Jai's Blog

Referred Link - https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/creating-successful-relationships-colin-shaw?trk=pulse-det-nav_art

Over the years, I realized relationships in business mean everything. Whether it’s a new employer or a new Customer, the beginning of a relationship sets the standards for how the two of you will interact moving forward. With so much riding on this new relationship, it’s important that you are clear and detailed about these standards.

To that end here are 8 important tips regarding establishment of the parameters for a new business relationship:

Tip #1: Be yourself.

Too many people try to be something they aren’t. They try to be too clever or too much fun. I learned over the years people can see through it when you are putting on an act.

Tip #2: Do as you would be done by.

My mum taught me this. Treating others as you want to be treated is the first and foremost concept that applies to all relationships, business or otherwise. In a business relationship, it means you treat your contact as you would like them to treat you.

Tip #3: Be sure to give positive reinforcement to behaviors you prefer.

Many studies have shown the best way to get more of the behavior you like is to acknowledge it with positive reinforcement. Rather than blasting a subordinate, co-worker, or client with criticism when they cross you, you should instead compliment the behavior you like.

In addition to remembering to acknowledge it, be sure that you give the positive reinforcement in the moment or directly after the incident. The happy feelings associated with the exchange are likely to make a better impression in their mind, improving your chances that you will enjoy the behavior again. For example, to the employee who presented both a problem and solution with an account: “I like how you came in with a proposed solution for that problem we had with the account. It makes my job easier when I have solutions presented to me instead of just problems.”

This does not mean, however, negative feedback is never warranted. It is important to also acknowledge the problems when they occur. When you do this, however, be sure to focus on the “the behavior” and not the individual. If you attack the person instead of the behavior, you can damage the business relationship.

For example, when a Customer emails your manager about a shipping problem instead of you, you might say something like, “When emails go to my manager about shipping problems first, there is a delay before I hear about it making it take longer to fix the problem. Can you please email me directly with those complaints?“

Tip #4: Be realistic about what you expect from people.

You can’t expect a new employee, co-worker or Customer to know all the rules in the first week, and in some cases, even in the first month. You must give them time to adjust to the new system and take in the feedback they receive. If you are consistent with positive reinforcement, it will work. Don’t give up too soon.

In addition, they might have expectations as well. Be open to what they bring to the table, as it might be a great way of doing things you hadn’t considered. I always tell my team, “None of us is as clever as all of us.”

Tip #5: Be Honest.

Don’t lie. I don’t need to say any more.

Tip #6: Accept the fact you will argue.

Relationships are not always smooth sailing. Conflict resolution is all part of building a relationship. Accept the fact you will argue, but when you do make it short lived. If you are in the wrong, apologize. Discuss what caused the argument and work out how to avoid it for the future.

Tip #7: Make time for the person.

Always make time to just chat to the person. Do this without any ulterior motive.

Tip #8: Help them when they need it.

If they need help. Help them. Don’t think, “What's in it for me?” It’s the times like this my mum would say, “You know who your friends are.” It’s funny when I have experienced hard times, the people I thought were my friends and I had a relationship with faded into the background and other people came to the fore. This is a great test of a relationship.

Referred Link - https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/i-quit-getting-fired-from-my-first-job-taught-me-how-resign-webb?trk=pulse-det-nav_art

Getting Fired from My First Job Taught Me How to Resign from the Rest

I got fired from my very first job. It was an evening job cleaning toilets at Mr. Donut. I was in junior high school. Maybe it doesn’t sound like such a great gig, but they said I could eat all the donuts I wanted. Being 13 years old and having a growing boy’s appetite, that was more incentive than I needed. I thought I was doing a decent job, but my bosses said I didn’t clean that well. They also said that I was eating way too many donuts.

After that, I learned that I had to aim higher in every task that I accepted. I never got fired again. Sure, I’ve had to resign from a few jobs, but over the years I’ve gotten pretty good at leaving on good terms. I’ve also seen the way others handle leaving on their own terms, and have learned from them as well.

Seven ways to leave with grace:

First, take a step back and assess your situation. Is it possible for you to get the career fulfillment you are looking for from the company you are with? If you can, fabulous, you’ll want to go as far as you can at every place you work. Make sure that your boss or the executives you report to know what your career goals and hopes are. That way, they can help you get there, and there is no surprise if you decide to leave to chase those dreams if you can’t reach them where you are.
The most talented people will have many options available to them. It's best not to formally accept a new job before talking about it with your current employer. I would always say, “This looks good, but I’ll need more time to formally accept this as I owe my employer the chance to tell them.” Sure, there is a risk they can rescind the offer, but it’s unlikely. Do this because it is the right thing to do; it’s a wonderful thing to give your employer a chance to discuss this with you. Do not use this as a way to nickel-and-dime anyone in the final negotiations. That leaves people cold — and they remember it.
Don’t only think about the future; also stay focused on the present. Work to ensure a smooth transition. Give everyone adequate time to prepare for your departure. Often times 2 weeks is not enough notice. Senior roles require 3-4 weeks.
Always keep the door open and offer your replacement or former team the opportunity to reach out if they need help. If it is welcomed, check in with new person once a week until you are not needed anymore.
Always act gracious and professional. People have long memories. Reference checks never go the way you expect. Of course people do background checks to ensure you are not a convicted criminal and they will hopefully call the 3-4 references you list, but they will also use backchannel references. I get calls several times a month about people who haven’t listed me as references. I won’t talk unless someone authorizes me to, but not everyone has this policy.
Leave the door open. You never know how things are going to work out, and many companies will take people back. At Yahoo, we call people who return "boomerangs," and we track this phenomenon and are very happy about their return. We’ve even created several engagement platforms that help our HR department stay in touch with them.

7. Don’t let anyone make you feel disloyal. If your company is Neanderthal in its thinking, managing by fear, and trying to make you feel guilty for leaving, you shouldn’t be there anyway. Do a great job while you finish out your time and feel good about moving on!

Referred Link - https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/12-things-successful-people-never-reveal-work-dr-travis-bradberry?trk=pulse-det-nav_art

12 Things Successful People NEVER Reveal About Themselves At Work

You can’t build a strong professional network if you don’t open up to your colleagues; but doing so is tricky, because revealing the wrong things can have a devastating effect on your career.

Sharing the right aspects of yourself in the right ways is an art form. Disclosures that feel like relationship builders in the moment can wind up as obvious no-nos with hindsight.

The trick is to catch yourself before you cross that line, because once you share something, there is no going back.

TalentSmart has tested more than a million people and found that the upper echelons of top performance are filled with people who are high in emotional intelligence (90% of top performers, to be exact). Emotionally intelligent people are adept at reading others, and this shows them what they should and shouldn't reveal about themselves at work.

The following list contains the 12 most common things people reveal that send their careers careening in the wrong direction.

1. That They Hate Their Job

The last thing anyone wants to hear at work is someone complaining about how much they hate their job. Doing so labels you as a negative person, who is not a team player. This brings down the morale of the group. Bosses are quick to catch on to naysayers who drag down morale, and they know that there are always enthusiastic replacements waiting just around the corner.

2. That They Think Someone Is Incompetent

There will always be incompetent people in any workplace, and chances are that everyone knows who they are. If you don’t have the power to help them improve or to fire them, then you have nothing to gain by broadcasting their ineptitude. Announcing your colleague’s incompetence comes across as an insecure attempt to make you look better. Your callousness will inevitably come back to haunt you in the form of your coworkers’ negative opinions of you.

3. How Much Money They Make

Your parents may love to hear all about how much you’re pulling in each month, but in the workplace, this only breeds negativity. It’s impossible to allocate salaries with perfect fairness, and revealing yours gives your coworkers a direct measure of comparison. As soon as everyone knows how much you make, everything you do at work is considered against your income. It’s tempting to swap salary figures with a buddy out of curiosity, but the moment you do, you’ll never see each other the same way again.

4. Their Political and Religious Beliefs

People’s political and religious beliefs are too closely tied to their identities to be discussed without incident at work. Disagreeing with someone else’s views can quickly alter their otherwise strong perception of you. Confronting someone’s core values is one of the most insulting things you can do.

Granted, different people treat politics and religion differently, but asserting your values can alienate some people as quickly as it intrigues others. Even bringing up a hot-button world event without asserting a strong opinion can lead to conflict.

People build their lives around their ideals and beliefs, and giving them your two cents is risky. Be willing to listen to others without inputting anything on your end because all it takes is a disapproving look to start a conflict. Political opinions and religious beliefs are so deeply ingrained in people, that challenging their views is more likely to get you judged than to change their mind.

5. What They Do on Facebook

The last thing your boss wants to see when she logs on to her Facebook account is photos of you taking tequila shots in Tijuana. There are just too many ways you can look inappropriate on Facebook and leave a bad impression. It could be what you’re wearing, who you’re with, what you’re doing, or even your friends’ commentary. These are the little things that can cast a shadow of doubt in your boss’s or colleagues’ minds just when they are about to hand you a big assignment or recommend you for a promotion.

It’s too difficult to try to censure yourself on Facebook for your colleagues. Save yourself the trouble, and don’t friend them there. Let LinkedIn be your professional “social” network, and save Facebook for everybody else.

6. What They Do in the Bedroom

Whether your sex life is out of this world or lacking entirely, this information has no place at work. Such comments might get a chuckle from some people, but it makes most uncomfortable, and even offended. Crossing this line will instantly give you a bad reputation.

7. What They Think Someone Else Does in the Bedroom

A good 111% of the people you work with do not want to know that you bet they’re tigers in the sack. There’s no more surefire way to creep someone out than to let them know that thoughts of their love life have entered your brain. Anything from speculating on a colleague’s sexual orientation to making a relatively indirect comment like, “Oh, to be a newlywed again,” plants a permanent seed in the brains of all who hear it that casts you in a negative light.

Your thoughts are your own. Think whatever you feel is right about people; just keep it to yourself.

8. That They're After Somebody Else’s Job

Announcing your ambitions at work when they are in direct conflict with other people’s interests comes across as selfish and indifferent to those you work with and the company as a whole. Great employees want the whole team to succeed, not just themselves. Regardless of your actual motives (some of us really do just work for the money), announcing your selfish goal will not help you get there.

9. How Wild They Used To Be in College

Your past can say a lot about you. Just because you did something outlandish or stupid 20 years ago doesn’t mean that people will believe you’ve developed impeccable judgment since then. Some behavior that might qualify as just another day in the typical fraternity (binge drinking, minor theft, drunk driving, abusing people or farm animals, and so on) shows everyone you work with that, when push comes to shove, you have poor judgment and don’t know where to draw the line. Many presidents have been elected in spite of their past indiscretions, but unless you have a team of handlers and PR types protecting and spinning your image, you should keep your unsavory past to yourself.

10. How Intoxicated They Like to Get

You might think talking about how inebriated you were over the weekend has no effect on how you’re viewed at work. After all, if you’re a good worker, then you’re a good worker, right? Unfortunately not. Sharing this will not get people to think you’re fun. Instead, they will see you as unpredictable, immature, and lacking in good judgment. Too many people have negative views of drugs and alcohol for you to reveal how much you love to indulge in them.

11. An Offensive Joke

If there’s one thing we can learn from celebrities, it’s to be careful about what you say and whom you say it to. Offensive jokes make other people feel terrible, and they make you look terrible. They also happen to be much less funny than clever jokes.

A joke crosses the line anytime you try to gauge its appropriateness based on how close you are with someone. If there is anyone who would be offended by your joke, you are better off not telling it. You never know whom people know or what experiences they’ve had in life that can lead your joke to tread on subjects that they take very seriously.

12. That They Are Job Hunting

When I was a kid, I told my baseball coach I was quitting in two weeks. For the next two weeks, I found myself riding the bench. It got even worse after those two weeks when I decided to stay, and I became “the kid who doesn’t even want to be here.” I was crushed, but it was my own fault; I told him my decision before it was certain.

The same thing happens when you tell people that you’re job hunting. Once you reveal that you’re planning to leave, you suddenly become a waste of everyone’s time. There’s also the chance that your hunt will be unsuccessful, so it’s best to wait until you’ve found a job before you tell anyone. Otherwise, you will end up riding the bench.

Bringing It All Together

Let me know what you think of this list. Do you disagree with any of these items? Did I miss any? Please share your thoughts in the comments section below, as I learn just as much from you as you do from me.

Referred Link - https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/10-unforgivable-excuses-made-horrible-bosses-jeff-haden?trk=pulse-det-nav_art

Does your boss have excuses -- or more likely "reasons" -- for not being a better leader?

See if you recognize any of these:

1. "I'm under tremendous pressure."

Of course you are. Join the leadership club. Every boss is stuck in between, with employees the "rock," and customers, vendors, investors, etc, the "hard place."

If demands seem overwhelming and pull you too far away from your team, get your employees more involved in your projects and responsibilities.

They'll be glad to help, especially if they gain skills and exposure in the process.

2. "I don't get paid enough to deal with this."

You're right. Great leaders are chronically under-compensated and under-appreciated, and that will probably never change.

But great employers see the satisfaction they gain from praising, developing, mentoring, and helping employees reach their goals as a part of their total compensation package.

If you don't see it that way, rethink whether you want to lead people; otherwise you'll always be unsatisfied.

3. "My employees work better when I leave them alone."

If that's true, it means you're the problem.

Great employees don't need (or want) to be told what to do, but they do need to hear they do a great job -- it will help them learn about new directions or strategies. Everyone likes some amount of attention.

Just make sure the attention you give makes a positive impact.

4. "This process was created by someone who doesn't have to implement it."

Often true. For example, many human resources specialists have never worked in a shop-floor leadership role, but that doesn't mean certain initiatives are not worthwhile.

You may not like creating development plans, but don't just go through the motions. Work hard to make sure your plans actually develop your employees. And if you don't like a policy or guideline, don't ignore it; work to make it better.

It's every boss's responsibility to make sure company policies protect and promote employee interests to the greatest extent possible.

5. "I can't deal with all the politics."

Company politics can be a factor even for a business owner (theoretically) in total command of the operation.

Tough. If the culture is bad, fix it. If politics keep people from doing their jobs or performing as well as they could, fix those issues.

Your job is taking care of any problems that make it hard for your employees to do their best.

So do your job.

6. "If she gets too much credit, I'll look bad."

Don't be afraid your employees might outshine you. Your goal is to have employees outshine you.

Great leaders surround themselves with outstanding talent. That's how they become great leaders.

The better your team, and the individuals that make up your team, the better you look.

7. "I shouldn't need to praise people for doing their jobs."

Yes, you should. Praising employees is the courteous thing to do and, from a performance point of view, praise reinforces positive behaviors and makes it much more likely those behaviors will occur in the future.

By all means, expect your employees to do their jobs, but praise them when they do -- because that's your job.

8. "Well, that's how I was trained."

Do you train employees by tossing them into the fire simply because that's how you were once treated? Whenever you feel something was "good enough for me," realize that it isn't good enough for your employees.

Determine the best way to train and develop employees and then make it happen. Any bad experiences you had should shape a more positive approach, not serve as a blueprint.

9. "I need to spend some time with employees … so hey, I'll go talk to Mike."

You need to get to know employees on a personal level, but do you typically gravitate toward the employees with whom you share common interests?

Every employee deserves your attention and respect. Take an interest. Ask questions. Find a common interest -- even if that common interest is simply trying to help them reach their own career and personal goals.

When you make a sincere effort, they'll make it easy for you. People naturally appreciate people who are interested in them.

10. "Why waste my time? I know he doesn't like me."

Few things are more awkward than working with, or even just talking to, employees who you feel don't like you.

Reach out and clear the air. Say, "Mike, I don't feel our working relationship is as positive as it could be … and I'm sure that's my fault. I really want to make it better."

Then let Mike vent. Sure, you may not like hearing what he says, but once you do, you'll know how to make the situation better.

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