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Articles by Shona Garner

• 4 Common Mistakes Managers Make When it Comes to Giving Feedback
  If you’d love a team where people actually ask for feedback, take more individual responsibility for their performance and associate feedback with helpful emotions rather than unhelpful, then it starts by setting the example of how you want things to be.
  Published 02Aug2010, viewed 180 times

• Simple Techniques to Help Managers Keep Their Staff Loyalty
  As a practising manager myself, as well as a trainer and coach for other managers, losing even one good member of staff represents not just forking out a considerable sum of money to advertise, recruit and train any new staff, but a considerable amount of time and hassle for me, whilst I try to keep my eyes on the ball in terms of sales and customer satisfaction.
  Published 29Jul2010, viewed 225 times

• 9 Reasons Most Staff Engagement Surveys Don’t Work – And Some Tips To Get Them Right!
  Those of you who have known me a while, and certainly for those of you who have attended my workshops on how to effectively motivate and engage your staff, you’ll know I believe there are some simple rules and simple techniques that are absolutely critical to more effectively motivating and engaging our staff.
  Published 13Jul2010, viewed 128 times

• Becoming A Confident Manager: 5 Tips To Help You Become More Confident In Any Situation
  For the new manager, being thrust into suddenly having responsibility for achieving through others can feel daunting, intimidating or overwhelming. (Particularly when some of those “others” may be people you used to work alongside).
  Published 10Jul2010, viewed 358 times

• How Do I Give Constructive Feedback Without De-Motivating Someone?
  “How do I criticise someone’s performance without de-motivating them or harming the relationship I have with them?” Whether you have been managing for 6 days, 6 months or 16 years this may still be something you shy away from, feel uncomfortable about, or hate doing. In the category of “tricky conversations” this is, undoubtedly, in the top ten!
  Published 30Apr2010, viewed 163 times

• Talent Management – How Managers can Master the Art of Placing Square Pegs in Square Holes
  Have you ever managed someone who you felt was in the wrong job? What sort of problems did that cause for you? What sort of problems do you think the “miscast” individual was experiencing?
  Published 21Feb2010, viewed 170 times

• Five Common Mistakes Managers Can Make Which Kill Morale, Motivation And Engagement
  Even in good times a manager needs to maintain engagement and minimise complacency. When business is slow, or there's lots of internal change and pressure, a manager needs to know how to respond and work with their team in such a way as to keep people on board.
  Published 23Jan2010, viewed 150 times

• Talent Management - What Every Manager Needs To Know About Talent Before They Manage It!
  Some of the most exciting and robust research of the last three decades I believe has come from Gallup, who have made it their focus to study excellence in organisations; where it exists; how it manifests and what we can learn from it. After years of research and study into peak performance some interesting ideas have emerged which perhaps challenge some of our perceptions and beliefs about human talent and ability.
  Published 23Jan2010, viewed 437 times

• Creating Positive Corporate Culture Change – Why The Manager’s Role Is So Critical
  High performing companies do believe in agreeing values and behaviours; there’s often much time spent deliberating and agreeing what those standards are going to be; and even much time and energy into finding ways of communicating this across the whole organisation – which is great. You’re defining your corporate culture.
  Published 15Nov2009, viewed 286 times

• Emotional Intelligence And Leadership – Part Two
  We all do it sometimes: when we are under pressure we can often feel frustrated, upset, annoyed or some other such negative emotion. As a result, we may say or do things in a way which have a negative impact on others.
  Published 17Oct2009, viewed 278 times

• People skills training for managers - can you afford not to?
  As a coach, I know it's more about asking the right questions, to help you come up with better answers! So ask yourself what you can do to support your managers in the next 3 months and see what you come up with!
  Published 29Sep2009, viewed 182 times

• Why increasing your emotional intelligence will increase your success as a manager
  Getting the best out of people does not require the logic and reasoning of IQ. Getting the best out of people requires another form of intelligence entirely – what psychologists call EQ or emotional intelligence – and we all know emotions are generally anything but logical or rational!
  Published 29Sep2009, viewed 325 times

• How to manage change effectively
  A recent CIPD/ACAS report in June this year simply reinforced what I am finding in my own practice. As we find ourselves in the rather quiet period over the summer break, I'd like to share some of their findings because this is I think, quite a good time to reflect on and plan your strategy for the final quarter of 2009. You're busy, so for ease, I'll bullet some of the main points from the report which particularly struck a chord with me.
  Published 29Jul2009, viewed 217 times

• How managers can reduce gossip, politics, blame and moaning in their team
  Do you ever think if your staff put even half the same energy into more productive and focused discussion and behaviour you'd be getting a darned sight better results?
  Published 30May2009, viewed 228 times

• How To Select The Right Person For The Role 5 Top Tips For New Managers
  From your perspective as a manager, at best, this can cause tensions and lack of focus within the team and is almost certainly going to negatively impact overall performance - at worst, it can swallow up some of your already precious time, trying to sort out or find ways round the issue.
  Published 27Apr2009, viewed 273 times

• Can a Manager Create a Motivated, Conflict-free Team?
  I find managers often talk of feeling frustrated or uncertain about how to deal with conflict or apathy and underperfomance on their team. As a coach, it saddens me that, quite frequently, I'm brought in to coach someone where tension, conflict and disengagement have already reached quite serious levels, and are negatively impacting individual or wider team performance.
  Published 27Apr2009, viewed 268 times

• How Honing Four Critical Skills Can Make You A "Great" Manager"
  Your skills, knowledge, experience and talent have likely played a large part in helping you carve out your path up the promotion ladder, and you may well have your eyes on the higher rungs too.
  Published 27Apr2009, viewed 224 times

• How to Maintain Motivation through Unsettling Change
  As a manager you need to get good at motivating others - but never more so than when your staff might be worrying about their jobs, about restructuring or other major changes to their work.
  Published 20Feb2009, viewed 226 times

• What To Do When In-Fighting And Underlying Tensions Threaten The Stability And Performance Of Your T
  I hear managers raise this issue time and time again; what begins as an underlying tension between two or more of your team members, with covert "sniper" tactics, strained atmospheres, gossip mongering and occasional snide comments is turning into more open hostilities.
  Published 09Feb2009, viewed 252 times

• How to Successfully Manage a Difficult or "Bully" Boss
  In the last article I wrote, entitled "How to Successfully Manage your Boss", I gave four simple rules to help you build a good relationship with someone who could prove to be critical to both your job satisfaction, and your career prospects.
  Published 09Dec2008, viewed 256 times

• How to Successfully Manage your Boss (And increase your chances of promotion)
  Two critical skills which the highest performing managers have in spades are the ability to influence and persuade. The most obvious targets for your powers of persuasion are your team, and sometimes your peers in different departments;
  Published 22Nov2008, viewed 279 times

• Why Many Appraisals Don't Do What They Were Designed To Do
  'Tis the season for annual reviews! As end of year looms ever closer, and planning how to ensure hitting targets becomes a top priority, most managers and staff are being asked to also find the time to complete individual performance appraisals.
  Published 27Oct2008, viewed 253 times

• Why Managers with Great "Soft-Skills" are essential in "Hard Times"
  We are in a "credit crunch". Times are hard. It isn't the first time; and it won't be the last. People tighten their belts and do their best to weather the storm, and businesses focus an even more critical eye on their spending.
  Published 04Oct2008, viewed 281 times

• The 3 Secrets to Motivating your Team
  Shona Garner reveals 3 simple, but vital actions you need to take if you're to improve the teamwork and motivation of your employees.
  Published 06Sep2008, viewed 232 times

• Why the World's Highest Performing Managers Talk Less and Listen More.
  Shona Garner explains why, before you get on your soap box in your next meeting, or your next conversation with an employee, you should take some tips from the world's most successful managers, and you'll not only get better performance from your team, you'll make your own life easier in the process!
  Published 05Sep2008, viewed 239 times

• Are We Undervaluing Management Skills?
  There is much emphasis these days on leadership skills. Almost every organisation talks of the need to develop these; and almost every manager or aspiring manager is encouraged to develop them. But in the race to invest often huge sums of money and time into leadership development programmes, have we forgotten
  Published 14Aug2008, viewed 298 times

• Four Secrets to Pain-Free Performance Reviews
  Most of us, managers and staff alike, appreciate the value of monitoring peformance and encouraging development. However, sometimes, the whole appraisal process can become just another hoop to jump through, with laborious form filling, and a sense of "fait accompli" to the whole procedure.
  Published 26Jul2008, viewed 278 times

• Managing Under Performance of Bad Attitude: How To Avoid The First Five Traps Managers Can Fall Into
  Shona Garner reveals the reasons why the first action you should take when you are facing an underperformance issue is to examine your own approach to performance management. Learn the 5 mistakes every manager should avoid if they want to turn round a disengaged individual or team.
  Published 25Jul2008, viewed 336 times

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