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Embracing Change

I once finished a large design project for a major client, and just as I was ready to hit the send button on my email to deliver the document the telephone rang. My partner for the project told me to sit down for the news he was about to deliver. The client wanted to change a foundation concept for the project, meaning that I was going to have to rewrite the entire document. Later in the day when we were on a conference call with the client, she laughed and said, “welcome to our world, almost every day.”

As service providers inside of organizations or outside, we must be ready to turn on a dime. Companies, leaders, markets, budgets, and products are changing rapidly, causing our activities and jobs to change as well.

One of the best ways to handle change is to be among those who are implementing the ideas for change. But because we know that sometimes it will be handed to us, like my situation of earlier today, we must be prepared to embrace it. Instead of looking at the project as rework, I’m approaching it with a creative mind to see how I might make this new direction work even better than our original one. This is easy when I consider the options: 1) I can feel miserable about having to make the change; or 2) I can embrace the change as an opportunity to improve the outcome of the project.

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Creating Ownership

Years ago I work with the City of Kissimmee Sanitation Department and they knew how to create ownership.  Here are a few examples:

  • Drivers test-drove vehicles and selected the model for purchase.
  • Each truck is personalized with the driver’s first name.
  • Team members selected the uniform style for their division.

What could you do to allow your team more ownership of their jobs?

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Managing Employee Expectations

Recent research showed that 32% of Americans would like to leave their current employers. That translates to 32% who are probably disengaged. The top five engagement factors (in order) were:

  1. being treated with respect
  2. work-life balance
  3. the type of work that you do
  4. the quality of people you work with
  5. the quality of the organization’s leadership (tightly coupled with number 4)

These are obviously all leadership issues. But this research also indicates that employers are not in tune with employee needs and that perhaps employee expectations need to be better managed. When you do employee surveys, be sure to include some of the issues listed above and then put in place a process for leaders and employees to address these expectations together. In doing so, you will promote employee engagement while addressing issues important to employees.

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Becoming a Mentor

Mentoring is widely used as a tool for continuous learning in the workplace.  With our workforce growing older, mentoring skills are becoming the ticket to advancement, especially for many senior workers.  Be prepared for this important role by improving your ability to do the following:

  • Listen and be open to new ideas.
  • Display good time management and self-management skills.
  • Be assertive, realistic and discrete.
  • Accept and implement change.
  • Be challenging and analytical.
  • Display knowledge and the ability to acquire information.

Additionally, mentors must be:

  • Motivating and able to demonstrate leadership.
  • Honest and able to give constructive advice.
  • Able to act as a role model.

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