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Personal and Professional Development - Tip of the Day!

How to Proceed When Project Participants Don't Agree

When stakeholders in a project have different visions, confusion and even conflict can result. Here are some things you can do if you're in charge of a large project that seems out of alignment to make sure that everyone is working toward the same goal and has the same success criteria.

  • Uncover the root of the misalignment. Is it unclear what the organization's overarching objectives are? Do disputes exist about the distribution of resources? Or are employees not communicating well with one another? Have one-on-one meetings with your stakeholders to determine what's impeding the development of a shared vision.
  • Get everyone on the same page. Whether in person or online, bring together all relevant parties to discuss the matter with the specific objective of identifying points of agreement. Your goal is to have a mutual understanding of what constitutes success.
  • Know when to let go. Sometimes people will continue to pursue their own particular agendas, no matter how hard you try to get them all on the same page. The best course of action, if the problem is little, might be to ignore it and go on. If it's serious, bring it up to find a solution or deal with the uncooperative stakeholder.

Consider taking the Project Management Fundamentals, Project Management Communications or Scope Management courses that you can complete in the time it takes to enjoy your Latte!

Considering a Career Change? Here’s a few “Quick Tips”.

Even when we have a strong desire for a career change, it can seem unattainable to pursue a new one. These are some typical obstacles to changing careers, along with solutions.

  • Not knowing what to do next. . If you know you want something different but find it difficult to articulate your desires to others or to yourself, start by doing some research. Give yourself a straightforward task, such as making a list of 20 potential employers.
  • Limiting mindsets. Start small with modest tests if the thought of changing careers paralyzes you with fear. Participate in temporary jobs, work for yourself occasionally, do projects related to your interests, or volunteer.
  • Inadequate networks. Your dreams may seem unreachable if you don't know who to meet or who the proper people are. However, there are strategies to sell yourself and grow your network. Make the first move by contacting your "weak ties," or acquaintances rather than close friends, as they may be able to provide you with information and contacts that may enable you to make a change.
  • Lacking the right skills. This one is simple: Take one of our courses in the time it take to enjoy your Latte! Learn Personal and Professional Development skills, Sales and Marketing or Customer Service and Comminications. Presenting yourself as a candidate with confidence and knowledge, will be sure to help you land that promotion or new job you're looking for.

8 Leadership Skills to Develop

Leadership isn’t a quality you either innately possess or lack; it’s the sum of eight skills you can develop over time. Here are four of the characteristics that will help you become recognized as a leader.

  1. Authenticity. Develop your self-awareness and position yourself to draw attention to your advantages and strengthen your disadvantages. Consider the Assessing Your Strengths and Skills course to help you do so in the time it takes to enjoy a Latte!
  2. Curiosity. Inquire about the things you don't know. Think big and aspirationally. Show that you are a person who is always eager to learn, explore, and create.
  3. Analytical thinking. The ability to deconstruct complicated issues, find the underlying reasons, and develop original answers is a prerequisite for leadership. Pay attention to patterns and trends and concentrate on cause-and-effect interactions to enhance your analytical skills. Consider one of our Problem Solving courses to help you do so in the time it takes to enjoy a Latte!.
  4. Adaptability. Accept challenges and look for opportunities that need adaptability. Strive to work in novel settings with a variety of people.
  5. Creativity. It's not necessary for you to think of every brilliant idea yourself. Sometimes the key is to create an atmosphere that encourages others' inventiveness.
  6. Comfort with Ambiguity. Keeping opposing thoughts in mind and juggling competing agendas that seem equally significant are key components of managing ambiguity. Consider many "what ifs" and "so whats," and examine issues from several angles.
  7. Resiliance. When circumstances get difficult, demonstrate the fortitude to reassess, gather support, and consult with others by posing the question, "Is there another path?"
  8. Empathy. Increasing your emotional intelligence makes it easier for you to understand the difficult situations that other people are going through and also enables you to create a more loving and supportive environment.

Overcome Your Requirement for Continuous Approval at Work

Seeking the approval of your coworkers and employees is a natural instinct. However, a strong leader knows how to strike the correct balance between having faith in oneself and taking other people's opinions into account. Try using these techniques to make sure your judgment, sense of value, and self-worth aren't unduly influenced by other people's perspectives.

  • Do a gut check. Take little breaks from the daily grind to consider the following questions: Do my choices really represent the interests of the team, or are they merely gratifying my need to be liked? This self-examination aids in distinguishing between the motivations behind action that come from the outside, such as the urge to fit in, the desire for approval, or internal motivations like ethics, morality, or true curiosity.
  • Formulate your own opinions first. If your own opinions aren't completely grounded, it's simple to be persuaded or affected by those of your coworkers. Don't read other people's opinions or consult them until you've formed your own conclusions.
  • Try the “so what?” test. Use the "so what?" test to confront your anxieties if you find yourself worrying excessively about what other people may think. After all, what if this choice or viewpoint isn't shared by everyone? What if it falls short of every expectation? What if I subsequently need to alter my course? The majority of the time, the worst-case scenarios you've imagined are inflated or untrue.

Maintain Audience Interest During Presentations

You must learn the skill of capturing and holding your audience's attention if you want to become a great presenter. Here are three methods you can employ to effectively engage any audience.

  • Physical. Consider how you can get your audience moving whether you're doing a virtual meeting or an in-person presentation. A straightforward request to "Turn to the person next to you and greet them" or "Raise your hand if X, Y, or Z" can engage them. Instead of just being viewers, you want your audience to become active players.
  • Mental. Encourage cognitive involvement to combat the propensity for multitasking or dozing off in your audience. You can achieve this by posing direct queries, including provoking data or remarks, and utilizing clever, unexpected analogies.
  • Linguistic. Invite your audience in with your language. When you can, utilize the names of the participants and direct statements like "As you know..." or "Today, you will learn..." Additionally, you can arouse your listeners' imaginations by using words like "What if you could..." and "Picture this..." to assist them envision the future, or "Remember when..." or "Think back to when..." to transport them to a previous time.

How to Express Your Ideas More Powerfully

Your brilliant ideas simply don't resonate with your coworkers. What can you do to express your ideas more clearly? Here are three methods for making your ideas appealing to any audience.

  • Consider tiny. "What's one idea I can sell to my audience (peer, client, boss, or team) in our next meeting?" is a question you should ask yourself. Even though you might be tempted to provide numerous options at once, resist the urge. Choose your finest approach and go for a modest victory. Up until you're ready to share the next concept, and then the next, it will assist you go forward while helping you gain momentum and credibility.
  • Keep it succinct. Think no more than ten minutes. It's safe to presume that your audience has a finite amount of bandwidth. Reduce your argument to one main point and two to three supporting points.
  • Keep in mind that it isn't about you. It's not about furthering your individual interests when you pitch amazing ideas; it's about advancing the team. Set aside your ego and ambition, think about the needs of the team, and communicate your proposal in a way that the audience will understand.

Communicate Directly—Not Rudely

An essential job ability is direct communication, especially for managers. Everything is more effective when you are clear about what you need and want from other people (and why). However, if you are overly stern, you risk causing more harm than good. How to be direct without crossing the line into rudeness is shown here.

  • Be sure to stick to the facts when giving feedback. Give the person honest, verifiable evidence on their performance and leave your emotions out of the conversation. Instead of venting to them, try to help them develop.
  • Use "I" statements when stating your opinion. Do not accuse or blame your staff; doing so will make them defensive. Instead of confronting them and accusing them, call them in by outlining your observations of their actions.
  • Make a firm "no" become a "soft" no. If you're a straightforward person, your first inclination might be to flatly decline a request for inessential labor if you just don't have the time to accept it. However, if you're too direct, you run the risk of coming across as someone who doesn't want to cooperate or assist. Instead, have the kindness to suggest a different option that better fits your schedule and your needs, or be understanding about why you are unable to accept the request.
  • Be considerate when asking for something, not demanding. There is nothing wrong with delegating tasks and instructions in a clear, concise manner. Just keep in mind to be reasonable, convey your gratitude, and provide assistance if necessary to your staff.

Be proactive in advancing your career

Some people believe their manager is in charge of their career development when they first join the workforce, but such approach is rarely effective. Take control of the conversation about your professional advancement rather than waiting for your employer to bring it up. Start by reflecting about yourself. Gain a clear knowledge of your current situation, your desired future state, and what long-term success ultimately means to you. Request a meeting with your manager after you've thought over your career path; just make sure you don't include this discussion in your regular check-in. Ask for their opinion, explain your self-reflection, and indicate that you want to chat about your career progress throughout the discussion. Last but not least, after the meeting, create a forward-looking plan that defines your goals for the future, your agreed-upon projects, and the stakeholders you want to start networking with. Once you've identified your objectives and key dates, schedule a meeting with your boss to go over your plan, and check in occasionally to make sure you're still on course.

4 Crucial Freedoms Every Employee Needs to Succeed

You must foster an environment where employees of various identities can thrive as a leader. This calls for fostering the following four fundamental liberties and ensuring that everyone has access to them equally:

  • Freedom to be genuine. Create programs to address prejudices in hiring, promotion, employment opportunities, and day-to-day interactions as well as nondiscrimination policies and uphold them. Develop an allyship culture through educating people and fostering connections between people of different identity groups.
  • Freedom to develop into our best selves. Provide equal access to development programs that acknowledge and emphasize people's capabilities in order to combat the praise deficiencies that excluded groups frequently experience. Likewise, cultivate a culture that values constructive criticism that is objective and positive.
  • Freedom to back off. To lessen the focus on members of historically underrepresented groups, diversify your staff more. Offer employees benefits for flexibility, such as the freedom to pick their own schedule, and encourage supervisors to put their trust in them to adjust or take time off when necessary.
  • Freedom to fail. Create a climate of psychological safety where taking calculated risks is valued and failure is destigmatized. Antidiscrimination and antibias initiatives can also be applied to the concept of failure to guarantee that no one is unfairly penalized for failing to meet expectations.

Master the art of Spontaneous Speaking

You must master the art of spontaneous speaking if you want to be a leader who has real influence. This entails not only giving your expertly written keynote address, but also nailing the Q&A and small talk that follows, as well as giving outstanding toasts and speeches on the spot. Contrary to what many people believe, you don't have to be a naturally charming extrovert to communicate well under pressure. Here's a guide to gaining muscle. Prior to connecting with others in more genuine, appropriate, creative, and constructive ways, try to steer clear of expected default answers. Instead, use analogies or well-known references to captivate your audience. When requested to make a public introduction, for instance, don't merely repeat the roles listed on the person's resume; instead, share a story about how they contributed to the team. Remember that you don't have to be the star of the show to relieve some of the burden on yourself. When you speak like a real person rather than an actor or a robot, your audience is more likely to believe you and approve of you. Last but not least, respect the value of listening. Allow yourself time to think about the facts. Confirming your comprehension and giving yourself more time to consider your response can be accomplished by paraphrasing or by posing open-ended follow-up questions.

How to Keep Your Team Motivated amid Tough Times at Your Company

It's normal for people to become disengaged and lose their motivation in the face of budget cuts, layoffs, and overall insecurity. And while it is unrealistic to completely eliminate all of your team's fear, you can create a fun and encouraging environment that keeps your team motivated even under trying circumstances. This is how:

  • Be able to discuss difficult topics. Working through challenging situations jointly has significance. Establish trust through having open discussions about touchy subjects, especially in trying times.
  • Be imaginative when motivating others. Keeping workers interested and motivated to put forth their best effort can be challenging if promotions and raises are off the agenda. What would motivate you over the upcoming year, if you could ask your employees directly? And what can I do to help you?
  • Aid the concentration of your team. Give one-on-one check-ins greater thought. It will make them feel more connected if you spend more time with your employees on a weekly and even daily basis.
  • Burnout should be avoided. Doing more with less resources can wear you and your team down and result in overwork and tiredness. Paid time off and flexible scheduling can be helpful, but it's also critical to take a more comprehensive approach by creating an inclusive, psychologically secure atmosphere.

Encourage All of Your Employees to Speak Up

To advance in your position and establish credibility, you need to make the results of your work apparent to others in addition to working hard. These strategies will help you become more visible at work.

Get a Basic Understanding of Mental Health First Aid

More people than ever are having problems at work with anxiety and despair. Following are some actions you can take to control the conversation if an employee approaches you displaying signs of emotional distress.

  • Acknowledge. Simply acknowledge the distress of your staff. Your affirmation of how they're feeling will give them permission to express their feelings and make them more conscious of their own mood. Then, request that they consider their emotional, physical, mental, and behavioral states at work, stressing that they are not required to share this reflection with you.
  • Respond. Therapy and counseling are not your responsibility. However, you can acquire therapeutic relationship skills. Empathy is the most crucial of them since it makes someone in distress feel less alone, more understood, and unjudged.
  • Present strategies. Cognitive reframing, a technique that can assist replace unhelpful thinking with a more accurate and fair assessment of a situation, is one tool that can help modify behavior. Another is behavioral activation, a technique that promotes change by raising chances to feel delight.
  • Don’t overstep. Often, providing mental health first aid is just the beginning of an employee's mental health journey. Be prepared to point them toward the expert services and materials your organization provides for mental health.

Increase Your Workplace Visibility

To advance in your position and establish credibility, you need to make the results of your work apparent to others in addition to working hard. These strategies will help you become more visible at work.

  • Always produce top-notch work. Be noticed for the right reasons: carrying out good job. It might sound apparent. You will gain a reputation as a dependable, trustworthy, and important team member when others know they can depend on you to do high-quality work, and this will increase your visibility.
  • Understand what matters most to important stakeholders. Leaders and decision-makers are more likely to pay attention to you and your work when you can show that your skill set is in line with what the organization values most.
  • In meetings, speak up. Keep in mind that humility does not equate to silence. If you're not one to speak out during meetings, start doing it now or follow up with the meeting organizer right away. Take up the space you merit.
  • Be a nice person to work with. People want to work with thoughtful, moral individuals. Be the person that your coworkers want to hang out with and have on their team. Your exposure will increase and you may even be positioned as an emerging leader if you establish yourself as a friendly, cooperative, and inclusive colleague.

How to Continue When a Coworker Discredits You

Have you ever experienced a coworker undermining you in a meeting? When a coworker interrupts you, makes a crude remark, or dismisses your idea in front of others, it can be challenging to know how to handle the situation. Here are several tactics that can assist you in making forward progress:

  • Think about how you act. Are you unwittingly causing conflict on the team? What can I do to make team meetings more upbeat? How can I encourage and assist my coworkers more?
  • Demonstrate how to frame criticism. Being a good example of constructive criticism can help you persuade a coworker who is unduly pessimistic. Any criticism should be followed by a "but" or "and" sentence. You might use the following example: "This project timeline is risky and may miss the original deadline—but if we build in the proper contingencies, we should still be on target to accomplish our goals."
  • Talk to your manager about it. To ensure that your understanding of the team dynamics is accurate, gauge your boss' perspective.
  • Look for internal confirmation. When you receive criticism, you could become defensive or insecure. And although though it's normal to look for affirmation from others when your confidence is low, it's equally crucial to affirm yourself. You can achieve this by picking up new skills, going to conferences, helping others by volunteering, or committing to a stretch goal that will force you outside of your comfort zone.

Stop valuing work too highly

Many of us admire working excessive hours, giving our all to our careers, and compulsion to switch from one duty to another. However, a relationship like this with work cannot last. How do you stop yourself from overworking yourself?

  • Consider and accept. What you don't notice cannot be changed. How concentrated and clear is your thinking after working long and uninterrupted hours? How worn out am I? What effect does it have on my mood? And what does it cost other people in my life?
  • Be aware of your body. Be aware of your body. When we work for no longer than 90 minutes at a time and then take a break, we perform at our best. The best indicator of whether you need to recharge and replenish is your body. Observe the signals it is delivering to your brain.
  • Pay attention to your sleep and exercise. It's important to rest and exercise to replenish your energy. Make sure you get enough sleep each night to feel refreshed, and make an effort to get in at least 20 to 30 minutes of brisk exercise each day.
  • Find a hobby or pastime outside of work that you enjoy. This might be a creative endeavor, a pastime, or a sport. Whatever you want to accomplish, plan it for specific times each week and then follow the timetable.

Utilise microvalidations to support your coworkers

The majority of us are aware of microaggressions, which are imperceptible remarks or deeds of exclusion that can harm the wellbeing of members of historically marginalised groups. Go beyond just recognising and avoiding microaggressions, try employing microvalidations, which are equally modest but potent gestures or language that affirm and support your underrepresented coworkers.

  • Acknowledge people’s presence. They consist of team management, relationship building, and communication. Identify the areas in which your high potentials are now strong and where they still have room to grow.
  • Validate people’s identity. Pay close attention to their self-awareness and empathy in particular. Through feedback and assessments, one can develop self-awareness, and one can develop empathy by valuing inquiry, practising active listening, and respecting different points of view.
  • Voice your appreciation for people’s contributions. To become a leader, one must grow in areas other than technical competence. Encourage the growth of contextual intelligence, which is the ability to understand multiple contexts, to behave in them, and to adapt behaviour in response. High potentials will require encouragement to work and learn in unfamiliar environments.
  • Hold people to high standards. Don't be afraid to give your students difficult homework. Don't forget to provide individuals the tools and constructive criticism they need to grow.

Are You Taking Effective Breaks from Work?

While taking breaks during the day can improve both your performance and well-being, far too few of us do it consistently or in an efficient manner. To make the most of your break from work, research advises that you take into account the following factors.

  • Length. Not always is a longer break better. Micro-breaks, or little periods of time away from work, can be effective at preventing fatigue and enhancing performance.
  • Location. Moving around will help you reenergize. Better still if you can venture outside, even for a quick stroll.
  • Activity. Social media browsing is a common but not always productive way to take a quick break. Instead, decide to do something that will make you happier, more fulfilled, and more energetic.
  • Pets! According to studies, engaging with dogs can reduce levels of the cortisol hormone, which is a measure of stress. Therefore, check it out if you can spend some time with a furry friend while at work.

How to Develop Your Superstar Employees

Creating the next generation of leaders is one of your main duties as a manager. What can you do to assist your top employees reach their full potential? Three tactics are listed below.

  • Measure their progress against key leadership competencies. They include communication, connection development, and team management. Determine the areas of your high potentials where they are presently strong and where they have room to improve.
  • Help them boost their emotional intelligence. Pay attention to their empathy and self-awareness in particular. Self-awareness can be created through feedback and assessments, and empathy can be built by putting an emphasis on inquiry, engaging in active listening, and respecting various viewpoints.
  • Encourage a learning mindset. Beyond technical proficiency, growth is necessary to become a leader. Promote the development of contextual intelligence, which is the capacity to comprehend various settings, to act in them, and to modify one's behavior in response. High potentials will need to be encouraged to work and learn outside of their comfort zone.

Develop These Soft Skills in Any Job

You aren't wasting your time, even if the job you have feels transient, pointless, or just isn't right for you. You can take advantage of this chance to acquire some priceless soft skills that will help you in any future career you pursue.

- Effective communication - A crucial skill in every sector is the capacity to communicate complicated ideas to any audience (customers, clients, or employees). Consider the people you interact with on the work as opportunities to practice adapting your communication style.

Consider these Latte Learning Courses to develop your communication skills in the time it takes to enjoy your Latte!

- Teamwork - Every job necessitates teamwork to some extent. Learn new techniques for resolving disputes, coordinating stakeholders, and collaborating with others to further the objectives of your team.

Consider these Latte Learning Courses to develop your Teamwork skills in the time it takes to enjoy your Latte!

- Leading and influencing - You are more than a simple machine part. Seek out opportunities to mentor others, express your thoughts, and improve the culture at work.

Consider these Latte Learning Courses to develop your Leadership skills in the time it takes to enjoy your Latte!

- Problem solving - Every job involves difficulties, albeit some are more complicated than others. Understanding the issue and its causes, then coming up with potential answers and alternatives, is a skill that demonstrates organised thinking and logic-based reasoning.

Consider these Latte Learning Courses to develop your Problem Solving skills in the time it takes to enjoy your Latte!

How to Handle the Uncertainty of a Reorg

While you might not have much control over how your firm is reorganized, you do have some say in how you react to it. Here's how to handle your future uncertainties while your company is changing. Talk to your manager first, emphasizing your contributions. Define how your function fits the needs of the organization, and list a few ways you could make a difference in the future success of the business. You'll make it simpler for them to speak up on your behalf by outlining your contributions and commitment. Develop your internal network next. Create a contact list of potential allies, past supervisors, mentors, and sponsors. You are safer at work if you have a larger group of allies. Plan for how the reorg might affect you after that. Examine the business's current situation while taking both internal and external issues into account. Consider the worst and best case scenarios (as well as various possibilities in between), and decide how you would respond to each. Set aside time for career maintenance, including updating your LinkedIn profile and résumé, as well as for general reflection on your feelings toward your current position and career path. Even if you weren't aware that you were prepared for one, a reorg might be a significant turning point.

Respond to workplace microstressors

Microstressors, which are small periods of stress that you might not immediately notice, appear tolerable on their own, but their long-term repercussions can be crippling. How can you step in to prevent the accumulation of these seemingly unimportant moments that drain your long-term energy and impair your general wellbeing?

  • Put up a fight against microstress in real-world, effective ways. There are simple solutions to tiny problems that can have a big impact on your daily life. They include developing the ability to decline tiny requests, controlling how technology alerts and interrupts you, and altering connections that have a propensity to give you brief anxiety.
  • Increase your awareness of the microstress you cause others. Not only will this benefit your coworkers, but will also benefit you. When we cause others' microstress, it invariably comes back to us in some way. (One straightforward illustration is when microstress makes you snap at a coworker, which ineluctably causes anger or resentment to boomerang back to you.)
  • Overcome it. We allow certain microstressors to influence us at work, which is one reason why they do. Some of them can be put in perspective, so you can learn to ignore them. Keep in mind that your job isn't everything while doing this. The importance and emotional urgency of what occurs at work will inevitably decrease as you develop a more balanced life.

Are You Doubting Your Leadership?

It can be difficult and discouraging when you feel you're not doing enough as a leader and others are providing feedback that supports your self-perception. So don't worry; uncertainty and failure are inevitable parts of developing into a leader. If you want to regain your leadership position, follow these steps. To begin, take a small break from your work to collect your thoughts. During this time, put honest self-reflection first. Make notes—or even record voice memos—about how you want to develop as a leader, taking into account the criticism you've received thus far. Remember that dwelling on missteps, missed opportunities, or criticism from others will only cause you to regress. Next, examine how well you fit with the culture of your company. Are you a leader who lacks the necessary skills? If so, be aware that you may need to adjust to the organization's declared culture, objectives, and values. then devise a strategy to increase your influence. Whose assistance can you have while you develop? What do you need to improve your goal-setting and decision-making for your team? Think about whether a new opportunity might enable you to realize your leadership potential. It might be time to quit if, after some thought, it seems difficult to fulfill the requirements of your position while also enjoying your work.

Empathy Boosters

Building trust among your team members requires fostering an empathic culture. These are some exercises your team can use to learn empathy and emotional awareness together.

  • Appreciation round. The following phrase about a coworker is finished by one person, who then tags the next person or asks to go first: "What I like about you, John, is..." The best is to be as descriptive and detailed about the action or quality as you can.
  • Complete-the-sentence. One of the following statements should be completed by each person, either orally or in writing: "Compassion is harder when...", "I made a difference yesterday when...", or "I show up every day because..."
  • Step-in circles. Organize everyone into a circle and instruct them to advance (or raise their hands) when they concur with a statement. Ask listeners to return to the original circle or to lower their hands after each statement. Step in if you prefer the beach to the mountains as a starting point, then add more vulnerability as you continue ("Step in if you sometimes feel like you're not enough...")
  • Personal notes. Provide your staff note cards they can use to thank someone, recognize someone, or address a sensitive situation. Remote workers can send cards by mail or use e-cards.

Encourage psychological safety among team members

Nowadays, the phrase "psychological safety" is frequently used. What does it mean, though, exactly? It's a consensus that it's acceptable to take chances, voice opinions and concerns, ask questions, and own up to mistakes without worrying about the repercussions. Make it plain to your team members why you need their input, why their opinions and ideas matter, and how what they contribute will effect the results of the task in order to promote psychological safety on your team. Use open-ended inquiries like, "What are you seeing?" to actively solicit feedback. What do you think about this? What are your thoughts on this? Even if someone's proposal is faulty, be ready to reply positively and with respect. Finally, don't be embarrassed to acknowledge your own frailty. You'll make it easier for others to do the same if you, as a leader, can own your errors and firmly show how you've grown from them. It's crucial to normalize vulnerability and display the behavior you want to see in your team.

Leadership Is Not About Your Title

To be a leader, you don't have to be the boss. Here are three steps you may do to develop your leadership abilities right now and turn into a team member that is well-liked and influential.

  • Accept your current abilities. Start by asking yourself which work-related tasks you find to be the most stimulating and natural. Which tasks do you enjoy and perform well? What distinctive viewpoint do you offer the table? You stand out because of your unique strengths, identity, and interests. You'll be able to carry yourself with the assurance of a leader more readily the more self-aware you become.
  • Spend time on daily improvement. Your effect and influence will grow as a result of developing your talents. For instance, it's possible that your company favors leaders who can support their claims with verifiable information and insights or who exude compassion, curiosity, and understanding. Whatever it is, pay attention to it, give it top priority, and daily project growth.
  • Interact with others. Regardless of your personality type—introvert, extrovert, or somewhere in between—you can create the kinds of deep connections that are essential to gaining influence on your team. Make a commitment to acting with openness, sincerity, and empathy when you deal with your coworkers.

Build Learning into Your Day-to-Day Work

How can you support your team's learning while it is working? These are three tactics you can use. Make mistakes commonplace to encourage learning from them and to reduce employee fear of them. When they make a mistake, urge them to swiftly share with someone else by asking, "What did you learn from that error?" You may demonstrate this habit by sharing a lesson you learned from a mistake you made at the beginning of each monthly team meeting. Next, include helpful criticism into the daily routines of your staff. Schedule time in meeting agendas and project schedules to reflect on both what went well and what may be improved. Continually praising your team's accomplishments will boost morale and encourage them to reach their full potential. Finally, encourage experimentation. Demonstrate to your staff that you are receptive to their pitches and that you are prepared to prototype and test out good concepts. What one enhancement might help you to accomplish your goals for this quarter, you might wonder? What would you need to begin, cease, or modify in order to bring that notion to fruition? And how could you quickly test that hypothesis? Encouraging your staff to think beyond the box will encourage learning and team growth.

How to Advance Your Skills Without Attending School

You can become obsolete sooner than you realize if you don't keep learning new talents. How can you expand your skill set without quitting your work to enroll in an undergraduate or graduate program? Here are a few different routes

  • Certifications. If you're wanting to change careers and don't have a lot of work experience in the industry you want to move into, certifications can help authenticate your knowledge and talents in that field.
  • Online courses. There are several online learning platforms available that let you study at your own pace. Individual classes may not seem like they would be equal to a four-year degree, but the results can be surprisingly close.
  • Internships or rotations. An internship can help you break into a new company or field if you're in between employment. Whether you already work a full-time job, ask your manager if they would approve of a rotation in a different department.
  • Stretch assignments. If you have the time, request work from a different department at your company so that you can learn new or more advanced abilities and have a chance to use them on the job.
  • Mentorship. If you have the time, request work from a different department at your company so that you can learn new or more advanced abilities and have a chance to use them on the job.

Improve Your Collaboration Skills

Talented leaders frequently find collaboration uncomfortable. Maybe you're overly reliant on yourself, you're terrified of being outdone by a peer, or you just have trouble trusting people. Here are some ways to overcome your discomfort and work toward becoming a more capable and eager team member. Start by pushing yourself to be more receptive to novel concepts. Empathy and compassion require respect for others' viewpoints, which are necessary for collaboration.. Ask questions to push your thinking and help others explain theirs if you're collaborating directly with someone. You'll make it clear that you're interested in their viewpoint as well as your own by doing this. The next step is to proactively identify the coworkers you depend on as well as those who depend on you. Then, spend some informal time with each of them. Spend money on those connections. Building and maintaining trust is the foundation of collaboration. Finally, seek out chances to be kind and lift others up even when you receive nothing in return. You might do someone a favor, back their tactical plan, or share the spotlight when it is on you. These actions will increase your confidence as a team member while also strengthening your relationship with your team.

Make yourself a priority to avoid burnout

It's simple to mistake working long hours with productivity. But the myth that working long hours equals achievement frequently causes burnout. Here's how to put your personal wellbeing first without sacrificing your career advancement.

  • Find time to do nothing. Spending some time each morning or evening journaling or doodling your thoughts is one way to incorporate a genuine break from work. Consider this a daily reflection or brain dump to help you cope with the stress of your professional life.
  • Learn to say no. Reframe saying no as setting boundaries to improve declining requests without feeling bad. Whom am I willing (or unwilling) to devote my time to? What do I want to do or accomplish, or not? When should I make myself available and when do I need to protect my time? What kind of work will enable me to accomplish my long-term objectives?
  • Become more intentional about space. Set aside some areas specifically for work and others for unwinding and socializing. Making distinctions between your personal and professional lives will enable you to succeed in both areas.

Consider taking one of the 3 Stress Management courses you can complete in the time it takes to enjoy your Latte!

How to Make Time for Leadership Development

Like any other ability, leadership must be developed over time. But finding that time might be challenging when you're a manager. How can you incorporate opportunities for leadership development into your regular workday? Identify one or two specific abilities you wish to develop by first reviewing whatever data or feedback you have, such as performance reports or the findings of a recent 360-degree feedback survey. Maybe your goals are to improve your public speaking skills, your ability to provide constructive criticism, or your strategic thinking abilities. Whatever your objective, work toward a realistic plan of action that can assist you in achieving it, such as reading a book or enrolling in an online course. After that, devote a little bit of time each day—even five minutes—to your actionable program. Make a note of the most important things you learn from this and how you might use them in your daily life. Simple actions like speaking up in meetings, putting forth a fresh concept, or altering the way you interact with your staff can all be considered significant improvement. Finally, turn to leaders you respect for inspiration and, if you can, get in touch with them for help and direction.

Should You Accept That Additional Task?

It's possible that you have been requested to do additional work if you are a highly productive employee on a team with insufficient workers. But you must be cautious about the responsibilities you accept. Here are some situations in which you should politely decline receiving additional work.

  • When your primary job would suffer. If someone asks you for help, you may decline by saying, "I'd be letting others down if I helped you," or, "I wouldn't be able to do a good job on your project and I wouldn't be able to perform my regular obligations."
  • When there’s no clear exit strategy. While I'm happy for the opportunity, I'm not sure I have the bandwidth available to accomplish this long-term goal. Try stating this if the scope of the new task appears too large or undefined. To demonstrate that you are a team player, you may also offer to provide a hand in a modest capacity, such as by occasionally consulting or participating in brainstorming sessions.
  • When the ask is unreasonable. Try a "positive no," which enables you to conserve your time while still helping out, if the deadline is too tight or the request is just too demanding. For example, "The whole report cannot be delivered by Friday afternoon. A section one initial draft, perhaps? It's also feasible to say, "Friday isn't possible, but I can have everything ready for you by Monday afternoon."

How to Move Forward After Being Laid Off

Losing a job is hard. If you’ve recently been laid off, here’s how you can move forward with confidence and patience. First, understand that it’s not personal. People are laid off for many reasons, most of which are rarely about the performance of individual employees and completely out of your control. Don’t make looking for a job your only job. To protect yourself from burnout, decide which part of your day you’ll dedicate to your job hunt and how you’ll go about it. Next, be honest with people. Don’t be afraid to share your story. You’ll be amazed by how quickly people offer to support you, which is critical to keeping you in the right frame of mind, especially in the earliest days after a layoff. Finally, be patient. It can take six months or longer to find a job, and the timeline varies by industry. Stay open to new opportunities while you wait for a big win. Temping or freelancing in the meantime keeps you gainfully employed, occupied, and also helps you expand your network.

What Characterizes a Successful Developmental Relationship?

Throughout your career, as you advance into leadership roles, you might find yourself sponsoring or mentoring less experienced workers. Here are three ways to make sure that your relationship is constructive:

  • Establish a reciprocal and mutual dynamic. You should feel revitalized by picking up new skills and getting to know a younger generation whose goals, priorities, and challenges differ from your own while you assist the employee in furthering their career.
  • Encourage openness and authenticity. You and your counterpart should be open to each other's perspectives and feelings while sharing your own honestly in order to forge a stronger bond.
  • Validate each other’s experiences. You'll both feel a growing sense of competence, confidence, and self-worth when you both feel heard, understood, and supported by one another. These fresh emotions ought to motivate you both to apply the lessons you learn from your interactions in addition to learning from them.

Send Your Team Appreciation Letters

The act of thanking your staff may seem unpleasant or uncomfortable. But recognizing your team members can be a strong, kind, and inspiring act, especially around significant holidays. Consider sending a card or email that goes above and beyond a standard thank-you. Consider your employees' strengths while writing a note of thanks that will have an impact. Start by emphasizing a particular quality about them that you find admirable. Then, describe why you appreciate that quality and give a specific instance of how it benefited the team. You may say, for instance, "I respect your capacity to problem-solve creatively, converting difficulties into opportunities for growth. This skill frequently assists our staff in generating original ideas. For instance, you took advantage of the drop in our subscription numbers to develop a whole new product. These kinds of notes will enable your team members to view their own capabilities from your perspective. Additionally, they draw your staff's attention to what's working well and convey to them that they matter.

The Secret to Great Leadership Is Great Communication

You must master communication if you want to be a successful leader. Here are four techniques to help you speak to your team in a way that will inspire and motivate them.

  • Use simple language to write about complex things. Written ideas are more difficult to understand because of their length and complexity. If you use shorter, simpler sentences in place of complex ones, you'll gain more supporters.
  • Choose sticky metaphors. Your audience will look for anything familiar to make sense of a new or esoteric concept you propose. A metaphor is an effective technique for comparing or equating a novel, abstract topic to a well-known picture or idea.
  • Humanize data. Slide decks with graphs and data are useful but have certain limitations. Any data point may be made interesting by giving it a human face by putting the data in context. Make an extra effort to make numbers interesting, memorable, and ultimately persuasive whenever you introduce them.
  • Emphasize your mission. Put the focus on your company's mission in all of your communication mediums, including meetings, notes, emails, slides, social media, and promotional materials. Stand up for your mission if it stands for something.

Consider taking one of the related communication courses you can complete in the time it takes to enjoy your Latte!

Motivate Your Team

You can use a few tactics to reenergize your team if they are worn out, unmotivated, and exhausted. Initiate purpose-driven professional dialogues right away, and make them a regular occurrence. People want to know that they are moving forward and have the potential to make a bigger influence. Include constructive criticism on areas for growth so that your staff is prepared to seize new chances as they present themselves. Second, develop team rituals that promote connections and a sense of community. Peer relationships provide employees a sense of purpose and make work more enjoyable. Open team meetings with a variety of questions, such as asking participants to share one thing they are thankful for today or one word that best describes their mood. The goal is for the team to eventually develop into a safe haven for everyone. Finally, spend time assisting people in prioritizing what is most important rather than worrying about whether or not they are working enough. Help them cut out activities that don't add value and link each employee's job to the most crucial objectives of the company. This will encourage positive productivity as people work with a purpose rather than just doing it for the sake of doing it.

Positive Responses for Rudeness at Work

It might be challenging to know how to react when a customer, co-worker, or even your supervisor treats you rudely at work. It could feel risky to speak up in some situations. Sometimes it could seem unsafe not to. You decide whether or not to reply. If you've made up your mind to, there are three polite ways to go about it.

Use “I” statements. For example:

  • While it may not have been your intention, I felt dismissed by your comment.
  • I imagine it wasn’t your intent, but that made me uncomfortable and I’m hurt by what you just said.
  • I recognize your frustration.

Use “It/That” statements. For example:

  • Why Telling somebody their ideas are unworthy is disrespectful.
  • Neither of us will benefit from that comment.
  • If we diffuse the situation in this chat, it will be simpler for me to assist you.

Ask strategic questions. For example:

  • Have I understood you correctly? I believe you said...
  • Could we step back for a second?
  • I'm aware that finishing this is important to us both. Can we accomplish that jointly? I've got some ideas.

Good Questions lead to Good Networking

Meeting new people may be awkward and even daunting, especially in a business setting. If the very concept of networking makes you anxious, you can make a little but effective change that will give you the confidence you need to develop new connections: Ask more thoughtful inquiries. Instead of focusing on what you want to say, start by planning what you want to ask. Instead of concentrating on yourself, shift your attention to others. This will make it easier for you to start off discussions. Next, Go from "small talk" to "deep talk". In other words, go beyond simply asking someone their occupation or place of origin. You might inquire, for instance, "How did you get to this point in your career?" or "What do you value most about your job." These types of questions allow you to connect with people more authentically while subtly demonstrating your confidence and curiosity.

Avoid These Pitfalls When Changing Careers

A professional change might be intimidating, and it's simple to become entrenched in the status quo. You need to avoid four frequent pitfalls in order to explore and envisage a different future for yourself.

  • Overthinking

    The best way to change oneself personally and professionally is via action rather than thought. Although it's wise to consider your options before acting, it's simple to overthink a situation and become paralyzed. Start small, then. Make a commitment to developing new abilities or making little adjustments to your routine, and keep your thoughts on the future rather than the past or present.

  • Procrastinating

    If you often put off making important life decisions, consider why. Ask yourself the truth about the reasons behind your avoidance. It will be simpler to take the initial step after you've unpacked your procrastination.

  • Self-sufficiency

    You can be falling into the self-sufficiency trap if you have a tendency to be reluctant to ask for help or to accept it when it is offered. Find someone you can trust and tell them you want to bounce ideas off of them to battle it. A conversation partner can reveal fresh prospective directions for you.

  • Searching for the “right” answer

    If you view decision making as either right or wrong, you’ll avoid experimentation that could lead to learning, growth, and fulfillment. Challenge this binary thinking and view mistakes as a necessary part of moving forward.

You can learn these and other Career Management tips in the time it take to enjoy your Latte!

Missed Out on the Job? Understanding Rejection

Being told "no" by your ideal employer can be quite demoralizing. But it's not necessary to be. Start by keeping in mind that job rejection is not personal; there are a variety of reasons why you might not have been selected, most of which are completely beyond your control. This will help you turn job rejection from a sad experience into a learning one. The urge to romanticize the organization at your expense must be resisted. Remind yourself that the organization isn't perfect either—it just wasn't a match—instead of dwelling on your own imperfections. Then, put the knowledge to use by honing your interviewing techniques for the subsequent opportunity. Consider what went well and what didn't this time, and adjust your messaging and delivery as necessary. Finally, request feedback from the hiring manager. Even if you disagree with some of what you hear, you can learn something useful that will improve your odds the following time. Your career will inevitably involve rejection. Accept it with grace.

How to Handle the Emotional Labor of Being a Leader

Today's leaders are expected to create chances for flexibility and remote work, show empathy and concern for their team members' mental health, and achieve results. Organizations frequently ignore this hard form of emotional labour. How to manage the emotional strain of being a leader is as follows:

  • Recognize emotional labor as work

    Don't downplay the responsibility of providing an emotional support system for your company. Instead, be sincere with yourself regarding the difficulties.

  • Embrace self-compassion

    It's acceptable if you can't always be emotionally available. When you're finding it difficult to carry out emotional labour, be gentle with yourself. Your team will experience a bad energy cascade when you become frustrated. On the other hand, when you show self-compassion, you are setting an example for others.

  • Request training

    There are practical abilities you may develop to help you be more conscious and less emotionally worn out. Make a request to your leaders to fund this kind of training.

  • Create peer support groups

    At the top, it doesn't have to feel lonely. Sharing your concerns with coworkers who share your interests can help you feel better.

You can learn these and other Job Finding skills in the time it take to enjoy your Latte!

Are You Prepared To Change Who You Are In Order To Switch jobs?

It takes psychological adjustment to change jobs. You must be aware of your position before you leap. In other words, you must have a thorough description of the "lingering identity" you will bring to your upcoming professional position. Consider what you value about your current job (the field, the pay, or the reputation of your employer), what it means to you and others (if you work in health care, you might see yourself as "essential" or "brave," for example), and the actions it requires on a daily basis to comprehend your lingering identity (what you do, how you do it, and who you do it with). Then, apply what you've learned to determine whether a potential employer and you would get along. Determine where your new identity will overlap with your old identity and where you may need to adapt. You'll feel good about how you'll need to alter and how you'll need to remain the same after a successful match. Continue having an open and honest conversation with your manager about your identification once you start your new employment. A good manager will be able to use the information to foresee problems and aid in your adjustment.

Your one-on-one meetings should be intentional

The finest managers understand that one-on-one meetings are an essential part of their job, not an extra. How can you therefore maximize the time you spend in person with your direct reports?

  • Set the tone

    Start off a meeting with enthusiasm, optimism, and focus because the attitude and focus you bring to the room are contagious. Disable your notifications and pay attention. As the meeting gets underway, remind yourself that its core concerns your employee's needs, output, and involvement.

  • Actively listen more than you talk.

    Show real attention in what your employee has to say and thank them for it. Clarify your points and challenge them in a positive way with questions. Be mindful of your actions and body language to make sure you're fostering a warm, secure, and judgment-free environment.

  • Add your perspective.

    After listening, provide sincere and detailed feedback. By thoroughly comprehending the problem at hand, obtaining data, identifying its causes, and coming up with a solution that both of you are happy with, engage in collaborative problem solving.

  • End well.

    Clarify takeaways and action items for both parties, including how you’ll support next steps. This will help build continuity between meetings and allow for needed follow-up.

You can learn these and other Performance Management skills in the time it take to enjoy your Latte!

A More Effective Way to Thank Your Staff

The finest supervisors excel at praising their staff. But how do you acknowledge them in a way that has actual significance? Find out what is most important to them and why. Invite them to think back on their most recent work during your one-on-one check-ins. Ask straightforward questions like, "What are some of the issues you're facing right now?" or "What are you working on right now that excites and motivates you?" No matter what they say, keep asking questions. If they struggle to respond, jokingly probe them with additional questions to elicit a more thorough response. Bring their attention to their own effort and advancement if they offer a story. Consider what they said when the conversation is over. For example, "Thank you for what you've been doing; I had no idea you've been working through all that," or "Thank you for sharing your successes: I'm pleased of your work," are appropriate responses. By the end of the conversation, you will have shown that you care about your employee and have acknowledged them in a way that goes beyond a simple "good job."

Eliminate Imposter Syndrome from your team.

Regardless of how skilled they are, it's likely that a few of your staff feel underqualified and out of place. How can you identify and combat imposter syndrome in their team?

  • Watch for red flags.

    Unsustainable work practices, such as working long hours on a regular basis, can be a warning indication. Disengaged work practices include withdrawing from social groups, being hesitant to speak up or ask questions, or consistently making excuses for missing deadlines can also be detrimental. In either scenario, start talking honestly right away. Ask them proactively if they have any self-doubt that might be driving their conduct.

  • Focus on performance and growth.

    Recognize excellent work and growth indicators. Positive criticism might allay a worker's concerns about their place in the company. If they make mistakes, highlight that learning from them is a necessary part of the process.

  • Be vulnerable.

    Talk about some of your own professional insecurities and setbacks, especially those that you meaningfully overcame. This will serve as a reminder to your employee that their feelings are normal and that they can get through them.

You can learn these and other Team Development skills in the time it take to enjoy your Latte!

Speak Up and Be Strategic

A wonderful method to increase your profile and reputation is to bring up ideas or problems with your management, but only when the time is appropriate. How do you determine when it's OK to speak up and when you should hold your tongue until later? Asking yourself these three questions will ensure that what you have to say will be appreciated.

  • Is it relevant? Put a concept or issue on hold for the time being if it has nothing to do with the team's current objectives or schedule. Once the present priorities for your team are finished, you'll have more success communicating your notion.
  • Is my boss in the headspace to be receptive? A person may not react well to new information if they already have a lot on their plate.
  • Am I ready to speak up? Make sure you've done your research before expressing your ideas. Compile evidence to back up your argument, develop a strategy for framing and delivering it, and be ready to respond to any foreseeable questions that may arise.

Effective interpersonal communication is essential in the workplace and at home. You can improve yours in the time it takes to enjoy your Latte!

Plan Meetings Around Results, Not Agendas

While you may believe that thorough agendas will enhance your meetings, they can instead give attendees a fictitious sense of success. Consider the results you want to achieve rather than focusing a lot of time and energy on the meeting's procedure.

  • Start with the why.

    What is the main goal of the meeting? What do you want to achieve?

  • Move on to the what.

    What subjects, ideas, and details must you cover? What inquiries do you require answers to? List each one.

  • Consider the who.

    You can decide who needs to be there—and who doesn't—once you know why you're gathering and what you plan to discuss, only then do you set the time for the meeting.

  • Don’t overthink the how.

    Conversations that are facilitated and are structured can help some aims. Sometimes unstructured chats work just as well. And it's okay to devise a structure in the moment based on the way the conversation spontaneously develops.

  • Beware the when.

    It can be tempting to set time restrictions for each topic, such as 10 minutes for the first, 5 minutes for the second, etc. However, it can be challenging to follow these timetables. Estimate how long you believe things will take and use it as your own personal guidance to move things along rather than providing the group with a strict timeframe.

“Bedtime” is not just for kids

This week, have you felt worn out? If this is the case, your issue may not be that you sleep too little, but rather that you sleep improperly. Unbalanced sleep (too much or too little certain nights) is a recipe for fatigue, unstable moods, and unproductive workdays. How can you create a sleep pattern that is more reliable? The solution is painfully obvious—but for many of us, extremely challenging to put into practice: You must set a “bedtime”. The positive news? All that's needed to determine the ideal bedtime is some fast math. Decide when you need to wake up the majority of the time to start. Based on how much sleep you believe you need, deduct seven or eight hours. Your bedtime should be 11 pm or 12 am if you wish to wake up at 7 am. Set a "wind-down" alarm for 30 or an hour prior to bedtime to hold yourself accountable. Try to follow it for a week. Last week's tiredness will manifest itself this week.

Check out this FREE mini lesson to get an idea of what it’s like to learn a new skill in the time it takes to enjoy your Latte.

Why We Sleep

What to Do After Leaving a Toxic Job

You had the courage to leave a hostile work environment. The following stage is to put that negativity behind you and regain your self-assurance. Here are some techniques to aid in your recovery, advancement, and success in your new position.

  • Find closure.

    Give yourself space to grieve. Think about performing a ritual to let go, such as creating a new calendar, drafting a goodbye letter that you never send, or archiving or deleting old information.

  • Control what you can.

    Practice self-compassion if you find yourself thinking about what-ifs (What if I had spoken out sooner?) or feeling guilty about the treatment you received. Instead of beating yourself up, focus your efforts on developing the abilities that will enable you to succeed and establish boundaries in your new position.

  • Plan for triggers.

    Pay attention to circumstances in your new employment that bring up stressful memories for you. Feeling alienated, powerless, or disrespectful are typical triggers. When you are aware of your vulnerabilities, you may appraise a situation more accurately and without making assumptions based on the past.

  • Savor positive moments.

    Try devoting 10 minutes a day to thinking about and feeling about positive job experiences; you might even consider writing them down. You might even tell a co-worker, partner, or friend about these fulfilling experiences.

Managing a Team with Limited Resources

Your team is overworked and understaffed. How can you step in and help your staff while still producing results for your company? To begin, be sincere with yourself about what you can accomplish and what you can't. With this pragmatic perspective in mind, reassess and reorder the duties of your team according to what is most important to the company. Which initiatives can you drop, which demand more funding, and which can you outsource or provide to other teams? Ask your team for suggestions. Prior to making any adjustments, be sure to re-establish expectations for your new approach with all the stakeholders on your team. Finally, think about asking for extra employees. Making the case early could put you at the top of the list when budget allows, even if it isn't in the cards right now.

What Is Your Personal Brand at Work?

To gain from a personal brand, you don't need to be a social media influencer. Whatever you do, gaining daily impact, an expert reputation, and a distinctive voice can help you advance in your profession. Start by asking yourself these three questions to determine your brand: What aspects of my perspective and identity are distinctive about me? What do I stand for and what drives me to do what I do? What expertise do I bring to the table, too? These three elements together make up how your coworkers and potential employers view you.

Next, look for organizational goals and activities (especially those with a lot of exposure) that fit with your identity, beliefs, and skill set, and put your hand up to get involved. This is a fantastic approach to raise your profile and present your brand both internally and outside. Create content with your team to promote your interests and viewpoints and to locate like-minded colleagues with whom you may later cooperate and share ideas in order to strengthen your brand.

How to Be Inclusive of Deaf Employees

Sensory and linguistic differences aren’t a loss—they’re an opportunity for exploration, innovation, and competitive advantage. Deaf employees bring a positive gain to companies through the innovation that comes from their lived experiences, as well as their abundance of innate skills. How can you build a team that’s inclusive of deaf employees? Start by assessing your culture. Rigorously examine the impact of physical, sensory, and social barriers throughout your organization. For example, does your organization provide training and awareness of linguistic diversity, including visual languages? Are you actively recruiting candidates from schools, universities, and organizations serving the deaf community? Record your observations and make the necessary improvements—going beyond minimum compliance requirements. Then, check in regularly with your deaf employees and ask them about their experience at work, for suggestions about how they can contribute to the team’s goals, and whether the team feels supportive. Be honest about what you don’t know and demonstrate a sincere willingness to learn.

Communicating Effectively in Meetings and Presentations

There are three types of meetings: transactional (meeting to get things done); relational (meeting to strengthen connections); and adaptive (meeting to address complex or sensitive topics). Here’s how to set each one up for success.

  • Transactional meetings. As the meeting host, it’s your responsibility to ensure everyone can participate—whether they’re in the same room or remote. Cloud-based tools like Google Docs, Miro, and FigJam are game-changers. Because multiple people can edit simultaneously, everyone sees updates in real time, and they far outweigh a whiteboard only a few can see.
  • Relational meetings. Whether you’re convening two people or the whole organization, relational meetings should be intentionally designed. Set clear objectives at the top — for example, to learn about each other’s career goals or formative professional experiences. Structured activities can help grease the conversational wheels.
  • Adaptive meetings. Whether your team is setting strategy, brainstorming, or talking through distressing news events, these meetings depend on psychological safety. Physical comfort is key, too; move the furniture around, loosen up, and emphasize that decision making and execution will come later.

Make the Most of Your Teams' Diverse Skills

Each of us thinks, learns, and communicates in a unique way. How can you, as a manager, improve your capacity to manage a broad spectrum of people?

Start by observing the advantages, preferences, and challenges that your employees face at work. Keep track of the jobs that people routinely volunteer for, how effectively they complete them, and how difficult they find them. These patterns are frequently inconspicuous "neurosignatures," or indicators of mental processes.

Next, give everyone jobs and projects that best suit their skills. While some people are better at coming up with original ideas and motivating others to assist them put them into action, others are better at persevering through a lengthy, laborious activity that demands great attention to detail. It is your duty as a manager to maximize each employee's skill set and position them for success.

Finally, solicit input frequently and remain flexible with regard to positions and duties. Respecting employee differences and utilizing them to the fullest is what good management is all about, not trying to change the way people think.

The Power of Regular Communications

Running a hybrid squad is paradoxical. On the one hand, you want to convey your confidence in your staff. On the other hand, you desire to continue acting as a mentor in their life. How can you accomplish both simultaneously without micromanaging? The key is to do efficient check-ins frequently. Whether you communicate with your staff members once a week or once a day, make sure to center the dialogue on them and their needs. What's functioning well today, ask them first. What obstacles are you facing, and how can I assist you overcome them? Do you require any information, facts, or advice that you are not currently receiving? By routinely posing these straightforward questions, you may give your staff members a sense of inclusion, support, and respect while also keeping you informed. Keep the chats brief, especially if you have them every day. It doesn't take more than a few minutes of face-to-face time or a fast exchange of messages on Slack. Finally, provide truthful comments during check-ins. If there is a specific issue with an employee's work that needs to be addressed, bring it up in a casual conversation. Set up a more formal discussion to discuss a persistent performance issue, then utilize your regular check-ins as reference points to anchor the conversation if necessary.

Common Myths About In-Person Work Debunked

The advantages of in-person employment are being misunderstood more and more as the hybrid era develops. You must be aware of the prevalent misconceptions about in-person employment in order to make the most of your time working together as a team.

Myth #1: People learn more effectively in person. In-person learning is frequently less effective than well-designed virtual learning because it rarely provides opportunity for significant practice and feedback. Try to consistently create these kinds of experiences for your staff.

Myth #2: In-person events help create (or strengthen) culture. Culture is created by the daily interactions your team has at work, not by workshops, keynote addresses, or holiday parties where they interrupt their regular schedule. Don't rely on these exceptional moments; instead, make a commitment to creating a positive culture in the normal, mixed course of events.

Myth #3: In-person gatherings are necessary to give people a break from screens. Healthy screen usage shouldn't be based on the location of your employees' desks. They may and ought to be created remotely as well. Encourage both your in-person and remote staff to regularly unplug.

Myth #4: Only in person are networking and human connections possible. False! Writing letters, sending emails, and having phone conversations have long been effective ways for people to establish deep connections. To that list, include video calls.

Build a Strong Work, Business or Leadership Ethic

The term "work ethic" describes a collection of values associated with the workplace, including dependability, productivity, autonomy, and teamwork. While some people may have an inherent work ethic, it may also be developed and learnt. How? Read on.

  • Develop self-discipline. Understanding your impulses more clearly will help you control them. You should also build up methods to hold yourself accountable and give yourself the energy you need to execute effective work.
  • Reset your priorities every day. Determine what has to be done by taking a few minutes in the morning. Finding a balance between jobs that need to be completed immediately and those that are part of longer-term but equally vital projects is difficult.
  • Own your work. Take pride in the tasks on your list. Ask questions to gain clarification if something doesn't make sense to you rather than waiting for clarification. Pitch your concept if you think it's a good one.
  • Be a team player. Collaboration not only benefits your team and increases the effect of your job, but it also exhibits your dependability.

You can learn more about these tips and others in one of Latte Learning three Ethics Courses:

Regardless of which course you decide on, know that you can complete each one in the time it takes to enjoy your Latte!

Prioritize Listening in a Crisis

In times of crisis, great leaders seek out advice from others and act on it. You require a group of consultants who can see your problem from a variety of angles. Asking yourself these three questions can help you determine whether you're ready for the next catastrophe:

  • Do I have access to diverse voices and sources of information? Establish who might have the information or experience you could need in various types of emergencies by using scenario planning, and determine whether you already have access to it.
  • Do I routinely consider other team members' ideas or feedback when making decisions? If not, start getting in the habit of looking for knowledge to close any gaps in your knowledge and guide your decisions. Crisis managers who know when and how to defer to others are more effective.
  • What systems or processes might I put into place to surface and capture others' perspectives? Examine your organization's communication structure to see if there are any hurdles or silos that you need to proactively solve.

Get more great tips like these and learn about "Crisis Management" in the time it takes to enjoy your Latte!

Manage your Micromanagement

Micromanaging - which includes being overly directive or following up too much - is a proven method to demotivate your staff and deprive them of educational chances. Here are three ways to make sure you're not micromanaging.

  • Focus on outcomes, not process. The next time you delegate a work or project, focus on the desired result rather than detailing each step you want the recipient to take. Giving them the independence and room they need to take charge and complete the task is the objective here.
  • Set clear expectations around feedback. Discuss when and how you'll provide constructive feedback at the beginning of each new project. This will enable you to intervene and change the project's trajectory whenever necessary without getting too involved or surprising your team.
  • Manage up. Talk to your own boss about your team, including how you're fostering employee development, areas where they are rising to the occasion, and your long-term goals. By doing this, you can alleviate some of the strain that causes micromanaging habits in the first place while also establishing trust and proving your ability.

Learn more about how to develop your personal and professional development skills with Latte Learning

A Strategy For Closing Your Skills Gaps

Today's professionals are experiencing tremendous pressure to keep up with human, social, and technological changes. For one, we don't work the way we used to. We work through digital tools, remotely or in hybrid arrangements, for longer careers and more employers, at full-time jobs and side hustles. Then, there's our ever-changing world of technology where nothing ever really stays the same.

It's no wonder that many people find they have a skills gaps, making it difficult to adapt to the dynamic demands of the market. McKinsey research shows that even prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, 59% of leaders already felt that skills building was essential to long-term growth. That figure has since risen to 78%.

While technology and digitalization present opportunities for positive change within organizations, these can't be utilized without appropriately skilled professionals - learning and development (L&D) managers - to guide their organization through appropriate developmental programs, and help you apply newly learned skills. Nor can such programs be easily set up without a strategy in place, and often without outside expert support.

So, don't wait for your organization to provide you with the training, course, opportunities to develop your own personal and professional development. Take matters into your hands and become the CEO of your own future and consider taking a Latte Learning course you can complete in the time it takes to enjoy your Latte!

Enhance Your Recognition of Your Team

A well-executed recognition program will greatly improve employee morale, productivity, performance, and retention. You should concentrate on both the content of the acknowledgement and the manner and setting in which you offer it if you want to get better at expressing gratitude.

To improve the substance, start by being specific. Tell your employee what they accomplished and how it affected you, your team, the company, or your clients. Recognizing results is vital, but it's equally critical to acknowledge the constructive acts that contributed to the result.

Think about the employee you're recognizing to make your appreciation more effective. Would they prefer to hear praise in person or on the phone, or receive it in a handwritten note? Match your communication style to the personalities of your staff members.

Be prompt, whichever means you use. The perceived value increases with the speed at which you reward behaviour.

Learn more tips and skills to "Motivating Your Team" in the time it takes to enjoy your Latte!

Communicating Effectively in Presentations

Putting together a group presentation can be challenging. With so many parties involved and viewpoints to balance, the final result frequently appears clumsy and disorganized.

Start by strategizing beforehand to produce something more sophisticated and successful. Who is your target market? What is the aim? Why do you care so much?

Before you begin writing your individual components, establish together what the major point is, how each portion will be presented, and the general outline. This will relieve some of the pressure of having to fit slides into a seamless unit at the last minute. Determine who will be in charge of answering queries as well. Practice your presentation as a group after you have a plan in place. It's crucial to rehearse your transitions, for instance, "The way Indra explained the difficulties of breaking into this new market was excellent. I'll now offer a few remedies based on the knowledge of our company ").

To make sure you stick to the timetable and leave time for questions, use a timer. Bring your unique characteristics to the presentation, and last but not least, use personal anecdotes to increase the audience's trust in each presenter and the group as a whole.

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Incorporate Pre-Work During Meetings

It's no secret that the phrase "pre-work" elicits groans, eye rolls, and sometimes even a feeling of impending doom during that all-too-familiar moment of awareness. This is not necessarily the case.

Pre-work should be incorporated into meetings rather than being requested beforehand. Whether it's a quick slide deck or brief document, your objective is to rapidly update individuals on "how we got here," anticipate questions, and make clear the reason for your time together. You might even print out the document if you're meeting in person so that two people can review it together.

Invite everyone to contribute their ideas, inquiries, and observations to a shared document after a period of silent memo reading to help start the conversation. Tools for this include Mentimeter polls, word clouds, and Google Docs.

Include a justification for the pre-work as well. People dislike having to make unnecessary jumps through hoops. This activity is intended to increase productivity and shorten meetings rather than add to workload or lengthen them.

Learn to get the most out of your meetings in the time it takes to enjoy your Latte!