Some workplace stress is inevitable while other sources of workplace stress are avoidable. Stress management in the workplace is about helping employees to better cope with stressors that cannot be avoided, and about reducing opportunities for employee stress where that is possible.

Exercise and Relaxation

A good starting place for workplace stress management is to promote exercise and relaxation class opportunities within the workplace. Regular physical exercise benefits employee health in numerous ways, one of which happens to be making employees more resilient with regard to stress. Employees who exercise regularly tend to have more stamina, a more positive mood, are typically able to concentrate better, and generally are less susceptible to minor illnesses that can send them to the doctor. Relaxation programs including gentle yoga, meditation, breathing exercises, etc.) promote stress-relief by helping people practice maintaining a relaxed posture (physically and mentally) in the face of stress. Companies that don’t offer exercise and relaxation benefits should consider offering them, and employees who have such benefits should strongly consider taking advantage of them.

Daily Hassles

Workplace stress relief can also be greatly facilitated by helping employees learn how to deal with and better manage daily hassles. Some of the more specific factors that effect workplace stress, and which can be managed are:

· Difficult working conditions, (noise, lighting, etc.), shift-work, long hours, work-related travel demands, adaptation to new technology and just plain and simple work overload.

· Employees not really understanding their role and responsibilities within the organization.

· Dysfunctional relationships between employee and boss, employee and subordinates and employees and their colleagues, as well as relationships with customers/clients

· Concerns about job security, obsolescence, involuntary retirement, performance appraisals, etc.

· Dual-career couples/families keep the pressure up around the clock.

Considered broadly, these specific concerns reduce down to about seven common causes of stress in the workplace:

· Time pressures

· Loss of control

· Personal beliefs and style

· Getting along with others

· Dealing with change

· Physical and environmental demands of the job

· Personal habits that magnify workplace stress

The leadership role in managing stress

As an automobile owner you put oil in the engine to reduce strains on parts rubbing against other parts, in so doing, reducing stress on the engine and increasing the life of the car. The same attention to maintenance applies to your staff.

One way you can help your employees be less stressed is to be clear about what is expected of them. Be clear about each employee’s specific contribution to projects and set realistic deadlines. Establish mini-deadlines so everyone knows that projects are progressing on schedule. Dividing complex tasks into small steps makes it easier for employees to accomplish those tasks and to appreciate when they are behind or ahead of schedule. Smaller steps reduce stress for everyone.

Try to assign work assignments to people who are competent to complete them. One of the biggest wastes of time for everyone is for someone without the proper training to be given an assignment they do not have the expertise to complete. Keep your employee’s training up-to-date and reward them if and when they elect to gain more training on their own. Invest money in maintaining enough staff to do the jobs that need to be done well. Merely piling more and more work on your workforce will eventually result in failure for the organization. Give good employees the tools and support they need to make you and the organization successful.

Set a personal example of how one should behave at work. Employees should understand that when they are at work, you expect them to get work done. For example, Internet use during business hours should be confined to what is necessary to complete business or organizational tasks. It is not appropriate for employees to spend large amounts of time emailing, instant messaging or web-surfing on the company’s time. While it is wise to be supportive of employees, a manager does not have to put up with people playing while on the job. Reward employees for getting things done on time or before. Be alert to employees that tend to procrastinate and consult with them early about this tendency and the potential problems this behavior will cause for you both if it continues.

Take care of interpersonal disputes and employees that are seriously toxic to the environment quickly so they do not pollute the workplace. Encourage employees to make use of human resource and employee assistance opportunities if they need then and do not hesitate to make necessary referrals.

On the other hand, try to allow employees to feel like they have some control over their work environment. Get employees’ input when making decisions if possible as it helps them feel more involved and the work more relevant to them. Don’t micromanage. Employees who can work independently should be allowed leeway to do so (The ones who cannot work independently are the ones you probably are having to remind about the work ethic and not doing personal activities on the job). Reward creative and/or thoughtful recommendations from employees. In fact, periodically recognize all types of excellence in your employees. To create a less stressful environment the rule is to recognize excellence in a public way, but to voice displeasure with work and make corrections in private.

As far as the general work environment is concerned, decent lighting, clean air, a comfortable working temperature, and possibly very low-level calming music (without vocals) can help. If employees are in tiny cubicles try to size the furnishings so that they do not overwhelm the space. Try to provide for adequate storage of information and materials so that small spaces do not become so cluttered that they impair concentration and thought. Try to keep the noise level manageable and equipment in good repair.

The idea of enhancing the bottom line by laying off “non-vital” employees may be well intentioned but can give rise to a negative atmosphere of fear and uncertainty if handled poorly. While any organization may have to cut jobs under extraordinary circumstances, the more positive, creative organizations regroup very quickly after lay-offs and begin to reinforce a positive, externally-oriented perspective. Negative work environments rarely improve their productivity and negative organizations are seldom long-term successes. Businesses that think of employees as merely overhead find themselves cutting staff again and again and again without ever really resolving the underlying issues.

THE EMPLOYEE AND STRESS AT WORK

Employees can help themselves to better manage the common causes of workplace stress by trying some of the following:

Ways to Improve Time Pressures

One of the most important things that a person can do is to set aside 15 – 30 minutes a day to relax. There are many methods of pursuing relaxation, including but not limited to meditation, deep breathing practice, yoga or other mind-body exercises, and simply assuming a comfortable posture and listening to recorded nature sounds (ocean waves, rain, etc.) or peaceful music of your choice. Making time for a brief respite in the middle of your stressful day is the doorway to reducing stress in all areas of your life.

Another helpful idea is to always leave 10 or 15 minutes “early” when going to work, or to meetings, and to allow at least a 15 minute break between appointments whenever possible. It is amazing how much distress can be relieved by building these buffers into your schedule.

Try to overcome a tendency to procrastinate. Get yourself a scheduler and use it. Negotiate project deadlines at the beginning of a project and take steps to renegotiate deadlines immediately upon realizing that initial estimates were unrealistic. Break assignments into smaller parts and establish your own personal mini-deadlines for accomplishing them. This practice will allow the project to be completed on schedule. Actually write out your plan and begin with the part you like doing the least. It is a good idea to plan little rewards each step of the way (breaks, snacks, etc.). During the time you need to be working concentrate and focus on what you are doing and do your best work. When the day’s work is done allow yourself a little reward.

Be honest in recognizing just how much you can accomplish and try to respect your limits. Each of us has a limited amount of time, energy and capability (which boils down to training and experience). While it is important to keep growing and challenging yourself, it is counterproductive to take on assignments that are poorly defined or far beyond your competence.

Ways to Exercise Self-Control

We humans have a need to be able to predict stressful events and their eventual outcome. We want to have some control over what happens and we need and appreciate the emotional support other people can provide when we are facing stressful times. While we can’t always control our circumstances, we can always control our reactions and attitudes about our situation. One positive way to gain a sense of control is to give tasks 100 percent of your concentration and effort. Find value in the work you do and find ways to make it challenging. If you are involved you will feel much less frustrated and you will be too committed to what you are doing to feel bored.

Prioritize your goals for work and your home life. Do the things necessary to achieve your goals and also assume responsibility for unexpected serious matters. You do not have to accept all requests to be on committees or to be involved in dozens of groups that require large contributions of your time. Learn to politely say no when necessary. If you make exceptions do so in your personal life, especially in relation to your spouse, children and dearest friends. Few dying people wish they had spent more of their time working, but many wish they had spent more time with family and loved ones. Reach for your professional goals, but if you are blessed with a family and friends do not neglect them. Finding the appropriate balance between your work and personal lives can make you better able to contribute to both endeavors than if you emphasize only one side of the equation.

Ways to Compensate For Personality Pitfalls

Your personality characteristics can influence how easy of a time you have coping with work stress. Some people are driven achievers while others take a more laid back approach to life. Driven people are more likely to suffer health problems as a result of stress, and to find the work place more stressful than less ambitious people. The ambitious person’s expectations (and therefore the amount of stress they experience) become magnified when goals they wish to achieve are vague (like wanting to become “rich and famous”; this is a difficult to achieve goal because it is a moving target: How much wealth or fame is enough?). Ambitious people serve themselves by recognizing their driven tendencies and compensate for them with relaxation and reality testing activities that help them calm down and set more manageable expectations. Vague goals can be recast into clear and relevant objectives and plans. It is best to reexamine goals while in a calm state of mind—when you are neither panicked nor driven by uncontrolled ambition.

Another common work stressor is the fear that something you did or said will come back to haunt you. Most workplace fears are irrational and are a bit like many workplace anxieties, (e.g., they concern events in the future which are in reality not very likely to occur). Try not to waste too much time on minor issues that will probably never amount to anything. Keep an eye on your ego and any tendency to become inappropriately insecure. Instead, resolve to do your best to repair work relationships if they do go sour, and to not worry about what is otherwise out of your control. Instead of dwelling on these “could happen” scenarios, work towards developing a positive attitude towards your work, work relationships and yourself.

Take positive steps to manage your work-related fears. If your major fear is job-loss, or being ‘trapped’ in a job you do not find fulfilling, try saving money from each paycheck so that over time you develop a cash buffer sufficient to grant you the freedom to leave your current position, or survive a layoff. You might also find that making time to keep your employability skills up-to-date, and your network of business-related contacts well oiled pays off in less work-related anxiety and better sleep. Regarding work-related skills, take advantage of training programs offered through your employer and look for additional ones on your own. If catastrophe strikes you will be as ready as you could be. Knowing this can relieve an enormous amount of stress.

Ways to Get Along with Other People

A big stressor at work involves problems people have in relating with other people, whether bosses, subordinates, colleagues or customers. Some of the most common causes for these sorts of problems are competitiveness, anger, and envy (i.e., greed). Just becoming aware that such feelings could be motivating your current behavior can be illuminating. Having become aware of your perceptions and feelings, you are now in a position to alter how you are participating in the stressful relationship so that it becomes less stressful.

When it comes to dealing with an overbearing employer, an unresponsive subordinate or a tyrant of a supervisor the problem sometimes boils down to assertiveness issues (e.g., you end up being too passive or too aggressive in your dealings with others). Your human resources department or employee assistance program can direct you towards assertiveness training resources that can help you learn how to appropriately assert yourself in the workplace.

Ways to Deal with Change

Be willing to accept change because it is inevitable. Recognize that because the world is constantly changing, so too must the work world. New technologies and methods of getting things done are par for the course, necessary adaptations that employers make as they attempt to keep the business current and viable. Instead of griping about having to learn new things, do what you can to approach them with a positive attitude and an open mind, and don’t be afraid to ask for help if you need it in getting started. You’ll be amazed at how accomplished you feel when you develop mastery of a new skill.

Sometimes work-related change means that your position could be consolidated or otherwise lost. Alternatively, your employment may require to you make significant life changes in order to keep your position. Any change that requires you to make major life changes would seem at first glance to be completely negative, but this is not always the case. In many cases, what seems to be all negative reveals itself over time to have positive aspects. You may find yourself in a new position that you enjoy more than before, or you may meet new people who become your friends. Giving inevitable change the benefit of the doubt; approaching it with a positive attitude helps you to cope better and more successfully than if you try to cling to a past that is no more. What you will gain is a certain calmness about the future because you are able to see its potential.

Ways to Manage Environmental Stresses at Work

There are many jobs that involve physical danger. Soldiers at war, policemen, firefighters, and miners know this all too well. Most of us, however, do not have to face the possibility of death in our daily workplace. Most modern physical difficulties are the result of jobs that require us to stand or sit all day while maintaining high levels of concentration, situations which are both tiring and repetitive. Customer or client-facing positions bombard us with customer’s physical and emotional demands and can similarly leave us feeling exhausted at the end of the day. Some jobs require repetitive manipulation of industrial machinery or computers, which can sometimes result in repetitive motion problems (carpal tunnel syndrome and similar difficulties). Whatever the stress and strains associated with a given position are, they are worse for people who work “graveyard” shifts. Working all night and trying to sleep during the day keeps people out-of-sync both physically and emotionally.

Although there will always be some aspects of the physical workplace environment that cannot be smoothed away, some things about the work environment or the way that the work proceeds can be changed for the better. Try to identify stressful aspects of your work environment that could, with a little attention, be made less stressful, and see about making those changes if possible. If your hands bother you after using the computer all day, ask your human resources staff about whether ergonomic adjustments for your desk and chair are possible. If the florescent lights at your workplace drive you bonkers, bring your own lamp or lamps to work. Consider an inexpensive “white” noise generating device to block out distracting noises. Another helpful option to reduce environmental stress is to listen to soothing, relaxing music (which contains no words) played at a very low, background level. If this is not possible try to learn to focus very intently on what you are doing, including listening to your own breathing. Slow, deep breathing can directly reduce the intensity of stress feelings because we breathe faster and less deeply when we are stressed. However you are able to achieve it, concentration can significantly reduce the environmental stress you experience.

There are other small ways you can reduce work-associated stress as well. If your work space is really small, try to see if you can’t have a smaller chair to sit in instead of a big chair. Keep your space very neat and add a few personal touches. Substituting caffeine-free tea, herbal tea or water for endless cups of coffee can also go a long way towards keeping you calm. Drinking water is useful in reducing stress because becoming dehydrated can make you feel lethargic and tired which leave you much more likely to feel stressed.

Ways to Make Your Lifestyle More Stress-Management Friendly

Do you not exercise regularly? Do you fail to get a full night’s sleep? Do you drink excessive amounts of caffeinated beverages (coffee, tea, soda)? Do you drink alcohol to excess? Do you fight frequently with your spouse or significant other? Are you having difficulty parenting your children? Most of us could answer yes to one or more of these questions.

Lifestyle habits such as not getting enough sleep, failing to exercise, or not knowing how to argue civilly with your spouse can make you more susceptible to stress at work. Your efforts towards correcting these problems and living a healthier lifestyle will go a long way towards making you more resilient, and capable of better handling workplace stress.

Living a healthy lifestyle takes discipline, and a sense of commitment, but it is really not all that difficult:

• Commit yourself to exercising three or more times per week for at least 30 minutes each time.
• Replace the junk food and alcohol binges in your life with fresh vegetables, lean meats and whole grain breads.
• Practice relaxation exercises: Find time at least once a week for a relaxing soak, or a game of golf. Take up yoga or Pilates or basketball. Take a meditation seminar.
• Train yourself to become relaxed through auto-suggestion: When you do feel calm start to recognize the sensation and repeat a word (such as “calm”) to yourself. Over time this word will come to elicit a sense of relaxation—just don’t forget to continue to think the word to yourself while you are in a relaxed state.
• Be conscious of your posture and physical carriage. Try to sit and stand straight with your shoulders back, down and relaxed. Consider taking up Yoga or Pilates (disciplines which will help improve your posture as well as improve your body strength, flexibility and resilience). Shake out your hands periodically to reduce stress in them and try to keep from gritting your teeth and furrowing your brow.

In short, there are many things that you can do to reduce workplace stress and they often have nothing to do with the workplace per se.

Don’t hesitate to use the human resources department at your workplace or your employee assistance program to help you deal with spousal and parenting issues, or problems with drugs, alcohol, information about smoking cessation, maintaining exercise programs, etc. If your workplace offers wellness opportunities try to take advantage of them. Take control of what you can and be the better for it. Positive action will make your life much less stressful at home as well as in the workplace.

Emotions are ancient response strategies which are hard wired into your body. They have evolved over millennia and are present in animals as well as humans. They enable fast decision making when there is not enough time for rational consideration.  As a faculty of the brain, emotions are extensions and extrapolations of the sensory apparatus and the inputs from our eyes, ears, nose, touches and tastes.  Emotions are written into our postures and facial expressions.  They serve a number of functions, not the least of which is the motivation for survival.

Emotions can be broadly described as being either positive or negative. Examples of positive emotions are joy, happiness and excitement. Examples of negative emotions are depression, anxiety and sadness.  In addition, all emotions occur on a continuum from low to high intensity. The degree of intensity of any given emotion is a measure of how motivating it will be.

Emotions signal something important and may communicate cultural universals. One such signal is a happy face. No matter their cultural differences, people from any part of the world all react the same way to a happy smiling face. In general people approach things that elicit positive emotions and retreat from things that evoke negative emotions.  Positive emotions have been found to motivate us to broaden our thinking, increase our repertoire of behaviors, see new connections and generate new or novel solutions to problems while inoculating us against negative events and people.  Negative emotions call for a change in the status quo. They shrink our field of attention to a more limited range and encourage us to respond in very specific ways. For example, emotions like anxiety orient people to danger so that they can avoid it. While there may be some harmful aspects to negative emotions these emotions can also be useful in enhancing our ability to think in practical ways by becoming more motivated.

Because of the instinctual nature of emotion, it is very difficult to communicate without revealing emotion, and many communication tasks get harder to accomplish when emotion is removed from communication.  It is far harder to get team members to work well together when they are required to suppress emotions; they can fail to bond and trust one another, and have difficulty reaching consensus, or feeling safe enough to share ideas.  Unemotional sales people fail to make the sale.  Trying to deny or disguise our emotions generally does not work very well and is fairly unnatural and difficult to learn.  While we may think that we can hide our emotions the truth is that we cannot do so as well as we think we can. Those people who do manage to succeed at hiding their emotions are typically best suited to positions that require competitive dealings with strangers (e.g., negotiators, con-artists, poker players, etc.)

Emotional Intelligence

Workplace Emotional Intelligence involves learning to identify and manage emotions for both personal and organizational effectiveness. While emotions are not typically thought of as a critical element in workplace success, they are far more important than a casual observer might think. An Emotionally Intelligent Supervisor is able to use emotions to enhance reasoning and problem solving and to make more accurate judgments about people and situations.

Management of emotions is not about refusing to deal with negative emotions. Emotional management in the workplace is about being maximally effective which requires accepting a full range of emotions in one’s self and in others.  Purely rational decision making fails to take into consideration the emotional impact the decision may have on other people which may result in the decision falling short of expectation or being difficult to put into action as conceived.  In fact, an attempt to engage in purely rational pursuits in the workplace (suppressing all emotions) can result in decision making errors as well as creating an atmosphere of mistrust.  Instead, it is better to make decisions based on both rational and emotional grounds by respecting the valuable information emotions convey.

While emotional gestures and expressions may be universal, there are a wide variety of societal rules dictating the appropriateness of emotional use. Every society has its rules about whether or not it is ok to display certain emotions.  The emotionally intelligent person tunes into these implicit rules and learns when particular emotional displays are appropriate and when they are not.  For example, within the business world there are rules for emotional display that are part of the hidden organizational culture.  In a very formal, upscale law firm partners and associates may be expected to behave with a great deal of emotional constraint. In contrast an advertising agency may encourage employees to openly display positive emotions.

Roles may also change based on gender. While men can be assertive and in-your-face, a woman who does the same is often considered to be too aggressive. On the other hand if a female expresses happiness in an ebullient manner her behavior is often judged as being girlish or “typically”female. This appraisal tends to result in her being considered too soft to be an effective leader. Men, meanwhile, can high five in the hall as much as they like with no consequences.  Even though these rules are not necessarily obvious or expressed in writing, they strongly influence the hiring of employees and how well employees and their work are accepted as a part of an organization, and because of this, an emotionally intelligent person will strive to map out these rules so as to use them to their personal and organizational advantage.

Basic Emotional Management Skills

Once a person agrees that emotions impart valuable information, the next question involves how to tap into this information. One way to begin to manage emotions is to explore your own emotions. You can start with these exercises.

• Pick an emotion that you are think you might tend to over-generalize or exaggerate and consider how you dealt with it in a recent situation.
• Upon reflection do you think it was reasonable for you to feel the way that you did?

• On a scale of 1 to 10 how strongly did you feel this emotion?
• How did the emotion feel physically? Did you feel tense? Hot? Cold? Did you feel weighted down or light and free? Did you feel depressed? Energetic? Tired? Drained?
• Do you often feel the way you did on this occasion?
• What kinds of things do you think about when you experience this emotion? What do you usually do to make the situation better?
• Do you have any ideas about why you feel as you do or any specific triggers that might illicit these feelings in you?
• How did you interpret the event? How do you think an impartial observer might have interpreted the situation? Do you think that it might be possible that your appraisal of the situation might be incorrect?
• Think of alternatives explanations for what happened. Are any of the alternative explanations reasonable?

Next think about your feelings and the likelihood you may feel this emotion in the future. Make a list of situations that might provoke this response from you; order them from situations apt to trigger relatively minor levels of the emotion to those that you feel would trigger a major emotional outburst. Think about how you might best handle each situation. Next relax deeply and picture yourself handling the least provoking situation effectively. Gradually work your way through your list, imaging yourself dealing effectively with each situation. Then relax a bit longer and tell yourself, “I can handle these situations.”

Next time you face one of your triggers take a few moments to breathe deeply and think of alternative ways to handle the situation. Remind yourself that you can do this. Then use the information the emotion gives you to help you better deal with the problem or situation at hand.

Emotional Intelligence for Supervisors

Emotionally intelligent leaders possess a great deal of empathy concerning what their employees are feeling.  In this case, having empathy means that they understand what their supervisees are going through.  Decisions may be influenced by this understanding, but they need be in no way determined by it.  Some of the questions that an emotionally intelligent manager should consider when dealing with the emotions of supervisees are:

• How do these people feel in the current situation?
• How are their feelings influencing what they think about the situation?
• Why do they feel like they do? How do I expect their feelings to change as various events unfold?
• Is there anything I can do with their emotions? Can I notice and include how they are feeling into my thinking and decisions? How can I stay open to the information in these emotions so that I can integrate that information into my own thinking and behavior?

With an enhanced understanding for emotional intelligence, a supervisor is ready to consider the major challenges of management and leadership. Some of these include:

• Team building

• Planning and decision making

• Motivating supervisees

• Imparting a vision

• Promoting and facilitating change(s) when they are necessary

• Demonstrating and encouraging the development and continuation of effective interpersonal relationships between management and supervisees as well as between supervisees.

An emotionally intelligent supervisor may have an advantage over their rivals because they are able to see the big picture, look at issues from multiple points of view, and do the right things to motivate others. These are the things that build effective teams and over time promote trust and a sense of belonging.

An effective manager should be able to optimize the quality of team interactions by resolving dissent, encouraging and using cooperative behavior, and encouraging productive team member interactions. An emotionally effective supervisor is comfortable letting team members take credit for positive outcomes while not necessarily blaming them for negative outcomes.

When it comes to motivating people, emotionally intelligent supervisors recognize that showing appreciation for others’ accomplishments and celebrating community efforts are beneficial in motivating people.

How is this accomplished?

In order to benefit from the information found in emotions expressed by supervisees, it is first necessary to identify all the emotions in play. Look to your own emotions for information. Use this information to clarify the situation and help you manage both emotions and the situation well.

For example, a subordinate’s productivity has taken a precipitous decline. You call the supervisee in to talk with them about the problem and they supervisee is very defensive and angry and almost tearful. How does this display of emotion affect you? Do you feel angry, perhaps put-off by their display of emotion? The supervisee in front of you has been with the company for some time but their current behavior has cost the company money. If you are angry you may be tempted to simply put the supervisee on a performance contract with termination a possibility if a quick turn-around does not occur. On the other hand, you sense that the supervisee is in serious emotional distress. Given the supervisee has a history of exemplary performance in the company you might want to consider a supervisory referral to human resources to see if the problem can be resolved. You ask a couple of “You seem” questions and the supervisee acknowledges that they are not feeling themselves but that it has nothing to do with work. You decide to offer the referral. The supervisee acts relieved at your offer and willingly agrees to your suggestion. You let the supervisee know you are concerned about them but that this is a serious work issue and you will be kept informed if they are keeping scheduled appointments with human resources. Slow but steady improvement follows. Since supervisors are not privy to the nature of the problem you may never know exactly what was wrong. However your ability to manage your own feelings and recognize those in the supervisee has resulted in ameliorating the productivity issue while keeping a good employee which has saved the company time, money and trouble recruiting and training a replacement.

In the scenario above the supervisor:

• Paid close attention in order to accurately identify their own emotions and moods while closely attending to those of the supervisee.

• Did not immediately put the supervisee on a performance contract which would most likely lead to the firing of the employee because of their own anger or discomfort with the employee’s emotional state.
• Observed the supervisee’s nonverbal behavior including facial expression, eyes, mouth, posture and gestures.
• Noted any discrepancies in verbal and nonverbal behavior and between the tone of what was said and the actual words.
• Asked the employee a few “You seem” questions to see if they understood what was going on with the supervisee.
• Remembered that two people in the office had expressed concern about the supervisee over the past couple of weeks.
• Decided to give the employee the benefit of the doubt and offered the human resources referral which was accepted with an eventual successful outcome.
• Made an emotionally intelligent decision even if the referral had not solved the problem because it demonstrated the company had shown a good faith willingness to work with the employee, reducing liability for them if the employee was eventually terminated.

Using Emotional Information

As you begin to try and utilize emotional intelligence it is a good idea to review how emotions tend to motivate us.

• Fear tends to motivate people to act now to avoid negative consequences
• Anger may motivate people to fight against wrong and injustice
• Sadness may motivate a person to request help or support
• Disgust may signal that you cannot accept something because it offends you on some level
• Interest may motivate people to be enthusiasm about exploration and learning
• Surprise often makes people pay attention to the unexpected which may be important
• Acceptance tends to enhance friendship bonds
• Joy tends to motivate people to repeat the event that caused the gratification

It is also useful to encourage emotions appropriate for situational goals. For example:

• Brainstorming is enhanced if participants are feeling happy
• Being somewhat fearful tends to focus a people or group to recognize possible problems and what might have gone wrong
• A neutral mood is helpful when setting long-term goals
• A happy, interested group is more likely to form a consensus
• Possessing a genuine interest in a project tends to foster the development of efficient  action plans, appropriate allocating of resources, realistic planning timelines as well as personnel and assignment designee choices
• A happy, enthusiastic mood provides momentum when implementing a plan
• A negative mood is helpful when evaluating possible issues during follow-up while a happy and positive mood helps the group stay motivated to keep going and to tackle obstacles.

Depending on the circumstances you find yourself in and how you are reacting to those circumstances, you are then in a position to use that emotion (e.g., by communicating it, or knowing when not to communicate it, by rewarding supervisees or withholding reward, by creating buzz or working to minimize it, etc.) for the good of your organizational goals.

Be respectful of supervisees or office support help. Express appreciation for good work and give criticisms in private. Be tactful and specific about things that need improving. While having a general open door policy can interrupt your concentration, having a specified day and time that team members or subordinates can come to you with issues may provide beneficial for everyone.

Emotional Intelligence for Employees

As an employee, one of the most important things to recognize is that your feelings, and those of your co-workers, can be very influential and powerful and that your collective current emotional state can alter your perspectives on issues or even cause you to jump to conclusions prematurely.  Emotional intelligence can help employees to better understand their own emotions and organizational expectations for appropriate emotional expression so appropriately expressed emotions can be better utilized for personal and organizational progress.  For example, emotional intelligence skills can benefit employees by making them better able to read their supervisor’s emotions so that that can choose the best approach to use when interacting with them.

As you begin to try and utilize emotional intelligence it is a good idea to review how emotions tend to motivate us.

• Fear tends to motivate people to act now to avoid negative consequences
• Anger may motivate people to fight against wrong and injustice
• Sadness may motivate a person to request help or support
• Disgust may signal that you cannot accept something because it offends you on some level
• Interest may motivate people to be enthusiasm about exploration and learning
• Surprise often makes people pay attention to the unexpected which may be important
• Acceptance tends to enhance friendship bonds
• Joy tends to motivate people to repeat the event that caused the gratification

It is vitally important that you pay attention to the emotions of colleagues. If a mood can set you up to react negatively to something it very well may do the same thing to others at your workplace. Try to be observant of others. Also pay attention to the day of the week and time of day. It is not a good idea to approach your superior about anything during times you know they are extremely busy, or at the end of any workday, especially Friday afternoon, while they are tying up lose ends trying to get out of the office. If you know your supervisor is under extra stress for personal reasons and is being short with you the best course is to ignore their tone unless it becomes a recurrent issue. Then make an appointment at a time of day that is usually less stressful for your supervisor and tell them that you are concerned that they do not seem to be happy with your performance of late and ask what you might do to change that. Chances are they do not realize they have been short with you and the matter can be quickly ameliorated.  If this is not the case, human resources may be able to help. While some people might look at these steps as “sucking up” to the boss, they actually have more to do with your own self-preservation.

Disputes between colleagues can make the workplace a very unpleasant place for everyone and where emotional intelligence can serve you well. This being the case, it is best for employees to remember that people they work with are not relatives or social friends and confidents. You are all employees of the company. Over time relationships frequently develop and it is tempting to confide personal problems and information to your “friends.” This is not always wise because you never know what might slip out or come back to haunt you at an inappropriate time. Employees that keep the office grapevine replete with suspense may enjoy the attention they receive, but over time they are only hurting themselves. If you have serious problems the resource to utilize is not a fellow employee’s ear, but rather the services of the human resource department and their trained professionals. These professionals will keep your problems private and offer advice that might alleviate your distress.

If you find yourself embroiled in conflict with a fellow employee, keep careful records of the problem behavior and turn to your supervisor or other company resource for help with resolving the problem if necessary. It is very easy to get involved in controversy, but much harder to deal with the issues that may result. Pick your battles carefully. You don’t have to let personal disagreements or personality clashes derail your career, but you also don’t have to lie down and take everything that is dished out. Make a habit of keeping accurate, dated notes to document your issues. Also make it a habit to go through the proper channels to handle disputes and complaints.

Office dating is another area of conflict where emotional intelligence is important. While these romances may sometimes flourish, they can also become difficult for a business if things do not work out. Think through what you might need to do if the relationship fails before you jeopardize your career. On the other hand, it may be that the relationship is more important than the job. It is always proper to try and be discreet and not let an office romance interfere with the business at hand. In short, pay attention to your emotions and feelings and observe and think about those of others. Then use the information you learn to make good choices about whatever situation comes your way.

It has often been said that leadership effectiveness is dependent on responding flexibly to the demands of the situation. However, it is one thing to make this assertion, but much more difficult to isolate specific situational factors and then determine the best approach to leadership. Leading by contingency means using the right styles and tools based on the circumstances. There is no equation that can automatically yield an answer but there are guidelines that can be of value. There are a number of theories and each gives emphasis to at least one type of factor. However, none of the theories are comprehensive enough to stand alone. Factors like control, cognitive resources, readiness, trust, task structure, goals and resources must be considered.

The Control Factor

One approach, called the Fiedler Model, proposes that group performance success depends on the proper match between a leader’s style and the extent to which a situation gives control to a leader.

It is necessary to match leaders with situations in which their leadership style will work. Fiedler identified several contingency dimensions that describe situational factors which determine leadership effectiveness. These include:

· Position power – the amount of power a leader has over hiring, firing, etc.

· Task structure – how structured job assignments are

Fiedler asserts that task-oriented leaders perform best in situations involving high and low control while relationship-oriented leaders are most effective in moderate control situations.

Reviews of major studies testing the validity of this theory are positive. There is a good deal of support. The most important thing to learn from this theory is the importance of control.

Fiedler’s cognitive resource theory

Recently Fiedler and Joe Garcia reconceptualized the Fiedler theory focusing on the role of stress as a type of situational adversity and how a leader’s experience and intelligence influence their stress reaction. This refinement of the Fiedler theory is called the cognitive resource theory. In this theory stress is the enemy. Stress makes it difficult for anyone to think logically. The theorists conclude that intelligence correlates positively with performance when stress conditions are low but negatively when stress levels are high. The conclusion is that it is the level of stress in a situation that determines the importance of an individual’s intelligence or experience. While the focus on stress is valuable the cognitive resources factor must be viewed in a broader context. Under high stress preplanned and fixed solutions may be better. In lower levels of stress there is time and energy for problem solving. The most important contribution is the importance of cognitive resources.

The Readiness Factor

The Hersey and Blanchard’s Situational Leadership Theory (SLT) has been incorporated in training programs for over 400 of Fortune 500 companies. This theory is based on the assumption that the right leadership style is based on the followers’ readiness. Readiness refers to the ability and willingness to accomplish a specific task. The amount of control a leader needs to exert depends on the followers’ abilities and motivation. If followers are unwilling and unable to do a specific task a leader needs to give very specific and clear instructions and closely monitor performance. If followers and unable but willing a leader needs to emphasize the task to make up for the followers lack of ability and be highly relationship oriented to get the followers to buy into the leaders desires. If followers are unwilling but able the leader needs to be supportive and have a participative style. If employees are both able and willing then they do not require much from their leader and the leader can delegate more to the follower. The importance of this theory is the emphasis on the readiness of the follower.

The Trust Factor

The leader-member exchange (LME) theory assumes that because of time constraints leaders form a special relationship with a select group of followers. The selected individuals make up the in-group. The in-group is trusted and gets more than its share of attention by the leader and members are more likely to receive special privileges. Followers not in the in-group are considered to be in the out-group. They get fewer special privileges and less of the leader’s time, fewer rewards that the leader controls and have a more formal leader-follower relationship. The leader-member exchange (LMX theory) goes on to propose that the “in” or “out” relationship is relatively stable over time. Members to the in-group tend to have similar attitudes and personality characteristics which are similar to the leader’s or possess a higher level of competence than the “out” group. The approach of the leader is contingent on the level of trust. A leader is more likely to supervise the less trusted group more closely and delegate to the trusted in-group. The most important contribution is the emphasis on trust as a factor.

The Factor of Task Structure

The leader-participation model was developed by Victor Vroom and Phillip Yetton. This theory recognizes that task structures have varying demands for routine and non-routine activities and that the leader’s behavior must adjust in response to the task structure. Examples of the type of variables considered important are: the importance of the decision, the time constraints on the leader than may limit follower involvement, how effectively structured a problem is, and the importance of participation by followers as a tool for making a decision. The model is too complex and difficult to teach but it has the value of giving appropriate emphasis to the characteristics of the structure of the task .

The Goal and Resources Factors

The path-goal theory is the current most influential contingency approach to leadership. This theory was developed by Robert House. The fundamental core of the path-goal theory is that the leader’s job is to provide followers with the resources they need to reach the goals assigned to them. These resources include not only materials and supplies but also information and professional support along the way to achieving the goals. It is the leader’s responsibility to make the goal and its path clear not only conceptually but also by reducing the number of roadblocks in the path to the successful achievement of the goals.

The path-goal theory identifies leaders as behaving in four distinct ways. The directive leader keeps followers up to date on what is expected of them, schedules what work should be done when and gives specific guidance on how to accomplish the assigned tasks. The participative leader consults with his followers for suggestions which he uses before making decisions. The achievement leader sets challenging goals which followers are expected to acheive at their highest level of competency. The supportive leader, in comparison, is friendly demonstrates concern for their followers’ needs. Leaders are thought to he capable of being flexible and that the same leader may display any or all of the four leadership behaviors based on the particular situation. The path-goal model assumes two types of situational or contingency variables that moderate the leadership behavior. These are environmental variables beyond the leader’s control and certain personal characteristics of the employees. These include such things as locus of control, experience and perceived ability. Environmental factors determine what type of leader behavior is needed to maximize follower outcomes. On the other hand employee personal characteristics determine how the leader and environmental are interpreted.

What are the Implications of Leading by Contingency for Managers?

Leadership plays a major role in fostering group behavior because the leader usually provides the direction to attain goals. The better the match between the ultimate goals and the particular leadership style of the leader, the more likely a successful outcome. The approach the leader takes depends on these factors:

1. • Control- the degree of control that the leader has and the degree of control that the follower may have in the situation must be considered. If the leader has a high degree of control then the next question is whether that control can be transferred to the follower. When the leader has high control and that control cannot be transferred the leader should be very active and delegate very little. It may be more effective to do the job themselves. On the other hand when the follower has a high level of control the leader can simply define the outcome desired and delegate the task.
   • Cognitive Resources- while theories have focused on stress, the cognitive resources factor should be applied more broadly. The question is what does the leader know and what does the follower know about the situation. In many cases the follower may have greater knowledge than the leader. In that case the leader is wise to delegate and get out of the way. If the leader has a high level of knowledge the question is one of training. How quickly can the leader transfer knowledge to the subordinate?
   • Readiness- two aspects of readiness are ability and willingness. Ability involves not only the knowledge but also the level of experience the follower may have with the task. A follower may have the knowledge in their head but have little experience in the task. Thus the leader must take experience into account. Just as important, however, is willingness or motivation. If a follower has both the ability and the willingness the leader can assign the task and turn to other matters with little need for supervision.
   • Trust- when a leader is working with individuals in a group that is highly trusted then they can give greater latitude. The risk is that if the group is trusted for the wrong reasons and they do not have the ability or the motivation, then the result can be failure. One might very well modify the well known Russian proverb so that it says: Trust but verify the skill and motivational level relative to the task at hand.
   • Task structure- some tasks are simple and straight forward. The follower need only walk from point A to point F. When tasks are easily defined the leader can delegate and move on. Very complex tasks may be beyond the skills of one person and thus may require appointment of a work group with representatives from different areas.
   • Goals and resources- perhaps the most important factor of all in consideration of contingencies is the goal and the resources required to achieve the goal. When the goal is clear and the resources are available the leader can assign the job and move on to other things. However, often the mobilization of needed resources requires continued involvement by the leader.

While early searches for universal leadership traits has not proven to be very valuable, efforts to employ a slightly different framework have been more promising. There is not a fixed set of leadership traits. However, efforts using the Big Five personality framework have identified conscientiousness, extroversion, and openness to experience as relating strongly to leadership. More research on the contribution of the different characteristics could prove valuable/

The importance of relevant situation variables in the understanding of leadership has been well demonstrated and has been a major breakthrough in trying to understand leadership characteristics.

Is Leadership “Training” Worthwhile? The answer seems to be yes but with reservations. It is very common for companies to spend large amounts of money training leaders in workshops and retreats only to find participants drifting back into old patterns. It seems that training without on the job coaching as part of the follow through is of very limited value. Proponents of leadership training suggest that the multibillion dollar industry exists because it works. While agreeing that there are disagreements on an exact definition of leadership, proponents state that a leader exhibits leadership by their influence on ushering a group of people towards achieving specific goals. In reference to the effectiveness of leadership programs, proponents admit that they vary, which is to be expected, given how diverse the programs are. One of the reasons that different approaches may be needed is because people learn in different ways and that leadership programs should be careful in matching leadership-training opportunities to insure that they match the needs and learning style of their managers.

What are the Implications of Leading by Contingency for Subordinates?

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What contingency means to you- if are lucky enough to have a leader that is flexible and changes their approach based on situational contingencies your job is to help them do so. That means an active communication process and dialogue about factors like control, cognitive resources, readiness, trust, task structure and goals and resources. The more you are able to evaluate yourself in reference to these factors and the better you communicate with your supervisor about these the greater the likelihood of success.

Negotiating level of participation- you will be better in negotiating your own level of autonomy is you can couch your position in terms of the key factors. Prepare yourself for any negotiations by doing your own homework about the match between the task and your own characteristics. Do not be defensive. It is in your interest to be given the authority and operational latitude needed to be successful. It would be better if someone else were assigned a job or project than to have lots of room to fall on your face.

Clarification of the task- be absolutely sure you understand the assignment. Do not leave success to guess work. Ask questions. Even better ask good questions. You might try to flow chart your understanding of the features and steps in the assigned task and then sit down with your supervisor and go over it. You might find it useful to ask others how they see the task defined just to check yourself. However, in the end it is the supervisors understanding that matters most.

Obtaining the information you need- information can be the most important resource of all. Ask yourself how you will go about getting the information you need to carry out the task and from whom you can obtain the information. Make a list of the items you need and then check them off as you get them. If possible before you begin sit down one final time with your supervisor and go over the information you obtained. Give your boss the chance to identify points of confusion or error.

Determination of your collaborators- complex tasks often require other people. Your job should include helping to identify who those people may be. Define your understanding of their roles. Be sure their supervisors understand what roles they will play and that they support those roles otherwise when you need them most they may not be available.

· Determining the priority and time frame- be sure you understand the priority your supervisor places on the task or project. Ask about deadlines and dependencies. Deadlines are the due dates. Dependencies are other work activities that are dependent on your work output. Ask yourself who will become upset if you do not keep to the schedules.

· Establishing the goals- never be satisfied with goals in people’s heads and not on paper. If your supervisor sets the goals then be sure to read them and ask questions. If you have been delegated the goal setting process then set the goals and review them with your supervisor.

· Project planning- if your tasks involves leading a project team the most important step is the planning. Ask your supervisor what role he or she may want to play in the project. If they ask you to develop the plan then do so but be sure to go over the plan with your supervisor.

If your supervisor employs leadership by contingency then you must be very active and you must make every effort to communicate. You must help your supervisor evaluate the factors that will determine the approach to leadership.

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Creative individuals, whether they are employees or leaders, are different from their less creative counterparts.

• Creative people have a wide range of knowledge and are very observant.
• While most creative people are smart; they do not have to be extraordinarily brilliant. Their gift is the ability to generate alternative solutions to problems.
• Creative people are usually self-confident but not arrogant.
• Creative people tend to be persistent and are able to work alone.
• While many creative people are nonconformists, and do not require group approval of their ideas, they also tend to enjoy and get along with other people.
• Creative people can tolerate ambiguity.
• Creative people also believe that they have the internal resources to solve problems.
• Creative people have a passion for their work. They frequently enjoy a sense of flow in their work. This state includes intrinsic motivation, intense concentration and absorption in their work. A highly creative leader will often experience a sense of flow while developed a plan for the worldwide distribution of their product or service.
• Interestingly, many creative individuals had tough childhoods. Divorce, financial problems, or other family upheavals are common in the backgrounds of many creative people. Early on their pursuit of new ideas served as a means of escape from the personal turmoil surrounding them.

It is essential to overcome rigid, traditional thinking about a problem. For example:

• A creative person needs to be able to think about a problem outside the rigid, restrictive framework that is ordinarily utilized. This is often discussed as “thinking outside the box.”

• Creative people need to avoid rigid categories, such as defining roles and expectations based on categories such as gender. Men can be masterful nurses and women can be accomplished neurosurgeons. Both men and women can be effective, nurturing parents and teachers.

• Creative people are able to come up with new prototypes. For example, instead of treating business suppliers as if they are poor relations, creative organizations form respectful partnerships with suppliers to the mutual benefit of them both.

• Creative people are able to move beyond the usual and ordinary way of looking at things and placing things into familiar categories. Creative marketing by Saturn’s salaried, no-haggling sales force kept the company with more orders than they could fill for years.

• Creative people know that conventional wisdom and traditional mindsets are not always accurate. For example, conventional wisdom held that gamblers demand glamour and glitz and that Native Americans would be harmed by opening gambling casinos. Instead the casinos made millions and the quality of life and pride on the reservations improved.

• Creative people recognize the value of lateral thinking. While vertical thinking which is analytical and logical can lead a thinker to a single best solution to a problem, lateral thinking spreads out the possibilities resulting in a number of possible solutions.

The creative process tends to involve several steps.

• The first element in the creative process happens when a problem or an opportunity is recognized.

• Once an opportunity or problem is identified the individual focuses on the problem and immerses him or herself in learning all they can about the topic.

• Allowing time to pass is the critical next step. A person who has been immersed in information about a topic needs time for the information to incubate. Over a period of time the brain will work with the information, usually unconsciously, to rearrange it into meaningful new patterns.

• Next, at some unexpected time, perhaps while exercising, or on the verge of falling asleep the newly arranged information will give the creative person a flash of insight as to a solution to the problem. This experience has often been described as an “Aha!” experience.

• Once a solution has presented itself it is important that an individual verify the veracity of their insight as well as possible applications of it.

Promoting Creativity

A creative leader is a visionary who can conceive and develop new ideas or things or find new uses for previously existing things that meet current and future marketplace needs. In order for creative problem-solving to spread it is essential to establish a climate conductive to creative thinking. Under the proper circumstances an organization may foster organizational creativity resulting in the development of a useful new product, service or idea not to mention developing new solutions to problems.

The following are important factors contributing to corporate creativity:

• The interests and actions of all employees in a company are focused on key company goals. Sharing fundamental goals makes it more likely that any individual employee will be able to recognize and respond to potentially good ideas when they come upon them.

• An organizational environment that is flexible and fosters personally-initiated activities which are a primary contributor to corporate creativity. This allows employees to select a problem they are interested in and which they think they may be able to solve. Intrinsic motivation is much higher if employees can choose a problem which interests them rather than simply being given an assignment to fulfill.

• Creative activity is often unofficial which shields it from resistance by a company because the idea is novel or different from the usual and customary way of doing things.

• Serendipity is very frequently a major element in new discoveries. Serendipity involves discoveries being made by accident. Something unexpected happens that an insightful person recognizes as having potential benefits.

• The opportunity to receive or experience diverse information. One never knows when a bit of information or an observation will spark an insight for a person who is pursuing an unrelated problem.

• Communication among employees about the diverse information they have received and the possibilities that the information suggests to them is critical.

• Within-company communication facilitates creativity. While this is more easily accomplished in smaller companies, creative potential expands with the size of the organization provided that there are systems in place to encourage the sharing of information. One never knows when some employee in the production line or in customer service might come up with an insightful idea that would never occur to those in planning and development because of the special input these employees have through their jobs.

The following are some organizational methods to enhance creative problem solving:

• An executive decision to establish a requirement for idea generation. While most of the ideas generated may not be useful, it is likely that a few good ones will emerge.

• Brainstorming is the best known method of improving creativity. Brainstorming involves a group of individuals offering ideas, no matter how far-fetched, that might solve a problem. Then other group members suggest ways which might make the original ideas work. Careful notes are kept by an appointed note taker so that no vital ideas are lost.

• Another form of brainstorming involves employees presenting personal pet peeves or customer complaints. This is most effective if the complaints are presented in a humorous, exaggerated manner. For example from the personal department, “Potential employees think our job is to randomly shred resumes without looking at them.”

• Another common technique to release creativity is to insist that individuals or groups solve a problem by making associations between properties of two objects. For example, a word is selected from the dictionary and the group is required to list the properties and characteristics of the word. Group members then must use the named properties and characteristics describing the sample word to the problem at hand. If the word apple was randomly selected from the dictionary and the group named its characteristics as sweet, tart, tasty, red, yellow, green, round and reasonably priced. From this list the group selects two attributes that they think might be useful in solving their problem. For example if swimsuits designs were being considered for next season, green or green prints might be a good color to offer, especially if they were reasonably priced.

• A takeoff on the forced-relationship method involves the group having to make word associations that relate to the problem at hand. If the leader felt that the company needed to find a way to increase exposure of a product the group would be asked free associate with the word exposure. Some possible associations might be “revealing,” “displaying,” “bringing to light,” “introducing,” “experiencing,” “spotlighting,” “publicizing,” etc. These words would then be used to come up with ideas for promoting the specific product that would broaden its exposure to a larger potential customer base.

• Businesses need to develop creativity rooms to help people loosen up intellectually and emotionally in order to be more creative. Some of these rooms contain items such as Frisbees, stuffed animals, wastepaper basketball goals as well as DVDs, VCRs and multimedia computers. More important that the items in the room is the existence of a communal meeting place where people can get together to think creatively. Disney had its own version of the Gong Show. Several times a year any employee who thought they had a good idea could present it live, in-person to management. The worst thing that could happen was that the gong might sound; on the other hand the idea might be found to be viable.

Research tends to support the idea that training in divergent (lateral) thinking is more successful when it is applied within a work group than training single individuals because group training fosters greater support for and acceptance of lateral thinking. As a supervisor you can help facilitate creativity among team members by avoiding behaviors and attitudes that thwart creativity. For example, an extremely authoritarian stance, one that is rigid and close-minded, discourages creativity. On the other hand, an environment that encourages employees to think freely can enhance problem-solving. Once offered ideas must withstand a plethora of evaluations and judgments. Great creative ideas have the potential to bring substantial rewards to a company. However, if these innovative ideas are never brought up because of a highly restrictive workplace environment, potential benefits to the company are lost.

Leaders can establish a climate to encourage creative thinking by doing the following:

• Try to match people with the right assignment. Employees should be offered a challenging goal but not an overwhelming one for them.

• Employees should be able to choose how they can best work on a project. Creative people should be given flexibility and a minimal amount of structure.

• Creative groups need to be adequately funded and timeframes should be realistic. While the goal of getting a man to the moon and back in ten years was a challenge, it was a reasonable goal because of the competition from the Soviet Union and the intense desire for the US to be the first nation to accomplish such a mission. False or impossibly tight deadlines can zap energy, reduce creativity and cause burnout.

• Be sure that creative people have the tools and resources to allow their work to really shine. If you want high-quality output you usually need to invest in high-quality input, such as state-of-the-art equipment.

• Select creative people to manage other creative employees.

• Work groups should be encouraged to be mutually supportive and should be drawn from a diversity of backgrounds and perspectives. Experience and intuition are vital tools for a supervisor when establishing the right chemistry within a work group.

• The organization should recognize the benefits of creative endeavors and support them.

Developing Creativity

One of the keys to becoming more adept at solving problems creatively is to practice strategies that encourage mental flexibility. The goal is to learn how to tap into intuitive processes and mental flexibility is a valuable tool towards that goal.

Some suggestions of ways to enhance your creativity include:

• Practicing creativity-enhancing activities such as working crossword puzzles

• Making it a habit to stay alert for opportunities. Don’t you wish you had noticed the need of consumers for overnight mail/package delivery, bottled water, organized closets, or gourmet coffee?

• Use all your senses when you are looking for solutions to problems. For example, what kind of look and feel should a display have? Would the addition of scents further the reception of your product? Should dealers be able to try out a product to get a kinesthetic sense of what the customer would experience?

• Keeping an enthusiastic outlook. Creativity is enhanced by a positive, hopeful attitude; a critical, judgmental attitude limits creative alternatives.

• Talking with lead users of your product or service whenever possible. A person who is on the leading edge of an industry is called a lead user. Lead users are continually making improvements in products so that products are tailored to meet new opportunities. At the very minimum attend professional conventions and trade meetings and talk with others who also work in your business.

• Making it a habit of carrying an idea notebook to jot down ideas whenever you think of them. How many great ideas have been designed on napkins in a restaurant or jotted on paper in the middle of the night? The important thing is to systematically record your creative ideas and to be able to do so at home or work—even if that requires more than one notebook or computer folder.

• Try to look at information from different points of view. It is very useful to talk with individuals in related fields. Such talks may expose you to innovative ideas or strategies that could benefit your group or project. Also try to stretch your imagination by spending a little time every day asking yourself what-if questions. What happens if xyz happens? Once the ideas have been formulated you can judge their feasibility. Finally, play the role of an advocate and try to come up with ideas that would help you in negotiating and implementing your ideas.

Why manage diversity well? Here are some of the reasons:

· Managing diversity well results in a lower rate of employee turnover and absenteeism as well as making minorities feel that they are being treated well.

· Managing cultural diversity may provide a marketing advantage. A culturally diverse group of decision makers may make more savvy decisions about how to reach various groups than a less culturally aware group of decision makers.

· Companies with a good reputation for managing cultural diversity are at an advantage when it comes to recruiting and retaining talented people.

· By providing workers from all groups with the tools, resources and opportunities necessary for success, a company unlocks its potential for distinction.

· Cultural diversity may provide a company with a creative advantage as well as an improved ability to solve problems and make decisions.

There are a number of factors which influence leadership practices based on cultural values. These include:

· Whether the individual or the group takes top priority. The US, Canada and Great Britain are examples of individualistic cultures; Japan, Hong King, and Mexico are examples of collective (group-centered) cultures.

· The power differentiation employees are willing to accept in an organization. In high-power-distance cultures the boss makes the decision because they are the boss and the employees accept the decision. In low-power-distance cultures the employees do not automatically accept the concept of a power hierarchy. France and Japan are examples of high-power-distance cultures while Israel, Germany and the US are examples of low-power-distance cultures.

· Whether uncertainty is well tolerated or avoided. Cultures that tolerate risk and unconventional behavior are considered to be low in avoiding uncertainty while those that value certainty and predictability are considered to be high in avoidance of uncertainty. For example, workers in the US and Australia demonstrate low avoidance of uncertainty, while workers in Italy, Japan and Israel value predictability more highly and are uncertainty avoidant.

· The acquisition of money and material goods vs. a concern for other people and a high quality of life. The US, Japan and Italy are examples of materialistic countries while Sweden and Denmark are examples of concern for others cultures.

· Long-term perspective vs. short-term perspective. A culture with a short-term perspective is characterized by a demand for immediate gratification and a tendency not to save. The US is an example of short-term orientation. A long-term orientation keeps the long-term view and do no demand immediate returns on investments and encourage saving. Pacific Rim countries are known for their long-term orientation.

· Formal vs informal. A formal country considers tradition, social rules, rank and ceremony to be very important. An example of a culture that values formally are workers in Latin American who value things like processions and lavish public receptions. On the other hand, US workers take a more casual attitude toward tradition, ceremony, rank and social rules.

· The presence or absence of an urgent time orientation. People who have an urgent time orientation consider time to be a scarce resource and are apt to be impatient. Those with a more casual time orientation consider time to be limited and are more patient. Asians and Middle Easterners are examples of patient negotiators while Americans are noted for imposing deadlines and are eager to get down to business.

In spite of some differences most successful European firms share four common manager/leadership characteristics. These are:

· A tendency to be more people oriented. Most European managers feel they share a common inclination to promote the satisfaction of people. The United States is viewed as putting profits ahead of everything else.

· More internal negotiation. Europeans invest a great deal of time to negotiating within a firm whether between different levels of management, management and workers, with unions, between division, etc. In the United States management tends to be more top-down in making important decisions. Japanese, in contrast, typically seeks consensus management.

· Greater skill in managing international diversity. European managers have the ability to recognize diversity. They respect the host country and are likely to “export” their way of thinking. (This advantage is minimized when Americans take courses in leadership and recognizing and dealing with cultural diversity.)

· European managers tend to manage between extremes when it comes to management philosophies and styles. For example the United States is often seen as taking a short-term perspective and the Japanese a long-term perspective. If there is an European style it is more moderate, for example, adhering to a time perspective that falls halfway between that advocated by the United States and that advocated by Japan.

Expectancy theory can help provide guidelines for leader and manager attempting to understand cross-cultural motivation. Of particular importance in understanding cross-cultural differences in motivation are the individual’s perception of environmental control and the suitability of rewards. In other words, what is the expectancy that workers believing that they have control over their fate and how likely are they to have faith that their leaders will deliver rewards? In culturally independent countries employees may believe more strongly that they can influence performance and outcomes. In more collective cultures employees commit themselves to their organizations because of associations with managers or coworkers rather than their own self-interest. Managers also need to be aware that there are individual and subcultural differences as well as the cultural generalizations. For example, while many workers from large US cities may be more self-centered and recognition hungry, employees from rural areas may be more collectivist. At least that is one of the many reasons behind the Saturn Motors plant being located in a rural area in Tennessee—workers were viewed as being more harmonious and loyal than their big city counterparts.

It is also important for leaders to try and determine the perceived value of rewards for individual employees also taking into consideration the effectiveness of the rewards in a particular culture. Sometimes American managers have mistakenly assumed that since a reward is highly rewarded by American workers it will likewise be highly valued by workers from other cultures. For example, raising the salary of a particular group of Mexican workers resulted in their working less hours rather than more because they could now afford to work less and enjoy life more than was previously possible. After a minimal level of comfort is reached other factors become more important in many cultures than in the United States when more is most often considered better, even if one doesn’t have time to really enjoy what can now be purchased.

Leaders who are trying to influence a person from a different country must make themselves aware of possible cultural differences. An effective cross-cultural leader needs to be patient, adaptable and alert to cultural differences. Ideally they should also be willing to passably speak the language of the other country. This kind of effort and awareness is part of what is known as cultural sensitivity. Below are a few protocol do’s and don’t adapted from Andrew Dubrin’s table of cultural do’s and don’t in his chapter on cultural diversity from his book Leadership: Research Findings, Practice and Skills. This information may give you an idea of what a culturally sensitive leader would learn.

· Outside of the United States and Canada it is a big mistake to try and get down to business too quickly. Most other countries and even Americans in small towns like to build a relationships before getting down to business.

· In Great Britain you hold your fork with the tines pointed down in the left hand and the knife in the right hand throughout a meal. You are expected to say please and thank you often. It is considered rude to ask personal questions.

· In France punctuality is expected at appointments. A brief handshake is appropriate when greeting, being introduced, and departing. Kissing checks occurs only between close friends. Don’t expect to complete work during the French two-hour lunch and don’t try to do business during August because it is vacation time. (Remember some cultures value “quality of life” issues above merely making more money as quickly as possible.)

· Be sure to have your business cards and stationary printed without black borders if you are working with Chinese businesses. This is because black is associated with death in China.

· Do not say “no” when talking with Koreans. Say, “yes,” “perhaps” or “I will think carefully about your suggestion.” This is because it is important to Koreans that visitors leave having good feelings.

· In Mexico it is customary to meet two or three times before a deal is completed. It is inappropriate to fly into a Mexican city in the morning and expect to close a deal over the midday meal.

· The official language of Brazil is Portuguese, not Spanish. You will not impress Brazilians trying to speak a few words of Spanish.

· In Spain write business correspondence in English unless your Spanish is impeccable. Do not expect punctuality. Your appointments will arrive 20-30 minutes late. Also do not use the American sign to signal ok; in Spain this sign is considered vulgar.

· Italians will appreciate your writing business correspondence in Italian. They expect you to take the time to establish personal contacts before conducting serious business. Also don’t count on your business plans being judged solely on their merits. Also don’t eat too much pasta because it is not considered to be a main course.

· In Scandinavia treat all workers as equal and don’t make a big issue about your rank or position because Scandinavians pay little attention to a person’s hierarchical place.

· Etc., etc.

In order for workers to work well within a culturally diverse organization:

· It is important to have both minority and majority group members influence the establishment of behavioral norms, values and policies. One way to achieve these objectives is to value and respect diversity training. Employees can also be encouraged to become conversant in a second language spoken by co-workers, customers or both.

· An attempt should be made to achieve a culturally heterogeneous group of leaders.

· There should be no correlation between culture-group identity and job status, i.e., no one should be assigned a particular job just because of their gender or ethnicity

· An attempt should be made to include minorities in informal networks using company-sponsored mentoring programs, social events that encourage minorities to attend and creating employee networks that do not create a majority against minority attitude.

· Creating a task force within the organization that monitors policy and practice for evidence of bias or prejudice resulting in discrimination.

· Encourage an organizational identification, using the steps above, so that minorities are able to identify with the organization as well as white males.

· The best way to minimize conflict among various cultural groups is to share information that is collected about sensitive issues. For example employees should be provided information to reassure them that a diversity program will not negatively affect their promotion rates.

There are several important initiatives that are necessary in order to achieve cultural diversity. These include:

· Managers must be held accountable for achieving cultural diversity

· Minority recruitment and retention programs should be in place

· Training in cultural diversity is vital

· The development of employee networks should be encouraged

· Group characteristics (race, sex, ethnicity, physical status) should not be the criteria when assessing person-organization fit. Rather focus on traits that best serve the organization. For example Microsoft emphasizes hiring bright people because they traditionally fit the needs of the company. Intelligence is an individual difference, not a group characteristic.

WORKING WELL WITHIN A DIVERSE GROUP

As a majority member in a multicultural organization it is your obligation to take advantage of diversity training to become more culturally aware and acceptant of individuals differences. Take the opportunities presented to learn about your own feelings and attitudes about people who are different from your. Pay special attention to information from the organization that explains the advantages to having a diverse workforce and work hard to succeed when assigned to multicultural teams. Request information about diversity policies and promotion opportunities or other areas of concern to you if they are not directly addressed by management. Most importantly, try and keep an open mind.

As an employee who is a minority member in an organization for whatever reason, one has several responsibilities in trying to make the placement work These include:

· If you are seeking a position it is wise to carefully research companies for whom you are interested in working. At the very least the information will help you during the interview process; it might also help you pinpoint organizations where you might feel most comfortable and find more professional success and opportunity. Look particularly for any information concerning the company’s treatment of your particular minority group.

· Take advantage of mentoring and other opportunities at your workplace to help you fit in better or advance promotion prospects.

· While it is reasonable to expect the organization to make certain accommodations for you, it is also realistic for you to understand and fit into the work environment. For example, if English is your second language, you might want to continue to work on becoming more fluent. Your co-workers may not say it aloud, but they will appreciate and admire your effort.

· Keep alert for opportunities to brainstorm or otherwise give input, especially concerning diversity issues. Try to think how your goals as a minority member might be presented to those of the majority in a manner that changes provide a win-win opportunity. The idea is for everyone to be enriched.

· If you think you are ready for a leadership role, prepare yourself to take advantage of opportunities to advance. Many companies strive to have a diverse group of leaders in an effort to improve marketing strategies and expand the population served. Be aware of what is going on within your company/organization, but also think through how your special insight could better the company/organization. Take your good ideas and develop materials to share when an opportunity arises. Your effort could well pay off not only for you but also for your company/organization.

· Take advantage of all the opportunities the company offers as to mentoring, or social events or other opportunities to be included in the informal, but important, networks that are a part of the business. If given an opportunity to help with a task force to develop policy or investigate claims of bias or prejudice try and find the time to assist.

· As you become more comfortable in your position try to think of yourself as an important part of the organization—not just as an important, minority member of the organization. You may have had to work harder because of your minority status, but once achieved your accomplishments speak for themselves.

· Your willingness to mentor those that come after you speaks volumes about you as a person and a professional.

Workplace conflicts can result from limitation of resources, personality clashes, miscommunications, perceptions of hidden agendas, dirty politics and backbiting (real or perceived), or disagreement about in the direction and goals of the company. When examined closely workplace conflict is often the result of a significant disagreement over goals or needs of different employees, and behaviors such as hostility, avoidance, gossip and the like.  Unresolved workplace conflict may result in a drop in productivity. Creativity and innovation are significantly damaged in an environment of workplace conflict.

The traditional view was that all conflict at work is bad. More recently the human relations view has replaced the traditional view in that conflict is considered natural and inevitable when people are involved in any enterprise. Managed properly by both leaders and by employees, conflict can become a positive force and actually result in improved performance of the group.

In the workplace three types of conflict occur:

• Relationship conflict
• Task conflict
• Process conflict

Relationship conflict focuses on interpersonal relationships. Such conflicts are often very nasty and almost always do significant damage. Task conflicts are about what the work goals should be and about achieving those goals. If properly managed this kind of conflict can help the group perform better. Process conflict is about the best way to get the work done. Again when properly managed this kind of conflict can be productive. The key is keeping the conflict level under control and creatively managing the conflict to assure that organization goals are served. Both supervisor and employees must play a constructive role in resolution of conflicts at work.

There are a five ways that conflicts are commonly resolved.

Competing – a style of conflict management in which the effort is to resolve conflict by dominating the opposition. There is a winner and a loser.

Collaborative – a style of conflict resolution which involves an effort to satisfy at least some of the desires of all sides so all get something.

Compromising – a style of conflict management in which a third party may negotiate with each party to get them to give up something in the interest of a solution.

Avoiding – a style of resolution in which one party simply abandons their position in the service of a solution.

Accommodating – a style of conflict resolution in which one side changes their position to permit the other side to gain something of significant importance and this resolves the conflict.

The best way to avoid conflict is to promote team work. Some tactics that foster teamwork are:

• Clarity in organizational mission and goals
• Employees see themselves as team members
• Employees understand why what they is doing is important
• Employees can voice how they feel about projects and express concerns they have
• Consensus decision making or at least participation

• Constructive outcomes including achievable timelines
• Employees know what is expected of them and where they stand

MANAGING CONFLICT IN YOUR STAFF

Conflicts between teams or departments may be handled using various strategies. The most important factors in determining how to handle a conflict are the relative importance of the issue and the relative power of the disagreeing parties. The more important the issue the more likely a supervisor will be to act authoritatively. In less critical situations it may be more appropriate to be more accommodating to the needs and demands of both sides.

Various types or combination of conflict resolution strategies are helpful in various situations. The following information may be helpful:

Competing – Competition between departments or executives can significantly weaken and damage a company. Thus competition (dominance) should be reserved for emergency situations; for unpopular but necessary demands or changes such as employees being required to work during a hurricane or a holiday in order to be able to satisfy customers; or when inter-organizational competition is a good thing, for example, in an auto service shop, where having competitive teams encourage employees to be more productive and reduces absenteeism. Use the dominance strategy only when the winning policy is in your own best interest and when you can afford for the conflict to arise again.

Collaborative – Collaboration is helpful to allow an opportunity to learn and to benefit from the insights made possible from having different perspectives available. For example, if a company is trying to market its goods to a new group of customers, input from potential customers is extremely important. Collaboration also offers an opportunity to get people to work together by integrating concerns. Collaborative solutions tend to last

Compromising – The goal is to reach a middle point. Compromising is useful in the workplace when the initial goals of an individual party aren’t worth disrupting the workplace; when the two parties compromising are of relatively equal power; to provide a temporary solution for a complex problem, especially under time constraints; and as an option when other strategies fail.

Avoiding – Avoiding may be appropriate when an issue is not very important, and you have no chance of resolving an issue to your advantage. Avoiding also allows time for feelings to become less inflamed and for both sides to have a clearer perspective on the issues at hand. For example, while a supervisor should get involved in major conflicts between employees, minor problems are often left to the employees to solve on their own.

Accommodating –Sometimes leaders will use accommodation when the issue is more important to the other side than to their side in order to promote goodwill, cut losses when there is no chance for success, to encourage harmony, and to allow an opportunity to learn if mistakes have been made. For example, it is often wise to give an irate customer a full refund in order to maintain customer loyalty and to quiet the unrest caused by their anger.

Once you, as a supervisor, become aware of a conflict it is essential that you meet with the people and attempt to define the facts of the situation. Consider these guidelines:

• Ask about the problems they are having but don’t look for or offer solutions at this point. Remember most people are frightened by conflict and don’t know how to handle it. You need to have a clear overview of the issues before you can offer recommendations.
• Encourage people to look at the positive. Ask them information about their shared and individual goals. Then ask more information about problematic areas.
• Once you have a better understanding of the problem and what each side wants you will be more likely to come up solutions with which they are most likely to comply. Brainstorm options with them. Point out the actions and objectives that the two individuals share before you address the problem areas. Help them to distinguish between real and perceived problems. Is it possible that a perceived slight was not intended?  Help them move from, “I am tired of my ideas being stolen. I never get credit for anything I do,” to “You give me credit sometimes; I wish you would do it more often.” Focus on positive strategies to improve the situation and get them to commit to trying them.
• Try to gauge a sense of the individuals’ willingness to comply with the suggestions being made. It is especially important that they understand that the outcome is ultimately their responsibility. Also be sure that they understand the possible impact to the company if they do not resolve their dispute.
• Establish a date when you will re-evaluate the decisions that have been made and the progress that has or has not been made. Remind them again that that they are accountable for making these changes.
• End the meeting on a positive note. Offer a brief summary of their positive goals, what each wants and what you and the company expects of them.

Supervisory mediation can result in one side “winning” and obtaining the lion’s share of resources or in both sides obtaining some things they want and a share of the resources. Remember the ultimate goal of mediation is to satisfy the fundamental interests of both sides. “Winning” it all may work in a one-encounter or short-term relationship,  but a “win-win” solution  is more important in long-term relationships. For example, it might be worth renegotiating an extremely valuable employee’s contract to give them more money if you discover that another company is interested in them and willing to pay more. In this case your employee gets more money, the company keeps an asset and the overall costs are less than would be the case if you lost the employee and had to search for and train a replacement.

Managing conflict with co-workers

If you are having significant conflicts with another employee it is often wise to seek help in achieving a negotiated settlement either through your supervisor or human resources. However, if you are wise you will get prepared to present your side of the issue before you make your move. This preparation will involve doing some homework. You need to think through and document:

• What has lead up to the current problem? Do you have or can you develop a factual timeline of the problem’s evolution? (This is particularly true in the case of a sexual harassment or other such claim.) Are there other employees who will back you up?
• Is there a company policy or a set of procedures to follow for the problem you are experiencing? Will you elect to use this option?
• Who are the other people who are involved and what is your perspective on their role in the problem and its resolution? What would each of them think about the situation? Would your viewpoints differ substantially? Can you see any truth in the other side(s) perspective?
• How do you want this problem to be resolved?
• What goals are important to you?
• What do you expect the other side to ask for?
• How entrenched are your demands and those of the other party or parties?
• Can you tell if there are  hidden  agendas that  your co-workers might have, such as wanting you job?
• What do you think each side might be willing to settle on?

Once you have some understanding of your adversary’s position you will be better equipped to predict their arguments and to prepare for them. Once you have gathered this information use it in developing your own strategy.  If your issue is serious you need to establish a track record of having tried to resolve the problem within the organization unless the problem is so serious that you fear for your safety and immediate outside intervention seems imperative.

The following information may be helpful in preparing yourself for some of the possible strategies that might be used in an attempt to resolve your problem.

Competing – In this country we are proud of being competitive and thus we may use this approach too often. It is the strategy of dominance. There can be only one winner. Keep in mind that the losers may stay around to fight you another day. Use the competitive approach only when winning is very, very important to you. Use it when you core values are at stake. And since you may lose be sure you have a back up strategy for recovery. Competing is the high risk conflict resolution strategy so use is sparingly.

Collaboration– In this conflict resolution strategy you seek a win-win strategy by discussing the conflict directly with whoever may have the opposing point-of-view. The best way to approach it is to say, “I would like for both (or all) of us to get something worthwhile rather than a winner take all approach.” You must identify what the goals or aims of your opponent may be and then frankly tell about your own. If there is a way for both of you to win, then take that pathway.

Compromising – Use this method of resolving conflict when you and you opponent are of roughly equal power. You might find it useful to ask a third party to become involved as a mediator or negotiator to help work out the details of an approach somewhere in between your position and that of the opposition.

Avoiding – One of the principles of the Art of War by Sun-Tzu is to avoid losing by avoiding the battle all together. All great generals know this. You might be better advised to live beyond this battle to fight another day. Look at the risk of losing and consider carefully whether going down in a blaze of glory is worth the risks. With this strategy you have complete control, you just do not show up for the fight.

Accommodating –Changing your position to come closer to a resolution of the conflict is to take an accommodating approach to the conflict. The opposition may very well hold to their position. But you modify your own in an effort to move toward resolution. By using this approach you still hold out for the possibility of a resolution that might be a win-win alternative.

“Winning” at All Costs vs. a “Win-Win” Solution

Negotiations can result in one side “winning” and obtaining the lion’s share of resources or in both sides obtaining some things they want and a share of the resources. Remember the ultimate goal is to satisfy the fundamental interests of both sides. “Winning” it all may work in a one-encounter or short-term relationship,  but a “win-win” solution  is more important in long-term relationships.

Regardless of the track you follow to have your grievance/problem with another employee heard, knowledge of possible negotiating strategies is to your advantage, especially if you can think of ways to frame what you want so that it fits into several of these strategies. In any case it is always to your advantage to:

• Not begin a negotiation with completely outlandish demands

• Focus on underlying interests, not disputed positions, i.e.,  how can your solution benefit the workplace and its environment

Above all remember that a short-term win may be exciting but if it perpetuates the conflict or delays a future battle it may be a Pyrrhic victory.

You can serve your organization better by making every effort to avoid making any conflict with other employees a relationship conflict. Those kinds of conflicts are most difficult to redress. If you feel you have fallen into that sort of pattern and you believe the conflict could have a damaging effect on work performance or productivity you may want to bring the matter to your supervisor. If you do so be open to taking your share of the blame. Do not go in pointing fingers or you may find yourself unemployed.

The following are some of the advantages of team work over individual effort:

• It is possible for a group to achieve synergy whereby their total output is superior to the sum of various individual contributions.
• If several knowledgeable people are brought together to make decisions a number of worthwhile options may be suggested.
• Group members can assess each others thinking. In this manner the risk of the team making significant errors is reduced or avoided.
• Work teams can contribute to continuous improvement and innovation, for example, when they compete against other such teams working toward the same goal.
• Management teams at all levels often produce results that are better than those produced by individual managers.
• Job satisfaction is often increased by the process of working on a team. There may also be a greater sense of affiliation, self-esteem and self-fulfillment as well as a greater sense of security as a result of being a member of a successful team.

There are, unfortunately, a number of potential disadvantages to group activity which should be kept in mind when developing and managing teams. These include:

• Since team members are under pressure to conform to group standards of performance, there can be members who find excuses to shirk their duties or groups of team members that attempt to ostracize members who are more productive than the other team members. Since the goal is to achieve mutual goals it is important that work be assigned carefully to each group member to reduce these possibilities. Steps should also be taken to remove nonproductive members from a team before they are able to damage the final product.
• Teams can waste time by having too many meetings and debates or trying to come to an ultimately unproductive consensus.
• Group decision making may deteriorate because of excessive consensus seeking which results in the efficiency and judgment of the group being impaired. This leads to group think and poor decisions
• Shared leadership can become unstable if team leaders revert to their usual style of exercising authority.

To minimize these potential problems it is most advantageous to use teams only for tasks that are suited for a team, i.e., when a collective work product is needed. There is no magic to the use of teams and when poorly organized they can lead to disaster. Teamwork must be planned and teams must be well managed.

LEADERSHIP WITH A TEAM FOCUS

Some leaders foster teamwork by their charismatic personality. Fortunately, it is not necessary to be charismatic in order to be an inspiring and effective leader in a team focused organization. There are various informal and formal techniques that can enhance teamwork.

Supervisors who assume leadership roles for work teams should:

• Share power and deemphasize individual glory and recognition
• Facilitate others team members achievements while maintaining the ability to inspire
• Accept group consensus whenever possible
• Delegate
• Build on diversity
• Actively look for talent
• Foster relationships
• Establish the team’s mission.

In a successful team, as team members become stronger so do their leaders who are not threatened by sharing power. Such leaders are willing to make these sacrifices in order to surround themselves with competent people in an effort to enhance the effectiveness of the team and the final product.

A team leader has a number of key responsibilities. They include:

• Facilitating the building of trust and inspiring the group to work together
• Coaching and supporting team members in an effort to reach ever higher levels of performance
• Smooth the progress of and support decisions made by the team
• Expand the team’s potential
• Establish a team identity
• Anticipate and influence change by constantly staying in tune with the leading edge in your industry
• Strive to inspire the team to higher levels of performance
• Give group members the enabling and empowering that they need to facilitate their work
• Encourage team members to not be satisfied with substandard or inferior efforts

There are a number of key activities for the supervisor. One is to define a team’s mission and charge the team in a way that will promote the best results. Since commitment to a clear mission is paramount to establishing an effective team, this is a critical step. The mission statement answers the question, “Why are we doing this?” In order to answer this question a mission statement must express:

• A specific goal

• A reason or purpose for pursuing the goal

• A philosophical tone which explains the background significance of the selected goal.

• The dialogue among team members that results in a clearly articulated mission statement establishes an environment in which team members can express their feelings, opinions and idea. Participatory leadership is extremely useful in developing a mission that can effectively enhance teamwork. For a team member the fact that they helped develop the goals needed to achieve the mission helps insure their commitment to those goals.

• It is also useful for there to be an expected standard of conduct that is expected of team members. While the team can undermine the steps toward a goal, and individual members can shirk their obligations, it is also possible to encourage team members to work together for their mutual benefit. In all cases a clear set of expectations for what is expected from each member should be formulated and instilled in the group.

• One of the ways to encourage group collaboration instead of competitiveness is to encourage a sense of cooperation. One of the most important tools to achieve this goal is to emphasize the terms team and team member and deemphasize the terms subordinates and employees. A team is one for all and all for one; stressing the idea of being a subordinate negates the significance of being a team member. Group incentives should supplement individual incentives. And management should always remember that they never know from whom stellar ideas might originate.

• Encouraging your team to take pride in their accomplishments is another good idea. Even the process of learning why a group should be proud of what they are doing can enhance a sense of teamwork.

• Informal gatherings which allow team members to discuss what they might bring to the team as well as an opportunity to voice their concerns about the team’s mission and goals can serve to increase cooperativeness among team members.

• A leader should always try to model the behaviors you want your team members to demonstrate. Letting you team members know important information about ideas and attitudes important to the group’s work fosters a sense of cohesiveness and allows you a route to letting them know that you consider them and their contributions to be important. Just as children learn best from a parent that not only talks the talk but walks the walk they preach, so do team members learn what is really expected from them by being able to observe a leader that is capable of walking the walk as well as talking the talk.

• Since the end product and shared leadership powers are essential communal goals in a team effort, it is important to make the group feel like they have a say in the process whenever it can be done and maintain the integrity of the project. One such way is to enlist the group whenever possible in making consensus decisions. This process allows for the exchange of ideas, and an opportunity to refine and support each others ideas. Everyone benefits.

• In order to keep a team on track it is essential to have a timeframe, a set of performance standards and direction. A team needs to feel like it has an important, possibly urgent, purpose. The more relevant the rationale the more likely the team will be to achieve its goals. It is especially important to give the group ongoing facts and information because it will reduce the likelihood of the group getting so involved in consensus building and too many meetings which can result in their becoming cut-off from reality. The truth may not only set you free, but it may also keep your team focused in the here and now and on the appropriate goals.

• Performance standards should not only be used to keep a team on track to reaching its goal in a timely manner, but also as an occasion or means to allow team members receive feedback. While negative feedback is not pleasant, it can facilitate a team on refocusing on specific issues and how they can be best accomplished. Positive feedback helps focus the group on what they are doing right for now so they can more accurately understand the progress they are making and what remains to be done. Not receiving truthful feedback severely limits the potential of the team.

• As a leader of a team it is best if a leader does not try to micromanage all aspects of the project. Every time a leader micromanages an aspect of a project they disempower the team. If the team members have the appropriate skills, job knowledge, and education they should be ready to be empowered to do many tasks on their own as long as they also accept responsibility for their results.

There are also a number of steps that a team leader can take to encourage group cohesiveness. For example:

• Group cohesiveness is facilitated if team members are located close together and can interact easily and frequently
• Awards for group accomplishments also encourage teamwork because people are rewarded for what they have achieved as a collaborative group.
• Team rituals and ceremonies are also valuable to encourage team cohesiveness.
• Manage your team members in such a way that every employee is educated, empowered and motivated to understand and pursue the group’s goals. Share information as well as responsibility. A group shares not only the rewards but also the risks so team members are more likely to pull together to achieve results when they know the “score.”

Offsite, outdoor training is sometimes used to develop teamwork. The training enhances participants’ self-esteem and helps them learn how to do things in collaboration. There is some disagreement about transfer of skills learned into the workplace as well as physical risk in these programs. Thus, these Outbound Programs are mentioned primarily for informational purposes. Outdoor programs may or may not be suitable or desirable for a specific business, especially if that business has heavy employee turnover which would not justify the expense.

Learning Teamwork

When acting as a team member an employee has different expectations thrust upon them than when acting as an individual. Team members are usually chosen because they have unique contributions to make towards the group goal. However, unlikely in many business efforts, a team is supposed to act in collaboration with one another and not merely as producers of individual products which are later combined to produce an end product. Instead, skills are pooled and leadership shared in the service of a collaborative product to satisfy an assigned goal which is superior to other strategies.

As an employee and group member you should consider:

• It is possible for a group to achieve synergy to product output that is better than the sum of individual contributions

• Each member is chosen because of their special skills, it is your responsibility to use your skills in a manner that supports group goals. If decisions are being made the fact that there are several knowledgeable people increases the probability of a number of different options being suggested. Do not feel like your contributions are being wasted or unappreciated. The better the input the better the output and everyone benefits.

• A group or team offers the opportunity for other people to assess each others thinking. This assessment reduces the risk of making significant errors.

• If you are a member of a work team which is competing against other work teams, remember that a quality outcome depends on quality efforts by the entire team. Do your very best. While you may not receive individual glory you will receive rewards from a successful outcome which can be shared with team mates which makes the outcome very sweet. If you question this, think about your favorite college team winning the national championship. The championship is sweet to the entire team. Remember if everyone does their part and the end product is excellent it would not be possible except for the efforts of each and every member.

• Since leadership is shared, results are frequently better than those directed by a single supervisor or manager, provided careful focus can be maintained.

• Frequently the level of self-esteem and self-fulfillment is greater from being a member of a successful team. Remember also that the risks are shared as well as the rewards.

There are several things that you can do to insure that your team is effective. These include:

• Team membership requires a considerable amount of conformity to standards and timetables and the like. Do not let you team or yourself down by shirking your responsibilities. The goal is to achieve mutual goals; don’t sabotage your team. You will not only hurt them, but also yourself. When given the change fly like an eagle.

• Teams can waste time in meetings and debates and trying to come to a consensus. Don’t contribute to making things more difficult than they need to be. Try to keep a clear view of the big picture and help your team mates reach the goal.

• Teams can be undermined by leaders reverting to their usual style of exercising authority. Help you teammates deal with such tendencies by reminding them that the end goal serves you all.

Take some hints from things team leaders should do; they frequently are good goals for team members as well. Try to:

• Share power and deemphasize individual glory and recognition
• Help other team members achieve
• Try to behave in a manner that inspires other team members
• Acquiesce to group consensus
• Accept responsibilities
• Try to stay open minded when other opinions are offered. Remember you were each chosen because management thought you had special skills and knowledge which would increase the opportunity for the group to meet its goals and benefit the company.
• Try your very best to develop good working relationships with other team members
• When things get though remember that this is a goal-directed activity. It is not a lifelong commitment. Try to ignore little irritations and keep focused on the goal.

Cooperation is the key. When irritated by other members it is often helpful to remind yourself that if the team succeeds it will reflect well not only on the team but also its individual members. The stronger the team, the stronger you are. To be strong a team needs each individual link to be strong. Your job is to be that strong link.

Above all keep your discussions professional. Do not belittle the contribution of others. Conflict can be productive but keep it constructive and professional.