Every email you send affects your professional reputation. Avoid these all-too-common mistakes in your communication: emails too long for anyone to digest including way too many people dashing off incomplete thoughts burying the lede Source: Harvard Business Review, February 6, 2017. Take a close look at your sent folder. Everything you need to know about your … [Read more...]
Focus on nonverbal cues during feedback sessions
Giving feedback may be one of the most difficult challenges a manager faces. You have to be honest; yet, you don’t want to alienate your employee. You tread a fine line between maintaining cordiality and successfully getting your point across. Here are the most noticed non-verbal cues: Facial expression Eye contact Voice Posture Breath Source: Harvard … [Read more...]
Managing your team when asked to do too much
High expectations in the form of ambitious goals or targets are often touted as a benefit to help companies grow. Sometimes, reason is thrown away and teams can move toward unethical or illegal methods to achieve the objective. Managers at all levels have the responsibility to ensure that unreasonable targets don’t unleash harmful behaviors on their teams. Source: Harvard … [Read more...]
Boss’s technical competence important to employees
The topic of expert leadership is recent and burgeoning. Many factors can matter for happiness at work – type of occupation, level of education, tenure and industry are also significant. They don’t even come close to mattering as much as the boss’s technical competence. Source: Harvard Business Review, December 29, 2016. The benefit of having a highly competent boss is … [Read more...]
Be an effective executive
It matters little if you are a sole proprietor, lead multiple companies or head up a global conglomerate with far-flung operations. The key to your success and your organization’s success lies within the role of an effective executive. Boiling that role down to a manageable number of practices makes success possible. Source: Harvard Business Review, June 2004. The first two … [Read more...]
Male champions foster gender parity, increased profitability
Though women make up 51.5 percent of all managers, fewer of them than men rise to the executive level. According to the Harvard Business Review, having a male sponsor helps level the playing field for women. These male champions have learned that gender inclusiveness means both men and women should advance women’s leadership. Plus, gender parity is associated with improved … [Read more...]
I screwed up!
Wouldn’t we like to hear an admission of failure instead of excuses more often? According to Justin Grady, most of us are failure hypocrites. Justin claims to be a complete failure, out of which he cultivates creativity and helps others do the same. He speaks to leaders and failures. From our perspective, any animal health pro is a leader when interacting with an animal owner. … [Read more...]
4 types of ineffective apologies
Busy workplaces often build intense dynamics that make it easy to say or do something untoward to colleagues, employees or even customers. Sometimes difficult, offering an effective apology is a workplace skill we all must develop. Sincere apologies show that you value relationships and other points of view. Source: Harvard Business Review, November 25, 2016. Many people … [Read more...]
Leave the work stress behind
Animal health pros frequently allow work stress to become home stress, often at the expense of families, relationships and our own health. Jackie Coleman and John Coleman share five tips for keeping work stress from becoming home stress: Confine your work to particular times and locations Develop good mobile device habits Establish a good support network Have an … [Read more...]
Unlearning, not learning, is a real challenge
Many of us have experienced unlearning after buying a different automobile. The new key works differently, the gearshift is now on the column or the windows are controlled by a button not a crank handle. Mark Bonchek suggests that learning organizations have focused incorrectly. The problem isn’t learning: it’s unlearning. In every aspect of business, we are operating with … [Read more...]
Workplace mood management starts early
Paying attention to the morning moods of your employees can pay dividends, according to Nancy Rothbard, Professor of Management at the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania. A recent research effort showed employees who started out each day happy or calm usually stayed that way throughout the day. Interacting with customers tended to further enhance their mood. Source: … [Read more...]
Research helps identify quitting behaviors
The basic tenet of managing turnover is that everyone eventually leaves. But the “when” can feel like a mystery. Recent research shouldn’t be considered the only way to identify an employee on the verge of quitting, but it does point to a set of behaviors that, taken together, can provide a clue—and it discounts behaviors that have mistakenly been seen as tells. Source: … [Read more...]
Speaking up to supervisors is a two-way street
Corporate leaders often say they want employees to speak up and offer new ideas, challenge processes and call out unethical behavior. However, research shows that those same leaders generally react negatively to employees who challenge them, even when done constructively. Source: Harvard Business Review, October 18, 2016. Building speaking up cultures is, on the whole, a … [Read more...]
Understanding accountability
Accountable. The word conjures up visions of bad annual reviews, pink slips, punishment or harder work. Jonathan Raymond suggests thinking about accountability in five steps: The mention The invitation The conversation The boundary The limit Source: Harvard Business Review, October 13, 2016. At work as in life, we all need the people who care about us to … [Read more...]
Talking politics at work is tricky
We’re often advised – with good reason – not to talk politics at the office. Yet, political topics are sometimes unavoidable. Here are four good tips to ensure the conversation doesn’t end in disaster. Source: Harvard Business Review, September 30, 2016. However strong your views are, you don’t want to alienate your coworkers. Here are some strategies for having a tactful, … [Read more...]
Manage the pressure to discount
A longtime, good customer you cannot afford to lose suddenly asks, “Can you get me a better price?” Now what do you do. In our experience, price discussions are really about value. This customer doesn’t perceive the value equals the price you are asking, has forgotten the value he’s already getting or has read the latest book about negation. Source: Harvard Business … [Read more...]
5 tips to help you negotiate with liars
Research tells us that people tell one or two lies every day. Additional studies report that half of negotiators will lie when they have motive and opportunity. Even more studies tell us we can only correctly identify lies about half the time. Fortunately, scientific examination tells us that we can conduct conversations in ways that make it difficult for our counterparts to … [Read more...]
Expressing gratitude – it’s not about you
When we express our gratitude to others, we tend to talk about ourselves. Instead, we should think about our benefactors. When we get help, it is common to talk about how the favor made us feel. But expressing gratitude shouldn’t be about you. Thanking someone who helps you keeps them interested and invested in having a long-term relationship with you. It makes their time, … [Read more...]
Avoid office gossip with new coworkers
Downloading the inside scoop on office personnel and discussing inner workings of the office with a new colleague can backfire or be helpful depending on the motives for sharing the scoop in the first place. Source: Harvard Business Review, June 17, 2016. 'If it’s information that everybody who works there already knows, that’s fine. But if it’s sharing privileged … [Read more...]
Get off the soap box
Soapboxing, is a term stemming from an era when a person would literally stand on a soapbox crate as a stage and scream to the world that he or she knew the right way — the only way — to do anything. Soapboxers tend to be utterly convinced that his or her view is the only view — and vocalizes it. They can destroy the rapport of an otherwise well-aligned group. Here are some … [Read more...]
Finding a rhythm at work
Rhythm on a monthly, weekly and daily basis can create the order and flexibility you need for your work and time to flow in harmony. Elizabeth Grace Saunders suggests, “it’s time to discover your cadence.” This piece will appeal to those of us who are challenged with time management, energy management and juggling of priorities. Source: Harvard Business Review, April 14, … [Read more...]
Combat chronic stress with breathing
Media sources are full of articles these days about suicide in the veterinary profession. Intense experiences are commonplace and stress is inevitable. But, with awareness and a little skill, its negative impacts are not. The authors share perspective and outline a technique called intentional breathing. Directed at those in leadership positions, we recognize that all animal … [Read more...]
Expect success
Strategy, skill and execution are important factors in achieving success in most businesses. However, too often the mental side of the challenge is overlooked in leading your team to the ultimate goal and success. There are some things you can do to help your business team prepare mentally to reach and exceed expectations. Source: Harvard Business Review June 9, … [Read more...]
What good listeners actually do
Researchers dug into what makes a great listener and grouped the qualities identified into four main findings along with identifying six levels of listening: Good listening is much more than being silent while the other person talks. Good listening included interactions that build a person’s self-esteem. Good listening was seen as a cooperative conversation. Good … [Read more...]
Control impostor syndrome
Many of us fear being discovered as a poser when we move away from our comfort zones. We fear that we’re not worthy and that that we aren’t qualified to do whatever we aim to do. It’s a fear that strikes many of us: impostor syndrome. Source: Harvard Business Review, July 7, 2016. To overcome these feelings of inadequacy consider these tips: Recognize the benefits of … [Read more...]
Help your team succeed
Strategy, skill and execution are important to achieve success in most veterinary hospitals and practices. However, the mental side of the challenge is too often overlooked in leading the practice team to ultimate goals and successes. There are things you can do to help your hospital team mentally prepare to reach and exceed expectations. Source: Harvard Business Review, … [Read more...]
Steps to take when feeling burned out
Research shows that burnout occurs when the demands people face on the job outstrips the resources they have to meet them. Certain types of demands are more likely to tax people to the point of burnout, especially a heavy workload, intense pressure and unclear or conflicting expectations. Source: Harvard Business Review, June 20, 2016. If you think you might be experiencing … [Read more...]
Stereotypes impact older workers
Older workers are generally seen as less motivated, less willing to engage in training and career development programs, more resistant to change, not as trusting, more likely to have health problems that affect their work and more vulnerable to work-family conflicts. In addition, there’s evidence older workers are likely to further stereotype themselves on the basis of what … [Read more...]
The right way to cut people off in meetings
Learn how to use the word “jellyfish” to keep meeting discussions from drifting. Our team likes this concept knowing how easy it is to stray off topic in meetings, sales calls and general conversation. Source: Harvard Business Review, April 8, 2016. The conversation begins, but after 10 minutes of good discussion on the first agenda item, someone goes off on a tangent that, … [Read more...]
Recovering from rejection
Rejection is a universal and universally disliked experience. It’s also one that each of us experiences differently. Sometimes, getting rejected hurts more than we expect, especially if our immediate response is to become self-critical. Source: Harvard Business Review, April 6, 2016. I think a lot of us have a gut instinct to question ourselves in the face of rejection,” … [Read more...]