3 Traits for Success

Written by Bill Phillips


The other day I was conducting a group interview at one of my off-line businesses. I was addressing about 15 applicants for an office position and going overrepparttar three basic character traits that I require. I've talked about these same principles with every applicant since I started hiring help for my businesses in 1976 and have since hired hundreds of people. I have hired and worked people of virtually all types: men; women; gay; straight; various races and religions; tall; short; skinny; fat. See, to me, it's not any of that. It'srepparttar 106308 character and heart of an individual that matters. As I explained to them, these 3 traits are not only what I require of employees, but what I look for in anyone I associate with, whether they are vendors, advisors or friends. As are most values, these were taught to me at an early age by my parents. They are:

Honesty-Dependability-Attitude

Honesty-I only want to deal with honest people and I’m not just talking about stealing. I mean people who, if you ask them a question, they will tell yourepparttar 106309 truth-good-bad-or ugly! And sometimes it isn’t only what you say that is dishonest, it is what you don’t say. My dad always said that lying wasrepparttar 106310 same as stealing and aside fromrepparttar 106311 fibs we tell for politeness (that was a good dinner Mrs. Jones), I believe he was right.

Honesty in your business is a major key to long term success!!

Dependability-I was raised in a successful family business and started working onrepparttar 106312 payroll when I was twelve. In my family, you didn’t miss school or work unless you were too sick to get out of bed. Otherwise, you dragged yourself in and hoped some- body would have mercy and send you home.

I was also taught to always arrive at least 10 minutes early for any scheduled event. There was no "fashionably late" to my dad. Of courserepparttar 106313 result has been countless hours of waiting on other people throughout my life and beingrepparttar 106314 first to arrive at parties.

Very few people today are that dependable and even fewer young people and kids are being taught these lessons. I call being habitually late and/or no showing, "The Silent Killers", because very few customers or friends will tell you that being undepend- able is why they no longer associate or do business with you!

How To Offer Individual Praise Without Undermining Team Efforts

Written by Carole Nicolaides


by Carole Nicolaides © 2002 http://www.progressiveleadership.com

A lot of discussions lately are centered around teamwork and leadership. This is especially an issue after allrepparttar leadership scandals that have been brought to light in corporate America this past year. Due to major layoffs, andrepparttar 106307 loss of exceptional brainpower, there is a huge need for leaders who possess both a heart and a sound knowledge base atrepparttar 106308 same time. The quest is on! Leadership books outsold all books this summer giving us great insight intorepparttar 106309 challenges of companies aroundrepparttar 106310 world.

So where do you start when creating a great leader? Everybody seems to start with teamwork. Teamwork will lead to excellence, which will eventually translate into better company results. But common approaches to teamwork are lacking. It’s time for a little innovation! Let’s focus on an approach that happens to shock a few people. An approach that is quite different than what management gurus have been preaching forrepparttar 106311 past 15 years.

If we want people to be good at what they do, love their work, and be proud that they belong to something bigger than themselves, we need to change our traditional management thinking. We, as leaders, need to remind ourselves that people are people and individualism is by no means dead. People still crave individual praise.

I admit as a leader you are walking a fine line between honoring individualism and cultivating teamwork, yetrepparttar 106312 bottom line is that it can be done. In fact, it MUST be done if you want to recharge your employee’s creative batteries. People’s morale, faith and most importantly loyalty are so low these days. As a leader, you need to use a variety of motivational, and inspirational tactics if you want them to feel self-confident. Without this, you can be sure that they will not leverage all their potential.

Contrary to some beliefs, individual attention will by no means jeopardize your work in building an effective team. Think of it as an opportunity to embrace and inspire individualism without sacrificingrepparttar 106313 collective effort. Every one of your people is good at something. Find that “something” and allow them to shine through it.

How do you walk that fine line between teamwork and individual praise? Here are a few ideas that you can implement immediately.

§Acknowledge that everyone has an ego. People need praise. This is a proven fact. But how do you “stroke” someone’s ego without destroying your team? Offer individual praise based on each employee’s contribution torepparttar 106314 team. As you speak casually with your team members, look for opportunities to offer accolades. An example would be, “Ellen, you amaze me! Your organizational skills are simply excellent. I don’t know where our team would be without your contributions.” Another way would be to publicly acknowledge each team member in meetings. Whenrepparttar 106315 team reaches a goal, praiserepparttar 106316 team as a whole first then offer a brief statement of how each person’s individual contributions played a vital role inrepparttar 106317 team’s success. In this way, you can boost an individual’s ego without diminishingrepparttar 106318 team effort.

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