In many aspects of our lives, but particularly in work we hear a lot about people “knowing their rights.” Overall, this is a good thing as it reflects an increased awareness of how we should be treated and how we should treat others. 

But it is easy to forget the other side of the coin.  This is understanding our responsibilities.  In order to be fair in our dealings with other people, we do need to understand our rights, but also fulfil our responsibilities. 

Do we really know what they are when we step through the office door? 

As an employee, our rights are...
 To be paid
 That our employer exercises reasonable care of us
 To have access to a grievance procedure
 To have mutual trust and confidence

To balance these, our responsibilities are...
 Duty of obedience; to accept a manager has the right to ask us to do something providing it is reasonable, safe and lawful 
 Duty to adapt; to accept changes are needed in workplaces
 Duty to exercise care; of ourselves, our colleagues and our employer’s property
 Duty of fidelity or good faith; that our actions are in the best interests of our employer at all times 

We are all operating in an uncertain climate at the moment, where there is often a lot of mistrust between employees and their employers, so being reminded of these rights and responsibilities from time to time can be a very useful way of ensuring we are building strong working relationships, which are based on trust.

One of our clients saw the benefits of this approach and last month we ran a highly interactive session for thirty team members on this very subject. The participants welcomed the opportunity to discuss openly the balance between having rights and understanding their responsibilities. One team member commented that it was useful to remember that there is a dual responsibility when you work for someone and the challenge is for both parties to live up to them. 

As Bill Maher, the American comedian said “We have a bill of rights. It is about time we had a bill of responsibilities”...

Teamwork is the glue that holds businesses together. And team meetings are one of the key ways to ensure good team work.

But what happens when it all gets a bit staid, a bit monotonous, in a bit of a rut?

How do you inject some energy back into them?

Five Top Tips to Energise your Team Meetings

1. Rotate the chair
   It does not have to be the manager who runs a team meeting – involving all team members in chairing a meeting is a great way to develop their skills and to increase ownership of the discussions and actions.
2. Open with the positives
   Especially in this tough market, people can find it hard to keep motivation levels up. Start with asking everyone for one thing they have been particularly pleased with or proud of that week. It sets a really positive tone for the rest of the meeting and recognises effort and results.
3. Ask everyone for input
   Ensure everyone gets the chance to participate – not just the most vocal people. Give people things to think about beforehand or go round the room asking for everyone’s thoughts on a topic
4. Use creative thinking techniques
   Use team meetings to tackle problems or hurdles. Brainstorming or using techniques like De bonos 6 thinking hats can help people to look at things from a different angle and bring a spark of creativity that may otherwise not be tapped into.
5. Ensure you agree an action plan
   If people can see progress being made as a result of the meetings they will find them so much more motivational. Allocate responsibility to individuals to drive each action and make sure there are timescales agreed on each.

When your people look forward to their team meetings and want to make the time to be there you will know you have got it right!

For more guidance on working creatively have a look at our creative thinking workshop
For details of our programme on team work for the Aged care channel click here
For more ideas on team work have a look at our article

Or look at our team health check sessions 

 

With Valentine’s Day just round the corner, how do you manage the thorny problem of relationships at work?

Romance at work is widespread – many of us spend a good third of our time at work, so it is not surprising that relationships often develop here.

And it is not all bad! Happy people are more motivated and more productive. Having a partner at work can mean couples have someone who can share the stresses and understand the strains.

But there are potential dangers. Most companies recognise it is unworkable, not to mention draconian, to try and ban interoffice relationships. 

Better to focus on the risks that might arise, such as unwanted romantic attention, relationships between line manager and team member, managing the fallout from a broken relationship, considering how to manage confidentiality concerns. 

Some companies have a specific Relationships policy, which will give guidance around what is appropriate and inappropriate for family relationships, as well as romantic ones. For example, ensuring managers are not involved in the recruitment of a close family member.  This sort of policy can offer clarity on romantic relationships, such as whether the company tolerates relationships between line manager and employee, without it being solely focussed on romantic situations.

A Conflict of interest policy could broach similar issues, without it being seen as an attempt to “ban” relationships.

Relationship breakdowns are one of the trickiest areas to manage, particularly if one of the couple brings a claim of harassment, because of their ex partner’s behaviour at work. In this situation, the employer could be partly liable and needs to take steps to make it clear this is not acceptable behaviour. Your harassment policy will be vital here.

Most of all ensure your managers have confidence to deal with difficult situations arising from inter office relationships. If a couple’s behaviour is leading to problems - which could be anything from flirtatious behaviour making people uncomfortable to the relationship causing distraction and loss of focus for the people involved – then the manager needs to deal with it.

As always, it is these grey areas which often cause managers most angst. Having some guidelines written into a “Behaviour at work” policy and getting managers discussing these situations and how to handle them can go a long way to ensuring they are dealt with before they get out of control.

If you are interested in exploring the whole subject of Managing Appropriate Behaviour at work, come along to our free seminar run in conjunction with Penningtons Solicitors on the 21st Feb. It will be a chance to ask questions on any aspect of behaviour at work and network with like minded professionals.

Look forward to seeing you there!

And have a happy, conflict-free Valentine’s Day!

As we embark on a new year full of gloomy predictions and worrying economic statistics, many managers will be wondering how on earth they will be able to keep teams motivated and engaged in 2012.

The latest CIPD survey on employee attitudes to pay reinforces that this will be a key challenge for managers. When employees were asked if they felt valued, the net satisfaction score was +4 (compared to +33 in 2008). Over the same period net satisfaction scores have fallen for: 'I am proud to work for this organisation' (+50 to +32); 'I feel motivated to perform well' (+46 to +24); and 'my organisation communicates well with me' (+25 to -6). http://www.peoplemanagement.co.uk/pm/articles/2012/01/employees-discontented-over-pay-shows-cipd-research.htm

What these results clearly show is that it is not all about the money. Most of us recognise the reality of this tough economic climate – but that doesn’t mean that we can’t feel motivated at work.

Research shows time and time again that it is the “intrinsic” factors that really make the difference to how happy and motivated someone is at work – in other words how valued they feel, whether they are recognised for the effort they put in, whether their contribution is noticed, whether they are trusted and whether they have opportunity to take on more responsibility or more challenging tasks. Money can be a good short term motivator, but is no substitute for these other factors.

The good news then is that line managers can make a real difference to how happy and motivated someone is. They may not be able to give them a pay rise, but they have direct control over how much they recognise effort and praise results. They have direct control over how valued they make their team member feel and it is down to them to decide what to delegate and whether to develop someone’s skills by trusting them to take on something new.

The beginning of a new year is a great time to review your management skills, so start by asking yourself these questions…
• How clear are your people about the goals for the company/ team this year?
• Are you and all your managers motivated and committed to the organisation?
• How clear are your team members about what is expected of them?
• How much do you and your managers understand about what your employees want from work?
• Do you ensure decisions are clearly communicated with the reasons behind them?
• Do you and your managers show appreciation and offer regular feedback?
• Do you give time to your people – get to know them as individuals?
• Do you ensure your employees feel listened to?

These are the things that will make the biggest difference to how motivated your people are –  and ensure that you are equipped to weather another tough year with a happy and loyal team.

One of the trickiest parts of any job is having ‘difficult conversations’, whether it be with people we line manage, our own manager, a supplier or a customer. Our anxiety can be such that we employ a whole range of strategies to delay the moment when we have to sit down and talk.

I know that I have been guilty at times of prioritising tasks that are well within my comfort zone, rather than tackle a conversation that I am expecting to be challenging and uncomfortable. Yet in most instances, when I do have that conversation, it has gone much better than I anticipated and there have been positive outcomes. So why is that? Well, it comes down to three key words – preparation, preparation and preparation!

Our anxiety is often about the other person’s possible reaction. Will they get angry? Will they be upset? Will they challenge me?  With team members for example, the issue may well be something that could be taken personally – problems over performance perhaps – and the receiver’s initial response may understandably be emotional and confrontational.

That’s ok. I have realised that the most important thing is for me to be calm, objective and to be able to evidence my concerns. If I have specific relevant examples to support what I have to say, if I have thought through the range of potential responses and how I will deal with them, if I can be clear about the how we can move forward from the issues under discussion, then there is every likelihood that there will be a positive outcome. The key to success is to be as well prepared as I can be.

Whether as a line manager, with suppliers who have let us down or clients who have not delivered their agreed side of the deal, having the confidence to tackle these conversations will earn you greater respect and lead to more productive relationships.
In all cases I have fallen back on those three big words to help me through – preparation, preparation, preparation!