Learn about taking your anxieties under control by looking at the big picture and developing routine rest habits that you abide to under all circumstances.
Thursday, February 3, 2011
Take a rest before you are tired!
A burnout can very easily happen to a manager. To avoid it a manager must learn to rest before he/she is tired. The objective is to be able to go on with the continuous workload and get a lot done, not to push so hard for a short period of time that you need to quit at an undesirable time.Winston Churchill is famous for his very productive days which also included a routine long nap in the middle of the day.
Learn about taking your anxieties under control by looking at the big picture and developing routine rest habits that you abide to under all circumstances.
Learn about taking your anxieties under control by looking at the big picture and developing routine rest habits that you abide to under all circumstances.
The 3 C's of my team: Communication, Closeness and hence Cooperation
A lean team needs to know how to cooperate.
Cooperation becomes possible through communication only.
Communication is most effective when the team members feel close to each other, and can adjust constantly through continuous feedback.
One way to get this going could be a 10min week-start-session Monday mornings and a 10min week-closeoff-session every Friday evening. Come up with ways to energize the team. Set the week's goal and evaluate it at the end of the week. Don't let the team think you have no time for them. Let the different parts of the team have a chance to talk to each other too.
Cooperation becomes possible through communication only.
Communication is most effective when the team members feel close to each other, and can adjust constantly through continuous feedback.
One way to get this going could be a 10min week-start-session Monday mornings and a 10min week-closeoff-session every Friday evening. Come up with ways to energize the team. Set the week's goal and evaluate it at the end of the week. Don't let the team think you have no time for them. Let the different parts of the team have a chance to talk to each other too.
Your Comments
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If you wish to discuss or share a topic or experience more comprehensively on the blog, you can send an email to managementprofession@gmail.com
If you would just like to leave quick and easy comments that is not related to any specific post, you can put them below this post
If you wish to discuss or share a topic or experience more comprehensively on the blog, you can send an email to managementprofession@gmail.com
If you would just like to leave quick and easy comments that is not related to any specific post, you can put them below this post
Summary of some of Jack Welch's thoughts
Jack Welch has simple messages and he delivers them passionately.
It is crucial for a manager to have clarity.
It is crucial for a manager to have clarity.
Email Agony
As a manager of a team of, say, 30 staff, you are included in numerous email communications. The communications can fall into the below categories:
1- Genuine email for your action that no one else can perform (maybe less than 10%)
2- Inquiries about the team scope and activities (around 20%)
3- Carbon copied in communication with team members (around 70%)
Reading some 200 emails per day and sorting it out for the possible 10% that requires your attention is certainly not what you are to spend your day on. The worse thing about checking emails constantly is that it is addictive and can take control of your life. If you have a blackberry, the situation can become easily dangerous for your health. While you are online with your email you can hardly concentrate on anything else and as a result cannot perform the core parts of the managerial activities like planning, and innovation.
A solution could be:
1- Genuine email for your action that no one else can perform (maybe less than 10%)
2- Inquiries about the team scope and activities (around 20%)
3- Carbon copied in communication with team members (around 70%)
Reading some 200 emails per day and sorting it out for the possible 10% that requires your attention is certainly not what you are to spend your day on. The worse thing about checking emails constantly is that it is addictive and can take control of your life. If you have a blackberry, the situation can become easily dangerous for your health. While you are online with your email you can hardly concentrate on anything else and as a result cannot perform the core parts of the managerial activities like planning, and innovation.
A solution could be:
- Use email filters as smartly as possible to do the sorting out automatically.
- Limit the time during the day for checking emails to specific hours, and do not use your peak morning hours for emails.
- Trust your staff in that they will take care of the work independently, and spend your time rather on developing them to do so.
- Choose only the very necessary emails to respond to.
Some other ideas that could be tested are:
- Use auto reply for responding to frequent inquiries.
- Introduce focal points for activities and share their email addresses in your auto-reply
- Request inclusion of the word "escalation" in the email title, if the request is important enough that cannot wait for a day. Then you can have it sorted out in a specific folder to which you pay attention during other hours of the day outside your email hours.
Please, put a comment if you have successfully experienced other methods to deal with emails effectively and efficiently, or drop me an email for a more comprehensive thought.
Wednesday, February 2, 2011
Mission
I am a manager at a multinational IT company and this is my quest to organize my daily challenges and thoughts for myself and also for your review and feedback.
The posts will be short and to the point.
Each post belongs to a category.
Each post deals with a specific problem and a suggested solution.
Similar content may be sent per email from you. It is reviewed and can be accepted to be published in the blog.
This organization and classification of our ideas will contribute to the body of knowledge for management as a profession and will help with its formulation for reference and sharing.
The posts will be short and to the point.
Each post belongs to a category.
Each post deals with a specific problem and a suggested solution.
Similar content may be sent per email from you. It is reviewed and can be accepted to be published in the blog.
This organization and classification of our ideas will contribute to the body of knowledge for management as a profession and will help with its formulation for reference and sharing.
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