We’re working on a series of Mini-Courses for the coming months, but we need your help.
Will you tell us:
You can use our Safe Space on the left side of the Homepage to let us know. It’s completely anonymous (even we don’t know who posts there!).
Thank you for your help. We’ll keep you posted on FB about the courses as we get them scheduled!
We’ve talked about how to find a job. Now let’s talk about the job that’s perfect for you!
Maybe you’ve been thinking about it for a while. Maybe you’re dreading it…. Leslie and Kris have a few tips to help you get started….
Mark Zuckerberg recently announced he’ll be taking two months parental leave after their daughter is born. Parental Leave isn’t just for CEOs … or it shouldn’t be. Leslie and Kris have a few suggestions for how to make Parental Leave a reality.
You may not know it, but you may be stressing yourself out far too much. Today Leslie and Kris have a few suggestions for you!
It’s Throwback Thursday and while I’m not going to put up funny, cute, and/or embarrassing pictures of me or our staff here at MJS (at least not today), I have been thinking about the jobs that I have had in those throwback days. They haven’t all been as great as what I am doing now, but I have learned somethings about myself, about leadership styles, and about what makes a great job.
Some of what I’ve learned has formed my own management style. First, I have learned to “say what I mean”. I am not going to say what people want to hear or be passive-aggressive. This leads your employees to go in a different direction that where your company or team needs to be. This also means that I should lead by example. I expect that I should be the hardest and most prepared worker that I have on my team.
I think it is important to allow those I supervise to be able to tell me when I’m wrong or when things could be done differently. I don’t want insubordinate personnel but I make sure not to surround myself with “yes people”. I might be the most prepared person but I know that I hired these folks for their skill set and need to trust in that.
Finally, giving my team (we have hired quality employees) as much independence as possible is the way to maximize their talents. I don’t micro-manage. If I only give our team the answer I expect I am cutting out their innovative solutions or ways to do things more efficiently. I’m not saying I don’t monitor or check in about process but I try to make sure I’m not in the way.
What makes a great manager or supervisor? Share your thoughts with us in our safe space or on our social media sites.
Are You Juggling Too Much?
W
ell it’s Monday … again.
Have you ever thought about the impact Monday can have on your week? I got to thinking about it this weekend. Monday can set the tone. The “I don’t want to go back to work” can drag on to Tuesday and Wednesday and all the way until Friday when we’re glad another week has ended.
I remember working in a job where I began dreading Mondays on Saturday. Yes, on Saturdays. I’d spend Saturday morning washing clothes, choosing what outfits I’d wear the coming week (one less decision to make in the morning), and ironing what needed to be made more presentable. Before I knew it, Monday had already crept its way into my mind and began killing any possibility of enjoying the rest of the weekend, let alone the day. And then, as the real Monday unfolded I was unhappy that (a) I had to go back to work and (b) I hadn’t had much of a weekend.
So we can approach Monday with
Moodiness
Obstinance
Negativity
Dismay
Anger
Yielding
or with
Motivation
Optimism
Niceness
Discovery
Anticipation
Yesability
I’d suggest you choose carefully … or else it’s going to be a verrrrrrrrry long week!
We all want to be appreciated! Sometimes we just need to hear a simple “thank you”, “hey, keep up the good work”, or “we are lucky to have you on our team”. It’s important to hear these words from our loved ones and it is important to hear them in our work world.
However you choose to say it, don’t skip it. Positive feedback makes us feel recognized and appreciated, more confident in our tasks, it identifies what we have done right (and thus gives us a clue to what we should do more of), and it makes negative feedback and constructive criticism easier to accept and integrate.
What are ways you feel appreciated? Share them with us in our safe space and help spark ideas in others. You can also share the ways you aren’t being appreciated and we can talk about steps to take there too!