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Everyone can agree that being in a management position comes with a lot of responsibilities. It can also bring on stress and anxiety. Having a good relationship on a professional level with the employees can help things run more smoothly. People will tend to work harder and more efficiently when they feel heard and valued.

Businesses will hit roadblocks and present with issues when management is run in the wrong way. Sometimes it is hard to find the line between personable and over the top when it comes to being in a management position. Here is a list of some things that you should try to focus on not doing as a manager.

1. Always Micro-Managing

It is your job as the manager to keep things on track and make sure jobs are getting done. But, if you spend all day going behind everyone making sure their job is done the way you want it, your employees may feel that you don’t trust them to do their jobs. If your employees feel that they are trusted to do their job and you believe in them will result in them giving you better results on their work. 

2. Bad Communication

Communication is key in things running smoothly. If someone doesn’t understand the job they are supposed to do, they can’t give it their best effort. Making sure that your employees understand that they can come to you and ask questions if they are confused. Leaving an open line of communication, instead of feeling as though they can’t come to you.

It can help if you give positive feedback to them as they are doing their jobs. Such as encouragement when they are doing a good job on something. Even if some correction or change of direction is needed, doing so in a positive way can keep employees encouraged. Some ways to communicate with your employees are:

• Keep your employees in the loop
• Give the positive feedback (or negative if needed in a nice way)
• Make Expectations clear

3. Lack of Humor

This may seem like a strange one to need for good management. Having a dry sense of humor can leave your employees stressed and uncomfortable when you are in the room. Humor can give the vibe that you are confident, personable, and approachable by people. You want your employees to be comfortable with you.

Please share your comments with us today!

Gary Brunson
gary@myclearfocus.com

Debra Rider
debra@myclearfocus.com

574.361.2674

Sustainable Growth & Profit Consultant, Coach, Mentor and Counselor/Therapist for Business Owners and Professionals.

Covid-19 hit everyone hard and left many businesses in a predicament. Some places aren’t opening back up, some are open, and some are just now opening. This time has been a struggle for many people and businesses to stay afloat.

On the other hand, it has given places a chance to have time to think about the way things are being done inside of their business. Rules may change, policies might be different, or upgrades could have been made. Whatever is going on whether it’s the same or changing, communication is key to running a successful business.

Communicate With Your Employees

During this whole pandemic, people have lost their jobs and didn’t have anything to fall back on. Which has left them in a stressful situation during the shutdown. Things took an abrupt halt in life and left some people completely unprepared. That is a scary situation and it isn’t over yet even though things are opening back up.

As you begin/continue to bring your employees back into the workplace, make sure you keep open communication with them. They need to know what to expect at this time when no one knows what tomorrow holds.

Even though there may still be uncertainty about the future, let them be aware of as much as you can tell them. For instance, make sure that they are clear about protocols and policies that may have changed. Also, what happens if there is another shut done and what your business plans to do if that happens.

How To Communicate

As you navigate with your fellow co-workers and employees, it is important to be open and communicate often with them. Everyone is experiencing the same uncertainty and has similar concerns. Some ways that you can communicate with them is:

• Make The Plan To Return Very Clear To Employees
• Communicate With Them About How They Can Ask About Concerns
• Talking To Employees On A Regular Basis To Check In
• Accept Feedback From Employees
• Make Their Wellbeing The Focus
• Let Employees Know Where They Can Go For Help If Needed

You may not know what to say or how to say it, but that’s okay. The only thing that can be done is to go about it with an open mind and truthful communication. People are going to be returning to a whole new atmosphere in some cases, and some may not be returning at all.

Listening to your employees’ questions and concerns will help everyone reduce stress & anxiety.

We would love to hear your comments on this article or any of our latest articles.

Gary Brunson
gary@myclearfocus.com

Debra Rider
debra@myclearfocus.com

574.361.2674

Sustainable Growth & Profit Consultant, Coach, Mentor and Counselor/Therapist for Business Owners and Professionals.

In a world where face to face meetings have become less and less of the norm, learning to do things remotely has become more and more important. Executives have had to learn ways to lead and guide their teams from a distance. Ensuring that their junior team members don’t stop learning or growing their careers is important

Sponsoring their proteges from a distance can be challenging, but is totally doable with today’s technology. A sponsor’s job is to provide a long-term relationship to the protege and to provide support and recommend them in order to help advance their career opportunities. It has been said that a mentor talks to you and a sponsor is someone who talks about you.

Develop A Relationship

One of the biggest problems with sponsoring a protege remotely is the cliche “out of sight, out of mind”.

With all of the technology that is available today keeping in touch is easier and more convenient than ever. Staying top of mind can be accomplished with weekly video meetings. It can have advantages to ask our protege to write a one page biography of themselves.

A Sponsor may not be totally aware of all of the assets of their protege. It is much easier to promote someone you know. Someone that you have a relationship with and know all about them.

Commitment

It is important that your protege knows you are committed to see him or her become all that they can be. Knowing you are committed will encourage them to give 110%. A good way to show this is to introduce them to an executive or important client while talking up their assets.

Another way to show your commitment is to find a project that they have not been a part of and inviting them to be a part of it. That way they have greater exposure within the company. Letting them know how committed to them you are.

Give and Take

As you are remotely sponsoring your protege there is a certain amount of work, time, and energy that you must put into them, but keep in mind it is a give and take situation. A junior manager or executive with a sponsor is 21% more likely to advance in their career than a junior manager without a sponsor. It goes both ways as an executive that sponsors a protege is 53% more likely to advance in their own careers than an executive without a protege.

We would love to hear your comments on this article or any of our latest articles.

Gary Brunson
gary@myclearfocus.com

Debra Rider
debra@myclearfocus.com

574.361.2674

Sustainable Growth & Profit Consultant, Coach, Mentor and Counselor/Therapist for Business Owners and Professionals.

3 Tips Every Leader Should Know When Managing A Remote Team

Right now, things are different in the world than people are used to. Many people who worked at home, are now working from home with kids and other distractions at home. Then there are the ones who aren’t used to working at home, that is now remote working and trying to navigate this new work life. To say it is stressful is an understatement.

When you are the one in charge and managing a team of employees who are working remotely can be challenging as well. Without face-to-face communication, translation can sometimes get lost. Here are some simple easy tips to help when you are the leader of a remote team.

1. Communication is Key

You cannot run a business without communication, much less a remote one. People need to know what’s going on and what is expected of them. If your team is already a custom to working remotely, just talk to them from time to time and check-in.

There is so much going on now with families all home together. If they are new to this remote working lifestyle, talk to them often, make sure they are running smoothly. It doesn’t always have to be a big deal worth of communication, just send an email, text, phone call, or zoom to make sure everything is on point.

2. Make Sure They Know How Everything Works

There is nothing like going home to work where you don’t have your co-workers or leadership models to ask questions to. If you have a question about an assignment, a project, or how a system works, you don’t have those people to ask as easily when you are at home.

Some businesses work remotely no matter the state of the world, so it is important to have frequent check-in’s, in the beginning, to make sure they aren’t getting lost or behind. Same for temporary remote workers, it can be a difficult transfer. Just make sure that they have resources that they can refer to if they need help.

3. Be A Cheerleader For Them

Sometimes all someone needs is a little bit of encouragement. The simple gesture of telling them they are doing a great job and you appreciate their hard work can go a long way. When you are working from home, you can feel stress and fear of doing something incorrectly. Just dropping in every now and then to tell them how well they are doing can be all that is needed.

“Whenever you see a successful person you only see the public glories, never the private sacrifices to reach them.” –Vaibhav Shah

We would love to hear your comments on this article or any of our latest articles.

Gary Brunson
gary@myclearfocus.com

Debra Rider
debra@myclearfocus.com

574.361.2674

Sustainable Growth & Profit Consultant, Coach, Mentor and Counselor/Therapist for Business Owners and Professionals.

Major Challenges CEOs Are Facing During The Pandemic

The pandemic of 2020 has brought a lot of stress and anxiety for people all over. People owning and running a business are absolutely no exception to that. Trying to stay afloat in a world where people are told to stay home and don’t go shopping unless absolutely necessary.

It is not easy and causes a lot of challenges for keeping a business going. There are many different things the CEO’s are facing right now during this time. Here are a few of the most common challenges that they are facing throughout this uncertain time.

When Is It Safe To Return To Work?

Many places are needing their employees to return to work to keep the business running. Then they have to think about if it is safe. Trying to keep people healthy and safe is the main priority throughout this whole thing. Places who have the ability to work from home are in a little bit better of a situation, but it is still not exactly the same.

What If Someone Tests Positive?

While it has been said people can return to work, the doors are able to be open, precautions are to be taken, you may still have concerns. As the one in charge, it can be hard to make the decisions that you need to about opening the doors.

What happens if someone tests positive? Do we close again, send everyone home, quarantine? Even if all necessary steps have been adhered to, the reality of someone testing positive is a concern. The leadership team has to be prepared for this scenario and have a plan ready to put into action.

Do What You Can To Stay Positive

In these uncertain times keeping up confidence is not an easy task. Employees have just as much stress as those in charge. They’re concerned with their health and the risk of contracting the virus and bringing it home to their families. The future of their jobs is on their minds and many other stressors.

When the morale of a company is high it has been shown over and over that production is also increased. Likewise, when morale is down, production tends to decrease as well. Being a leader is tough even when things are good, but given the current conditions leadership positions are even harder. The key to surviving the CEO world in these times is to just keep moving forward.

We would love to hear your comments on this article or any of our latest articles.

Gary Brunson
gary@myclearfocus.com

Debra Rider
debra@myclearfocus.com

574.361.2674

Sustainable Growth & Profit Consultant, Coach, Mentor and Counselor/Therapist for Business Owners and Professionals.

How To Spot Leaders You Can Develop

When you are hiring people or looking for someone to do a specific job. Usually, you have an idea in your head that you are looking for in the person. It also greatly depends on what you are needing them to accomplish for you.

If you are looking for someone to be a leader of a project, group of people or a department, there are some things you need to look for in that person. Being a leader is sometimes a challenging task and some are not cut out for it. Here are some things to look for in a person that could mean they are leadership material.

1. Shows Positivity

If you are around someone who is constantly negative and never sees the bright side of things, it is going to tear you down over time.

Even though the tasks of everyday life aren’t always happy and uplifting, being able to find the positive in things in order to keep the team going is important. When someone has leadership qualities, they usually show that they can turn a bad situation into a better one when needed.

2. Can Listen

If the people that they are leading don’t feel heard from them, they aren’t going to stick around. Jobs won’t be accomplished and people will be discouraged. Being able to listen to people and show them that they care about what they are saying shows that they are what it takes to be a great leader. This way the people that they are in charge of and teaching, feel that they can come to them with their concerns and needs.

3. Has Empathy

Having empathy means that you have the ability to hear someone and what they are going through. Being able to connect with people is very important when you are in a leadership position. Dealing with other people can be difficult, emotions to each person can vary greatly.

4. Is Resourceful

This is a big one. If you can’t find a way out of a bad situation, you may not be someone who would be good for a leadership position. They need the ability to find a solution to the problem that is at hand in a timely manner.

5. Possess Confidence

If someone in a leadership position is constantly doubting themself, the people under them aren’t going to be able to get things done. The person needs to be able to stand up and admit fault or figure out a way to fix the problem.

We would love to hear your comments on this article or any of our latest articles.

Gary Brunson
gary@myclearfocus.com

Debra Rider
debra@myclearfocus.com

574.361.2674

Sustainable Growth & Profit Consultant, Coach, Mentor and Counselor/Therapist for Business Owners and Professionals.

Glenn Youngkin: Learning New Skills For A Changing Economy

Right now, things are no less than strange and unknown to everyone. Many have lost their jobs and are looking for new ones. Most have left a job that they have been at for years, to pursue something else for reasons pertaining to the pandemic.

When the economy had to stop services that were given by many places that couldn’t social distance, that put a very large amount of people out of a job. The people may not have other job skills that they can fall back on to get them through. So many had to rely on unemployment to pay their bills and put food on the table. Glenn Youngskin came up with a program that may help this situation.

Learn A Skill or Two

When the economy shut down for Coronavirus, there were hopes of it opening back up shortly. That has not been the case. Many businesses had to shut down completely. People who work doing a specific trade may have trouble finding work due to that is their livelihood.

If your job was shut down due to Covid-19 it’s probably because you work with the public closely. Meaning that if this virus continues to pursue, you may experience many openings and closings throughout this process. That is not a reliable way to make an income.

How The Program Works

With the recent explosion of unemployed individuals and companies needing employees, there needed to be something done. When people search for job opportunities, they may come across many that they don’t have the right qualifications for. Maybe it is still something that interests you though.

This is where this program can help you gain the right skills and certifications you need to apply for that job. With the options that are already available to people through many community colleges, it kind of just all made sense and worked out.

The Benefits

This is an awesome opportunity for the public to take advantage of. When you are unemployed and needing work, sometimes you just don’t have the skills that are needed. With this available for people to take advantage of, they can gain those skills.

Just like any other job interview or hiring process, the job is not guaranteed to you. This just gives you the skills and knowledge you need to get that job. Making it more accessible to you.

We would love to hear your comments on this article or any of our latest articles.

Gary Brunson
gary@myclearfocus.com

Debra Rider
debra@myclearfocus.com

574.361.2674

Sustainable Growth & Profit Consultant, Coach, Mentor and Counselor/Therapist for Business Owners and Professionals.

Who Would You Take On An Island With You?

The question “Who would you want to be stuck on a desert island with?” comes up every now and then and we laugh it off. You don’t really answer it, but do we really think about who we would want to be on an island with? Most of the time it is thought of as a joke, not a question that you really need a response to.

There are several people that come to mind when thinking about this question and each of those people have personalities or skills or characteristics that might be advantageous to the situation. So, let’s think about this in a real-life situation. Who would you pick to be on a desert island with?

1. Would you pick someone with skills to make you comfortable?

Would you take Martha Stewart or Gordon Ramsey so they could cook for you and you could eat well? Or would you find someone that could take the things they found in nature and make you shelter? The things you would need to sustain you, you may want to consider a record-breaking fisherman or hunter.

You need to eat to survive, so having someone who knows how to cook would be very beneficial. The shelter is also a great advantage, whether it be from the sun or the rain. Both of these skills would be assets to being stuck on an island.

2. Would you pick someone you enjoy to just be with?

Maybe, your husband or your wife would be the one you pick. Or even a best friend. Companionship is important and helps us to keep going. Giving us a balanced outlook on life and everything that is going on.

Human interaction is smoothing that is important for the soul. If you were all alone for a long period of time, you would begin to miss having someone to talk to or be with. It can make going through different situations easier when you have someone to do it with you.

3. Would you choose someone with skills to hopefully escape?

Maybe MacGyver would be who you would choose to be on a desert island with you. He would probably come up with some type of contraption that could alert help. That would be a great person to be stuck with, there would most likely be an escape plan made to get you both off of the island.

Who you’d choose to take with you could give you some ideas of the type of person you are.

We would love to hear your comments on this article or any of our latest articles.

Gary Brunson
gary@myclearfocus.com

Debra Rider
debra@myclearfocus.com

574.361.2674

Sustainable Growth & Profit Consultant, Coach, Mentor and Counselor/Therapist for Business Owners and Professionals.

How to Conquer Self-Doubt at Work

Self-doubt is something that can really hinder you in the workplace. Being able to follow through with tasks that you have can be dependent on the amount of confidence you have in yourself. Different scenarios that you face at work can cause you to experience more and more self-doubt. There are many successful and wealthy people out there who struggle with this same problem daily.

If you are someone who is experiencing self-doubt and need some strategies to help you overcome them, there are many things that you can do mentally and physically to help you with these situations. When it comes to doubting yourself, what helps one person may not be the strategy that helps you.

Overcoming Self-Doubt

Just know that you are not alone, there are so numerous people who deal with this same problem. It is all about how you confront it and deal with it. The key is finding the strategies that work for you.

• Don’t Make Excuses

When we doubt ourselves and the abilities that we have, we tend to question everything. We will start to question whether we have done something right if we know what we are talking about, and so many other aspects of doubt. That can give you a nauseous feeling in the pit of your stomach and begins the cycle of self-doubt.

Stop making those excuses and don’t be afraid of your abilities. Know that you are knowledgeable and skilled in your job. You have the ability to accomplish great things and should take advantage of the opportunities that are put in front of you.

• Surround Yourself With Positivity

It is very true that you become what you hear and surround yourself with. If you are constantly around negativity, you will start to show attributes of being negative. That isn’t good for anyone.

Having a positive and uplifting outlook on life and your job is going to help you go so much further. If the people you are around every day don’t bring you the feeling of confidence in yourself, find other people. Positive affirmations are a great proven technique to help you stay positive.

• Be Aware Of What Triggers Your Insecurities

The doubt that you have in yourself can be triggered by many different things. Finding out what those things are can help you overcome them. You shouldn’t avoid them completely, but take the needed time to improve on them. Whether that means studying up on it or doing some research become more educated.

Don’t let self-doubt keep you from doing great things in your professional and personal life.

We would love to hear your comments on this article or any of our latest articles.

Gary Brunson
gary@myclearfocus.com

Debra Rider
debra@myclearfocus.com

574.361.2674

Sustainable Growth & Profit Consultant, Coach, Mentor and Counselor/Therapist for Business Owners and Professionals.

Are You Spending Your Time on What Matters?

When it comes to your time, every last minute is important. You have to prioritize your time and find out what is important to you. There are approximately 24 hours in a day, 168 hours in a week, 730 hours in a month, and 8,765 in a year. When you think of it that way, are you spending your time on what really matters?

How To Prioritize Your Time

When you are trying to prioritize your life and plan for the future, it is important to take notes, make lists, and really ponder on what you want. There are some major areas of your life that you should look at to do this. The areas such as:

• Career
• Family
• Health
• Spirituality
• Fun
• Volunteering

These are the areas that make up the many areas of your life. Filling in the amount of time and energy that you want to spend on each one of these will help you to make sure you are doing what matters to you. Life may seem like you have a lot of time, but in reality, it passes quickly.

Why You Should Make Lists To Manage Your Time

It is so easy to get completely engulfed in a project that you are doing and lose track of time. Have you ever started to do something and then looked up at the clock and been in complete shock of how much time has passed? It is so easy to do, and without a plan, it can continue to happen.

Take each section of the areas to reflect on and decide how much time you are spending on each right now. Once you have done that, decide if you are happy with that or not. Do some self-reflecting and find what you want to spend your valuable time doing. Maybe you didn’t spend as much family time as you wanted to, change it.

Make The Necessary Changes

Even when it comes to the workplace, sometimes you have to decide if you are spending your time wisely. Deciding if what you are spending long hours on is what really matters. While the workplace is oftentimes where long hours are spent, this can go for multiple areas of your life.

A good idea is to have a person who you can trust and rely on to hold you accountable. It can be anyone, just someone who will be honest with you. It is easier for someone on the outside looking in to realize it before you do.

We would love to hear your comments on this article or any of our latest articles.

Gary Brunson
gary@myclearfocus.com

Debra Rider
debra@myclearfocus.com

574.361.2674

Sustainable Growth & Profit Consultant, Coach, Mentor and Counselor/Therapist for Business Owners and Professionals.