Monthly Archives: June 2020

Virtual Training Grows Skills Needed During COVID 19

Are your employees working from home during the COVID Pandemic?  Are any of them experiencing social isolation while juggling new tasks and procedures remotely?  Have you noticed that some members of your team seem anxious or overwhelmed?

Help your team thrive by getting them together for virtual training and team building experiences, made possible by interactive learning platforms like Zoom.

According to recent news stories, Americans are experiencing record high levels of anxiety, stress and depression as they adjust to new norms at work and home. From fears about job loss, to struggles balancing home, school and parenting (while working), more than 60% of professionals report feeling stressed.  This statistic is not surprising as the routines and norms of just a few months ago have fallen by the wayside, with no real end to the pandemic in sight.

One way to combat isolation and stress is to engage your team in collaborative and interactive training experiences where they get to share what’s going on in their work life, while also building skills to boost your business.  Using online platforms, our expert facilitators lead interactive training sessions which build camaraderie, knowledge and skills – thereby improving overall feelings of wellness and effectiveness for your team members.  Ask us about the 5 virtual training programs that are in highest demand:

  • Resilience-Thriving in Times of Change
  • Leadership Success
  • Management Success
  • Influencing For Business Results
  • Negotiating Success

Help your team create new skills and new attitudes to help them bloom, rather than wilt, in this new era of change.  Call us at 1-800-501-1245 to ask about all the virtual training options we recommend.

6 Ways to Encourage Positive Attitudes in the Workplace

Research has shown that positive work environments lead to more engaged employees, healthier work relationships, and improved productivity. Whether your team is working in the office or working from home, encouraging morale is important. Here are 6 ways supervisors and managers can promote positive attitudes in the workplace. Consider how showing gratitude, modelling positive behaviors, using positive communication, fostering relationships, encouraging teamwork and promoting balance can make the difference.  Are you wondering how to grow positive attitudes in your workplace? Consider the following suggestions to get started.

Show Gratitude
A simple “thank you” can go a long way in helping employees feel valued and appreciated. When you notice your employees going above and beyond, be conscious of showing your gratitude. Gratitude helps build trust, respect, and mutual appreciation within a team. Gratitude can include written praise, a thank you note, or even a small reward like a voucher for coffee at a local shop. Bottom line, showing gratitude makes people feel valued.

Model Positive Behavior
As a manager, it is your job to lead your team by setting a good example. If you want your employees to be positive and kind to one another, you must demonstrate that behavior yourself. Consider that everything you do and say may be held as an example of what one should do, (or what one should NOT do). Since your team will watch your behavior to learn what is acceptable, be sure and set a positive example.

Use Positive Communication
Knowing that communication has a strong impact you’ll want to consider your message, tone and overall impact. Positive messaging means communicating in a constructive way that motivates and encourages your employees. Your communication should be professional, clear, encouraging, and empowering. Positive communication will always make more of an impact especially if it is authentic and genuine.

Foster Healthy Relationships
Healthy work relationships are essential for a positive work environment. Find ways to connect with your colleagues by smiling, asking about their families, offering support and advice for work-related projects, treating them with respect, and being understanding of personal needs. It is important to find a healthy balance between being warm and personable, but maintaining a professional connection.

Encourage Teamwork
Managers should encourage teamwork along with collaboration. This is vital to creating a positive work environment. Managers need to take the time to promote activities that include communication, partnering and working together on projects. Furthermore, they should look for opportunities to provide social interaction such as coffee mornings, team lunches, family picnics, and team building activities. This gives employees an opportunity to build meaningful relationships with their colleagues.

Promote Balance
Another way to encourage positive outcomes in the workplace is to encourage a healthy work-life balance. Working too much can be draining and can leave employees feeling burnt out. Aim to give employees a reasonable workload and get resources or additional supports as needed. Knowing that most people feel good with time off, and a sense of accomplishment, help your team schedule vacation and time off on a regular basis so they are rested when they return to work.

To sum it all up, by using all six of the strategies above, managers can help boost morale in their team members leading to a more productive workplace.

Top Skills Needed for Working Remotely

Are you working from home more now than ever before?  Have you noticed a difference in how you need to organize your day to stay motivated?  Now that the newness is over, are you getting bored with your remote working arrangements?

Working from home demands different skills than working in a busy office.  While it can provide a quiet sanctuary conducive to completing tasks efficiently,  it can also take away some of the stimuli that helped us get our jobs done.  If you expect to be working remotely for a while, it’s helpful to brush up on three key skills that will help you excel from the home office such as Communicating, Influencing Others and Completing Tasks.

Communicating

It goes without saying, that it was easier to call across the office to your co-workers, or bump elbows at the coffee station when you worked onsite at the office.  Now that you are working remotely, it takes more effort to reach out and communicate with your colleagues.  However, communication with colleagues can pay off  by offering teamwork and collaboration that can boost your mood and your project’s success simultaneously, depending on the communication medium you choose.

Have you ever noticed that your go-to communication technique is email?  While email or texts are quick, they often leave something to be desired including the tone and back and forth of good communication.  Try picking up the phone more often to talk to a colleague, or plan a Zoom conversation so you can interact and see each other’s facial expression.  For it’s not just communication most of us are after; it’s connection, collaboration and teamwork too.

Influencing Others

Now that you’re working remotely, can you see how building your Influence Skills could be advantageous?   Influence helps you to position ideas and choices in a way that will help your listener draw logical conclusions and lean in the direction of certain actions.  Did you know that there are 6 Principles of Ethical Influence that you can bring to your conversations and communications?   Ask us about our interactive virtual training program Influencing For Business Results to learn how these principles can help you be more effective in your job.

Completing Tasks

While working remotely can bring advantages, we definitely miss out on some of the office stimuli that helped us feel good about our contributions.  It’s easy to get bored or loose interest in tasks that don’t seem to be part of a larger picture.  If you notice any of those negative feelings, try to see how your tasks fit together to accomplish a larger goal.  Break a project down into bite-sized tasks and plot them on a check-list so you can check them off one by one.  Celebrate tasks have been completed on a daily basis and make sure that you mark the completion of projects with a special event or treat.  Whether it’s having a virtual coffee break with a colleague, or going for a walk outside, celebrating your accomplishments helps you gain a sense of satisfaction even when working remotely.  Consider also the use of whiteboard, zoom team meetings, and old fashioned bulletin boards in your home office to help you see how your progress on small tasks is getting you where you need to go.

Summary

Working remotely brings a host of different challenges when compared to working in the office.  Brushing up on the three skills of Communicating, Influencing Others, and Completing Tasks will help you thrive in this new environment for months to come.