time management Archives - Sharon M Weinstein

April 1, 2018 By Sharon Weinstein

Culture drives performance…engagement

Employees are unhappy at work, and companies are paying for it! Results matter and to survive and thrive in today’s economy, companies need an engaged workforce. The bottom line, in companies large and small, is a concern that can be managed through culture and hiring practices.

If you were to rewrite the future of your organization, what might that look like? What changes could you make in your company’s culture that would drive performance, enhance the bottom line, and generate an engaged workforce that ensures your success and theirs?

As a master of work/life balance, I’ve spoken and written about the impact of the environment on behavior, productivity, relationships, and yes- health! What I know is that CULTURE DRIVES PERFORMANCE…and a culture of success is the first step in communicating your goals, your vision, and your mission. Employees can and should be ambassadors for your organization; they will do so if you set expectations with them, communicate those expectations, and hold them accountable.

Reward your superstars by recognizing and cloning them. Author Seth Godin has often referenced past culture (follow instruction, be on time, work hard, suck it up), with current culture (be remarkable, be generous, be creative and connect people and ideas). What I know is that CULTURE DRIVES PERFORMANCE, and a culture of recognition and replication will lead to success.

You are familiar with the Good to Great philosophy of “having the right people in the right seats on your bus.” Take it a step further with the right fit credo. Hire for values! What I know is that CULTURE DRIVES PERFORMANCE, and a value-driven culture will attract and retain the right people.

In the words of John Ruskin, “In order that people may be happy in their work, these three things are needed: They must be fit for it. They must not do too much of it. And they must have a sense of success in it.”

Ruskin says in a simple quote what I know to be true: CULTURE DRIVES PERFORMANCE, and a culture of success, recognition and fit will drive your future!

January 8, 2017 By Sharon Weinstein

Are You Managing Human Resources or Human Lives?

Do you want to be valued as a product or as a human being? Chances are that you have thought about this concept during an especially frustrating day at work, or after a long sequence of stressful experiences. Why does it matter? It matters because today, more than ever before, employees are feeling undervalued, less recognized, and overwhelmed. Employees are stressed, and at the core of much of this stress is the work environment. Within many industries, we have mastered the importance of a healing environment. How much attention do we give to lighting, lack of clutter, better views, privacy, HVAC, healthy plants, and art? Can the work environment be supportive and human-centered? Can it be less overwhelming?

Overwhelmed Employees

The concepts of work-life balance have been lost, thanks to a proliferation of technology and the breakdown in barriers between work and life. When your work life and personal life blend together under the guise of “multi-tasking,” both suffer. When you are at work, focus on the job to be done. When you are finished with work, don’t bring it home with you. Make time for your personal life. If your work materials are dispersed throughout nearly every room of your house, you have no place for a real retreat. You’re not spending high-quality time with friends or family members if you’re talking on your cell phone or checking your e-mail when you’re with family. The sheer complexity of our lives creates internal distress and can wreak havoc on our bodies. And, we do it in the name of being the ‘loyal employee’ also known as ‘human capital.’ It has become so intense that the focus on human capital management (HCM) has intensified.

Human Capital Management: the new HR

HCM is an approach to employee staffing that perceives people as assets whose current value can be measured and whose future value can be enhanced through investment. Have you given much thought to investing in your people, because according to master people manager, Sam Walton, “The way management treats associates is exactly how the associates will treat the customers.”

Think about HCM as a responsibility for attracting, developing and managing the firm’s biggest asset: people. Are you managing human capital/resources or human lives in your organization? An organization that supports HCM provides employees with clearly defined and consistently communicated performance expectations. Managers are responsible for rating, rewarding, and holding employees accountable for achieving specific business goals, creating innovation and supporting improvement. An organization that supports and manages human lives puts its people first and creates an experience for them. Let’s talk about your own expectations!

Expectation or Experience

Chances are that at one time you were an ‘employee.’ As an employee, did you want a job or an experience? And, if it was the job you were after, which by the way is often referred to as ‘just over broke,’ did it meet your expectations? Did you feel recognized, valued, appreciated, and were you a part of the team?

If it was the experience you were after, perhaps you joined an organization like Apple, where every day is just that – an experience! Steve Jobs, Apple’s founder, was famous for this statement, “For the past 33 years, I have looked in the mirror every morning and asked myself, “If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today? And whenever the answer had been ‘No’ for too many days in a row, I knew I need to change something.”

Today’s human resources departments are so much more than a single representative, handling claims and pushing papers. Today’s human resources departments may be known as ‘Capital Management, or ‘Talent Management.’ And while much of today’s workforce is highly talented, is that talented pool taking up space or actually engaged in the work process? Nearly 40% of the US workforce now works part time. Baby boomers who lost their jobs are often out of work for 18-24 months. Millennials want more creative jobs and they want to work for startups (or for themselves). And everyone wants work to be easier, less punishing, and more meaningful. Yes, everyone, including you, wants something, and often that ‘something’ is to be valued as a person, and treated with respect.

Managing Lives

How do we define the relationship between employers and employees? How do we view the dedicated employee? If we follow the Sam Walton model, we know that how we treat the employee is how the employee will treat the customer or client. For years, in marketing programs across the country, we studied our internal and external customers. We knew that we had to add value to our internal customers if we wanted to succeed.

September 29, 2016 By Sharon Weinstein

Preferment…the new retirement

Today I spoke to a speaker colleague who told me that she ‘retired’ from accounting to begin her speaking career. Yesterday, it was a nurse who told me that she ‘retired’ from clinical practice to begin her coaching career. And last week, it was a corporate executive who told me that he ‘retired’ from manufacturing to pursue his consulting career.

Were they retired, still working, working part-time, or picking and choosing those projects with which they wanted to align themselves? Nearly all of the responses addressed the concept of ‘picking and choosing’ or preferring one project over another and one subset of professionals with whom to work over another. Did each of these professionals actually retire…to begin the next phase of their lives? Or, did they extend into the arena known as “PREFERMENT” meaning that they now get to do what they want, with whom they want, and when they want?

My own professional colleagues vary in age group from millennials to the C-suite and from sometime work to full-time plus work. Having worked full-time plus in the past, logging over 100 hours per week, 3 countries per week for over 10 years, I fully understand the idea of ‘picking and choosing’ one’s activities and potential partners.

Still intrigued, I researched the word and discovered the concept of prefermented dough to improve quality naturally and traditionally. Great concept, but being a non-bread maker, the term did not meet my immediate needs. Preferment is also the name of a champion horse; a non-equestrian, I continued my search for the right description. I was seeking information on what happens post-official retirement – in the healthy, seasoned professional population.

I can easily relate to the idea of retirement as a significant milestone and adjustment for my peers. Healthy, financially secure and energetic, they are revisioning postretirement life and moving from the comfortable rocking chair to a state of preferment, with an opportunity to refocus on new structure and purpose, including time for leisure, continuous learning, new pursuits, and perhaps encore careers.

It’s not retirement, it’s preferment, because this phase of one’s life provides the opportunity to do the things you prefer and are most meaningful to you. Only you can determine what those things are. Only you can identify where you want to spend your time and with whom. Only you can decide whose lives you want to impact and in what ways. As professionals, those of us in the clinical arena or in academia have been blessed with extensive careers during which we have done meaningful work. We are the seasoned professionals!

The word preferment is perfect for the new retirement. Regardless of their past positions, my colleagues are adopting this term as one of endearment and creating their own next Act…the one that will ignite their passion, bring fulfillment, and be preferred. Speaker – Coach – Consultant…they are excited about what the future will bring!

About Sharon:

Life Balance…it is what I do and who I am! I work with organizations that want to learn how life balance can drive safety, satisfaction, and success!

Sharon is an energetic, motivating and highly skilled professional speaker and author specializing in work/life balance. After all, she wrote the book. She is the founder of SharonMWeinstein, an LLC and two not-for-profits.

She holds the coveted Certified Speaking Professional (CSP) designation, the highest earned international recognition for professional speakers. This makes her one of only 12% of all speakers to hold this designation and one of only 22 nurses in the world with this credential. www.sharonmweinstein.com

June 28, 2016 By Sharon Weinstein

How’s the C-Suite treating you today?

The Chief

So you are the Chief – Chief Executive Officer, Chief Operating Officer, Chief Financial Officer or Chief Information Officer! What is that “C” contributing to your stress levels, and what are you willing to do to relieve the stress. Do you really think that stress doesn’t have an impact on your body, your memory, your ability to function as a Chief, and your outlook on life?

The numbers tell it all about the body

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that 60% to 70% of all disease and illness is stress-related.
An estimated 75% to 90% of visits to physicians are stress related.
According to a study in the Journal of the American Medical Women’s Association, 60% of women surveyed said work stress was their biggest problem.
Job pressures cause more health complaints than any other stressor, says the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health.

Your outlook

I can guess what you’re thinking… here’s one more thing I have to worry about. As a senior executive, you need to worry! You can’t – nor do you ever want to – eliminate stress altogether. Some stress is beneficial. I’ll even go out on a limb and say that stress by itself is never actually harmful or bad. It’s your reaction to stress that creates problems. It’s your outlook that counts!

We’re simply trained to ignore the signs of stress in an attempt to keep the problems at bay. No wonder: changing life-long behaviors is in itself stressful. This is a classic mind-body disconnect.

The Three Phases of Stress

As you know, just being in business today creates stress, and at your level, stress is more prevalent. Here’s how most people react to a stressor (such as: earnings announcement, problem at home, manufacturing flaw, countless and mind-numbing meetings):

First, in what is called the “Alarm Phase,” they react to the stressor. This might result in a burst of anger, shock, or surprise.
Second, they move into the “Resistance Phase,” when they begin to adapt to the stressor. They learn to cope with the dysfunction, lack of sleep, or 16-hour work days. This phase can last for years, and after a while will feel very “normal.”
Third, the body finally loses steam. They go into the “Exhaustion Phase,” where their ability to resist is reduced. They’ll feel tired, unable to concentrate, and will often catch colds or become ill – the body’s way of slowing them down.

I know from experience that there are many ways to more effectively handle the everyday stressors, as well as those big once-in-awhile stressors. I’ve taught meditation, mindfulness training, breathing exercises, and disseminated countless bits of information on general nutrition and the benefits of regular exercise. Perhaps, as the C-suite executive, it is time for you to learn how to relax!

Squeeze a few minutes of relaxation into each day

Far too many of us lead lives that are frenzied and hurried from the moment we wake up in the morning to the moment we crawl into bed at night. The more packed every moment of your day is the more you need to make time to relax; for a few minutes of deep breathing to 20 minutes of deep relaxation or yoga. Making this a habit will keep you in better stress shape for the day that chronic stress knocks on your door, which it almost certainly will if it hasn’t already. After all, in your senior position, the problems land at your door.

The human system can tolerate a tremendous amount of stress. Over the years, however, too much stress breaks down your resistance to illness and disease and impacts your memory. Remember, the negative consequences of your stress are strongly influenced by your rest habits. Since stress is unlikely to diminish in our high-pressured American lifestyle, take the time throughout your day for the natural unwinding of your stress response.

There are only 24 hours in each day

You don’t have time to rest, you say? You have more time than you think you do. You could:

Do deep breathing while driving to work and during other stressful moments throughout your day.
Get up 15 minutes earlier and spend the time doing deep relaxation, yoga or journaling.
Take 2 minutes several times a day to tense tight muscle groups for 10 to 15 seconds, and then relax them completely. Repeat this two to three times each round.

So you are the Chief

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How is the C-Suite treating you today? There is no better time to consider the actions that you will take to enhance your role and to preserve your ability to function as a Chief.

July 26, 2015 By Sharon Weinstein

Time…and commitments

We all have the same number of hours in a day…just 24! It took me years to understand that concept as I continued to work 100 hour weeks, 2 weeks of each month for 10 years in the former Soviet Union or Central and Eastern Europe. Time was not a consideration – the fact that there was so much to be done to create the infrastructure for updated health systems and nursing excellence was a priority. And, I worked hard and loved it. As I reflect on the past, I would not change a thing. I have had an incredible opportunity to impact many lives in the process, and I have many friends worldwide. How we spend our time is our choice, and as I rediscovered myself and fine-tuned my own commitments, I knew that change was on the horizon. I respectfully resigned from boards and committees, and chose what would work for me. I redefined my own choices, and they include: www.gedinfp.com, www.ihfglobal.com, www.smwgroupllc.com, www.corelimited.com, and www.sharonmweinstein.com. I still have 24 hours in each day…just like each of you! I still honor my commitments with the same energy and fulfillment! But, I have found time to continue to give back to society and to honor what matters most – family!

To start the process: