That clutter on your desk is nothing more than procrastination on your part. You've decided to ignore it. Push it aside. Pretend that it's not really hurting your productivity, even though you know you could work more efficiently if your desk was clean and organized. The same goes for the mental clutter you keep caring around, and you have at least a little. After all, you … [Read more...]
5 Tips to Rein In Workplace Stress
Workplace stress is a productivity killer. When stress is overwhelming, employees miss more days of work (either due to actual sickness or because they need a mental break). Conflict is higher, while collaboration sinks. Overall job satisfaction suffers, and if the stress is consistent, turnover skyrockets. The opinion that "stress comes with the territory" won't serve you … [Read more...]
Work-Life Balance is More Than Just a Cliché
Hopefully, you found time this weekend to relax, have some fun, spend time doing something you love, and re-energize before this week started. I talk about the importance of relaxation often on this blog, because I think it is critical to leaders' success, especially new leaders who likely are feeling a totally different set of pressures than their more tenured … [Read more...]
Boost Spirits and Protect Productivity This Holiday Season
This time of year is filled with fun, traditions and joy. However, it can also be filled with stress. A packed schedule, bad weather, financial worries and other issues can leave people feeling overwhelmed. Added pressures in the office can push people to the brink. After all, many of your employees are working hard to finish the year strong and ramp up for next year, while … [Read more...]
7 Tips to Celebrate Your Team’s Progress
Celebration is often a challenging topic for leaders. They wonder if they should celebrate and when it's appropriate to do so. You tend to see two extremes: Those who don't celebrate anything because employees "already know they are succeeding so why waste time celebrating?" and those who celebrate every-single-thing along the way. The best solution (as is the often the … [Read more...]
Write an Agenda That Does What it’s Supposed to Do
We’ve all walked out of a meeting and thought “Wow, that was a waste of time.” Perhaps the meeting had no clear purpose, the participants strayed off topic or the issues weren’t adequately resolved. It's incredibly frustrating because it eats up time most of us don't have. What's even more frustrating is that those time-wasting experiences can usually be avoided if the guys … [Read more...]
Prioritization Means Choosing What Problems Not to Solve
This is a guest post by Nat Greene, author of Stop Guessing: The 9 Behaviors of Great Problem-Solvers Business leaders face a constant burden in their organizations: They have too many problems to solve and not enough resources to solve all of them. A good prioritization system is critical for any business leader, and our relationship with it often resembles a car. When … [Read more...]
[Infographic]: 11 Ineffective Leadership Styles
Our goal on the Bud to Boss blog is to share advice you can use to manage your employees in a way that maximizes their (and your) potential. At times, we have to take a deep dive into the types of behaviors that hurt their (and your) chances of success. This post is one of those. This infographic, put together by the folks at Colonial Life, details some of the worst leadership … [Read more...]
[Infographic]: Management Tips from Old St. Nick
You can learn a lot from the jolly man in the red suit. Check out this fun infographic from the folks over at Taskworld to learn some tricks of the trade from arguably December's hardest working and most productive man. … [Read more...]
Make the Next 37 Days Count!
It is November 25. There are 37 days left in 2016. However, it seems that once Thanksgiving arrives, many people act as if the year is over. You know, there is the shopping, the parties, and the events. Many people have days off for the holidays, and others use up their remaining vacation time before they lose it.Even when we are at work on days like today, Christmas Eve and … [Read more...]