Bell bottoms and flares for women - spring 2011

Instead bell bottoms and flared jeans for women in 2011 are all about a neo-1970s style that has the following elements:

a hem that is at least as wide as your foot - the men's hem that you can see on the pictures above doesn't apply to the women's interpretation of the trend
loose at the knee - I've already see some takes on the trend where the jeans are cut very slim down the thigh and the knee and then flare out from below the knee cap. This is a 1990s interpretation of flares and not the style that's on trend in 2011

Performance with Fulfillment

Performance is defined as the behavoir and result of a person's effort; whereas Fullfilment is usualy defined as a person's feeling of satisfaction or ahievement. Fullfilment includes people's feeling about their job, the organization. their coworkers, and their manager. It does not include monetary rewards or formal recognition.

Managing performance and fullfilment is a key function for all managers.
Managers have a tendency to be preoccupied with performance at the expense of fullfilment.
Managers who pay little attention to performance and fullfilment may endure increased turnover, loss of talent and decreased business results.

Remember that even high performers have a need for fullfilment.

Are you a leader or are a manager? Parts 2

Leaders who lead by example are those exceptional leaders who, more often than not, do the right things. They demonstrate the right behaviors and follow through on promises and commitments. In addition, they act as role models and mentors, are great listeners, and do not live by the adage, “Do as I say, not as I do.”

It has been said that leaders who lead by example walk the talk. But what does this mean? Paul Fireman, past chairman of Reebok International, made a promise that Reebok would overtake its main competitor, Nike, in two years. To fulfill this promise, he did not threaten or bribe the people who worked for him. He motivated his employees by showing them that he was willing to take risks, encouraging them to take risks as well.

He told them that he would do whatever it took to reach this goal. He then followed through on that promise by spending the money to build an innovative product development program and hiring the world’s top sports figures as spokespeople. Fireman talked and walked the new Reebok vision 24 hours a day.

Fireman said this: “You need to build an enrollment. I don’t think you can dictate that to people. I don’t think you can tell people to go, march, do this. You’ve got to make them want to ride along. It’s a leader’s job to foster those feelings. We are in this together. We are part of a team.”

Leaders who lead by example are courageous. You can recognize courageous leaders by looking for these characteristics and behaviors:

* They provide information and encourage their employees to make decisions that they support and they do not take credit for the employees’ successful ideas.
* They are continually coaching, providing honest, direct feedback, and supporting their employees. Under these circumstances, employees will build skills and, therefore, rely less on the leader.
* They empower employees and provide opportunities for greater responsibility.
* They recognize employees’ problem-solving actions and encourage risk-taking, rewarding the employee for the effort as well as the results.
* They face conflict and confrontation on tough issues and fight the right battles for employees, customers and the organization.
* They do what they say they will do.

Great listening skills characterize leaders who lead by example. This is different than saying these leaders have an open-door policy. What it means is that these leaders are willing to listen to employees’ concerns and ideas and seriously consider implementing their ideas whenever possible. They also take complaints seriously and take the time to investigate claims of ill treatment or inappropriate behaviors on the part of other leaders.

In today’s business world, there are many distractions. Consider this example: An employee comes into your office and states that they need to speak to you. Immediately, you know it’s serious. You try to do all of the right things. You put down your pen, put your phone on forward and give the employee your attention. Yet, it is hard to ignore the ding of e-mail that just arrived. The phone rings three times before switching to voice mail. Others pop their heads in periodically to ask a quick question. You hear an argument in the hall. How do you turn all of it off? It is not easy, but David DeNotaris, a blind motivational speaker, has some advice.

Since he does not have the advantage of observing body language and facial expressions while listening, he has learned to listen, as he says, “like a blind man.” In other words, he believes that everyone can learn to listen with the heart rather than the head.

“When you are listening with your head,” says DeNotaris, “you’re collecting facts and thinking, ‘I’d better prepare something to say when this person is done speaking.’ But when you listen with the heart, you show interest in the other person’s feelings – not your own reputation. You find out what the other person wants and needs and then you can speak in a way that meets those needs.”

Learning to be a leader who leads by example is not an easy task, especially with the distractions and stress of the business environment today. Many times in coaching sessions, leaders have told us they do not have any idea where to start. Try these quick activities to identify the characteristics of a person who leads by example.

Leaders who lead by example are mentors, willing to give of themselves to promote the growth and development of others. These leaders get to know their employees and build relationships that last a lifetime. They learn employees’ names, know about their families, and take the time to understand what motivates and inspires them. Most importantly, they practice the behaviors that motivate and inspire others. These leaders demonstrate strong ethics and moral behavior in their business and personal life.

In short, leaders who lead by example are the leaders who are competent and drive business results for the organization while building relationships with employees, customers and vendors. These are the most effective people in an organization. Unfortunately, these are also the most difficult people to find. When you find one, you must do whatever it takes to keep them in the organization, for they will take your business to the new heights.

Are you a leader or are a manager? Part 1

Before delving into the topic of Leadership Example, it is helpful to define leaders and leadership. Beginning with the root word of lead, Webster’s Dictionary defines lead as “to guide and conduct; to govern; to precede.” Also from Webster’s, a leader is defined as “one who leads; a guide; a captain; a head of party.” In contrast, the definition of manage is “to wield; to direct; to conduct or minister; to have under command; to treat with judgment.” Simply put: Managers manage processes, and leaders inspire and motivate others to accomplish goals.
Ask yourself, which definition applies to you?
Are you a leader or a manager?
Which would you rather be?

Great leaders lead by example, demonstrating their values through their actions. These leaders build relationships by mentoring and providing guidance, creating cohesive teams and earning the loyalty of their employees.

There are many mangers in organizations across the country, yet very few leaders. How does this happen? It happens because most organizations still use an old, outdated method for hiring into and promoting people from within the organization. That method is to choose people who are very good at what they do, without consideration as to whether or not they can motivate and inspire people.

Managers are tactical, hands-on personalities. There is no argument that managers can achieve results. However, the results are almost always short-term results. People will do what they are told for many reasons; some of those reasons are fear of losing one’s job, lack of education or experience making him or her unwilling to argue (even if they feel the manager is wrong), or apathy toward the company and its goals.

Leaders provide guidance. They motivate and inspire people to take action. In this way, leaders achieve long-term results through a productive, happy workforce. There are many strategies used by leaders to achieve these results. The behavior that has the most powerful impact on employees, customers and vendors is leading by example. ----- to be continue

The value of mentoring in enhancing work

Mentorship refers to a personal developmental relationship in which a more experienced or more knowledgeable person helps a less experienced or less knowledgeable person. The receiver of mentorship was traditionally referred to as a protégé, or apprentice. Today, the term mentee is gaining acceptance and is becoming widely used.

There are several definitions of mentoring. Foremost, mentoring involves communication and is relationship based. In the organizational setting, mentoring can take many forms. The formal definition that best describes mentoring is as follows:

“Mentoring is a process for the informal transmission of knowledge, social capital and the psychosocial support perceived by the recipient as relevant to work, career or professional development; mentoring entails informal communication, usually face-to-face and during a sustained period of time, between a person who is perceived to have greater relevant knowledge, wisdom or experience (the mentor) and a person who is perceived to have less (the protégé or mentee).” (Bozeman, Feeney, 2007)

Organizations have started to see the value of mentoring for enhancing work life, performance, commitment and job satisfaction. When mentoring is implemented successfully, there are measurable improvements in employee performance, retention, employee commitment to the organization, knowledge sharing, leadership growth and succession planning.

A mentor is a person who gives another person the benefit of his or her years of experience and/or education. This is experience that is shared in such a way that the mentor helps to develop a mentee’s skills and abilities, benefiting the mentee and the organization.

A good mentoring relationship is identified by the willingness and capability of both parties to ask questions, challenge assumptions and disagree. It’s important to note that there’s no one way to mentor. Every mentoring relationship is as unique as the individuals involved.

The mentor is far less likely to have a direct-line relationship with the mentee, and in a mentoring relationship this distance is desirable. Mentoring is rarely a critical part of an individual’s job role, but rather an extra element that rewards the mentor with fresh thinking as well as the opportunity to transfer knowledge and experience to a less experienced colleague, peer or employee.

Reviewing Performance

Finally, Reviewing Performance is last step of Performance Management Process to learn. It builds from the previous steps of setting goals for success and coaching for performance. Generally, the manager needs to summarize observations for each goal and explain ratings. Reviews can occur at scheduled intervals in the appraisal or development cycle and / or in response to changes to the business or member’s performance. The moral behind this understanding is that if the manager has provided feedback and coaching regularly, there should be no surprises at reviews.

The characteristic of good reviews should be consistent with the goals and measurements agreed on in the goal-setting discussion. Good reviews can motivate future performance and increase of satisfaction.

In the reviewing discussion section, the SMART and COACH process still can apply here. I learned that manager shall provide positive and constructive examples and connect comments to the member’s fulfillment. Two way communication skills should use to reach mutual agreement. The managers should handle challenge, in the case of disagree with members, by supporting ratings with documented examples and explaining evaluation criteria. Vice versa members should play his or her role before, during, and after the review discussions to have a fruitful Performance Process.

Roles of a manager

Here I would like to show how the managers demonstrate the role in order to effectively achieve goals, develop people, and evaluate members in a fair manner.

There are 4 important roles that a manager shall be played in effectively carry out his/her duty:
As a leader, is concern about both productivity and fulfillment of those who work for his or her members.
As a supervisor, the manager is responsible for seeing that the business of the work unit runs smoothly, the managers provide resources, remove obstacles and generally make it as easy as possible for members to complete their tasks.
As a developer, to provide for members growth-both professionally and personally in a way that meets the needs of the organization and the member.
And lastly as an expert, to demonstrate his or her expertise in order to model the way to others.

Beside knowing the role of manager, manager shall identify these roles in his or her members so that the work flow and information will be cascade down to all members smoothly. With the identifying of position, also we would know how to properly identify the lacking area and inject the correct solutions.

In the later part ,i would like to show how essential that the line management to be identified as either Leader, Developer, Expert or Supervisor as in the company, department or individual level.