So you’re interviewing a potential new employee and you’ve gone down the list of standard resume questions. You know what their strengths and weaknesses are, you’ve reviewed the resume, and you may have even checked out their references. Here’s a question, though:

Did you evaluate their personal values?

This is difficult to do, but there are personal values that every individual has that are going to impact the way he views his work. Here are a few to consider:

Honesty & Integrity

Is the person you are looking to hire an honest person with strong moral values, or will he or she be easily swayed to change his ideals once he becomes part of a group?

Work Ethic & Dedication

Does the person you are interviewing really love his job or is he simply looking for a way to bring home a paycheck? Those who love what they do are more likely to do a wonderful job and are more likely to patiently work through challenges.

Dependability & Responsibility

Will this person be where he says when he says, with the completed project in hand? Will he take responsibility for his own actions or attempt to place the blame on others? His level of personal responsibility will provide huge insight when it comes to predicting his level of ethics in the workplace as well.

Positive Attitude

Does the person you are interviewing possess a high level of energy and a genuinely positive attitude? Even the toughest problems don’t seem quite as bad when faced with motivation, passion, and determination.

Professionalism

Despite his or her high level of energy and positive attitude, does the person you are reviewing act professionally and in a mature manner? It’s possible to have fun in the workplace without being immature and irresponsible. Being able to look at life in a positive light while at the same time acting professionally and harboring excellent client relationships is a huge plus.

Think about the positive personal values you’d like to see in an employee – and take a few minutes to assess whether or not you see those values in your current employees. Often times these values can be shifted by the way a person feels about his job or organisation. Do you need to make changes?

Thanks again,
Sean

Sean McPheat
Managing Director
MTD Management Training

Click below for a:
Free email course “Improve your Management Skills”

According to Edgard Schein, one of the reasons we have difficulty facilitating learning within an organisation is because we do not properly understand the levels of culture within each learning group. As managers we must have a firm grasp on what it means to be exposed to the different types of workplace cultures so that we can effectively work within them.

Schein proposed that there are three levels of cultures:
• Artifacts
• Espoused Values
• Basic Assumptions of Values

Artifacts refer to things we can see with our own eyes. They include the way people dress, the way they organise their desks, and anything else you can visualise but not necessarily understand.

Espoused values include decisions we and our employees make consciously. They include our corporate philosophies, our personal and group goals, and even the strategies we devise to meet those goals.

The theory behind basic assumptions and values is that there are dozens of things we take for granted each day. This includes the way you perceive your fellow teammates or employees, what you assume their thoughts and feelings may be on any given subject, and anything else that you might guess about but really can’t know unless you ask.

These three main levels make up the corporate culture and aren’t nearly as cut and dry as they seem. On the upside, once you understand exactly how the people within your organisation think and behave you’ll find that developing a learning process will be a much simpler task.

Thanks again,
Sean

Sean McPheat
Managing Director
MTD Management Training

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

There’s something about conflict that makes even the best of managers want to run away and hide under a rock. Unfortunately, as a manager you have to take control of any situation within your workplace, whether positive or negative. You are in charge of identifying the situation, intervening, and facilitating mediation.

I have, however, learned from experience that becoming too involved in a situation does more harm than good. If you spend too much time trying to figure out who is right and who is wrong you eventually find yourself unfairly biased towards one side or the other and, suddenly, you are no longer able to make a fair decision. Here are a few things you should NOT do when attempting to mediate a conflict.

Do not pretend the conflict does not exist. Most conflicts do not really ever go away by themselves. As a matter of fact, if it appears a conflict has resolved itself you should keep a careful eye on the participants, become one will likely explode later as those tense feelings fester beneath the surface. Suck it up and deal with the situation.

Do not allow each participant to corner you individually. Each person would prefer to have you believe his side of the story is more important or more accurate. Allowing each person to meet with you separately only fosters this need. Unless there is fear of physical altercation, meet with all participants together and encourage them to share their views in a constructive manner.

Do not let those in conflict spread their negativity throughout the entire office. Everyone working within the general vicinity of those in conflict is going to be impacted by the stress, anxiety, and disruption caused by the conflict. Don’t let anyone involved discuss the conflict with anyone else. Try to keep the incident as isolated as possible in order to ensure it does not begin to impact the functionality of others within the workplace.

Conflict is almost guaranteed in today’s workplace, but if handled carefully and effectively you can nip it in the bud and turn it into a constructive experience. Not sure you or your fellow managers have what it takes? Consider additional training on dealing with conflict so that you can approach each day confident you are able to handle whatever life throws your way!

Thanks again,
Sean

Sean McPheat
Managing Director
MTD Management Training

Click below for a:
Free email course “Improve your Management Skills”

No matter what career path you’ve chosen, as a professional you need to have a clear understanding of exactly what steps you’ll take in order to further enhance your capacity for success. In doing so, you must create what is known as a professional development cycle.

The development cycle you create will include five main phases. Each phase will be as detailed as you wish depending on what goal you are trying to achieve. The development cycle pertains not only to your overall life and career but to individual goals as well.

The five phases include:
• Identifying your goals,
• Determining what skills you need to obtain those goals,
• Making a plan to achieve those skills,
• Properly recording the information you learn, and
• Reviewing your progress regularly.

The more you learn the better your chances of moving forward on a successful and stable career path. You need to do as much as possible to ensure that both you and your employees are getting as much management and leadership training as possible while at the same time ensuring each individual is able to focus on his personal goals as well.

Have you been able to incorporate the development cycle into your management training routines? How do you ensure proper balance between personal professional development and the development of the company as a whole?

Thanks again,
Sean

Sean McPheat
Managing Director
MTD Management Training

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

I’ve been asked several times exactly what skills I’m talking about when we discuss the importance of technical skills, communication skills, or any of the other myriad of skills you need to succeed. While technical skills very from job to job, don’t get stuck in a rut by telling yourself that you only need “technical” skills if you’re working in an information technology environment. This simply isn’t true.

When it comes to functionality, there are quite a number of skill sets that can fall under the umbrella of essential job skills. Here’s a short list of essential job skills you should be looking for not only in yourself, but in your teammates and potential new employees as well.

• Communication skills – Alright, I know communication stands alone in a category of its own, but if you can’t communicate effectively (either verbally, in writing, or through listening) you won’t be able to share information about any of the functions necessary for success within your organisation.

• Research skills – The ability to analyze a problem is essential. You must be able to look at not only business systems and software in order to identify problems and solutions, but at your employees and their tasks as well.

• Computer literacy – As a manager you should know a little more about your computer than how to turn it on, check your email, and surf the web. You’ll need at least a small amount of program-specific skill when it comes to client management databases, word processing software, etc. You may not expect new hires to know about your specific database program, but they should know a bit about the more universal programs that are out there.

• Organisational skills – I once went on a job interview where I was handed an empty file folder and a pile of papers. I was told to review the documents and organise them before placing them in the folder. This was a simple test designed to judge my analytical skills (what on earth was I looking at!) and my organisational skills (how to put these strange documents in a useful order). You’ll find that organised employees are more productive and make fewer mistakes than those who lack this skill.

We’ll take a closer look at some more essential job skills in the future. Take some time to really think about these skills, though. Are yours as strong as they could be – and are you paying attention to whether or not your employees or potential new hires have these skills?

Thanks again,
Sean

Sean McPheat
Managing Director
MTD Management Training

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