Author: successdotinc

Setting up a home office

Once you’ve decided to telecommute, you need to ensure you’ll be able to work as productively offsite as you would in a traditional office environment. To do this, it’s important to set up a clearly defined area to work in — one that will help you stay focused and efficient.

Three main factors should guide you in setting up a home office:

• choosing the best possible location for the office,
• making efficient use of the office space that’s available, and
• incorporating the equipment you need to do your work.

Location

It’s crucial to consider where you should locate a home office. Psychologically and physically, it’s important that when it’s time to leave work, you can close the door on your work space.

For example, it’s not generally a good idea to use space in your bedroom as an office. Combining work and sleep in a single space can prevent you from creating a symbolic, or psychological, separation between your work and home life.

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Ownership of talent management

Having talent means being able to do something exceptionally well. But talent isn’t enough on its own. It requires the opportunity to practice and hone your skills, in an environment that enables you to do this. So managing talent is about giving people the opportunity to demonstrate and develop their talents, as well as directing and guiding these skills.

You should consider how the talent management process will be governed in an organization — in other words, who will be accountable for it. You might give ownership to the Human Resources Department but this could result in limited buy-in from other parts of the organization, as those departments might assume it’s something HR does in isolation.

A more effective approach could be for HR to put a process in place, making sure it’s consistent and fair. This process would have to be supported from the top of the organization and implemented by managers throughout the organization.

For an effective talent management process, there needs to be buy-in from the board down.

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People like to be valued. Surveying stakeholders is a great way to increase participation and get buy-in — especially when a big change is coming. When you ask for their input, you acknowledge the importance of their work, you acknowledge their ideas, and their opinions. You’ll see the big picture — the whole problem — not just what you can see from your own perspective.

Get an insight

As the saying goes, “The only constant in life is change.” It’s no different in business. But getting stakeholder buy-in is especially important when things are changing.

When people have long tenure or there’s great pride in the company’s history, asking their opinion can give you insight into how to solve a problem.

Find what is and is not wrong

Here are some best practices for communication to get stakeholders to provide input into a problem. First, ask questions about what is — and what isn’t — working. For example, “what’s going wrong?” “What’s your biggest headache?” “If you were to start over, what would you change?”

You also want to get an idea of what stakeholders see as the ideal state. Ask them, “What would things look like in a perfect world?”

The Intellectual Response

The workplace is full of triggers for anger. They include emotional pressure, complex relationships, diverse communication styles, and high-stakes risks and rewards.

Workplace anger is a normal and healthy reaction when circumstances are unjust, personal rights aren’t respected, promises are broken, or expectations aren’t met.

When people work together conflicts are inevitable, because we all have different emotional makeups, biases, business styles, expectations, and cultural norms.

While many people are good at recognizing what makes coworkers angry, they often fail to cope with their own triggers. This can lead to inappropriate behavior like outbursts, overreactions, misplaced blame, or excessive self-criticism.

But isn’t it good to just let it out? Why manage your anger?

Because when you express anger inappropriately you can do and say things that you’ll regret — you’ll hurt people’s feelings and cause long-lasting resentment

That can tarnish your reputation and professional image. So, it’s important to be aware of your own anger triggers and take steps to manage them.

You need a plan or strategy to manage your own anger. It can then be a tool for positive problem-solving and conflict resolution.

There are emotional and intellectual responses you can make to your own anger. The two emotional responses are: make yourself less susceptible to anger and recognize how to calm yourself down

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