Here are two favorites: bodies and people. As a young manager, I was jolted every time I heard another manager talking about how many "bodies" they needed, or putting "butts in seats." Later, I learned many of those managers struggled with departmental morale problems. I could understand why if they saw people as interchangeable pieces to a puzzle rather than individuals playing an important role in their departments.

I realized words I use to think and talk about my workload, my goals, my projects and people I worked with influenced my thoughts and actions about them. So, I changed my words. If I say I work "for" someone I have a different vision about my work-life than if I work "with" them; same with my staff working with, not for me.

Poorly chosen words can kill enthusiasm, impact self-esteem, lower expectations and hold people back. Well chosen ones can motivate, offer hope, create vision, impact thinking and alter results. I learned in twenty years in management my words have power over my thoughts and actions. They also impact and influence people I speak them to.

If you want to be winning at working, learn to harness your word power to work for, not against you; select words that create a visual of desired outcome; and choose each word as if it mattered. You might be surprised how much it does. Want better results? Check your words.

(c) 2004 Nan S. Russell. All rights reserved.

Profit from Experience

To be effective, procedures must be action oriented, grammatically correct, and written in a consistent style and format to ensure usability. These guidelines, along with industry "best practices" that are documented in auditable criteria, can be used to improve your procedures:

1.Context. Actions must properly describe activity to be performed. 2.Consistency. All references and terms are used same way every time, and procedure must ensure consistent results. 3.Completeness. There must be no information, logic, or design gaps. 4.Control. The document and its described actions demonstrate feedback and control. 5.Compliance. All actions are sufficient for their intended compliance. 6.Correctness. The document must be grammatically correct without spelling errors. 7.Clarity. Documents must be easy to read and understandable.

Quickly Improve Your Policies and Procedures without Hassle

You can quickly resolve these usability problems and improve performance, and also upgrade your documentation to "best practice" standards without hassles or commitments. By beginning to improve your documents, you will be able to identify areas for improvement. And you can start today with 7 Cs of “best practices”.