Category: Management

 

• They Believe in People. These effective leaders are cheerful, humorous and happy but most importantly they are optimistic and their optimism rubs off on other people. Because they are so positive, they infect the people around them with the same hope. They don’t focus on people’s weaknesses but instead, try and develop their strengths. Because they are so positive and have such a strong belief in people, staff members enjoy working for them.
• They are Excited About Their Role. Effective leaders are constantly excited and enthusiastic about what they’re doing. Their excitement and enthusiasm has a powerful effect on the people around them. They cannot avoid being caught up in the climate for personal development and growth.

Check Out: Be Aware of the Negative Aspects of Positive Reinforcement

• They are Catalysts. Effective leaders harness the synergy of the group and apply their productive efforts to improve things. Because they believe in other people’s ability and potential, delegation is not an issue so their style of supervision is adapted for each individual.
• They Think. Each effective leader puts him time aside every single day without fail, to think. This thinking time is used for setting priorities, designing changes, looking at ways of implementing changes, reviewing their own performance, reviewing the performance of other people in the team, planning and working your ways to implement improvements.
• They Have an Abundance Mentality Effective leaders have no problems with sharing ideas, experience or documentation to help others. They don’t withhold information instead, they distribute as much information as possible to people who may be interested. Effective leaders are givers. They share without expecting anything in return.

 

Traits of ineffective leaders include:

There is little doubt that positive reinforcement is the most potent of all interpersonal tools available to anyone in a leadership position. Unfortunately, it is a tool that is the most misunderstood and most misused in the workplace. Infrequent use of this tool can defeat the intention and be perceived as negative reinforcement.

Positive reinforcement that takes place too long after the event is also regarded as negative reinforcement.

This means that it must be timely and it must be regular when deserved. People in leadership positions should know most about positive reinforcement because this is the only way that all aspects of their followers’ performance can be maximized. The more positive reinforcement that is applied, the more that behavior will be repeated. For example, it has been suggested that acts of terrorism are the consequences of positive reinforcement. Because journalists are quick to report the group that have taken responsibility for an act of terror and publish their names and photographs all over the news, they are inadvertently, reinforcing that behavior.

Check Out: How Effective Leaders Use Positive Reinforcement For the Greatest Effect

Some leaders have found that by making immediate and visible responses to complaints from their staff, the number of complaints has risen dramatically. This is a difficult situation to deal with because the complaints cannot be ignored and must be acted on. By the same token, it has to be clearly seen that positive reinforcement has the potential to create a constant stream of complaints which will lead to continual dissatisfaction. One of the ways of handling this situation is to create a “fix it” list. On this list, things to be fixed are prioritized. As soon as one item is fixed, another one can be added.

Another area where positive reinforcement can cause a problem is the fact that what is positively reinforcing to one person will not necessarily work with another. This means that trying to positively reinforce across an organization is fraught with danger and is unlikely to be successful because of the number of people who will be unhappy with it. Successful relationships will only develop when you know what each person wants and you, as the leader, can help that person to be successful. Over the years, many organizations have attempted to make positive changes that affect everybody without considering them as individuals.

The message for the leader is this, “People want to be recognized and reinforced as individuals for their individual effort and results. Anything less will not only have the potential to have a negative effect but also create resentment.”

There has been a lot of research over the years to try and discover why some leaders are more effective than others. Unfortunately, the major part has been based on what leaders say they do rather than actually what they do.. One researcher who has devoted their time to what leaders actually do, is Dr. J Komaki.

What she discovered is that effective leaders and managers didn’t give positive reinforcement more frequently than the ineffective leaders and managers. But their timing was different. Whenever possible, the effective managers and leaders gave positive reinforcement while the people were doing the job. This meant that they spent a considerable amount of time in the workplace. In contrast, the ineffective leaders spent most of their time in their offices.

When you give reinforcement when the behavior is being performed, you know exactly what you are reinforcing. Further more, the person receiving the reinforcement is in no doubt of which behavior is being reinforced. Most ineffective leaders don’t realize that reinforcement has got the definite shelf life. The longer the gap between the behavior and the reinforcement the less effective it is.

The effective leader also goes further. He or she knows that one of the greatest advantages of teamwork is that team members can provide an immediate reinforcement for each other. Leaders like this train their team members to give positive reinforcement at every opportunity. After all, the team members are in the best position to judge which behaviors deserve reinforcement.

Generally speaking, the amount of reinforcement that is given an organizations is tiny. Managers and leaders complain that often they give reinforcement but the behavior doesn’t change. Although most managers and leaders understand what reinforcement is and how it works, they are not aware of a frequent it has to develop high performing teams and effective organizations. To give an example, the median number of reinforcers given in the classroom is about six an hour.

Check Out: Making Behavior Change Stick Through Effective Change Leadership

When you think about the last time you tried to train somebody in a workplace task, just reflect on the number of positive reinforcers you actually used. Without over doing it, this can be a very effective addition to your leadership style and it can also make you more effective in the training and coaching role of a leader. When there are too few incidents of positive reinforcement research shows that it becomes a negative reinforcement. The best example of this can be seen in the effect of annual performance appraisals. Because the frequency is so low, there is no way that they can have any impact on organizational performance or individual behavior.

 

How Effective Leaders Discover What Each Person Needs For Positive Reinforcement

As a leader, you need to be able to identify the specific reinforcers that apply to your individual team members. Each of your followers will respond best to an individual mixture of reinforcers. In this respect, no two people are the same. To keep track of the reinforcers that apply to each person, it’s a good move to keep either notebook or a page on your computer so that you can remember and add more information. It is also wise to sit down with that person and check to make sure that the information that you have written down about the things that reinforce them are current and not being superseded by something else.

Because we are all different, it takes a little bit of time to collect the mixture of reinforcers that apply to each individual. As a leader, your positive reinforcement will be much more effective if it is directed to the very things that mean most to your followers. But you need to find out from them how to motivate them to apply their discretionary effort. Think about yourself and consider the things that you regard as positive reinforcement that will motivate you to use your own discretionary effort. Make a note and also think about what it would be like if these reinforcers were applied on a regular basis.

Check out: Be aware of the Negative Negative Aspects of Positive Reinforcement

The technique for discovering these reinforcers is basically one of listening and encouragement. For example, the discussion may follow these lines after the small talk has been dispensed with.

You “Tell me Jack what are the things in this job they give you a buzz? What do you get a kick out of?”

Jack “Well, it’s always good to finish a job knowing that it’s the best I can do.”

You “Tell me more”

Jack “When I’ve been working on something for a week or so, it’s good to see the back of the job and I get a great feeling of satisfaction when it passes all the inspections and goes out of the door. I know that I couldn’t have done it any better so gives me a good feeling.”

You “Is there anything else that gives you the same feeling of satisfaction?”

Jack “Not really the same but I do get a kick out of thinking about the jobs and working out ways of making it better or simpler or quicker. I don’t always mention things like this but it does make me feel good.”

From this very short discussion, you can see that there’s a couple of areas there that would be worthwhile noting down as reinforcers. Firstly, the satisfaction that Jack gets from the completion of the job and secondly, the satisfaction from working out better ways of doing the job. It would be very simple for the leader to go up to Jack at any time to discover and discuss what he had done to make his job easier.

Note that the person asking the questions spent most of the time listening, probably in the region of 90%. The questioner was using the technique of minimal responses which is a way of encouraging the speaker to continue to talk. The other techniques which can be used quite easily are, being comfortable with the silence and not rushing to fill the gap. Making good on contact with the out delivering an un-wavering stare. Using paraphrasing to confirm understanding. All these methods will make the job of discovering what to reinforce for each team member, relatively simple.

Check Out: 7 Secrets of Effective Leaders

Five Factors All Leaders Should Know About Positive Reinforcement

When you are in a leadership position the most powerful interpersonal tool available to you, is positive reinforcement. Regrettably, the whole concept of positive reinforcement has not received the attention it deserves from all the written literature that is published every year on leadership.

People in leadership positions are constantly reminded of the importance of profitability, reduction of waste, customer service and increase productivity. The link between positive reinforcement and profitability has never been emphasized strongly enough. The result is that many people in leadership positions are failing to use the most important resource at their fingertips to increase the bottom line.

The five factors are:

1. Positive reinforcement should be tailor-made to the individual rather than applied as a blanket approach which creates unhappy people. There is no “one size fits all” approach that works because leaders are dealing with so many different people.
2. As a tool, it should be applied only when it has been earned. There is no point providing benefits across the workforce if only some of them deserve it. Those that don’t deserve it will gradually reduce the effort that they put into their work because they are being reinforced for low performance. One of the worst things the business do is to give a percentage by increases regardless of performance. This means that poor performance is rewarded and it also fails to reinforce the top performers because they feel that a universal pay rise does not recognize their efforts.
3. The application of positive reinforcement is not an event, it is a process. People will work at their very best, but they require positive, relevant reinforcement daily. To achieve maximum results it must be built into the work relationships and the work processes by the leader.
4. The timing is critical. The closer you can make the reinforcement to the behavior that you are reinforcing, the more likely the behavior is to be repeated. The bigger the time gap, the less chance of this happening. The three conditions under which it works best are, it must be positive, it must be immediate and it must be certain.
5. Without doubt, personal relationships produce the best reinforcement. This means that leadership behavior is the key to influencing the performance of followers. Every time there is an interaction between the leader and a follower, the link between their work and the overall objective can be of emphasized so they feel they are contributing to a greater goal. This gives them a sense of belonging and a sense of ownership of what they’re doing.

This is an extremely low-cost strategy but the return on the investment is very high and everybody who holds a leadership position should be aware of the power of positive reinforcement.

There are certain rules of human behavior that must be considered when developing a process of safety management. If you violate these rules, you will fail in your objective to develop a safer workplace. The rules themselves are simple, however, don’t be deceived because they have a great influence on human behavior.

Rules of Workplace Safety Managemet

• Repetition: To get your message across it is necessary to use repetition. Repetition will ensure that your safety message is at the top of every employees’ consciousness. Safety management is a process not an event. One of the ways to create this consciousness about safety is to hold five-minute safety briefings at the beginning of each shift. This is very similar to a game plan which is discussed before a sports team takes the field. If you make the safety briefings relevant, interesting and valuable, you will find that staff members will contribute readily.
• Consistency: The concept of consistency applies to many situations and has a profound effect on human behavior. We trust people who are consistent, we believe their message, in turn we will tend to be more trustworthy and consistent. Consistency is demonstrated. For example, if, at a safety briefing you mention that there will be no blame should an accident occur, the statement must be backed up by your behavior and the behavior of others in the event of an accident.

Check Out: How to Improve Your Safety Culture

• Involvement: Involvement is the key to safety management. To gain control, you must give control. The people who are ideally situated to develop safe working practices are the people doing the job. This contrasts with the normal prescriptive safety management process where somebody, somewhere creates rules and regulations without the experience of doing the job. Every single person on any work site should be able to contribute to safe working practices. If you avoid this basic principle, you will find that the imposed “safe working practices” will be ignored.
• Positive reinforcement: The number one tool in safety management is positive reinforcement. If you are serious about creating a safer workplace, make sure that you recognize safe behavior. Every day go on a mission to find people who are working safely and tell them that you have noticed what they are doing. This is harder than it sounds. Try it and find out for yourself. But remember, the results are well worth the effort. Catch your people doing it safely and they will continue to do it safely.
• Common sense: It has been said that sense is not that common. This is relevant when considering workplace safety management. If the safety rules and regulations don’t pass the common sense of the people at risk, they will not comply. That’s why the involvement of the staff in safety management is so important.

 

 

10 Tips to Improve a Safety Management System

Many companies have employee volunteer programs, but for many companies in Europe, Canada and the US these programs are underfunded, underdeveloped and underutilized. This article is meant to offer a compelling reason why your business needs to invest (a bit more) in employee volunteering. This is also a great opportunity to make people aware of your Security Company by having the employees wear t-shirts with your security company logo, as well as it makes people aware of your commitment to the local community.

Employee Engagement: The Direct Connection to Business Success

The evidence supporting the importance of employee engagement is incontrovertible. Beyond the reports and analysis, even common sense will tell you that an engaged workforce is important to a company’s well-being and profitability.

But let’s start with the bad news – According to a recent Scarlett Survey, on average, it’s safe to assume that at least 31% of your employees are disengaged. Worse yet, 4% of those who are disengaged are probably hostile. That means that they are speaking poorly of your company to all their friends and family and most likely stealing office supplies. (Seriously.)

On the other hand, according to Gallup, companies with high levels of employee engagement enjoy a significant uplift of every business performance number. Gallup performed a meta-analysis across 199 studies covering 152 organizations, 44 industries, and 26 countries. They discovered that for companies where employees were more engaged than not, their profitability jumped by 16%. Not only that, general productivity was 18% higher than other companies. Customer loyalty was 12% higher and quality jumped up by an incredible 60%. (Harvard Business Review)

But What’s the Connection Between Employee Engagement and Volunteering?

First, it’s important to establish that there is, in fact, a connection. In Ireland, a recent study found that 87% of employees who volunteered with their companies reported an improved perception of their employer. More importantly, a whopping 82% felt more committed to the organization they worked for.

In another study conducted by Volunteer Match and United Healthcare entitled “Do Good Live Well Study Reviewing the Benefits of Volunteering”, researchers found that employees who volunteer through their workplace report more positive attitudes towards their employer as well as colleagues. An interesting benefit to employers is the improved physical and emotional health of employees who volunteer. That means that if companies want to decrease their health costs, they should be looking to volunteering as an affordable and accessible solution.

Check Out: Company Culture

Why is There a Connection Between Employee Engagement and Volunteering?

Specifically, employee volunteering programs increase engagement levels at work when it connects to an individual’s need for meaning and accomplishment. This was first demonstrated in 1968 when Frederick Herzberg article “One More Time, How Do You Motivate Employees?” was published. The article was so popular, that by 1987 it was the most requested article from the Harvard Business Review having sold 1.2 million reprints.

Frederick Herzberg, was a psychologist who suggested that, based on his data, what made people happy at work was not the same thing as what made people unhappy at work. What makes us unhappy at work is lousy pay, lousy work conditions (like your cubicle space or no windows), and a lousy boss. If you fix those it makes a better working condition but it actually won’t make you happy at work.

What makes you happy at work are things like achievement, recognition, more responsibility, the chance to advance, personal growth, etc. These concepts all have to do with personal fulfillment and our humanity. When a company takes time to formally offer an opportunity to get involved in community, what they’re doing is creating the right kind of space for people to express their personal interests and personal desires that go beyond what they’re doing as part of the company. And so it integrates their life inside that building, or that assembly line, or those sales calls with the rest of the world.

If you are more satisfied with who you are as a person, you simply do better in life. People with a purpose outperform those of us wandering around wondering what it all means. Companies that are able to connect people to passions and interests where they feel they’re making a significant contribution as a human being, will see a direct correlation to significant benefits. Assuming it’s true that employee engagement is increased through volunteering, the business benefit is crystal clear. Companies satisfied with low participation rates or only annual activities, are missing huge financial benefits.

Check Out: 7 Ways to Build Trust – The Vital Ingredient of Your Safety Culture

How Huge is Corporate Volunteering?

According to the 2008/2009 study, Driving Business Results Through Continuous Engagement by WorkUSA, companies with engaged employees experience 26% higher revenue per employee, 13% total higher total returns to shareholders, and a 50% higher market premium.

Think about it. What is your company’s earnings per employee? Microsoft’s is currently at $244,831 per employee. Increasing that number by 26% equals a $63,656.06 increase in revenue per employee. To ignore that potential would be bad business.

SO, you have read this article and now are thinking about what sort of employee volunteering activities your company could do. My best advice on that is to partner with a larger volunteer organization, like Habitat for Humanity, or a local soup kitchen. That way you have ample volunteer activities with minimal investment and get to provide a great service to the local community.

This is also a great time for basic brand recognition, by providing your employees with branded t-shirts with your security guard company’s logo, so people see you are committed to your local community.

With the thought of taking from your operating budget to spend on staff training initiatives, it’s understandable if you consider employee development an expense. Yet because the benefits of training are so numerous, it’s much more beneficial to consider training as an investment in human resources.

The right staff training program can increase productivity, decrease the need for supervision, reduce absenteeism, improve customer service, lower the number of complaints, and boost sales. Well-informed employees make fewer mistakes and are more effective in dealing with your customers. And because employees will feel valued and appreciated, training can also increase the commitment and personal confidence that your staff feel in their jobs. This helps to create an appealing work environment and will help minimize staff turnover. If you choose your training wisely, it’s clear your dollars will be well-spent.

What Does It Cost When Budgeting for Training?

The cost of your training program will depend on the type of training you require. Many different types of training exist, each varying widely in cost.  Before you choose one, know what results you are after. Then, select the training activities that best fit those results and your budget.

Training Type	Relative Cost
On-the-job coaching and mentoring	$
Self-directed study	$
Video presentations	$
Job shadowing	$
Satellite distance learning (e-learning)	$$
Seminars	$$
One-to-one tutoring	$$
College courses	$$$
Group workshops (external)	$$$
Consultant training (in-house)	$$-$$$

Legend: $ – Least Expensive, $$ – More Expensive, $$$ – Most Expensive

Creating a Training Budget

Budgeting for training does not mean using surplus money when it’s available. Instead, you should build a separate line item for training into your yearly budget. A training budget should include the following costs:

• Initial communication about the training program
• Training delivery (e.g. classes, video tutorials, e-learning, course fees)
• Training materials (workbooks, videos)
• Staff time (including replacement time)
• Instructor fee
• Travel, lodging or meal expenses required to participate
• Ongoing training (upkeep)
• Contingencies

Check Out: 10 Reasons Why Safety Training is Often Ineffective

Managing the Budget

Once approved, your training budget will need careful management to ensure that costs stay on track. Unforeseen events can lead to changing costs. A specially trained staff member might unexpectedly leave the company before their knowledge is passed on to others. Training costs will increase if you need to rely on external resources.

How Much to Spend on Training?

Many large organizations commit to investing anywhere from two to five percent of salary budgets back into training. While that may not be realistic for you, it’s important to find a number you feel your budget can absorb. Base the figure you’ll use on your needs analysis.

You may be tempted to use the least expensive trainers or training materials available. Often, using “b” level resources produces “b” results. Increase the likelihood of success by always striving for A’s. Use the best caliber training you can afford.

Check Out: How to Put Together a Workplace Safety Training Workshop

Ways to Save

Depending on the size of your staff, you may find training costs add up quickly. Here are some ways you can save on costs:

• Group training: earn volume discounts by training numerous employees at once (sometimes as few as three participants will qualify)
• Re-use materials: training materials such as videos have a long shelf life and may be used repeatedly
• Teach one, teach all: spend on off-site training for one employee, but have him or her present their knowledge to remaining staff
• E-learning: electronic options are cheaper than traditional, instructor-led training

Another tip is to negotiate free or reduced-cost training from your vendors, who will be happy to help you if it means their product will be successful.

Remember, the right training program will save you money in the long run.

Check Out: Back and Lifting Safety Training

Securing Commitment

Don’t forget that employee commitment is necessary for training to succeed.  One way to ensure employees take the effort seriously is to have those getting specialized training to share the cost. Employees who have made a personal investment in learning will be more focused on completing the task.

If you are footing the bill, get employees to commit to working for you for a specified period of time following the training’s completion. Let them know you will require reimbursement if they aren’t able to fulfill the agreement.

It is also important to have full support for training efforts from senior people in your organization. If they understand the long-term value of employee development, they should be able to help by earmarking funds for training.

SMART goal setting brings structure and trackability into your goals and objectives. Instead of vague resolutions, SMART goal setting creates verifiable trajectories towards a certain objective, with clear milestones and an estimation of the goal’s attainability. Every goal or objective, from intermediary step to overarching objective, can be made S.M.A.R.T. and as such, brought closer to reality.

In corporate life, SMART goal setting is one of the most effective and yet least used tools for achieving goals. Once you’ve charted to outlines of your project, it’s time to set specific intermediary goals. With the SMART checklist, you can evaluate your objectives. SMART goal setting also creates transparency throughout the company. It clarifies the way goals came into existence, and the criteria their realization will conform to.

Understanding SMART Goals

Specific goals are able to be accomplished easier than a general goal.

A good way to set a specific goals is to answer the six “W”s: Who, What, Where, Which, When, Why.

• Who: Who is involved in completion of the goal?
• What: What is it I want to accomplish?
• Where: Where am I accomplishing this goal?
• Which: Identify the requirements and potential constraints
• When: When is it going to be accomplished?
• Why: Why am I setting this goal?

 

A measurable goal is a specific concrete criterion towards attaining your goal. Measuring progress is a good way to track progress towards completion, and experience the sense of accomplishment as you hit each goal mark.

An easy way to make a goal measurable is to ask yourself questions like:

• how many;
• how much;
• how will I know when it is accomplished?

 

An achievable goal  are realistic and also attainable. While an achievable goal may stretch your understandings in order to achieve it, the goal is not extreme. That is, the goals are neither out of reach nor below standard performance, since these may be considered meaningless. You develop the attitudes, abilities, skills and financial capacity to reach them. The theory states that an achievable goal may cause goal-setters to identify previously overlooked opportunities to bring themselves closer to the achievement of their goals.

An achievable goal will usually answer the question How?

• How can the goal be accomplished?
• How realistic is the goal based on other constraints?

 

Relevant goals stress the importance of choosing goals that matter and are impactful. A clothing store manager’s goal to “To cook 20 pieces of chicken by 2pm” may be specific, measurable, attainable and time-bound but lacks relevance. Many times you will need support to accomplish a goal: resources, a leading voice, someone to knock down obstacles. Goals that are relevant to your boss, your team, your organization, yourself, will receive that needed support.

A goal that supports or is in alignment with other goals would be considered a relevant goal.

A relevant goal can answer yes to these questions:

• Does this seem worthwhile?
• Is this the right time?
• Does this match our other efforts/needs?
• Are you the right person?

 

A Time-Based goal stresses the importance of grounding goals within a time-frame, giving them a target date. A commitment to a deadline helps people focus their efforts on completion of the goal on or before the due date. This part of the SMART goal criteria is intended to prevent goals from being overtaken by the day-to-day crises that invariably arise in an organization. A time-based goal is intended to establish a sense of urgency.

A time-based goal will usually answer the question

• When?
• What can I do six months from now?
• What can I do six weeks from now?
• What can I do today?

Check Out: The 7 Secrets of Effective Leaders

So, now you understand SMART Goals, at least a little better.  It is optimal to start setting SMART goals for yourself both within your job and for professional development.

When doing that, there are a few considerations while building the goals for optimal performance.

Align your SMART goals to organizational objectives

Before you set your goals, you should review your company’s and department’s objectives and justify what you can do to contribute to them. Your efforts will only pay of if you know why you are setting the SMART goals and you align them to the wider goals of the company you work for.

This is obviously good for a departmental SMART goal, but is also powerful for a professional development goal. Say your company is lagging in a specific area, that you recognize, and you can develop the skills or knowledge to address it. This is a goal alignment that allows for you to position yourself better professionally, while also helping your department/company.

Ask yourself;

• Is the goal specific?
• What am I going to measure whether or not it is achieved?
• Is this goal truly achievable?
• Is this goal relevant to the organizational strategy and your job?
• Did you set a clear deadline for your goal?

Be clear on what success looks like

Do you want your organization to be setting Smart Goals that are very safe and achievable, or do you expect them to be reaching with Stretch Goals? By establishing a clear expectation of what Success looks like within the organization, leaders can actively encourage people to reach for ambitious goals. For example, a clear message that ‘We expect you to achieve 70% of your goals and that is what success looks like. Achieving 100% of your goals is failure and means you set the bar too low.’ is a very strong message.

Continually review and adjust each goal

Things change. Therefore, it is important you regularly revisit your goals and adjust them as you go.

Check Out: Budgeting for Training