Career & Office

Stop Dominating the Conversation in Your Meetings

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When you’re leading a meeting, it’s tempting to hold the floor. After all, you called everyone together, right? But no one wants to go to a meeting where one person talks the whole time, and you’re unlikely to get what you need from the group if you’re delivering a monologue. 

To keep yourself in check, try three tactics. 

First, make notes and stick to them. Give yourself a time limit, and condense what you have to say into that amount of time. 

Second, send the agenda around in advance. Tell people whose opinions you respect that you are hoping they will speak up, and then call on them during the meeting. 

Third, use a round-robin format, where you go around the room and everyone has an opportunity to talk. Some people will pass, but at least they were given the chance — and didn’t have to interrupt you to get a word in.

Choose to Be Kind to Someone Who Annoys You

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When someone you work with annoys you all the time, chances are you assume the worst about them — and that mindset shows up in your behavior. But it’s important to be civil, and even compassionate, to colleagues, both because so much work is collaborative and because that coworker probably isn’t annoying you on purpose. Try to short-circuit your reactions toward them by making yourself do or say something nice.

For example, you could compliment them on an idea they raised in a meeting, or offer to help out with a project. Or say your colleague arrives late — yet again — to the weekly team standup. Don’t complain or roll your eyes, and don’t be passive-aggressive with a comment like, “Nice of you to join us.” (That may be your instinct, but fight it.) Instead, say something like, “Welcome. Grab a cup of coffee and we’ll get you up to speed.” This type of generosity of spirit is good for you and your colleague.

Practice Gracious Communication

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Most of us want to communicate with kindness, but it can be challenging to convey warmth and compassion under frustrating, stressful, or maddening circumstances. 

Three practices can help you in your day-to-day interactions, as well as big, difficult conversations. 

First, meet confrontation with grace. This means wearing a smile and exuding patience and courtesy when an employee brings you difficult news or challenges your decision-making. An open-minded tone will signal that you’re there to listen, process, and problem-solve—not to reprimand or enforce your own authority. 

Next, give credit whenever you can. Recognizing your employees and showing them gratitude will engender their enthusiasm, hard work, trust, and loyalty. 

Finally, give people space and clarity so you don’t catch them off guard. Schedule conversations in advance or ask them if it’s a good time to talk—and give them a quick preview of what you’d like to talk about. 

These kind, simple gestures will give your counterpart an opportunity to prepare, and make it clear that you’re interested in listening to their response.

Leadership – it’s mostly about making decisions and backing them…

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At the leadership level, it’s all about finding the right decision and sticking with your choices.

Don’t get swayed because of fear and pressure if you think something is right…put all your effort into it, yes, it might fail, but at least you tried. 

If your manager is a natural leader he will definitely back you up as long as your intent is good and you have put your heart and soul into making it happen.

In the end, most of the decisions will succeed only thru hard work and commitment.

Part of the Leadership Team…

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Am I part of the leadership team, yes you are. You would have heard this and considered yourself part of the leadership team..but is it for real? Or is it just for taking up more work?

If yes, no issues to take up more work…but with that should come tenancy to take bold decisions to make things successful, to execute things in the right prospectives, and to earn those aha! moments.

So think if you are part of the leadership team. Are you really?

Give Yourself Permission to Dial It Back

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You’ve heard it time and time again: overwork is bad for you. It hurts your productivity — and your health. So give yourself permission to dial it back, even just a little. Start by noticing the story you’re telling yourself about work.

For example, if you find yourself working on a weekend or responding to emails after hours, pause. Take a couple of minutes to reflect on and even write down why you’re doing this. What’s motivating you? Are you afraid of falling behind? Losing your job? Seeming uncommitted? Then ask yourself: Are these fears rooted in reality, or is it time to change the narrative?

Next, share your goal to dial it back with those you respect — a mentor, friend, or colleague who can not only hold you accountable but also give you some helpful strategies that they use to stay balanced and avoid burnout. Finally, go all-in on what matters. Take a careful look at your workload and recalibrate your schedule to spend less time on the tasks that drain you and more time on valuable responsibilities that bring you the most joy.

Give Your Self-Confidence a Boost…

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Do you have a hard time voicing your thoughts at work, even — especially — when you want to? You’re not alone. The important thing to remember is that your lack of confidence isn’t an inherent flaw. Confidence can be learned and practiced. Here are a couple of steps to help you get started.

Step 1: Connect with yourself. Take the time to understand who you are, where your motivations lie, and what makes you unique, because there’s literally no one else who will share your particular point of view. You have something important to share, no matter how obvious or uninspiring it may seem to you.

Step 2: Focus on building confident behaviors (such as speaking up in a meeting or asserting yourself when someone interrupts you). Don’t worry if that doesn’t happen overnight; any mindset shift is going to take time. So, start small and be deliberate about each effort. Don’t expect change to happen overnight. Confidence is a muscle!

You Don’t Have to Be Helpful All the Time…

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Most research shows that helping others makes us feel happy and energized. But the reality is that lending a hand to coworkers can often be exhausting, draining our cognitive and emotional resources and leaving us too tired and depleted to perform subsequent tasks. So how can you help colleagues while protecting your productivity? 

First, it’s important to recognize that, in addition to its positive effects, helping has negative effects that may persist for hours or days. 

Second, if you are feeling depleted, take actions to restore your energy: Take a break, go for a walk, or sneak in a nap. 

Lastly, give yourself permission to put off the request for help. You may not want to refuse outright (though that’s an option too) but you can agree to assist at a future and more opportune time for you, such as the end of your workday or workweek after you’ve accomplished your own goals.

Manage the Endless Stream of Email by Setting Boundaries

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One of the reasons email is so hard to manage is that sending it is easy. We can fill up each other’s inboxes by just clicking a button, so it’s important to set boundaries around email. Here are three things to try:

Use auto-replies. When you need time to focus on work, your email autoreply can tell people that you’re unavailable and when you’ll get back to them. Whether you’ll reply in a day or a week, let people know what to expect. (In the meantime, give yourself permission to ignore messages that can wait.)

Set guidelines for your team. Tell people how and when you prefer to communicate, and ask colleagues and clients about their preferences as well. Don’t forget to revisit this discussion when people join the team or new projects begin.

Lead by example. If you answer emails late at night or on weekends, you’re telling your team to do the same. Use services that allow you to schedule emails to send later. Better yet, step away from your inbox entirely.

Worried You’re in a Dead-End Career?

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Every sector is vulnerable to disruption or obsoletion. The good news is that industry-level shifts don’t happen overnight. If you anticipate that your career is on a sinking ship, here’s how you can chart a new course. 

Look for a new job. Of course, you can look for a new job. If you’re updating your resume, don’t just focus on your achievements. You should also identify all of your transferable skills. Can you bring people together to work toward a common goal? Are you good at taking abstract problem statements and turning them into an actionable game plan? Make sure your resume includes your capabilities, as well as your successes. 

Another approach is to adopt a different mindset and think about how your company could evolve. What are its biggest vulnerabilities? If you were a competitor, what would you do to steal market share? Can you capitalize on — or better yet, invent — the next trends in your industry before they capsize your company? Most industries will undergo a radical change at some point. 

Instead of lamenting what’s coming, face those changes head-on. Your career depends on it.