ambition and failure are 2 different sides of the same coin. 

So that's it...I hope you find these tips helpful and manage to boost your performance to great new levels. Feel free to share your own tips and ideas by commenting below. I would love to hear what you think.

Monday, February 16, 2015

Is Line Management Partiality Affecting Your Chances Of Becoming A Manager?



Do you wish to advance your career and become an effective manager? If so, then you must be dedicated enough to perform to the best of your abilities and prove your worth at the workplace. You will need to acquire a strong understanding of business to build a thriving career in today’s intensely competitive corporate world. However, your career dreams can get broken as assembling talent pool in an organisation mostly depends on the sole judgement of the line managers. 

Identifying Potential In An Organisation
 
Most businesses around the globe wish to recognise which workers have the potential and ability to add significant value, so that the organisation can engage, develop and retain those employees. However, most Human Resource teams are unable to define “potential” in real terms. Hence the job of identifying talent within an organisation is often left to the instinct of the line manager. 

Is It A Biased Process?
 
The fact remains that this entire procedure is susceptible to any mental or emotional bias which the managers may have. According to a number of studies managers, whether unconsciously or consciously, tend to consider those individuals to have a lot of potential who possess similar traits like them, such as ethnicity, gender, education, background etc. I think it is highly important that such type of bias in the management should be avoided by taking informed decisions about identifying talent staff in the company. Hence, HR managers must utilise their resources effectively to interpret data. How? 

Taking A Holistic Approach
 
Firstly, organisations need to follow an investigative and integrated approach to indentify skilled employees, instead of just relying on the recommendations of managers or the interview panel. Companies need to decide what exactly senior level managers must do over a period of 3 years and then decide who might have the ability to provide a valid and reliable opinion for every requisite competency. 

In case an employee is considered to have potential by every other employee, except the manager, then it would denote some concern with the subordinate-manager relationship. Moreover there can also be a ‘blindspot’ due to which the manager is unable to identify the skills of the person. 

It can occur due to simple negligence or there may be some menacing intention as well. A manager can intentionally overplay the skills of a particular employee to remove them from the team or downplay the skills of a team member as he is an excellent performer and wan to retain them. 

Need For Preparing Yourself
 
Apart from the efforts of the HR team, you yourself can take some steps to make sure that your performance is identified and that you become a better manager in future. I believe one of the best ways to do this is by pursuing a business management programme that will teach you about the various aspects of business, including human resources elements like performance evaluation and appraisal. However, it is nearly impossible to attend a full time programme and keep your day job at the same time. Hence I would suggest that you study quality management diploma programmes online

Online courses offer high levels of flexibility, affordability and convenience that will allow you to study at your own pace and balance your job and education efficiently. Your business management education will not only improve your knowledge and skills, but it will also empower you to become an ethical and successful manager in the future. 

You will be able to develop better strategies to include line managers in tutorial-type conversations that will allow workers to improve their strengths further and recognise areas where they need to develop. An online management diploma will teach you to take a more informed decision after gathering the right statistics from the right sources to spot potential.

What are your thoughts on this topic? Feel free to share with us by simply commenting in the box below. 

Article Source: bit.ly/1GueH2r