Set Realistic Expectation
Tangible success can inspire group participation and attract new members
Divide and delegate work
Decide what tasks need to be accomplish, and then divide them up among group members. Contact members to offer encouragement and check their success.
Welcome criticism
Accepting criticism can be difficult. Group members should feel comfortable enough within the group to disagree with others members. No one should leave a meeting feeling as though he or she has been attacked.
Encourage Others to Lead
Each members of a self-help group must take responsibility for the development of the other group leaders.
TIPS FOR BECOMING AN EFFECTIVE LEADER
PRESS ON TO ACHIEVE SUCCESS
DESIRE overcomes all obstacles. As Vince Lombardi said: "The difference between a successful person and others is not a lack of strength, not lack of knowledge, but rather a lack of will." Some intelligent and capable executives fail because they lack physical and emotional stamina.
Being committed means you do not succumb to rationalizations, justifications or excuses. The president of a successful company was asked what it took to get to the top. The same thing is took to get started, he said.
"A sense of urgency about getting things done." he added. Dr Benjamin Bloom of the University of Chicago studied the top 20 performers in various fields. His report concluded that drive and determination, not great nature talent, led to the extraordinary success of these individuals.
Perhaps the United States' 30th president Calvin Coolidge said it best: "Nothing in the world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not. Nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Education will not. The world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent. The slogan press on has solved the problems of the human race."
The best managers press on with persistence and determination until they reach their interim goals, and their ultimate vision.
SURVIVNG A LAYOFF
By Bill George
New Straits Times 24/03/2001
DOWNSIZING - the catchword used by modern industrialists and manufacturers to pleasantly announce an impending disaster and their intention to scale down operations, including retrenchment, because business may take a turn for the worse. To employees this may spell a worst case scenario and feelings of insecurity may abound.
Industries most badly affected are those with larger number of workers such as manufacturing or those involved in industrial production. To cut down operation costs, managers will try to find the quickest and most effective means (both short and long term measures). Here, the heaviest casualty would be workers at the lowest rung and those with the least amount of skills.
If you work in such an environment and have fears about not knowing what to do when this situation arises, here are few tips to help you find your way:
Come to terms with the changes
You may react with fear or panic on receiving such news. Meanwhile, the "rumor mill" will be working at full steam creating a whole new batch of anxieties. Accusations will be leveled at the management or government. Instead of following this negative pattern, you should try to get the facts from the management to calm your fears and turn the situation to your favor.
Industries most badly affected are those with larger number of workers such as manufacturing or those involved in industrial production. To cut down operation costs, managers will try to find the quickest and most effective means (both short and long term measures). Here, the heaviest casualty would be workers at the lowest rung and those with the least amount of skills.
If you work in such an environment and have fears about not knowing what to do when this situation arises, here are few tips to help you find your way:
Come to terms with the changes
You may react with fear or panic on receiving such news. Meanwhile, the "rumor mill" will be working at full steam creating a whole new batch of anxieties. Accusations will be leveled at the management or government. Instead of following this negative pattern, you should try to get the facts from the management to calm your fears and turn the situation to your favor.
Here are a few pointers on crisis management that may help you:
- Recognize that the panic and stress you are witnessing are to be expected given the gravity of the situation: and
- Come to terms with the fact that, regardless of how you feel, change is a constant component of your environment and that you have to learn to cope with it.
Understand the organization
A business organization does not take extreme measures, such as downsizing without having considered all other options. At the same time, the management has a responsibility to ensure that the company remains profitable, hence drastic measures are necessary. So try to get a proper understanding of the company's position before making hasty conclusions:
In a new work environment, the management will expect a higher level of productivity. As a retained employee, show your gratitude by being positive and rise to the occasion.
Work as a team
Realize that all your colleagues, including your superiors, are facing stress. Give them due consideration. Be patient with others coping with their new jobs. Focus on the positive. Avoid criticizing but give praises when due.
Personal care
You are going through a stressful period and much is expected of you. You need to take care of your own self under these trying circumstances. Try not to compare your performance with others.
A business organization does not take extreme measures, such as downsizing without having considered all other options. At the same time, the management has a responsibility to ensure that the company remains profitable, hence drastic measures are necessary. So try to get a proper understanding of the company's position before making hasty conclusions:
- Understand the rationale behind the move to downsize, including the company's objectives for retrenchment; and
- Obtain updated information about the company's policies and procedures regarding downsizing instead of blindly following what is handed down to you.
In a new work environment, the management will expect a higher level of productivity. As a retained employee, show your gratitude by being positive and rise to the occasion.
Work as a team
Realize that all your colleagues, including your superiors, are facing stress. Give them due consideration. Be patient with others coping with their new jobs. Focus on the positive. Avoid criticizing but give praises when due.
Personal care
You are going through a stressful period and much is expected of you. You need to take care of your own self under these trying circumstances. Try not to compare your performance with others.
STAYING FOCUSSED ON A GOAL
By Joleen Smith
1st Sept. 2001
WINSTON CHURCHILL once said that success is going from failure to failure without losing your enthusiasm. In pursuing one's goal, there will be many challenges that need to be tackled and in adversity, many people get disheartened and give up easily.
In general, people usually fell that all their enthusiasm and energy would be drained when coping with problems they need to tackle, and by the time they're done with the problems, their goal would seem harder to reach. It is at times these that one needs to stay focused on the goal and build on it to bounce back. Losing one's enthusiasm because of challenges is as good as losing one's enthusiasm for the goal itself.
Challenges are part of our lives and people who have set goals to achieve are the ones who will face the most number of challenges in their lives. No one can actually say that they achieved their goals without facing any difficulties. Take obstacles as a test to check your determination in reaching your goals.
So when you face a challenge and stumble, get up and take a step forward. Don't lose hope or think that the obstacle is going to ruin your future. Learn from those obstacles so that you can cope better the next time.
Overcoming one challenges does not mean that others would not come by anymore. Learn to accept the fact that there'll be more obstacles and deal with them more constructively.
Every time you overcome a challenge, take pride for moving a step closer to your goal. The path to success is not an easy road. There will be uphill and down hillstruggles to overcome, and through determination, you'll get through the difficulties.
Keep picturing your goals vividly. Remind yourself of the reasons why you want to achieve the goals. Those very reasons will help drive you to move on. Use your will power and enthusiasm to carry on.
Never give up when things get tough. Success certainly requires a lot of perseverance and persistence.
Stay focused by believing in yourself and your goals. Success comes to only those who give their best and never give up.
In general, people usually fell that all their enthusiasm and energy would be drained when coping with problems they need to tackle, and by the time they're done with the problems, their goal would seem harder to reach. It is at times these that one needs to stay focused on the goal and build on it to bounce back. Losing one's enthusiasm because of challenges is as good as losing one's enthusiasm for the goal itself.
Challenges are part of our lives and people who have set goals to achieve are the ones who will face the most number of challenges in their lives. No one can actually say that they achieved their goals without facing any difficulties. Take obstacles as a test to check your determination in reaching your goals.
So when you face a challenge and stumble, get up and take a step forward. Don't lose hope or think that the obstacle is going to ruin your future. Learn from those obstacles so that you can cope better the next time.
Overcoming one challenges does not mean that others would not come by anymore. Learn to accept the fact that there'll be more obstacles and deal with them more constructively.
Every time you overcome a challenge, take pride for moving a step closer to your goal. The path to success is not an easy road. There will be uphill and down hillstruggles to overcome, and through determination, you'll get through the difficulties.
Keep picturing your goals vividly. Remind yourself of the reasons why you want to achieve the goals. Those very reasons will help drive you to move on. Use your will power and enthusiasm to carry on.
Never give up when things get tough. Success certainly requires a lot of perseverance and persistence.
Stay focused by believing in yourself and your goals. Success comes to only those who give their best and never give up.
Why Most Training Fails
By Jim Clemmer
Most organizations use their training investments about as strategically as they deploy their office supplies spending. And the impact on customer satisfaction, cost containment or quality improvement is just as useless.
One of the biggest causes of wasted training dollars is ineffective methods. Too often, companies rely on lectures ("spray and pray"), inspirational speeches or videos, discussion groups and simulation exercises.
While these methods may get high marks from participants, research (ignored by many training professionals) shows they rarely change behavior on the job. Knowing isn't the same as doing; good intentions are too easily crushed by old habits. Theoretical or inspirational training approaches are where the rubber meets the sky.
Another way of wasting dollars is failing to link training with organizational strategies and day-to-day management behavior. What happens in the classroom and what happens back on the job are often worlds apart.
Trainees learn which hoops to jump through, pledge alliance to the current management fad, give their enthusiastic "commitment" to building "the new culture," get their diploma - and then go back to work.
Here are a few steps to using training as a key strategic tool:
* Use training technologies that build how-to skills that are highly relevant and immediately applicable. Research clearly shows far more people act themselves into a new way of thinking than think themselves into a new way of acting.Training that produces tangible results starts by changing behavior - which ultimately changes attitudes. Most executives and many professional trainers (who should know better) get this backward.
* Follow-up on training sessions with on-the-job coaching and support from managers. A Motorola Inc. study has found that those plants where quality improvement training was reinforced by senior management got a $33 return on every dollar invested. Plants providing the same training with no top management follow-up produced a negative return on investment.An earlier Xerox Inc. study showed a paltry 13 percent of skills were retained by trainees six months after training if managers failed to provide coaching and support as the skills were being applied. And Western Gas Marketing Ltd. of Calgary uses its performance appraisal system to hold managers accountable for applying the principles that have been taught to them.
* Build training around organizational objectives and strategies. Trainees should immediately see the connection between their new skills and where the organization is going. This makes training more relevant - and gets everyone focused on applying their new skills to the organization's key priorities and goals.
* Another key principle is practiced by Vancouver-based Finning Ltd., the world's largest Caterpillar dealer. Chief executive James Shepard and his executives are not only first in line for service and quality training, but they are also the trainers delivering sessions to their people.
This trend to "cascade" training down from senior management snaps everyone to attention. Training attendance problems disappear. Results-oriented executives jettison all the nice-to-do, but irrelevant training. Trainees don't cross their arms and ask "Is the organization really serious about this stuff?"
In addition, managers achieve a deeper level of skill development when they teach others and are put on the spot to practice what they are now preaching.Naturalist William Henry Hudson once observed: "You cannot fly like an eagle with the wings of a wren." Most training efforts never get off the ground because the methods don't change behavior or the training is poorly delivered and integrated by the organization.
The waste of money is tragic for such a vital investment in competitiveness - and ultimately Canada's standard of living.
One of the biggest causes of wasted training dollars is ineffective methods. Too often, companies rely on lectures ("spray and pray"), inspirational speeches or videos, discussion groups and simulation exercises.
While these methods may get high marks from participants, research (ignored by many training professionals) shows they rarely change behavior on the job. Knowing isn't the same as doing; good intentions are too easily crushed by old habits. Theoretical or inspirational training approaches are where the rubber meets the sky.
Another way of wasting dollars is failing to link training with organizational strategies and day-to-day management behavior. What happens in the classroom and what happens back on the job are often worlds apart.
Trainees learn which hoops to jump through, pledge alliance to the current management fad, give their enthusiastic "commitment" to building "the new culture," get their diploma - and then go back to work.
Here are a few steps to using training as a key strategic tool:
* Use training technologies that build how-to skills that are highly relevant and immediately applicable. Research clearly shows far more people act themselves into a new way of thinking than think themselves into a new way of acting.Training that produces tangible results starts by changing behavior - which ultimately changes attitudes. Most executives and many professional trainers (who should know better) get this backward.
* Follow-up on training sessions with on-the-job coaching and support from managers. A Motorola Inc. study has found that those plants where quality improvement training was reinforced by senior management got a $33 return on every dollar invested. Plants providing the same training with no top management follow-up produced a negative return on investment.An earlier Xerox Inc. study showed a paltry 13 percent of skills were retained by trainees six months after training if managers failed to provide coaching and support as the skills were being applied. And Western Gas Marketing Ltd. of Calgary uses its performance appraisal system to hold managers accountable for applying the principles that have been taught to them.
* Build training around organizational objectives and strategies. Trainees should immediately see the connection between their new skills and where the organization is going. This makes training more relevant - and gets everyone focused on applying their new skills to the organization's key priorities and goals.
* Another key principle is practiced by Vancouver-based Finning Ltd., the world's largest Caterpillar dealer. Chief executive James Shepard and his executives are not only first in line for service and quality training, but they are also the trainers delivering sessions to their people.
This trend to "cascade" training down from senior management snaps everyone to attention. Training attendance problems disappear. Results-oriented executives jettison all the nice-to-do, but irrelevant training. Trainees don't cross their arms and ask "Is the organization really serious about this stuff?"
In addition, managers achieve a deeper level of skill development when they teach others and are put on the spot to practice what they are now preaching.Naturalist William Henry Hudson once observed: "You cannot fly like an eagle with the wings of a wren." Most training efforts never get off the ground because the methods don't change behavior or the training is poorly delivered and integrated by the organization.
The waste of money is tragic for such a vital investment in competitiveness - and ultimately Canada's standard of living.
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