workplace | Thierry Dentice Leadership

Tag: workplace (page 3 of 4)

October 19, 2016

How to Increase Employee Satisfaction

Flexibility

Breaking up the monotony of the work day is an important adaptation that companies should implement as workplace practices change. Evaluating employee efficiency on work actually produced rather the space which is completed is how both younger and more established companies are viewing the work from home situation.

Many companies have adopted make your own schedule policies and research shows that allowing employees to do so increases productivity. As each person has both extroverted and introverted qualities, and allowing employees a certain level of flexibility to work in their comfort zone is essential.

Believe it or not, many employees actually strive when offered with a work from home option to your employees is a great way to boost happiness. Offering all your employees the same benefit could add a new layer of potential brand loyalty in the future of the company’s culture.

Be transparent

Honesty is truly key when it comes to crafting effective leadership across multiple industries. Stressing over rumors of layoffs or fears of economic downturn only serve to disrupt an employee’s focus. Even if the only news you have to share is bad news, be honest. Instead of bottling up all the stress and unintentionally lashing out at employees, transparency will reduce anxiety for all parties involved.

Finding narrative

While it is true that younger employees do tend to switch jobs at a faster rate in order to gain experience, salary increases, etc., this does not necessarily mean that they are not in need of mentorship. Studies have shown that loyalty does indeed breed loyalty. Along with helping your employees see how the work they do benefits them, tailor advice and information in a way that has the biggest positive impact for them. Helping younger employees help you most effectively do your job is vital.

October 15, 2016

How Leaders Should Support Internal Hires

September 15, 2016

8 Tips to Successfully Lead in Today’s Market

September 15, 2016

How Leaders Should Handle Company Downturn

August 1, 2016

8 Tips to Successfully Lead in Today’s Market

1. Two-way conversations
A great leader always communicates in a way where he/she allows for two way communication with other co-workers or employees. Conveying information in a concise but articulate manner is essential when it comes to highlighting success, receiving feedback, and making strides for improvement.

2. Attitude is everything
Maintaining a positive but realistic attitude both shapes your leadership in a conducive manner while also setting a great example for your team and your company. As you are a solid representation of the organization, making sure your attitude encourages others is essential.

3. Growing talent
Viewing your employees as valuable resources to be nourished and developed instead of business transactions will have two useful outcomes for the company. On one hand, these employees will be grateful that the company is expanding their skill set (webinars, seminars, workshops), and will directly become of more use to the company.

4. Motivate others
Providing a fair amount of emotional support for your team will incentivize performance in order for them to excel in every aspect of their day to day jobs. Some ways to motivate others include encouraging them to challenge their skillsets, acknowledging their successful efforts in a public space, and organizing events for team bonding.

5. Remain impartial
Try to your best to avoid engaging in any favoritism with any co-worker at the office. Remember to evaluate an individual based on his/her performance, how they challenge themselves, and the ways they want to improve the company’s mission. Showing impartial respect to others is the best form of effective leadership.

6. Set the standard
Establishing your legacy at the company is most effective when you lead with actions that support your strengths. Matching or exceeding the work ethic shown by your team members will also create an environment that promotes excellence and dedication to your craft.

7. Decisiveness
In addition to not allowing external factors to affect your decision making, be sure to take the time to support any decision you make with sound logic throughout the thought process. A successful leader can always support any decision with rationale.

8. Educate Yourself
A true leader never stops learning or challenging him/herself to understand the latest market trends or ways to improve the efficiency of a certain internal process. Whether it is reading the journal everyday or attending seminars on a monthly basis, leaders are always looking for ways to improve themselves.

With all this in mind, processing and implementing these tips will also allow you to become the type of leader that people not only admire, but would want to emulate in the future. Leadership is not only about making decisions for the team. It is strongly based on the notion to create an environment of mutual respect to produce a cohesive work environment for everyone.

June 26, 2016

4 Practices that Define Inspirational Leadership

Henna Inam, a contributor on Entrepreneur.com, has shed light on interesting research regarding employee psych in the workplace. This research has shown if an employee is focused on his/her valuable purpose, this in turn creates a mental strength allowing us to become both more resilient and courageous when faced with stressful situations.

As a result of Inam’s extensive experience analyzing organizations’ structure, she has also compiled information pointing to what exactly sparks the difference between when coaching goals are met or missed.

1. Inspirational leaders take accountability
The single biggest differentiator in terms of making or hindering progress during the coaching process is how the leader takes or deflects this concept of accountability. Studies show that the most inspirational, successful leaders do not blame others, their colleagues or other circumstances, and instead rely on themselves to make the change they want to see. Thus, these leaders set an example by showing initiative when they see a fault in how to approach a specific obstacle.

2. Inspirational leaders connect with their purpose
Through the coaching process each leader connects with their authenticity. The leaders that practice bringing their unique strengths, purpose, and values into the office on a day to day basis exude admirable behavior. A useful, simple practice for leaders to connect themselves with their purpose is to craft a short list of skills or processes they need to accomplish before the day begins.

3. Inspirational leaders take appropriate action
At the root of it all, inspirational leaders are willing to challenge their habitual ways of behaving, and therefore try out a new approach when once isn’t being effective. In other words, they are willing to experiment and develop new parts of themselves to increase productivity, enhance their skills, and challenge their discomforts. Inspirational leaders ask themselves how to best approach a difficult situation before it occurs.

4. Inspirational leaders look for change
When change happens, transformational leaders practice finding the opportunity in whatever mishap may have occurred at that moment. Focusing on learning from a situation instead of ignoring it entirely will help you improve whatever skill sets you lack. This will allow leaders to focus their energy on enhancing qualities they have not had the chance to improve on in the past.

June 1, 2016

5 Ways to Become a More Communicative Leader

More so than simply just speaking in an effective or polite manner, effective communication is based on qualities related to understanding the other party, active intelligence, and most importantly, emotional intelligence. Similar to what or how you say something can attribute or deter from one’s character, keeping in mind that leadership is indeed a privilege that will allow you to not only lead a team to its full potential, but is also a challenge or a goal that you should try to achieve everyday.

Be Mentally Present
As you go throughout the day from meeting to meeting, connecting with your team even for a few minutes a day can be a difficult task when leaders are emotionally drained. Regardless of how tired or completely worn out you may be, maintaining engagement in either work or personal conversations for a certain amount of time will create a more comfortable social environment for your team.

Questions
Fostering an open, comfortable atmosphere on the team produces efficient, intelligent communication throughout various members on the team. Building a great team with support, proper training, and open-mindedness is one of the fundamental qualities of a great leader, regardless of industry, field or department.

A useful way to guide a conversation centered around an exchange of ideas is to lead a conversation with a specific topic or goal in mind. This way, you can better decipher the strengths and areas of improvement moving forward.

Let others speak
Actively listening complements asking the right questions to initiate a healthy, robust social environment geared towards an exchange of ideas, opinions and strategic approaches to a certain problem. During the conversation, make an effort to not think about what you’re going to say–instead, take the time to let others lead the conversation while you actively listen.

Emotional intelligence
Although this is often deemed as unnecessary or frivolous, learning how to utilize emotional intelligence in your day to day leadership tasks is imperative to long-term success on your team. Exhibiting qualities such as self-awareness, discipline and empathy all collectively shape a leader who is prepared for any positive or unexpected business situations.

Positivity
Remember, you are the face of the team. Even if you are very stressed about a business deal, meeting, or client, be sure to stay calm during anything that may come your way. Along with delivering said words with a relaxed tone, using appropriate language throughout this process will also ease the nerves of your team members.

April 28, 2016

How Leaders Should Handle Company Downturn

Effectively dealing with challenges or struggles when a business is undergoing a massive economic or structural downturn is a incredibly difficult task for leaders regardless of industry. To create and maintain long-term success, be sure to follow these steps to stabilize workflow internally, while also producing an atmosphere that is conducive to further business engagements.

Along with utilizing emotional intelligence throughout these various processes, using a concept titled “strategic empathy,” allows leaders to project an interesting balance of both the individual employee and the overarching business goals. Emotional intelligence is also a key component to remember as you maintain business relationships with employees, upper management officials and employees who report directly to you.

Appreciate honesty
Even if sometimes honesty in the workplace can be frowned upon, as your company undergoes this transition, be sure to value and highlight the importance of truthful advice, thoughts, or ideas during meetings. Although you must listen at every level, the best leaders look carefully for that middle ground or middle manager that deconstruct whatever is going on internally is a great way to move forward and grow to better times.

Anxiety
In addition to leaders being anxious about the company’s future, keep in mind that employees of all levels are aware of the business’ current state. While there is a huge possibility you may be experiencing a huge amount of anxiety, take a deep breath and be the role model for your team. This in turn will quell any nervousness, anxiety or doubts your employees may be experiencing.

Fix whatever is broken
One mistake that many leaders fail to address properly is fix or deal with the issue before it spirals out of control. Utilizing decisiveness as a salient tool is the best way to align your verbal confirmations with intelligent, well-thought out action.

Outside perspectives
Receiving advice from other coworkers, employees or leaders internally can be quite useful, but this information can be somewhat partial. Keeping an eye out for objective perspectives that can offer unbiased insight in this business situation can create a level of awareness to issues you may be overlooking. Peers, friends from other companies who have undergone a similar experience, and leaders in different industries can offer sound insight that has the potential of guiding your company through this difficult time.

Collective effort
Another important step to take while your business is struggling is to create at atmosphere built around working towards a common goal. Establishing a common, single-focused mindset can not only appease everyone’s conscious a bit, but also augment positivity across the board. Challenges like these will test your strength, perseverance and dedication as a leader in your respective field.

March 20, 2016

How Leaders Should Support Internal Hires

When hiring external candidates for various open positions at a company, there is a certain process that allows for support, training and structure offered to the new employee regardless of department. Unfortunately, far too commonly internal hires lack various forms of structure which is generally offered to employees who come externally from other firms, companies or organizations.

Unlike internal hires, external hires received intensive onboarding support, briefings on how the business or organization operates and emotional support to assimilate to the new company culture. In many companies, the process related to helping internal hires or employees to adjust to their new job was often times less prioritized for resources to help guide newly employed external candidates.

Faulty leadership can create a mentality for new internal hires based on the “sink or swim” notion that definitely is more detrimental to not only, the employee, but also for the department she/he is currently affiliated with. This overall lack of emotional support in various areas is prone to not only a high turnover, but, in addition, a great loss of talent that has not been properly fostered in a nurturing way geared towards long- term success.

As an increasing amount of companies and organizations are realizing this fault in what is called their “inboarding process,” this provides an ideal time for leaders to initiate the necessary changes in order to alter the ineffective nature of the process in place.

According to a recent study at Genesis Advisers categorizing around 500 leading HR companies, roughly a third of new hires at any given company are employees from other internal departments. One very useful way for leaders to rectify this lack of support in this employee transitional phase is to most effectively “assess transition risk” in order for every party involved to benefit from this internal transfer.

The first step for leaders to better understand and assess transition risk is to create a model to frame major shifts in the company. These shifts can include promotions, business deals between departments and their brief job history. With all these factors in mind, this could develop into an essential tool to decipher the kind of support need for internal hires.

The main takeaway from this assessment of the transitional risk model is to not only better set priorities in a more effective way, but also for leaders to dismantle to the ongoing politics or setbacks in departments where internal transfers are made. This will in turn create a more holistic level of awareness across various areas to improve both individual and professional performance.

February 17, 2016

Leading Younger, Junior Employees to Excel

Meeting the demands of growing market can be a bit hard to maneuver, but with the increase of junior staff making their way into the workforce, a set plan to ease a clear onboarding process in place is vital. Contrary to what some hiring professionals may say, enthusiasm, mental freshness and overall eagerness to learn new material all are great qualities that younger professionals contribute to a growing company or brand.

As leaders, it is our responsibility to effectively implement a strategic plan in order to for these young, newer professionals while also promoting a work environment which allows your business to continue growing.

Business experience recommended

Throughout the hiring process, it may be routine to sometimes hire the person with the most enthusiasm or passion, but it is important to reevaluate the young professional’s previous work experience. On paper it may seem like the best option to hire an employee who just graduated university, however once this person is onboarded, be prepared for a learning curve on their behalf. Since these new professionals have little or minimal work experience, mistakes are a common way for these employees to learn. At the same time, this could also interfere with efficiency on both micro and macro levels within the company.

Training

Even if the training process is a work in progress, providing these young professionals with consistent, useful training is the only way for them to receive an encompassing understanding of their role as an entry level employee. Although it does take a fair amount of time for the employee to grow into their role comfortably, steady training with either one or two upper level management is a productive way for them to also understand the inner workings of the company.

No one knows it all

A common mentality for young professionals who have recently entered the workforce is that they are simply unaware of how to execute most of their job. Younger staff may be more likely to affirm everything is going well with self-assurance instead of openly addressing any lingering questions or concerns they may have to avoid showing any signs of “weakness.”

In the leadership position, it is imperative to make it known to your younger employees that your interactions with them are based on two-way communication, where it is essential for them to raise up any issues at hand. As a result, your direct reports will be more inclined to share concerns with you as means to make the fresh, business relationship more stable through a steady workflow between you and your new hire.

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