How to engage your employees

Sep 9 2015Sep 29 2020 Belinda MJ. Brown Business Success, Career Success, Insights, Leadership, Team Success

Faire participer vos employés et leur remonter le moral est l’un des principaux objectifs de chaque dirigeant. Les meilleurs employés sont ceux qui aiment leur travail, s’efforcent de bien faire et sortent des sentiers battus. En tant que leader, vous encouragez le développement de toutes ces fonctionnalités chez un employé et savez que l’engagement des employés est la clé d’un milieu de travail réussi. Mais pour que vos employés soient vraiment impliqués dans leur travail et heureux sur leur lieu de travail, il faut plus que quelques pizzas ou des primes de vacances. Utilisez ces méthodes pour faire sentir à vos employés qu’ils font partie intégrante de votre équipe et pour les inciter à aller au-delà:

1. Travaillez toujours avec eux, pas sur eux

No one particularly enjoys someone standing over them telling them what to do, even if they love their work. A boss with great leadership skills will join in the nitty-gritty work and make the work their mission as well as their employees’. If you can demonstrate that you too are willing to work hard and care about your work, employees will be much more motivated about their role.

2. Be someone employees can talk to

Any problem in a workplace, big or small, probably won’t be solved if no one ever brings it up. As a leader, it’s your responsibility to deal with problems or issues amongst your employees, but you can’t even begin to do so if you don’t know what those problems are. Employees need to feel not only that they can approach you with concerns, but also that you will listen to them and take action.

3. Employé d’abord, société ensuite

Personne ne veut se sentir comme un seul rouage dans une machine géante. Oui, les entreprises sont alimentées par le travail des employés, mais les entreprises fonctionnent aussi comme une chose vivante, en constante évolution et en adaptant. Ce sont les employés humains qui rendent possible le succès d’une entreprise, en proposant constamment de nouvelles idées, méthodes et solutions. Assurez-vous que les employés sont à l’aise d’exprimer ces idées, et pas seulement de se conformer aux anciennes méthodes et pratiques. Un environnement ouvert et créatif est idéal pour réussir.

Emotional Intelligence: The Engine That Powers Your Future

Sep 7 2015Sep 29 2020 Belinda MJ. Brown Business Success, Career Success, Leadership, Women Success

Emotional Intelligence: The Engine That Powers Your Future

My late and often lamented friend, Gridley Harriss, was a wealth of pointed platitudes ready to shed light on virtually any topic. One of his favorites, and he shared it often, was,

Your attitude determines your altitude.

There’s a lot of life defining truth contained in those five words.

Henry Ford, another man of well-chosen words, put it this way,

Whether you believe you can or you can’t, you are probably right.

Are you a prisoner or the master of your attitudes?

One way or another, your attitudes are pushing you, either forward towards endless possibilities or backward into the prison of self-doubt and victimhood. Which way are your attitudes pushing you? You can choose, you know?
Attitudes are the initial step in translating our emotions into thought first, then action. Positive attitudes propel us, while negative attitudes not only slow us down, they shorten our lives. With strong emotional intelligence we can control them.
Most people when asked to define emotional intelligence, either have never heard of it or aren’t quite sure what it means. The fact is, the further you progress in life both professionally and personally, the more important emotional intelligence becomes. Research shows that ultimately emotional intelligence is more important than intellectual intelligence in achieving maximum success. So what is this thing called emotional intelligence anyway?

Emotional intelligence measures individual ability to empower success in life by understanding and controlling the emotions of self and others through self-awareness, self-control, social awareness, relationship management, empathy and self-confidence.

Unfortunately, most of our focus is on intellectual intelligence, IQ, and emotional intelligence, EQ, is left virtually unnoticed. Research into what makes people successful strongly suggests that this is a mistake of epic proportions. A look at the lives of highly successful people clearly indicates that factual knowledge is far from enough. Even more important than what you know is how effectively you share that knowledge in your relationships. People at the top seldom get there without an emotionally intelligent approach to other people.

Starting even in the womb, our emotions are forming. Each event in our life, no matter how minor, triggers an emotional response. We remember those responses, and if the results seemed satisfactory, we repeat them. Over time, the same or similar events trigger the same or similar emotional responses until that emotional response becomes our standard operating procedure. Many times that is a good thing, but far too often it isn’t. When our emotions hold us back, it’s time to understand them and learn to control them. Emotions consume energy, and negative emotions consume by far the most. Why spend your energy on things that are not only getting you know where but actually forcing you backward?
I don’t like the word no. Oh, I don’t mind using it, I just don’t like hearing it. Given as an answer to something I very much want to do, some form of anger is a well-established first response. Each “no” I hear is a wall that must be torn down! Let me give you an example.

My wife, Janet, and I enjoy eating out with our friends George and Linda. Late last week we introduced them to a restaurant we both enjoy. We ordered, then waited…waited…and waited some more.
Slow service, combined with meaningless excuses, is a form of “no” I detest, particularly when it hampers my ability to impress someone. Possibly because I’ve been a teacher at various times in my life, the need to educate the service provider often overpowers me. After years of embarrassing confrontations, I’m almost in control, almost, but not that day. Both the server and the manager got a carefully worded lecture on the benefits of good service.
By the way, the food was good when it came. We enjoyed our meal. I apologize to the server, and complemented her to the manager. Furthermore, she got a large tip. Giving in to negative emotions can be expensive. Let’s analyze the situation.
Deeply embedded in this “no” experience was damage to my self-esteem. My reputation was at stake with George and Linda, and in my eyes, I wasn’t looking good. Something had to be done put myself back on top. Hence, the lectures.
I really don’t like myself very much when I act that way. To make matters worse, those with me often wish they were at another table, though the 50% discount on our meals was appreciated. Consequently, understanding the source of that emotion is the first step towards controlling it.
Digging that deep has taken time, but I’ve come to understand the cause. Because I understand the cause, certain childhood experiences that I interpreted negatively, I’m able to recognize the signs and usually prevent a negative emotional response.

So what emotions are holding you back today?

Don’t let them. You were designed to succeed. Don’t let your emotions and attitudes hold you back. Put a name to your emotion, in my case anger, and figure out its source. Learn to recognize the signs, for me a sense of rising frustration and threat to my self-esteem, and choose a more positive response.
If your potential is weighted down with negative, “I can’t” emotions you can do the following things:

1. Accept responsibility for your life and the need for action.

2. Identify the repressive emotion and battle it with an opposite response. For example, when I feel my frustration rising, signaling an embarrassing confrontation, I can say, “It’s not like me to act that way.” Simple as it may sound, it works.

3. Develop and post a series of “I can” messages to reinforce a goal you want to achieve. In my case, “I can” exercise patience and understanding when confronted with poor service.

If these suggestions work and you’d like to learn more contact Dale Dale Opt-In

How to use your career accomplishments to achieve greater success

Aug 21 2014Sep 29 2020 Belinda MJ. Brown Career Success, Insights

If you want to achieve greater success, you need to monitor and control your own actions once in a while.

Keeping track of you small and big accomplishments is important. Now that you have a list of your career achievements, it is time to use it for even greater success. It might feel like focusing on the past, but sometimes this can be the best way to set your long term plan for the future.

Sometimes we all feel like we are not moving forward – it might really be the case. You need to regroup, evaluate and make a plan for the strategic changes and actions you need to take. Open your document with the list of career achievements and let the evaluation begin – it looks a lot like a SWAT analysis, but here you will only be investigating the factors that depend on your own actions.

1. Find what’s common – Probably your list is structured based on the small things you made possible for every project you worked on. Your biggest strengths are the things that you have noted for more than 1 project. Maximizing ROI, meeting deadlines for every project, optimizing the process, etc. All those common things should go in a new list – the one that focuses on the stable growth of your professionalism. Most of your long term goals are not defined as small achievements so you need to find which one of those cover the main expectations you set for yourself. You will hopefully find that you are indeed moving forward and you are going at the right direction and speed.

2. Find what’s missing – Now that you have compared your strong points with your strategic goals, you might find that some achievements are not on your list yet. Make a new list – think of it as an inspiring to-do list. Those are some steps that require extra attention from your side. You need to evaluate if those missing points are still relevant based on your plan. If they are, you should first think of what had stopped you from achieving them until now – when you address the reasons, you will be able to find solutions. Keep in mind that this step is not about making yourself feel week, it’s about giving yourself the power to become more successful.

3. Make a list of goals – Now that you know your strengths and weaknesses, it is time to plan your next steps. If you feel like you need more training – take it! If you find that an industry approved certificate would help you become better and more successful – you better start preparing for the exam. This list of goals should be a complimenting addition to your strategic career plan – make sure there are no contradictions between them.

4. Revisit and edit the list of achievements – Hopefully, making this list is an inspiration for you. This is why you need to reevaluate it at least once a year. Always remember to look at the bigger picture and don’t focus on the small rocks on the road. As your career changes and progresses, it is normal that some goals would become irrelevant or more important than you first thought. This small control mechanism will reassure you that you are focussed on the right things and can help you achieve even greater success.

Sometimes when we feel like our career is not moving forward, this might really be the case. This would be a good moment for you to evaluate your bigger plans and how you feel about them. Don’t forget that you should comply only with your own term of what success is. If you decide to start a transition to a new career, but don’t know how to do it – professional help is a good idea. It would save you a lot of time and sleepless nights and will ensure you are confident and happy with your decision.

Pursuing professional success in a non-friendly environment

Aug 7 2014Sep 29 2020 Belinda MJ. Brown Career Success

Not every workplace is a friendly workplace. That doesn’t necessary make success there impossible.

Your career is thriving – you transferred to a bigger company on a better position and this is great. But what happens if you find that your new colleagues are not so happy to meet you and work with you? You can’t just give up and start searching for a new position somewhere else. There are different successful tactics that will help you manage this situation the best way possible.

Working with people who don’t like you is really hard but it shouldn’t put a pause on your career and success. There is always a working strategy that you could use and make things better. All you need to do is identify the source of problems, understand the problem and act on it. Sound easy, right?

Why we meet hostility at the workplace is dependent on a lot of factors. Most commonly we can say they are inner and outer in regarding to you. This invokes the need of two different strategies that you might need to use. Make sure you have identified the right one.

Internal – These are the factors that find their root in you. I’ve met a lot of them . It doesn’t matter what the situation is – you have the power to choose your experience. You need to address it properly. Hold a meeting and explain to your team how you work – don’t make them feel intimidated, share which part of you, be vulnerable and ask them to be open-minded. Educate them about how you manage, what are your expectations and your goals and first of all LISTEN and learn to know them. You want to create a constructive and positive work environment. It might make you feel like the weak person in the interaction, but it is not about you – it is about them embracing the change and more open to future communication. It can be really hard to address the internal factors in a new hostile workplace, but it is also really important. And to be honest – you have a better chance of changing the situation around if you set strong foundations and an effective communication process at the first place.

External factors – Here I would include all the problems that make it irrelevant if it were you or someone else in this position. Maybe the team is used to having managers who change frequently, maybe they don’t want to lose the big level of independence? Or someone from the company who they know better and like was trying to get this position but you were offered it instead. Let’s not forget that there are also people who will hate you no matter what and just try to sabotage every step you take in the company – probably because they are not confident in their capabilities. Based on the problem you will need a fitting solution. Sometimes a simple chat with the colleague might help, sometimes it just never goes away. But whatever the problem – don’t forget your integrity. When hostility is based on factors that don’t depend on you, treat them as any other distraction – be aware of them, evaluate them and face them appropriately.

Finally, don’t forget that your personal comfort is more important than anything else. We spend way too many hours a day at the office for them to be miserable. If you feel like you are not capable to change how your colleagues perceive you, start looking for a change – be it a company or a career change.

Why Should You Keep a List of Your Career Achievements

Jul 10 2014Sep 29 2020 Belinda MJ. Brown Career Success, Leadership, Women Success

We keep lists of everything – daily tasks, ideas, reminders. But we don’t keep a list of our achievements.

Every day we write down so many things that we don’t want to forget but we miss the big picture. Post-it notes and agendas are not only for casual errands. We need to learn to keep a list of the big things we accomplished. Maybe we see that as a form of narcissism and we are afraid that we will look bad for everyone else reading them. It doesn’t matter – a list of achievements can come in handy when you are in different situations.

1. Keep track of your career – You are wondering if you are taking the right steps and if your strategy is taking you where you want to be? Check the list – do you feel like you are adding something new, does it seem like those accomplishments are adequate for your career track? Keeping this list would give you a great way to monitor and control your goals. Prepare a list of milestones to go with the list of achievements – base it on your expectations. This is the easiest way to keep control of your career and discover problems as soon as they start to be noticeable. This being said, don’t obsess over following your milestone agenda – a month or two difference from your plan is normal. Even a year could be acceptable – if you know you are doing the right things and following the right steps.

2. Prepare to show your success – Whether you want a raise or a new position at a different company, knowing your great accomplishments will go a long way. Look at your list and select the best and most relevant success stories that you have to offer. Those should be all projects and tasks that would not have been done without your personal involvement – select achievements that show just how valuable you are. Make sure to focus on 2 or 3 entries, because otherwise it might have the opposite effect. Knowing how to select the most relevant examples is an achievement itself.

3. Keep your LinkedIn profile up to date – Your virtual resume can open a lot of doors even if you are not in the mood for knocking on them. This is where recruiters, managers, and colleagues, spend a lot of time. The summary section on your profile is a great place to display those achievements. This is the first thing that people would read on your page – if you are not compelling enough, might be the last. Sometimes it doesn’t matter if you work with the biggest companies in the world, but if your achievements are of a big scale.

4. Sometimes you just need to be reassured – It happens to all of us. We forget how great we are and start thinking that we don’t do anything right. In such a moment you should take a deep breath, open your list of achievements and start reading. Every point has a story and you know it best. You know how much you had to fight for it, what did you do and how did it make you feel. Going through those past success stories is also a great creativity boost – you will remember times when you were basing your decisions on different factors. Try to implement one of those models in your current activities – it might help or it might show you that you went a long way.

You can read the testimonial one of our former clients who started to implement an achievement list to prepare his annual performance reviews. His story was simple: he was qualified, delivering quality work and remained unseen for over 5 years. Consequently, he was not getting promoted expecting his hierarchy to notice him and his great work. After our coaching he recorded small successes, his impact on a project and found himself excited and confident about his next performance review…He got promoted less than 6 months later, gained exposure within the organization and most importantly has change his mindset about success: it is not about chance, it is about choice!

Keeping a list of your achievements is a great thing to do – I recommend it to everyone, no matter what your career goal is. It’s like keeping track of your savings account – you need to if you are investing the right amount to achieve your milestone in time.

Redefine success on your own terms

Jun 12 2014Sep 29 2020 Belinda MJ. Brown Business Success, Career Success, Leadership, Team Success, Women Success

What is success for you? Do you have your own personal definition or do you follow other people’s dreams?

Everyone is inclined to see success differently because we have different goals, we make different choices and take specific actions based on that. There is not a single definition of success and there can never be one! Success is a choice and personal point of view – there are billions of different definitions therefore. Here you can find a couple of great examples on how different can success be for different people. It’s interesting to see that there is a difference between personal and professional success. The problem with people not feeling accomplished is usually a derivative of a gap between his own perception of success and the one that people around him pose as normal. Let’s dig into these different situations:

1. You don’t feel successful because you are not moving up in the corporate ladder.

2. You don’t feel successful because people around you don’t see you as successful.

3. You don’t feel successful because you are only doing great in the personal or professional area – and the other one lacks attention.

4. You don’t feel successful because you follow someone else’s definition of success. All of these problems have solutions and have their own way of dealing with them. Those statements require that you challenge the definition you have of success. Asking yourself the following questions will assist you to assess in the process of re-defining success on your own terms.

-Does this definition is aligned with your core values?

-Where does this definition come from?

-Who do you want to please when you set your goals and objectives?

I want to have a more in-depth conversation about the standard definition of success. Indeed, based on our cultural background, religion country of origin, language, we as a group set standard for what success should mean for each of us. In some region of the world, success is hard work and social status.

In other places, success is strictly oriented toward building a life around family reputation and values. You can also find as well nations who define success on their health or happiness. Human beings are far more way complex and it is important to recognize our uniqueness. Because of this singularity, it is important to consider success related to our desires and our own filters and beliefs, not on other people definition of success.

When You follow someone else’s definition of success you ultimately compromise yourself, your authenticity in addition to your relationships, your support system your health and more. As hard as it is for us to understand and differentiate between our own beliefs and the ones that society poses above us, you want to re-think of the image of a successful person – he is driving a luxury car (or has a driver), she is wearing haute couture clothes, they travel the world, they are brilliant and make at least 7 figures. Everyone has different expectations and needs, different options and decisions to make. To you the small bakery shop on the corner might not be a glamorous success, but the owner’s family is proud of the accomplishment and he doesn’t want to hide it. This leads me to the main idea I want to leave you with- define and measure success in your own terms. Decide what do you feel success is for yourself, write it down and when you feel down about something – look at it. It will motivate you, it would help you change your mindset and get back on track.

Remember that even if you meet someone else’s definition of success, it doesn’t mean you will be happy nor fulfilled. You want to be confident and accepting of your own definition of success if you want to be happy and proud of it. So it’s all up to you to decide what is your goal – to be a VP of a global company, to be a small business owner, or to work as little as possible and have the time and income to be with your family. If you are having problems reaching the success point that you defined – contact us.

We have designed several programs that help you to learn to say “No” to the common definition of success that drags you down and leave you unhappy and to say “Yes’ to true success, the one that leads you to be authentic and content at all times.

How authenticity will lead you to greater and effortless success

May 29 2014Sep 29 2020 Belinda MJ. Brown Career Success, Leadership

What is authenticity? It’s being yourself, standing up for your own values and taking actions that are not against your beliefs.

Do you think that you can succeed if you don’t follow your own authenticity? I’m sure you can.It would be harder, slower and not as rewarding though. You would need to struggle with a lot of decisions that you don’t like, take steps that don’t coincide with your personal motivations and play on other people’s terms. Are you still not convinced? Here are some reasons why authenticity will make your success faster and greater:

1. You make decisions faster – When you know your goals it’s much easier to decide if a step is coinciding with them or not. You don’t need to evaluate things over and over again to take action. You know if it’s right or wrong. When you decide to take actions against your own beliefs, it takes a lot more time to make the step. You will find yourself losing valuable time questioning the outcome, how would it reflect on your future and your current career path. When you feel that something is wrong, you can’t easily accept it.

2. You value yourself more – Have you ever taken a decision that you knew would be bad for you or someone else? If you had, then I’m sure you still remember every detail that lead to that step. You can’t move forward if you are constantly rethinking old decision. If you took a step out of your beliefs, you would regret it for a long time. You might lose you confidence and it always shows. Being authentic in your management actions helps you reach success and be happy with it.

3. You are valued – People like working with people that stand behind the things that they believe in. Even if you stand up against a higher level management, they would appreciate your honesty and value you for the strong position. If they don’t, you need to find a place where they care about making the right thing. Do you want to work with people who are dishonest and would do anything for more power and money? There is nothing wrong with being protective of the values you have – the best companies know that. And you want to work only with the best, right?

4. You are a better manager – Your goal as a manager is to reach certain results while still being a human being. Your team knows that too. If you are willing to do anything – even against your own beliefs, then are you the person they should look up to? Your team might lose their trust in you and this is when problems start to appear. Even if you only crossed this invisible line once, who can guarantee you won’t do it again? Standing up for what you value makes you better in the eyes of people who work with you on a daily basis – they appreciate your honesty because they know you have more to lose.

5. You do everything with ease – When you are confident, trust your own instincts and know people around you value your opinion, you have far les problems with daily tasks, team management and project implementation.

One of the things that comes from inside and helps us become greater and better, is our authenticity. Everyone is always advising to be yourself, because everyone else is already taken. But the real value of being yourself is the way you feel and the way other people perceive you.

Executive business coaching – why asking for help is actually good?

May 15 2014Sep 29 2020 Belinda MJ. Brown Business Success, Career Success, Leadership, Women Success

Executive coaching is a service for successful people. Not the other way around.

Some people see coaching as a thing for people who struggle with their career and don’t know what they want. This can sometimes be the case but executive coaching actually helps high performers and successful people. Let me tell you what is the difference with this program and why having an executive coach or women success expert might be the best decision you are about to take.

1. Executive coaching saves time – As a top manager or executive you value time but some of the more important decisions are time-dependent because you need to evaluate the different options ahead of you. You need to decide if the pros are more than the cons and how would that impact your future. And sometimes even the best of us lose too much time trying to find the right answer. If you work with a coach, you will learn how to make those decisions faster and to trust your own intuition.

2. Executive coaching means directing your efforts – Imagine the typical day – you start working on a really important task and you have to evaluate the options. But you can’t focus as there are way too many things that are interrupting you. Coaching will give you tools to clarify and prioritize then you can really focused on what is important and not urgent. You might be already ready to take the decision as soon as your coaching meeting starts – just because you gained clarity which leads you to direct your energy toward what will serve you and your organization.

3. Executive coaching means growing smarter – The goal of your executive coach is to ensure you are making conscious decision to lead your career in the direction you want prepared for each transition. The result is that she helps you understand what your next steps need to be and how to overcome some current limitations or roadblocks along the way. Your executive coach is your partner knows and will encourage you to strengthen your own qualities and to identify possible blind spots to grow.

4. Executive coaching is not a sign of weakness – If you ask for help you are not telling the world that you are incapable. You are showing yourself and people around you that you know what are your weaknesses and your strengths, you know how to overcome the small bumps on the road and you are focused on a long term growth.

5. Coaching takes off the pressure – Some people feel they make better decisions under stress. Most of us actually don’t. If you feel a lot of pressure over you regarding taking the right decision, you will be nervous and most probably will be stuck. What coaching does is it takes that pressure of you – sometimes only the fact that there is someone else that might be able to help is enough.

6. Executive business coaching gives you new perspective – You know how a nice conversation with a friend or an expert makes you thrive with new ideas? Well, your coach is better than a friend because it does practice detached involvement and has nothing at stake in your partnership but help you to define success on your own terms. As an expert, a strategic thinker and a leader – she will use your energy and focus it on finding the great ideas and solutions that already lies within you.

5 Assumptions that Sabotage Your Career5 assumptions that sabotage your career

Apr 3 2014Sep 30 2020 Belinda MJ. Brown Career Success, Leadership

You give your best to achieve your goal but something is still stopping you on the way up? Or you just move too slow and can’t find the answer?

The best thing you can do is take a step back and analyze what problems you are facing and which doors do you find closed.

What you see is more than obvious – you sabotage your career with assumptions. And I’ll tell you why and how can you change that.

First, let’s agree that we are not discussing wrong work behavior or big mistakes that you make in the office. I believe you don’t participate in such activities. What really stop you on the way up are your assumptions about yourself and the hierarchy.

1. Working solo is better than working with a team – You think that when you work on a project alone and don’t ask for help your management would see that and note how great worker you are? Truth is they might decide you are a bad team player or your co-workers don’t like you. There are some situations when dealing with harder task on your own will make a big impression but don’t ignore the team. If you want to be part of the company and move up the ladder, you need to play good with all the other people. If you focus yourself on being great with co-workers above your level and don’t care to say “Hello” to those who are on your level, you might never see the promotion.

My tip – Working with the team and helping them is most valuable. If they trust you and value your opinion, you can get far. They will support you and help you when you most need help. Invest in the people and you will never regret it.

2. You stay silent about your success – We live in the era of marketing and short attention span. Do you consider it inappropriate to talk about your latest great project and how you turned it around? Do you hide your certifications and achievements in fear that it may sound too pretentious? If your coworkers and managers don’t know how great you are, you need to tell them. This excludes bragging but a little self-promotion can go a long way.

My tip – If you are expanding your competences with additional courses and certifications, share it with your manager. If you don’t feel confident enough to start talking about it – start with adding it to your LinkedIn profile. A change in your profile will be broadcast to your connections and it is possible that they congratulate you in person. It would be easier to do some self promotion if people are asking you to, right?

3. You want to be liked by everyone – This is a big problem for women executives – some try to be friends with every co-worker and do their best to be likeable. But that makes it hard for them to react when someone is not doing his job right. Will you lose their support if you correct their work? Sometimes you will. But remember that your career is not about being the office socialite – it’s about getting the job done. Be careful not to exceed your criticism to people who are not under your direct management.

My tip – When you see that a co-worker is underperforming, talk to him or her in private. Be careful with the words you choose – they need to understand that you are helping them and not trying to make them look bad. You will be surprised by the result. And at the end – some people will never like you no matter what you do – don’t focus on them. Just be your best and do your job – it will make an impression.

4. You focus on your career goal and not on your work – This is something we all tend to do sometimes – you feel that you are really close to the goal and put all your efforts into it. You know the basic requirements for getting promoted and you achieve them one after another. But do you do just the minimum required or go all the way to get the best results you could get? The first won’t get you promoted – the second will.

My tip – Evaluate your own work in the last few months – all the task and the projects you worked on. Did you achieve some great results that show others how valuable you are? Did you just got things done or did you went out of your way to make them winning? Don’t forget your daily responsibilities just because the meeting with HR is a few weeks away. They will look at the overall picture and not just the last few things. Just be great every day of the year.

5. You will get promoted without asking for it – Do you dream of the day when the manager calls you in her office and offers you the position of your life and a great raise? This will not happen unless you stand for your goals and ask for it. They need to show what you’re striving for. I don’t say that you should go to the CEO office and ask for his position. But keep in mind that a silent worker will never become a high-level executive – they need to not only achieve but show success, to be able to communicate it the right way and to let everyone around them that they are not afraid of it.

My tip – Review your achievements after every project and keep a list of all the exceptional things you did. Did you land a new high-paying client? Did you finish the project long before the deadline which lead to more business for the company? Did you reorganized you team and made them more efficient and happy workers? Use those points when you ask for your raise – and you should ask for it at least once a year.

The first thing you need to do when things are not developing the way you want them is to assess the situation. This is also the first step of our ACE-IT coaching program. You need to know exactly where you stand, what are your potential limitations and what are your strong sides. Only then you can move forward – changing what doesn’t work and proceeding with what you do best. Your career might be at a plateau state – don’t sabotage it with your own assumptions.

What assumptions do you make that stop you from succeeding? Share with us in the comments and we can discuss how to move forward. Because you deserve that dream to become your reality.

Best Practice For a 5 Stars Virtual TeamBest Practice For a 5 Stars Virtual Team

Mar 14 2014Sep 30 2020 Belinda MJ. Brown Career Success, Leadership, Team Success

Creating a Five Star Virtual Team

It is 7:00 AM in New York City, 1:00 PM in Paris and 5:30 PM in Mumbai- time for our weekly conference call! This is virtually the only “reasonable” time to schedule a meeting where all team members based in the cities above can communicate simultaneously.

Yes, being a part of a virtual team can be challenging due to schedule conflicts, lag time in communication, and language/cultural barriers, but they are not going away. In this article, we will explore common conflicts and best practices that will help you create a “Five Star” virtual team.

Virtual teams are groups of individuals who work across time, space and organizational boundaries and who interact primarily through electronic communications to reach a common goal.

As global organizations seek to leverage the expertise that exists across geographic boundaries and time zones, virtual teams will continue to grow. Nearly a half, or 46 percent, of organizations polled use virtual teams, according to survey results released July 13, 2012, by the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM).

In virtual teams, the personal, cultural and social aspect is missing. If you have been on a virtual team, then you may have experienced one or more of the common conflicts listed below.

Common Conflicts in Virtual Teams
Uneven knowledge dissemination.
Reaching consensus is more difficult.
Longer to make decisions.
Mistrust (e-mail lags). Slow response to emails can cause mistrust.

-Misinterpretation (no socio-emotional cues). Non-verbal cues which have been shown to carry considerable weight in correctly interpreting messages and communication are missing.

-Relaxed inhibitions. For various reasons, people often behave with far less restraint in a virtual environment than in the physical world — a phenomenon that psychologists call the “online disinhibition effect.”

Best Practices for a Five Star Virtual Team

Now that we have identified the common conflicts, you can begin to implement the best practices.

Build Trust. Transparency builds trust. When issues are discussed openly and resolved based on their technical merits (and not on biases, bad information, or politics), that transparency will engender a sense of fair play, leading to an atmosphere of trust within the team.
Create a virtual site as the team’s primary focal point. Virtual teams need a shared workspace— specifically an intranet Web site — as the center for their activities. The workspace should contain shared files, project updates, and information on the various team members, as well as online discussion threads organized by topics. Managers can encourage active participation in the virtual workspace by regularly posting important information and documents there, even the group’s critical-path schedule of activities.
Begin with Face-to-Face meeting. It is a good practice for a virtual team to begin with a face-to-face meeting where the team purpose, roles, decision making processes, and norms are discussed. This face-to-face meeting allows relationships to form. As an alternative, if meeting in person is not possible, then set up a group Skype or a conference call and make time for introductions and learning about the individuals on the team.
Set Ground Rules. Create a kick-off meeting agenda that outlines the ground rules that should be set for virtual teams. Rules and structure need to be carefully constructed up front and enforced. Establish ground rules for communicating such as using email to share reports and chat rooms to discuss other issues related to the project. Encourage frequent communication to make up for the lack of richness.
Performance Expectations. Managers must take extra care of defining performance expectations for team members, Manager must also remove performance barriers and provide the necessary resources (e.g., up to date equipment)
Respect Time. Be respectful when scheduling meetings across time zones. If you are going to have recurring phone calls, consider alternating times so that the same team members are not always working late at night or early in the morning. (www.timeanddate.com/worldclock)

Whether you are the leader or a member of a virtual team it is equally important to be aware of common conflicts and best practices so that you can achieve your ultimate goal effectively.

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Emotional Intelligence: The Engine That Powers Your Future

Are you a prisoner or the master of your attitudes?

So what emotions are holding you back today?

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If you want to achieve greater success, you need to monitor and control your own actions once in a while.

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Not every workplace is a friendly workplace. That doesn’t necessary make success there impossible.

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We keep lists of everything – daily tasks, ideas, reminders. But we don’t keep a list of our achievements.

Keeping a list of your achievements is a great thing to do – I recommend it to everyone, no matter what your career goal is. It’s like keeping track of your savings account – you need to if you are investing the right amount to achieve your milestone in time.

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What is success for you? Do you have your own personal definition or do you follow other people’s dreams?

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What is authenticity? It’s being yourself, standing up for your own values and taking actions that are not against your beliefs.

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Executive coaching is a service for successful people. Not the other way around.

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You give your best to achieve your goal but something is still stopping you on the way up? Or you just move too slow and can’t find the answer?

The best thing you can do is take a step back and analyze what problems you are facing and which doors do you find closed.

What you see is more than obvious – you sabotage your career with assumptions. And I’ll tell you why and how can you change that.

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