Put Your Self in the Driving Seat - Tips to Help You Take Control

Management Tips

Start by accepting that your opinions and needs are important and you have the right to express them.

Use an assertive style of behaviour - Standing up for your own rights without violating those of others. Expressing your own needs, wants, feelings and beliefs in a direct, honest and appropriate way.

Assertive behaviour is based on the belief that:

• You have needs as have others
• You have rights as have others
• You have something to contribute as have others

The aim of assertive behaviour is to satisfy the needs and wants of both parties, in other words a 'win-win' situation.

Accept responsibility for your own actions and use 'I' statements - I feel (emotion) when you (behaviour). I would prefer that you (alternate behaviour).

Use assertive verbal skills such as

• Broken record - In a calm voice quietly repeat what it is you want until the other person listens and responds to your need. Stick to your point and keep it short. This will avoid the need to rehearse arguments until you run out of steam and give in.
• Fogging - This skill allows you to accept manipulative criticism without becoming anxious or defensive. By acknowledging to the critic the possibility that there may be some truth in what s/he says you can disarm them. Yet, you remain your own judge of what you do. It involves you staying calm in the face of criticism and agreeing what ever may be fair and useful in it. By refusing to be provoked and upset by criticism, you remove its destructive power

Make the most of your listening skills. Ask open questions and check out your assumptions and understanding.

Take control of your inner voice. Listen to the positive enabling voice and turn off the critic.

Think about the language you use. Move from 'I should' 'I must' to 'I choose'.

Think about how you manage your time. If you are constantly responding to other people's crisis then learn to say 'no' without feeling guilty.

Practice a couple of quick stress management techniques that you can use when you are feeling challenged.

Identify your strengths and promote them. Identify your learning needs and make a SMART plan to address them.

… And SMART objectives are those that are

• Specific - is the objective clear
• Measurable - can I measure the success or failure of my objective?
• Achievable - realistically, do I have enough resources and time to carry out this objective successfully?
• Relevant - does this objective help me achieve progress for my project?
• Time-bounded and trackable - do I have a firm end date for my project and milestones along the way to help me check on progress?

Get used to change by challenging your self with small changes that place you outside your comfort zone.

When seeking to influence others prepare well. First put yourself in their shoes and think about:

• What they might need from you?
• What agenda they might have?
• What are the weaknesses in your idea they'll try to exploit
• What are the strengths they'll try to avoid?

Then prepare your response. Consequently, you will feel much more confident going into a negotiation or influencing situation. When you feel confident you will behave in a confident manner and people will see a confident person.

Management Tips


Understand the demands of your manager's role, see it from their perspective.

Identify the personal 'added value' they contribute.

Understand the differences between you and then ensure you compliment one another - play to each other's strengths.

Be pro-active with your ideas and show your manager you can deliver tailored solutions to a problem.

Manage change - see it as opportunity and be the first to explore what you can do.

Review your performance with your manager regularly to ensure you are on track.

Let your manager know your career goals.

Develop your Emotional Intelligence. It is a feature of senior management that people with good interpersonal skills rise through the ranks more quickly than someone with little self-awareness and awareness of their impact on others.

Develop a sense of humour about yourself as a part of your growing Emotional Intelligence!

Top sportsman and woman train every day to stay ahead. Don't get complacent about your skills. It is too easy to lose your competitive edge.

Regularly undertake a personal skills audit, if you are not increasing your skills base do something about it.

Get some honest feedback about your presentation skills; how influential and persuasive are you? Do people listen and take heed of what you have to say?

Get used to change by challenging your self with changes that place you outside your comfort zone.

See mistakes as a learning opportunity, and ensure that learning informs your future work practice.

Learn to think on your feet. Here are some ideas to help you.

• Remember, you don't have to give an instant response
• Use active listening skills
• Ask open questions to encourage the other person to speak
• Wait until the other person has finished making their point before you speak
• Gain time by reflecting back "so what you are saying is.."

Find a mentor. Being mentored:

• Builds confidence
• Offers a non-judgemental relationship
• Develops problem solving abilities o Widens your networks of contacts

Use the skills of an Executive Coach as part of your development. It will increase your confidence and generally improve your performance

Support and develop your staff. A confident and effective team can only reflect well on you.

Lift your eyes up from day to day detail. Look ahead, lift you eyes above their immediate horizons, and look around corners.

Tips for Effective Change Management

Management Tips

Successful change management requires thoughtful planning and sensitive implementation, and above all, consultation with, and involvement of, the people affected by the changes.

A desire to see change implemented quickly can often lead to insufficient consultation with those who will be most affected by the change and staff issues can arise preventing successful change from taking place.

The following tips will help you to ensure that your change initiatives achieve their objectives

Sustainable change should be realistic, achievable and measurable. Before starting organisational change, ask yourself the following questions:

• What do we want to achieve with this change, why, and how will we know that the change has been achieved?
• Who is affected by this change, and how will they react to it?
• How much of this change can we achieve ourselves, and what parts of the change do we need help with?

Don't allow obstacles to block the vision and don't underestimate the power of vision. But remember it will need to be regularly and appropriately communicated.

Before the change process can occur, there must be a 'felt need for change" by key leaders in the organisation to stir the organisation out of complacency. Ensure key managers are with you on the change message and that they accept responsibility for leading cultural change within their units and for maintaining momentum for the change.

During periods of change communication needs to function to a very high standard. Consider the extent to which you are communicating with the wider organisation?

• How purposeful is it?
• How clear are the objectives when communicating downwards, upwards, across the organisation and externally?
• How well are you achieving a balance between what, why and how? Do people understand the 'Why' - the need for the change as well as the 'What' - what the change will involve
  

Think about how you can help people to understand how the change will affect them personally. (If you don't help with this process, people will make up their own stories, usually more negative than the truth.) Treat people with humanity and respect and they will reciprocate.

Do not sell change to people as a way of accelerating 'agreement' and implementation. 'Selling' change to people is not a sustainable strategy for success. Instead, change needs to be understood and managed in a way that people can cope effectively with it. Be mindful that the chief insecurity of most staff is change itself. Senior managers and directors responsible for managing organisational change do not, as a rule, fear change - they generally thrive on it. So remember that staff may not relish change, they may find it threatening and fear a loss of status, influence or autonomy.

Encourage feedback. Create forums where staff can ask questions and discuss their concerns. It is better to have concerns out in the open than festering away and building passive resistance.

Communicate consistently, frequently, and through multiple channels, including speaking, writing, video, training, focus groups, bulletin boards, Intranets, and more about the change. Think about the informal opportunities to communicate that arise during the day and make use of them to share ideas and get feedback.

Ensure all sensitive aspects of organizational change management are conducted face-to-face. Encourage your managers to communicate face-to-face with their people too. Don't rely on email and written notices, they are extremely weak at conveying and developing understanding and are open to misinterpretation.

For organisational change that entails new actions, objectives and processes for a group or team of people, use workshops to achieve understanding, involvement, plans, measurable aims, actions and commitment.

Publicly acknowledge when people make changes in behaviour and attitude that leads to the success of the change initiative. Make the connections between their behaviour and the changes. Celebrate each small win publicly.

Tips for Developing a Learning Organisation

Management Tips

In The Fifth Discipline Fieldbook Peter Senge describes a learning organization as one that is engaged in "the continuous testing of experience, and the transformation of that experience into knowledge that is accessible to the whole organisation and relevant to its core purpose".

In other words, an organisation where experience matters and feeds into a genuine commitment towards improving how the organisation delivers its core business. It is an organisation where learning from mistakes is used constructively to inform future work practice. In a learning organisation the culture is less about blame and more about understanding and improving.

The following tips will help you to develop your organisation as a learning organization

• Do you continuously test and challenge the way your organisation does things?
• Are you increasing the capacity of the organisation to respond to change and developing current knowledge and skills sufficiently?
• Is the learning relevant to your organisation's business?
• Is new knowledge accessible and do staff know where to look for it?

Encourage staff to reflect on their work practice. It helps people to avoid unthinking and uncritical routines. By reflecting on experiences and current knowledge, people will begin to develop 'tailor made' solutions to problems rather than repeating old and less successful patterns of behaviour. It can be done in number of different ways:

• Read - as much as you can around your subject area
• Think - take a thoughtful approach to your work
• Feel - understand your emotional responses
• Watch - be sensitive to what is happening around you
• Talk - to others about aspects of your work
• Ask - other people about their practice

Consider using the concept of an 'Angel Advocate' . When a creative idea is proposed the person who speaks next must take the role of an Angel's Advocate and offer support. This protects or insulates innovative thinking against immediate criticism. The fragile idea has a better chance of survival for further exploration.

In learning organisations managers recognise the need to role model behaviours that will encourage people to be open, receptive and responsive to learning and new experiences. This requires the following behaviours from the manager:

• Build trust
• Accentuate the positive
• Praise progress
• When mistakes occur, redirect the behaviour and reinforce with praise
• Provide appropriate timely support

Enhance effectiveness by encouraging constructive feedback. The following guidelines will help you to significantly improve the effectiveness of your feedback

• Use the 'I' word - own what you say
• Leave the recipient with a choice
• Start with the positive
• Give specific examples of positive and negative points
• Get a response to your feedback
• Ask for suggestions to bring about the desired change
• What does the feedback says about YOU!

People in learning organisations are prepared to listen to others and ask for constructive feedback. These tips will help you get the best from feedback.

• Listen to the feedback rather than immediately rejecting or arguing with it
• Be clear about what is being said. Listen and summarise 'So what your saying is…'
• Don't just concentrate on the negative
• Ask for examples of both strong and weak areas of performance
• Accept praise gracefully when it is given
• Respond assertively where you think the feedback is incorrect
• Decide what you will do as a result of the feedback

People can improve their competitive capacity by engaging in a process of continuous learning through

• Risk taking: Willingness to push oneself out of a comfort zone
  Self reflection: Honest self reflection about successes and failures, particularly the latter
• Seeking opinions of others: Actively seeking views of others
• Careful listening: Propensity to listen to others
• Openness to new ideas: Willingness to view life with an open mind

Sharing learning - Use a simple idea to encourage staff to share experiences, learning and successes in meetings

• Beg a favour
• Brag about a success
• What if…explore an idea

Tips for Dealing with Difficult People

Management Tips

Difficult people exist in all walks of life; they can be people with behaviour or attitude problems, time wasters or people who do not like change. It is useful to learn a few techniques to help you manage them with confidence and avoid being manipulated.

Difficult, who me? Start out by examining yourself. Are you difficult? Are you sure that the other person is really the problem and that you're not overreacting? Do you regularly experience difficulty with the same type of person or actions? Do you recognize that you have hot buttons that are easily pushed? You are not alone. We all do, the key is to acknowledge them as bear traps and learn to manage them.

Using an assertive style of behaviour will help to reduce the potential for conflict around you

• Remain in control, even in challenging situations
• Respect the opinions and actions of others - even if you do not agree with them
• Be prepared to negotiate
• Express your feelings, both positive and negative
• When responding to conflict listen actively to what is being said, listen for feelings and what is not being said. Ask open questions and listen to the answers. Check out your assumptions and understanding
• Say when you are angry - providing that anger is justified
• Accept responsibility for your own actions and use the 'I' word to own what you say

Some strategies that can change a situation

• Deal with things as they arise
• Avoid blaming
• Build bridges
• Set clear boundaries
• Stop colluding
• Walk away

We all want to be liked and to be accepted by our work colleagues. This can make dealing with problem staff a major challenge for some managers, particularly those new to management or promoted from within a team. As a manager you have the right and the responsibility to tackle difficult people or situations. If you deal with the person assertively you will communicate appropriately. Accept that others may not like what you are saying and doing. Remember, respect is more important at work than friendship.

Change the communication and you change the dynamic! Change what you do, what you say and how you say it. This will create changes in the dynamic between you and other person. You may not always get what you want, but you will certainly be in charge of what happens between the two of you.

If you're going into a situation where it's likely you'll confront a difficult person, set up some ground rules in advance to cover typical problems, for example time limits for talkers in a group meeting.

If there are particular individuals in your life who are predictable problems, practice methods which are custom designed for responding to them.

It's not always possible to solve a situation on the spot. Look for a temporary way out so you can seek a solution in a calmer moment.

If you are managing or supervising a team the following tips will help you to reduce the potential for conflict to occur

• Ensure good information systems
• Encourage a climate of open communication
• Listen actively to what other people say
• Allow people opportunity to say what they think
• Set agreed goals with your team
• Make sure roles and tasks are clearly defined and coordinated
• Set up the right supervision and support structures
• Learn from conflicts that have been tackled

Remember, you do have some options for action. Any of them can cause you more trouble with a difficult person if you become a manipulator, so apply them sensitively - but firmly - and with the main goal of getting on with your life.

For your free consultation to find out how jml Training can help improve the performance of your / business / organisation / employees - Use our contact box including your telephone number and email address

Tips for Becoming an Inclusive Manager

Management Tips

A Twenty First Century workplace should be diverse and inclusive. The values reflected in this environment will be about valuing people's differences both visible and non-visible. These differences can include background, personality, culture and work style in addition to the characteristics that are protected under discrimination legislation in terms of race, disability, gender, religion and belief, sexual orientation and age.

The role of the Inclusive Manager is to harness these differences and to create an environment where people feel valued, and where potential and talent are actively channeled to help deliver the organisational goals. The following tips will help to you develop yourself as an Inclusive Manager.

Keep up to date with Equalities Legislation.

Be able to explain the importance of diversity and inclusion at work.

Actively communicate about the diversity agenda.

Actively seek to create an environment where diversity is valued.

Develop an understanding about how institutional discrimination can occur and how to challenge it.

Lead by example, plan ways to promote diversity in the organization.

Ensure that issues of diversity are considered in policy development and practice.

Explore your own values, attitudes, beliefs and prejudices - and their origin.

Be aware of your stereotypes and manage them.

Consider the impact of your behaviour on others, how sensitive and responsive are you to your impact on others?

Be prepared to challenge inappropriate behaviours and comments.

Use an assertive style of behaviour when challenging. You may wish to use the following guidelines:

• Make it clear what has been said offends you
• Do not hide behind statements like 'other people might find that offensive'
• Ask for clarification 'What did you mean?'
• Ask for justification 'What makes you say that?
• Accept responsibility for your own actions and use 'I' statements - I feel (emotion) when you (behaviour). I would prefer that you (alternate behaviour)

Ensure that decision making processes are balanced and transparent.

Base your decisions on facts not assumptions.

Encourage your team to attend diversity training

Encourage an environment of respect.

Create an environment where your team can challenge you and each other to be objective and inclusive.

The potential for subtle or unwitting discrimination is considerable in the recruitment and selection process. Actively ensure that your selection process does not unfairly disadvantage any individual or group.

Increasing your effectiveness at work by using your Emotion

Increasing your effectiveness at work by using your Emotional Intelligence June 2008– CIPD Chiltern Branch held a very successful meeting in Gerrards Cross on the 16th June. Delegates had enjoyed the evening so much and have suggested a follow-up session in the very near future.

CIPD (The Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development) professionals gained an insight into the role of Emotional Intelligence in the workplace when they attended a recent Branch meeting. At the June meeting of the CIPD Chiltern Branch Gráinne Suter and Irene Clarke from jml Training and Consultancy presented a taster session on the value of Emotional Intelligence within organisations.

Emotional Intelligence (EI) is defined as the ability to understand our own emotions and those of our colleagues. Tuning into emotions and understanding their impact on all aspects of our working life enables us to maximize individual, team and organisational performance. EI is now widely recognized as a core part of a leader or manager's development and is a key indicator in predicting the success of effective managers.

The jml Training Team demonstrated how to build Emotional Intelligence into a range of leadership and team development training. They invited the audience to complete an Emotional Intelligence Web sheet and then to explore a range of techniques to improve self-awareness and self-management, cornerstones of EI.

EI can improve relationships at work as it cuts out the petty jealousies and politics that get in the way of co-operation at work. A team using their Emotional Intelligence is more likely to collaborate, build bonds to other teams and have the honest conversations necessary to achieve it's organisational objectives.

The CIPD Chiltern Branch members were keen and lively participators in the session describing it as 'interesting and rewarding'. Many of the delegates had enjoyed the evening so much that on the evaluation form there were suggestions for a follow-up session with the jml Training and Consultancy team in the future.

The Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development is the United Kingdom's leading professional body for those involved in the management and development. They have 130,000 individual members and their objectives are to lead in the development and promotion of good practice in the field of the management and development of people, for application both by professional members and by their organisational colleagues.

More information about jml Training

jml Training is a specialist training company offering "in-house" training courses to local government. councils, companies - both small & multi-national. It has been established over ten years and apart from providing training services in the UK, its' trainers also train in France, Ireland & worldwide. Specialist areas include Training development for women, Diversity and Inclusion, customer service training, Diagnostic Assessment, Leadership and Team building & Management Development Programmes

Dealing with difficult people

Dealing with difficult people a course for managing staff in from jml Training and Consultancy

Difficult people exist in all walks of life; they can be people with behaviour or attitude problems, time wasters or people who do not like to change. It is useful to learn techniques and strategies to help you deal withem confidently. "Dealing with Difficult People"

jml training are offering their "Dealing with Difficult People Programme to managers of private and public sectors in the UK. This programme is designed for all those who are managing staff; managing performance and delivering organisational change. It provides practical strategies and tools to help you confidently manage disagreement and confrontation in the workplace. It is beneficial for all levels of management but is most beneficial when delivered to managers on a similar level and will be tailored to meet their needs.

Gráinne Suter of jml Training said about the course "The course will offer the participants the opportunity to increase awareness of the need and benefits of dealing with difficult situations and people promptly and explore the role of interpersonal skills in difficult situations. Participants will learn to identify and manage the different positions people take when dealing with conflict and explore methods of managing conflict. They will be able to explore the importance of constructive feedback and develop the confidence and competence to deal with difficult people and conflict situations"

The course programme offers

Emotional Intelligence

• Emotional Intelligence competencies for conflict management
• Dealing with conflict - where am I on the conflict continuum?
• Self-esteem and the management of difficult people

Self management

• Transactional Analysis - a key approach when dealing with difficult people
• The role of empathy when dealing with conflict
• Recognising defensive strategies
• Frames and filters - exercising choice to ensure a positive outcome
• Changing the communication - changing the dynamic

Communication skills

• Using effective behaviour styles
• Listening…. is more than the words
• Styles of managing conflict

Giving and receiving effective feedback

• Practical techniques for giving effective feedback
• Practice how to give specific and unambiguous feedback
• Receiving feedback from others - peers, staff and managers

jml Training offers training programmes for organisations and companies in the public and corporate sector.

Each programme is relevant and immediately useful. Using a range of solutions jml trainers draw on their own experience, up to the minute research and their unique interactive methodologies. They will take the client's situation as their starting point by working closely with the client's team to understand the client's needs and to develop cost-effective solutions for success for the client.

ore information at www.jml-training.com

Make your Planners the spatial planning Ringmasters

jml Training launches course for local council planners to deliver sound Local Development Plan Documents Development Plan Documents are not being produced as quickly as expected and the Government is now intending to link Planning Delivery Grant Funding to the preparation of Sound Development plans over three years.

jml training are offering a new training course "Make your Planners the spatial planning Ringmasters". Spatial planning goes beyond traditional land use planning to bring together and integrate policies for the development and use of land with other policies and programmes which influence the nature of places and how they function PPS12.

The examination of Development Plan Documents (DPD's) so far suggests this is not happening. It is also clear that development plan documents are not being produced as quickly as expected. Significantly, the Government is now intending to link Planning Delivery Grant Funding to the preparation of sound Development Plans. The new funding arrangements being proposed amount to £192 million over three years.

In practice plans demonstrate that there is a continuing lack of engagement with other Local Authority partners, stakeholders and Chief Executives. Aspirational visions and strategies are not rooted in local issues, are not adequately backed by evidence and are not supported by measurable targets and indicators.

As at October 2007, of the 157 (DPD's) submitted for examination slippage has occurred in over 90% compared with original Local Development Schemes (LDS).

Binding reports have been issued on 24 core strategies and 19 other DPD's.

21 submitted DPD's have been withdrawn or are to be withdrawn.

The resources wasted through submitting a DPD that is found to be unsound are considerable. In addition to the substantial production costs the examination of the document by the Planning Inspectorate could easily cost well over £50,000. No Local Authority wants to waste resources.

Clearly many planners are struggling to grasp the opportunities provided by the Local Development Framework system. A significant part of the problem is that they are not fully recognising that this new system demands a completely different way of thinking about development planning. What is required is a culture change by all parties involved in delivering sound spatial plans. It is the planners who have the task of driving the essential culture change.

No matter how good their professional planning skills planners need to ensure that their personal development skills are finally tuned to enable them to handle the challenges and demands of the agenda in engaging with the relevant stakeholders.

In order to deliver the new planning agenda, planners are required to adopt an inclusive, delivery focussed approach that is responsive to local issues and needs.

Communicating, influencing and negotiating; thinking strategically and creating an environment for others to do the same are the core of the broader skill set required. In addition planners need to ensure they get the best from multiple partnerships between the public and private sectors and secure corporate and community buy-in.

Planning is now at the heart of local government decision making and planners have to be the ringmasters. jml training's new training course is called "Make your Planners the spatial planning Ringmasters".

A spokesperson for jml Training said that: "In stepping up to this new ringmaster role planners need to: a) Develop a confident influencing style when working within a partnership context b) Develop a professional and more persuasive presentation style to get the co-operation and support of key stakeholders across sectors. c) Adopt the appropriate leadership styles necessary to achieve collaborative working Identify how to manage the integration of public and private sector partnership interests"

jml Training can help planners to develop the broader range of skills that lie outside the traditional boundaries of planning that are essential for effective spatial planning They are a well established company with a considerable experience of delivery to all areas of the public sector who constantly seek to maintain an up-to-date knowledge of issues facing the public sector, in particular Local Government

Stress - Don't let it get to you!

Advice from jml Training National Stress Awareness Day was marked on the 7th November 2007 an important day for employers and employees. The days in November are getting shorter and many people become stressed over the move into winter and the pressures of Christmas that is not long away. Organisations have to ensure that coming to work is a positive experience as business target need to be met.

Another National Stress Awareness Day being marked on the 7th November. It comes at a timely part of the year when the days are getting shorter and darker and people are getting more anxious in the build up to Christmas.

Work related stress compounds this as the year progresses and targets are looming or even not being met!

Joint CIPD/Health and Safety Executive research shows that a manager's behaviour can have a major impact on employees' stress levels affecting the well-being of employees and organisational performance. And, with over 5 million employees in the UK reporting that they feel extremely stressed at work, this is an increasing problem for all organisations.

Organisations and their managers can help to make coming to work a positive and energising experience for their staff says Gráinne Suter from jml Training.

Many of the management competencies for reducing stress at work require good communication and work relationships that are empowering and develop trust. The benefits of praise when things are going well or constructive feedback if improvement in a work role is necessary should never be underestimated.

'However, it's not all a one-way process' says Gráinne 'if employees also recognised their ability to positively influence the work culture stress at work could be significantly reduced. We find that teams who can talk to one another can deal with the most amazing challenges without getting stressed. Their secret is simple - they have a high level of self-awareness and understand how their emotions can impact on other team members. So sharing the challenges and developing a co-operative style comes naturally as a result'

'We hope that the awareness raised on National Stress Awareness Day does not disappear without trace', says Gráinne 'but that everyone plays their part to help make their company healthy'.

jml Training offers courses on Stress Management and details can be found at their website www.jml-training.com

More information about jml Training
jml Training is a specialist training company offering "in-house" training courses to local government. councils, companies - both small & multi-national. It has been established over ten years and apart from providing training services in the UK, its' trainers also train in France, Ireland & worldwide. Specialist areas include Training Development for Women, Diversity, Customer Service Training, Diagnostic Assessment, Leadership and Team building & Management Development Programmes