Become A Better Leader

Employee Morale Tips Newsletter - March 3, 2009

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Employee Morale Tips
The Confidence Center Newsletter
March 3, 2009 - Vol. 9 - Issue 9

Written by Harriet Meyerson and published every Tuesday
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In This Issue:
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=> Word, Quote, Trivia, and Joke of the Week
=> Article: A Reason to Celebrate
=> Latest Leadership Tips on our blog

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Hi %$firstname$%

2 bits
4 bits
6 Bits - a Dollar
All for our team
Stand Up and Holler

March is Employee Spirit Month, and to celebrate,
here's an audio that explains how you can create
-Employee Spirit Teams-
and create enthusiasm at work. Listen at:

http://tinyurl.com/awumcz

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Word and Quote of the Week
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***Irony***

*** "Money is the most envied, but the least enjoyed.
Health is the most enjoyed, but the least envied."
— Charles Caleb Colton: (1780-1832) British
clergyman, sportsman and author

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Trivia Question of the Week
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Q. What's the largest one-person residence in the world?

(Answer at the end of this newsletter.)

Practice Leadership Skills and Get Noticed - Quick Tip

Successful leaders know that what is important to
employees is the quality of their daily
experience at work.

H. Ross Perot once said...

"Inventories can be managed, but people must be led."

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Why should this matter?
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You know that, whatever your industry, your
company's most valuable assets are its employees.

Leaders create the kind of atmosphere that boosts
productivity and keeps employees loyal.

The best way to create this atmosphere is to help your
employees develop their own leadership skills.

Employees don't have to be promoted to be a leader -
they just have to become more than ordinary. By developing
leadership skills they will become "extra"-ordinary...

* more positive,
* better problem solvers,
* more effective communicators, etc.

For example, these are two important ways for employees
to begin to grow their leadership skills.

1. Remove the word "can't" from your vocabulary.

2. Give up the mindset,
"If it ain't broke, don't fix it."
and adopt one of
"How can we make this better?"

In other words, to be a leader -
people have to "BE" a leader.

Practice Leadership Skills and Get Noticed!
is Tool 5 of the 13 essential tools in the Employee Success Toolkit.

The Employee Success Toolkit is a professional
development course for employees in 13 easy-to-follow lessons.
It is a system guaranteed to improve attitude,
skills, and productivity.

See all the details and learn what the other 12
lessons are at:
http://www.confidencecenter.com/url/toolkit.htm

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The ultimate goal of any supervisor is to turn
ordinary workers into extraordinary employees.
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If you want...

- Employees taking responsibility for their
actions and their job duties.

- People coming to work with a positive attitude.

- Employees being able to handle stressful
situations

You can do it -and much more- with the Employee
Success Toolkit.

See all the details and learn what the other 12
lessons are at:
http://www.confidencecenter.com/url/toolkit.htm

Book Review: LEAD BY EXAMPLE - 50 Ways Great Leaders Inspire Results

In February of 2007, the popular and customer-friendly airline JetBlue faced what seemed like an overwhelming crisis...

A winter storm wreaked havoc on the East Coast and caused the cancellation of half of the airline’s scheduled flights and stranded an airliner full of passengers on the runway for more than eight hours. Overnight, it seemed as though JetBlue’s impeccable reputation had been tarnished. 

However, instead of accepting defeat, or absolving the airline of blame, founder and CEO Jeff Neeleman took the public stage and...

Creating Team Synergy - Quick Tip

Teams are important when one individual cannot
accomplish a task or project alone.

But, merely having people work together does not
make them a team.

Are you part of a team or just a group of people
doing "team work"?

A real team has synergy.

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Why should this matter?
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Synergy is when two or more people are working
together and the result is greater than the sum
of their individual capabilities.

What gives a team synergy is when each person
uses and shares his or her skills. Their skills
are the tools in their toolbox.

Each person's toolbox contains things that are
unique about that individual - assets as well as
shortcomings.

By taking an inventory of these strengths and
weaknesses, you can determine who is strong where
someone else may be weak. This helps everyone
discover different ways to work together.

"Create Team Synergy" is one of the 13 essential
tools in the Employee Success Toolkit. It will
help your group work as an effective and
cooperative team.

The Employee Success Toolkit is a professional
development course for employees in 13 easy-to-follow lessons.
It is a system guaranteed to improve attitude,
skills, and productivity.

See all the details and learn what the other 12
lessons are at:
http://www.confidencecenter.com/url/toolkit.htm

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The ultimate goal of any supervisor is to turn
ordinary workers into extraordinary employees.
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If you want...

- Your staff to come together in unity and work
together as a team

- Respect and have a better understanding of
co-workers with different backgrounds or cultures

- Employees who think and speak in a positive
manner, no matter what the circumstances are at
the time

You can do it -and much more- with the Employee
Success Toolkit.

See all the details and learn what the other 12
lessons are at:
http://www.confidencecenter.com/url/toolkit.htm

Book Review: Working with Difficult People

Mastering the ability to handle difficult people and disruptive behaviors has always been a critical career skill. Working with Difficult People defines nine fundamental types of difficult people and gives readers a complete system for opening lines of communication, resolving differences, and avoiding office headaches. Readers will learn how to:

• understand their own reactions to different kinds of difficult people
• explore the interrelationship between themselves and the problematic employee
• practice healthier responses to those who make their lives miserable   

 

Extensively updated, a must-have guide to handling the most challenging coworkers.

How to Stop Procrastinating - Quick Tip

Procrastination is a workplace challenge that lowers productivity.

Workplace procrastination causes a variety of
problems such as mistakes, sloppy work, tension,
and missed deadlines.

Procrastination not only affects the quality of
your work, it also causes mental frustration.

So, if putting things off is so bad, why do people do it?

People procrastinate for different reasons, but
they all boil down to some kind of fear.

• Fear of making mistakes
• Fear of being overwhelmed
• Fear of being bored because the task is tedious
• Fear of being seen as incompetent
• Fear of any unpleasant consequence

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Why is this important?
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By identifying the exact fear that causes you to
procrastinate, you will be able to work on
corrective measures.

Keep in mind that you do not do your best work
when you put off your task to the last minute.

You may think that you will become more motivated
if you are in a time crunch, but you will not
work as efficiently or as accurately if you are
working under pressure.

If you begin the project on time, you will be
able to work at a moderate pace, and your work
will be of a higher quality.

Identifying the fear is one of several effective
ways to stop procrastinating.

"Stop Procrastinating, Now!" is one of the 13
essential tools in the Employee Success Toolkit.

The Employee Success Toolkit is a professional
development course in 13 easy-to-follow lessons.
It is a system guaranteed to improve attitude,
skills, and productivity.

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The ultimate goal of any supervisor is to turn
ordinary workers into extraordinary employees.
------------------------------------------------------

If you want...

- Employees to manage their time efficiently.

- Respect and a better understanding of
co-workers with different backgrounds or cultures

- Employees having fun at work while achieving
their goals

You can do it -and much more- with the Employee
Success Toolkit.

See all the details and learn what the other 12
lessons are at:
http://www.confidencecenter.com/url/toolkit.htm

Increase Your Workplace Energy - Quick Tip

Are your employees feeling depressed and
unmotivated because of the current economic
situation? Do you think that money is their only
motivator? If so, this becomes a major workplace problem.

What else might work?

If you check out the multitude of new energy drinks on
store shelves and in their coolers, it seems like
everyone needs more energy these days.

Could that be the answer?

Energy drinks are full of caffeine which gives
you an immediate surge, but they can also make
you jittery, tense and irritable. You are not
going to get the kind of mental energy you need
for workplace inspiration from an energy drink.

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Why not?
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The kind of motivation you need at work comes
from having a positive attitude.

When left to it's own thinking, the mind becomes
negative, and negative thinking creates fear that
can slow you down or even immobilize you.

That is why your mind needs constant positive
inspiration to keep your energy level at its peak.

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The Solution
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Inspirational quotes and short stories can change
your attitude from negative to positive in an
instant. They can motivate you to work harder
and focus on your task, because they change your attitude.

Keep lots of inspirational poems, quotes and
short stories available. There are many books
full of short inspiring stories - such as the
Chicken Soup series.

Reading even one inspiring story can
lift your spirits and energize you to go the
extra mile. Try it today and experience the
difference it makes.

Because the peak and flow of energy varies from
person to person, employees should be shown how
to raise their own mental energy level.

This is one of several easy and effective ways
to increase workplace energy from the Employee Success Toolkit.

"Increase Your Workplace Energy" is one of the 13
essential tools in the Employee Success Toolkit.

The Employee Success Toolkit is a professional
development course in 13 easy-to-follow lessons.
It is a system guaranteed to improve attitude,
skills, and productivity.

------------------------------------------------------
The ultimate goal of any supervisor is to turn
ordinary workers into extraordinary employees.
------------------------------------------------------

If you want...

- Employees taking responsibility for their
actions and their job duties.

- People coming to work with a positive attitude.

- Employees being able to handle stressful
situations

You can do it -and much more- with the Employee
Success Toolkit.

See all the details and learn what the other 12
lessons are at:
http://www.confidencecenter.com/url/toolkit.htm

Book Review: PERSUASION IQ - The 10 Skills You Need to Get Exactly What You Want

Effective advertising, marketing, and sales professionals convince consumers to buy.

Winning defense attorneys sway juries to acquit, and winning politicians urge constituents to vote for them.

Trusted doctors counsel patients, and trusted clergy enlighten congregations. Respected teachers, trainers, and mentors advise and motivate students. Good parents guide their children. These and countless more examples show how successful people use persuasion every day.

“Regardless of our actual job title, we all persuade for a living,” notes Kurt W. Mortensen, who makes his living as an authority on the psychology, art, and distinctive intelligence of persuasion.

 In PERSUASION IQ: The 10 Skills You Need to Get Exactly What You Want (AMACOM 2008), Mortensen shares what he has learned about the talents, traits, habits, and mindset of top persuaders—people who stand out as exceptionally successful and prosperous—over nearly 20 years of wide-ranging research.

Successful Workplace Communication - Quick Tip

Improving poor communication is one of the most
challenging problems in the workplace.

The truth is -
How you say something is vastly more important
than what you say.

Do you or your employees spend a significant
amount of time communicating via email or instant
messaging - even when you can get up and walk
over to the other person's desk?

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Why should this matter?
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Sometimes email can be misunderstood and cause
confusion. If you have to email back to clarify,
you may be wasting time and adding the frustration of
waiting for the email reply.

Personal contact is important - and not just to
avoid misunderstandings. People relate to one
another better face to face.

You can have eye contact, read each other's body
language and feel the energy the connection creates.

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What if you can't meet?
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If it's not possible to meet face-to-face, the
next best way is talking of the phone because you
can hear the emotion in the other person's tone of voice.

Take time today to meet face-to-face when you
need to communicate at work, and experience the
difference it makes.

This is only one of the many aspects of effective
workplace communication taught in the Employee Success Toolkit.

Communication is one of the 13 essential tools
employees need for success. It's so important
that we made it the first lesson in the
Employee Success Toolkit.

The Employee Success Toolkit is a professional
development course in 13 easy-to-follow lessons.
It is a system guaranteed to improve attitude,
skills, and productivity.

------------------------------------------------------
The ultimate goal of any supervisor is to turn
ordinary workers into extraordinary employees.
------------------------------------------------------
If you want...

- Happy, positive employees who work as a team,
deal with problems and get along with each other
instead of constantly complaining.

- Shared excitement and enthusiasm for  work even
though it's very difficult at times.

- Better flow of communication between management
and staff

You can do it with the Employee Success Toolkit.

See all the details and... learn what the other 12
lessons are at:
http://www.confidencecenter.com/url/toolkit.htm

Try this tip and leave your comments. What other successful communication tips have you used?

*Announcing* 2008 Employee Morale Success Story of the Year Award

****Announcing****
The Winner of our
2008 Employee Morale Success Story of the Year Award

Congratulations to Smita Muzumdar, a loyal subscriber
who took our creative morale boosters and transformed her company.

(While we are based in the USA, this award is given to a person, anywhere in the world, who has used the ideas in one or more of our employee morale books to make a significant impact in their company's morale.)

Our Our winner, Smita Muzumdar, lives in Ahmedabad, India where she is the General Manager of a Medical Billing Company, Accurate Billing Services Pvt. Ltd.

• Learn what ideas and activities she used,
• Read the heartfelt comments of her employees,
• and see the pictures at:

http://www.confidencecenter.com/url/2008winner.htm

After you read her amazing story, please come back to this blog and leave your comments for her. She will be thrilled to read them.