Overcome Team Conflict

Team conflict is typically seen as negative. We tend to think of it as team members disagreeing, arguing and yelling. Dealing openly with group conflict seems uncomfortable for most individuals, but these derailments are a normal part of every team's functioning. Dealing with a team conflict head-on can assist the team in finding better solutions and developing a solid foundation of trust in the long run.

Every team has internal conflicts from time to time. Many leaders avoid team conflict, and others handle disagreements inappropriately. But leaders who handle problems constructively can improve productivity, generate new ideas and personally develop team members. 

"At first blush, team conflict seems to be negative and something that needs the team leader's immediate involvement to rectify," says Jon Warren, assistant division director of education with the Missouri Department of Corrections. "Sometimes conflict among team players is very important in developing new thinking and actually moving the team forward."

Stages of Team Development

Teams go through definite stages as they develop. Bruce Tuckman, in his often-cited 1965 Psychological Bulletin article "Developmental Sequence in Small Groups," took existing theories and boiled them down to four stages of team development: Forming, storming, norming and performing. Determining which stage of development the team is in will help a leader decide how to handle the conflict. 

"Team conflict can be resolved quickly and effectively and only requires one key ingredient," says Warren. "That key ingredient is a team leader who can diagnose a team within stages of team development and choose from an array of effective team leadership skills necessary for appropriate intervention at the moment." 

As the team members are getting to know each other in the forming stage, a leader needs to be more directive. In the storming stage when conflict arises, the leader needs to be both directive and supportive. In the norming stage, as team members work out their differences, the leader needs to be more supportive and less directive. Finally in the performing stage, when the team is moving easily ahead, the leader should be supportive.

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Fresh Start Resolution: Improve Your Public Speaking

Public speaking is a regular — and regularly feared — part of life, so it's important to refine your skills. This year, challenge yourself by learning to lecture like a pro. Here are four tips to help you polish your public speaking.

• Assess yourself. What part of public speaking makes you nervous? Where have you slipped up in the past? One reason public speaking is so nerve-racking is because there's so much to manage — your presence, your words, your delivery, and your reaction. Determine your weakest points, from stuttering to stiff hands, in order to tailor your speech improvement.
• Find opportunities to practice. It's hard to feel confident about speaking if it's something you rarely do, so look for the chance to polish your technique in everyday life. At a dinner party? Offer to give the toast. Working on a new project at the office? Present it at the weekly staff meeting. Public speaking is like anything else: the more you do it, the better you'll become, and the more comfortable you'll feel when the moment arises.

Keep reading for more public speaking tips.

• Dress the part. Confidence is crucial, and you'll be much more sure of yourself if you know that your appearance conveys a sense of authority. It's best to err on the dressy side when you plan to speak in front of an audience — and it's crucial that your clothes fit well. Tugging at the hem of your skirt or the sleeves of your blouse will distract both you and your audience. It's important to look put-together, and the focus should be on your words, not your outfit.
• Prepare, prepare, prepare. Begin with standard prep techniques, like writing note cards and practicing in front of your friends, but also take the time to do some research. Find out as much as you can about your audience, the context of your speech, the environment, and the tools and media that will be available. Most importantly, be sure that you're achieving what was asked of you — confirm that you're answering the right question and fulfilling the expectations of your audience.

 
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Public Speaking Tips

Some people are naturally gifted public speakers. Me, for instance. Put me in front of a room full of strangers, and I'll just talk and talk and talk. About anything, really---the weather, Masonic conspiracies, which animals people look like, how sweaty I'm getting. I will literally never stop to take a breath or vomit into my mouth. That’s my level of comfort around crowds.

But, I understand that not everybody is as gifted at public speaking. Some people---if you can imagine---get nervous in front of large groups whom they rightly assume are judging their every word.

For those pathetic dumps, here are a few helpful tips for speaking in front of an audience:

- When looking out at the crowd, picture everyone in their underwear. This will deflate the tension. Unless the underwear is really sexy.

- Control your breathing. Try to breathe once for every four heartbeats, which you’ll probably feel pulsating inside in your head.

- Pick out one person in the audience, and imagine you are speaking to only him or her. Just don't say her name at the end of every sentence, especially if she’s your ex-wife.

- Carefully go over your list of talking points beforehand. You did remember to make annotated flashcards, right? RIGHT?!

- Plant your feet. Feel grounded. Don’t lock your knees, or you’ll pass out. But, don’t think too much about not locking your knees, or you will also pass out.

- Mark your speech with predetermined pauses. For swallowing and burps and whatnot.

- Remember: You’re the one holding the gun. That gives you all the power.

- Have a bottle of water handy in case of cottonmouth. Cheap gin works too.

- If one the hostages acts up, make an example of him right away. One heckler (or hysterical crier) can throw off the entire pace of a robbery.

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How to Motivate Employees After a Failed Goal

Employees who try to accomplish goals set forth by themselves or managers will eventually run into failure. Failure to reach a goal doesn’t always indicate a lack of effectiveness on part of your employees. Employees fail to meet expectations for numerous reasons, including time constraints, a lack of resources or a high turnover rate. Reassuring employees that failure is just a road bump and not a blockade helps increase their motivation and improves morale.

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Step 1
Meet with all employees who failed to achieve their goal. Do not meet with employees individually, unless a single employee failed to reach his goal. Conduct the meeting in the morning or after employees return from break; avoid interrupting their work.

Step 2
Touch on the goal that was set forth and explain that it wasn’t reached. Don’t skirt the issue or try revitalizing your employees by pretending to not understand why they lack morale and motivation. Use “us” when you explain how the employees failed to reach their goal. Never say “you” or mention a department by name.

Step 3
Explain that while everyone should strive for success, failure is inevitable at times. Tell the employees that failure is a sign that at least they’re trying to achieve something. Do not criticize employees for failing to reach their goal. If you berate employees for failure, you lessen the chance that they’ll apply themselves and risk failure in the future.

Step 4
Talk about what the employees accomplished en route to attempting their goal. When employees fail to meet expectations, they often think about the negatives rather than the positives. Make sure that employees realize they had success, even if they didn’t reach their ultimate goal.

Step 5
Touch on what held the employees back from accomplishing their goal. Don’t appear accusatory or overly negative. Talk about what you believe everyone could improve on to meet future goals. Always offer ways to improve on weaknesses.


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4 Qualities of Amazing Public Speakers

Whether you are an experienced public speaker or just flirting with the idea of sharing your message with the world, you probably know that giving a great presentation involves much more than just reading from cue cards.

The good news? Learning about the essential qualities of other great presenters is an easy way to become one yourself. The following four essential qualities of all public speakers, in particular, will ensure you are delivering presentations that will influence, inspire, and make a meaningful impact on your audience.

1. Introspection & Self-Awareness

To be an effective speaker, you must first understand who you are as a speaker—and as a person. What are your strongest interpersonal qualities? How do you best connect with others? What qualities do you need to work on? The most effective speakers are constantly working to capitalize on their strengths—whether that’s great storytelling or a talent for getting the audience to participate—and also to improve upon their weaknesses. Tapping into your most powerful interpersonal qualities is an excellent way to make yourself accessible, engaging, and unique.

To start, make a list of your best traits and the areas in which you excel. Then, think about how each of these traits is expressed when speaking or presenting in front of others. For example, if you’re great at explaining complex concepts in simple terms or if you have a dynamic, engaging personality, make sure you’re incorporating and highlighting these qualities throughout your presentation. (Need help identifying your interpersonal strengths? StrengthsFinder 2.0 is an excellent resource.)

2. The Ability to Tell a Story

Audiences show up for information, but they stay for the stories. Told well, stories can be the key to a compelling presentation that excites, energizes, and truly engages the people sitting in front of you. As my friends and mentors at Story Leaders™ have told me: “Others may not think what we think, but through a shared story, they can feel what we feel.”
 
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Motivate Your Team! Eight Quick Tips to Motivate for Success

Motivation is the key ingredient for success in any organization. You can have all the technical skills in the world; however, if you can’t motivate your team, you will not achieve success. As a leader, a majority of your job is to motivate others to succeed so that everyone’s goals are accomplished.

The following are eight quick tips to motivate your team:

1. Everyone Has Motivation
Your employees are motivated on some level. It is your job to find the level of their motivation and move your employees to the next level.

2. Listen to WIIFM
I wake up every morning listening to a very important radio station, WIIFM. I hope you do too. WIIFM stands for What’s In It For Me? To truly be a motivator, you must always be in tune to your employees’ WIIFM. Find out why it is beneficial for your employees to do a task, etc. Once you find out the employees’ motives, you find out how to motivate them.

3. It’s about Pain or Pleasure
Motivate your employees toward pleasure or away from pain. You motivate toward the pleasure by providing recognition, incentives, and rewards for doing a good job. You motivate away from the pain of a corrective action, losing a position, or doing a poor job. The key to this motivation is to be consistent with all your employees at all times.

4. Give Me a Reason
Do it because I said so! Well, with our educated workforce these days, that doesn’t work anymore. Employees like to know why tasks are being requested of them so that they can feel involved and that the task has worth. Let your employees know why doing the task is important to you, the organization, and for them.

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How to Dress for Public Speaking

Dress Like Your Audience is Dressed
Different speaking situations call for different clothing styles, but you are usually pretty safe if you are clean, tidy, and dressed as your audience is dressed. Why?

1.    Ethos (your credibility) is one of three pillars of persuasion.
2.    To develop ethos, you emphasize your similarity to your audience.
3.    One practical way to achieve this is by dressing similarly to them.

So, how do you know how your audience will dress? Do your audience analysis! If the venue is a recurring conference or setting, go with what people wore last time. If you are presenting at a venue which is new to you, ask the event organizer what the usual dress code is. If there is a strong dress code, adhere to it!
This doesn’t mean you have to wear the identical suit or dress that everyone in your audience wears. There’s obviously quite a bit of latitude here. The point is that you don’t want to be significantly over-dressed or significantly under-dressed.

But I’ve heard that I should dress better than my audience?
“The key is that you look professional and respectful. Once you start talking, they shouldn’t be noticing what you are wearing anyway.”
Conventional wisdom says that you should dress one notch higher than your audience is dressed. Why a notch higher?
•    To stand out?
•    To earn respect?
•    To hint at your success and affluence?
I don’t think any of those are particularly strong reasons for dressing above the level of your audience. Instead, I think the motivation for the “dress one notch higher” advice is that it buys you a little insurance in case your audience analysis was flawed.

•    If you dress one notch higher than your predicted audience dress code, and the audience is dressed fancier than you predicted, then you are still safe.

•    Of course, if your estimate is wrong the other way, you can show up significantly over-dressed.
I wouldn’t worry too much either way. The key is that you look professional and respectful. Once you start talking, they shouldn’t be noticing what you are wearing anyway.


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