LEADERSHIP Spring 2019
A Telecommuter’s Guide to Staying Connected pp. 6-7 The Value of Networking pp. 8-9
Use Four Methods to Better Lead Your Team Build Better Communication within Your Team Stress on the Job: How to Cope
Leadership Spring 2019
A word from your Account Management Team... Welcome to the Spring 2019 issue of Leadership!
Spring is here and with it we are ramping up for Q2! This quarter we are focusing on networking, team communication and leadership, and how to deal with the stress that you may encounter on a day-to-day basis. We hope these resources help you stay connected and mindful this spring! We’ll begin on page 4 and 5 with an article on being a team leader and questions you can ask yourself to help gauge how effective your teams’ communication is. Next, page 6 deals with staying connected when working remote, and page 8 has some great tips on networking. Finish up on page 10 for ways to cope with job related stress issues.
Workplace issues have you or your employees down? Remember that with MINES you have access to unlimited supervisor consultations and conflict management services. We are here to help. Please call us at 1-800-873-7138 anytime. To your health!
– The MINES Team
MINES & Associates 10367 West Centennial Road Littleton, Colorado 80127 800.873.7138 www.MINESandAssociates.com
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The Staywell Company, LLC © 2019 Use Four Methods to Better Lead Your Team pg. 4 A Telecommuter’s Guide to Staying Connected pp. 6-7 The Value of Networking pp. 8-9 Stress on the Job: How to Cope pp. 10-11 Life Advantages - Author Delvina Miremadi © 2019 Build Communication Within Your Team pg. 5
Total
Wellbeing
2019
TotalWellbeing is your way to connect the dots between the 8 core dimensions of wellness: Physical, Occupational, Intellectual,
Environmental, Financial, Social, Spiritual, and Emotional Wellness. Understanding these dimensions is the first step toward a sense of complete wellbeing. In 2019 we take ideas around wellbeing and tie them into the bigger picture, your community, and the rest of the world. It is important to understand the influence that the world has on our wellbeing and the influence we may have on others. All year we will be looking at ways to strengthen your connection with your community by providing information, insight, and resources to help on a personal level along with ways to give back to the people around you so we can all thrive together!
Enhancing Awareness Inspire Wellbeing
The 8 dimensions of wellbeing don’t just apply to one person, they apply to everyone we know and everything we do. Social influence is a huge factor that contributes to each of our levels of wellness, but it all starts with the individual. With this in mind, our challenge to you in 2019 is to see how you can apply wellness goals and concepts to the activities you do everyday. Any time you learn something new, teach someone else and help them use it to enhance their own life!
Total Wellbeing World View
In 2019 we aim to build on the concept of wellbeing awareness. We will be providing resources, stories, and tools to help you see the bigger wellness picture from your community to the rest of the world. Check out our articles in this magazine and head to minesandassociates.com/newsletters to check out our monthly newsletter with even more great wellness information.
Wellness Webinars
Support from the experts Join MINES for any of our free monthly webinars. 2019 will cover great new topics ranging from improving your credit, having a stress free summer, turning negatives to positives, and much more! Visit our website to learn more, or register for upcoming events at www.minesandassociates.com/webinar.
Is there a topic you’d like to see us explore? We’d love to hear from you.
Shoot us an e-mail at communications@minesandassociates.com and let us know what you’d like to see.
www.MINESandAssociates.com | 800.873.7138
Use Four Methods to Better Lead Your Team To be an effective manager, it is essential that you have the skills and knowledge to be a strong leader. Use the following tips and techniques to improve your leadership skills and show the way to increased productivity and success:
Build Guidelines that Promote Accomplishment • Outline company goals and departmental objectives • Map out ways to achieve these goals
• Consider budgets and how departments can work together to maximize success • Create policies and procedures
Plan for Goal Achievement
• Consider each goal and what needs to be done to accomplish it
• Organize the work and provide appropriate people with timelines
• Delegate responsibilities to appropriate departments and team members
• See if you can create teams between groups of people sharing job responsibilities that complement each other
Work With People
• Find the right people to fill positions
• Help employees strengthen skills by providing adequate training and resources • Motivate workers to achieve
• Schedule routine meetings to talk about goals and progress
• Ensure that your staff knows that you are available for questions or comments
• Make necessary decisions, but invite feedback from workers and other team leaders
Outline and Support Expectations
• Outline expectations for job duties and performance and make sure your employees are aware of what they are • Give corrective action when it’s needed
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Leadership Spring 2019
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Build Communication Within Your Team In order to have a productive and successful team, effective communication is key. To encourage communication among your team members, follow these important tips. Check them off as you see them happening: ___ Meet with the team to define and review goals.
___ Delegate duties so team members can make decisions, set goals, and solve problems on their own.
___ Reiterate the purpose of the team and have members contribute ideas on how to achieve the team’s purpose. ___ Make sure each team member knows what he or she is responsible for.
___ Keep an open, safe, and relaxed environment that helps individuals connect.
___ Encourage positive and negative feedback; if feedback is negative, make it constructive and for the entire team.
___ Schedule regular meetings and keep the meetings focused. Talk about important ideas and review information.
___ Have team members focus on cooperation and how each person can use their unique goals for the benefit of the group. ___ Have the team meet for extracurricular activities or after-work get-togethers to help build relationships.
___ Remind the team that each person’s position in the team is just as important and essential as the next person’s position. ___ Lead by example: Demonstrate effective and genuine communication.
___ Mediate disputes between coworkers. Focus on facts rather than personalities or opinions. ___ Praise individuals and the team for a job well done.
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If you need further resources on building team communication in your organization, don’t hesitate to call your MINES account manager to access unlimited management consultations or to set up a team communications training!
Spring 2019 Leadership
5
A Telecommuter’s Guide to Staying Connected It’s becoming more common to work with people you’re not with physically on a day-to-day basis.
But if you work from home or travel most of the time, you can still feel part of your company. The secret is balancing the human-level connection with technology.
“The human aspect is very important in feeling connected. You must find ways to create the feeling of human contact when you don’t have day-to-day contact,” says Barbara Glanz, author of “Handle With Care—Motivating and Retaining Employees.” The following ideas can help you make and maintain the human-level connection.
Photographs
Keep pictures of people from the office around you so you’re connected visually to co-workers. When on the phone, you can make a human-level connection by looking at the person’s picture.
Phone
Use the phone when a big event occurs, such as you make a big sale or a special client drops by to visit. People can sense your excitement when they hear your voice. Have regular conference calls with three or four co-workers at the beginning or end of each day.
“One of the hazards of working at home is the temptation to work all the time... To avoid this syndrome, plan your work schedule and keep a time sheet.”
Face-to-face meetings Even with the latest technology, workers still need to get together face to face to share their triumphs and challenges. Many companies try to include telecommuters in at least four company meetings or events a year.
Structuring your workday
“One of the hazards of working at home is the temptation to work all the time,” warns Ms. Glanz. “To avoid this syndrome, plan your work schedule and keep a time sheet. Get out for a few minutes every day. Walk around the block so you see there’s a world out there.”
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Leadership Spring 2019
Virtual private networks Many companies are turning to virtual private networks, using company-issued in-home computers connected to broadband Internet services as a safe and reliable way to keep their people connected.
“Some companies are even providing their employees with work laptops and mobile devices, so the workers can be accessible and productive when away from their homes or remote offices,” says Jeff Zbar, author of “Teleworking and Telecommuting: Strategies for Remote Workers and Their Managers.”
Web conferencing
Web conferencing has become the way to meet with people several times a week as if you work with them in an office. You can see Power Point, use a white board, interact, speak on the Web and chat in text.
Instant messaging
With instant messaging, you can connect instantly with others in your department who happen to be online. “It’s easy to pull a group together for an impromptu group chat session,” says Mr. Zhar.
“To be a successful telecommuter, you must have both the technology to communicate with your company, and the human-level connection that helps you bond with other employees,”
Telephone conferencing Using a telephone conference bridge line, you can communicate with just a few people or more than a hundred.
Keys to success
“To be a successful telecommuter, you must have both the technology to communicate with your company, and the humanlevel connection that helps you bond with other employees,” Mr. Zbar says. “This combination will create the continued enthusiasm and focus for a successful telecommute.” M
Spring 2019 Leadership 7
The Value of Networking
It’s smart to put a priority on networking because most things you need at work come from other people.
“Networking is really an information exchange. We utilize the relationships we build in order to get information,” says Peggy Collins, who conducts a workshop titled The Science of Networking and the Art of Connection. “You may need to know people who’ll fix a problem or buy your products. At work, you often need information from other departments. If you have a relationship with those employees, they’ll be more likely to help you.” The following suggestions can help you build successful networks.
Have a networking plan
“There needs to be a purpose to networking because there’s a great difference between networking and socializing. With networking, you have a mutual benefit and purpose for your connections,” explains Ms. Collins. To help formulate your networking plan, ask yourself these questions: • What information do I need? • Who can give it to me?
• What can I offer in return?
Write a needs list
Take out a pen and paper and make a needs list. Think of all aspects of your job. What information would make you more productive? Who could help you with a computer problem? Who could tell you where to purchase hard-to-find supplies? Who can refer you to potential customers?
“Everyone has special skills they sometimes take for granted. So on another sheet of paper, list your skills, your talents, and those areas in which you have extensive knowledge or contacts. What services can you offer someone else?”
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Leadership Spring 2019
Determine your contribution For networking to succeed, there must be a two-way flow of energy. It can’t be all give and no take. What do you have to offer others?
Everyone has special skills they sometimes take for granted. So on another sheet of paper, list your skills, your talents, and those areas in which you have extensive knowledge or contacts. What services can you offer someone else? Can you be a link to other people who need resources? If you can’t personally help someone in return, perhaps you know someone who can. Now that you’ve determined your needs and what you can offer someone else, you’re ready to start building your network.
Join professional organizations
Check out professional associations, but be selective. Where can you meet people with the information you need? After becoming a member, get involved in committee work, where you’ll form lasting relationships.
Giving time to your association via committee work begins the mutual benefit part of networking. As members notice you’re giving, they’ll be more likely to reciprocate.
Get to know people in other areas of your company
Doing so can help you get assistance when you need it most.
“Making lunch dates with people you don’t know very well is one way of making these connections,” suggests Ms. Collins.
Court suppliers
Your company’s suppliers can be great information sources. Get to know them personally. Find out how you can be helpful to one another.
The unexpected bonus
“The added values to creating a network are the relationships and connections we make and the meaningfulness we add to our lives,” says Ms. Collins. “Since networking helps us bond with others, it enriches us while it leads us to success.” M Spring 2019 Leadership 9
Stress on the Job: How to Cope
You didn’t need more stress at work, but odds are you have it anyway. Take heart, though. The tools for coping with stress lie within each of us, experts say. Just how much stress do American workers face? Integra Realty Resources, a national real estate appraisal firm, commissioned a study on the subject. Integra found ample anxiety and poor relationships on the job. And the survey found workers coping in unhealthy ways: skipping lunch to work, gulping coffee for energy, yelling at co-workers, and calling in sick.
“Stress is chemical. Stress is hormonal,” says psychiatrist Murali Krishna, M.D., of Oklahoma City. “If you don’t learn to cope, it will eat you alive.”
The costs are high
According to the Mind/Body Medical Institute at Harvard University, job stress costs employers about $2 billion a year in absenteeism, poor performance, tardiness, and worker compensation claims. Stress is linked to such medical conditions as high blood pressure, chronic pain, and allergies. How can you fight stress? Self-empowerment and communication are keys, along with relaxation skills such as meditation or yoga. At the University of Missouri in Columbia, researchers found most American workers mask their emotions (including positive feelings) and expect co-workers to do the same.
“There’s not enough communication in the workplace,” says Missouri communication professor Michael Kramer, Ph.D., one of the researchers. “Nobody is teaching employees how to deal with emotions in the right way.
Don’t take stress to heart
Michael McIntyre, Ph.D., a University of Tennessee industrial psychology professor, says those who deal best with stress learn to shrug off turmoil. “A lot of people get stress thrown at them, but not everyone reacts to it in the same way,” he says. “A healthy employee may experience a provocation or mistreatment, but they think it through: ‘I don’t like that this happened to me, but it wasn’t directed at me personally. The world isn’t out to get me.’”
“Eat right... Exercise... Connect... Assert... Relax... Reduce... Take a break... Go for a walk...”
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Leadership Spring 2019
How to tame stress with success • Eat right. Instead of coffee, drink water or juice. Instead of junk food, snack on fruits and vegetables.
• Exercise at least three times a week. Pressed for time? Focus on a workout that gets your heart rate up (racquetball, aerobics, or a long walk).
• Connect with others. A social network revives you and keeps you on an even keel. Seek out supportive co-workers and avoid “stress carriers.” • Assert yourself. Speak up about petty annoyances while respecting others’ feelings.
• Relax and rest. Get a good night’s sleep. Learn relaxation techniques such as meditation and yoga. Take “mini-relaxation breaks” during the day.
• Reduce clutter. Simplify your work area to offer physical and mental space. Schedule time for managing paperwork. Try to reduce the noise level. • Take a media break. The artificial stimulants of the Web, TV, and radio often obscure your true emotions, thoughts, and hopes. • Go for a walk. A measured stroll can do wonders for stress levels as you focus on your movements.
Sources: Mind/Body Medical Institute at Harvard University (www.mbmi.org) and the James L. Hall Jr. Center for Mind, Body and Spirit. M
If you or a colleague is suffering from stress and burnout please don’t hesitate to access you benefits through MINES. We can help! If you notice an employee’s performance suffering due to stress or burnout, call your account manager today to see if a workplace performance referral may help.
Spring 2019 Leadership 11
A note to Supervisors... From time to time, situations arise when a supervisor is not sure how to respond to a particular behavior. The Employee Assistance Program is available on a 24/7 basis for consultation on issues such as: referring an employee to the EAP, how best to respond to and manage difficult behavior in the workplace, and whether training or some other form of group intervention (such as an organizational intervention or a conflict resolution) may be helpful for a particular situation. The EAP can serve as an ally to anyone who is working with a troubled employee.
• 24/7 supervisor consultation regarding problems in the workplace
• Assessment of behavioral risk on the job • Return-to-Duty conferences
• Advisory services in writing, revising, and implementing policies
• Supervisor and Manager training
• Unlimited formal Work Performance Referrals
• Coaching for management and leadership skills
• Conflict resolution for supervisor-employee problems
MINES believes that employees are an organization’s most valuable resource. Your EAP is always available to provide you and your employees with support.
The MINES Team
Questions? Reach us at 800.873.7138 | www.MINESandAssociates.com