Business Corner

Good managers keep these three things in mind

If you want to be a good manager, keep these three ideas in mind every day:

1. Be optimistic. It just doesn’t pay to expect things to go wrong. Keep your mind focused on your goal and keep moving toward it without letting doubts rule your decision making.
2. Pay attention to your feelings. Try to use your feelings as your guide, but don’t let them rule you. Respect your feelings and emotion, recognize them, shake their hands, but never let them have the baton or you’ll find yourself in situations where you feel out of control.
3. Always strive for self-awareness. When you get angry for instance, ask yourself why you are angry. Is it only about the situation at hand, or does it have more to do with your history, background or personality? Be honest about this with yourself. If you blow up at someone who doesn’t deserve it, then you will need to rectify the situation in an honorable way.
   

How to deal with the always-negative co-worker

Do you work with a Negative Nellie or Nick, someone who never has anything nice to say about anyone? What do you do when he or she approaches and attempts to pull you into his or her world of reasoning? Do you resist? That can take a lot of effort. Do you just go along with whatever the person is saying? That could bother your conscience later.
One of the best ways to handle Nellies or Nicks is to let them say whatever they have to say. Try not to judge it, and try not to fill in all the blank spaces or silence after he or she finishes saying whatever they want to say.
Give the person a little time to reflect on how he or she might sound. It’s important to do this in a kind way. By allowing a little silence to fall in the right place you can act as a mirror to the person and you can give the person a chance to see himself or herself and the behavior might just abate.

Reprinted from Central Vac Professional, April 2007