Tips & Insights for Top Performance » Work Environment

When my work feels stressful, what can I do to keep myself calm?

admin — Fri, 12 Aug 2011 19:07:38 +0000

• Yoga. One year the place where I worked offered lunchtime yoga. It was held several times a week and was one of the best things I did for myself. The deep breathing of yoga and the stretching calms and relaxes your body. I found myself to be slower to frustration, more alert and had an overall increase in health and flexibility. It serves to be effective and helpful for men and women the same.

• Exercise. Along the same lines as yoga, but more expansive, is general fitness time. Ideally 30 minutes a day will help to release tension and stress from your body and increase your overall energy. When you work out you tend to be mentally sharper, more alert and able to focus. This allows you to get your work done faster and better and therefore remove pressures on you that contribute to stress. The ability to manage your frustration and stay calm is helped with prioritizing regular work outs. Many people find it hard to find the time… so you can challenge yourself by parking farthest out in the parking lot, taking the stairs vs. the elevator, etc. It is hard, but start with 10 minutes a day … there are some great 10 minute work outs to get you in the routine.

• Mental perspective. Consider your perspective. Are you caught in blaming, judging, demanding, etc.? In leadership the posture of “the buck stops here” is an effective way to shift to solutions vs. passing blame. If you look at the situation, focus on the opportunity or personal challenge, it will help you to master it and get through it faster.

• Environment. Keep relaxing things in your environment. Candles, soft music, relaxing pictures, soft colors, lavender diffuser, etc.

• Count. The basic “count to 10” can be useful. Sometimes you are so frustrated you say something you regret. A hurtful word can be forgiven, but the “mark” of the word said is always there.

• Fresh air. If things are stressful, go outside. I even do this at my home office. When I feel in a rut, stressed or challenged, I take a 10 minute break and go outside and sit on our front porch rocking chairs (there is something therapeutic about rocking too). A little change of scenery can help.

What would help you? Think about what things help you relax and integrate those in your space so you are prepared the next time you are feeling a little exasperated!

Christy Geiger, Executive Business Coach & Trainer, Minneapolis, MN

When my work environment feels stressful, what can I do to relax me?

admin — Fri, 15 Jul 2011 18:42:21 +0000

If you have a cluttered, boring or uninspired work environment it makes it more difficult to be there.

1) Set your “stage” for work. What inspires you, what relaxes you, what brings you joy? Decorate your office with some “art”… some people put motivational quotes or passages, pictures of family, certificates of achievement, photos of their WHY (i.e. working hard to save for retirement at the beach), etc. Having these inspirational pieces make your office more enjoyable to be at and help you to relax. Music, smells (i.e. candles), sounds (i.e. fountains) can also help to make a more relaxing environment. Think about the most relaxing place you enjoy going and try to bring in a few of those attributes to your office space.

2) Keep your office space neat and organized. While some people believe they work better in their piles, it has been studied and proven that piles create more stress, take more of your time looking for things and result in reduced productivity. All of this is related to stress. When you can get things done efficiently, not only do you work at a high performance level but you finish your work quicker. So keeping your office neat and organized will get you out of there sooner and reduce your stress while you are in it.

3) Cluttered space is a combination of the two challenges above. It is important to ‘weed” through your stuff and get rid of things. In today’s digital world with a good computer file system and a strong back up system, you can reduce the paper you have. There is a book on Feng Shi and Clutter that tells the cost of clutter in your office and home… just saving things that can be recycled requires you to have more space, more heating/sq. ft. expense, etc. Clutter can make you feel like you have more to do and make it more difficult for you to “finish” tasks as you get distracted with clutter that you touch trying to complete a task. It is a great practice to at least ONCE a year empty your office and sort as you put it back, returning only things that are needed.

Christy Geiger, Executive Business Coach & Trainer, Minneapolis, MN

Healthy Summer Balance

admin — Fri, 24 Jun 2011 19:34:40 +0000

As summer gets going – it can be a challenge to balance the on-going demands of work and the pulls of kids, family and warm weather calling you to summer activities.
Here are 4 or 5 tips on how to have a healthy work/life balance this summer:
• Have a FROG time in the AM – which is a one hour, power hour that you do the important things that otherwise get forgotten as you attend to urgent matters. The FROG time helps you feel more prepared, more focused and more on top of your game so you can have a productive work day and then get on with some summer fun!
• Make sure to take at least ONE full day off – no work. It allows your brain to shut off and really recharge. This is very important. Resist the urge to crawl back to your computer/office!
• Enlist some help. There are often a few tasks you can delegate or outsource. If you don’t have money to pay someone, consider other methods – i.e. can you barter or find a summer intern? Get some support to get on top of your work (summer projects).
• Set work hours. If summer means shorter work hours or an extra day off, plan for it and set summer hours. It will help you plan and work efficiently in the time you have rather than working hard and then leaving something important left undone.
• Have a summer game plan. What do you NEED and WANT to get done this summer? Do a brain dump of everything that is a priority this summer and draft out which projects you could do each week.
Summer is a great time to recharge and have fun. You can do both if you have focus and a plan!

Christy Geiger, Executive Business Coach & Trainer, Minneapolis, MN

Top Reasons Why Businesses Fail. By Source: Jessie Hagen, U.S. Bank

admin — Fri, 08 Apr 2011 18:34:54 +0000

General Business Factors

78% – Lack of a well-developed business plan, including insufficient research on the business before starting it.
73% – Being overly optimistic about achievable sales, money required and about what needs to be done to be successful.
70% – Not recognizing, or ignoring, what they don’t do well and not seeking help from those who do.
63% – Insufficient relevant and applicable business experience.

Financial Factors

82% – Poor cash flow management skills/poor understanding of cash flow
79% – Starting out with too little money.
77% – Not pricing properly – failure to include all necessary items when setting prices

Marketing Factors

64% – Minimizing the importance of promoting the business properly.
55% – Not understanding who your competition is or ignoring competition.
47% – Too much focus and reliance on one customer/client.

Human Resource Factors

58% – Inability to delegate properly – micro-managing work given to others or over delegating and abdicating important management responsibilities.
56% – Hiring the wrong people – clones of themselves and not people with complementary skills, or hiring friends and relatives.

So, what brings people to coaching is to have a strategic partner to THINK IT THROUGH. Your family is not neutral and does not necessarily have the ability to give constructive feedback. You boss, up-line or co-worker are also not neutral and may have the same blindside that you do. Your friends only want to hear so much about your work and few are willing to spend hours planning with you. The most common misconception of coaching is that its for people who are struggling and need help. While coaching can help these people too, We are not talking about people who NEED help. In order to be successful everyone needs to stop, think it through and plan.

What do you need to think through? What do you need to plan? Take time today to evaluate your business and needs. Consider where you might be at risk and what you want to design to support you to be strategic, proactive and successful!

Christy Geiger, Executive Business Coach & Trainer, Minneapolis, MN

Book Review: Traction

admin — Fri, 18 Mar 2011 18:04:05 +0000

The book, Traction, is a fantastic resource for business owners (one person businesses and up) who want to understand the PROCESS side of their business. The tag line for the book is “get a grip on your business”, which is exactly what this book is written to help you do. Guiding you through a process to think through the stages of HOW a business works and apply that to your own business. Like many business books, you are thinking about the parts of your business: vision, marketing, plans, obstacles, etc. But the difference in this book, is thinking about these concepts from a SYSTEMS approach. This is invaluable and the glue that binds many concepts together. Many business owners have many of the ingredients of their business (vision, mission, goals, etc.) but struggle to know how to implement all the elements in a system that is sustainable. The traction concepts help to put it all together in a process that supports the owner to stay focused, clear and positioned to move forward.

The other concept that is naturally developed when you talk about process, is ROLES. This book helps to clarify and identify key roles and players on a business team, especially that of the business owner. Often a business owner is a visionary (idea person/leader) OR an integrator (implementer). This book helps to define the roles and how to make sure all tasks are covered and being addressed. A key part of addressing process and roles is uncovering areas of the business (i.e. marketing, finances, etc.) that are not being approached strategically and then redesigning and aligning them so they are proactive and effective pieces that support the direction and success of the company. While many elements in this book are well known by business owners, this book is an excellent road map to put all the pieces together and in perspective. I love this book as a tool to support business owners to understand, see and sync everyday business concepts in a way that will get your business some true TRACTION.

Christy Geiger, Executive Business Coach & Trainer, Minneapolis, MN

Why do people act the way they do? The Dynamics of Personalities

admin — Fri, 04 Feb 2011 18:58:52 +0000

There are several tools out there for understanding your personal style. Many are similar, but offer a unique perspective on different facets of your personality. The Strengths Finder Assessment, The Myers-Brigs, The DISC Personality, Keirsey Temperament, The Shape Personality, Authentic Happiness Questioner, and Jung Typology Test, are a few.

One CORE assessment on understanding behavior and personal style however is the DISC. If you are interested in purchasing this assessment, please e-mail me (cost: $25).

What makes the DISC different is that it has 4 distinct styles that are consistent for people across ages and generations. While other assessments help you to understand YOU and YOUR STYLE, the DISC helps you to understand you and as your learn the DISC, you begin to understand others and why they act the way they do. This is relevant with co-workers, boss-employee relationships, marriages, children, friends, etc. It is helpful for reducing conflict, being more productive and having stronger communication and relationships across the board.

In my February Newsletter, I have written an article that offers a snap shot of what the DISC traits are. D for Drivers, I for the Influencers, S for Steadiers, and C for the Conscientious.

With the knowledge of your personality you can better understand how you work with others and understand how they work and why they work that way. Understanding both sides, you can then formulate a strategy of how to maximize your personality traits to contribute to others, work well with them and enjoy your relationships.

Christy Geiger, Executive Business Coach & Trainer, Minneapolis, MN

Book Review: Exploring Productivity – Ideas From Industry Professionals on Getting More Work Done in the Workplace

admin — Fri, 20 Aug 2010 18:38:49 +0000

The challenge of staying organized through busy workdays and life is a trial for even the best. There are TONS of books on organization strategies out there with many tips and tricks on how to master chaos and achieve a sense of order in your environment. The challenge is many are filled with concepts to adapt and are more philosophical with prescribed action versus a handbook with steps of HOW to get organized. I found this book, Exploring Productivity… , and like it for its “idiots guide” type approach, making it easy to pick and address an issue versus reading a whole book and feeling overwhelmed with evaluating how you might transform your whole system of operation (which if it gets overwhelming, you will not take any steps to change.) This is a great book to have on the self, easy to read and excellent to reference so that you can address and overcome whatever organizational challenge you may be having THIS week

To order this book, click here.

Christy Geiger, Executive Business Coach & Trainer, Minneapolis, MN

What Are You Tolerating?

admin — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 17:42:32 +0000

Now is a great time to assess your environment for maximum productivity. An exercise that is great for cleaning up your environment is to visit your tolerations.

What are you tolerating? Take steps today to start to remove those nagging annoyances that subconsciously suck energy from you. Really, it is amazing how much they absorb. You will know exactly how much after you complete this exercise; history shows it is amazing!

First, make a list of 30 things that you are tolerating in your life – this is a brain dump. Any things that nag you, annoy you, and cause you to think, “I really need to get that fixed” or “I really need to do something about __________.” Put anything from the little things to the enormous. i.e. make a brochure, send out promotional mailing, get website, sort a stack of unfilled papers, deal with a chip in the windshield, a broken appliance, a messy car, a bag that is ripped, dust on the side of your stairs, dust, cutter, full e-mail box, squeaky door, etc. These items are the tolerations we hold internally that take up a ton of our energy. Do not stop until you have 30 things.

Once done, pick a few things you are going to get off the list this week. Each week peel more things off. It will go quickly at first as you take care of the 10 minute jobs and then become slower as you take care of the more monumental jobs – but just keep working at a minimum of two things each week. When you are done, the feeling of freedom and space will be an incredible reward!

People do what people do…..

admin — Fri, 14 Aug 2009 18:03:57 +0000

“People do what people do” is an adage my husband and I learned several years ago when we were leaders working with a team of volunteers. As young go-getters, we had high expectations and eagerly expected follow-thru from the volunteers’ well intended commitments/promise of action. While some people were great, there were some that surprised us with their lack of follow-thru in different areas, and we began to feel frustrated. Not wanting to feel this way toward people, we stepped back to evaluate what was happening and what we should do or change. (Reading this, you may be on the volunteer side thinking we need to be more lenient or apply more understanding towards others, or if have been in leadership, you may know that is to be expected and/or share in commiserating with the quandary and challenge.)

So, as we reflected on what was happening, we learned the sentiment that “people do what people do,” meaning, if you have a person who has been quick to produce in the past, given a similar context, more than likely he/she will be quick to produce in the future. If a person has been a quick volunteer but backed out a number of times in the past, more than likely you will need extra hands on that task as it is highly possible they might back out again. (I am not suggesting you walk around judging and labeling people without a track record and then putting them in a box based on one or two interactions; I am suggesting that people’s track records generally preceed their behavior).

This has been a principle we have applied in leadership, our personal and professional lives. It helps to remind ourselves of human behavior, manage your expections of others and see them for who they are rather than expecting them to be something different then who they are. It has applied in many situations: volunteerism, work, marriage, kids, and people in general. This little thought was just a quick way to reframe, plan accordingly and manage our expectations. Most people have good intentions and are influenced by their personality, situation, influences, life circumstances, etc., It does not make them bad or wrong, it just is what it is. It is generally true that a person will do what they have done in the past.

This is not to be used to judge or tell someone who they are or what they should do, but to help you plan and manage your expectations of them. Also, it is not telling someone else how they should act, the observation of behavior is simply telling you how they are. That is why it has been said for years, “Actions speak louder than words.”

Does this make a person hopeless to change? Absolutely not; but change comes from within and a persons desire to change; not someone else desire for you to be different then you typically are. This is a personal principle for you to get what you need vs. expecting other to change. Therefore, my encouragement is to reduce your frustration of people acting different then you like, try to see people through how they are and work with them in that light.

If you don‘t agree, remember it is said the best predictor of the future is history. When you study history and new developments, you can see how that is true. As humans, we are always unpredictable and unique; however as humans, we are creatures of habit and behavior. Sometimes we are not even aware of it ourselves, but step back and consider: do people in your life do what they have always done?

Time Estimating: Empty / Fill with the Important

admin — Sat, 01 Aug 2009 11:01:26 +0000

Many of us make to-do lists. Usually they are long and filled with a variety of tasks. Not only is it essential to prioritize the list of items, but also estimate how much time each task will take. Often when you do this, you find you have two days worth of to dos on your list. One thing that zaps our energy is feeling overwhelmed and getting distracted. When you have long to do lists that are not even reasonable to accomplish, often much less gets done.

If you take your list, budget how much time important tasks will take, you can then plan them into your day better. If you have a 10 minute task, you can plan that for a 15 minute downtime period. If you don’t do this, people usually take 10 minutes just to figure out what they are going to do and then they only have 5 minutes left to do something, which is not enough time, so then nothing gets done (or they start a project and are stressed and then late for the next appointment.)

It also helps you to plan your day to see that you need 2 hours of blocked time to eat your frog (the #1 most important to do). This way you can plan your day to get that big thing off your plate. I guarantee when you get the weight of a large project off your back first thing in the morning, you will be super charged and excited for the rest of your day. Then knowing what you will do, how long it will take you and “budgeting” when you will do it, creates a clear focus and drive for you to accomplish many more things in your day.

Action:
* Take your prioritized list of to dos and write behind each how much time each will take (pad more time then less time)
* Look at your schedule for the day and plan when you will do which tasks. If you have a large tasks, see how you can break it down into parts that fit into your day.
* Write specifically what you will do on the calendar. (i.e. budget 1 hour to write newsletter. Have a 15 minute opening in the AM; plan to write the intro to the newsletter.)