Train your Brain

Every Monday I offer up my thoughts on management; personal and professional

So, what does your brain have to do with management?  Well, everything; if you can learn to manage your thoughts, than practical everyday management will soon follow.  Here is something I heard recently from Chip Ingram that I hope will help you. 
(sermon notes adapted and not verbatim)

If you have a wrong behavior that you want to correct than you must start at the beginning; you must start with training your brain.  A simple yet effective way to do this is take an index card and write down the behavior you want to correct; underneath the behavior write down a few things you say to yourself when rationalizing this behavior; at the bottom of the front of the card write “STOP!”. 

Turn the card over and at the top of the card write “Truth”; below the word truth write the real true impact of your behavior.  Don’t wait until you are caught up in the moment to fight the behavior for you will more than likely loose the battle. 

Begin reading these cards out loud every morning as part of your daily routine; you will find that the next time you are caught up in the struggle to do wrong, you will have trained your brain to say STOP at the most critical moment.

Manage your brain, manage your life.

Selective Transparency

Every Monday I offer up my thoughts on management; personal and professional

So what do I mean “Selective Transparency”? Well, in order to be an effective manager of people you need to be somewhat open with them, allow them to see that you are indeed a human and not some robot built and shipped off by cooperate to keep them in line; instead you must show that you are a real person who is there to help ensure that they, the employees, and ipso facto the company operate at a level of peak proficiency. 

So how do you do this?  By selectively allowing them to see a human side to you.  This doesn’t mean you need to share every detail of your life, nay.  Here is an example of what I mean; consider the following scenario: An employee is having trouble showing up for work due to transportation issues.  Pulling this employee aside and saying “You know, a few years ago I was in a bad car accident and was without my car for almost a month.  It was tough”  Then proceeding to discuss alternative ways to get to work and how important it is show up for work on time will have a far more positive impact on the employee (and once again by default your company)  than just telling him/her to show up on time.

By relating to the employee with a story of your own, you are showing your human side.  You are letting the employee know that you can understand what it is like to be without transportation. So, give it a try, let people in just a little and show that you too are human. 

Balancing the Why and How

Every Monday I offer up my thoughts on management; personal and professional

 

Goals-“Dreams with Deadlines.”  

When looking to achieve a goal, it is crucial to examine the “Why” and not just the “How”.  The reason: Achieving an unexamined goal will only bring limited satisfaction.

Asking why leads to introspection and refinement, which in turn, leads to healthier, more personally fulfilling goals.  This not only goes for one’s personal life but their professional one as well; if the executive team has only the how and not the why, it will come across to junior management as shallow and uninspired. 

Communicating why a goal has been set helps motivate and focus not only your subordinates but yourself as well.  Having a true grasp of why you want to get something accomplished will go a long way to helping you become a more effective person: at work and at home.