Improving Meetings, Morale, and More
January 4, 2017 | Posted in Leading Hartfully, Living Hartfully | By Gaia Hart
Seems we can’t get away without having meetings. Communication is a key element to empowered workplaces and effective employee morale. But it seems that so many get it wrong when it comes to hosting meetings. What is up with that? To help pump up the effectiveness of meetings; I share the following tips.
If your meetings are becoming stale, try www.effectivemeetings.com with lots of tidbits for running terrific meetings.
Improve your all-employee meetings
- Draw on the experience of top performers and celebrate the successes of others – have them share their stories.
- Work actively with professional speakers to familiarize them with your organization.
- Encourage informal interaction with round tables and allow for socializing activities.
- If you are presenting awards: staff should participate in the selection of rewards.
- Employers should reward measurable activities or a point system.
- Offer reward that have some brag value – offering cash may be fleeting.
- Recognize employees who talk up the company and spread good words.
Improve morale with the five R’s
- Rewards: check competitor’s salaries, perks, and benefits packages and exceed it or get more creative to retain top talent.
- Room to grow: offer a chance to grow professionally and personally and advance skills through a mentoring program, promotions, and training.
- Recognition: Practice regular formal and informal praise and appreciation. Generation X and the incoming Millennials are used to getting feedback every 60 seconds with computer games and expect to know where they stand and get noticed for it. We tend to get antsy just waiting for our computers to download and that’s only 22 seconds. An annual appraisal won’t cut it.
- Respect: Make a determined effort to listen with an open mind and show genuine respect to avoid the “Because I’m the boss” attitude.
- Reasonable Workloads: Productivity will decline if workers are expected to produce 110% all the time. People need time to renew and refresh to avoid burnout and especially since September 11th, we need to understand that there will be a general defocus in work and productivity. Offer flexible work schedules, job sharing, telecommuting, and compressed workweeks.
&: Think About all That the World Has to Offer, and, and, and…
December 19, 2016 | Posted in Living Hartfully | By Gaia Hart
There is so much out there to do and learn and see and experience. How can anybody be bored for one second? It can be overwhelming at times, but it is all ours for the taking if we choose to become participants instead of spectators. Live as a lifelong learner and you will never be bored. Keep opening your mind to new experiences and accept the stimulation of change and challenges to keep your energy flowing, your neurons firing, and your brain expanding. If you don’t use it, you’ll lose it – so start exploring and discovering.
Check out books, surf the Internet, take adult education classes, attend seminars and conferences, participate in recreation programs, and travel to local or exotic destinations to expand your horizons. Keep growing your dendrites in your brain to keep yourself vital by continuously flexing that muscle in your head by doing crossword puzzles, reading, painting, and other activities that keep you moving and thinking and trying new things. Boredom is a state of mind and drains our energy quickly. Decide to be a discoverer and get curious about the world to defend against energy drainage.
Freedom from Fatigue
December 4, 2016 | Posted in Leading Hartfully, Living Hartfully | By Gaia Hart
We’re a nation of over-doers, over-schedulers, and over-achievers which makes us fatigued both emotionally and physically. I offer some ideas from past clients on how they fight fatigue in the workplace along with my personal experience and research in fighting personal fatigue. Read on to help energize yourself and your workplace.
- SAS of Carey North Carolina, a privately held software company with a turnover rate a fraction of that of its competitors. They offer free amenities on their park-like campus including a health club, medical care, M & M’s every Wednesday, a chance to have lunch with their kids at the subsidized childcare center, and subsidized country club memberships to the company-owned golf course. They have also arranged for local businesses to bring their services on campus such as dry cleaning and car detailing to save worker’s energy, effort, and downtime from work running errands. They know that if workers are being taken care of and are happy, then they won’t feel fatigue, and will take care of the customers and that will make the owner as well as the customers happy. It’s all about removing the everyday irritants and obstacles to living a balanced life so workers can focus on their work without extra stresses of running errands and juggling life priorities.
- I asked one of my clients, trucking industry executives, what they did to energize their workplace and here are some of their answers:
- Have a spring bonnet contest with each department entering one bonnet to be modeled by one of their team members. Judges for this Alabama company selected the one with a live chicken on it as the winner. The gentleman in the audience declared that his bonnet would have won if he had known the use of livestock was allowed.
- One Fedex exec goes out on the floor and sings happy birthday to each person on their special day and he also sends candy bars with notes attached for those doing a great job.
- Another Fedex manager has found that asking his customers to supersize their order (similar to the fast food industry) is helpful as a recovery strategy. When following up with a customer whose package went astray, the liaison asks for another chance to do an even better job and it has resulted in tens of thousands of extra income – just by asking them to supersize their order.
- A Hilton Generational Time Survey of 1220 adults asked Americans how they felt about their lives:
- Need more fun – 68%
- Need a long vacation – 67%
- Often feel stressed – 66%
- Feel time is crunched – 60%
- Want less work, more play – 51%
- Feel pressured to succeed – 49%
- Feel overwhelmed – 48%
- When we look at these statistics, it seems even more important to evaluate how our workplaces are helping our employees balance their personal and professional lives and to make it easier for them to do the job we pay them to do.
- Seven Kinds of Tired:
- tossing and turning tired – not enough sleep
- everybody-but-you tired – overdoing it, too busy
- ditching-your-diet tired – skipping meals, overeating, unhealthy choices
- allergy tired – worn out seasonally, watery eyes
- hard-times tired – troubled home, lost your job
- under-the-weather tired – listless and groggy
- exercise-overdose tired – always on the go, overactive and stressed to fit your fitness in
That are you doing to fight fatigue at work? What are you doing to energize your personal life and your physical self? Take steps now to enjoy freedom from fatigue – you’ll be happier in the long haul.
#: You are More Than Your Number
November 19, 2016 | Posted in Living Hartfully | By Gaia Hart
We seem to be judged by our #s: our zip code, weight, age, cholesterol, body fat %, net worth, IQ, # of people we supervise, and if we have a cell phone #, pager #, or toll-free #. Our level of contentment and personal energy seems to fluctuate with what we believe to be the acceptable standard number. Your size, score, or worth are just #’s.
Focus your positive energy on being the best person you can be with what you have right now. Live larger than life and make adjustments as you see fit while you celebrate what you have, who you are, and what you can do outside of your assigned #’s.
Creating a feeling of safety and security in our lives relieves us from some of the stress and anxiety about our future or whatever #’s we “should” have in our lives. When we experience safety and security at home, we can renew and recharge to prepare us to go out in to the world. Once we are secure enough with our own #’s, be it bank accounts, income, weight, investment accounts, or house size, we can move forward with a stronger sense of ourselves and be more secure with who we are.
Creating a safe type of environment at work and at home frees us to focus more on experiences that will move us towards self actualization. We can have a physically safe place or an emotionally safe place and both types of safety are needed in order to feel fully secure with our environment and grow within it.
When we worry about our foundational needs such as food, clothing, shelter, safety, and security, we cannot readily move forward with an unencumbered and unburdened hearts. Once we have our basic needs fulfilled, we are open to reaching for new heights without the real need to worry about the #’s that are not as critical to our survival. Embrace all that you are and all that you have and know that you are so much more than your #’s.
Your Housekeeping and Hard-Work Habits Are Telling Your Story
November 4, 2016 | Posted in Leading Hartfully, Living Hartfully | By Gaia Hart
All work and no play make Americans sick according to a study of 632 people by Oxford Health Plans that found 1 in 5 workers can’t use up annual vacation time because their jobs are so demanding. 33% never leave their offices once they arrive at work and that same number work and eat their lunch simultaneously and the pace of work is so relentless that 34% say they never have downtime. Taking a vacation for creative renewal is essential to staying healthy and productive, although the US gives the least vacation time among the industrial nations. (US – 13 days vs. Italy – 42 days).
Your work space may be telling on you. An IOGEAR survey found that 73% of respondents said their impressions of colleagues were influenced by the way their desks were organized and 70% said a messy desk was perceived as less career driven.
Although I advocate some executive toys and stress-busting items, there needs to be appropriate balance to alleviate the perception that you may not be a team player. On the other hand, a desk strewn with fast food wrappers and old coffee cups may denote an unbalanced workaholic. Visit these sites or stores for great organizing ideas for your home or office:
The Container Store
Pier 1 Imports
Target
Other tips from the world of Feng Shui to help improve your space and your energy:
- Tired of being tired – sweep away eyesores to release energy. Every messy pile has a negative force field around it that draws energy and deleting the clutter releases the energy.
- Down in the dumps – lift items off the floor to feel happier since low-lying items attract low, sad energy. Find a higher space to store things to elevate your mood.
- Slim down with less stuff – subconsciously we may be holding onto stuff the same as we are holding onto our extra weight – to protect ourselves and feel less emotionally vulnerable. Try shedding some outdated sentimental items that were once treasured and are now clutter.
Underline: Underline Your Principles and Stand by Your Values
October 19, 2016 | Posted in Leading Hartfully, Living Hartfully | By Gaia Hart
Defining your boundaries makes it easier to turn down unwanted offers or requests on your time that are not in alignment with your clearly defined values and principles. Stick by your guns to keep you from wavering and accepting anything that is incompatible with your standards. Doing so gives you the energy to follow through with your plan congruent with your stance.
One in four workers in America have an anxiety-related illness such as stress or high blood pressure, and the sales of antacids, pain killers, and anti-depressants is at an all time high. These signs of the times represent a workforce and a nation out of alignment. Is your body telling you that something is out of alignment in your life?
Take a close look at your work life and personal life and decide if you are acting with congruence. Monitor your body signals and heed the warning signs when it is telling you something is out of kilter. Be rock solid in your principles and your values and make sure that what you do when nobody is looking is what you really stand for – that’s called integrity and that will keep you from the energy drain of covering your tracks or operating below the proverbial line.
Hone in on the goodness of your values dear to your heart and be true to them. Ensure that your work is in alignment with your values in order to avoid energy-sapping stress. Living in congruence with your deeply held beliefs is enlightening and keeps you authentic to your mission here on Earth.
As we grow, our values may shift priorities – be aware of what you value and why, to give you more guidance in your daily choices. Once you truly know your values, it is much easier to say no to requests on your time, which do not correlate to your beliefs.
^: Reach for Your Peak
September 19, 2016 | Posted in Leading Hartfully, Living Hartfully | By Gaia Hart
Set high standards for yourself and stretch your limits. Set short term and easy peaks as well as long term and higher peaks to build on your successes, build your self confidence and build your energy to gain momentum for the big stuff. Reach for the outer limits and rejoice when you accomplish what you formerly thought impossible.
Author and artist Susan Kennedy, a.k.a. SARK, says “impossible” means “I’m possible!”. Peak performers take care of themselves through body, mind, and spirit to ensure they can meet their challenges. Acquire solid, healthy habits to help you attain your peak: restful sleep, nutritionally balanced eating, exercise, emotionally stable relationships, and following your passion.
If you do not have a healthy balance in your personal life, there is no way to be a peak performer in your professional life. Get organized, get your act together, get goals, get support, and get going to reach your peak.
>: Believe in a Power Greater Than You – Whatever/Whoever It Is
July 19, 2016 | Posted in Leading Hartfully, Living Hartfully | By Gaia Hart
Mother Nature, Buddha, Jehovah, Jesus, Mohammed, Allah, God, or the goodness in life – whatever it is that gives you strength to carry on and follow the golden rule, most experts now believe that participating in a religious activity lowers your response to stress and is good for your health.
It doesn’t necessarily mean going to temple or church, it can also mean taking a walk in the woods or being silent on a beach, just doing something that feeds your soul helps you reap the benefits. It may be the social contact of gathering with other worshippers or it may be the meditative quality of a religious and spiritual experience that relaxes our bodies and minds. Whatever it is, your belief carries great strength and energy. With it, you see the big picture and all the wonder that is outside of yourself.
Don’t be afraid to ask your deity of choice for more energy to handle your life. When we expect more, we receive more, and we do more. Believe in yourself and believe in something greater than yourself and believe that you deserve all the goodness that comes to you to help build up your energy. Using meditation or prayer to put yourself in a relaxed, meditative state in peaceful surroundings for at least 15-20 minutes at a time is an effective means for recharging and overcoming fatigue.
Stilling your mind and your body helps to bring clarity and calmness to your life. Assuming a “de-stress” position during meditation increases the benefits while you slowly and deeply inhale through your nose and exhale through your mouth using your diaphragm to move the air in and out. Lie on your back with your feet and legs resting on a chair seat or bed, and with your calves at a 90 degree angle to your thighs. This position promotes blood flow to the brain and allows your neck, shoulders, and back to relax and release the fatigue. If you are in a space that won’t allow this position, at least get in a comfortable chair in a quiet place to help you wind down and stop the spinning world for a few minutes.
Prayer can also be implemented during this quiet time to help you gain perspective and gain some guidance on your life circumstances. The power of prayer has been around for eons – why not put it to work for you? Taking the time out just to be quiet and listen to your body and your mind or maybe your higher power, helps us recharge and regain our balance.