Career Development: How to Find the Perfect Job!
Weekends are a great time to think about developing your career. If you are like most people, you will work about 1/3 of your life. Statistics show that most people change their career a minimum of seven times in a lifetime. The number is increasing with each generation.
It used to be that a person would find one company to work for and he would spend his whole life there. Years later, people start grow with one company, then go to the competition of that company and work there in a position equal or a step greater than the previous job. Then once they gain more skills and experiences, they apply for the next position at previous place of employment or another competing organization. This back and forth upward movement continues until retirement or the employee changes industries all together.
The key to career development starts with doing a personal assessment: listing personal values, skills and preferences. We usually gravitate toward jobs we think we can do and like. If we can take a step back and look at our list of values, skills and preferences, we may be able to identify a career that we truly love by evaluating what jobs have people with those similar values, skills and preferences.
If there are jobs that you have identified that you would really like to do and think you can learn the skills of that job, then the next step would be to go and talk with the professionals who are holding those jobs. Most people love to talk about what they do and help others do the things they like to do. It never hurts to ask. You may be quite surprised how easy it is to talk to professionals doing the job you want.
Think about career development like finding and using a correct map to a specific destination. Once you know where you want to go, you need to take the steps on the right roadway. We cannot get to Seattle if we have a map to Chicago.
So, do your personal assessment inventory as I described above, or hire a professional development coach (like me) to help you with it. Then, identify companies that have the type of jobs that are in alignment with what you discover you should be doing. You may find that we tend to get promoted faster when we are doing what we love. We tend to work harder doing things that we are interested in that lead to fulfilling our dreams.
Sometimes it is best to start in the mail room of a company that has the products, services and jobs you truly want. It is the quickest way to moving on a career track that you truly love. Take classes that lead toward getting certifications, skills and experience doing what you want to do as a career. Be careful with student loans. The experts suggest you should never get loans larger than what you will make in your first year of working in the job you are training to do. Online seminars and workshops are also available to help you too at very reasonable prices.
Thanks so much for taking the time to read this article. If you enjoyed this article, like it on Facebook and share it with others. Make it a great day! (We get to choose how we feel about it).
Kindest regards,
Dr. Paul L. Gerhardt, PhD
The Organizational Doctor TM
www.paulgerhardt.com
How to Let Good Employees Go
The absolute best key in leading others and managing is to put the very best people in the right jobs. Surround yourself with talent and empower them to be and give their very best! Have you ever had an employee who tried her very best, but she just did not have the skills or ability to do the job? This is a situation that many managers are put in. You might have some great people who just cannot seem to perform, no matter how much coaching, resources and support exists. What do you do?
There is no easy way to let good employees go. Depending on the state you live in, there are of course rules and laws you must adhere to. You must make sure you know the laws in your state and follow them. This article discusses the emotional aspect of letting someone go. Emotions are real and we must manage our own and recognize ways of managing the emotions of others too. Emotional intelligence literature suggests using the red light, yellow light, green light method. Red light–stop. Yellow light–think about how you can best handle the situation in a mature and understanding way where the outcome is win-win. Green light–Act responsibly for a win-win outcome.
We all know that giving an employee bad news should be done face-to-face. The goal of your meeting is to help the employee know of your sincere intent for her to be successful. You need to know in your heart that you gave your very best in giving the employee clear instructions on your expectations, the proper resources to do the job properly, and proper follow-up coaching. If you gave all that and the employee still was not able to do the job well, then you can have clear conscious and so should she.
The employee must know that it is not personal. The reasons for letting her go need to be specific and related to real data-based outcomes. It cannot be personal. The employee needs to be treated with respect– and the really good leaders would help the employee find work that would be a better fit.
It is important that leaders know that people are not machines. Every person has feelings and must be treated like you know they are intelligent and worthy of respect. If you do this, firing someone is still will not be an easy thing to do, but it may help minimize hard feelings. Firing should be a quick process, but one where the employee leaves the room very clear that it was not personal, but a professional decision. One employee can harm the success of a department and organization, this is the reason for letting her go. Employers cannot burn bridges either–no matter how badly the employee may act. Being kind, respectful and listening carefully are all qualities that the best leaders share even in the toughest situations.
Your thoughts?
Thanks for stopping by today. If you liked this article, please like it on Facebook and share it with others.
Make it a great day! (We get to choose how we feel about things).
Kindest regards,
Dr. Paul L. Gerhardt, PhD
The Organizational Doctor TM
www.paulgerhardt.com
Copyright © 2012 by Dr. Paul L. Gerhardt. All rights reserved.
How to Build Great Relationships At Work and Home
If you want to build a successful career or life you truly love, you must remember that relationships are truly fragile! When we lead others or work in a group with others, we cannot forget how important it is to be intentional about getting along. This is especially true if we are in a leadership position.
Being a leader of course means having followers. It also implies that we must always be seen as doing the right things for the right reasons. If there are policies in place or laws, we need to do our best to make sure we are respecting them. This means doing them and upholding them. “Bending the rules” can be seen as cool to some, but by others, it the long-run it will cause people to question your integrity.
Effective leaders find ways to help people understand how important it is to follow policies and laws. After all, they are usually in place to project people, culture and standards. If they need to be changed, then put action in place to change them, but until then, know they help create a sense of safety that really is important in workplaces and society.
We can never afford to compromise a standard because our integrity is the only real thing we have. If you are not faithful to a coworker, boss, friend or loved one, then others will question whether they can trust you. Leadership and relationship strength is measure through levels of trust after all.
When someone questions your integrity, own your mistakes and make things better through apologies and doing things right. Be seen as someone who always has the best interest of others in mind. Doing the right thing as it relates to expectations of others is the right thing to do, unless people will be harmed in any way.
The key to building successful workplace relationship and stronger relationships at home is by building and maintaining trust and giving others the benefit of the doubt that they are doing the same thing too. This may sound pretty simple. And for the most-part it is.
We learn a lot of wisdom in kindergarten. Things like being honest, follow the rules, apologize when we bite someone and put your coat on it is cold outside are all great examples of things that still apply to us as adults. It is all about relationships and doing things to stay happy and healthy.
Thanks so much for taking the time to read this article. If you enjoyed this article, like it on Facebook and share it with others. Make it a great day! (We get to choose how we feel about it).
Kindest regards,
Dr. Paul L. Gerhardt, PhD
The Organizational Doctor TM
www.paulgerhardt.com
Skills of an Effective Leader and Competitive Team
By Dr. Paul L. Gerhardt, PhD
www.paulgerhardt.com
A Quick Word: This blog is dedicated to helping readers be their very best. Anyone can be a leader and may be very good at it. The primary goal of this site is to share insights of differing aspects of leadership that I have found to be very important in my years as a leader and educator. I try to talk about aspects of leadership and effectiveness that are important from the academic and success literature, but do it in a way that is down-to-earth and meaningful. Hopefully, you will find the articles interesting and useful to you and the people you know.
Thank you so much for visiting! I look forward to hearing from you. If you enjoy one of my free articles, I would sincerely appreciate it if you share it with others. Also, if you have ideas and topics you would like for me to write about, I am open to it. Please send me an email: dr.paul@paulgerhardt.com
Enjoy!
In 1985 the term “Emotional Intelligence” was coined in a doctoral dissertation by Dr. Wayne Payne (A fun name to say indeed!). The literature was made most popular when Dr. Danial Goleman published his research. Goleman continues to be seen as a leader in the Emotional Intelligence (EQ) literature and education field. I find the topic of emotional intelligence fascinating, because leaders who truly understand what Emotional Intelligence is and how to use it, continue to grow their success and the success of their organizations. Unlike traditional IQ, EQ can be developed and grown. A truly effective leader must possess adequate social skills to be effective. I am talking about leaders using a six dimensional approach while dealing with his superiors and subordinates. These are: Emotionally expressive; emotionally sensitive; controlling emotions; being socially expressive; and having social control.
Emotionally Expressive
A leader should be able to express his emotions fully to the subordinates, both verbally and non-verbally. When a leader is able to emote his expressions clearly, he is bound to inspire and motivate his team members. A simple classic example of this is when political leaders motivate people to vote for them. They inspire them to act in a way that brings the desired result for them. Emotions can make a huge positive difference in one’s career!
Emotional Sensitivity
A leader should be able to read, decode and gauge responses of each of her team members. The communication may be entirely non-verbal. However, leaders must be able to decipher the meaning accurately, if she wants to maintain career success. For example, a leader can decode the expressions of an unhappy employee or an employee who is looking out for alternative avenues of his expressions. Unhappy employees can easily sabotage the success of a team or even an organization. Ever gone to a restaurant and had terrible service from one waiter and months later that restaurant was gone? It sounds pretty simplistic, but I told 10 of my closest friends about how upset I was about the service there. I heard others with the same feelings, who undoubtedly told their friends too.
An emotionally sensitive leader should have detected the unhappiness of that employee and her customers. This may have made a huge difference in the success of that organization for sure.
Control of Emotions
A highly effective leader remains completely in charge of her emotions. She doesn’t react spontaneously even in the worst situation. Rather she is able to think about the situation in an unbiased manner.
Sometimes, it means stepping away from a stressful or potentially stressful situation and thinking about what to do. It takes approximately 20 minutes to physically calm down and allow a human body to normalize and distress. Investing the time to not act in haste may save both money and valuable relationships!
Social Expressiveness
All work and no play makes Jack (or Jill) a dull boy (girl in Jill’s case). Well, this holds true even more so in organizations. It becomes a leader’s responsibility to keep the work atmosphere light by sharing a humor and occasions to laugh with the coworkers. I am not suggesting that work should be taken lightly. I know that deadlines and tight schedules can be better met, when you do it with a smile and people who enjoy being around you.
Social Sensitivity
A leader should be able to understand the verbal communication in the present context. He should be able to weave the conversation and channel it in a positive direction, with the best interest of the organization in mind. For example, if there is disagreement with members within your team on an issue, it becomes the primary responsibility of the leader to re-channel the conversation in a way that the focus doesn’t shift anyone from the organization’s ultimate goals. Focus on getting relationships repaired in an authentic and meaningful way first. Shake hands and move forward!
Social Control
A leader must interact with every member of her team on a regular basis. Some experts suggest, every seven days at least! This may be challenging because coworkers usually have differing backgrounds, intellectual capacity and values. Given the situation, effective leaders must tactfully deal with her team members modifying her behaviors to suit the team member’s values and background.
Studies indicate that a leader that possesses all the six social skills have greater effective leadership quotients. Employees almost always react to a leadership based on her behavior as a leader. Leaders who can perceive the verbal and emotional cues of subordinates can and must change to be proactive in dealing properly for each individual situation. She/he must modify her/his actions or inaction accordingly, to satisfy the demands of each and every follower. It is a natural result, that the leader will garner support from team members with this simple concept. Ultimately a leaders’ social and emotional control has a positive impact on performance, the leader’s reputation, team members, as well as the organization.
The bottom line with emotional intelligence is that 85% or more of one’s career success is most-likely related to emotional intelligence. It can be grown and developed. It just takes persistence, focus and a little education about the factors discussed in this article. Please contact me if you are interested in learning more! I am happy to help.
Copyright © 2011 by Dr. Paul L. Gerhardt. All rights reserved.
Self-Awareness: More Important Than You May Think
By Dr. Paul L. Gerhardt, PhD
www.paulgerhardt.com
What is self awareness and why is it so important to your professional success? Self awareness is an individual trait. It means being able to observe, analyze and evaluate one’s own self objectively, without any bias. Chinese proverbs suggest that knowing yourself first is greater than understanding others. We might say, self-awareness is about truly knowing our own strengths and weaknesses.
Essentially, self-awareness can be broken down into four basic stages, namely: self-focused attention, evaluation, reaction, and motivated action. This leadership lesson takes a look at each of these. Learning how to use emotional intelligence and develop it so that every person you come in contact with, will help build your career, relationships and give you more job security and power to influence others in a way that benefits those involved.
Self-focused attention can also be called as a ‘hero’ image, because here, the individual evaluates his own worth by comparing himself with the ideal self image. It is important to know that there are almost always some essential differences in one’s own real image and their ideal image. Of course, when a person realizes the differences in these two images, he has two basic choices. He can either react to it by working towards narrowing the differences or he may stop the process of the evaluation completely.
Successful leaders have the ability to bridge the gap between the real image and the ideal self image. It all begins by taking positive steps to getting closer every day and every in action he can to become that ideal self-image. It is all about clearly knowing what that ideal image looks like and being proactive in every action to accomplish it—one action at a time.
A self-aware leader evaluates himself carefully, and incorporates the necessary changes in his behavior after doing a personal and objective analysis. This may not always be easy to do. It starts with looking at relationships and the interactions with each person, one at a time. Self-aware leaders are well aware of how others perceive them. They incorporate these perceptions in self-evaluation as accurately as possible. Getting the ego out of the evaluation process is key!
Some of the tools used by self-aware individuals for self evaluation are reports, supervisor’s perception, peer opinion, subordinate’s opinion etc. In my consulting practice, I use a 360 degree assessment where the leader, co-workers and superiors are asked to evaluate the leader. Differences in self-rating and rating by others are bound to arise.
Many a times, the results of a self-evaluation may not be so clear. For example, a sales manager can easily know his worth from the reports of how he managed an ad campaign. A personnel manager can rate himself high if there are very few resignations in the organizations believing it is about a policy he created. Other variables may have come into play that may not be related to the decisions the leader believes shaped his level of success. There may be other factors that are not seen that have nothing to do with that leader. Low turnover may come from a terrible economy where folks are too scared to leave the security of a job they loathe. Sales may be high, but an old customer may have purchased more products due to an anticipated change in the market due to unusual circumstances—like a report that that product may reduce chances of getting cancer.
Research reveals that the future behavior of an individual is likely to depend on how close the self-rating and other ratings are. If the ratings almost agree, it may suggest that the individual has proactively taken steps to alter his behavior. If others are rating a leader are positive and similar to the leader’s self-evaluation, there’s no need for any change in the leader’s behavioral patterns.
When the ratings are in agreement over low performance, the individual will likely feel the heat in the job. This shows that while he is aware of his shortcomings, he lacks the initiative or the confidence to take positive steps in that direction. Almost anything can be changed about our personality. Some things take more effort than others, but it must start with a willingness to make those changes. Attitude, as they often say truly is everything!
In leadership behavioral studies, I have observed that individuals, whose ratings agree with the ratings of others, are more likely to succeed in that organization. These individuals are capable of foreseeing how they are evaluated by others and are able to adjust their behavior accordingly to get the desired results. This is a common trait shared by some of the most successful leaders in every industry.
The bottom line here is that self-awareness is positively linked to a host of intangible, but absolutely essential outcomes such as trust in the leader, follower satisfaction, commitment, effectiveness of the leader and much more.
Self-aware leaders are ABSOLUTELY MORE EFFECTIVE than others who have under-rated or over-rated their performance. How self-aware are you?
Copyright © 2011 by Dr. Paul L. Gerhardt. All rights reserved.
The Invaluable Supervisor
By Dr. Paul L. Gerhardt, PhD
www.paulgerhardt.com
Supervision is an indispensable part of management. It is essentially part of the necessary internal functions of an organization. Supervisory development is usually done internally by the managing authorities. Type of organization, level of employees, objectives, etc. obviously vary from one organization to organization. However, the basic functionality of the supervisor is essentially to the same. There may be minimal change in the supervisory functions based on the employees, strategies of the company, and other variables.
Supervision is very often mistaken as “leadership”. However, management, supervision and leadership have interrelated functions in each organization. The development of supervisory duties usually—and almost always has close association with leading and managing.
The supervisory function has been for years defined with a different outlook by differing regulating laws. Some studies on supervision state that it is considered the most important aspect for achieving the desired result. Several others pronounce that supervisors’ skills and knowledge are limited to technical aspects and the lack of other competencies resulting in ineffective output by employees. For instance, a supervisor may have good knowledge on the technical aspects of the organization to guide the employees; however the lack of proper communication can affect the outcome.
Similarly, a supervisor with poor interpersonal skills is more likely to ruin the performance of the subordinates, which obviously has an adverse effect on the organization. Eventually, development of supervisory function has become an important task as well as the responsibility of every manager for accomplishment of objectives and goals.
Supervisory development is a critical task that involves fulfillment of various needs of management and employees. The supervisor should be competent enough to perform the duties with great efficiency and effectiveness as well. Below are some of the essential basic aspects considered vital for supervision, to be met in development of supervision:
- · Great Responsibility
- · Excellent Communication – Oral and Written
- · Great interpersonal skills
- · Adaptability
- · Ability to make decisions and solve problems
- · Ability to deal with all level of employees
Supervision is a challenging task which supervisors should be well-versed in and able to handle the versatile functions effectively. Hence, the basic aspect of supervisory development includes the requirement of knowledge and skill on the all essential supervisory functions.
In addition, other major functions of supervisory development involve recruitment, delegating and directing the task, evaluation of the task performed, streamlining the work, etc. Additional or secondary functions involves the supervisor’s duty to allocate work, promote the employees, recall the work done, take disciplinary actions on irresponsible employees, suspend or terminate the employees with poor performance, grievance review, ensure performance appraisal and rewards for the employees at appropriate time, etc and other duties as assigned by the management from time to time.
Although supervision involves multifaceted responsibilities, the power of the supervisor is limited over the power of the manager. However, it is the ultimate responsibility of the supervisor to motivate the employees towards accomplishing the objectives of the organization in a timely fashion. In organizations where supervisors are trained properly, there should be essentially no drop in the performance and efficiency of employees. Supervisor development should be focused on filling the gaps between the management functions as well the technical aspects. Training may seem like a waste of company funds to some. However, in the long-run it provides UN-calculable returns and greater profits for the organization.
Copyright © 2011 by Dr. Paul L. Gerhardt. All rights reserved.
The 10 Secrets of Effective Leadership for Supervisors
By Dr. Paul L. Gerhardt, PhD
The Organizational Doctor
www.paulgerhardt.com
As a leader, manager, business owner or supervisor, it is so important that you understand what it takes to be an effective leader. It is all about understanding the art and science behind effectively leading, managing, motivating and supervising your employees or staff.
These in a nutshell are the essentials. Hopefully, these tips will help you improve your skills and your relationships with your staff. As a result, you should find deeper trust and support.
- Be impartial: As a supervisor or leader, you need to treat each of your staff in an unbiased manner. Always consciously be fair. Always be respectful to EVERYONE you come in contact with, not matter what the position he/she may hold. We all know that there are those individuals who may be more pleasant than others. Others that may be quite the opposite. No matter what, you should avoid any hint of favoritism and treat everyone fairly.
- Be a coach: The workplace is simply that – a place to work. It is not the frontline of a war. Include your staff in decision making whenever it is possible. Encourage them to improve their skills. Try your best to help them get promotions, pay hikes or get recognition when they deserve it. Be a coach of the team. Think about the consequences of treating employees with anything less than respect that good coaches do. Give your employees the tools they need to do the job right and to grow both personally and professionally. There truly is enough success in the workplace for everyone. Share it and inspire it!
- Criticize diplomatically: When you need to give criticism about a person’s performance, you need to be diplomatic. You should avoid making any conclusions without considering the repercussions. Be tactful. The rule of thumb is to praise in public and criticize in private. No one wants to be criticized in front of an audience. You may remember hating it when you were a child being criticized in front of the class. Keep that in mind. Make the criticism specific and work-oriented. It is not personal. Timing is important too. Make the critique immediately when you witness it rather than waiting for several days or longer. It needs to be meaningful, memorable and diplomatic to have long-term success.
- Defend your staff: Remember how your parents used to stick up for you when other people criticized you unfairly? You need to do the same thing with your staff. You need to show them that you are a supportive and reasonable supervisor. When your employees are wrong, find a creative solution to protect your staff, but make things right in the most-diplomatic way possible. Don’t sellout your team, but include them in coming to the conclusion for themselves that mistakes were made if that were the case. If your employees are in the right, help the other party come to that conclusion with logic and REAL facts and data. The whole goal of running an effective organization is creating a sense of trust and value for ALL involved.
- Flexibility is important: Procedures are there to guide people on how things should be done. However, wise leaders recognize that there are times when you need to be flexible when you are dealing with the concerns of your staff. You need to use common sense. Consider who all is involved, who is helped and harmed, as well as any possible long-term consequences of the decision. Not everything is black-and-white or cut-and-dry. Being flexible helps employees to give their best. It does not stifle creativity and promotes the value of being an individual. Some rules CAN simply be broken from time-to-time.
- Keep things simple: When you are giving directions to an employee about a task, make them simple and easy to understand. Try your best not to make things seem so difficult even if the task is actually very challenging. Giving simple directions will make the employee feel confident that he or she can do the job. Keep the person’s learning style in mind. Some folks do better when you give the bottom line of what the final project needs to look like. Others need specific directions. Others need it demonstrated. Be wise and know who you are talking to and change YOUR leadership style to meet the needs of each individual follower. It will pay dividends in the long-run!
- Know your staff: Get to know your team members. Learn their strengths and their weaknesses. Most importantly, make sure you know their names. Nothing can be more disappointing to an employee than to be called “hey you” or even worse “Dude”. Taking time to learn the strengths of your staff will help you when assigning tasks and they will feel good about working with you. For example, if Mary is good at planning events and loves to do that, let her do so when there is an upcoming event. She will feel good about being given a task she loves, she will do it well. She will appreciate you more for assigning her the task.
- Make sure your interest is continuing: Nothing can be more disappointing for an employee that not being given feedback about how well they have done. Feedback on performance needs to be regular. You need to be honest and give feedback regularly. Praise when praise is due and give suggestions for improvement when it is not. Be very specific in your praise. Do not just say, “Good job!” Say, “That looks great! I like the way you met the goal with time to spare and I am confident our customers will like what you did with this specific piece here!”
- Surround yourself with the very best: Being a successful leader means realizing what your personal strengths are and then surrounding yourself with others with the talent you are missing. Know what you know and know what you do not know. There is enough success in this world for all of us. Put the right people in the right places and take good care of them!
- Train everyone: Each person is unique and has his or her own weaknesses and strengths. Make sure you take the time to develop the skills and abilities of each and every member of your staff. Do not overlook anyone. When you take the time to develop everyone, employees will know that you care for them and they will respect you for that. Their performance will improve. Just because an employee says, “Yes. I understand.” That may also mean, “I don’t want you to think I am stupid, but I really did not understand.” Effective training involves the trainee showing how to effectively implement the training and put things in his own words to show complete understanding.
Copyright © 2012 by Dr. Paul L. Gerhardt. All rights reserved.
Trait Theory Applied: Finding Your Dream Job and Creating Synergistic Teams
By Dr. Paul L. Gerhardt, PhD
www.paulgerhardt.com
Ever wonder how you could find the perfect job that you will love to roll out of bed to go to every day? It really is about knowing yourself first and searching for jobs that are in perfect alignment with YOUR personality traits. Leadership scholars and professional development coaches have studied leadership for hundreds of years. However man has been discussing the philosophy of what makes a good leader since the beginning of documented time.
Countless studies have been conducted on personality, behaviors and varying leadership traits. Conclusions have suggested that there are a variety of leadership characteristics that leaders should possess in order to successfully influence others in a way that promotes the greatest effectiveness. Smart organizational decision makers recognize the specific traits of employees and leaders they are looking for and screen for them using assessments, interview questions and probationary trial periods of employment.
While no single person can be all things to all people, smart employers recognize that identifying personality traits plays a huge role in creating proper fit for employees. Some employees will usually be great at what they do because they are in an environment that brings out their very best. Those same employees can be moved to other teams or to work for other leaders where they just cannot get along or they feel they are a fish out of water. So, it is wise to recognize what makes great employees great and build teams with leaders and coworkers whose personal traits build collaboration and excellence. After all, bleach and ammonia are great cleaners, but when mixed, it quickly becomes toxic and destructive. So, chemistry of people works the very same way. Great in one combination and toxic in another is a phenomena that takes place when forming workgroups and teams.
Bad decisions in placing leaders and team members together can be costly in both terms of lawsuits, production, profits and reputation. Loyal-happy employees love to come to work and give their very best. Unhappy-dissatisfied employees act out in ways that sabotage success, call in sick, slow or stop productivity, and do things that destroy morale.
Organizational leaders must recognize that teams are only as strong as their weakest link. If they want to build teams that keep the organization competitive and strong, they must have the right people in the right places. This suggests that first an organization must both recognize the traits of the leaders and the subordinates. Second, they must identify what strengths the teams and leaders are missing and fill it with the ideal person or people that have those missing strengths–but also have other traits in common with the others who are leading.
Oil-based paints can create some beautiful colors when mixed with different colors that are also oil-based. However, water-based paints will not mix well with oil-based paints because there is not enough similarity in make-up to allow them to bond. So it is also with creating winning teams. Chemistry matters! Water paints are beautiful in the correct environment, as are oil-based paints in their ideal environment.
If we truly want to be happy in our places of employment, we cannot be on autopilot. We must actively take personal assessments and determine who we are as individuals. We must search deeply for our authentic-self and feel free to be who we are. We must be able to convey in words that others can clearly understand who we are. We must accurately know our strengths, weaknesses, triggers, likes and dislikes. We are not doing HR professionals any favors by not conveying accurately our personal traits. Likewise, Human Resource professionals are not doing individuals or teams any favors by taking a person whose personal traits do not mix well with the leader and other members of a team or misidentifying personal traits of the employee.
In order for hiring professionals to make the perfect placement, they must accurately determine the actual traits of those they are interviewing. This leaves great responsibility on every job candidate to know himself/herself accurately. Some of the best assessments for knowing strengths, preferences, behavioral traits and communication styles include Myers-Briggs (MBTI) and DISC. It is important to find a qualified and certified professional to administer the assessment and educate you on the outcomes.
Leadership assessments are also available and can be quite useful in helping individuals and leaders know themselves and their subordinates better. Smart organizational leaders know who they are working with and adjust their leadership style, communication and actions according to the needs of each individual. This doesn’t imply that they take on a fake personality, but it does mean that they must be aware that their actions, insights and paradigms–which can and will have either a positive or negative responses. Good employees can become bad ones quickly with a leader that does not fully understand this concept.
Within the behavioral studies of leadership discoveries suggested that effective leadership hinges on skills which can be learned and styles which can be applied. One researcher, Robert Katz, suggested that leadership skills, instead of being innate, can be learned. At one time, there was a great debate whether leaders were born or made. Now we know that effective leadership can indeed be taught. Katz proposed that leadership skills can be classified into technical, conceptual, and human; and he developed a leadership model that suggested that proficiency at varying degrees depending on the management level that the leader operates at. Hiring professionals must be aware of every leaders’ weaknesses and strengths and be active in helping hone those traits with consistent and meaningful training that sticks!
The literature suggests that leaders at lower management levels would find it more important to have technical skills than conceptual skills. Those in middle management would find equal amounts of conceptual and technical skills important. And, those at executive levels of management would find that conceptual skills are way more important than technical skills. In Robert Katz’s model, human skills remain equally crucial no matter which level of management the leader belongs. However, no matter the level, those who need to inspire employees to give their very best must genuinely understand their employees, use Emotional Intelligence actively, and apply effective leadership traits–which can be learned best through experiential leadership training done by outside independent trainers.
Scholars argue whether there is a place for trait theory of leadership. For all its apparent shortcomings, the trait theory of leadership is able to offer some useful information. It can be made use by people in all management levels in all organization types. Leaders and managers can use the information from the trait theory to assess their position within their organization and how to work on how strengthening their position.
Leaders can get a deeper understanding of their individuality and the way they are able to affect people within the organization. The theory is something a manager can use to become aware of his or her weaknesses and strengths so they can understand how they may be able to develop their leadership skills better and be their very best.
Finally, if you want to find a job that energizes you, inspires you to be your best, and uses your own talents to make a positive difference–you must first accurately know your authentic self truly and deeply. Contact me or other qualified professionals to take scientifically-validated personality and behavioral assessments that help you get to know your true self. Once you have this valuable knowledge, you will can give your best, because you know what that really is. You can also develop your areas of opportunity (sometimes called weaknesses) through proper training and professional coaching. However, know that we are best at doing things we are strong at and truly interested in more.
If you found value in this article or know others who could benefit from it, please share it. There truly is enough success in this world for each of us. Make a positive difference by helping others be their very best with meaningful assessment, professional coaching and training. I am always happy to help.
Thanks so much for taking time to read this articles.
Best wishes,
Dr. Paul L. Gerhardt, PhD
Copyright © 2012 by Dr. Paul L. Gerhardt. All rights reserved.
A Leadership Training Expert and ExperienceThat Makes a Memorable Difference!
About Leadership Lessons. Blog.com: This site is all about helping professionals be their very best! Please enjoy these free articles written to make people think about important aspects of success that are often overlooked and forgotten. Feel free to browse this site and make comments on the insights and ideas from author and Master Trainer Dr. Paul L. Gerhardt. If you enjoy them, share it with others! There truly is enough success in this world for all of us. Help make workplaces more enjoyable and see your own true potential!
WHO: Dr. Paul Gerhardt, PhD is “The Organizational Doctor”! He has been doing leadership training since 2000 for Fortune 100 companies, non-profit organizations, manufacturing, labor, and healthcare organizations. Dr. Paul Gerhardt believes that training must be enjoyable, meaningful and memorable. Training must stick with participants and it must stretch people to see their true potential.
What: Leadership training can make a HUGE difference in an organization if it is done correctly with the right trainer. Bringing an outside expert into an organization has many advantages and helps bring new ideas that invigorates, motivates and energizes leaders who supervise others to give their very best!
Where: Book Dr. Paul Gerhardt to do leadership training at your place of employment. His calendar gets filled quickly every month!
When: Call TODAY: 1-866-513-4296 or email: dr.paul@paulgerhardt.com
Why: You will see an immediate difference in the attitudes, ideas and abilities of your people! Enjoyable, quality, experienced and memorable training increases productivity, enhances morale and creates places where people love to work and want to give their best!
For More Information Visit: www.paulgerhardt.com today!
Please browse and read through the free articles of this site. You will be glad you did.
Thanks for being here!
Morning “DO”: Making Life a Little Easier
Do you ever feel like there is never enough time in a day? If you do, you may consider this tip that many leaders utilize for success. It may make your life a little easier and much more productive.
This is probably not what you want to hear, but get up 30 minutes earlier each day. Start your day, by doing things uniterrupted before others are awake. This time may be best utilized for checking your email or evaluating priorities on your To Do List.
If you set yourself up for success by getting up only 30 minutes earlier, you may find that you have much more than the 2/1/2 hours of productivity that it adds up to. Uninterrupted time is much more productive than starting and stopping and starting again.
Yes, your body will eventually adjust. This is one reason why coffee companies are making a killing! We are working harder and starting earlier.
I hope this helps.
Make it a great day! (We choose our attitudes and how we feel about things).
Best regards,
Dr. Paul
www.paulgerhardt.com
Developing Emotional Intelligence for Success and Finding True Happiness
By Dr. Paul L. Gerhardt
www.paulgerhardt.com
Are you TRULY happy? For many people, the most important job of all is being able to find success at the workplace. We spend an average of about one-third of our life at work. Having a job that we love means must first find one that is in alignment with our personal taste and preferences. Then, it means we must get along with those whom we work with and for. The recipe for workplace success includes having: a lot of self-confidence, self-discipline and a plenty of self-awareness.
Emotional Intelligence (EI or EQ) is the ability to effectively communicate intuitively that is inspired in others while remaining on course despite any extreme or upsetting circumstances – responding, not in haste, but appropriately. Contemporary scholarly studies show that Emotional Intelligence may be the single-most important element to finding happiness and workplace success. The good is that it can be learned and grown.
To have effective EI, a person needs to be self-aware. In the workplace, this may mean being extremely focused on deliverables that are highly quantifiable like sales figures and increased production, self-awareness is not exactly the main priority.
The Importance of Emotional Intelligence
Having emotional intelligence is at the very essence of success since it truly builds a person’s confidence. Being self-assured adds to developing heightened self-awareness towards life; which is driven by purpose, as well as the ability to accomplish goals. Thus, if a person finds his or herself not very satisfied in certain situations, being aware of the situation allows a person to have a way to improve his or her emotional intelligence. We can do this with anything. Certainly we do it the same way other skills gets developed, through learning and practice.
Improving Emotional Intelligence
In order to improve one’s emotional intelligence, there are several steps:
- Learning to identify an emotion at the time that it is being exhibited and naming it – e.g. joy, fear, anger, confusion, grief, frustration, love, etc.
- Learning to identify how the emotion was triggered or what caused it – e.g., conflict with a boss, memories of the past, etc.
- Accepting the emotion and what it means to the person’s emotional development – e.g., are there patterns?
- Expressing the identified and named emotion, as well as the cause to the person who is witnessing it or to another person – e.g., an apology, a compliment, an explanation, etc.
Once an individual is able to identify his or her emotions, he or she will be able to control emotions through constant practice. As one practices, one becomes ready to use the skills in the workplace when situations arise that require the use of those skills.
In order for people to work together, they need to build connections or bridges across their different perspectives with some compassion. It is important to note that compassion is different from agreement. Compassion is considering the feelings of another and is something that is very critical in teams else objecting parties may lapse into conflicts and disagreements which can cause the work environment to become toxic.
So, if you truly want to be happy or to work in a place that feels happy–create it! We all have the power to influence others with how we act and react. If you are a supervisor, you must be aware of how you treat others and how you set the tone. Lead by example and be aware of your emotions and the emotions of others. Even if you are not officially in charge, you may have a lot more power to influence a workplace than you may think.
Remember, emotional intelligence has been shown to be the key factor in workplace success and happiness. The good news is that anyone can learn it through awareness and proper training.
Copyright © 2012 by Dr. Paul L. Gerhardt. All rights reserved.
How to Create A Life You Love
Are you TRULY happy? If not, STOP and change directions.
I suspect you may not like to hear this, but the TRUTH of the matter is that it is nobody’s fault but your own of where you are today. The GOOD NEWS is that tomorrow is a NEW day and you can choose to start the creation process on a new path.
If you are currently living a life you truly love–Good job! Keep doing what you are doing until you are not satisfied, then you can change directions. But life is too short to be doing things we are not happy with.
You can continue to blame your parents, boss, preacher, teacher, ex or sibling for your current situation OR you could take responsibility for your own choices and recognize that we are the only ones that TRULY create our own successes, failures and destiny. It is all about our choices and our actions.
The most-successful people of all time intentionally made choices that eventually created their successes. When they failed at things, they did not quit, but changed how they did things, wiped the dust off and and tried again, and again, and again–until they made the right changes to gave them success.
If you are not truly satisfied with where you are, figure out where you truly want to be and start doing things that will help you get there. I know folks who hate their jobs, then they quit and realize they hate their new jobs too. Likewise, I know others who look forward to each day because they choose happiness and they create situations that gives them true joy.
If you are not sure what would make you happy, find your heroes and figure out what is it about them that makes you happy. Then do some research and figure out what jobs those characteristics are a good fit for. Be the person you want to be and don’t be the person you do not wish to be. Choose it–one day at a time.
I administer personality assessments to my clients like MBTI and DiSC. These scientifically validated tools help bring clarity of preferences and comfortable behaviors. When we know what we like, we should do more things in those areas and leave the stuff we do not like to others.
Your thoughts?
Make it a great day! (After all, YOU get to choose your attitudes and how you feel about things.)
Best regards,
Dr. Paul
www.paulgerhardt.com
Management Mind: Decision Making
Have you ever gotten so busy in your daily tasks that you have rushed to making a decision? Sometimes we just get so busy that “easy” becomes the way we make decisions. Getting the job done and getting it done right can be two completely different things.
Consider this. If you have an employee who generally does good work and you hear something about that employee from someone else you trust. Should you just believe what you hear from the trusted person or should you have a conversation with the person in question?
If you answered, “Have a conversation with the person in question.” You have answered properly. As leaders, we can never afford to rush to judgement. Making a decision in haste without giving an employee (or a friend or a relative for that matter) the benefit of the doubt can be VERY costly. Never assume.
Really. It is always the best thing to take the time and hear things directly from the person in question. Be assertive in the questions you ask. Have the conversation face-to-face, so that you can analyze the body language and he/she can see yours while looking each other in the eye.
Always assume the best in others. As humans, we have a tendency to create stories that are built around past experiences or the stories of others. Remember the childhood game “telephone game”? One person whispers a message into the ears of another, then that person whispers to another, until it gets back to you as a completely different message.
OK. So, I just want everyone to get along. Giving folks the benefit of the doubt and making it your personal policy to never make an opinion based on the words of a third party is pretty sound advice. Always assume the very best in others. Do not judge. And always help others feel like they have a graceful way to admit wrong-doing is a win-win for everyone involved.
I suspect if we look hard enough, we can find faults in everyone. I believe it would be better to help others learn lessons from being human and making mistakes; rather than help make them feel badly for making a mistake.
Loyalty is earned one action at a time. Don’t forget how fragile relations truly are.
Thanks for reading! Have a great day.
Kindest regards,
Dr. Paul
www.paulgerhardt.com
What YOU (and your boss) MUST Know To Love Your Job
We spend about one-third of our lives at work. Therefore, it truly is important that we love our jobs. There are a few key things that you must know. (1) The secret to career success is to find a job that you love. (2) It is true that relationships are the main reason we love or hate our jobs. Most people leave their jobs because they do not like someone at work, either their boss or a co-worker. In other words, they have an attitude against someone else that makes them dislike their work situation.
It is interesting that if we truly love what we do, we tend to change our own attitudes and even when we work with people we would not normally like, we are still happy. When we are happy we develop a positive attitude which changes how people treat us. With that said, the old saying goes, “When you point a finger at someone, you have four fingers pointing back at you.” This is very true. (3) WE choose our attitudes to be happy or not.
So, I know that I did not directly answer the question on how you can find a job that you truly love. Well, here is the key: You align your personality with the right job! Yes, I have found in my career as an educator and business consultant that people who are really good at their jobs–love their jobs; and they love their jobs because they found jobs that are in alignment with their personalities.
OK. So I have said it before in previous postings. Finding your true personalities can be done through taking assessments like Myers-Briggs; DiSC; and Strength Finder 2.0. There are many tools out there. Wisdom proverbs suggest that, “It is better to truly know yourself first, than to know others.” In other words, once you really know who you are, your strengths, weaknesses, preferences, behaviors and triggers, then you can find work and relationships that fit you.
Once you find a job that fits you, then you will feel like you are cruising down stream with a cool drink in your hand on a hot summer day. This is much better than rowing up stream with oars that are too small in the wrong kind of boat. So, it just makes sense that if you set yourself up for success by taking personality assessments from certified and trained experts (like me), that you could find true happiness in a job that you love. Great bosses should be happy to have their whole staff trained by professionals who use those types of assessment tools. This is a great first step in creating positive and productive workplaces.
If we do what we love to do, then we tend to get very good at those types of jobs. It is not a burden to work hard in work that we truly love. We spend more time perfecting our actions and learning all the nuances–and therefore, we feel even better about our jobs when we know we are good at what we do. We find our bliss when we find out who we are and do work that is meaningful to us. There are jobs that are perfect for each of us out there. We need to know where to look and what to look for first. I hope this helps.
If you enjoyed this article, please share it with others. Thanks for taking some of your time. I sincerely appreciate it.
Make it a great day! (You get to choose how you feel about it.)
Dr. Paul
By Dr. Paul L. Gerhardt, PhD
www,paulgerhardt.com
Copyright © 2012 by Dr. Paul L. Gerhardt. All rights reserved.
How to Be More Influential
Being a leader requires that you have people who follow you. Granted, you can be given a title (like supervisor) that comes with followers, however, you still must earn the right to influence others. You might have the hands and feet of those you lead, but it should be your goal to earn their hearts and minds too.
We gain the power of influence by being loyal to those around us. We can gain more influence when we recognize the work that our followers are doing with genuine praise. It is a great thing when we can praise others around us every week.
We must be very specific about what we praise about. Tell each follower what you like about the work she is doing. Praise publicly and help her feel special. You must be authentic and not fake about it. Look the employee directly in the eyes and smile while praising. Just enjoy the moment.
Great leaders praise every seven days. Don’t make this a scheduled thing, be spontaneous, but know that if you empower people to make decisions and support the end results with regular GENUINE praise and AUTHENTIC appreciation, you will gain more popularity and genuine favor right back. Loyalty is earned. You must be loyal and appreciative of each of your followers first.
Make it a great day! (We get to choose our attitudes).
Thanks for reading! If you enjoyed this, please share it with others. There is enough success in this world for all of us.
Kindest regards,
Dr. Paul L. Gerhardt
www.paulgerhardt.com
A Quick Lesson on Managing Time Better
Do you every notice how time stands still when you are doing things you really love? I truly believe this is a clue from the universe that we are all meant to do certain things in life. In the workplace we all have those tasks that we love doing and those things that we try to avoid. These are messages we should listen to and find ways to intentionally manage better.
One of the keys to managing your time is to set goals and do things each day that bring you closer to accomplishing your goals. Some people call it a “bucket list’. Whatever you call it, you really must start by actually writing a physical list of things that you want to accomplish in your life. The next step is to prioritize them.
Most of us can never accomplish all of our life goals in one day. If you can, then you need to think bigger. Once you have your list you must put it in an order that you feel you can most-likely accomplish each item one at a time. We must remember that we cannot effectively do more than one thing at a time, so we must focus our mental energies at doing one thing at a time and work our way down the list. Yes, I know I intentionally keep saying, ONE AT A TIME. That is the whole key here. Doing two things or more at a time is sabotage. We must not sabotage our dreams.
We will feel more energized when we are doing things that lead to accomplishing each goal. We of course will feel like energy is being sucked dry when we are doing things that are not in alignment with those goals. The wisest people find someone to delegate those unwanted things to.
Create more time in your day, by filling your monthly calendar with tasks that must be accomplished. Prioritize and plan each day at the start of your week. Then, each day make a prioritized “to-do list” and work from the top to the bottom of your list. Feel the satisfaction of crossing each item off of your list as you accomplish each one. It truly feels great!
The key to success in life is knowing what “success” looks like for you. Then once we know where we want to be, we must put focused energy and action into motion in order to accomplish each tasks that make each goal happen. The most-successful people plan for success. Are you?
Thanks for taking some time to be here. If you enjoyed this article, please share it with others. Make it a great day! (We get to choose how we feel about it).
Kindest regards,
Dr. Paul L. Gerhardt, PhD
www.paulgerhardt.com
The Number One Key To Success and Happiness Revealed
We all want happiness. If you polled the wisest folks on their death beds and asked them what they thought the key to true happiness is. I am willing to bet they will tell you that it is all about having meaning relationships with those around you. This short article will help you understand how to find true happiness in your work and home life.
Ever wonder what the absolute key of being successful in life, career, and relationships are? Well, in my over a decade doing leadership training and working with leaders of numerous organizations in various industries, I am confident I know what it is.
It is simple, but complex. The number one key of being successful and happy is to know yourself first. Yep! That is it! What it truly implies is that we take time to do personal assessments and start seeing our world through the eyes of others. We need to know our own strengths, weaknesses and triggers.
Professionally, I recommend doing assessments that gathers the insights from others about us. I like doing 360 degree evaluations of leaders. Most followers want their bosses to be better, as do peers. When safely dispersed 360 degree evaluations facilitated by an external excellent leadership trainer can be a real eye-opener.
You do not have to be a CEO of a major corporation to benefit from these types of personal assessments. Anyone can take personal assessments that help them learn about themselves. My two top-favorite personality assessments I am certified to facilitate are Myers-Briggs Personality Indicator (MBTI) and DiSC Behaviors.
Each of these tools help us see what our preferences are and what we do. They also help us understand why we do what we do. Once we know about ourselves, then we can make the necessary changes in our actions, communications and ideas to better get along with others.
The key to being successful in life is to know yourself and know that we need others to help us get what we need. There is enough success in this world for all of us. If we want to be truly happy, then we need to change our own self first and make it our number one intent get along with others.
If you enjoyed this article, share it with others who may benefit from it.
Thanks so much for taking the time to read this. Make it a great day. (We get to choose how we feel about it).
Kindest regards,
Dr. Paul L. Gerhardt, PhD
www.paulgerhardt.com
