July 13th, 2011 | 
Author: Think about watching a sports match between two teams, where one team is more confident than the other. The members of the more confident team know that they have a good chance of winning. As a result, everyone on the team makes good decisions, and the players work together seamlessly. Meanwhile, the other team’s confidence is shaky. Players doubt their abilities, they hesitate, and they don’t commit fully to any particular course of action. When this happens, it’s likely that the more confident team will win.
The same principles apply in the workplace – when you have people on your team who have low self-confidence, this can hold them back from reaching their full potential. This is why it’s important that we do what we can to boost the confidence of those around us, especially if we’re leading a team.
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When used appropriately, email is an incredibly useful communication tool. But, like me, many of us feel overwhelmed by the amount of mail that we receive and need to respond to.
However, there are ways to manage your email so that you’re more productive. We’ll explore strategies for doing this, so that you can get on with the real work at hand.
Key Points:
- Most of us feel overwhelmed by email. Although it’s a great communication tool, more often than not it’s overused. By managing it effectively, you can significantly boost your productivity.
- To gain control of your inbox, start by checking and processing email only at certain times during the day. If you’re concerned about the delayed response, let people know that you don’t check your email constantly.
- Also, try to keep your inbox as clear as possible. Organize mail using folders like “Action”, “Waiting” and “Archives”. And when you do check mail, use the two minute rule – any email that can be read and responded to in two minutes or less should be handled right then.
- You can also reduce your incoming mail by asking people to send you less, and by advocating effective email and communication strategies in your organization.
Imagine that you work in a classic autocratic organization, and your boss follows every little rule. He oversees each detail of every project and task – and he seems to believe that you and the rest of the team are incapable of performing without him help at every step.
This, in turn, has created an oppressive and discouraging work environment. Productivity is low, and many people have left to go to organizations that are less controlling and more empowering.
Does your boss watch over everything that you do?
So how can you improve your situation? How can you get your boss – and perhaps your organization – to trust you more?
Working in a micromanaged environment isn’t easy. I ‘ll highlight the disadvantages of micromanagement, and I’ll explore what you can do if your boss micromanages you.
You’re thrilled with the idea of advancing your career … After a lot of time; you start to realize that you’re spending very little time doing what you used to do best – that is, using your technical skills. Instead, you’re spending a lot of your time dealing with “people problems,” navigating office politics, and coordinating projects and team members.
So, you are waiting for a promotion you dreamed about. You think that your technical expertise and your ability to reach performance goals consistently, makes a good candidate to become a manager.
Any management promotion can be a challenge, but it’s especially hard on people with strong technical skills, but who have little or no management experience.
We’ll explore how to make the transition, and what you can do to excel in your new role. We’ll also include links to several other resources that can help you strengthen the skills you need for success.
Do you get excited about everything you need to do? Or do you sometimes need a bit of help to get started, never mind getting the task done?
Maybe you’re continuing to ignore those overflowing filing cabinets, instead of taking some time out to reorganize them. Or, you’re avoiding that difficult conversation with a person who is always late, choosing instead to tolerate the tardiness. Perhaps you keep rearranging your priorities, so that the tasks you hate stay at the bottom of the list.
The longer you delay doing something, the more stress and pressure you’re likely to feel. After a while, you may even start to lose confidence in your ability to complete the task at all.
Many of us sometimes need help getting motivated. And it can be very frustrating when we know we have to do something, but we just can’t get around to making a start. So how can we motivate ourselves to do these things?