Tip: Managing Teams

Last month we provided a few tips on successful teleworking.  Here are some key tips on Managing Teams.

  1. Train your team. While you may feel that your employees should know their job, training your employees for working on a team will help build successful teams.
  2. Keep your team focused. Putting a team together, and then not following up on their progress is asking for trouble. Instead, install a project management system or some type of follow-up plan that allows you to keep the team focused and on task. Your time will be well-spent; your team will be successful.
  3. Create a timeline. What is your vision? Working with the team, create quarterly touch points. Breaking a project down by quarters makes it easier to reach intermittent goals – assuring success for the overall project.

If you would like more information on Development issues, including Teamwork and Management, please give LMJA Associates a call at 301-670-0051 or email us at Leah@LMJA.com.

Successful Teleworking Tips

Successful Teleworking

Women Analyzing DataIn order for Teleworking to be successful, there should be a plan. When there is, it’s obvious that the agency wants it to work. Certainly, they don’t want telework to negatively impact careers. We uncovered a few tips for successful teleworking.

  1. Keep your work relationships intact. Touch base with your team members often. Reschedule your commuting days as needed. Get feedback weekly from your supervisor. And make sure he/she knows your career goals.
  2. Keep your career on track. Make the important meetings, even if it means changing your schedule. Be flexible. And review your emails – be sure they are tactful and diplomatic. Update your status often and take credit when it’s appropriate. Be clear about your career goals.
  3. Set rules. It’s easy to be too available at home. It’s up to you to set work hours, when and how you can be interrupted and what areas are off-limits. And while you’re setting rules, make a schedule and stick to it. When you telework, it’s easy to slack off without thinking, or you can become a workaholic. Neither option is good. Balancing your work and home life, as much as you can, will make you happier and more productive. And your telework plan will be successful.

In a report to the Congress on the status of telework in the Federal Government, efforts to promote telework were reported. READ MORE on the effectiveness of agency-wide telework efforts.

Teleworking: Report To Congress

In a report to the Congress on the status of telework in the Federal Government, efforts to promote telework were reported. As a rule, agencies are tasked with promoting telework efforts. Each agency has the opportunity to select from a list of efforts, as well as to detail the specific nature of these efforts. You can see below that emphasizing telework as a part of COOP is the most commonly selected option. Many agencies also made use of agency-wide techniques such as emails and meeting to advocate for telework. See below for more information.

photodune-9519624-telework-word-cloud-concept-s

Agency Management Efforts to Promote Telework in 2011 and 2012**
In what ways has your agency’s management promoted your telework program No. of agencies in 2011 No. of agencies in 2012
Aligns telework with agency strategic goals and mission 35 41
Advocates telework in agency-wide meetings (e.g., all-hands meetings) 45 46
Uses telework goal-setting and measurement hold managers accountable 12 15
Emphasizes telework as part of COOP (Continuity of Operations Plan) events 66 68
Conducts special telework events (e.g., telework awareness weeks, telework drills) 26 32
Transmits agency-wide emails of support 40 43
Develops signs/posters 13 16
Other 25 32
Our agency has not taken action to specifically promote telework in the past year 10 9

 ** This information was taken from the United States Office of Personnel Management Report on the “Status of Telework in the Federal Government.”

Can Strategic Planning Make Your Job Easier?

strategy cycle illustration designMention Strategic Planning in a meeting and you’re liable to hear lots of groans! For many companies and organizations, strategic planning involves weeks of research, competitive analysis, meetings, budgeting and planning. Besides all that work, strategic planning conjures up the idea that we have to KNOW the future. Or at least take a good guess. Good luck with that. Besides the fear of making the wrong decision, thinking too far in the future just isn’t practical anymore. Thanks to technology and the world we live in, most businesses see so much change that they are revising their strategic plans every 18 months. So, what if you just plan for the year? Make it simple. Here’s how.

First, Analyze. What has worked in the past? What has not worked? Are your employees fully trained? What areas of expertise are lacking? Decide what your strategy is for the year.

Focus on the issues at hand. What are the initiatives in your area that will have the most impact on the organization as a whole? These are the ones you want to focus on. Do your employees have the expertise to carry out the initiatives as planned? Can your area be more productive given more expertise?

Start with the end in mind. Where do you want to be by December 2015? If you know what progress needs to be made, it’s easier to schedule check points throughout the year.

Make a check list. Assuming there are goals for the department and the individual employees, make a list of what needs to be accomplished. Incorporate change management and leadership development training to transform your area to a higher performing organization.

Schedule it. Work it out on paper. What is the initiative? What results are you expecting? And what tools are needed to get there? When you break it down bit by bit, you’ll recognize whether or not your plan is feasible.

Review performance. Meet quarterly, or more often if necessary, to make sure the initiative hasn’t hit a roadblock. Don’t assume that you’ll know when that happens. Too often, organizations learn in September or October that the initiative they thought was humming along, hit a roadblock in June. Now, months have gone by without progress.

Keep it simple. You can tackle a lot, and be disappointed in your results. Or you can take the top issues and get results. Your goal is to get results, so that the next year, you can focus on other issues.

Need some help with starting or updating a strategic plan? Leadership development? Dealing with communication and conflict within teams? We can help. Give Leah M. Joppy & Associates a call at 301-670-0051 or email us at leah@lmja.com – we’d love to help.

Try our tip. Read on for an easy tip to keep you focused on your strategy and get results!

Tip: Divide By Twelve!

CalendarLooking at the entire year and what you hope to accomplish can sometimes be daunting. But what if you broke it down into twelve months? You can stay on track easier, you can see quickly when you are behind schedule, and you can correct problems by adding the right tools to keep you on target. Here’s an example:

  • Create a spreadsheet with twelve columns. Each column is labeled with a month of the year. We highly recommend using a Work Plan White Board, ‘strategically’ placed in an area within your office so everyone can see their individual progress and how it is aligning with their colleagues progress. Having this information readily available for all to see will head off any potential problems and minimize obstacles.
  • The first worksheet is given the name of the first initiative.
  • Then think of the year in terms of the initiative. You know where you want to be by December, so break it down. What are the steps you need to take to get to the end result? Schedule these for the appropriate months. You can even list the person who has responsibility for each phase of the initiative.
  • Remember to add in reinforcement or follow up – check points on the calendar keep initiatives from slipping. What are the expected results you will see during the year?

Tackling each initiative this way makes it easier to accomplish your plan. You can assign responsibilities. Add reinforcement when necessary. And schedule additional training as needed. Along the way, everyone has a feeling of accomplishment as tasks are finalized and progress is visible.