Jane Warden

20/11/2022

It’s happening

30/07/2021

Preparing and conducting 121 meetings/conversations

Some people seem to dread this bit in their roles. Once you have a structure to your 121s then it is easier. If you prepare some bullet points of what you wish to achieve and the purpose of the 121 again the conversation flows better. Also, the types of questions you use are important. Open questions to get the person to talk to you are best, what, when, why, where, who, how, tell me about etc. Closed questions that have a yes or no answer make the conversation stilted if used too much, but they are great if you need a straight answer with no grey area!

If a workplace regularly has 121s say once a month then the workforce is used to them, their purpose and will know that they will get feedback, positive or constructive criticism. If you work somewhere where 121s don’t happen regularly and the only time a person has a 121 is when they have done something wrong then people will fear 121s. Makes sense? We will help you to be able to feel well planned and comfortable conducting any 121 you may need to do.

27/07/2021

Delegation and training others in the team – the benefits to you and them

Well, there are so many benefits to delegation. Actually, shall we replace the name delegation with ‘training’? We may view it differently and so will the person you are delegating the tasks to for the first time. We need to delegate because we need to ensure work gets done and the spread of work is even. Also, we need to make sure that we are giving our team members variety. Some people really like variety and get bored when they are doing the same tasks day in, day out.

The obvious benefits to the manager or team leader are that you will not be the only one who will do certain tasks, so when you are away in meetings, training or holiday your team can function without you.

If you are a manager or team leader who can take time off without worrying then great, you are developing your team and are ensuring cross-training on different tasks. Maybe you can take 15 minutes to write down tasks you can delegate right now and tasks you can delegate if people are trained and developed. Try it and see. You also need to ascertain if you will keep the responsibility for the task or whether you will in time delegate responsibility as well.

23/07/2021

What makes a BAD manager or team leader, here is a few...

Bossy
Emotional
Moody – highs and lows
Does not lead by example
Inconsistent rules
Aggressive or Passive
Doesn’t communicate to the team
Changing goal posts

Oh dear, let’s try not to be those!

If you are a team leader or manager it helps if you have had a good manager in the past. When about to deal with an issue or have a conversation with a team member you can think to yourself “ what would my manager have done, and how would they have said it”?

Courses coming up for People Management soon……..

The Benefits of attending this one day course are:-

1. To understand makes a good manager/team leader/supervisor
2. To reflect on self-awareness and how we 'come across'
3. To understand different management and leadership styles
4. To be able to plan and hold 121 meetings and feedback conversations with confidence
5. To know what motivates their teams and how to keep ongoing team spirit at a higher level
6 To produce an action plan to implement at work and/or home to start new habits, stop old unhelpful habits and change behaviours in order to succeed.

20/07/2021

What makes a good manager or team leader? Here is what delegates come up with, however, there are more.......

Good communication skills
Being able to listen
Caring
Clear and concise
Fair with everyone
Assertive
Consistent mood
Sorts out problems

Score yourself 1 – 5

If you are a team leader or manager it helps if you have had a good manager in the past. When about to deal with an issue or have a conversation with a team member you can think to yourself “ what would my manager have done, and how would they have said it”?

Course coming up for People Management soon……..

COURSE CONTENT:

The advantages of logging into this course are:-
1. small group so lots of interaction
2. expert trainer of 22 years experience of group courses and 121 training and coaching
3. to learn the best practice in everyday people management for anyone who is a manager, team leader or supervisor.

16/07/2021

Giving praise and constructive criticism why do it?

Can you think of a time when you were in a 121 with your manager and when you came out you were confused? Have I been praised or reprimanded? What am I supposed to do or not do from now on? I have, many years ago.

We need to be clear and concise and specific when giving feedback, positive or negative. We need to show that we do see all the good things that the person does, whilst giving feedback on things that are not so good, whether it be performance-related or related to attitude and behaviour.

Having a conversation that is not too formal helps. Find out what is happening with the person. Are they having difficulties at work, or do they work with someone who they aren’t getting along with? Questions and investigating is the key here. You may well find out something very key to the issue just by asking questions.
We want people to find us approachable and easy to talk to. We want to help them and get to a point where we can give confidence, point out changes, give more praise and generally feedback of any kind. This is a skill which can be learned quite easily and can keep a team running smoothly, which is what we all want isn’t it?

13/07/2021

Motivators – what are yours? What are the common motivators?.

Well over 21 years of training and before that 3 years of managing salespeople a common motivator is ‘a positive working environment’ i.e. not a negative one! Recognition of work well done is another along with learning and being given responsibility at work. Achieving goals is important to us, so people do like targets; as long as they are too high and seem unachievable.

Demotivators what are yours? Do you motivate or demotivate others? Well looking at the motivators then they are the opposite. The top ones that come out when we are training is ‘no one noticing the work I do or how often I stay late’, also ‘team members that moan a lot’ – what a drag! Also, ‘when managers listen to my ideas and then take the credit and pass off my ideas for theirs’! Oh dear!

Well on our people management course we look at what we can do to make our working place positive even though it may be hectic and ultra-busy. We spend many hours at work so let’s make the best of it!

09/07/2021

Management styles

Have you ever wondered what dominant style you use? Is it more Authoritarian? More Consulting? More Democratic? More Persuading? Do you Delegate? Do you Abdicate?
All of these styles are interesting and you may well naturally use one style more due to who you work with, their personalities and also your personality. It also could depend on the Managers you have had in the past.
Let me give you an example: if the Manager you had was Authoritarian most of the time, maybe you didn’t like that style and so use a very soft style, i.e. democratic. Maybe this does not suit your people and you aren’t taken seriously and wonder why your people do not do the tasks you ask them in the time you need it done by. We look at these styles and the plus and minus points for each.

We have been collecting training resources for over 35 years whilst utilising new ideas and current management styles. We get delegates to think about if there is a more hands-off way to lead people that suits their current business environment. In our training material, we utilise many useful management tools including the Johari Window for better self-awareness to consider how we come across in the workplace, as a manager and also to our peers and other teams.

06/07/2021

What helps or hinders teamwork?

Have you ever worked in a really efficient team, with open and direct communication, everyone gets along and wants to get to the same team goal? This is so motivating and enjoyable, however, people management is something that is needed to make this happen. If people aren’t all friends, it doesn’t matter. Tolerance and understanding of why people are different is key to a team working well. Some people may irritate us at times, but that is usually down to them having different motivators and drivers to us. Ever heard someone say ‘they’re so picky; always proof reading everything and finding errors”! well is because that person is someone who is driven and motivated by 100% accuracy and the other person isn’t. We need all sorts in a team. What one person is strong at, the other person isn’t but may well be strong at something else. Interesting subject and we always use the Belbin Team Roles for this www.belbin.com have a look. A fantastic way of understanding your colleagues in your team.

Belbin Team Roles is the language of teams, enabling individuals to be able to contribute, project and talk about their strengths and weaknesses in a productive, safe and non-confrontational way.

02/07/2021

The purpose of training in the subject of people management is that you will be able:-

To understand what is expected of them in their role, and what their team expects of them.
To gain vital knowledge and skills to be able to handle different people and different situations or issues within the team.
To feel comfortable with allocating work, progress updates and conducting 121 meetings

Many people want to come to our courses, whether they are new to the job or have been a manager or team leader for years. There is always something new to pick up from training and we don’t know everything! Maybe you want to know what the more current style of management is, or whether your style is outdated. Speaking to other managers in the course is also useful and we always use scenarios for issues to sort out – no scary role plays by the way!

TRIED AND TESTED BY:-

Ash is a project manager who is responsible for and manages three employees. ‘This course has helped me to understand people better and myself, how I come across and how I can change my management style to suit a situation and different personalities. It also helps me when I have my ‘project manager’ hat on as I have to deal with lots of people and I utilize what I have learnt with them as well. Great course!

29/06/2021

Are you able to be assertive with anyone in any situation? This is a key skill and is very useful to you in your career and life in general.

Imagine what you could achieve in your life, either career or home life or both if you were more Assertive and less Passive or Aggressive! Turn a trick with the demanding Mother-in-law; speak with confidence to your Manager or Director at work; speak to the neighbour about their squeaky dog that wakes you up every Sunday morning at 6.00 am! All of these things need to be addressed and spoken about WITHOUT damaging the relationship you have with that person in an open and honest way without emotion!

If we understand what our ways of behaving are, and why we behave that way, the awareness we have helps us identify when we need to adopt a more assertive style.

Awareness is the first step. Then utilising the language and body language we learn will help you to be more Assertive and get the outcomes you need from situations either at work or at home.

Please email me [email protected] for the next course coming up.

25/06/2021

When we are caught ‘off-guard’ how do you handle our emotions and actions in a split second? In this situation, we need to avoid flight and fright behaviour.

When we are caught ‘off-guard’ and are surprised, we don’t really have time (or we think we don’t) to think about our next step and how we are going to behave in a rational way. If the person is talking to us in an Aggressive way, or they are intimidating, we need to go against our flight or fight instinct and source a more assertive and calm mindset. We need to not be Aggressive back (Fight) and we also do not want to be Passive (Flight) by using Assertive behaviour.

Sounds easy, doesn’t it?! Going against our human instinctive behaviour, yes I’m sure you can! Well, you can, if you learn about assertive mindset and behaviour and then practice it. It is very useful and will enable you to make better decisions about how to handle certain situations and how to handle people in the right way to get the outcome you desire. Contact me to learn more…….