Many people spend hours glued to the television watching the spectacular efforts of the participants at the Olympics.  The fierce competition includes cheating, occasionally.  It made me begin to consider the competition that occurs in the workplace.

Competition in the workplace can be positive.  Think of it this way.  Employees become a team with a common goal to win and maintain clients.  The importance of individual performances becomes evident when the whole team wins.

Negative competition in the workplace occurs when the team doesn’t cooperate.  Individuals pit themselves against each other, causing the team to lose.

The Coach

Consider yourself, as owner and CEO, to be the coach.  Your method of coaching determines whether or not your team wins or loses.  Every group of people consists of those with hidden agendas and differing ways of working with others.  As coach, you must make the decisions that turn the individuals into a winning team.  Coach your employees in such a way that they want to be a winning team.

Personalities

Every coach appreciates how important it is to know and understand the different personalities on his team.  Some of those personalities may be grouped into categories, such as:

• The High Jumper: This person always jumps ahead of others for the best assignments.  This aggressive personality causes the rest of the team to stop trying.
• The Handball Player:  Able to hide their actions well, this person causes adverse effects on the team.  They make unkind or sarcastic comments to others and about others. They also dodge guilt by throwing blame at other team members.
• The Basketball Player:  Good at passing off their responsibilities, this team member rarely completes assigned tasks.  They allow the rest of the team to carry them, causing other team members to follow suit and drop the ball.  Failure is eminent when this player controls the situation.

Solving the Issues

Do you need help identifying the personalities holding your team back?  Could you use advice and help learning new ways to solve conflicts?  Don Swift of Don Swift and Associates guides you through the issues and offers assistance in Human Resources.

Don Swift has the experience and expertise to help you identify the personalities of the players on your team and to bring out the best in them.  Wait no longer!  Don Swift and Associates provides all you need for coaching your winning team.

Call Don Swift and Associates today at 940-228-0550.

In many areas of business, research shows that women at work receive an average of 4% less pay than men.  Many times, they get passed over for promotions.  Why is that?  If you don’t treat women at work fairly, then your business could suffer dire results.

Women at Work

One study suggests that women unhappy with situations in their workplace just “suck it up.” The study sited one reason for this lack of action. Women fear being fired, and they usually cannot afford to lose their job.  If your company doesn’t promote women worthy of a task, then you hold your own company back and lose money.

Are women being treated fairly in your company?  Do they face sexual harassment or abuse?  Do you promote them if they deserve it?  Pay close attention to your managers and other employees.  Be aware of workforce situations.

Consequences

If you ignore the women in your workforce, then you lose an opportunity to capture a fantastic talent pool.  Women usually think better, are more harmonious, and apply better decision-making skills than most men.

Women don’t stay when they feel unfairly treated. Therefore, you lose quality staff.  You could face a sexual harassment or discrimination case.  The costs associated with these include embarrassment in the marketplace, legal costs, and settlements.

Improve

Never be afraid to make a change.  Pay attention to developments within your company.  See employees by their talents and work ethic.  If you re-organize, then you’ll find that by running your business better, your employees and customers are more satisfied.

If you need help with organization, then you need a human resource expert, Don Swift and Associates.

Don Swift and Associates

Don Swift and Associates provides human resources services to small- and medium-sized companies throughout Texas.  Centered in Wichita Falls, the company offers a full range of economical and efficient services to improve your business.  Some of their business services include:

• Life coaching
• Developing and managing human resource policies and procedures.
• Mediation and Negotiations
• Developing best practices throughout organizations
• Human Resource problem analysis and solutions
• Investigation of Human Resource complaints
• Establishment of Anti-Harassment Policies

Don’t just treat women at work fairly.  Offer fairness and quality employment to everyone who works for you.

Call Don Swift and Associates at 940-228-0550.

Money motivates employees, doesn’t breed success for long.  Successful business owners motivate employees daily with using money as a motivator.  Don Swift, an HR Consultant suggests several different motivational means that don’t cost money.

Who is Don Swift?

Don Swift is a human resource professional in Wichita Falls, Texas.  He services extend to companies and organizations in the Texoma area as well as in Houston and Dallas/Fort Worth.  He possesses more than 25 years of practical and professional experience.  Don’s HR skills includes his registration as a life coach.  Many businesses use Don’s expertise for HR development, mediation, and training.

Motivation without Money

Don outlined seven ideas any business owner or manager can use to motivate employees without money:

1. Supportive Leadership
2. Supply clear, concise instructions and support to employees.  If you work in close collaboration with employees, then you build trust.  Employees know you appreciate them and become satisfied.
4. Empower Your Employees
5. Show trust to receive trust.  If you empower your employees, then you reap the benefits.  If they know you value them, then they value the business.
7. Provide a Positive Environment
8. Make your business a safe, happy place to work.  If the employees are happy, then the customers are happy.
10. Develop Teamwork
11. Provide opportunities for employees to work together to share the load.  Many good ideas result from people working together.
13. Reward Others
    
14. Recognize good ideas and extra work, or any other activity.  The reward could be any extra award from candy or flowers to gift cards or free lunch.  Also, don’t just reward individuals, reward the group.
16. Observe Boredom
17. If you want to keep boredom at bay, then give employees the opportunity to be inventive and to brainstorm with others.
19. Be Aware of Dissatisfaction
20. Dissatisfied employees leads to unhappy customers.  If you stay involved with your employees, then you create an environment that eliminates dissatisfaction.  You don’t have to be friends, but you do need to be friendly.

Call Don Swift

Don Swift takes an objective look at your organization and identifies opportunities you may be missing.  He offers his knowledge and guidance at an affordable monthly rate.  Don provides help with any of your HR issues, including motivation.

Call Don Swift at 940-228-0550 or check out his Website by Clicking Here

For two weeks I glued my eyes to the television watching the spectacular efforts of the participants at the Olympics.  Because of the fierce competition, some contenders decided to cheat.  The long, independent investigation made me think about games in the office.

Games in Your Office

Consider competition in the workplace as positive.  Employees make up the team with a common goal, winning.  While individual performances remain important, the entire team plays and wins.

Now consider negative competition in the workplace.  There may be a common goal, but the individuals don’t cooperate with each other and occasionally fight among themselves.  No one wins.

The Coach

The coach usually determines whether your team wins or loses.  If you win, then work continues.  However, if you lose, the business loses.

What Action Should be Taken?

Within any group of people, individuals may develop agendas of their own, differing objectives, or different ways of working with others.  As the coach you sort all this out and make decisions that turn individuals into a winning team.   You need a good Human Resource (HR) system.

Call a Human Resources Specialist.  If you own a business in the Wichita Falls, Texas area, then Don Swift and Associates offers the services you need.  Don’s experience and expertise as a life coach identifies the personalities of the players on the team.  Then he offers ideas geared to bringing out the best in them.

Personalities

The importance of understanding personalities may be seen in sports.  Every coach understands that to bring out the best in his players, he must first understand the player’s personality.  The same applies to the workplace team with these differences:

1. The High Jumper shows aggression. However, giving the best jobs to them comes at the expense of the rest of the team.
2. The Handball Player looks out for self and hides wrongful acts well. The truth remains hidden from the boss with an adverse effect on the whole team.
3. The Basketball Player shows no interest in the end result and passes responsibilities off to others. This personality type appears as the weakest link, but may be difficult to discover.

What Approach Should You Take?

Do you need to identify which personalities hold your team back or learn new ways to solve conflict? Don Swift’s many years of experience helps employees and employers become winning teams. He guides businesses through the HR process identifying personalities and solving conflict.  His life coaching skills helps your team develop strong competition. Call Don to redirect the games in your office.

Call Don Swift and Associates at 940-228-0550 or go to their website by clicking here for more information.

Every Respected Boss Has a Plan

After a discussion with a business owner, I discovered an important lesson about being a respected boss.  Respect must be earned.  Some bosses try to demand respect, but only become disliked by employees.  The business owner I spoke with couldn’t see that his employees actually treated him with disdain.

The discussion transpired into a lesson in business.  What actions earn respect? It seems every respected boss knows instinctively and has a plan.   A basic part of that plan reflects this saying:

Treat others the way you want to be treated.

For business owners, the saying should read, in order to gain respect, give respect.  Hence, treat your employees with respect, and they, in turn, treat you with respect.

Rules for a Respectful Workplace:

• Develop clear expectations agreed upon between workforce and management. A respected leader teaches supervisors the expected ways to communicate with coworkers.  If issues arise, the clearly defined expectations alleviate disruptions, so work continues.
• Provide adequate resources and equipment. If the management provides equipment and assures the safety of employees, then they feel valued.  The result of feeling valued?
• Opportunity to advance within the company with a clearly defined ladder of progress. If an employee knows he can advance, then his work ethic increases.
• Motivate and appreciate the work of the employees because to do so incorporates a win/win situation for both the workers and the management.

Many business exist today with no respect between management and workforce.  The rate of turn-over drives the cost of training far above what it should be.  Only one small act of kindness could improve attitudes and contentment.

What to Do About It?

If you own a business, then learn to recognize that lack of respect causes major loss to your organization.  The losses include money spent training new people and, also, lost productivity, thievery, or sabotage.

A human resource specialist would improve your situation as a business owner. I suggest Don Swift and Associates in the Wichita Falls, Texas area for an independent review of your organization.

Don’s many years of experience in human resource management brings a practical approach to your management.  He develops the parameters you need within your organization for dramatic improvements.

Call Don Swift and Associates at 940-228-0550.