Date: 2012

Presenter: Sarah Lean

At the end of this session you will be able to:

 Establish personal work goals

 Set and meet own work priorities
 Develop and maintain professional competence
Serve as a positive role model in the workplace through
personal work planning and organisation

 Role modelling can serve to reinforce the desired behaviour in

the role model themselves, as well as encourage others to
emulate them

 A role models actions, values and behaviours are upheld as

the ideal
 Employees will only choose to look up to those who
consistently display standards of work performance that they
identify as:
◦ Desirable
◦ Superior to their own
◦ Being consistently applied
◦ Congruent with the organisation’s values and desired behaviours

 Personal qualities are largely determined by attitude; formed

through our past experiences and learning

 Attitude is important to our work, our work situations and our

ability to set and achieve goals
 The attitudes and behaviours of ourselves and the others with
whom we interact affect our relationships

 Those whose attitudes and behaviours most closely reflect

our own are usually the closest to us

 Difficulty often arises with those whose are dissimilar to us

 Understanding of our own attitudes and being willing to

acknowledge and respect differences in others will work
towards developing productive relationships
 Behavioural and attitude consistency are important to
credibility

 In a management/leadership role credibility is important

 It contributes to modelling appropriate behaviours, leading by

example and gaining and maintaining the trust and
confidence of employees

 A demonstrated and consistently positive attitude towards

work and employees in the workplace will be emulated by
others in the workplace
Characteristics of leaders and role models

◦ Uncompromising integrity
◦ High energy
◦ Good at working priorities
◦ Courageous
◦ A committed and dedicated hard worker
◦ Unorthodox and creative
◦ Goal orientation
◦ Inspired and contagious enthusiasm
◦ Staying level headed
◦ A desire to help others grow and succeed
 The behaviours of a good leader/manager will impact greatly
on workplace efficiency and effectiveness

 Good leaders will model behaviours that encourage

employees to endorse organisational goals and objectives

 Leaders/managers need to inspire employees to act ethically

and with integrity

 You need to demonstrate what should be done and how it

should be done to achieve organisational objectives
 You need to prepare people for change – as new ideas are
suggested, improvements are made, innovations are
proposed and as the organisation strives for sustainability
over time

 A good manager/leader:
◦ Is able to make staff feel that they are valued
◦ Can aid staff in developing career pathways and in making active
contributions to organisational success
◦ Will inspire and enthuse others
◦ Act as a positive role model
◦ Ensure staff derive job satisfaction
◦ Ensure the organisation benefits from the skills and knowledge of
its diverse employees
 A role model is a person who serves as an example, whose
behaviour is emulated by others

 Role models provide a reference for the behaviour and

performance of others.

 Good leaders lead from the frontline – that is where the

action is

 They are visible, known and approachable

 They give employees the responsibility, authority and

resources to operate effectively
 They should be seen and be seen to be listening and
observing

Observing means:
 Building relationships with employees

 Noticing the things people do

 The problems they have to deal with

 Giving feedback

 Acknowledging the good work that people do

Managers who are effective leaders will:
 Talk to their people/customers to make them aware they are
actively listening

 Keep the lines of communication open and enable

information sharing

 See and understand what employees do

 Work with staff/clients to find out what they really think of

the organisation and ensure that product/service quality
meets the staff/client’s value perceptions
 Take people and their concerns seriously

 Give credit and recognition when & where required

Smart/secure managers/leaders:
 Hire competent, effective employees and let them do their job

 Delegate responsibility and authority to staff

 Involve people in decision making

 Treat everyone with respect

 Spread the power in the organisation so that they are, in

effect, answerable to their staff
 Good leaders plan their work so the most important tasks are
completed first

 They do not forget to carry out necessary tasks

 They are well organised and encourage members of their

team to be well organised
 Management performance and behaviour will serve as a role
model and encourage positivity in others if managers:
 Have a positive attitude

 Are enthusiastic and involved

 Accept responsibility

 Learn to understand others and to value diversity

 Provide appropriate feedback and reinforcement to staff

 Demonstrate competence with regards to job and
management skills

 Provide opportunities for employees to develop their skills

and knowledge

 Are honest, credible and act ethically

 Participate in suitable personal and professional development

programs and activities
 Good leaders need to develop their own skills and knowledge
including skills relating to:
◦ Communication
◦ Active listening
◦ Interpersonal interactions
◦ Cultural awareness
◦ Acceptance of and management of diversity
 As a manager, you usually have a greater degree of discretion
in how to go about achieving the outcomes required of you
than your staff

 Rather than being told how, when and where to perform a

job, you are more likely to be given a broad direction of what
is to be accomplished

 You are required to set your own goals and plan your
activities to ensure your goals are realised
 This flexibility can be liberating

 It can encourage creativity

 However, it requires innovation, discipline and the ability to

prioritise.
Goal Setting
 The way in which you set goals strongly affects their
effectiveness

1. Express your goals positively

2. Be precise
3. Set priorities
4. Write goals down
5. Keep operational goals small
 Many people spend their day in a frenzy of activity, but
achieve little because they are not concentrating on the right
things

 You can be extremely efficient, but achieve very little

 Efficiency is necessary so that tasks are completed within a

timeframe.

 Ensure that the tasks you are completing are actually

achieving or at least working towards the achievement of your
goals
 Look for results

 Focus on the purpose of your activities

 Be effective

 Identify and remove time wasters from your schedule

 Do the right thing right

 Doing the right thing is more important than doing things

right
 Doing the right thing is effectiveness

 Doing things right is efficiency

 Focus on effectiveness, and then concentrate on efficiency

 You are the source of your own time wastage

 Time wastage is not forced upon you

 Monitor the ways you use your time and make conscious
changes to your behaviour
 Strategies for overcoming time wastage to maintain personal
performance:
 Ensure that the goals you set are realistic

 When planning and prioritising, write the required activities

onto a “to do list” in numbered order of importance

 Prioritise tasks/objectives in terms of usable results –

purpose

 Include a time-based safety margin in your list

 Delegate effectively

 Take appropriate action

 Learn to say “no”

 Plan time for yourself

 Leave the office at lunch time

 Manage papers and paperwork

 Use effective filing processes and filing systems

 Consider your biological prime time

 Avoid being a perfectionist

 Arrange set times for jobs

 Fix definite times when you would like not to be disturbed

 Plan your telephone calls

 Hold and participate in effective meetings

 Interruptions and changes will always intrude

 A task list does not require absolute and rigid adherence

 Unexpected important tasks should be accepted as part of

your work life and should not place undue stress on your
prioritisation
Measuring personal performance

 Measurement implies developing criteria against which your

performance can be mapped and evaluated

These criteria might relate to:

 Your job description

 Team goals

 Objectives you have set yourself

 Initiative

 Speed of work

 Commitment / attitude to work

 Development potential

 Reliability

 Contributions to teamwork
 Most of us feel that there will never be enough hours in the
day to complete all of the tasks we have to do

 We all have competing demands that will impact on our ability

to achieve personal, team and organisational goals

 Dealing with competing demands is a matter of prioritising

tasks

 By prioritising tasks you ensure that the most important tasks

get completed first and the less important tasks are
completed later
 A “to do list” can help you determine what needs to be
accomplished for the day

 It can make large tasks seem smaller and more manageable

 Know what is important and what is urgent

 Questions to ask when prioritising:
◦ What is the most important thing for me to do right now?
◦ What deadlines have I got?
◦ What happens if I do not do this?
◦ Is this important?
◦ Is this urgent?
◦ Do I have to do this?

 Busy managers are always on the go

 Being busy is not the same as being effective

 Be effective and be efficient

How to prioritise:
 Start with a list of what you (or your team) need to do

 Group related tasks into projects, which represent your

ultimate outcomes rather than just the actions you need to
take

 At the start of the day, select the most important tasks that
would make the most difference to productivity and goals

 Identify any other tasks that are important or have been

neglected and need attention
 Schedule time in which you will work on the most important
tasks on your list

 During the rest of the day, continue working on your listed

tasks normally

 Determine what is important

 Good relationships with staff are important

 Effective managers make time for people because they know

in the long run it will pay back many more times
 Work/Life Balance
 This does not mean an equal balance

 Trying to schedule an equal number of hours for each day of

your various work and personal activities is usually
unrewarding and unrealistic

 Your ideal individual work/life balance will vary over time,

sometimes on a daily basic

 There is no perfect, one-size fits all

 It is balance you should be striving for

 The best work/life balance is different for all of us because

we all have different priorities and different lives.

 At the core of an effective work/life balance are two everyday

concepts:
◦ Achievement
◦ Enjoyment

 Enjoyment means pride, satisfaction, happiness, celebration,

love, a sense of well being – all the joys of living
 A good working definition of work/life balance is:
“meaningful achievement and enjoyment in each of the four
life quadrants”
 Professional development:
 Is one of the cornerstones of our working lives

 It keeps us interested in our work

 Gives us the drive to progress our careers

 Keeps the industry competitive

 Makes us employable
 By taking ownership of your career, assessing your
knowledge and skills and focussing on your professional
development you will be:

◦ Able to identify the standards to which you should aspire

◦ Able to determine your own development needs, priorities and
plans
◦ Better able to recognise opportunity
◦ Increasingly effective in the workplace
◦ Able to help, influence and lead others by example
◦ Confident of your future employability
◦ Have a fulfilling and rewarding career
◦ Able to demonstrate continuing commitment to your profession
 When considering your professional development plan
consider:

 When and where you learnt best

 The types of activities that will be most effective for you

 The financial and time resource implications of your plan

Learning styles

 Visual learning – involves the use of seen or observed things

including pictures, diagrams etc.

 Auditory learning – involves the transfer of information

through listening to the spoken word of self or others. They
learn best through listening and speaking

 Kinaesthetic learning – involves physical experience –

touching, holding, doing. They learn best through
experiencing and doing things
 Left Brain
Is verbal
Responds to word meanings
Is sequential – needs to follow a
logical sequence
Processes information linearly
Responds to logic
Plans ahead
Recalls people’s names
Speaks with few gestures
Is punctual
Prefers formal study design
Right Brain
Is visual
Responds to tone of voice
Is random – assimilates from a
variety of sources and sequences
Processes information in varied
order
Responds to emotion
Is impulsive
Recalls people’s faces
Gestures when speaking
Is less punctual
Prefers sound/music background
while studying
 Work involves goal setting, planning, taking action and
monitoring.

 The more you know about yourself and others, the more
likely it is that you will be able to achieve your goals
 Feedback from colleagues, staff and clients can assist you in
identifying opportunities for growth and development.
 Effective forms of feedback from your workplace can include:
 Formal/informal performance appraisals
 Feedback from managers and colleagues
 Feedback from suppliers
 Personal reflection and self-assessment

 Be proactive in seeking feedback

 Standing still in today’s business world results in going
backwards.
 We all must continually grow and develop if we are to remain
current and competitive
 Creating and maintaining a competitive edge does not take
luck but rather some solid strategic planning.
 You need to be continually scanning your business horizon,
taking note of the changes and then ensuring that you
develop new knowledge and skills in order to maintain your
currency