Every individual on your work team has a different personality. Each different personality type will have a different way of reacting to a situation. While it may be difficult to predict just how each individual you work with will behave on a regular basis you can learn about the four main behavioural categories.

There are four categories, and four only, that each person’s behaviour will fall into at any given point in time. A person determines how he will act in only one of 4 ways, and rarely even knows the choice is occuring - it’s subconscious. The four categories are as follows:

• Automatic
• Back-up
• Creative
• New Capabilities

Automatic behavious are habits people have created throughout their lifetimes. They’re comfortable with them and rarely stray from their usual attitudes and actions.

Everyone, on the other hand, has a back-up plan - a repertoire of behaviours we turn to when our normal behaviours aren’t compatible with a given situation. For example, the class clown will automatically adapt his behaviour in a serious business meeting or while attending a funeral.

The creative personality isn’t as creative as you might think. It’s a person’s ability to adapt the behaviours he has already established, combining them in a different way for a unique result or pattern of actions.

Finally, everyone has the ability to learn new behaviours, whether in a formal setting or subconsciously from being around others.

Now that you know a little bit about the four categories of behaviour, and how one chooses his actions, can you look at each of your employees and pinpont which category each currently falls into? Are there things you should do to modify their current behaviours? And should you even bother?

Thanks again,
Sean

Sean McPheat
Managing Director
MTD Management Training

Click below for a:
FREE email course “Improve Your Management Skills”

Gone are the days where employees will interview for a job, earn a position, work for 20 years, and then retire from the same place.  More often than not, employees are changing careers within a few years. Some stay with the organisations they started out with while others leave altogether.

One of the reasons employees leave is because they feel as though they’re stuck. Often employees not already on a management track feel as though there is no where else to go, or no way to earn additional income, without finding a new job. In some cases this may be true, but in most a bit of advance planning is all that is needed to solve the problem.

Whether or not your company regularly promotes from within is something many new employees wonder about. While it’s certainly not feasible to plan someone’s career path from day one through retirement in advance, it is reasonable to sit down and explain what additional training and experience is necessary for advancement later on. An employee with goals is more likely to remain happy and focused.

Do you have a plan for working with new employees to determine their goals and career paths? If not, you should consider implementing one. Employees who feel as if they have a clearly defined path are more likely to give you their best efforts as opposed to those who feel as though they’re just reporting for a “job” each day.  How do your employees feel?

Thanks again,
Sean

Sean McPheat
Managing Director
MTD Management Training Course

Click below for a:
FREE email course “Improve Your Management Skills”

The term “continuous improvement” refers to taking the products or service we give to our customers and making them better all of the time. A continuous improvement plan revolves around your ability to maintain the high levels of service, productivity, or performance you’ve already achieved while finding ways to enhance your results.

Of course, whatever plan you implement is not just a one-time occurrence, but a long-term commitment to a method that will produce measurable results over time. You, your fellow managers, and your employees must all work together to understand what problems exist within your organisation and to determine which actions would best solve those problems.

Your continuous improvement plan will help with team building as well because it will not only encourage you to work together in order to evaluate and analyse a situation, but will also promote teamwork as you organise and plan your course of action. Every business will have different problems, thus requiring a different continuous improvement plan. Remember, however, that a continuous improvement plan is something that must carry you far into the future. It may be changed or modified as necessary, but the need for continuous improvement will never disappear!

Thanks again,
Sean

Sean McPheat
Managing Director
MTD Management Training Course

Click below for a:
FREE email course “Improve Your Management Skills”

Fact – every single person you know experiences stress at some point throughout his or her life. Even the happiest and most productive employees will become stressed out about their jobs or family lives at one point or another. The real question is how you, as a manager, will handle that stress in order to avoid additional conflict.

We want to keep our employees as happy as possible so that they’ll continue to do their jobs effectively. When you begin to notice that once happy employees are acting grumpy and agitated, what actions will you take to control the situation before it explodes? Here are a few suggestions:

Encourage exercise. Does your company have an in-house gym? Is it possible for you to offer your employees a discounted rate at the local gym or health club? Perhaps you can have a personal trainer come in to work with your employees for a few weeks to help them get the ball rolling. It may cost a few dollars, but it’s a proven fact that people who exercise regularly are happier, experience less stress, and are more productive!

Encourage proper break times. Do your team members take advantage of their lunch hours or breaks? If not, try to encourage them to do so. Employees who never take time to relax are often stressed as well. They feel as though they’re always racing the clock, which causes high levels of stress, anxiety, and overall discontent.

Form workplace support groups. Make sure your employees have someone to turn to when their jobs or lives do become overwhelming. While the discussion of personal situations should remain limited, it’s pretty hard to draw the line between personal and work lives. Having the support of fellow employees is essential during difficult times – especially if someone genuinely needs help with his or her workflow, or has become overwhelmed with a sudden onslaught of new or time-sensitive projects.

You are not responsible for the physical or mental health of your employees, but at the same time you must remember that a person’s work/life balance does contribute to their stress and overall happiness. As a manager, it’s important to recognize the signs of stress and take action to prevent that stress from having a negative impact within the workplace.

Management trainees are encouraged to learn as much about stress management as possible before working with their new teams. They’re also taught to recognize the signs of stress within themselves, so that they can solve their own problems without impacting the productivity of their groups.

Do you have a creative method of helping your team deal with stress? We’d love to hear about it…

Thanks again,
Sean

Sean McPheat
Managing Director
MTD Management Training Course

Click below for a:
FREE email course “Improve Your Management Skills”