Blog about Leadership Quotes

Talk versus Action-Communication

2007-06-02T20:46:00.001+07:00

Communication is the second key step to getting ourselves into action. Planning got us started, and once that’s ongoing, all the key people in our lives need to know the plan and their part in it. Project team communication is obvious. It is also critical, however, to communicate with management, peers, subordinates, and of course, our family and friends. This allows everyone to voice their questions, concerns, support issues, etc. with us, so that we can adjust our plans if needed.

So then, what and how should we communicate? If you’ve ever had a colleague that charges into your office or phones you every time he or she has an idea or issue, you might guess that this is not the recommended approach. It’s far more effective if you get your communications organized by person. In fact, for key people, keeping an ongoing collaboration issue list is very helpful, and its employment communicates a respect for their time that will serve you both well. We recommend prioritizing your list before visiting with key individuals, and discussing the most important ones first. That way, if you run short on time, the most critical items will be communicated.

Communication styles vary widely, so it is essential to tailor your approach for each person. Consider the other person’s pressures as well as your own issues. For instance, if the person is fast paced and business focused, don’t ask about their weekend! Get right to business. On the other hand, if he or she has a relaxed, slow paced style, match that too. Remember that people like people who are like themselves. Make them comfortable by patterning your communication after their style, and your communication will be far more effective.

Be Effective and Efficient Communicator

2007-06-02T20:33:00.000+07:00

Excellent communicators understand the subtleties of communication, and this is fundamental to their prowess. Let’s think about the communication of the simple request with respect a letter, “Please be sure this goes out today.” Surely this is straightforward enough. Yet as stated, a myriad of problems may ensue.

First, let’s consider the tone. If stated without much inflection, it is a non-prioritized request that may get lost in the shuffle. If emphasis is given to the word “please”, then it may be taken as either sarcastic or as begging. If emphasis is placed on “today”, it may come off as impatient and annoyed. If emphasis is put on the word “sure”, it may be interpreted as not trusting and even derogatory. Each of these has undesirable side effects.

Second, the structure of this simple request leaves much to be desired. It doesn’t specify the means of transmittal, assuming that the receiver knows what is expected, and leaving much room for interpretation (and error). No information regarding the deadline for receipt of the letter is specified, which may ultimately be the source of a major error.

We routinely make simple comments like this all day long, and we’re lucky that most of them are received well and we are successful. There are simple changes, however, that can avoid the occasional blunders that ensue from incomplete communications, which is how I would characterize the example above. Consider the following example:

Janice, do you have a minute? (makes the recipient of the message stop their current activity and focus on what you are about to request)

Carol needs to have this letter, with the original signature on it, in her hands by noon tomorrow so she can proceed to commit funds for our project. Can you make sure that happens? (specific requests, with understanding of “why” motivate people to do their part)

Sure Mary, I’ll send it out overnight with tracking. (you know that communication has occurred once the feedback has been received – until then, you only know that a message has been sent)

Thanks Janice! I appreciate your handling it personally. It’s pretty important, and I want to ensure it happens on time. (clarifies expectations and nicely assigns personal responsibility)

This is simple stuff, and we are routinely doing it all day long. It’s easy to skip steps, in the interest of efficiency, and when things go okay, we get in the habit of skipping those steps. With a well-oiled team, we forget that we are even skipping steps. Then, when there’s a personnel change, and things go wrong, we blame the new person instead of our short-cut communication.

Be careful to carefully balance the trade-off between time saving efficient communication and the power of effective, complete communication. The latter pays huge dividends, and takes little time to do well.

A Leader Should Having Capability to Connecting People

2007-06-02T20:23:00.000+07:00

In the highly competitive business of corporate training for 11 years, and with a client roster heavy with top corporations, Diane Eade has never made a cold call. Every one of her clients has come from networking. And while the very word is enough to induce many to go back to bed -- covers pulled up, pillow placed over head -- Eade actually seems to have come up with a marvelously painless way of turning strangers into customers.

She speaks on "The Power of Networking" on Wednesday, July 16, at 8:15 a.m. at a meeting of the Princeton Chamber at the Nassau Club. Cost: $25. Call 609-520-1776. Oh, and by the way, Eade says she got this speaking gig through networking. A colleague -- "really a competitor," she says -- had to drop out and called to ask if she wanted to step in. At least in part because she has won large clients through speaking engagements such as this one, she readily agreed.

Eade grew up in Olean, New York. "In the middle of nowhere," is how she describes the charming western New York town, which is close to the Pennsylvania border, but not to much else. One of six children, she decamped for the University of Buffalo, from which she graduated in 1979. She studied a little of everything and found herself gravitating toward economics. "I had a natural affinity for business," she says. She used it to build a corporate career in brand marketing, but left, burned out, in her mid-30s.

"Brand management is stressful," she says. "The way it's set up, you're like a business owner. Your livelihood is based on how well your brand does. You have to bust a gut. It's a young person's game." Deciding she had learned all she could, and tired of being constantly on the road, she stepped back to assess. "When I thought about what I did like about the job," she recounts. "It was all about the people."

In 1992, Eade founded Advanced Leadership Group, which is headquartered in Rockaway, to offer corporate training and consulting. Not lacking confidence, she states that "I'm the best presentation skills trainer I've ever seen." That she can pull off such a claim gracefully is quite amazing. She says it with the ease that someone else might say "I'm a passable golfer" or "My team was fortunate enough to win the XYZ contract again this year." Just stating the facts.

Eade says she owes her effectiveness to empathy, and to the effort of learning to master a task that did not come easily. "The first time I gave a presentation, I came down with hysterical laryngitis," she confesses.

In addition to presentation skills, Eade has specialties in sales training and in diversity training. Of the latter she says, "It's not about being politically correct any more. The big corporations have moved way beyond that." It is now about making "a million different kinds of people" comfortable enough at work to do their best, become invested in the effort, and want to stick around.

Eade is able to offer these services to corporations -- and to win business -- because she has been smart about connecting with clients. Here is her blueprint for doing so:

Ask for what you want. Soon after deciding to start a business, a venture she recognizes as risky, Eade drew up a list of the 10 corporations with which she would most like to work. "I circulated that list to everyone I knew," she says. She asked all of her friends, her acquaintances, and the friends of her acquaintances to help her to meet contacts within the companies. "I gave the list to everyone I met," she says.

Using this wide net, Eade was able to set up meetings with seven or eight of the companies, and won contracts with three. "It was a whole lot more effective than anything I had ever done," she says.

Bring a friend along to meetings. When a friend identifies a decision maker in a company in which she is interested, Eade tries to arrange a three-way meeting, preferably over a meal. Sitting down with her friend and her new contact means that the friend's credibility is instantly transferred to her. If the contact likes and trusts her friend, he is almost sure to have similar feelings for her.

If it is not possible to include the friend in a meeting with the contact, an introduction from him is second best, and far preferable to going in cold.

Stand out from the crowd. "When you're successful," says Eade, "everyone wants a piece of you." People in positions to grant contracts often are besieged by those trying to sell to them. Be different, she suggests. Don't talk about yourself, but rather ask about your new acquaintance. In fact, come to a networking event with a mental list of questions to ask the people you want to meet there. "People like to talk about themselves," she says. Give them every opportunity to do so, and under no circumstances use the occasion to talk only about yourself -- or worse, to deliver a canned sales spiel. And don't shove a business card into anyone's hand.

Networking, says Eade, is not about passing out business cards, it's about collecting them. Business cards thrust upon her find their way into the circular file -- fast.

Ask not what your contact can do for you. This is the meat of Eade's networking method. Upon meeting a new person, show a genuine interest in him, asking questions designed to elicit information about what it is that he needs. In asking about him, and about his business, build up to the most important question: "Who is your prospect?"

With this information in hand, move heaven and earth to bring the new contact together with this prospect. As an example, Eade says that a contact might sell copier machines. When she meets such a person, she scours her vast network, looking for someone who has recently complained about the quality of the copies in his office, or about poor service from his copier company. She then calls the person with the poor copies and puts him in touch with her new contact. She might want to win business from the new contact, but she puts this way, way on the back burner, and seeks, first of all, to do him a major favor by delivering business to his door.

Make friends. After bringing a new customer to his door, Eade is well on her way to making her networking contact her friend. "And notice," she says, "he still doesn't even know what I do. He doesn't know anything about me."

While most networkers, elevator speeches memorized, tell all and sundry all about themselves within seconds, Eade deliberately holds back that information until a friendship is flowering.

Reveal yourself slowly. The first time that a new business acquaintance asks Eade to talk about herself, she demurs. "I don't what to talk about myself when they're just asking to be polite," she says. "I want to wait until they are genuinely interested." So, after the first query, she turns the questions aside, asking the contact to keep talking about himself. Only way down the line, after a relationship is developing, does she talk about her company and its services.

Realize that this is a slow dance. A first meeting is not the place to win business. "It does happen," says Eade, but it should not be the goal. If you begin to know several people at a networking event, the event has been a success.

As friendships, begun through networking, begin to deepen , results will inevitably follow. You will find business for your new contacts. Maybe you will forward them clippings about areas of common interest. You may even tip them off to vacation bargains, prime tee times, and excellent homes for sale in your neighborhood.

Then, says Eade, "the law of reciprocity kicks in." Your networking acquaintance, upon whom you have applied not one iota of muscle, will want -- really want -- to help you out, to send business your way.

July 9, 2003 issue of U.S.1, Princeton, NJ

Challenging your Group Thinker

2007-06-02T20:17:00.000+07:00

Perhaps one of the most challenging spots a leader can find him or herself in is joining a group that is already in progress. The whole point of bringing in ‘new blood’ is to shake things up. Yet, a group that is already formed has norms, often unspoken, that make it nearly impossible to join it successfully without distressing at least some colleagues. If you are a people pleaser, your natural human instinct to belong must be tempered so that you can make a positive impact.

A wise boss told me years ago that employees are uniquely valuable during their first week of work – before they gain internal ‘perspective’. At this point, they bring a fresh viewpoint, devoid of bias and full of naiveté. It is at this point that they have more in common with normal consumers than they ever will again. Hence, it is critically important to listen to them closely during that first week, and equally important for them to speak out, no matter how daunting that task may seem at the time.

As leaders, we must listen well, and also clearly communicate those first, naïve impressions to existing teams. If business as usual were going well, they wouldn’t need us. Our role is to open our mouths, and hopefully their minds, to express new questions and approaches. Some guidelines for this situation include:

1. Whenever possible, pose ideas as questions.
2. Credit the team members for the accomplishments that have already occurred.
3. Make it clear that your objective is to build on their foundation, not discard it.
4. Listen actively, providing plenty of verbal and visual feedback so they know
you really listened to them.
5. If and when you are convinced that you are right, pick your issue and stick to
it. That is why you are there.

Communication Skill

2007-06-02T20:13:00.000+07:00

It is certainly challenging - deciphering what a poor communicator really meant to say, versus what "it sounded like" when they said it. For instance, a good friend makes a casual snide comment about you at a party. Does he or she really mean that you are ‘whatever’? Was it supposed to be funny? Is the person simply uncomfortable giving you a compliment and is expressing the opposite?

We see it so often in both our personal and professional lives - the stray comment that devastates others. Odds are that both parties would benefit from work on their communication skills.

1. Obviously we all need to learn to be clear, in both content and tone, when we speak and write. When we have more time, communication often goes better, so slowing down and thinking before we speak is a good start.

2. So too, we need to listen in a manner that gives the speaker the benefit of the doubt. And, when there is sufficient doubt, we need to probe to get at the speaker’s real meaning. Americans are notoriously poor listeners – we are usually only being quiet long waiting for the other person to stop talking so we can have our turn. That is not listening!

There are some simple circular processes that help us improve dramatically in this regard. Each of has a responsibility to both ourselves and others to improve our communication skills. Everybody around us is happier when we do.

Focus your Listening

2007-06-02T20:10:00.000+07:00

Listening is an area that we each need to focus on – and no matter how good we think we are we can always improve. I find that for me the trick is my focus. When I am focused on the speaker, I can actively listen, paraphrasing, clarifying, questioning and really staying on their topic, rather than tossing in my own stories and issues.

Our challenge is in staying focused and giving the other person the time, especially when we are notoriously busy and multi-tasking. The power, I believe, is in the moment of decision - when I decide that:

1. I care about you.

2. I want you to feel cared about and respected.

3. I need to learn what you are thinking about and why.

That is when I am willing to stop whatever I am doing at that moment and focus on you. There are rarely things that cannot wait five minutes for you to tell me something that is urgent. When my back is really up against it, I must warn you that I really cannot focus on you now, and it is then incumbent on me to set a time for us to regroup when I will be able to focus on you.

Remember, listening is far more than being quiet and waiting for the other person to stop speaking so that you can have your turn!

Listen! and be Effective

2007-06-02T20:05:00.000+07:00

Failing to listen well causes people significant problems, both personally and professionally. Why is it then that intelligent people who know that they should listen, don't? Many of us have established communication habits over the years that emphasize getting our point across with little regard for the input of others. That’s the behavior that has been rewarded in school and in the low level jobs we work in our early years. Then we enter the corporate world where emphasis is placed on teamwork, communication and interpersonal skills, and we find ourselves poorly prepared for the ensuing challenges.

Our improvement opportunity with listening is not simply knowledge based. Rather, it is based on years of poor habits that have become our everyday behavior. When we work with groups, we don’t believe a person has really listened until he or she demonstrates listening to the speaker via multiple methods. It's all about letting the speaker know that you heard him or her, and that you truly got the message. Spurred on by television and movies, too many of us have become increasing passive listeners. When we are interacting with live people, we use those same passive skills, and the speaker is left feeling unheard and unappreciated. Take the time to paraphrase what they said, clarify their message and summarize the conversation. Look him or her in the eye and show your interest with gestures and related questions. You'll love the difference it will make in both your personal and professional life!

Our Short Conversation Everyday

2007-05-13T15:47:00.000+07:00

Does it ever seem as if you are rehashing the same conversation over and over again? Most of us cover the same old issues repeatedly, and then can’t determine why we fail to achieve a better result. Worse still, in today’s crash-and-burn world, we have even less time to get our point across than ever before, making new approaches critically important.

Consider the 30 to 75 short conversations you have during a normal day, with family, patients, friends, colleagues, drug reps, and even phone solicitors. In a matter of minutes, you can influence their attitudes profoundly. So wouldn’t you like to have a consistently positive effect on those attitudes?

For those who seem trapped in the quagmire of repeated attempts to change others’ unhealthy behaviors, a few simple changes in your approach can profoundly improve your success rate. A couple of simple adjustments in your approach to a short conversation can mean the difference between a positive, negative, or no response to your suggestions, whether the conversation is with your spouse, your child, your boss, a patient, or a colleague.

I’ve used both family life and health examples to illustrate the type of adjustments I’m suggesting. The best aspect of these ideas is that they work so well in both professional and personal settings. They are tools used regularly by many successful people who lead, even when they have no real power or authority over others.

MAKE THE MESSAGE POSITIVE
As I watched my nephew playing with his son in the water, and heard the small boy’s screams of agony, I moved closer to find out what was wrong. There was my nephew, simply dunking his son to the waist, repeating, “Don’t be afraid; don’t be afraid; don’t be afraid!” All the poor boy could focus on was fear, and his screaming was the net result of his father’s valiant efforts!

Often in the management seminars I conduct, I hear comments like, “I’m fearless!” or “I won’t let it fall apart!” Because our mind’s focus is based on the direction we provide, all I can think when I hear these well-intentioned remarks is to suggest that a plan to “hold it together” will work better than a reaction that “prevents it from falling apart.”

Consider the old seminar ploy of “Don’t think about a yellow rose.” The first thing that flies into everyone’s head is the picture of a yellow rose! So now, please don’t think about fear. In fact, be fearless!

Your mind, despite its best efforts, must naturally focus on fear. Realize that the difference between “fearless” and “courageous” may very well be the difference between failure and success.

So, state your message in the positive. You’ll take a giant step forward toward moving your listener’s response to a higher level.

SHIFT FOCUS TO THE FUTURE
Far too many conversations get stuck in the past. Just look at medicine’s and nursing’s approaches to patient history taking. The clinician starts briefly with the present-asking for the cause of “today’s” visit-then tends to move quickly to the past. This process makes perfect sense; the patient’s current health is the result of past and present behavior, so that’s what you discuss. Much of your conversation details what got this patient into the current health predicament.

Thus, the study of illness and disease often tends to be mired in the past. No doubt this approach feels comfortable and natural. Yet there’s a more effective way to help patients improve their health, and that is to focus on the future.

When I speak with people about their reasons for not seeing a health care provider, I find a common thread: they know they’ve misbehaved and they feel guilty. Often, for reasons of their own, intelligent people who know the right thing to do make other choices. They avoid guilt by avoiding whoever will make them feel guilty.

For example, I go to the dentist every six months for a checkup and cleaning. In the past, I brushed my teeth regularly but flossed inconsistently. At every visit, both the hygienist and the dentist told me that I’d been “bad,” and that I should floss more consistently.

I knew that they were right. I simply made other choices. One time, however, my regular hygienist was away, and another person cleaned my teeth. She approached me differently. She told me that I had beautiful teeth, and that it would be very disappointing for me when the back ones had to be removed. I asked if there were problems, and she replied that the gums had started to recede. She said this was the beginning of the end, and that before I knew it, I would be facing a serious, tooth-threatening issue.

I asked her what could be done to prevent it. She replied that she doesn’t believe in lecturing people. I insisted on her advice. She, of course, told me that I had the power to keep all my teeth, and suggested that I floss my teeth after every meal, particularly the back upper teeth, which were at greatest risk. Since then, I floss my entire mouth at least once a day and often get to the upper back teeth a second time.

The substitute hygienist communicated very effectively in our short discussion. First, she painted a clear, compelling picture of the future. I always knew that “something” might happen as a result of not flossing regularly. The consequences were always hypothetical, though, until she made them tangible and immediate. She was very specific, and it didn’t take much for me to see myself as a toothless old woman.

Second, she didn’t focus on the negative aspect of my past behavior. In fact, she didn’t even mention my prior failure to floss! She understood that recriminations and guilt are repelling, not attracting. Like most people, I run away from criticism and toward constructive suggestions. Like most people, if I’m to change my behavior, I need specific, recognizable motivation.

Next, she involved me in the conversation, as compared to giving me the usual lecture. This hygienist didn’t offer her suggestion. She made me beg for it. By the time I heard it, I wanted to hear it. By gaining my buy-in, she took me a long way toward the behavior change that I needed to make. Her advice was part of a conversation, not the typical lecture, which was conducted while the hygienist had her hands in my mouth and I could not speak!

Fourth, she suggested one, simple, specific future action. Often there are several actions that a clinician, parent, spouse, or employee might like to effect. I’m certain the hygienist would have liked to tell me to rinse with mouthwash before and after brushing. My teeth would certainly look better if I gave up coffee and tea. I should probably carry a toothbrush with me at all times. And so on.

Behavior change, however, tends to be challenging for most people. One change, flossing the back upper teeth regularly, was required. Since the odds of anyone making multiple changes simultaneously are low, offering only one small change at a time typically produces more action.

Finally, she made it feel like a suggestion rather than a command. This nuance really matters. Nobody likes to feel as if they’re being bossed around. We dislike it from our supervisors, reject it from our peers, and rebel against it from our parents. Other adults deserve to be treated like adults, even if their behavior has been irresponsible.

Staying in adult-adult discussions can be especially challenging with patients, who are often sick and weak. They’ve been conditioned to check their personal power at the door and put the clinician on a pedestal. Such interaction creates a parent-child relationship that can cause the patient to rebel after leaving the office, leading to dangerous noncompliance. Yet a simple change in approach-for clinician and staff not to treat the patient as a naughty child-can mean the difference between a successful or failed intervention.

The same holds true when the communication is between parent and child, spouses, business colleagues, and friends. Short conversations have the power to effect permanent change.

Perhaps the best illustration I can give on the power that comes with a simple change in attitude is to look at the difficult conversations adults often have with teenagers. During this precarious time of life, a young person changes emotionally and physically from the innocence of childhood to the complexity of adult existence. Authority figures-the very people who have exerted the most powerful positive influences in the teen's life to date-suddenly provoke previously unimagined frustrations. Why? While the young person is shifting from a child-parent interaction to an adult-adult relationship, the authority figures are simultaneously struggling with a next-to-impossible adjustment: replacing the adult-child relationship with one that accepts the child as an adult.

The process is complicated, because the young person’s commitment to adult-adult relationships tends to waiver. When it’s convenient or more comfortable, the teenager may tend to revert to the child role.

That's where mastery of the short conversation can make all the difference in the world. Every short conversation must be carefully assessed: Does the child want independence or protection, confrontation or cooperation?

Here, during each short conversation, the authority figure must step out of the momentary emotion and look at the big picture. Again, focus on the future . . . and on the young person’s emotional growth. You'll have a better shot at maintaining a healthy interchange with the young person.

So pay attention to those quick discussions. Much can be accomplished in your lifeplan with a few simple words said using the right approach and attitude. Chances are, you’ll also head off a few, long heart-to-hearts in the future!

Published in the October 1999 issue of Clinician News.

Getting Balance: to be Fun in the Workplace

2007-05-08T16:06:00.000+07:00

Have you ever struggled with the right balance of humor and fun in the workplace? Clearly we want our people to be happy and enjoy their workday, so some humor is appropriate. In fact, there’s plenty of research indicating that laughter is good for our health, our energy, our mindset, personal productivity and maintaining a positive approach to challenges. It’s also a fundamental ingredient to creativity, which is highly valuable to all successful businesses in our knowledge based workplace.

Conversely, we don’t want the atmosphere at work to become sophomoric or offensive to anyone. The only thing we can be reasonably sure of is that some people will get it wrong on occasion. So what are the guidelines to getting it right? Appropriate humor in the workplace helps to bond people together, rather than separating individuals or groups. This is bad news for Don Rickles genre humor, which picks on individual idiosyncrasies. Further, it’s bad news for blond jokes, or anything that victimizes a specific group or type of people. A better approach is to learn to laugh at ourselves and the everyday things that happen. Once our people see their leader relax and laugh, they feel comfortable following suit.

Many organizations, ours included, struggle with email jokes, which have truly become pervasive. In addition to the time wasted, concerns about legal liabilities in the case of an action become worrisome. Speak with both your attorney and your HR team to strike the right balance in your company communications regarding email. The goal is to be legally covered without becoming a sterile workplace. It can be a challenging balance to strike.

Getting Harmony, Work and Home Consistently

2007-05-08T15:57:00.000+07:00

Clients often discuss the need to work less and play more. Certainly there should be times when we feel as if we are working too much as business demands ebb and flow. This should not, however, be the case consistently. The good news is that this is a situation that we can change with a combination of focus and determination.

Along the way, somebody wise told me that we are what we do consistently. It’s a sentiment that I’ve come to accept and believe. I’ve also observed that we do the things we focus on. For instance, if I focus on home improvement, watching related television shows, reading about neat projects, taking courses on it, the odds are very high that I will undertake some related projects.

Similarly, I find that people whose life is out of balance focus extensively on one area of life, such as business. If the vast majority of our reading and television viewing is related to business issues, then let’s not be surprised that we are becoming obsessed. Loved ones are typically the ones who see it happening, and they may feel helpless to take action, sometimes describing it as feeling guilty that they are pulling us away from our work. Others feel resentful that we prefer work to spending time with them.

If this sounds all too familiar, there is a lot you can do about it. First, make the decision to change. There is immense power in that moment of decision. Next, evaluate the areas of your life and set some SMART goals.

Finally, behave in a more balanced way consistently, and you too will become what you do – all for the better!

Harmony between Work and Home

2007-05-08T15:47:00.000+07:00

As I reviewed my site statistics, I found that more people are interested in this topic than any other, so I figured I’d share a bit more on the topic. I laugh thinking that my stay-at-home mother never would have worried about this topic – truly this is a sign of the times. And the truth is, I gave her a hard time over the holidays last month when she marveled that her son had cooked a dish for Christmas dinner, while simultaneously taking it for granted that her daughter-in-law did pretty much everything else (while also working full time). My mother’s retort was that she takes it for granted that a woman will successfully multi-task!

My suspicion is that my mother’s thinking is commonplace, and that this type of thinking continues to put tremendous pressure on women to perform at unrealistic levels. As women try to live up to these unrealistic expectations, we become frustrated and place pressure on the men in our lives to help us, and then they feel the heat too. Of course, in households with a solitary adult, especially those with children present, the challenge of balancing work and home is often magnified. So what to do?

First, manage expectations. Communicate realistic expectations to those around you. This means sharing, with some clarity, exactly what you expect of both yourself and those around you. This applies both on the job and at home.

Second, set clear goals for each area of your life. There’s an excellent article, that will walk you through this process to transform your mind & soul more fresh again.

Third, plan your time accordingly. This means scheduling fun, work, chores, down time, etc. People often tell me that they don’t think they should have to ‘schedule’ fun. Guess what? When they don’t schedule it in, they often don’t make time for it. If it’s important, be sure to actually schedule it.

Fourth, review what you’ve laid out every month or so, make any necessary adjustments and communicate those adjustments to everyone that matters in your life. Continually communicate and manage expectations. The more you communicate, the higher the odds that others in your life will find ways to support you and accept the resulting outcomes.

Of course, all this took your time, so go do something relaxing for yourself!

Controlling Behaviors Issue

2007-04-14T22:34:00.000+07:00

Most of us have worked for people who have control issues. This is the person who supposedly assigns responsibility for a task, and then is constantly 'butting in' to the leader's efforts as the job progresses. Assuming that the person who has been put in charge of the project or task is competent, some of the behavioral differences between ‘oversight’ and ‘controlling’ include:

Oversight
Regularly scheduled checkpoints and milestones
Controlling
Popping in uninvited and asking specific questions

Oversight
Asking if there is an area where assistance is needed
Controlling
Initiating assistance where none has been requested

Oversight
Referring routine questions to the person assigned the responsibility
Controlling
Answering questions about the project personally

Oversight
Guiding the project leader through any emergencies
Controlling
Taking over to ensure success in an emergency

Oversight
Setting communication and progress norms with the project leader
Controlling
Calling/emailing and requesting information ad hoc out of curiosity

If you have an assignment where the senior person is exhibiting the ‘controlling’ behaviors, it is incumbent on you to formally initiate an agreement on a better way forward. It is fair and reasonable to let others know how you like to be managed and how to obtain your best performance.

If you see yourself in any of these controlling behaviors, don’t be surprised if you find that one of the following occurs:

1. Tension and avoidance from the person to whom you gave the assignment
2. Lack of initiative from the person to whom you gave the assignment

Competent people naturally want to have room to operate as they see fit. Cramping their style and 'butting in' causes stress, and is often noted as a contributing factor to turnover in exit interviews. To avoid this situation, establish and stick to an oversight plan that will provide you with adequate timely information to be supportive (and manage up) without taking over or 'butting in'. Understand too that this is more art than science. As such, ask the project leader how he or she would prefer to be managed. Each person is different, so try to accommodate that and you’ll go a long way toward successful oversight.

Successfulness byword Athlete

2007-04-14T22:15:00.000+07:00

Athletes condition themselves for competition via hours of daily physical preparation. Successful business professionals do the same thing via reading, training and self evaluation. There are a number of ways to speed our progress. For most of us, the challenge is not that we are missing the information or knowledge. Rather, it is that our habits and behaviors are deeply ingrained and get in our way. That’s where neuro-associative conditioning can be a real help.

Research indicates that we can get ourselves to make changes faster and more effectively by connecting our nervous system with the behavior. Perhaps the simplest execution of this is one used by some extraordinarily successful college students. As they study a specific subject, economics, for example, they chew a specific flavor gum, say cinnamon. Then, when it is time to take the economics exam, they chew cinnamon flavor gum. This naturally brings the topic to mind and enhances their odds of success.

We can apply this same technique at work. For instance, if you want to improve your ability to conduct a good performance appraisal, you can chew a specific flavor whenever you read about it or take training on the topic. Then, when it’s time to write and conduct those appraisals, you simply chew the same gum to make that training and knowledge more quickly accessible to your mind. Short cuts like this can make it far easier to hard-wire successful techniques into your system and life. Just make sure you chew sugarless gum!

Fun, a Spell-of in Office

2007-04-14T22:05:00.000+07:00

Effective leaders find ways to ensure that their team remains motivated and energized. For most people, that must include some ‘fun’ time. One of our clients went so far as to build a miniature golf course into their offices, including a hole to drop to the lower floor for the second nine! For most of us, it means keeping a sense of humor and encouraging the ‘office organizer’ to do their thing. Often there’s a person on the team that likes to plan an occasional party or outing. Let them do their thing, and provide them with support when it’s needed.

The bigger question that we often hear is about ‘boundaries’. What is appropriate? How do we know if they’ve gone too far? Here are the guidelines we use:

1. Fun activities during work hours are mandatory – for team building reasons.
2. Fun activities outside work hours are optional, unless we’re on the road together.
3. No individual will be singled out for jokes or ridicule. Even if he or she can take it, it sets a poor precedent and may make others uncomfortable.
4. ‘Sports’ or competitive activities must include a role for everyone. Different physical abilities must be accounted for so that everybody is comfortable and included. Scorekeeping, commentary, etc. can be part of the plan.
5. Sensitivity to corporate titles is minimal during fun activities. It’s the one time we’re all peers.

Refresh-new Year

2007-04-14T21:24:00.000+07:00

The start of a New Year is full of promise. There are resolutions to be made, new contacts to be made, and strategic plans to execute. There’s something about the end of last year and the beginning of this year that allows us a new opportunity for achievement. How we turn the page and take advantage of that opportunity is up to each of us. Highly successful people approach the fresh opportunity with a sense of purpose and direction. They begin by evaluating each area of their life and assessing their satisfaction with their current level of progress. Based on this assessment, they identify specific goals and document them. Then they lay out specific plans for each goal and systematically execute those plans.

For many people, such a disciplined approach is daunting. To move forward, try identifying just one key goal for the year and write it down. It is critically important that the goal be something that you have primary control over. For instance, the goal cannot be one of making somebody else do something. It must be something that YOU can really make happen. Then take that one goal and outline, in as much detail as possible, every single step that you must take to make it happen. Next, put dates to each step. Once that’s down, start executing each step. I often overlay the action steps onto my planning calendar, along with my meetings and appointments, so I don’t forget anything.

If you take this approach with just one written goal, you will see real movement in your life. One step at a time, you will initiate a virtuous circle and start the process of crating personal success. Imagine setting and achieving goals like this one in multiple areas of your life. We are astounding beings, and you can truly accomplish anything you put focus on. Get focused and make it happen for yourself and those you love.

Take a Deep-Breath and...

2007-04-14T21:02:00.000+07:00

As we work with a myriad of people during this particularly harried time of year, it occurs to me that stress and time management techniques simply must come to the fore. First, stop and take a deep breath - your brain deserves some oxygen! Now take a moment and prioritize your tasks.

• What really needs to be done and when?
• What would be nice if you had the time?
• What are you really dreading?
• Can it be delegated or hired out?

A few moments of planning will pay huge dividends right now. Take another deep breath. You're worth it!

Kindness and Leadership

2007-04-14T15:13:00.000+07:00

Kindness is a leadership trait that is rarely discussed in business circles. Yet, as I reflect upon the best leaders I have known, they have each developed an instinct for the judicious use of kindness in their repertoire. It is largely unclear to me whether kindness is a natural or learned skill. Certainly I have never heard of a training program for it. I suspect, however, that our parents’ behaviors teach it to us to a great degree.

It comes to mind in particular this morning as I reflect on my only meeting with the late President Ford, whose funeral services are televised live as I write. He was to be the keynote speaker at a large sales meeting, and was surrounded by a number of secret service personnel. As senior managers for the organization, a few colleagues and I were to have our photo taken with him. He had clearly been jostled from one place to another and from one photo to another. He certainly had every reason to be brusque with us, as we were nervously trying to handle the intimidating situation. Instead, he took us under his wing and made us comfortable, leaving me to reflect years later that this was a truly nice man.

The smaller leaders that I have known, including myself on occasion, have exhibited impatience and sharpness at such moments. In retrospect, it seems that our focus is on ourselves, rather than on others, and we ensure that others know it through our actions. The great leaders, however, exhibit kindness and are remembered warmly, even many years later. I write this as a glad memory of a great man and as a reminder to myself to learn from his example. Like much of the country, I extend my heartfelt condolences to his family and friends. He has surely left a huge imprint on their lives.

Positive Mental Attitude

2007-04-14T14:59:00.000+07:00

Experts often discuss the need to keep a positive mental attitude. But what does that really mean? Are we all supposed to run around chanting positive things to ourselves and others all day long? Are we supposed to pretend that we aren’t hurt or angry when we feel pain? Should we smile and be cheerful no matter what is really happening?

If you aren’t accustomed to looking at everyday life with a ‘glass half full’ approach, the positive attitude thing can seem like a phony approach to life. People often ask me how they can honestly be happy and/or upbeat all the time. The answer for most of us is that we cannot.

What helps most people is keeping a sense of relativity. Even when the bills are piling up, or you are facing other pressures, keeping a sense of global perspective is a positive, healthy approach. The advantage that the positive approach tends to keep you calm, which allows you to focus and think clearly. That will take you a very long way toward solving your issue and moving forward, which will help you start a virtuous circle of success. With forward momentum, it becomes easier to have that positive attitude, and you can move into an upward spiral and more successes!

Our lives are better than we really think they are; it’s simply a question of focusing on the good things!

Personal Power Optimization

2007-04-14T14:44:00.000+07:00

Perhaps you’ve heard of learned helplessness. It’s a term that came out of psychology (Martin Seligman, Learned Optimism). Scientists conditioned a dog with electric shocks every time a bell rang. Once the dog was conditioned to expect a shock every time the bell rang, they put the dog into an open box, where it could easily escape. Then they rang the bell, and the dog just laid there, awaiting what it thought was the inevitable shock. Dogs that hadn’t been conditioned with the electric shocks simply jumped out of the box and ran off.

Sometimes it feels as if people around us have received similar conditioning. Often they just sit there, when the very things they want are easily within their reach. Something has squelched their natural drive for success. Great leaders seem to have the opposite conditioning effect on their people. First, they identify and hire ‘go getters’. Then they systematically pump them up, build their confidence and provide them with opportunities for small wins. Later, when a situation puts them in a ‘box’, they instinctively exhibit winning behaviors.

The beauty of being a person, rather than a dog, is that we have intelligence, self awareness and free will. We can actually go out and condition ourselves. Many of us do it in little ways, such as positive self talk, and asking good questions. It doesn’t have to stop there. We can do the same thing for ourselves that great leaders do. We can set ourselves up for small successes and build up to the bigger challenges. It takes a change in focus – from the things we cannot do, to focusing on the things we can do.

Imagine you are learning a new hobby. Would you start out with an advanced project? Of course not, you’d look for “Beginner” on every project you considered. Then you would move up as your experience and confidence improved. Personal power is very similar. Find some ‘beginner’ projects and build yourself up to the ‘advanced’ level. I often recommend volunteer work for newbies. It’s a great way to build yourself up and poise yourself for greater challenges down the road.

Reconciles with Personal Yourself

2007-04-14T14:31:00.000+07:00

The realization that ‘who I am enters the room with me and is plainly visible to all’ used to make me very uncomfortable. When I first heard this, I couldn’t accept it. I was certain that I could put my public face out there, and maintain privacy over my personal self. As a young manager, this seemed to be the way to go, two aspects to my life, separating business and personal distinctly. Yet, as I observed people that I truly liked and respected, I found that there was only one version of them. They seemed to somehow be an open book, and I found that to be a very attractive quality. Additionally, I found I was not fully achieving the outcomes I wanted in either of my separate lives.

Over time, I started putting my toes in the water of mixing my personal and business selves. What I mean by this is being open about my family and home life with business colleagues, and occasionally sharing business successes and challenges at home. When I ran the Chamber of Commerce, it became easier still, because my Board of Directors truly became friends with whom I did business. I found that the more crossover that occurred, the happier and more relaxed I became. As I relaxed, my ideas flowed more freely, and I didn’t need to try so hard. With better ideas, my business success improved further and I was able to laugh and have fun with everybody around me. That virtuous circle continues today, and serves me, my family, my friends and my business associates quite well.

Today I am convinced that ‘who I am enters the room with me and is plainly visible to all’. There’s really no doubt about it, yet I’m now quite comfortable with that reality. People see exactly ‘who I am’ as I instruct a class, coach an executive or debate a point. They either appreciate me for who I am or go elsewhere, and that’s okay. By letting go of my focus on protecting myself from being discovered, I am freed up to focus on others, making them comfortable and communicating clearly and well with them. I listen better, and learn from their knowledge and experiences, all of which makes me happier and still more comfortable with being ‘plainly visible to all’.

Stress Management

2007-04-12T10:58:00.000+07:00

It's 3:00 in the afternoon. There's a waiting room full of patients, and you're just starting on your 1:30 PM appointment. You still have to read through and initial all the progress notes you dictated yesterday, and study yet more referral restrictions recently mandated by the managed care executives. Wasn't it enough that you had to sit through an hour - long meeting this morning on "economies of time" that actually was designed to encourage you to spend even fewer minutes with each patient? Your morale hits a new low as you glance over the office manager's memo reminding staff of the need to cut the "extras." You can't help but wonder, "What extras?" as you look at the cache of pens you stockpiled from the last continuing education meeting you attended.

There's no doubt you see too little of your children, who always demand more energy and attention than you have to spare. Your spouse tells you that you're irritable all the time. And you lie awake at night wondering how you lost control of your career, doubting what it was that attracted you to healthcare in the first place.

But what really annoys you is Cindy, the other midlevel provider with whom you work. Cindy goes blithely through life, seemingly untouched by the same stresses that are totally devastating you. There must be something more than "type A" and "type B" personalities at variance. How does Cindy cope with this insanity while you're practically having a nervous breakdown?

To help you sort out and manage the stress in your professional life, this article looks at some of the underlying causes of stress and then proposes ways to manage anxiety - provoking situations.

WHAT CAUSES STRESS?

You Broke My Rule
Let's begin with the waiting room full of patients, and being behind schedule. Why would this cause stress for some people and not others? Start by recalling the rules imposed on you during your childhood. How did your parents or guardians treat you when you were late? Was being an hour late okay with them, or was it cause for concern (or perhaps even for punishment)?

Most of us incorporated the "rules" that were created in our childhood into our adult behaviors. Often, we adopted the rules subconsciously, so we may not even know the extent to which they govern our lives. We are, however, painfully aware of the stress they produce: we get pretty upset when someone else breaks our rules, and we become incensed when we ourselves are the culprits. That's why the first step to stress management involves looking for patterns in our lives . . . patterns that give us insight into the subconscious rules regulating our day - to - day behaviors.

Time - consuming, Boring, and Unimportant
What about the second stress mentioned above: paper work? Very few healthcare practitioners enjoy the forms to be filled out, notes to be written, and memos to be read. Paperwork is certainly not the reason people in the caring professions selected their careers.

Paperwork is, however, a necessary evil; professionals everywhere recognize the imperative of written documentation and communication. But there are times when paperwork becomes overwhelming and seems to overshadow the real priorities of the job.

To the meticulous reader, paperwork can become a tedious task. What's important gets buried among mountains of less relevant information. Precious time gets wasted just in the sorting, making the process particularly boring. Frustration builds when the task takes us away from the priorities and real joys of our work. The end result is stress.

It's My Livelihood; I'm Helpless
Changes in the healthcare delivery system, especially the advance of managed care, raise stress on two fronts. First, the corporatization of healthcare increases competition between providers, with the focus on which providers will do the most work for the least amount of money. Tenure and job security mean less and less as competition for jobs grows more and more intense. Coupled with continued projections of a physician glut, the stepped - up training of NPs and PAs serves as a constant reminder that midlevel providers face an uncertain future in which income and/or job security can be negatively affected.

Second, healthcare providers endure the added burden of responsibility for patients' well being in an environment where resources seem increasingly limited. The practitioner must always be alert to the life - prolonging diagnosis, no matter how routine the visit or how seemingly benign the complaint. As economics steadily creeps into the decision - making process, clinicians find themselves balancing what they think they should do against what they can justify to the "auditor."

These two stressors collide when management imposes new clinical mandates because they make business sense. Then, job performance, increased compensation, and career advancement no longer reflect clinical acumen. As bottom - line medicine defines clinical excellence and quality care, the frontline practitioner can't help but experience a mounting anxiety.

Most clinicians feel relatively helpless about these global changes in the healthcare delivery system. This loss of control intensifies the other uncertainties that come with dynamic change.

The Final Insult
"Be careful with the 'extras,"' says the office manager, who has no first - hand knowledge of patient care. Your years of advanced education and clinical training seem nullified by someone who believes you have no idea that you work for a business. It's hard not to interpret such comments as insulting and take personal affront to being told how to do your job by people who do not remotely understand patient care. You begin fantasizing about ... when your receptionist reminds you that it's 3:00 in the afternoon, you're only up to your 1:30 PM appointment, and there's still a waiting room full of patients.

COPING MECHANISMS

Understanding the source of real - life anxiety is the first step to conquering stress. The following strategies, which have helped millions of people cope successfully, have been specifically interpreted for healthcare professionals.

You Broke My Rule
Each of us needs to reexamine the rules we inherited. Look for specific incidents that "push your buttons." Is there a pattern that can lead you to a definable rule?

Start your stress reduction by assessing each "rule" and make certain that it really is important to you. As you go through the process, you'll find some rules to be appropriate and important; others, you'll discover, are someone else's "baggage" that you have jealously guarded without depth of thought.

For example, let us assume that being on time is a good rule worth keeping. First, make certain that you prioritize this rule with your other rules, including your rules for thorough and empathetic patient care. Next, plan for fulfillment of the rule.

In some practice settings, you have the option to determine the number of patients you will see in a day. The key to living with your rule is to set realistic goals. Track your own productivity so that you don't overbook. Plan for the emergencies and exceptions; leave a little room in the schedule for the unexpected.

Determining your own productivity is the exception rather than the norm. If, for example, management dictates that you see one patient every 15 minutes, you must come up with strategies to keep you on schedule without compromising patient care. Realize that you can spend 30 minutes with an acute case and still "average" 15 minutes per patient over the course of the day. Also, be sure to systematize all the paperwork and setup associated with each patient. Importantly, when you have to break your "on - time" rule and you fall behind schedule, make peace with both yourself and your patients. If you feel the need to explain the cause of your tardiness, keep your explanation brief and professional. A sincere apology can more than make up for the tardiness with most people; after all, we've all been late on occasion. Often this makes everyone a bit more pleasant to deal with and will relieve you of much of the pressure you're feeling.

If you continue to run late regularly, go back and readjust the schedule until you reach equilibrium. Very few of us feel stressed out over items that we are actively solving. If management does not allow you to customize your appointments, you have two main choices: 1) Accept their rule in place of your own, and relax; or 2) Find a new position with different management rules. Fighting to change your management is stressful at best, and futile and self - defeating at worst. If you turn your job into a crusade to "change the system," be prepared for even more stress.

Time - consuming, Boring, and Unimportant
Taking care of paperwork is a classic time - management dilemma. The secret is to break this task down into small, bite - sized pieces. One suggestion is to schedule 15 - minute intervals throughout the day to execute a few pieces of paperwork at a time. Does your schedule allow you to handle bits and pieces in between patients? If so, are you putting that time to good use?

Certain aspects of a clinician's paperwork can be delegated to support staff (provided you have support staff). For example, dictate progress notes into a recorder as soon as you've finished with the patient; support staff can transcribe the notes for your review. By all means, invest time to train someone to do such tasks for you.

Use today's technology to your best advantage. A laptop computer lets you review and correct transcribed progress notes during the bus ride home. Audio recordings from a recent continuing education meeting can provide badly needed credits during the drive to work. And a handy, pocket recorder lets you take notes for future review the moment they enter your head, without forcing you to rely on your memory.

The advances in computer technology that can increase a healthcare provider's productivity and reduce paperwork far exceed the limitations of this article. From e - mail, networking, and on - line consults to literature searches, drug interactions, and converting paper forms into electronic files, computers can and do make clinical practice easier. The payback for learning this technology and exploiting your options is a much more manageable schedule, with a lot less stress.

It's My Livelihood; I'm Helpless
Too often, people who feel trapped because they are tired magnify the negative and play down the positive. To control this form of stress, stand back mentally and try to gain some perspective. Divorce yourself from the minutia and focus on the big picture. You may just find that you have a wonderful life and a rewarding career. True, the situation is not perfect; nothing is. Odds are, though, that you've let the debits overshadow the credits.

Helplessness is a state of mind over which you do have some control. Too often, the pressures of the day leave no time to contemplate the choices you've made. It is, however, reassuring just to remember that you always have options.

Your clinical training provides many avenues for you to make money and live comfortably. Don't be afraid to explore your options (e.g., education, research, pharmaceutical representative, medical writer). Reexamine what you really need to maintain an acceptable standard of living, and clearly define your own priorities.

Those who prefer "the devil known" face the added burden of their own resistance to change. Taking on a new challenge with no guarantee of success, especially when you have responsibility for supporting a family, frequently freezes people into jobs that provide little satisfaction. Their stress grows as they struggle to gain control over events they are powerless to stop. Helplessness and fear rule their lives, as they wait and wonder when and how the next shoe will fall.

Climbing the corporate ladder often brings the disquieting realization that actual, absolute control is an illusion; there's always a higher authority no matter what your position in the organization. Few jobs completely eliminate accountability.

Influence over events is all any of us achieves in life. The secret to relieving stress in these situations is to blanket yourself with security devices that you can control.

For example, document, in writing, those directives that you believe compromise patient care. Request that such directives be made by memo; or, respond to such verbal directives with a memo outlining your concerns and asking for confirmation that you understood the directive correctly. Do not be confrontational - you simply want clarification.

At the very least, keep a diary of events as they unfold. Entries should be dated, with time noted; repeat actual dialogue as best you can remember. Such logs can be extremely empowering because they are proactive. Suddenly, you're no longer helpless; doing something gives you a sense of control.

Since your job is your livelihood, anything that threatens your livelihood threatens your security and consequently produces stress. Personal financial advisers recommend, as part of a lifetime strategy, that you keep between 6 months' and 1 year's salary readily available in savings. That's hard advice to follow when you're first starting out, but the goal can be achieved with sufficient discipline. Designate a certain portion of your salary for savings before discretionary spending. Maybe it's only $20 per pay check, and means you bring lunch from home instead of eating out every day. The payback in peace of mind more than makes up for the sacrifice required. As your savings grow, you'll find your sense of control reaching new heights, and your feelings of helplessness diminishing.

Finally, pick and choose your battles carefully. Do what is important to you, and let go of the rest.

The Final Insult
Most people have wanted to shout, "Would you like to do my job!?!" at someone occasionally. Many businesses have addressed this lack of understanding by cross - training employees in each other's jobs. Of course, that's not particularly feasible in the healthcare industry.

Try looking at the "insulting" office comments from the other person's perspective. Most human communication, in my experience, is either a "cry for help" or a "loving response." That said, try translating the call for belt - tightening as a cry for help. An angry response, which is another cry for help, transforms the opportunity to build an alliance into a confrontation that divides. Instead, respond with concern, as the member of a team whose teammates support one another. This opens the door for real communication and creates the opportunity for meaningful solutions.

BEATING STRESS FROM WITHIN
Stress can and will kill you because it robs you of your sense of self and causes you to lose sight of personal priorities. The marketplace is full of stress - reduction techniques that include everything from relaxation tapes to aroma therapy. Even the popular 10 - minute meditation break during the busy day significantly reduces stress. Each of these techniques carries one common thread: remove the overstimulation from the outside world and focus on yourself.

If you suffer from stress, I recommend you explore these techniques to find the ones that work for you. Just remember, such techniques treat the symptoms and not the underlying disorder. For that you have to dig deeper.

That is why the final word I have to offer you on stress is to identify the emotion you feel clearly, and decide what it means to you. Then ask yourself the following questions:

What else could I make this mean?

Is this really important enough for me to spend my time getting concerned over it?

If this is really important, can I influence it?

What do I need to do?

What is my plan?

What can I do right now?

Cindy, by the way, knows the true secret to stress management. She fights only the battles that really matter to her and that she knows she can influence. Then she lets the others go.

Published in the September - October 1997 issue of Clinician News.

Energy and Success

2007-04-12T02:38:00.000+07:00

I would have cleaned the house, but after dealing with work, the kids, my spouse, and our social commitments, I just couldn't do another thing!

Sound familiar? Don't worry, you're not alone. Most of us have been there at one time or another. Of course, if the only thing we aren't getting to is cleaning the house, then things are probably going pretty well. What about those times, however, when your energy dips so low that even an evening at the movies sounds like too much effort? There are ways to support yourself so that you never need to feel that way again.

Energy is defined as “the capacity for vigorous activity; available power.” When we watch children run circles around us, we may vaguely recall what it was like to have power available to us. As we watched my toddler nephew running around at a picnic recently, my sister remarked, “I get tired just looking at him!” If you share this sentiment, consider the words of Ralph Waldo Emerson: “The world belongs to the energetic.”

ENERGY DRAINS AND GAINS
Okay, so now, you're totally depressed, and your energy level has reached an all-time low. They say that at least half of any solution is the clear identification of the source of the problem. Consider the various things that drain energy such as sickness, rainy days, poor diet (see Table). Make a list of your own energy drains. While this task may be a drain in and of itself, it will take you a long way toward the solution.

Now, let's turn the tables and think about the things that energize you, perhaps time alone, fruit, or exercise. Once you've identified your energizers, include them in your everyday life to optimize your power level. Since most of us spend a large portion of our time at work, it's there that we need to create as energizing an environment as possible.

What Makes You Feel Exhausted or Energized?

Exhausters
Depressing news
Interpersonal hassles
Death
Sickness
Overwork
Too many people around you
Too few people around you
A heavy meal
Children
Poor management
A boring speech
Alcohol/medication
Rainy days
Poor food choices
Chocolate/sugar rebound

Energizers
Sunshine
Exercise/sports
Children
A new project
An inspiring speech
Laughter
Fruit
Coffee
Music/concerts
Theater/the Arts
Good friends
Time alone
Meditation
Chocolate/sugar
New ideas

LOVE YOUR WORK
Work can be either the most powerful source of energy in our lives, or the biggest drain imaginable. Much of the difference in its effect has to do with our perspectives and attitudes about our work, yet many of us can no longer remember why we chose our professions. Think back and answer these questions:

1. What made you become an NP or PA?
2. What do you love about taking care of people?
3. What originally attracted you to it?

Remember that our minds answer whatever questions we ask. If we consistently ask negative, whiney 'why' questions, we'll tend to answer with an energy-draining response. Ask yourself 'what' and 'how' questions so that you can focus your mind on more positive, productive responses.

BECOME CHILDLIKE AGAIN
Remember that wonderful toddler nephew of mine, running circles around everyone at the picnic? His curiosity about the world fueled his boundless energy as he bounced happily from one interest to another, unafraid to take risks. Take a lesson from him and unlearn all the dignified and adult like behaviors that limit your actions and thoughts. Let loose occasionally. Obviously, this approach may not be very helpful in the emergency department or in surgery, but it may be helpful when you need an innovative way to relax irate patients who have been kept waiting too long.

Be careful, however, not to confuse innocence with childishness. Childish or silly behavior tends to irritate and zap the energy of those around you, so use good judgement in discerning between the two.

Another childhood habit worth reviving is nap (or quiet) time. Don't laugh. Like children, adults could benefit from a refreshing mid-day breather. Not necessarily a lights-out snooze on workdays, but just a few minutes of quiet with your eyes closed. Instead, we force ourselves to run on empty, totally exhausted, and waste enormous amounts of energy trying to accomplish things that we honestly don't have the energy to do. Too often we stay in this vicious circle for extended periods, and wind up blaming everything around us, rather than our own poor judgement, for our ineffectiveness and low energy.

Learn from children (just as they learn from everything around them), and you may be able to rejuvenate yourself and restore the passion for life that those little ones feel. To help you get started, make a list of activities that you enjoy. Then organize it into activities that can be completed in five minutes, 30 minutes, half a day, and a full day or longer. Finally, find ways to fit the activities into your immediate and long-term schedule.

SCHEDULING A HIGH-ENERGY WORKDAY
Too often, I hear that the workday has become a grind that wears people down. Healthcare can be particularly grueling, since you so often need to deal with people whose illness has robbed them of their energy. To address this challenge, consider structuring your workday so that it supports you.

Up and at 'em. Whenever possible, make sure that you get a solid 8 hours of sleep. Very few of us really perform at our best on less than that. Then, when you first wake up, take a few minutes to visualize your day. Imagine yourself operating at your peak, the way you would like to be.

Next, motivate yourself by reading an inspiring quote or passage; listening to upbeat, positive music; or doing something that pumps you up.

Of course, motion creates emotion. Do something physical in the morning. If you're not an early morning exerciser, take a few minutes to stretch your body.

Once you're up and dressed, make sure that you take time for a balanced breakfast. It is essential if you are to operate at your peak.

Getting there is half the fun. Most of us need to go somewhere to reach our workplace. Too often, we allow our commute to become a hassle instead of a normal, expected part of our routine. First, I urge you to allow yourself extra time so that when “stuff happens” during the morning commute, as it inevitably does, you will be able to take this “stuff” in stride, without concern over being late.

Keep some upbeat audio tapes in the car. That way, if you do get stuck in traffic, you can listen to something motivating while you wait. During your commute mentally rehearse the day - the way you would like it to be. This may be very similar to the visualization that you did when you first woke up. It serves as a reinforcement of the positive attitude that will support your activities all day long.

With some luck, you'll arrive early and have the time to settle in before any patients arrive. This will help you to feel professional and prepared, and start things off on the right foot.

Take a lunch break. I know, you don't have time to break for lunch. Nonsense - you must make time, at least 20 to 30 minutes every single day. Take a few minutes each day, hopefully with a friend, but definitely away from your workstation. Eat light foods that give you energy, and to make certain that you relax a bit, talk about fun, light topics.

Go with the flow. Plan your day around your natural energy flow. If you are a 'morning' person, plan your most challenging work for early in the day when possible; if you are a late-day person, plan the opposite.

One of the keys to maintaining a high energy level all day is to learn when it is time for you to take a break or switch activities. Many of us push ourselves past our personal threshold, and then wonder why our day falls apart. Be aware of situations that can signal when it's time to take a break:

When you have had to deal with a difficult personality;

When you are feeling a sense of low motivation;

When you are feeling particularly tense;

When you are working on something that requires a high level of concentration;

When you are working on a complex project; and

Whenever you encounter a mental block.

When managed properly, a break will allow you to accomplish three things:

Switch brain hemispheres. If you were working with numbers or details, look for something verbal or conceptual, like conversing with a patient, and vice versa.

Release tension. Simple stretching or isometric exercises physically release the stress of the moment. So does laughter!

Obtain oxygen. A few deep breaths go a long way to healing us. Take a moment to breathe deeply, all the way into the diaphragm to refresh your entire mind and body!

Ease into the evening. On the way home, review the day's successes. So often, we focus on what went wrong instead of what went right. Then use the commute as a time to prepare for the next part of your day. Visualize a wonderful evening. Perhaps a nice meal with the family, or an evening of performing tasks. Whatever it is, visualize it being the best experience possible.

During your commute, play some music that relaxes you. I actually made a tape with upbeat music on one side for my morning commute, and soft music on the flip side for my evening commute. Another trick I've discovered is running a quick errand on the way home. This is an excellent way to psychically separate yourself from the rigors of the workday, and is productive at the same time.

PARTING THOUGHTS
When I first started to take this advice, which I gathered from a variety of sources, it felt a little contrived and awkward. Now, several years later, it feels natural and positive. Remember that anything new feels uncomfortable at first, until we master it and make it our own. Have a great day!
Published in the July-August issue of Clinician News.

Leadership Development

2007-04-12T01:54:00.000+07:00

Whether you work in a hospital, private practice, health maintenance organization, government facility, or university, you probably supervise other people. Your behavior as a manager has a direct impact on staff performance, productivity, satisfaction, and turnover. In this article, an expert management consultant examines qualities of managers who motivate, providing proven techniques to inspire those who work for you.

Perhaps the single most important technique for motivating the people you supervise is to treat them the same way you wish to be treated: as responsible professionals. It sounds simple; just strike the right balance of respect, dignity, fairness, incentive, and guidance, and you will create a motivated, productive, satisfying, and secure work environment.

Unfortunately, as soon as the complexities of our evolving health care delivery system mix with human relationships, even the best-intentioned supervisors can find the management side of their jobs deteriorating into chaos. Today's health care providers face expanding workloads, fewer resources, greater patient expectations, increasing threats (e.g., malpractice lawsuits), and closer scrutiny, especially from third-party providers. The art of healing is being transformed into a business. And like it or not nurse practitioners and physician assistants often find themselves in middle-management roles, with tremendous responsibility and little real authority. Job performance is reflected more in the bottom line than in the quality of patient care. Why, in this environment, do some managers thrive while others burn out? The answers lie in each manager's ability to inspire trust, loyalty, commitment, and collegiality among team members. The same techniques that work elsewhere in business can bring success in nursing and medicine - whether you're working in clinical practice, administration, or academia. More often than not, though, the task can be accomplished only by replacing learned behaviors with newer, more effective models.

UNLEARNING AUTOCRATIC STYLES
Good management technique used to be simple. The boss told employees what to do, and they complied. No one worried if somebody's feelings were hurt along the way. Employees who failed to toe the line were either whipped into shape or fired. These authoritarian managers believed that authority should (in a moral sense) be obeyed. Therefore, they expected unquestioning obedience from their subordinates and they, in turn, submissively obeyed their own superiors. What could be simpler? Fear ran the work setting. The system was efficient.

Health care delivery, in particular, followed this autocratic model. The physician's order ruled, without question or negotiation. Physicians, in turn, had their own hierarchy. Authority was understood, respected, and obeyed.
The example set by past generations has led to huge numbers of autocratic managers today. Some lead this way because they honestly, and consciously, believe it is the best management style. For most, however, it is how they were treated throughout their careers (particularly at a first job). The cycle works very much like child abuse, where the abused child grows up to be an abusive adult. If you were managed by an autocrat, it is very likely that your most natural, comfortable method of management reflects that of a previous supervisor, especially your first.

Physician assistants and NPs find themselves particularly vulnerable to this cycle of abuse. Both professions faced great hostility from the moment of their inception. Today's NP or PA leaders spent years struggling to prove their professions' full worth, overcoming the mentality that nonphysician providers were hired to answer telephones and empty bedpans. Frighteningly, today's senior PAs and NPs are the product of that mentality.

WHY CHANGE?
While fear as a management style can accomplish impressive short-term results, the long term consequences can be devastating. With demand high and supply short for NPs and PAs, no manager can afford to alienate other clinicians. Similarly, efficient support staff are also becoming harder to recruit and train, as the technology of the workplace speeds along at a blinding pace. Disgruntled employees may vent their frustrations by being rude to patients, performing poorly, quitting, or complaining to upper management; some supervisors may even face lawsuits for treating subordinates unfairly.

An autocratic management style feeds high staff turnover and low employee morale. Low morale, in turn, causes a decline in productivity and in the quality of service provided to your patients. And while many autocratic managers still populate the American health care system, reform demanding higher efficiency and productivity will eventually squeeze such managers out of the marketplace. In short, motivational management produces better results; those who focus on positive reinforcement rather than fear and intimidation will be the successful managers in the next millennium.

UNDERSTANDING CHANGE
Because autocratic management is a learned behavior focusing on dramatic, short-term results, true change can come only from within. Such change requires an understanding of the need for a new management approach. Motivating yourself to change is the first step in learning to motivate others.

Decisions that incorporate the ideas of a group of people are vastly superior to the single viewpoint of one person imposed on the rest of the group.

Rapid, relentless advances in technology and vast amounts of new information pounding at us every day make it impossible for a single leader to know more than the sum of his or her subordinates. Each team member's knowledge and perspective are essential to good decision making. Decisions that incorporate the ideas of a group of people are vastly superior to the single viewpoint of one person imposed on the rest of the group.

In past generations, employees stayed with a company for the duration of an entire career. Today, people change jobs several times during their working years, and many change careers altogether. This adaptation to change gives employees more options. When a well-trained employee quits, the business incurs not only out-of-pocket hiring and training costs, but the "opportunity cost" of having a less effective, brand-new employee who will require 3 to 6 months before becoming a productive, efficient member of the team.

Fundamental changes in American society also herald the end of the autocratic manager. The extended family unit - two-parent households supported by closely linked (geographically) grandparents, aunts, uncles, siblings, and cousins - is the exception, not the rule. Divorce and geographic mobility undermine the role of the nuclear family. Most managers accept how child care, family leave, and single-parent households are changing the workplace. But what about the void that now exists where once was a powerful family unit of "belonging"?

The role of the traditional family is being replaced by the workplace. More and more employees look for jobs where people matter. Such employees want to work with managers, not for them. This presents a huge challenge for businesses and creates a responsibility for which most managers are unprepared.

BREAKING ESTABLISHED PATTERNS
Autocratic management requires less skill and effort than participatory management, so the decision to change requires true commitment. In the autocratic model, you simply exercise your authority, make a decision, and take responsibility for the results. Participatory management means learning and playing by a whole new set of rules. Such change is never easy.

The first step toward a new style of leadership is deciding that you need and want to change. Involving your staff in decision making requires diverse and refined interpersonal skills. You need to learn the capabilities and aspirations of each subordinate in order to use participative techniques without wasting vast amounts of time. Time constraints, personality traits, and lack of consistent motivation often combine to work against managers' efforts to develop these skills. Behavior change takes time, focus, and practice.

PATHWAY TO SUCCESS
Good management, like good health, is the result of daily conditioning. What qualities lead to successful motivational management? The following sections - plan; teach; delegate, not dump; encourage independent thinking; build a team; listen; set an example; accept responsibility; and share the spotlight - set forth proven strategies for becoming an effective leader in today's business world.

Plan
Planning may be the most important and most overlooked aspect of effective management. Take, for example, a practice in which clinicians are expected to see 30 patients each day, or a hospital where each practitioner routinely manages 20 critically ill patients. To that, add walk-ins and emergencies. Triage is random, with little thought given to support and backup. The clinician loses all control of time, constantly running from one crisis to another.

Consider, too, the clinician who routinely directs clerical staff to begin work on numerous projects, without establishing priorities or understanding the amount of work involved. Many of the projects are never completed; others are rushed and sloppy. A pattern of "false starts" develops, leaving employees feeling disempowered and frustrated.

Good planning involves a sense of strategic direction. What does the team need to do, in a global sense, to get to an established goal? What constraints can be identified, and can each member of the team contribute?

It must be noted that solid strategies are necessary, but not sufficient in and of themselves, for good planning. Detailed action plans based on those strategies are critically important. The key to effective management is how you involve your subordinates in the development of these action plans. Solicit input from all, and listen with an open mind. The people who actually do the work can provide you with invaluable insight into how to get the job done. Negotiate a consensus, and then make certain everyone agrees on who will do what, by when. Once an action plan is adopted, make sure the team has the resources (e.g., funds, equipment, and human power) to execute those plans.

Become a Teacher
A role model for the effective participatory supervisor is the teacher who views any shortcoming as an opportunity for you to grow, someone who always focuses on your potential when he or she works with you. Such managers consistently support their employees, helping them discover the paths to success.

To help yourself reach your potential as a participatory manager, try some of these techniques:

First, list the benefits of becoming a good teacher for your subordinates, and share that list with the people you supervise. There's nothing like a public commitment to keep your own motivation high!

Next, approach teaching as a reflection of your personal values. Know that your personal power is greatly enhanced when you live up to your own principles and values.

Remember that to be an effective teacher you do not need to know everything your subordinates know. Rather, you must invest your energy in creating opportunities for your subordinates to become experts in their skill areas. Then, give them the chance to demonstrate their expertise.

View teaching as your primary responsibility. It is not an also-ran for effective managers. And as your subordinates grow, reward them; nurture their careers and professional growth in every way possible.

Delegate, Never Dump
The easiest way to become good at delegation is to surround yourself with subordinates whose abilities you respect; then you would be foolish not to use them to the best of their capabilities. When people sense that you expect great things from them, they tend to be challenged by that expectation and work hard to live up to it. Load your people with responsibility, provide them with the resources to do the job, and never be punitive when they make mistakes.

Delegation crosses the line and becomes dumping when we delegate only the work we don't want to do ourselves; keep all the "glorious" fun projects for ourselves; fail to provide adequate resources for our subordinates to complete their work; delegate all the responsibility and none of the authority for the job; or abandon our subordinates, failing to provide them with timing requirements, project guidelines, or our personal counsel when they need it.

Encourage Independent Thinking
Consistently encourage your subordinates to come to you with problems and solutions. If they come to you only with the problem, it's your job to elicit their opinion for correcting the situation. Listen to their suggestions; draw them out. Help them to think the solution through. Ask them a series of questions that encourage them and lead them to a workable solution.

Such independent thinking demands your recognition that your solution to a problem is not the only solution; it may not even be the best solution. Give your subordinates the latitude to try new options, within reasonable limits, and your workers will start to develop their real potential.

Build a Team
Similar to the teacher analogy, effective participatory managers strive to build cohesive teams, seeing themselves as the team's captain. The team captain inspires excellence and earns loyalty, serving as a role model to be admired, not feared.

The most effective teams comprise members with diverse skills and personalities. These are also the most difficult teams to manage. It can be frustrating work, but the rewards are tremendous when you watch the team become greater than the sum of its parts.

In planning, you determined the goals of the team. To manage the team successfully, make sure everyone clearly understands his or her role in reaching those goals. Communicate the rules or norms for operating together. For instance, a rule that many successful teams adopt is, "When you have a problem with any team member, it is your responsibility to discuss the problem directly with that team member. If you approach another team member instead, you will immediately be referred to the team member who has caused you difficulty."

As the team leader, it also becomes your responsibility to help integrate the individual personalities of team members. Encourage cooperation and coordination among members. This may occasionally mean sharing the perspective of one member with another to facilitate mutual understanding and respect.

Listen
Many managers talk about being good listeners, yet this skill often remains an area in need of substantial improvement. The benefits of good listening are numerous. Relationships improve, productivity and work performance are enhanced, team spirit is fostered, morale increases, and your staff gains better perspective and understanding of your mission as health care providers. Good listening skills engender trust. And trust is what separates effective participatory leaders from autocratic managers.

If you're listening effectively, the odds are that your subordinate is talking 80% of the time, and you're talking only 20% of the time. When you speak, you ask short, simple questions that draw the person out. What's more, you ask questions in a concerned, nonthreatening style and tone. Good listeners let their subordinates vent when necessary and acknowledge their feelings.

It is critical that the listener stay open and nondefensive, conveying genuine concern, no matter what the staff member says. Maintain the attitude that this person is your teammate and wants to improve things. Learn all you possibly can from your teammates so you are able to address their concerns effectively. Demonstrating your concern by helping team members resolve problems to their satisfaction not only strengthens the unit, it also provides flexibility for you when problems that are beyond your control arise. Past successes build trust, so your teammates are much more likely to listen to you and be reasonable when a problem exceeds your authority.

Set an Example
People rarely learn from what we tell them to do. More often they learn from example. If you have any doubts, go back to the discussion of autocratic managers and child abusers. Not only does the example you set dictate your success as a manager, but it teaches tomorrow's clinicians how to lead. So set a good example.

Start by living up to the rules you've already negotiated with team members. Treat each staff person with respect. Be kind and courteous. Keep your cool in crisis situations. Your calm will be just as contagious as your panic and temper flare-ups. Keep your word - to the letter. Nothing undermines trust in a professional setting more precipitously than a manager who breaks his or her commitments.

Accept Responsibility
Perhaps the most frightening aspect of management is that you've become responsible for someone else's performance. People do things their own way, and sometimes they make mistakes. While your subordinates are responsible to you for their mistakes, you are responsible to your manager for those mistakes. Don't pass the blame down to your subordinates. It's your department; the buck stops with you. Your team respects your integrity and trusts you to lead. You become a champion, not an oppressor.

Share the Spotlight
The flip side of accepting responsibility for everything that goes wrong is giving subordinates just credit for everything that goes right. Never take credit for a subordinate's work, and mention names at every possible opportunity.

Don't be afraid that this approach endangers your own career. You were made a supervisor because others in authority recognized your capabilities. The test of your value as a supervisor is your ability to create a productive, efficient team. Show management that working for you is the best thing that ever happened to your staff by drawing attention to each subordinate's excellent performance. If your team is performing at a high level, you won't need to blow your own horn - your value will be obvious.

WHAT DOES IT TAKE TO BE SUCCESSFUL?
Assume responsibility for your own actions. If you are not successful, don't blame anyone else. Take it on the chin and learn from it.

Assume responsibility for your emotional reactions. It's not what happens to you that matters; it's what it means to you that determines your reaction. Stand back and get perspective. Ask yourself, "What can we learn from this?" and it's easier to control yourself.

Identify the potential in each of your subordinates. Remember that people tend to live up to our expectations of them. Let your people know how terrific you think they are.

Make an inventory of the resources at your disposal and use those resources to help your staff perform better. We live in a world of limited resources. Given that restraint, how can you optimize the results your department delivers?

Be optimistic. Optimism is contagious; so is pessimism. If your team is going to develop a positive, can-do attitude, you will need to set the tone.

Develop a team vision for your department. Define what the team will become - make it inspiring! This is particularly powerful when you develop your vision as a team.

Set specific and measurable goals to make that vision come true. Include time frames and resource requirements.

Treat others with empathy and respect - no matter what. Gain the independence, power, and self-respect that come from doing the right thing, without regard to what others do.

Think less about your own needs and more about the needs of your team. You will reap what you sow.

Set an example - be a high performer. Work hard and smart. People will follow your example. Be honest with yourself and your team. Realize that eventually, people who work with you will know you for who you are. Be open to their criticism and learn from it.

Set a schedule for your own training and development - stick to it. Keep yourself growing and motivated. You're worth it.

Model your management style after someone who inspires you. It's hard work to cut a path through the woods. It's much simpler to walk in someone else's tracks.

Good input = good output. Find and consistently use good sources of management guidance for reading, viewing, and listening.

Published in the 1996 issue of Clinician Reviews. Reprinted with permission.

Build your Leadership Skill

2007-03-20T11:04:00.000+07:00

PATHWAY TO SUCCESS

Good management, like good health, is the result of daily conditioning. What qualities lead to successful motivational management? The following sections - plan; teach; delegate, not dump; encourage independent thinking; build a team; listen; set an example; accept responsibility; and share the spotlight - set forth proven strategies for becoming an effective leader in today's business world.
Planning may be the most important and most overlooked aspect of effective management. Take, for example, a practice in which clinicians are expected to see 30 patients each day, or a hospital where each practitioner routinely manages 20 critically ill patients. To that, add walk-ins and emergencies. Triage is random, with little thought given to support and backup. The clinician loses all control of time, constantly running from one crisis to another.
Consider, too, the clinician who routinely directs clerical staff to begin work on numerous projects, without establishing priorities or understanding the amount of work involved. Many of the projects are never completed; others are rushed and sloppy. A pattern of "false starts" develops, leaving employees feeling disempowered and frustrated.
Good planning involves a sense of strategic direction. What does the team need to do, in a global sense, to get to an established goal? What constraints can be identified, and can each member of the team contribute?
It must be noted that solid strategies are necessary, but not sufficient in and of themselves, for good planning. Detailed action plans based on those strategies are critically important. The key to effective management is how you involve your subordinates in the development of these action plans. Solicit input from all, and listen with an open mind. The people who actually do the work can provide you with invaluable insight into how to get the job done. Negotiate a consensus, and then make certain everyone agrees on who will do what, by when. Once an action plan is adopted, make sure the team has the resources (e.g., funds, equipment, and human power) to execute those plans.

Become a Teacher

A role model for the effective participatory supervisor is the teacher who views any shortcoming as an opportunity for you to grow, someone who always focuses on your potential when he or she works with you. Such managers consistently support their employees, helping them discover the paths to success.
To help yourself reach your potential as a participatory manager, try some of these techniques:
First, list the benefits of becoming a good teacher for your subordinates, and share that list with the people you supervise. There's nothing like a public commitment to keep your own motivation high!
Next, approach teaching as a reflection of your personal values. Know that your personal power is greatly enhanced when you live up to your own principles and values.
Remember that to be an effective teacher you do not need to know everything your subordinates know. Rather, you must invest your energy in creating opportunities for your subordinates to become experts in their skill areas. Then, give them the chance to demonstrate their expertise.
View teaching as your primary responsibility. It is not an also-ran for effective managers. And as your subordinates grow, reward them; nurture their careers and professional growth in every way possible.

Delegate, Never Dump

The easiest way to become good at delegation is to surround yourself with subordinates whose abilities you respect; then you would be foolish not to use them to the best of their capabilities. When people sense that you expect great things from them, they tend to be challenged by that expectation and work hard to live up to it. Load your people with responsibility, provide them with the resources to do the job, and never be punitive when they make mistakes.
Delegation crosses the line and becomes dumping when we delegate only the work we don't want to do ourselves; keep all the "glorious" fun projects for ourselves; fail to provide adequate resources for our subordinates to complete their work; delegate all the responsibility and none of the authority for the job; or abandon our subordinates, failing to provide them with timing requirements, project guidelines, or our personal counsel when they need it.

Encourage Independent Thinking

Consistently encourage your subordinates to come to you with problems and solutions. If they come to you only with the problem, it's your job to elicit their opinion for correcting the situation. Listen to their suggestions; draw them out. Help them to think the solution through. Ask them a series of questions that encourage them and lead them to a workable solution.
Such independent thinking demands your recognition that your solution to a problem is not the only solution; it may not even be the best solution. Give your subordinates the latitude to try new options, within reasonable limits, and your workers will start to develop their real potential.

Build a Team

Similar to the teacher analogy, effective participatory managers strive to build cohesive teams, seeing themselves as the team's captain. The team captain inspires excellence and earns loyalty, serving as a role model to be admired, not feared.
The most effective teams comprise members with diverse skills and personalities. These are also the most difficult teams to manage. It can be frustrating work, but the rewards are tremendous when you watch the team become greater than the sum of its parts.
In planning, you determined the goals of the team. To manage the team successfully, make sure everyone clearly understands his or her role in reaching those goals. Communicate the rules or norms for operating together. For instance, a rule that many successful teams adopt is, "When you have a problem with any team member, it is your responsibility to discuss the problem directly with that team member. If you approach another team member instead, you will immediately be referred to the team member who has caused you difficulty."
As the team leader, it also becomes your responsibility to help integrate the individual personalities of team members. Encourage cooperation and coordination among members. This may occasionally mean sharing the perspective of one member with another to facilitate mutual understanding and respect.

Listen

Many managers talk about being good listeners, yet this skill often remains an area in need of substantial improvement. The benefits of good listening are numerous. Relationships improve, productivity and work performance are enhanced, team spirit is fostered, morale increases, and your staff gains better perspective and understanding of your mission as health care providers. Good listening skills engender trust. And trust is what separates effective participatory leaders from autocratic managers.
If you're listening effectively, the odds are that your subordinate is talking 80% of the time, and you're talking only 20% of the time. When you speak, you ask short, simple questions that draw the person out. What's more, you ask questions in a concerned, nonthreatening style and tone. Good listeners let their subordinates vent when necessary and acknowledge their feelings.
It is critical that the listener stay open and nondefensive, conveying genuine concern, no matter what the staff member says. Maintain the attitude that this person is your teammate and wants to improve things. Learn all you possibly can from your teammates so you are able to address their concerns effectively. Demonstrating your concern by helping team members resolve problems to their satisfaction not only strengthens the unit, it also provides flexibility for you when problems that are beyond your control arise. Past successes build trust, so your teammates are much more likely to listen to you and be reasonable when a problem exceeds your authority.

Set an Example

People rarely learn from what we tell them to do. More often they learn from example. If you have any doubts, go back to the discussion of autocratic managers and child abusers. Not only does the example you set dictate your success as a manager, but it teaches tomorrow's clinicians how to lead. So set a good example.
Start by living up to the rules you've already negotiated with team members. Treat each staff person with respect. Be kind and courteous. Keep your cool in crisis situations. Your calm will be just as contagious as your panic and temper flare-ups. Keep your word - to the letter. Nothing undermines trust in a professional setting more precipitously than a manager who breaks his or her commitments.

Accept Responsibility

Perhaps the most frightening aspect of management is that you've become responsible for someone else's performance. People do things their own way, and sometimes they make mistakes. While your subordinates are responsible to you for their mistakes, you are responsible to your manager for those mistakes. Don't pass the blame down to your subordinates. It's your department; the buck stops with you. Your team respects your integrity and trusts you to lead. You become a champion, not an oppressor.

Share the Spotlight

The flip side of accepting responsibility for everything that goes wrong is giving subordinates just credit for everything that goes right. Never take credit for a subordinate's work, and mention names at every possible opportunity.
Don't be afraid that this approach endangers your own career. You were made a supervisor because others in authority recognized your capabilities. The test of your value as a supervisor is your ability to create a productive, efficient team. Show management that working for you is the best thing that ever happened to your staff by drawing attention to each subordinate's excellent performance. If your team is performing at a high level, you won't need to blow your own horn - your value will be obvious.

WHAT DOES IT TAKE TO BE SUCCESSFUL?
Assume responsibility for your own actions. If you are not successful, don't blame anyone else. Take it on the chin and learn from it.
Assume responsibility for your emotional reactions. It's not what happens to you that matters; it's what it means to you that determines your reaction. Stand back and get perspective. Ask yourself, "What can we learn from this?" and it's easier to control yourself.
Identify the potential in each of your subordinates. Remember that people tend to live up to our expectations of them. Let your people know how terrific you think they are.
Make an inventory of the resources at your disposal and use those resources to help your staff perform better. We live in a world of limited resources. Given that restraint, how can you optimize the results your department delivers?
Be optimistic. Optimism is contagious; so is pessimism. If your team is going to develop a positive, can-do attitude, you will need to set the tone.
Develop a team vision for your department. Define what the team will become - make it inspiring! This is particularly powerful when you develop your vision as a team.
Set specific and measurable goals to make that vision come true. Include time frames and resource requirements.
Treat others with empathy and respect - no matter what. Gain the independence, power, and self-respect that come from doing the right thing, without regard to what others do.
Think less about your own needs and more about the needs of your team. You will reap what you sow.
Set an example - be a high performer. Work hard and smart. People will follow your example. Be honest with yourself and your team. Realize that eventually, people who work with you will know you for who you are. Be open to their criticism and learn from it.
Set a schedule for your own training and development - stick to it. Keep yourself growing and motivated. You're worth it.
Model your management style after someone who inspires you. It's hard work to cut a path through the woods. It's much simpler to walk in someone else's tracks.
Good input = good output. Find and consistently use good sources of management guidance for reading, viewing, and listening.

source : http://www.adv-leadership-grp.com/Motivational_Article.html