June 2009

Welcome to the June issue of "The Edge"! Innovation & Change: -Getting out of the Rut! Change is no longer evolutionary, it is revolutionary! It is no longer the exception, it is the norm! So the sooner we learn to understand it, adapt to it, or effectively contribute to it, the better it will be for us. We need to master change! - but that is easier said than done. Albert Einstein said, "Everything has changed, except our thinking." It's hard to get out of the rut! - But we need to. Why master change? It's necessary for survival It's more profitable It offers the greatest opportunity for growth It stimulates teamwork and community Initially change may be uncomfortable and often brings us face-to-face with the unknown, - and that evokes our worst fears. People resist change in all kinds of ways, - actively, passively, consciously, unconsciously, rationally, emotionally and even spiritually. We come up with what we think are good reasons why the "new thinking" won't work. This is sometimes referred to as "firehosing" because it dampens people's enthusiasm and quickly kills excitement and motivation. Understanding what drives resistance to change helps us to deal with it. Four Resistance Drivers are: Fear - "what if I . . . lose my job, look stupid, can't adapt" Inertia - "It's too much effort, too uncomfortable, I don't have time" Feeling Powerless - "No one asked me", "I don't think I can . . ." Self-Interest not there - "What's in it for me?" Dealing with Resistance: Fear: At birth we are only afraid of two things, -falling and loud noises. All other fears are learned. Throughout our lives we have accumulated a host of other fears that cause us to be resistant to situations and circumstances that, consciously or unconsciously, remind us of previous negative experiences. The best antidote for reducing fear is to create a safe environment that is free from criticism, ridicule and put-downs, and filled with positive reinforcement, specific praise and rewards for goal achievement. Building a positive trust environment is key. Inertia: Inertia happens when enthusiasm, excitement and passion are gone. Find out what your staff can get excited about. What is their passion? How can you get them involved? Sharing information and asking for input is an important part of overcoming inertia. Feeling Powerless: One of Dr. Benjamin Spock's famous quotes is, "You know more than you think you do." This truism is evident in most workplaces as we observe people who habitually underestimate their potential, have low self-esteem and suffer from a lack of self-confidence. This is best addressed by getting people involved. How can they use their gifts to help the team? Help them to develop a vision for their own future. What would they like to be doing in 5 years? What attitudes, skills and abilities do they have that will help them to achieve their goals? What development needs do they have? Help them to see how they can be part of something bigger than themselves. Self-Interest: Everyone tunes in to WIIFM! -"What's in it for me?" Unless we know what's in it for us we will tune out, -we're not interested. There has to be clarity. Clarity of what's expected, and clarity of the desired outcome. Clarity of the rewards and benefits for everyone is essential for creating and sustaining interest. If you are interested in a highly interactive and enjoyable workshop on Innovation and Strategic Thinking contact Peter Neufeldt at peter@peakperformanceconsulting.ca Reprint permission granted by author Peter Neufeldt, Peak Performance Consulting As you know, at Peak Performance Consulting our focus on learning continues to address the challenges of achieving ever higher goals of personal and professional growth. Another option, - if you can't attend our workshops but want to sharpen your skills and tap into your potential, remember to check out The Science of Creating Your Dreams, and The Quantum Game introduced in our February Newsletter. For more details on these outstanding on-line personal development programs click on the following links: The Science of Creating Your Dreams: http://www.360performanceleadership.com/socyd.html The Quantum Game: http://www.360performanceleadership.com/quantumgame.html Enjoy! Peter Neufeldt

Highly Effective Time Management By changing how you think about your tasks, you can create a better return on investment for your time Do you have more 'to-dos' than time in your day? Is lack of time preventing you from reaching more of your goals? If you had more time, what would it mean to your business, your finances, your family - your life? No one is given more than 24 hours a day. How then do some people accomplish so much while others drown in incomplete 'to-do' lists, missed deadlines and unmet objectives? Effective time management is the process of ensuring that all of your time is spent on activities that move you closer to your goals. What you do is far more important than how quickly you do it. The bottom line, how you spend your time determines your success. The most successful business leaders and entrepreneurs invest their time very carefully. Those who develop effective habits for time management create a competitive advantage. The secret is understanding where time is best invested and developing systems, processes, behaviors and habits for effective use of time and priority management. Change Your Attitude To change results it is necessary to change behavior. Significant behavior change requires a change in perspective or attitude; in other words, how you think. Effective time habits require effective time attitudes. Think about your time as a limited resource to be invested rather than spent. Know What You Want Make a list of your top priorities, both personal and professional. This process helps clarify where to focus your energy and speeds decision-making when events arise that are not top priorities. Daily, weekly, monthly and annual prioritization is a powerful time management habit. Establish Your Personal 80/20 Rule Typically, 80 percent of success comes from 20 percent of your effort. Determine what your most profitable 20 percent is and spend the majority of your time in those activities. Eliminate Unproductive Activity One of the most practical exercises for better time use is a personal time study. Track activities in 15-minute increments for 3-5 days. Look for opportunities to eliminate unproductive behaviors that do not pertain to top priorities. Often the greatest gains in productivity are the result of eliminating bad habits and non- value added activity. Automate Use technology to your advantage. Automation is a great way to multiply your efforts. Review your time study for opportunities to memorize transactions, create automatic activity series, sort e- mail, auto-complete fields, etc. While it takes time to set up, it is always a wise investment. Delegate If the return on your time investment is less than the cost, yet the task is too important to eliminate and cannot be automated, consider delegating it. Opportunities abound to use staff, a virtual assistance, contract professionals, temporary help, family members, etc. Eliminate dependency on specific individuals by creating checklists and procedures for each delegated task. This helps bridge the gap if you have to do the task again and improves training effectiveness with new people. Simplify Look for every opportunity to simplify processes, decision- making, communications, proposals, customer tracking, etc. Leverage This concept refers to multiplying the return you get from every effort. Perhaps creative work can be re-purposed or meetings can serve multiple functions. Look for every place to consolidate your efforts and get greater return on your time investment. Vision Take time to create a clear, succinct vision for both yourself and your organization. Don't stop at the words; create pictures of what it will look like once you accomplish your vision. Imagine what it will feel like once you get there. The more emotionally tied you are to your vision; the easier it is to remember the success habits you are trying to create. Time Blocking Complete similar types of work all at the same time. Opportunities for blocking include client visits, telephone work, computer work, writing, e-mail correspondence and completing personal tasks. This strategy maximizes your time investment far better than moving from one unrelated task to another throughout the day. Analyze Keep track of what's working really well, personally and for the business. Also, track opportunities for improvement. Review your list regularly and implement new habits, processes and systems at every opportunity. Successful entrepreneurs create highly effective habits. If time management is actually effective priority management, then creating habits for better self-management is critical to your success. Think about the impact that one or two new time habits and/or attitudes could have on your business over the next year. Perhaps your best time investment right now is creating your personal action plan for highly effective time habits. Reprint permission granted by author Allison Darling, ManagementConcepts

Structure + Analysis = Hiring Success Just like anything else, the key to an effective hiring process is to identify the steps that contribute most directly to achieving success, and then implement and practice those steps, continuing to make improvements along the way. First and foremost is the creation of a standardized hiring process. Through the creation of such a process, you can better identify the things that work best for you and your company . . . and the things that don't work at all. That's not to say that some steps in the process should be eliminated altogether, just that some should be weighted more than others, in accordance with what's most effective. Below are the basic steps that any hiring process should include: Criteria-based screening of candidates A standard background check Assessments and/or tests Structured interviews, both over the phone and in person Remember, these are just the basics. Depending upon the position being filled, you can add steps or elaborate and build upon existing ones. The other half of the equation . . . A thorough analysis of the open position will further help you to fill it with the best candidate possible. Unfortunately, many companies overlook this aspect of the hiring process, instead focusing their attention on the candidates that they're screening and interviewing. Those candidates represent only one-half of the equation. After all, you have to know exactly what you're looking for before you can know that you've found it. That's why, after you've established a standardized and structured hiring process, the next step is to thoroughly analyze the open position and the job description associated with it. This should be done before interviews are scheduled and conducted. In addition, the position should be analyzed in regards to the three main areas below: Knowledge - Although this is often considered the most obvious qualifier, it must be examined in an exhaustive fashion, since a miscalculation could be costly if not caught before a bad hire is made. Skills/abilities - This refers to the application of knowledge needed to perform the tasks required by the position, whatever forms that application might take. Personality/attitude - This one is often overlooked, since it pertains to the "soft skills" necessary for the job, as opposed to the "hard skills." As you can see, achieving hiring success starts before the process itself even begins. Through the combination of a standardized process and an extensive job analysis, you can dramatically increase the chances that the next person you hire... is the best person for the position. Copyright protected. ©Gary Sorrell - NewsletterVille.com