Image: Cartoon Coffee Break – Terry LaBan (Creative Commons)
Month: February 2019
“A revolution is a struggle to the death between the future and the past.”
Sometimes it feels like there’s just way too much to do and too little time. There are many helpful productivity and time-management tips, but, according to this article, the most powerful one is the art of saying no. But how to say no?
Here are three simple guidelines that might just make your life easier:
1. Don’t respond immediately.
When you are asked to do something that isn’t a part of your primary focus, simply tell the person that you will get back to them.
2. Consider creative solutions.
When someone comes to you with a request that you would like to fulfill but it would put a crimp in your schedule, think about giving them a partial yes, or offer another solution.
3. Keep it simple: Never overexplain or apologize profusely.
You do not have to apologize for doing what’s right for you and your business. If you are kind in your response and offer a few very simple words of explanation, most people will respect you for it.
“There is a hidden message in every waterfall. It says, if you are flexible, falling will not hurt you!”
Image: Flickr – Didier Jansen (CC BY-NC 2.0)
In this TED Talk, Regina Hartley, human resources expert, explains that many successful business people had experienced early hardships, anywhere from poverty, abandonment, death of a parent while young, to learning disabilities, alcoholism and violence.
While the conventional thinking has been that trauma leads to distress, during studies of dysfunction, data revealed an unexpected insight: that even the worst circumstances can result in growth and transformation. Such a remarkable and counterintuitive phenomenon was called Post Traumatic Growth.
What is remarkable, among those who experience post traumatic growth, is that they embraced their trauma and hardships as key elements of who they have become, and know that without those experiences, they might not have developed the muscle and grit required to become successful.
At the and, experts suggest us to always choose the underestimated contender, whose secret weapons are passion and purpose.
Here is the complete TED Talk.
Image: Flickr –Paul Miller (CC BY 2.0)
Effective teamwork is both profoundly simple and difficult at the same time. It’s not always the task at hand that challenges teams in their progress, it’s the relationships and the little things that happen day-to-day. According to this article, teams have basic needs that must be acknowledged and fulfilled if you expect your teams to experience their greatest success.
The following ten tips describe the environment that must occur within the team for successful teamwork to take place:
- The team understands the goals and is committed to attaining them. This clear direction and agreement on mission and purpose is essential for effective teamwork.
- Team members trust each other. The team creates an environment in which people are comfortable taking reasonable risks in communicating, advocating positions, and taking action.
- Communication is open, honest, and respectful. People feel free to express their thoughts, opinions, and potential solutions to problems.
- Team members have a strong sense of belonging to the group. They experience a deep commitment to the group’s decisions and actions.
- Team members are viewed as unique people with irreplaceable experiences, points of view, knowledge, and opinions to contribute.
- Creativity, innovation, and different viewpoints are expected and encouraged.
- The team is able to constantly examine itself and continuously improve its processes, practices, and the interaction of team members. The team openly discusses team norms and what may be hindering its ability to move forward and progress in areas of effort, talent, and strategy.
- The team has agreed upon procedures for diagnosing, analyzing, and resolving teamwork problems and conflicts. The team does not support member personality conflicts and clashes nor do team members pick sides in a disagreement.
- Participative leadership is practiced in leading meetings, assigning tasks, recording decisions and commitments, assessing progress, holding team members accountable, and providing direction for the team.
- Members of the team make high quality decisions together and have the support and commitment of the group to carry out the decisions made.
Imagine: Flickr – U.S. Pacific Fleet (CC BY-NC 2.0)
“If you pick up a starving dog and make him prosperous he will not bite you. This is the principal difference between a dog and man.”
Image: Flickr – Agustín García (CC BY-ND 2.0)
The Diplo calendar 2019 realized by Stefano Baldi presents a selection of quotes for better living and better working.
All the quotes are about animals and their behaviours, their instincts and the complexity of their social dynamics.
Here is the selected quotation for the month of February
Trust in God,
but tie your camelMuslim Proverb
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