Friday Huddles and More: Strategies for Team Unity and Performance

It is a #Friday. How are you planning to wrap up the week with your team? With a sprinkle of fun activities and some good old chit-chat with your team? Curious about their reactions? Take a second to reflect – because it’s worth pondering. 🤔

Gallup drops a bit of a bombshell: Only 32% of folks on the work scene in the US are riding the “actively engaged” train. The rest hover around the “not engaged” or even “actively #disengaged” zones. It’s a red flag for managers, but the solution seems to be playing hide-and-seek. So, where do we go from here? 🚩

Move Beyond the Standard 17-Item Team Building Checklist 📋

While the #engagement-o-meter might be stuck in a rut, here’s the silver lining: Team members seek a sense of togetherness at work. According to Gusto‘s survey, more than half of the employees (54%) have stuck around a job longer than they should because of a sense of #belonging. So, what’s the secret recipe brewing in these crews? 🤫

Let’s Refresh Employee Engagement with a Quick Peek 👀

• Forge Personal Links: Knowing your teammates personally is like adding secret sauce to the mix. When a manager jumps in with interest and cares about a teammate’s tasks, it’s like saying, “Hey, you matter!” It leads to feeling valued and, you guessed it, better performance. One-on-one meetings are a great way to get this started, where you can connect even with those team members who often remain outside the limelight. 💪
• Mix and Mingle, Inside and Out: No surprises here – nobody wants to be cubicle-bound day in, day out. Teams thrive when they can see their efforts making waves. Managers should boost teamwork by fusing projects across departments and opening up the feedback floodgates. Bonus move: Chat with the end-users of your products to get authentic reviews, appreciation, and feedback. 💬
• Engagement’s a Group Effort: Here’s the scoop – managers, start from the ground up. Team-building magic begins with every single member playing a starring role. The trick is to bridge the gap between teams and bigwigs, focusing on that human touch. Top-down initiatives, on the other hand, can leave the teams feeling forced and stuck – which can cost you heavily. 🤝

Grab free resources

We get it; work keeps you occupied, and that’s why Risely is here to offer you a plethora of free tips and tricks you can explore with your team. Here’s the gist just one click away

• Start with an employee engagement survey to know what’s up with your team
• Identify the root causes of disengagement
• Set up an employee engagement action plan
• Figure out your employee engagement goals
• Keep an eye on the trends
• Get started and build the team of your dreams!

Break those walls between teams and higher-ups – it’s the ticket to nailing this modern era. While the age-old wisdom focused on supervising your subordinates, the new era calls for fostering healthy connections with your co-workers. It’s a “hello” for managers to brush up on people skills and personal bonds. Keep the dial tuned to Risely for more of these golden nuggets! 🌟

Unveiling Your Managerial Legacy: Going Beyond the Numbers

It often happens that we feel down. After all, it’s another draining week ending just like the previous one. But, have you ever paused to consider your efforts’ profound impact, extending far beyond the confines of mere KPIs? 🤔

While those checkboxes might seem significant, the truth is that your influence stretches much further, often manifesting in unexpected and remarkable ways. How? Let’s explore this in today’s edition of The Top newsletter.

The impact of conversations

Think about those routine feedback conversations that might sometimes feel like a mere formality. Yet, these seemingly small discussions have frequently paved the way for team growth, skill enhancement, and realizing goals that surpassed initial expectations. Remember the mutual growth that often blossoms within those moments before brushing off the next one-on-one conversation with your team as routine. 🌱

Then, there are those impromptu lunchtime discussions where you casually share insights. Those seemingly innocuous pieces of advice? They have propelled introverted team members onto paths where their brilliance has shone brightly, revealing their true potential. Your willingness to embrace #change? It has played a pivotal role in ensuring smooth operations and transitions. 🚀

Tight deadlines that bound us together

And let’s not forget that memorable all-nighter you pulled to meet a challenging deadline. While it might now be a humorous anecdote, the teamwork and dedication you exhibited during that time have left an indelible mark. Your commitment wasn’t just about accomplishing tasks; it ignited a fire within others, motivating them to pour their best efforts into innovative ideas. ⏰

Consider that casual coffee chat that delved into your colleague’s professional struggles, causing them to reconsider their limiting beliefs. Were they truly incapable of the task, or were they simply overwhelmed by the external circumstances, just as you had suggested? Your insights provided them with a moment of respite, enabling them to reimagine their approach and reignite their passion, much akin to yours. ☕

Discovering magic in the mundane

Your actions serve as a guiding map for others to follow. Your punctuality and adaptability? They communicate that work is essential, but a well-rounded life outside work is equally crucial. Your diverse interests and hobbies? They serve as a gentle reminder to newcomers that excelling in one’s role transcends professional duties alone. 🌟

So, the next time doubt creeps in regarding the purpose of your endeavors, reflect on this range of reasons why your dedication is invaluable. Very often, you unknowingly inspire people onto a path of innovation and self-discovery – that’s where the magic of a remarkable manager steps in. Think of your managers who have pushed you to a higher purpose, and remember that you are doing the same for someone else.

As a manager, your role extends beyond completing tasks; you are a beacon guiding individuals toward realizing their true potential. Your impact is enduring, leaving an imprint on careers and lives in ways that may not always be vocalized yet are undeniably profound. 🚀

Small Tweaks, Big Wins: Real Stories of Subtle Transformations

So, guess what? India celebrated its 77th Independence Day this Tuesday – and you know what that means? Yep, it was one of those lazy, laid-back, long weekends. The perfect chance to kick back, rewind, and ponder life’s bigger picture. ✨

As I wrapped up last week, a thought popped up during a chat with my team. We were discussing sprucing up our website’s content. But then, a bigger idea took shape. Let’s unravel more. 🤔

New vs. Better?

When things aren’t quite right, what’s your first move? Usually, it’s like giving something a good ol’ knock on the noggin a few times and then thinking, “Out with the old, in with the new!” Remember the numerous times we have tossed ideas out the window to start over? But hold up – is new always the answer?

So, here’s the scoop. My marketing team and I were talking, and we realized some of our content wasn’t quite hitting the mark. There were calls to action that were not impacting the audience and well-designed content that failed to reach people. The need for action was apparent. But guess what? Instead of tossing it all out like last night’s leftovers, a bit of tweaking could work wonders. And hey, that’s not just a website thing – it’s life in a nutshell. 💫

Let me tell you a story about a manager, a team, and a dash of chaos. Picture this: they’d spot a hiccup in their process. To resolve this, they decide to clear the entire ground and start from the basics again. Hilarious, right? But hang on. There’s another way to play it.

Imagine diving into the nitty-gritty, going deep into the process. A different manager comes in with an approach driven by a learning attitude and willingness to get things done. You start wide, looking at the who, what, and why, then zero in on the weak spots. From there, it’s all about breaking things down into doable steps. Less chaos, more focus. 🎯

But why bother?

You might think it’s simpler to get things cleared at once. After all, starting again with a clean slate also lets you off the baggage. But that’s not all. Learnings and tips are hidden inside our actions that can make a massive difference.

• Mistakes are stepping stones, not roadblocks.
• Learning from your mistakes saves you from round two.
• Fixing beats scrapping – it’s easier and cheaper.
• Getting hands-on connects you with your crew.

We’ve all been there – those moments in different parts of our lives. When the next one pops up, how about we take a chill pill? Let’s approach it patiently, staying cool and step-by-step moving forward. Progress over pandemonium, right? 🚀🌈

Wondering if you are prepared to get this right or not? Grab a free resource here: Growth Mindset Toolkit for Managers. The free growth mindset toolkit comes with resources designed and curated by experts, such as sample statements and action plans.

Beyond the Cup: Lessons in Leadership from Starbucks

Amid the bustling symphony of our workspaces, an unassuming yet ever-present figure quietly asserts its presence – the humble cup of coffee ☕. This everyday elixir, steeped not only in history but also in the rich tapestry of diverse cultural expressions, has woven itself into the very fabric of our lives. Yet, the chronicle of coffee’s journey transcends mere flavors; it’s an exploration of how coffee, led by the iconic hashtag#Starbucks, has seamlessly integrated itself into the tapestry of our modern existence.

Starbucks, the quintessential emblem of contemporary coffee culture, didn’t always hold the familiar expanse it does today. Its origin tale traces back to a modest enterprise dealing in coffee beans and equipment. However, the remarkable metamorphosis that elevated it to a global phenomenon can be credited to the infusion of visionary concepts that found their zenith with the advent of Howard Schultz.

The Power of Ideation ✨

Upon entering Starbucks’ Marketing and Operations domain, Howard Schultz discerned untapped vistas of potential. He envisioned Starbucks not merely as a transactional hub but as a sanctuary for the coffee experience itself, a realm where the ordinary act of sipping coffee transcends its utilitarian essence and evolves into an immersive sensory odyssey. This singular notion acted as the catalyst that set forth a cascade of events leading to Starbucks’ ubiquitous presence on the worktables of countless individuals across the globe. Yet, the transition from abstract ideas to palpable reality is a multifaceted voyage, with Schultz’s expedition standing as a guiding light of profound hashtag#leadership efficacy.

Sowing the Seeds of Vision with Effective Communication 🌱

At the heart of this transformative journey lies the art of communication. Schultz embarked on a quest to convey his visionary concept with compelling persuasion. Garnering support from stakeholders and rallying the allegiance of the workforce hinged upon articulating unambiguous hashtag#goals, meticulously charted plans, and tangible hashtag#milestones. The potency of an idea finds its zenith in the finesse with which it is communicated, and Schultz’s approach served as the bedrock upon which the edifice of success was constructed.

Empowerment and Autonomy 🛡️

Schultz’s stewardship went beyond rhetoric. He handed his team the mantle of ownership over the transformative voyage. This shift in dynamics led to immersive training sessions that transformed team members into savants of coffee craftsmanship and adept conversationalists. This empowerment was further bolstered by initiatives that provided not only financial stability but also nurtured psychological hashtag#wellbeing. This dual-layered empowerment allowed Starbucks to function autonomously, freeing it from the shackles of constant oversight.

Forging a Unified Purpose 🤝

The crux of Schultz’s leadership prowess lies in his skill of building a shared mission. His proficiency in clarifying a shared vision, coupled with his steadfast dedication to fostering authentic bonds, emerged as the lifeblood underpinning Starbucks’ triumph. Every team member was assured that their contributions, irrespective of magnitude, were pivotal in the machinery sustaining the organization’s integrity. The energy of a shared objective propelled Starbucks beyond the realm of mere commerce, transcending into the dimensions of societal transformation.

Lessons Beyond the Cup ☕

The Starbucks saga serves as a living testament to the transformative potency that a visionary leader brings, channeling a compelling vision through a finely honed skill set. It proves the notion that the universe of innovation sprawls infinitely, awaiting audacious solutions to enhance it.

This narrative of change underscores the weight of leadership acumen in manifesting dreams into tangible reality. Embark on refining these quintessential skills with Risely, offering an invaluable assessment of your communication skills. In the mix of clear communication, teamwork, and a common goal, a 21st-century visionary leader could arise – someone ready to shape our world with creativity and unwavering determination.

As we absorb the wisdom from Starbucks’ journey, let’s view our coffee cups as more than containers – they embody the immense power of ideas, effective communication, team empowerment, and shared missions. In this reflective blend lies the hidden potential for leadership transformation that can reshape industries, empower communities, and redefine our global landscape.🚀🌍

Connecting with Your Team: Unleash the Power of Emotional Intelligence

It’s that time of the year again. Appraisal cycles are just around the corner, and you know what that means – managers gearing up to lead their teams through the challenges! 🌊

So, in case you are thinking of the thousand ways you can get stuck, worry not! I’ve got an inspiring story to share about my friend, Alex, who aced it with emotional intelligence! Here’s how it went down:

During the cycle, Alex faced a bunch of diverse challenges with the team. No two employees are alike, and neither are their needs. And so begins the process of understanding and overcoming each of their concerns.

🙋 Sarah, a talented employee, struggled with the team because of issues that often got lost in hashtag#communication. But Alex knew how to handle these communication barriers – a heart-to-heart one-on-one meeting to understand her concerns and build trust! The result? Sarah felt more comfortable and happier at work.

🏃 Next up, John, the cautious decision-maker who often slowed down progress, came to Alex. No worries, Alex had a solution up his sleeve! An open discussion space where John considered various perspectives and embraced calculated risks helped him overcome the hurdle. The outcome? An efficient and dynamic team that did not overthink day-to-day decisions.

🧑 🤝 🧑 Oh, and some conflicts between Emily and Mike affected team dynamics negatively. Their frequent disagreements grew out of the professional space into a matter of concern for the entire team. But Alex stepped in smartly to save his team. He acknowledged their emotions, facilitated constructive conversations, and voila – as they left behind the conflict, enhanced teamwork led the tribe!

Alex’s emotionally intelligent approach was the secret ingredient to these inspiring tales throughout the cycle. It led to a satisfying outcome and a supportive work environment for the team. 👏💪

Understanding emotions, being empathetic toward others, and motivating team members make all the difference in successful people management. There are multiple facets to it. Sometimes, you must help team members control their emotions in triggering situations. In others, you must take deep breaths without being impulsive. Developing emotional intelligence can be a long process, but one with ample results to its credit too. 🌱🌟

The key takeaway here is that emotional intelligence is vital, especially for managers, during sensitive conversations like appraisals. Team members often feel that they have been treated unfairly or their efforts were ignored during the appraisal periods. While such situations can become frustrating for a manager, the key is to resolve them amicably. If you feel unprepared, a helping hand is just around the corner. 🤝🆘

To level up your skills in people management and hashtag#emotionalintelligence, Risely and Keka HR have something special for you – a webinar on “How to master people management with Emotional Intelligence?” 😍📚

Happening on August 2nd at 3 PM IST, this is an unmissable opportunity for all HR and management professionals! Grab your seat now! 🪑🎓

Unlocking the True Potential of Job Interviews: A Fresh Perspective

If you’ve ever been involved in hashtag#hiring, you know how typical interview questions often elicit predictable responses. But fear not! There’s a master approach that can break free from that routine.

Let’s delve into it together, shall we? 😊

Picture this: You are hiring a new project manager for your team. You go about trying to understand how well they can fill up the role and fit your team as well. But your questions are not just making the cut. Asking, “Tell me about your experience with project management,” just returns a verbal CV.

Sounds frustrating right? 😫

But worry not. Here’s the way to break down the monotony. Instead of using cookie-cutter questions, ask your hashtag#candidate, “Describe a time when you had to manage a complex project with tight deadlines and limited resources. How did you handle the situation, and what was the outcome?”

How is the STAR method different?

The STAR interviewing method provides a structured framework for hiring hashtag#managers to ask questions. It offers candidates the opportunity to showcase their uniqueness and the quality of their answers while enabling a comprehensive evaluation of a wide range of skills. The secret lies in asking the right questions. Say goodbye to the age-old inquiries about strengths and weaknesses, and explore a more engaging path that helps you make smarter hiring decisions.

Candidates are prompted to identify relevant situations, describe the tasks and actions they undertook, and explain the outcomes. This paints a vibrant and detailed picture of their skills and work attitude. By incorporating real-life examples, we gain deeper insights into their problem-solving abilities and how they handle challenges.

For instance, for the question seen above, a sample answer can look like this –

• Situation: As a project manager at XYZ Company, I was assigned a critical software development project with a tight two-month deadline and limited resources.
• Task: My task was to ensure the successful delivery of the project on time while maintaining high-quality standards and team motivation.
• Action: To succeed, I created a detailed project plan, fostered open communication within the team, and implemented an agile approach for flexibility. I optimized resource allocation and held regular progress meetings.
• Results: Thanks to our efforts, we delivered the project on time with all key features functioning flawlessly. The successful completion led to recognition within the company and positive feedback from stakeholders and customers.

This allows the candidates to go back in time and bring out real instances as examples. It makes them think of the problems that actually occurred and the solutions that helped them out. It leaves behind the hypothetical and ideal scenarios that are typical of interviews.

By the way, you can find more such questions here: Top 10 Behavioral Competency-Based Interview Questions for Managers.

How can you master Behavioral Interviewing?

Behavioral interviewing offers numerous clever techniques and advantages, and this is just one of them. To unlock all the secrets and help you embrace this smart interviewing style, Risely has introduced the Behavioral Interviewing Masterclass.

Across four valuable sessions, a handpicked group of managers will learn the ins and outs of hashtag#BehavioralInterviewing from Victor Bullara, a master coach in Behavioral Interviewing. Don’t miss out on securing your spot! Sign up today for the Behavioral Interviewing Masterclass and gain a competitive edge. ✨

Exciting, isn’t it? 😄

Self-Management for Managers: The Path to Exemplary Leadership

If you’re a manager, it’s understandable that you’d want your teams to be effective and self-sufficient. Those teams can manage their time, achieve goals, and handle issues like pros. But while those are the dream teams, they need one secret ingredient – a dream manager!  Managers often wonder about their teams’ lack of effective habits while forgetting they are key to setting them. For instance, a friend shared that his team was not good at time management. But guess what? Upon closer inspection, we realized the problem was closer to home than we thought.  See, my friend wasn’t practicing solid time management. Managers should ideally control how they spend their time with the help of schedules and to-do lists. It ensures that tasks with strategic importance are handled with care promptly. But instead, he let his environment dictate his schedule. Imagine starting each day without a prioritized task list, just going with whatever seemed easy at the moment. Sure, it feels good, but it means neglecting the urgent and important stuff.  And further, there are other disruptions, such as chatty colleagues or team members sharing issues that the manager can solve a couple of hours later as well. This lack of organization in the manager’s approach tends to trickle down to the team, resulting in chaos and confusion in the workplace.  But fear not; there’s a way out of this madness, and it starts with effective time management. Mastering the art of managing time is the foundation of being a great manager. Managers can control their time and navigate tasks more productively by setting clear goals, creating schedules, using tools like calendars and timers, and minimizing distractions.  It’s all about allocation, delegation, and focused action. Time management is one critical avenue where managers can start acting to save their teams from trouble, but not the only one.  In addition to effective time management, there are several other habits that managers need to learn to become their masters. For example, managers must develop strong communication skills to ensure their vision gets translated into action. Without communication skills, it would be hard for managers to develop strategies, share ideas, or even brainstorm on the way ahead. Communication is not just about interacting with others but matters heavily while deliberating and building clarity in one’s thought process.  Essentially, self-management enables managers to become exemplary leaders. When managers can exude confidence, make controlled decisions, and act independently, they can also build loyalty and trust among their team members. Otherwise, managers lacking at the front of self-management continue to set examples of chaos and get further confused when their team follows those footsteps, just as we noted in the example above.  It is not just about showing that you are the in-charge but playing an active and vital role in your professional journey. Self-management allows you to choose – by freeing up your time and mind from distractions that grab your attention. By effectively managing yourself, you can create the brand of a manager known for their work ethic, ability, and willingness. Taking responsibility for one’s actions also leads to dependability and reliability, which are highly valued traits in the workplace. Often, it forms the key to effective relationships, which can open many doors to professional success.  Self-management strategies for managers call for a realistic understanding of their role within the team. It requires a mix of diligence and emotional intelligence. Emotional intelligence helps individuals recognize and manage their own emotions, as well as understand the feelings of others. By developing emotional intelligence skills such as self-awareness, self-regulation, motivation, empathy, and social skills, individuals can improve their ability to handle stress, communicate effectively, and build strong relationships at work. It’s a learning process; you can take the first step now. We’ve got an awesome blog post that goes into detail about more such strategies. Check it out here: Understanding The Role Of Self Management At Work With 7 Effective Strategies.  Remember, every day is an opportunity for growth with Risely. So embrace change, break those old habits, and watch your productivity soar!

Stop letting ineffective one-on-one meetings harm your team

I was conducting a Manager Effectiveness Master Class session today, and one participant asked me, “How can we gauge the mood of our team members? Or make them comfortable to speak their concerns openly to me.” Effective one-on-one meetings are among the best ways to gauge your team’s mood. But, a similarly ineffective one-on-one meeting can take the train the other way too very quickly. So often, starting a chain of one-on-one catch-ups with your team seems easy until it becomes too tiresome and repetitive for the managers and their team members. Good one-on-one meetings bring up relevant issues, enable healthy relationships between managers and teams, and keep managers up-to-date with the team’s concerns. However, bad one-on-one sessions impact the team negatively too. But before that, what does a bad one-on-one meeting experience look like? Here are some signs: 

• The conversation is going nowhere. If you wonder why you are in that room and what you are talking about, it’s a huge red flag.
• Either the manager or the employee has a negative or defensive attitude during the meeting, preventing constructive discussion.
• One person dominates the conversation throughout the meeting. 
• No impact comes from these meetings if they are mere meetings in themselves, without those inputs being used to improve things around them. 

If you find most of these happening around you, it’s high time to take action! #Managers who lead ineffective one-on-one meetings are generally committing some common errors. For instance, not preparing before the meeting can give you trouble in conducting the discussion in the right direction. Therefore, when starting the session, it is essential to be aware of the issues that need to be discussed. Moreover, managers should also give the team members ample time to share their views. Here are some ways to do it right: 

• Review previous meeting notes: Review the notes from the previous one-on-one meeting with the team member to refresh your memory on what was discussed and any identified action items.
• Set an agenda: Create an agenda for the upcoming meeting that includes topics to be discussed, any questions to ask, and any feedback to give. This agenda can also be shared with the team members to help them prepare.
• Ask for employee input: Ask the team member if there are any specific topics they would like to discuss during the meeting. It ensures that the employee feels heard and that their concerns are addressed.
• Come prepared with relevant information: Bring all pertinent information or data to the meeting that will help facilitate discussion and decision-making.
• Change the environment: Consider changing the meeting location, such as going for a walk or having a virtual meeting instead of an in-person meeting. Changing the environment can help break the monotony and stimulate new ideas.

Similarly, managers can take steps to reduce other common errors in one-on-one meetings, like not listening actively to the team members or not taking follow-ups frequently as needed. The key is to remember that one-on-one meetings are effective when they benefit both managers and team members equivocally without being taxing on either.  You can assess your one-on-one meeting skills with Risely for free to ensure that you are not making any of these common mistakes made by team managers. While these mistakes cost teams big time, it also negatively affects your professional growth as a manager. The free self and team assessment from Risely saves managers from these blind spots holding them back.  The free one-on-one meeting assessment helps managers critically consider and evaluate their one-on-one meeting practices. Moreover, team managers can also anonymously collect feedback from their team members to know their weak areas. It delivers insights straight to your inbox to get you going on a journey toward success. Click here to start now. Otherwise, ineffective meetings can become a drag on the team members. As a result, they would be demotivated to communicate with their managers and leaders with an openness that helps conversations move forward. It can also fuel resentment due to the time and effort involved.  Ineffective one-on-one meetings erode trust between the manager and employee, as employees may feel their concerns are not being heard or addressed. In totality, unproductive one-on-one meetings are a missed opportunity to build cohesive teams. Ensure you avoid making these same mistakes, and keep moving forward!

I don’t know how my team is feeling

Keeping a tab on employees’ feelings is essential for managers everywhere. Yet, #managers often struggle with maintaining high levels of employee engagement. While many mantras float around that will supposedly amp up employee engagement in your team to new levels, many are found to be faulty and sometimes even counter-productive. When working on employee engagement, we need to tread a fine line – engage the employee but do not disrupt their flow. And how do we do that? Typically, we can talk to them. Effective communication is a simple skill that brings a plethora of benefits. You can ask them questions about work and seek progress reports and updates regularly to know where they are heading. Taking that one step further, you can ask if they are facing any difficulties and then try to resolve them. But if you take too many steps, you might end up micromanaging them inadvertently!  Too much interference from the management hampers employee autonomy and, therefore, reduces their productivity. And so, when looking for innovative solutions to your employee engagement problems, you should be aware of the pitfalls of some of those methods. Also, you need to look for strategies that bring you closer to your team. It should help you build emotional connections that pave the way for productive professional relationships.  You can look into some hacks for boosting employee engagement here.  Effective employee engagement hacks include providing guidance, support, and recognition as the employee progresses. While these are the ideas we should follow, we must look for actions that help us achieve these. An everyday activity that can help us do all of this – and much more – is one-on-one meetings.  One-on-one meetings with your team members are interactive sessions conducted with individual team members. They are like check-ins with your team. In these meetings, you can discuss work-related and adjacent issues affecting your team’s performance. It can include topics like their performance at work, experience with team members and environment, etc. You can also ask them about their goals for the next period and the learnings in the previous one.  Overall, one-on-one meetings are a great addition to any manager’s toolkit because of their broad utility, which expands constructive feedback, open communication, and opportunities to provide coaching to team members. Managers who conduct one-on-one sessions are seen as approachable and understanding by their team members. However, getting one-on-one meetings right is a challenge for many managers. Typically, managers struggle with one-on-one meetings because they need to figure out where to begin. Before conducting one-on-one sessions with your team, you must prepare thoroughly about the topics you’d like to discuss. You can also list a few questions that you would like to raise. I think it will help you find direction in the session. Moreover, some managers cannot generate maximum value from one-on-one sessions with their teams. It happens primarily because they need to act on the insights drawn from the conversation, or they may be unable to reach conclusions from conversations.  If you are facing any of these problems, you need to read these six secrets to make one-on-one meetings with your team effective.  To go one step further, you can also download the free one-on-one meeting toolkit with sample statements, questions, and tips to ace your first one-on-one meeting. It will also help you strategize and plan the course of further discussions with your team.  In this journey, you will surely need some course corrections, and Risely has the perfect tool to help you. Take the free one-on-one meeting self-assessment to understand what you are missing. Get actionable insights, identify weak areas, and enhance the efficiency of one-on-one meetings with your team in simple steps.  While you may not have the best one-on-one meetings with your teams initially, you will learn a lot about yourself and your team while striving for better results. The relationship you build in that process by acknowledging vulnerabilities and collaborating will be worth more than anything. Those are the bonds that will help your teams get through hard times.  Building teams that are always together is tricky. It is a daunting task for managers to understand and accommodate numerous people. So, start working on one-on-one meetings today! One-on-one meetings are one of the most effective managerial tools for employee engagement that helps managers grow massively. Intelligent insights from these sessions enable managers to become influential leaders with loyal teams. #leadership #leadershipdevelopment #managerdevelopment #oneonone #effectivecommunication #engagement #leaders

Constructive feedback: Important things you wouldn’t want to miss

If you are a manager or a leader, you have surely heard of constructive feedback. And further, you might have struggled to provide regular feedback to your team too. Today, let us unravel the hype around constructive feedback and see where we stand. To begin with, we need to understand constructive feedback. Constructive feedback refers to feedback that is provided to help employees improve performance. As the name suggests, it is constructive in nature and thus aims to build competencies that promote employees’ professional growth. It also helps enhance motivation and keep employees engaged in the workplace.  Constructive feedback incorporates a mix of positive and negative comments. It includes appreciation for the hits and guidance to reduce the misses. The goal is not to dissuade employees by pointing out their mistakes but instead to highlight areas in which they can improve. So, while including critical comments, the manager must ensure that they are laid down as stepping stones for success.  While the benefits of constructive feedback for teams are numerous, managers often struggle to provide constructive feedback. Typically, this happens due to a lack of understanding of the activity and its need. To many people, constructive feedback is an activity that provides limited and intangible rewards. But, the absence of constructive feedback massively hurts teams.  Teams that do not receive feedback miss out on crucial guidance from their managers and leaders. Consequently, they experience difficulty in improving performance. Employees could frequently find themselves directionless as no one is commenting on their work. Further, they also feel demotivated and disengage themselves from work as their efforts remain unrecognized. This sounds like trouble for any team.  Read more about how a manager’s inability to provide constructive feedback can hurt teams.  Otherwise, managers may shy away from conducting feedback sessions due to hesitation. It is common to think twice before offering critical remarks to anyone. More so when interpersonal relationships can get involved and cause negative office politics. Such fears can keep managers from becoming pros at constructive feedback. It reduces their effectiveness as managers and leaders.  Generally, it is assumed that constructive feedback is for the team. This opinion overlooks the massive benefits of constructive feedback for managers. Managers who regularly provide constructive feedback lead their teams effectively while overcoming shortcomings and utilizing every opportunity. They can also build long-lasting relationships with their team members by providing guidance. All in all, it helps managers craft an environment that aligns with their vision and eases the run along their roadmap. By assisting teams to generate higher productivity through constructive feedback, they demonstrate impeccable leadership qualities, which help them grow professionally. Such managers climb corporate ladders with ease.  Becoming a pro at constructive feedback takes time, but you can begin here by reading How Can Managers Become Pro At Constructive Feedback?  Now that we are talking about constructive feedback, the importance of feedback needs no repetition. As you begin your learning journey toward mastering constructive feedback, you will need feedback too! Start now by taking Risely’s free constructive feedback self-assessment.  Risely’s constructive feedback self-assessment uncovers the nuances of your feedback. It helps you identify areas that need work to provide quality feedback to your team, including targeted insights and impactful suggestions. Through this assessment, you can understand the best ways to use your communication skills in one-on-one sessions with your team to bring your vision to reality.  You should also check Risely’s free constructive feedback toolkit, which contains loads of helpful resources. Apart from clarifying the basics of constructive feedback, it comes with sample statements you can use while providing feedback to your team members. Using these two tools in conjunction will set you on the path to rapid growth in no time!  In the beginning, constructive feedback might be tricky and involve some errors. The key is to remember your goals and communicate them effectively. An empathetic approach to dealing with your team and guiding them in the right direction is needed. Repeatedly assessing your progress and getting feedback from colleagues will help you improve.  While we are at it, how good is your assertive communication going? Revisit last week’s newsletter to check out! 

What to do if you find it challenging to be assertive with your team?

Interpersonal relationships are an excellent way for managers to connect with their teams. Moreover, these connections allow managers to motivate their employees effectively. When employees feel at home at their workplace, they are more likely to hold a positive attitude towards work. Employees who are cherished as significant contributors toward their teams’ goals become more committed. Hence, we can note that relationships are vital in the workplace.  However, no relationships can exist in vacuums. Most relationships, including workplace relationships, need certain boundaries to work effectively. They are required to guarantee the well-being of employees. Boundaries help in protecting the mental as well as physical health of people. Moreover, they keep the relationships clear and straightforward – by ensuring a mutual agreement between both parties that minimizes conflicts inside teams. And most importantly, boundaries are pivotal to maintaining a healthy work-life balance.  Establishing healthy boundaries in relationships at work is the first step toward creating a peaceful environment. Do you believe the same? If yes, check whether you establish healthy boundaries at work or not here!  Many people struggle with establishing boundaries at work. Apart from the initial hesitation, people often worry about judgment and norms. Moreover, communicating these boundaries is a challenge that many people face. It is especially true in workplaces where unhealthy standards are prescribed for everyone. Workaholic cultures push the boundaries of employees regularly and disrupt their lives. The solution to this problem lies in establishing boundaries and remaining assertive in communicating them to others. Strong communication will make your job easier in many respects.  The art of assertiveness is essential for getting many things done in the workplace, including setting boundaries. This is especially true for managers, who have to handle teams apart from their tasks. Remaining assertive helps managers build critical skills and qualities that enable efficient management. This includes effective communication and also encompasses negotiation and conflict management. They also come across as more confident and committed to their teams.  Managers, specifically, need to master assertiveness to become effective leaders. Assertiveness helps them become influential over their teams. Further, it helps them effectively convey their goals and plans and gain support. They set the correct values and define attributes of team culture too. Properly organizing your thoughts and ideas before presenting them to the world helps build trust and respect.  Assertiveness for managers includes many aspects. Primarily, it focuses on communication. Assertive communication is vital for managers, as they can use it to present a firm stand and become bold in all aspects of their work. Assertive communication maintains a precise balance between assertion and aggression. It emphasizes mutual respect and interest among parties to feel understood and appreciated. Managers who adopt this practice can witness a substantial rise in self-esteem and confidence.  However, assertive communication can be a tricky business! While trying to remain assertive, you might end up being too stringent. Therefore, you must take care of your environment while doing this. The first step is to go slow and be patient. Initially, you might need to adopt assertiveness only in some areas and let the other things flow naturally. Over a certain time, you can incorporate assertiveness into your habits.  It would be beneficial if you understood your communication style before you begin to switch things up. The free assertive communication self-assessment is the best way to do so!  Risely’s free assertive communication self-assessment helps you analyze your communication habits. Moreover, managers can draw an accurate picture to identify the blindspots in their managerial style. They can administer pointed interventions to become influential leaders.  After taking the assessment, you can also check out the free assertive communication toolkit to work on specific areas you identified. The free assertive communication toolkit helps managers understand the importance and correct usage of assertiveness. With the help of well-researched, engaging content presented in the form of samples and frameworks, managers can master assertive communication.  In the absence of strong communication skills in a manager, there are several detrimental consequences for teams. Lack of clarity hinders progress massively. Ineffective communication can lead to conflicts and confusion within the team. Therefore, managers and leaders must learn the art of assertive communication and practice it effectively to generate maximum productivity with their teams.  Assertive communication is one of the crucial skills that help managers, but not the only one! Revisit our previous blogs to learn more about the other crucial skills for managers and leaders.

Are your biases ruling your decisions?

We make a number of decisions every day. However, the role of unconscious bias is often ignored. Even though we would like to paint ourselves as rational creatures, intuition rules our minds in many places. The work of behavioral psychologist Daniel Kahneman has made significant breakthroughs in the area. The presence of heuristics and biases in the human mind is an objective reality. It is an important factor to consider for managers and leaders, who often make crucial decisions on their teams’ behalf.  In simple terms, biases reduce objectivity in our decisions. Instead of giving all reasons and factors their due share, we let some things affect our choices too much. Our decisions suffer from particular inclinations. This will directly hamper the quality of decisions. Consequently, there can be a wide-ranging impact on the team’s various activities. Any manager would realize how dangerous this can be. So, what is the solution?  The solution to this problem begins with an attempt to understand the problem. To eventually overcome the biases, it is necessary first to understand them and how they work. First, bias is not the term that can explain all of our heuristics and tendencies. There are several types of biases that managers need to be aware of. Moreover, these biases work differently. Only the overall impact – hurting the quality of decisions – is the same. Secondly, it can be hard to recognize and accept the existence of biases because we see them as natural processes.  Several biases regularly impact our activities. For instance, a manager may admonish an employee who has been underperforming lately, even though they have performed exceptionally well over a longer period. The effect here – a recent action eclipsing the whole – is called recency bias! It is due to this subtlety that biases are difficult to spot. To begin thinking more consciously, you can first read about the Top 10 Most Common Manager Biases in the workplace.  Sometimes, biases can occur due to social conditioning over the years. The norms of male supremacy have held firm in corporate workplaces too. Effectively, we frequently find issues arising due to gender bias in the workplace. This is most evident in the gender pay gap and discriminatory policy designs. Like any other bias, gender bias can be tricky to identify when you are conditioned to think of it as natural. Nonetheless, overcoming gender bias in the workplace is essential for maintaining a diverse and representative workforce. String biases hamper the manager’s work too. Therefore, managers need to resolve this issue. You can read the blog How Can You Overcome Gender Bias In The Workplace As A Manager to start creating a more inclusive workplace. Apart from this, some biases are harder to understand. This may happen because their bases seem inexplicable. Take, for example, the halo and horn effect bias. In simple terms, this bias creates a mental picture of a person as an angel or the devil reincarnate! These couple of biases severely hinder managerial capabilities. In both cases, the individual gives a judgment based on a single impression or characteristic. In the case of the halo effect, we tend to favor those people who have managed to put a good impression on us once. On the flip side, a single lousy impression puts a person in a bad light owing to the horns effect. As a result of this bias, employees can become over-confident and complacent, and their performance can constantly fall when viewed under a Halo. On the other hand, the Horn effect will lead managers to demonize certain employees even after repeatedly displaying outstanding performance in the team. Moreover, this can cause discrimination and consequent resentment in teams. All in all, there can be several harms due to bias. You can read more on How To Avoid The Halo And Horn Effect Bias to save your workplace from the ills of biases. Handling unconscious biases in your team can be a daunting process. Moreover, the problem is more prominent when we often fall into those biases. Nonetheless, competent managers must take measures to tackle these challenges; otherwise, they continuously threaten the team’s performance. All in all, to incorporate objectivity into decision-making and planning, it is imperative for managers to overcome biases that are hiding in plain sight. The process begins with increasing awareness and culminates with concrete actions. 

Are you prepared to be a leader? Self-care, sleep deprivation, and forgiveness

The job of a leader is undoubtedly a hectic one. The list of hats to wear runs long, and so do the responsibilities. Yet, behind the tall image of a manager or a leader is an individual with the same basic needs as the rest of the world. To manage things better, you need to begin by managing yourself effectively. It is a sad reality that people often neglect their health and needs due to the pressure from work. This behavior has manifold negative repercussions.  First of all, the health of the person will deteriorate. This can include several lifestyle diseases that are increasingly becoming commonplace. Further, the impact does not limit itself to implicit disorders. One can also suffer from physiological and mental ailments.  Secondly, it is highly counterproductive. When you are overworking to achieve high efficiency and productivity, you aim to get the job done in the best manner possible. You try your best and work relentlessly for results. But, the critical question is – are you able to give your best when you are unwell? Unhealthy work habits reduce productivity and effectively create a hurdle in achieving the team’s full potential. Therefore, taking care of self and teams is extremely essential for managers. Self-care includes many things. As the name suggests, it begins with yourself. You have to look at your needs and wants. The term self-care can mean different things to different people. The key is to figure out what it means to you. To do so, you might need to get into some experimentation and introspection to discover what matters to you. This will include things that help improve your physical and mental health. However, to get the best results for your team, you will need to ensure that your team members are practicing self-care too! But before leading them, you need to begin your journey into self-care. To learn more about self-care for teams and managers, continue reading here. Apart from major ailments, our habits affect us a lot too. Therefore, it is crucial to focus on them. Incorporating healthy habits is a part of a self-care regime. We often overlook the vitality of a total of 8 hours of sleep. However, the appropriate amount of sleep can vary among people. Undoubtedly, people frequently forgo a few hours of pleasant sleep in their search for balance in hectic lives. Long work hours rob us of the time to get other things done, and we compensate by sleeping less.  However, have you ever noticed the impact of sleep deprivation? Continuous sleep deprivation over long periods harms your leadership capabilities and induces several health issues. If you are wondering whether you are sleep deprived or not – jump here to check out a few signs of sleep deprivation and get access to some simple solutions that you can adopt. Moving further, wellness is not merely about the body. The mind carries equal, if not more, importance. Our minds are affected by numerous occurrences at work and outside. However, persistent issues can wreak havoc on our mental peace. Additionally, the impact on culture in the team is harmful too. Therefore, focusing on mental peace is also necessary when caring for ourselves. Reaching the stage of mental peace may not come easy at times. You might face resistance internally too. But it is vital to generate productivity in a peaceful environment. However, there are a few obstacles to doing so. Nonetheless, as a leader or a manager, you must focus on establishing peace and harmony in the workplace. To do so, you will have to adopt the mantra of forgiveness.  Forgiveness is the act of releasing the feelings of resentment, anger, or vengeance that you may be holding against someone. Holding a grudge takes away a lot of our energy. It prevents us from collaborating freely too. Hence, adopting forgiveness is the way to go for inner peace. Read here to learn how you can create a culture of forgiveness in your workplace. Effective management begins with managing yourself and bringing out the best in you! It impacts our personal as well as professional lives. As a manager, you must take care of yourself and ensure that the team members also practice self-care. Also, you should remember to take care of your mind and body. 

Exercising control on your team: How to strike a balance?

As a manager, you have to wear multiple hats often. You can find yourself making strategic decisions on a day with the same ease with which you resolve conflicts another day. Your input is needed at multiple places, and it might be common to find yourself stretched too thin across the team. Therefore, you need to identify the parts you can control and the parts you do not need to. Out of the latter, you can delegate some to your team members and create a system of regular checks and balances. Otherwise, you can create designs that work independently.  In both cases, you will need to begin by identifying your optimum span of control. Your optimum span of control is the number of people and tasks you can manage effectively. It is the ideal amount of authority and responsibility that you should hold. Beyond this limit, the quality of management will suffer. The optimum span of control does not have a fixed criterion. The concept is subjective; therefore, your optimum span of control will depend on factors unique to you and your team. To figure this out, you can look at the 6 factors to consider for creating an optimal span of control for managers.  Once you have understood your capacities, you will need to figure out exactly how much you should manage. We know that managers have to do a lot in their teams – from coordinating to ensuring the welfare of all the stakeholders – but they cannot be practically involved in every task. The number of functions will be simply overwhelming. Moreover, the team and members need autonomy and responsibility too. They cannot function in line with clear-cut directions always. Innovation and creativity are built out of the box. Therefore, managers need to establish a balance between controlling and inspiring their teams. 

You will sometimes have to jump straight into business and direct operations minutely. However, controlling too much can be damaging! Therefore, sometimes, you need to take a light breath and let things flow. Your team will work with your implicit directions when you find ways to inspire them. A “controlling” manager brings several harms to the team. When you are in the middle of choosing between control and inspiration, you need to understand the causes and effects of both. Managers usually drift towards a strict approach when they cannot trust their team members fully. Due to the lack of trust, they fear that the employees will make mistakes. The habit of exercising authority can make one a micromanager, too, especially when they are hypercritical and set unrealistic expectations for the team. In such a scenario, micromanaging is detrimental to the team’s performance. Here are 5 reasons managers avoid micromanagement at all costs. You will find helpful tips too!

Just exercising control as a manager is neither wrong nor right. It typically depends on numerous factors. Too much control is micromanagement, which has its harms. But too much freedom to move is a sure-shot way to chaos. When teams receive only inspiration from their managers without vision and direction, they quickly go astray. Therefore, exercising control is definitely not the evil you need to fight. All you need to do is find an appropriate balance that gives your team adequate space to grow and direction to move forward. Although we paint a negative picture of control generally, it can be good sometimes. Micromanagement, which refers to extremely close supervision of employees, can be a productivity enhancer when used sporadically. Despite all the drawbacks, hand holding, usually a micromanaged approach, is a great way to get new employees started at work. There are a few other scenarios where micromanagement can be an excellent tool for managers. Read here to see some specific situations where managers can use micromanagement. 

In the end, your management style is a question of your contingencies. Either you can change them or make your way through them. You must figure out the best combination of inspiration and control that serves your team’s purpose. Remember that neither approach is always good nor bad. You will keep moving forward as long as you analyze and pick the best options possible. Be cautious not to fall into the pitfall of either overdose, and you will steer your team skillfully through highs and lows smartly.  

Trying to build Ownership in your team?

Taking Ownership of anything means that you consider it your own. It is trivial as a definition. But, when you start peeling the onion of “Ownership at work,” different layers come out. From an employee’s perspective, It’s about feeling like you have a say in what goes on and being able to make a real impact on your work. From a manager’s perspective, the team members often just don’t do what they are told to do. They apply themselves and go above and beyond what is said and written. Managers often struggle to create Ownership in their team members. Sometimes they stumble upon a naturally driven person in their team, and they think “ownership” comes naturally in an individual and can’t be built at scale in others. It is not valid. There is a lot that managers control how their teams take ownership of their work. One of the secrets to building ownership is building Accountability. Some may read Accountability as a synonym for Ownership. But it is much deeper than that. Building accountability is the start of building ownership. If you want to build accountability in your team, then read here. Just take a step back and read one of the above lines. “From an employee’s perspective, It’s about feeling like you have a say in what goes on and being able to make a real impact on your work.” Do you see the need from the employee’s perspective? It is the second step to building ownership in your teams. If you want your team members to go above and beyond what is said, you must take their input and involve them in decision-making. Often managers take data points subtly and seldom involve their teams in making decisions. In these situations, this is what your team thinks, “If you want to tell me what to do, then I will do what you want me to do.” Isn’t it? The secret to this starts from learning how to take and work with multiple perspectives in your team. There is no doubt that you will be able to consider everything your team says. But when you take multiple perspectives, they feel heard and part of the process. You can learn more about becoming good at taking multiple perspectives here. In everyday work, things will go wrong. Your team members will make mistakes when they are on this journey of making decisions in their span of control. What matters is how do you react as a manager in such situations. How do you manage your emotions and deal with failure? The way you respond will undoubtedly contribute to how your team takes Ownership. An outburst would dent any confidence they would have gained to take Ownership. At the same time, a calm demeanor with a coaching attitude will help them learn from their mistakes next time. Managing own and team’s emotions is a critical skill that managers can deploy in multiple situations. If you are interested in mastering it, then read here. Building ownership in your team is a journey. It will take time and patience. But the results are rewarding. Don’t forget that what you expect from your team, you must be a role model for it yourself. But that is another topic that we will cover in the future. PS: We would love to hear from you. If you have any feedback (good or bad) about our newsletter, send it to me. If you liked reading this edition, then don’t forget to like and share it with your colleagues and network 🙂