My Blog has moved!

Hello!
Please visit my blog at

http://www.effective-actions.com/blog/

I look forward to meeting you there,

Myriam

The N° 1 Reason Why To-Do Lists Don’t Work And What You Can Do About It

Raise your hand if you sometimes feel frustrated that you don’t get all things done!

Do you ever write To-Do lists? And if you do, how often do you manage to really check all of the tasks, or how often do you forget about them because you feel overwhelmed with a growing mountain of things to do?

There must be something wrong here. How come we keep struggling with this? Is it all a matter of discipline?

Some Practical Reasons Why To-Do Lists Don’t Work

First of all, to-do lists can be very helpful for short term tasks, where there’s a need for our fast action. But for most of us, in the long run they do not help us take care of all the things that we need.

We either include too many tasks or not enough of them; these tasks are mostly too generic or don’t include a deadline; we cannot allocate (enough) time for each task; we find them too boring or restrictive; we don’t have enough time to update them; we prioritize them but then something always comes up to mess with our plans.

Missing The Big Picture

The main reason why To-Do lists don’t work is that they don’t discriminate between what is important and what is not, related to our values, purpose and ultimate goals.

This means that by losing sight of the big picture we put all our energy into reacting to all the things that happen immediately around us. These actions and reactions may be related to one specific goal only, making us forget about other goals that are also important to us.

How We Can Manage Our Tasks More Effectively

Stephen Covey offers an excellent suggestion in his book “The 7 Habits Of Highly Effective People”

1. Identify your different roles in life
   
2. Choose your goals for each role
3. Plan by the week instead of by the day
4. Take a few minutes daily to review your plan

This gives us the opportunity to look at the big picture, and along with the identification of our values, purpose and mission, it becomes a highly effective way to set the right priorities and to decide how and where to allocate our time and energy.

Conclusion

It is definitely possible to get things done more effectively, so that we feel more productive as well as more relaxed and satisfied.

It is a matter of what we are ready to change in order to achieve it. It does not require huge change, and the positive impact it can have on the quality of our life is amazing. How will we stay motivated to consistently apply such an effective time management? Read this article.

Who Else Are You?

No, I don’t mean Dr. Jeckill and Mr. Hyde! If you’re reading this, you’re probably a manager, a professional or a business owner. Or maybe you’re on your journey to find out what you would like to do professionally. These may be the areas in which you spend most of your time, thoughts and energy. But besides this, who else are you? Are you a husband or a wife? A mother or a father? Are you just yourself, with needs that go beyond your work and being someone’s partner?

Frustration

Whenever we feel out of balance, or stressed or frustrated, what is actually happening is that we are focussing too much on one area in our life, neglecting another one that is equally important but that we consider secondary for some reason.

By doing so, though, we forget that all areas are connected with one another. How can I take the right decisions at work if I spent the whole night quarrelling with my spouse?

In our life we have different roles, such as being for example:

- An individual
- A wife or husband
- A mother or father
- A daughter or son
- A sales manager
- A team leader
- A president
- A volunteer in a non-profit association
- A friend
- A neighbour
- etc.

By looking at this list we may clearly see that there’s much more to our life than being, for example, a sales manager.

Where are you spending most of your time and energy right now?

Are you aware that by focussing so much on one of your roles you are neglecting other roles that are important in your life?

If so, how long will you be neglecting them?

What consequences may this have on each area?

We all have 24 hours in a day. That is equal for each and every human being. What we decide to do with this time is up to us.

How can we make sure that we use this time in a way that serves our REAL purpose? First of all, by discovering what our real purpose is. When we are aware of the ultimate goals that we want to achieve in life, and why, and how our roles fit in, then it becomes much easier for us to set priorities.

Is Passion For Work Out Of Date?

Today’s economy looks really bad! Now let’s be honest, how many people around us would care about enjoying their work, considering they may not even manage to pay the bills at the end of the month? We should be happy if we have a job at all!

Companies can lay you off any time…

Globally, organizations keep merging and separating and closing down and outsourcing… Why should weshow committment and passion and enthusiasm if the company can fire us any time for any reason?

There is a shortage of work…

We keep sending out CV’s and yet we never find a job, or not the one we want.

Is there really a shortage of work?

There may be shortage of jobs, at least of the ones we have been considering up to now. But there is certainly no shortage of work that needs to be done. The question is: Am I ready to accept that the type of jobs that are offered is changing? And then: What about the new type of work that needs to be carried out? We get borne, we eat, we drink, we break, we destroy, we produce garbage, we want to clean, we want a holiday, we want a massage, we need assistance at technical, medical, psychological level, we want a more comfortable house / car / office / pedestrian precinct, etc.

Who is supposed to invent, create, assemble, deliver, maintain all of this?

There is a shortage of skilled and committed workers

This is the major complaint I have been hearing from several small to middle sized organizations in the past 5 years. From the companies’ point of view, there are less and less people willing to take care of the tasks that are there. These could be lower level jobs that no one wants to do any longer. Or specialistic, high-level work. Companies complain that new employees often lack both skills AND commitment, coming late to work or not delivering quality work.

On the other side, there are thousands of people with a lot of experience who have been looking for a job for months, if not years. What’s going wrong here?

The economy is changing. What about us?

Do you remember Charles Darwin’s theory about the survival of the fittest? Well this is changing as well to a certain extent. If we transfer the concept to the professional world, we could speak of the survival of those who adapt to the economic and social changes in a creative and innovating way.

And how can you do that without passion?

Passion, responsibility, persistence, preparation, creativity, commitment… an entrepreneurial mind: this is what makes the difference in the professional world nowadays.

• Passion

Today’s job market is highly competitive and companies require a higher standard of performance. Passion can be our way to achieve a work that we want and help us execute our tasks in the best way we can. If we enjoy what we do and we do it with passion, we can deliver great results.

• Responsibility

This means deciding to stop blaming others, life, the economic situation, the weather for whatever happened and happens to us. We are in a position to decide how we want to face a certain situation. We are even in the position to acknowledge that something hurted us in the past, but that we will not allow it to rule our life in the future. Of course this doesn’t happen from one day to the other, but choosing to take responsibility for our present actions is a great step forward.

• Persistence

When we are passionate about what we do, we are powered by a stronger engine that helps us be more persistent than others. It’s tough, and we have to fight more and longer for a job. If we give up too early, we lose it all.

• Preparation

Here I mean in two ways:

1. 1) Gaining and upgrading my skills
2. 2) Being mentally prepared that I may lose my job without notice.

How do I make sure I will be ready to move on to another job without feeling depressed? By changing my perspective and by making sure that I have what it takes for me to find an acceptable, maybe even better alternative.

• Commitment

When we decide to accept a task, or to go in a certain direction, it requires commitment to stick to our decision even when challeges arise. We got so used to be with people or to do things just as long as they please us, that we find it difficult to keep doing things even when they get boring.

• Creativity
  

Creativity means also looking for ways so we can keep and enjoy what we had once committed to.

In the context of work, in the past we learnt that if we wanted to get to Z we would have to do X and Y. Today, we struggle to follow all instructions, and nothing seems to really work.  Crying or complaining won’t help either. What can we do? We need to unleash the natural creativity that is within ourselves, and that we believed was something belonging to artists or graphic designers only   We have to find new ways to achieve our goals, with integrity. We need to create our opportunities.

• An entrepreneurial mind

What if we started looking at our job search and career with an entrepreneurial mind? What if we started viewing ourselves as a company that sells a specific service to customers (our current or future employer) that need the type of service we provide?

The competition is tough. How do we get our customer (our current or future employer) choose our services instead of the ones offered by others?

The economy is unstable. How do we make sure that if our customer (our current or future employer) cannot pay for our services any longer we find other customers?

These are a few things an entrepreneur does:

• Assessment of current products, services, competences, resources
• Market and competition analysis
• Goal setting
• Strategic business planning
• Strategic marketing planning
• Search for missing important products, services, competence and resources
• Investments for the above
• Networking

How can this be transferred to our job and career?

What Leaders Need to Do Right to Move Up

Following is an interesting article by John Baldoni, a Leadership Consultant and Coach writing for Harvard Business Publishing:

A colleague of mine, Scott Eblin, likes to ask a question when speaking to groups of high-potential executives. “How many of you are, or have been referred to as, the go-to person in your organization?” Nearly all hands go up. While this is good, such self-identification does not tell the whole story. As stated in a new white paper developed by his firm, The Eblin Group, “expectations become broader and more nuanced and complex with successive promotions… the go-to person style become less and less tenable.”

Clearly leaders need help in developing behaviors that will help them succeed at higher levels of management. New research by the Eblin Group identifies five key behaviors that high potential leaders identify as important to successful senior management positions. “[T]hese are the positive behaviors that make ‘go-to people’ the go to people.” Let’s take them one at a time.

Strong desire to see team succeed. Leaders put the team first. That means they put people in positions to succeed and recognize those who achieve. This mindset begins with a desire for success as well as the authority to make things happen. That’s where leaders come in. They act for the good of the team.

Mental acuity and engagement. You need some smarts to be a senior leader but you also need to put those mental powers to good use. You need to engage the interest and passions of individuals. You need to help them see the vision and discover their role in fulfilling it.

Stamina/energy to perform. Management is a tough job. You possess a capacity for hard work. Smart leaders also realize that their survival depends on staying focused. Many do this through exercise and eating right. A leader’s ability to be in charge demands peak performance; stamina plays a role.

Positive image for the organization. The higher the position the brighter the light shines. Yet how many times have we witnessed senior corporate leaders wilt when the heat is on? The current financial crisis is a major case in point. Senior leader after senior leader proved that the “emperor had no clothes” when questioned about financial practices at their institutions. Accountability is critical for those at the top.

Openness and honesty in communications. Respect for others begins with being straight. Withholding critical bits of information, failing to give feedback, and hiding bad news are venal crimes that should strike any manager off the list for higher consideration. Rather look to those who share information and use it to help people succeed.

There is an underlying theme in four of these behaviors and it is this: leaders accomplish little by themselves; they can accomplish much by working with others. Those who are in positions of identifying and grooming next generation leaders would do well to select managers who know how to achieve results through the actions of others. Competency will get you promoted one or two rungs on the ladder; working with and through others will open doors to senior leadership.

Achieving authority in the workplace

Whether we are in a leading position or we work with our colleagues, business partners, suppliers, clients etc. what we need is authority.

What does authority mean?

Authority means having power, the power to “say what we say” and “do what we do”, so that people accept and respect it. Even in those cases when they do not agree with us

Having power vs. taking power

Many people, often women, tend to struggle with the feeling of authority. They believe they are lacking authority because:

• nobody has given them this power
• they do not know how to acquire it
• they believe they do not have a status or gender that allows them to exercise authority

Now the question is: Do we receive authority by others, or are there ways we can achieve it ourselves?

Because, actually, there are people who have received the authority to manage other people, for example in a company, and yet they do not really act with authority.

This may be due to:

• lack of confidence and self-esteem
• fear of handling another person as if he/she were worth less than oneself

Authority is expected

Authority does not mean that we can do whatever we like with our subordinates. Or even colleagues, business partners, suppliers, clients.

All the people we deal with expect that we:

• know what we are doing
• explain our requirements clearly and if necessary give direction
• request that things are completed or delivered exactly as required

What would be the point for these people to deal with us otherwise?

How do we achieve authority?

It does not really matter at which level or position in a company we are. Wherever we are we have the authority to be who we are.

Here are a few ways to increase authority:

• Be aware that if you are in a certain position, it is because you can do it!
• Learn as much as possible about your core duties and processes, so you become experts
• Delegate all tasks that are not really your duty, your strength or under your competence
• If necessary, prepare your speech or phone call ahead and train it, so you sound confident
• Set clear boundaries and make sure they are respected – e.g. “Do not disturb sign” for an hour of uninterrupted work, fixed times for meetings, no phone calls on Sundays, etc.
• Find positive ways to involve your co-workers in projects that they should take care of
• Monitor people’s work and their respect for deadlines and quality
• Provide effective and constructive feedback

Any further suggestions?

From Passion to Facts: We help 6 people find a job

Hello everyone!

The Italian group on Xing “Lavoro si può” where I am a co-moderator – just started a UNIQUE PROJECT:

WE HELP 6 PEOPLE FIND A JOB!

After reading hundreds of frustrated, disappointed comments from people in Italy who do not manage to find a job or the recognition they want in spite of experience, competence and also passion, I decided I wanted to show them that IF WE REALLY WANT IT, WE CAN!

So I proposed to the moderators team that WE JOIN OUR FORCES TO HELP OUR GROUP MEMBERS. I offered group coaching for free for 6 selected members of the group, and asked for the collaboration of a highly experienced HR Manager and selector for the hands-on experience she can share for the people’s benefit.

EVERYONE WAS ENTHUSIASTIC!
And so we started a great team work which includes the project organization, the evaluation of all applications, the involvement of companies, and much more.

THE PROJECT WAS ANNOUNCED YESTERDAY
And we have already received several applications with resumes and application form, that can be downloaded here.

The deadline for sending the applications is NOVEMBER 21 – just in case you speak Italian and would like to participate!

THE 8 SESSIONS INCLUDE

- Coaching
- Efficient practical techniques for powerful resume writing and successful interviews.

THE SESSIONS WILL HELP THE PARTICIPANTS:

* Remove the obstacles that have been preventing them from finding the job they want

* Achieve a feeling of power and confidence

* Clearly define the type of job and life they want

* Define clear action steps to get their job

* Create a support system to stay motivated when challenges arise

* Learn how to focus and network efficiently to find the job they want

* Write a powerful resume and presentation

* Approach the interviews in a winning and convincing way

All participants will receive a STEP-by-STEP SUPPORT provide by our team.

We are really happy about this project, we are working on it with PASSION and ENTHUSIASM and ENERGY!

So we will see whether, if we really want it, WE CAN

Have a great day!
Myriam

1° Evento: Aiutiamo 6 persone a trovare lavoro!

2 Dicembre 2008 -  27 Gennaio 2009: Il nostro straordinario progetto “Insieme per il tuo lavoro” sta volgendo al termine! Per informazioni sull’evento clicca qui.

Dec. 2 – Jan. 27, 2009: 1st EVENT – WE HELP 6 PEOPLE FIND A JOB!
For further info click here.

How can a corporate mission statement create passion?

Mission statements are trendy. There was a time a few years ago when every company wanted to have one. Or many at least, the ones that understood its power.

Now tell me about a mission statement that really moves people

Do you know of any? In large as well as in middle and small sizes organizations you can find mission statements: a set of beautiful words. However, beautiful words mean nothing if the person reading them doesn’t feel them.

A successful and thriving organizations needs passionate people, a management and staff who believe in what they are doing, who put their heart in their work for a common goal.

But what do you do when your staff shows no real motivation and enthusiasm?

There are several things that could be done, and one of the most effective ones is actively involving your staff in the organization’s processes. This could include involving your management and staff in the creation of the company’s mission statement.

What’s good about it?

Involving your staff in this process can be an extremely powerful way of focussing your company’s forces towards your goals. When the vision, mission and goals are shared, every member feels as an active part and contributor. This will motivate them to be more productive and to improve their internal relationships with their colleagues as well as their external ones with customers and suppliers.

How can this be achieved?

1. Every employee is invited by the owner(s) of the organization to create a corporate mission by:

• sharing their vision about their ideal workplace, workload, processes, relationship with management and colleagues
• sharing their vision about their ideal relationship with their customers, suppliers, business partners
• sharing their vision about how each of them can actively contribute to these improvements

This process could ideally take place in a team-building workshop, or many depending on the size of the organization.

2. Every manager goes through the same process, in order to collect both the employees and the management’s visions.

3. All these answers are collected and processed to draft three possible mission statements

4. The three mission statements are submitted to the employees who can choose the one they prefer and they can best identify with

5. The chosen mission statement will become part of the organization’s internal and external communication.

How does this feel?

Such a project can only be successful if the top management honestly believes in its power and value. It takes a “stretch” in order to acknowledge the power that our staff can have for our organization, and an even bigger one in order to use it. But it’s definitely worth it. How could your organization benefit from this?

I want to succeed!

Have you ever gone into a shop to buy clothes, looking around for a shop assistant to actually assist you with your shopping?
And after some time you managed to locate her, looking at you with you a slight irritation, walking slowly towards you, with a deeply bored expression on her face?

If you ever experienced something like that, you can bet that shop assistant was really successful with her job!

Wasn’t she?

No she wasn’t – if that’s the way she behaved each and every day, or even most of the days, she for sure was not successful in that specific shop.

This all sounds obvious. However, how many things that are obvious to us we DO NOT DO THOUGH?

IF WE WANT TO SUCCEED WE NEED…

1. PASSION
For what we do, and for what we want to achieve. Without enthusiasm, we do not get anywhere. Or can you prove the opposite?

2. …TO KNOW WHAT WE WANT
If we just have a rough idea, halfways, we just waste time and energy. Have you ever experienced those evenings with friends, nobody knowing and deciding where to go? Now, let’s imagine you want to meet a couple of dear friends of yours that you haven’t seen for ages, and you want to meet them at the “Al Fresco” restaurant downtown.

3. … A CLEAR PLAN ON HOW TO GET THERE
In order to get there, you need to know exactly where it is located and how to get there: on foot? By bus? By car? By taxi? Will you drive around the entire city or will you take the quickest way?

4. …TAKE ACTION
If you don’t go out of the house, you will never meet your friends at the “Al Fresco” restaurant downtown

5. DETERMINATION
In all those cases when something comes up that distracts us from our goal. If a friend tells us: “No, don’t go meet your friends at the Al Fresco restaurant downtown. Stay here with me!”.

6. PERSISTANCE
Do we really want to go and meet our dear friends we haven’t seen for so long? Then we will do whatever it takes. We will go even if it rains or snows. We will accept to get stuck in a traffic jam. Even if everything seems to be against us, we go on until we finally meet our friends.

We need all of these if we want to succeed.

How are you applying all of these points in what you want to achieve in your life or work?

What is missing here?