5 Critical Keys to Collaboration

5 Critical Keys to Collaboration Now more than ever, succeeding at work involves teamwork. The great news is that the right team generates results that far exceed what its individual members could achieve. An ineffective team, however, can slow down the group’s processes and innovation. Full team engagement comes from knowing their “why” and using their unique talents to contribute to the common goal. That’s why these 5 critical keys to collaboration are so important. These pillars of successful teamwork will help boost employees’ investment in the group and their confidence in their own work. They promote innovation and creative solutions that simplify workflow and improve performance. Read on to learn how these 5 keys to collaboration contribute to effective teams. 1. Time Management. Collaboration doesn’t always require a lot of face time. Once the team establishes clear goals and tasks, each member needs focused time to work on their tasks. Make sure that the ratio of time spent as a group to time spent individually working best suits the needs of the group and doesn’t distract from getting the work accomplished. Can you guess the most common complaint that we hear when we give our time-management session? Too many meetings! 2. Communication. Communication is a make-or-break component of any team project or collaboration. To boost successful communication, give some thought to how the team will communicate. How will members share issues or ask questions? Is this best done via chat? Emails? Holding questions until a set meeting time each day or week? Establish the preferred communication methods for each type of situation and evaluate whether this works for everyone after a few weeks. 3. Innovation. In the best collaborative teams, the sum far exceeds the abilities of the parts. How does this happen? One key to successful collaboration is to encourage innovation through brainstorming, engaging new ideas, and supporting out-of-the-box thinking. Even ideas that are not themselves feasible solutions can be useful because they tend to trigger other, potentially more useful ideas. Ensure that the group remains a safe place to brainstorm new ideas. 4. Celebrate Team Successes. As the team develops new ideas, builds useful tools, and adopts new processes, find ways to celebrate each of these successes. Call out team members whose ideas have solved problems or moved a project forward. Acknowledge those who went above and beyond to ensure that deadlines were met. Thank team members whose diligent work keeps the project on track. Celebrating these successes reminds the team of their power and effectiveness as a group and reminds each team member of their value to the group. 5. Collect Feedback. Ask your team for feedback on what practices best support their collaborative efforts and what can be improved. Having a say in how the team operates will boost its efficiency by allowing adjustments that directly aid its members, but it also generates deeper investment in the team. Build Your Own High-performing Team Join us for a training session that will show you how to [...]

By |2024-09-23T19:29:33-04:00September 23rd, 2024|Leadership Tips|Comments Off on 5 Critical Keys to Collaboration

’Tis the Season for Employee Recognition and Appreciation

’Tis the Season for Employee Recognition and Appreciation As we near the year's end, we reflect on its many highs and lows. The year may have brought unexpected hardships and losses along with successes and victories to celebrate. As we process and reflect, it’s important to remember the team who navigated the ups and downs of life this year and share with them the meaningful ways they contributed to helping us maneuver around setbacks and achieve our goals this year and to take a few moments to offer employee recognition and appreciation. The fact is, in our post-pandemic world, a little encouragement can go a long way. Forbes recently published an article detailing how employee recognition elevates employee loyalty (which, incidentally, has a significant impact on creating customer loyalty and business growth). It also creates a sense of purpose and belonging—knowing our work matters makes us feel like an essential part of a team. Here are 4 tips for recognition to keep in mind. 1. Acknowledge Challenges This may have been a challenging year, from economic changes to staffing issues, but your team has navigated these waters together. It’s okay to acknowledge that there were rough patches and thank them for staying the course and leaning in to help the team reach the other side. No matter what your team faced this year, you met it together, and now you stand on the other side, looking back at the year together. Acknowledging that you asked team members to go above and beyond or saw them handle unexpected challenges shows that those contributions matter and serve an essential purpose. 2. Recognize Individual Contributions Take some time (put it on your calendar if need be) to think over your team’s performance this past year. Are there instances when a team member’s new idea increased efficacy or workflow? Who went above and beyond when deadlines loomed? Is there someone who stepped up when challenges arose? Offering team members a Christmas bonus or raise is a wonderful way to show appreciation, but if you don’t have the resources to do this, offering employee recognition and appreciation is another powerful way to let your team know you appreciate them. You might write and hand out individual holiday cards or make a point to speak to your team, sharing with them examples of how their contribution to the team positively impacted the company and met a need you had. Make sure your feedback is specific and inclusive. 3. Celebrate Successes Take advantage of the holiday season to create a celebration of your own. Take time to celebrate your team’s successes this year. This doesn’t have to be a huge event, just something celebratory and above the ordinary. It can be as simple as calling a team meeting and providing donuts and coffee for everyone. At the same time, you take the opportunity to recap the team’s high notes and successes or as fancy as a catered lunch or party at a lovely venue. Any of these [...]

By |2024-01-08T10:46:32-04:00December 18th, 2023|Leadership Tips|Comments Off on ’Tis the Season for Employee Recognition and Appreciation

4 Reasons to Be Assertive at Work

4 Reasons to Be Assertive at Work Being assertive at work means voicing your opinions and ideas with confidence. Assertiveness helps us set boundaries and ask for what we need without being rude or combative. Communicating assertively increases job satisfaction and creates win-win situations with our coworkers. It also allows us to recognize our feelings and build honest relationships with teammates. Here are 4 more reasons to use assertive communication at work. 1. Keeps the Focus on Your Idea, Not You One common problem we face at work is thinking we’ve communicated an idea more effectively than we actually have. For instance, if you share an idea in a meeting or email, and the tone is too soft, your comment may get lost in the conversation. Your teammates may not recognize that you’re asking for or proposing something. On the other hand, if you pitch an idea too forcefully, the idea gets lost as people react more to your delivery than the idea itself. Assertive communication uses clear, direct speech to explain an idea, allowing the idea to hold centerstage for discussion. 2. Gives You a Sense of Empowerment Assertive communication provides you with tools to make your needs heard. It helps you zero in on what you will and will not do so that you can state that clearly. Setting boundaries offers you a sense of control and autonomy. That sense of empowerment makes a big difference in your happiness and resilience at work. 3. Helps You Earn Respect One of the critical components governing the level of respect you have at work is how often you do what you said you’d do in the time you promised to do it. Here’s where assertiveness comes in. If you cannot ask for the resources you need to complete your work, it won’t get done. Assertive communication gives you a vehicle to ask for those resources and clearly state what you can do so the team can plan accordingly and count on your contributions. Assertive communication also helps those in leadership to set priorities and expectations so that team members know which tasks to focus on and what to do if they encounter problems. 4. Reduces Stress No one likes feeling unheard or as though their needs never make the priority list. It’s true in family relationships, and it’s true on the job, too. If you feel unheard as a leader or team member, assertive communication can help you break through that wall. Learning to speak up and state what you need firmly and clearly allows your coworkers to adjust their expectations and offer the support that helps the whole team succeed. Knowing you have a path to being heard reduces stress and ensures you have a safety net in your ability to speak up. Expert Training on Assertiveness at Work Mastering the balance of speaking assertively without being rude can be tricky, but it’s a skill worth learning. Our Assertiveness workshop teaches communication and conflict resolution styles and how to [...]

By |2023-11-24T19:16:33-04:00August 9th, 2023|Leadership Tips|Comments Off on 4 Reasons to Be Assertive at Work

4 Smart Ways to Get a Fresh Start

4 Smart Ways to Get a Fresh Start January is a perfect time to get a fresh start. You don’t have to set resolutions in order to give yourself a fresh start. All you need is a few minutes for a brief self-assessment and an open, curious mind. 1. Find Your Why Before setting any goals for this year, consider the reasons behind them. Your why may have to do with your professional life, or it may be more personal. You may enjoy the people you’re working with and find it rewarding to create an environment where you succeed together or you may just want to focus on you and improving your quality of life. Understanding why a goal matters to you personally helps keep you focused. It helps you keep what’s truly important to you front and center. Have you read “Find Your Why” by Simon Sinek? Having trouble putting your why into words? Consider journaling or talking with a friend, coach or mentor to get better clarity. 2. Set Clear Goals Once you understand your why, you can narrow in on what specific goals best support it. What small changes would mean the most in your life in the context of your why? Remember, concrete, specific goals are easier to complete because we can break them down into bite-sized, achievable steps. Having trouble breaking down your goal into intermediary steps? Not sure how to achieve it? We can help! Our coaching solutions offer you the mentorship you need, targeted specifically to your goals. 3. Share Your Goals When you announce and share your intentions you commit more…Talk to your boss or a team member about your goals for the year. You may want to set specific times to get together and discuss your progress. Perhaps this person can be another set of eyes and ears looking out for opportunities in the direction of your goal. Try to avoid creating a one-sided relationship that’s focused only on your needs and success. Instead, look for a symbiotic relationship, where you each have something to offer one another in terms of support and experience. 4. Invest in Yourself Make developing yourself a part of your goal. This might mean earning a new certification or degree, but it doesn’t have to. One of the easiest and most impactful ways to expand your knowledge is through reading. I just downloaded a new APP called Headway that gives me the opportunity to listen to an audiobook summary a day while talking my walk. Identify key areas you’d like to improve in your work processes and relationships. Find a book, workshop or conference that will give you the opportunity to acquire those skills. Another great development action-item can include attending workshops and seminars. For example, if you struggle with being more assertive, our workshop on The Secrets of Conflict Management will help you build that skill. Get a Fresh Start with These 24 Workshops KCC offers 24 different workshops and conferences to expand your expertise [...]

By |2023-03-24T12:01:53-04:00January 19th, 2023|Happiness Tips, Leadership Tips|Comments Off on 4 Smart Ways to Get a Fresh Start

5 Tips for Successful Coaching

5 Tips for Successful Coaching Coaching is one of the most effective methods for leaders to use for performance improvement and for employee engagement. Not only does it help the individual develop and grow, but it shows that we are willing to invest in them and that we believe in their potential. Effective coaching leads to employees who are more proficient, work more independently, produce higher quality work and are more motivated. Successful coaching also increases the performance and ability of the team as a whole. Here are 5 great tips on coaching for success. 1. Give Team Members a Chance to Self-Assess First. Before offering your own insights, always give team members a chance to self-assess. Encouraging self-assessment assists in several ways. First, it encourages improvement even when you are not coaching. It also allows you to determine why the employee may not be performing as desired. For example, it may reveal that they don’t know they’re doing something incorrectly. Self-assessments also help team members build self-esteem. It reinforces the idea that you, as their manager or leader are listening to them, value their views, and consider them an important part of your team. It also increases the chance that problem behaviors will change. If an employee is not identifying areas that you identified (or has identified them incorrectly), use increasingly specific questions to allow the employee to self-assess, if possible.  This allows you to determine if the employee doesn’t know what’s expected, doesn’t have the skill, or simply chooses not to demonstrate the skill. Before moving on to other parts of your coaching session, be sure to reinforce the correct self-assessment. Defer or redirect inappropriate or incorrect self-assessment. 2. Next, Use Assessment Tools. There are different types of assessment tools that you can use to get even more information on the person. Their talent zones, development opportunities, blind spots and hidden potential. You can use psychometric questionnaires, potential assessments or 360° feedback tools. When you use an assessment tool on top of the self-assessment and your own observations, it adds objectivity and more in-detail information to help identify the focus and next steps. At KCC assessments are one of our specialties, we call these “x-rays”. 3. Limit the Focus. In coaching sessions, it’s best to focus on approximately two strengths that can be leveraged and about two areas for development.  Limiting the discussion is critically important for several reasons. First, focusing on just two areas for development helps ensure that the team member reaches proficiency. Adopting new procedures or breaking incorrect patterns is a challenging process. Adding too many changes to a team member’s to-do list all at once is likely to cause more frustration and confusion than success. It’s better to start with the two most important areas for improvement and focus on them to build that success and confidence. Once those areas have improved, there’s a positive track record showing improvement which will energize your team member and encourage them to continue increasing their proficiency. Once [...]

By |2022-03-28T13:45:50-04:00March 28th, 2022|Leadership Tips|Comments Off on 5 Tips for Successful Coaching

4 Ways to Manage Perfectionism for Success

4 Ways to Manage Perfectionism for Success Perfectionism has recently been a big topic for discussion in the workplace. While perfectionists are highly motivated, dedicated workers, a study on perfectionism published in the Harvard Business Review states, “perfectionism is strongly and consistently related to numerous ‘detrimental’ work and non-work outcomes, including higher levels of burnout, stress, workaholism, anxiety, and depression.” Not only that, but another recent study of nearly 42,000 people published in the Harvard Business Review indicates that perfectionism is on the rise in the US, Canada and the UK. Now more than ever, we need great strategies to manage perfectionism in the workplace. How do we create a work environment that supports the assets perfectionists bring to our teams while helping to shield them from the potential harmful effects that can come from perfectionism? Here are 4 ways you can create a supportive environment where perfectionists can thrive, and your team can enjoy the benefits of having those highly motivated team members among you. 1. Model a Healthy Response to Mistakes How do you handle mistakes or a missed deadline? If you respond with grace and compassion, you’re modeling healthy behavior for your team. We are only human, right? Creating a workspace where it’s safe and normal to make mistakes can help perfectionists combat the need to achieve perfection every time on every task. At KCC, we love to remind ourselves that we don’t save lives so, if something doesn’t go the way we planned it, we find a solution and move on! 2. Set Reasonable, Healthy Goals Make sure your team’s goals are based on working at a sustainable pace. Having an all-hands, late-night, big push to complete a job once in a while is okay, but no one can keep up that pace indefinitely. In fact, it’s a recipe for burnout, especially for a perfectionist. Energy and expectation management are key! It’s important to emphasize resilience…Like Muhammed Ali once said, “There’s nothing wrong with getting knocked down, as long as you get right back up.” 3. Perform Regular Check-ins As deadlines approach, check in with your team, especially your perfectionists. Are they feeling a lot of pressure? Do they need help to prioritize or to break down a large goal into smaller, more achievable tasks? Jump in and offer support and ideas to make all team members more efficient. 4. Give Regular Positive Feedback It’s easy for a perfectionist’s inner critic to become the dominant voice giving feedback on their work. Offering regular, specific, positive feedback helps keep reasonable expectations and performance front and center. Remember, perfectionists are highly engaged people. Keeping that energy positive not only helps your team member stay in a healthier state, but brings even more motivation and energy to your whole team. Build Your Best Team Looking for more great strategies to build an effective team? Check out our workshop on Building Effective Teams and get information on best practices and tips for fully utilizing your team’s skills, styles and talents. Ingrid [...]

By |2021-10-19T11:54:34-04:00October 19th, 2021|Leadership Tips|Comments Off on 4 Ways to Manage Perfectionism for Success

4 Ways Personal Development Boosts Leadership Skills

4 Ways Personal Development Boosts Leadership Skills It is exciting to lead people and it is a critical role. According to experts, leaders can have a direct impact on their team’s happiness and self-esteem. That said, in today’s new reality, with fewer resources and a hybrid workforce, being in charge of a team presents unexpected and complex challenges that can leave even seasoned managers at a loss. The solution? Focused personal development training or coaching gives leaders the effective tools they need to navigate these challenging times. Personal development assists leaders and managers in critical ways. Here are 4 key reasons to take advantage of the “back-to-school” season and prioritize personal development to boost your leadership skills. 1. Identify and leverage your strengths and manage your weaknesses Personal development often incorporates assessments that allow managers to discover strengths and opportunities for development. It also teaches how to strengthen both. This assessment is an important first step toward more effective leadership. Self-awareness is one of the top key competencies for leaders, and I always say that an assessment is like a mirror. Even if you know yourself well and/or if you have used them before, it’s always good to take stock again from time to time…and who knows, you may have blind spots! You can choose any of these tools: a potential assessment, a psychometric questionnaire, a personality test, a 360° feedback process or a survey sent to your team. Pursuing personal development that includes identifying strengths to leverage, weaknesses to work on, and then after that targeting course corrections where needed, will give leaders huge opportunities to be more effective, retain employees longer, and meet or exceed goals. 2. Set goals and share with your team Another important way personal development through training or coaching assists leaders is by identifying and breaking a large goal into smaller, achievable steps. This is useful not only in preparing your action plan. It also helps you make sure that your development is on your radar and remains a priority. Communicating your plan with your team is also very impactful. It allows you to demonstrate authenticity and even your vulnerability. It also shows that you “walk the talk” when you say development is something you believe in and take seriously. This can inspire employees who would also benefit from personal development to take action as well. It helps boost team morale and improves employee retention. 3. Stay up-to-date We’ve probably all experienced sometimes being a little behind the times professionally. The best practices of yesterday may not all apply today. With the fast-paced back-to-back changes in today’s world, it’s necessary and inspiring to look for new ideas. The latest, science-based trends, advice and recommendations on how to adjust and adapt your approach will help you to be as successful as possible. 4. Discuss and share ideas with others Another way that personal development training assists management is through focused discussions. These conversations involve a trainer and other participants from or outside your organization. A [...]

By |2021-08-24T16:38:07-04:00August 24th, 2021|Leadership Tips|Comments Off on 4 Ways Personal Development Boosts Leadership Skills

5 Tips for More Effective Meetings

5 Tips for More Effective Meetings Meetings: people seem to love them or hate them. Some see meetings as a time waster, while others thrive on the collaborative energy that comes from regular check-ins or stand-ups. Whatever the emotions that seeing a meeting on the calendar causes, meetings are an essential tool for an effective, successful team. Crafting effective meetings takes a little time and planning, but it yields great results. Here are 5 tips for more effective meetings that will boost your team’s communication and success. 1. Craft a clear and inspiring agenda. Before calling a meeting, establish the agenda. What are the meeting objectives?  These days, more than ever, we should remember to include a more personal goal. On top of “taking care of business”, we need to ask people how they are doing, show that we care and offer our support when needed. 2. Make sure a team meeting is the best approach. While meetings can resolve complex issues quickly, they also interrupt the workflow of the team. Before you schedule a meeting, ask yourself some basic questions. Is the issue best addressed in a team setting or one on one? Which people need to participate? We can inform the others after the meeting. Could the issue effectively be addressed via email or chat or via another medium? Don’t just have meetings out of habit. Meetings are time and energy consuming, and effective meetings should always add value to each person participating. 3. Inform the team of the meeting agenda ahead of time. Send a quick note to the team inviting them to the meeting and giving them an idea of the issues to be addressed. This gives team members a chance to think of questions or gather any relevant information before the meeting begins. 4. Make sure everyone is adding value and actively participating. It’s tempting to have a meeting to update people and share information, but that could be done in an email, right? In order to get the most out of a meeting, make sure it’s an opportunity for brainstorming and getting people’s ideas and input. 5. Send a follow-up reminder after the meeting. After the meeting ends, but while it’s still fresh in everyone’s minds, send a quick note to the team thanking them for their input and listing the highlights of the meeting. This list should include any questions that were raised that require follow-up and any tasks that were assigned to team members. Communicating these points to the team helps keep everyone on track and ensures that tasks get completed. Thanking the team also reinforces the value each member brings and offers much-needed appreciation. We all need that extra boost from time to time! Ingrid Kelada Owner of KCC Positive Business Psychology & Happiness Expert Join Us for a FREE Event March 23rd - How to Stay Connected While Working Apart Join us for a KCC Coffee Chat! This coffee chat will be an interactive presentation in which three of our team [...]

By |2021-05-19T16:21:11-04:00March 8th, 2021|Leadership Tips|Comments Off on 5 Tips for More Effective Meetings

5 Ways a Daily Mindfulness Practice Will Increase Your Happiness

5 Ways a Daily Mindfulness Practice Will Increase Your Happiness One of the most effective ways to increase your happiness and reduce your stress level is to engage in a daily mindfulness or meditative practice. You don’t have to spend hours a day in order to achieve results, but you do need to do a little research and gather some helpful tools, like a quiet space, perhaps an app or video to guide you through your practice as you learn. The goal is pretty simple. Mindfulness is a type of meditation that helps you to focus on what you feel or think and accept it without judging. You can do this in really short sessions—as little as two minutes to begin. There are a number of great free apps that offer guides to mindfulness practice. My favorite is CALM. Before you know it, your daily practice will begin to bring results. Here are 5 ways a daily mindfulness practice will increase your happiness: 1. Reduce Stress Level Regular mindfulness or meditation practice lowers the levels of cortisol, a stress hormone, in the brain. A regular practice—and this can take just a few minutes each day!—can actually physically change the activity in your brain and alter your hormone levels so you feel less stress and anxiety. 2. Reduce Depression It may seem counterintuitive to think that spending more time in your head would help reduce depressive thoughts and feelings, but the science doesn’t lie. A study at Johns Hopkins found that the effects of meditation were moderate, about the same as for antidepressants. 3. Reduce Job Burnout Here’s something exciting to note: the research on mindfulness as a way to reduce workplace stress and burnout is so compelling that some companies are beginning to offer mindfulness training to their employees, such as nursing staff, who routinely experience high stress situations. 4. Increase Attentiveness Spending a few minutes quieting your body and focusing your thoughts not only has an impact in the hormone levels in your brain, but also helps increase your ability to focus. A mindfulness or meditation practice is a great way to help teach your brain not to rush from thought to thought, but to be able to pause and hold one thought at a time. 5. Grow a Happier Brain In my book, 21 Days to Happiness, I talk about some exciting studies that show how meditation and mindfulness practices can actually help you grow a happier brain. This is really exciting research, and it means that happiness really is something we can choose to pursue. Just like targeting a particular part of your body in a strength-training workout, you can target the happiness centers in your brain with a meditation or mindfulness practice of your own. Are you ready to give it a try? Ingrid Kelada Owner of KCC Positive Business Psychology & Happiness Expert Try all 21 Days to Happiness in My Book There’s never been a better time to pursue happiness with my book, 21 [...]

By |2021-02-15T22:10:01-04:00February 16th, 2021|Happiness Tips|Comments Off on 5 Ways a Daily Mindfulness Practice Will Increase Your Happiness

9 Positive Leadership Maxims

9 Positive Leadership Maxims Being a great leader is more than a job—it’s a way of approaching life. It can sometimes be a challenging lifestyle, and can even be discouraging. Here are 9 positive leadership maxims to energize you in your leadership role. 1. To make a difference, be the difference. Are you practicing the changes you want to see in your team? Leading your team by example is a powerful way to lead. 2. Leadership is showing people not that they MUST take a certain action but that they GET TO take that action. The way we word something can make a huge difference in perception and motivation. “I chose you for this and here’s why it’s an opportunity…” sounds and feels better than “I need you or want you to do something…” 3. To get the best out of people, embrace the best in them. What gifts and talents do your team members bring to the table? Are you leveraging those effectively? Consider making a list of each team member and what they do best, and look for new ways to use those abilities to enhance your team’s performance and success. 4. It's not so much what you say as a leader that's important; it's your ability to inspire action that matters. What are you doing to energize your team in meetings? Do they leave a meeting feeling excited to get to work on the next project? Use the last few minutes of each team meeting to inspire your team and instill some excitement for the tasks ahead. Connect what you’re doing to real life. How is your business making a difference in the world, and how do your employees’ actions directly contribute to that? 5. Half the art of listening is waiting. Sometimes just giving people that extra pause before speaking shows them you’re truly open to what they have to say. It can indicate that you’re not only listening but also processing what they share. 6. If you are always right, you are usually wrong. Nobody is perfect, and nobody is right all the time. One of the quickest ways to destroy trust with your team is by refusing to admit when you’re wrong. You may not always be ready to acknowledge it, but your team probably already knows you’ve made a mistake.  The great news is that being humble enough to admit mistakes and correct course with your team will actually help build trust and better position your team for success. 7. The best leaders make use of the simplest of ideas. Complex ideas can take a lot of energy to explain and to convey to others. But a simple idea that can be explained in just a few words? It’s more memorable, more energizing and easier to pass on to others. 8. Leadership is seeing hope in any adversity. In leadership, you don't have to expect the worst, you just have to make the most of it when it happens. It might take some [...]

By |2021-01-19T17:44:56-04:00January 19th, 2021|Leadership Tips|Comments Off on 9 Positive Leadership Maxims
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