Cast your mind back to the classroom at school. The teacher begins explaining how to solve a problem you already understand, and you start looking out the window, whispering to a friend or throwing screwed-up pieces of paper at your classmates. 

Fast forward twenty years to a face-to-face training course you are attending for work, and you find yourself in exactly the same situation. Hopefully not disrupting the rest of the group as you have, of course, matured slightly since then, but perhaps doodling or thinking about what will be included in the free lunch. 

Having to listen to a familiar concept being taught in great detail is neither engaging or useful. When the average employee has only 24 minutes per week to learn, even slightly irrelevant content is a waste of precious time. 

Similarly, when learners find themselves completely lost in a session, they are just as likely to drift off or subconsciously focus their attention on something else.

Personalising learning is the difference between content being engaging or boring. Content needs to address an individual’s learning needs as accurately as possible, and advancing technology is helping to simplify this process.

Over time, eLearning content providers and LMS platforms have developed systems to make the learning process increasingly personalised. 

Improved tools for diagnostic assessment have given both instructors and learners the opportunity to understand how well the learning is going, and if there are any topic areas which are particularly difficult for a group to grasp. 

Globally renowned industry analyser and research analyst, Josh Bersin, describes a new paradigm emerging in corporate training. He labels this, ‘learning in the flow of work’, which means presenting employees with opportunities to learn through platforms they are already using to work.

Bersin uses the following example to explain the concept:

“In the application of safety and operational training (an enormous market in most heavy industries), there are now adaptive learning solutions that deliver small 2-3 minute videos each day when an operator checks into work. The learning is carefully curated, spaced, and designed to deliver an outcome – and the employee answers questions (including questions about their confidence in the answers) to give the system enough information to decide what should come next.  This is happening now.”

As technology advances, we are better able to tailor an individual’s learning experience and embed learning into pre-existing tasks or routines. 

What can you do to personalise the eLearning experience?

In addition to using the latest advances in technology, it is also possible for learning and development professionals to create a more personalised learning experience for employees. 

If you aren’t sure where to begin, the following steps are a good place to start:

1. Develop a culture of learning in your workplace  

When organisations prioritise learning and development, employees can become more agile and adaptive, meaning they have an improved ability to cope with and respond to the rapid rates of change expected of them in the digital age.  

This will provide a foundation for a more personalised learning process, with both employees and those in leadership positions valuing learning equally. 

2. Encourage employees to take ownership of their learning

It is also important for employees to take responsibility for their learning. The best learning and development strategy, course content and HR professionals can only take employees so far. When your employees understand what they need to learn next and when they need to learn it, they will be able to make progress at their own pace. 

The LMS dashboard, both for instructors and learners can help to make the learning process more personalised. If you have access to diagnostic assessment data, you will be able to see if there are any general gaps in employee knowledge, and be able to address these as they pop up.  

Learners can also use diagnostic data to understand if there are any topics they need to learn more about. They can do further independent research if necessary, or perhaps complete an additional online course.

4. Ask employees for feedback and respond

Finding out what your employees think of the eLearning process in your organisation is crucial to their ongoing engagement. If a particular course was too easy or too difficult, it is unlikely that they will take an interest in the rest of the content. 

It can also be helpful to find out what they thought of the eLearning system. Were the courses easy to follow? Was the content presented in an interesting way?

If learners can see that you value their opinions and they are taking part in the ongoing development of the learning process, they are far more likely to be engaged and invested. 

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Personalised learning: the secret to engagement in online courses

With communication in the workplace continuing to change rapidly, we now have an unprecedented capacity for interaction across the globe. And as a result, the daily routine for many workers involves a considerable amount of screen time.

To demonstrate just how quickly things have changed, email came into general use approximately twenty years ago, and the first Apple smartphone went to market in 2007. It’s difficult to imagine both our working and personal lives without these tools now, yet we are still in the infancy of understanding how to optimise the advantages they bring, and the impact they are having on our productivity and wellbeing. 

With this focus on screen time at work, the millennial workforce is craving opportunities for face-to-face interaction and collaboration. The question is how to build meaningful face-to-face interactions into the working day, without using precious time unnecessarily. 

According to research, 93% of communication occurs nonverbally, through body language and tone of voice. Only the remaining 7% is communicated through words. This shows how much we are missing out on when using email and messaging platforms instead of talking to each other face-to-face.  

While employees can use instant messaging platforms to ask each other quick questions, it is important to be aware that much of what is said is lost, and misunderstandings could easily happen without talking things through in person. 

In the early, formative stages of a relationship, face-to-face communication is essential for building a connection and trust between two individuals. 

First impressions really count. It takes only milliseconds to make an initial judgement on somebody new, and reading nonverbal cues plays a huge role in this process. This means that meeting face-to-face is very important for building a better-informed connection between two parties. Without it, a relationship can develop, but the depth of connection and level of trust will be limited. 

When two individuals take the time out of their day to meet with each other, this shows a commitment from both parties to give their attention to the conversation. The full range of communications can be picked up, and a better connection built. If it is a difficult conversation involving conflict, but both parties have good intentions, this will come across much more easily in a face-to-face interaction than in an email. 

If you are meeting with a new client, a meeting face-to-face shows that you have committed your time, effort and money to building a relationship with them. With information and demands on our time coming at us from so many different places, we are now living in what is described as an attention economy. Now, more than ever, your efforts to meet up won’t go unnoticed. 

How to use time effectively is the question on every manager and employee’s mind in the digital age.  It can be so easy to get carried away and distracted by the onslaught of information, finding ways to be more productive are like gold dust. 

Although it may seem more time-consuming to meet with people face-to-face, it can actually improve efficiency in the long run.  Instead of writing ten emails back and forth, your conversation could be resolved in a matter of minutes over a coffee - much more enjoyable!  You will also gain all the additional benefits of having taken the time to meet, so it’s a win win.

If physical distance isn’t a limitation, meeting in person is almost always preferable. When working remotely, or with team mates from different locations, video-conferencing is a convenient way for employees to discuss, plan, and build positive working relationships. 

Sometimes, we need to share information that is only meant for one other person. Meeting in a private setting can build trust between two individuals, particularly when the information you need to talk about is sensitive. This way,  you know that only you and the person you are talking to have heard the information - as long as there’s nobody behind you eavesdropping! 

Although the advantages of face-to-face communication are clear, some interactions are better than others.  Research shows that 92% of attendees choose to multitask during group meetings, meaning they are neither using their time productively, nor gaining many of the benefits quality interaction can bring. 

Alternatively, one-to-one meetings can increase productivity.  Instead of two employees emailing each other back and forth all day, which breaks the flow of the conversation and focus on other projects, a similar conversation could be had in a half hour meeting, without the interruptions. 

Many organisations are now setting up their offices to give employees full ownership over their workspace.  These changes have come in to meet the needs of the millennial workforce, who are looking for more opportunities to engage with their team members. The ‘co-working’ set-up is now favoured, giving employees the option to work independently or collaboratively as they see fit, rather than having to work at the same cubicle everyday next to somebody they don’t always need to interact with.

If you find that there isn’t much need to catch up in the line of work you do, meetings don’t always have to be work focused to be productive.  Coffee catch ups, walks and meals with colleagues all contribute to morale and give you all the benefits of communicating in person.

Perhaps the best way forward is striking a balance between online and face-to-face communication.  Think about the kind of conversation you need to have and adjust accordingly.  That way you won’t miss out on the advantages of the different methods available.  

Why we should still value face-to-face communication in the workplace

For many of us, our creative streak is something we left behind at the finger-painting table, or keep confined to karaoke sessions on the weekend.

Yet, each of us is born with an innate ability to create. The skill isn’t limited to artists, writers and musicians. Using creativity simply means to be engaged in an activity relating to or involving imagination or original ideas.  

I hear you thinking, after you’ve completed the routine tasks and checked off everything time-sensitive for that day, there is very little energy left for coming up with new concepts. 

No matter how repetitive or dull your work may seem, it’s less about finding extra time, and more about thinking how you could apply creative skills to tasks you already do - and there are benefits!

Scientists hypothesize that in order to be creative, our brains have to use the ‘Big Three’ networks in tandem - the default mode network (the idle state), the executive control network (oversees decisions and choices) and the salience network (determines which sorts of things tend to be noticed).

This means that creativity isn’t limited to a particular function of the brain, and is something that each individual has the capacity to engage in. The extent to which we are able to use this process will, of course, depend on our personality type, state of mind and tendency to engage in divergent thinking.

The alpha brain waves associated with creativity also generate a light relaxation state, superior focus and improved learning. While in this state, your brain releases endorphins and other substances that can alleviate the effects of stress hormones. 

This also works in the reverse. When we are relaxed, new ideas often come to the fore. Next time you have eureka moment in the shower, you’ll understand why. 

For leaders, the benefits of encouraging your team to think outside the box are endless. Creative thinking can increase productivity, motivation and problem-solving abilities to name a few.  

‘We are born as artists, but have to learn how to become them again as adults.’ - Pablo Picasso 

As children, we don’t give much thought to whether or not we are engaging in creative activities.  When we play, we pick something that looks fun, and just do it.  We are much freer to engage in divergent thinking, as we haven’t fully developed the inner-critic necessary for survival in the adult world. While useful, this voice can seriously hamper our efforts to have fun and experiment. 

Sir Ken Robinson, one of the world’s elite thinkers on creativity and innovation, explains that the way our school system is structured is adding to this problem, which he explores in his Ted Talk.  

He argues that in a system focused on testing and grades, children aren’t encouraged to follow their passion or what they are good at when thinking about what to do for work.  As a result, we either spend a significant portion of our lives remembering what we enjoy doing, or years stuck in a job we hate.

Much of the time at work, we are under pressure to get things done, but other ingrained psychological barriers could also be preventing us from channelling our creativity.

Assuming you are reasonably happy with the work you do, and it plays to your strengths, the following tips might help you to unleash your creative side. 

Depending on where you sit on the introversion-extraversion spectrum, your best ideas are more likely to come up during different activity types.  

Those who are more extraverted might use their creative skills in other ways, such as being diplomatic, getting things done in the world, and engaging in animated conversation. 

Fear of failure is one of the biggest psychological barriers to being creative.  It comes back to the inner-critic mentioned above.  If you become aware of your inner voice, you can listen to the comments that are useful, and ignore the ones you think are setting you back. Mindfulness training can help you to develop this skill.

Your personal experience in life to date is completely unique. There is no one else in the world who has exactly the same thought process or perspective.

While the ideas you have may be similar to somebody else’s, they are highly unlikely to be exactly the same.  Although your ideas might not always be met with awe, if you gain confidence in putting yourself out there, every so often you are likely to come up with a really good idea that others will take on board. This can be difficult, because it takes both the courage to fail and to learn from your mistakes.

The ‘Lego Duck Challenge’ involves giving each individual in a group six lego bricks and asking them to build a duck. The task itself isn’t difficult, but the likelihood of anyone in the group building the same duck is incredibly small.  This is both down to the individuality of the participants and the endless number of different ducks you can build!

Think about the tasks you enjoy most (and those you don’t!)

You are much more likely to be creative if you enjoy the task you are engaged in, and you are good at it. You are also more likely to reach a flow state.  It’s all about making the process more individual, enjoyable and fun.  Pick a task you really enjoy and make it more personalised to you.  

Finding a place for creativity in the workplace

Growth is a wonderful double-edged management ninja sword. Because growth is good for both your employees and it’s good for you, the boss. But did you know that one of the unwritten responsibilities of a boss is that you have to ensure that your employees have the skills they need to do their job and are always working to improve? This is why employee development is one of the essential manager skills. But the problem is that school doesn’t teach you the skills you need to be Super Boss. And employee development gets left to HR. This article will show you why & how to use employee development as a management tool to increase results and retention. It contains information from the program on the Go1 Academy: How to Develop Your Employees

PS: Are you responsible for Learning & Development in your organisation? Help to build a culture of learning in your organisation by sharing this article with your managers.

Using online learning to achieve your development goals: Getting Going with Go1,

Do your employees have the skills and abilities you want? Take the online Development assessment to find out more (must be logged into your Go1 portal),

Be careful of one-size fits all management advice. Do what is right for you by finding out your Boss Superpower,

Why employee development is essential for employees:

Your employees are complicated animals. You can’t just give them a paycheck and a ping-pong table and expect them to be happy, productive employees. Creating a workplace where people want to work and are good at their jobs means fulfilling your employees need for growth.

Your employees have a desire to learn and grow

Your employees are motivated by doing things they are good at and

Developing skills helps your employees become self-actualised

To put this another way, your top performers will get bored and leave if they are stagnant. Less experienced managers try to motivate employees with pay and bonuses. But successful managers know that quality employees choose growth over short term pay.

Why employee development is essential for managers:

I remember a time when you weren’t a proper business if you didn’t have a fax machine. But business is competitive with unrelenting progress. If you think your employees have all the skills they need, then you may as well be waiting by your fax machine for an update. And if you think employee development is a job for Human Resources alone and not managers, then you will soon watch your competitors overtake you. It’s your jab as a boss job to deliver, maintain and grow results. And one of the best ways you can do this is to develop the skills & capabilities of your employees. Because:

Increasing skills delivers results with increased speed and quality,

Increasing capabilities supports delegation so you can manage your own workload,

A constantly changing competitive & technological environment means your employees need to constantly develop their skills and

Learning promotes innovation & problem solving

Less experienced managers view skills development as a “nice to have”. They leave skills development to Human Resources for “when they have the time”. Successful bosses partner with Human Resources to take an active role in developing their employees’ skills. This is because they know that developing skills delivers results. Effective managers know that employee development is an effective tool to motivate and retain top talent.

I get it, employee development sounds time-consuming, where can managers find the time to develop employees? This is really the wrong question, because the true problem is that no-one ever taught you how to develop employees or any of the other essential manager skills. Because employee development can be as simple as a ten-minute conversation about the future. And you don’t even have to book extra meeting time because the best place to do this in your in your regular one on one meeting with your employee. (Not having one on one meetings with your employees – well of course you won’t have time to develop your employees!)

3 Actions you can take to develop your employees:

Because I believe in actionable advice, here are easy 3 actions you can take to kick start your employee development right away:

Have a ten-minute development conversation with each of your employees. Tell them what skills you want them to develop. Collaborate to produce a training contract 

Delegate a growth assignment to your employees. This is something that will support their next career step or is a challenge that gives them a chance to use their skills. Helpful resource: The Ultimate Guide to Delegation

Pick a skill you want your employees to learn/improve and use the Go1 feature to assign a Go1 training course to them. Tip: Don’t forget the human touch, follow up the course assignment with a conversation explaining why, what your expectations are and what’s in it for them. 

Top tip: Looking for a good place to start? Choose something short/fun/informative/helpful. Here are some relevant Go1 courses to assign: 

a. Have better meetings with your employees by assigning One on One Meetings with your Boss

b. Improve your employees focus, stress management and more by assigning Desk Meditations

Super ninja manager skills are where you use momentum to go with the flow, instead of fighting against the tide. When it comes to skills development, it sometimes feels like you are pushing uphill to develop your employees’ skills. The smarter way is to help your employees to develop themselves by assigning Self Leadership: Developing Yourself.

I just want to leave you with this final thought: Have you ever had a mentor (a boss, teacher, coach, etc.) that invested in you?

Someone that guided you through your career path,

Someone who knew what you were capable of and supported you to achieve your potential, and

Someone who pushed you to be better when you needed a little extra encouragement.

What difference did this make to your performance? How meaningful is this person to you? When you are a boss, you have an opportunity to make a difference to your employee’s lives. And this isn’t just because it gives you a warm fuzzy feeling but also because it makes fantastic business sense. This is the difference you can make when you invest in developing your employees. 

Note: employee development and online learning by Go1

I don’t work for Go1, I work with Go1 to help businesses deliver results via improved soft skills. Go1 is a fantastic resource where you and your employees can access training for almost any development need. But giving your employees access to an online library and expecting them to develop themselves into happy, productive employees is not realistic (Hot tip: How’s your own online development going?). To make the best use of online development tools such as Go1, don’t forget the human touch. Such as: Encouraging and supporting employees through their development. Helping them to choose the right development for them and their career. 

The concept is to leave the time-consuming training to the subject matter experts on Go1 and you do the less time-consuming parts of coaching your employees through their development. 

Keith Tatley is a Chartered Accountant and Yoga Teacher. He helps people to have successful and happy careers by showing them the soft skills that people need to be effective in the workplace. 

Headline skills that people need for better relationships between employees and their bosses include: 

How to have One on One Meetings with your Boss

Keith operates the brands www.ManagerFoundation.com, Karm.Academy and WWW.BOSS.CAMP . Contact him at Keitht@ManagerFoundation.com for consulting on how to create better work environments. 

What does your to do list look like at the end of the day? Has it got shorter or longer? Sometimes it feels like you’re fighting against the tide. You’re getting work from your own boss, at the same time as managing your employees. Are you neglecting your own important priorities because of work overwhelm? Effective managers don’t do everything themselves. Effective managers focus on their priorities and delegate work they should not be doing to their employees. This article will help you identify the work that you should not be doing so you can start delegating work to turn the tide around.

PS: Delegation is one of those Essential Manager Skills that they just don’t teach you in school. This article contains information from the Ultimate Guide to Delegation. 

How do your delegation skills compare to other managers? Take the Delegation Check-Up to find out (must be logged into your Go1 portal to view)

Is your never ending to do list a source of stress? Feeling overwhelmed can turn healthy work pressure into unhealthy distress. Take an online Stress Assessment (must be logged into your Go1 portal) to find out your stress score and get customised stress management advice,

Want to be a better boss to deliver results & supercharge your career? Have you got what it takes to be a great boss? Start by finding out your Boss SuperPower 

Delegation to Motivate & Retain your Employees

Did you know that you can use delegation as a tool to motivate and retain your employees? This is because:

Your employees want a chance to learn & grow and;

Your employees want to be entrusted with responsibilities

If you don’t delegate effectively, then your top talent will leave you to get their growth needs met elsewhere.

Effective managers know how to use delegation as a management tool “to get stuff done”. That’s why delegation is an essential manager skill. But the problem is they don’t teach you how to delegate in school. Following a good delegation process means starting by identifying what to delegate:

Tip: As you read through this list get a pen and paper out to write down these responsibilities. Take a look at your calendar, email and to do list to make sure you don’t miss anything. This list then goes on to your delegation worksheet. (Helpful resource: Delegation worksheet to download from Go1)

1. What tasks can someone else do better than you? AKA what challenges can you solve by asking for help?

Did you get to be a boss because you were good at what you did? What got you here, won’t get you there. The truth is you’re not the expert at everything. The truth is you don’t have the time to “do everything right”. Effective managers know how to use their employees, time, skills and abilities to do a better job than they could do themselves. 

Super Ninja Manager Skills Bonus: Solving problems by asking for help. We’ve all got those lurking demons on our to do lists. Those problems that tend to get pushed back because we aren’t quite sure how we are going to fix them. This is a clear sign that you’re not the best person for the task in question. A great way to solve difficult problems is to talk to your team about the issue and see if any team members have a solution. When you have a particularly difficult assignment, instead of neglecting it, paying it too little attention or having it suck up all of your time. Delegate it to an employee as a stretch assignment. Remember that people like having problems to solve and want to be entrusted with responsibilities.

2. What tasks do you dislike doing that a staff member would prefer doing?

While being a boss is hard, you do get some privileges. One of which is you have the ability to delegate work you don’t like so you can shape your job to be more enjoyable. But this isn’t about abusing your power because the beautiful thing about diversity is that a task that you hate can be done better by someone else.

Personally, I don’t like doing sales and that means I neglect it and I’m not very good at it. That means someone else should do it.

3. What tasks consume a lot of your time?

All tasks are not created equal - some just seem to suck up hours of your day. Every hour a low priority task takes away from your key deliverables means you’re going to be functioning less effectively as a manager.   

On the positive side, you’re the boss which means you have employees to help you to get your work done. Free up a lot of time in one go by delegating time consuming tasks. Even if your employee takes twice as long to do it, you’ve still saved yourself time.

4. What tasks have to be done but aren’t on your key deliverables?

Are you spending enough time on your key deliverables? Or are urgent, low priority tasks getting in the way? The key to success in life and business is to focus on the right things. The most important things for you to focus on are your key deliverables. These are the things that you can make the biggest impact on. These are the things that matter the most.

Don’t fall into the trap of holding onto work because you like it. Don’t fall into the trap of trying to do everything yourself. Prioritise your work into your top priorities and give the rest to your employees.  

Helpful Resource: Now if you’re like many managers who get to the end of a busy day wondering where your time went, then start off by working out what tasks actually take up your time. You can do this with an activity log delegation worksheet to track where you actually spend your time (must be logged into your Go1 portal to view). 

Bonus Time Management Tip: Have the courage to delegate the lowest priority tasks to never-never land.

5. What tasks can contribute to the development of your employees?

This is one of my favourite things to delegate because by moving work around you can create value. Giving challenging assignments to your employees isn’t just a way to get stuff done. It’s also a way to grow your employees’ skills and capabilities. You’ll end up with a better team, ready to take on extra challenges.

Effective managers know that employees get job satisfaction when they learn and grow. 

Helpful Resource: If your employees don’t have the skills & abilities you think they need to take over responsibilities, then you can use coaching as a time saving method to develop their skills.

6. What can your staff do at a lower cost than you?

When you get your management badge, you should also get some extra in your pay packet. But the way you earn a higher salary is by being efficient with money. Put another way, hoping to walk home with a large pay packet is unrealistic if you fill your days with low value added tasks. Being efficient with company resources doesn’t always mean doing everything yourself. Being efficient with company resources means getting the job done at the lowest cost.

Add value by delegating lower value work to more junior (and cheaper) employees and focus on delivering higher value work yourself.

7. What routine tasks can be codified? AKA delegate tasks that are easy to delegate

Sometimes, a barrier to delegation, is the time and effort involved to train your employees sufficiently to support the delegation. Kick start your delegation by delegating the work that is easiest to delegate. The low hanging fruit is work that lends itself to easy codifying. 

Secret Ninja Manager Tip: Don’t document your work yourself, request that your employee codify your work as part of the delegation process. The easiest way to do this is to get them to shadow you while you do the task.

Did you know that you can use the Go1 system as a tool to codify, store & deliver standard operating procedures? For each process that needs codifying, you can create an online course showing employees how to do the job.

Did you make a list of the work you should not be doing? This is the start of your delegation worksheet. The next steps are to:

Change manage delegation into your team by securing employees support of the process

Identify which employees to delegate what work to

Make the delegation by using a proven delegation script

Avoid reverse delegation by using Active Listening Skills to coach your employees to fix their own problems

Keep your delegation on track with Effective Performance Communication

Helpful Reference: Find out how to delegate effectively in the Ultimate Guide to Delegation.

Managers are responsible for allocating work to the best person for the job. By matching work to skills & availability, you increase the efficiency of an organisation.

Effective managers use delegation to manage their workload, get stuff done and to grow the skills and abilities of their employees. 

The role of the manager isn’t to be a superhero and do everything yourself. Being a better boss means improving your manager skills. When you improve your manager skills, you’ll have more work success, happiness and improve your confidence at work. Kickstart your journey to being a better boss by knowing what to delegate and what not to delegate. 

Keith Tatley is a Chartered Accountant and Yoga Teacher. He helps people to have successful and happy careers by showing them the soft skills that people need to be effective in the workplace. For example: How to have One on One Meetings with Employees, One on One Meetings with your Boss. He operates www.ManagerFoundation.com, Karm.Academy and WWW.BOSS.CAMP 

What are the 7 tasks you should not be doing as a manager? 

Do you stare at the microwave countdown, wishing it would hurry up? OR Is it only food when it comes out of the slow cooker?

Do you like to make sure you say hello to everyone when you arrive at the office? OR Is the first thing you do is flick your computer on?

Do you like to speak in a strong voice to make sure people hear you? OR Do you think it’s rude to disturb others in the office?

It’s easy to know the answers to the above, but do you know what type of boss you are? To find out take the Boss SuperPower assessment (under 5 minutes and you must be logged into your Go1 portal to view it) and see what the results say. The rest of this module explains the science behind this assessment and how you can improve your management results with better self-awareness.

PS Self-Awareness is just one of the Essential Management Skills that they don’t teach you in school. Find out how to be a better boss here (Note: you need to be logged into your Go1 portal to view this content).

Self-awareness means knowing your strengths & blind spots

The wonderful thing about people is that we are all different, with different strengths. But every strength has a corresponding weakness. The issue is if we are unaware of our weaknesses then they are blind spots that have a habit of biting us in the bottom. What I’d like to share with you is how you can use Self-Awareness to be a better boss.

Self-awareness is knowing what you’re good at and knowing where your weaknesses are. Self-awareness rarely makes the list of top leadership traits, yet it is one of the most valuable.

Ask yourself: “How can you be a successful leader if you don’t even know yourself”

Gallup research shows that great bosses do three things:

Great bosses fully recognize their talents and develop them into strengths,

Great bosses manage their strengths to overcome their weaknesses,

Great bosses invent ways to apply their strengths in new and creative ways to reach their goals. 

Surely no-one should know yourself better than yourself? But a study by Korn/Ferry International (2012) showed that nearly 80% leaders had blind spots about their talents. And in this study of 2,750 leaders, 40% had at least one hidden strength.

My personal experience is that the problem with blind spots is that you just don’t know about them by their very nature. It’s like you look into your toolbox and only find a hammer. You don’t realise that other people have got screwdrivers and yet others have got hacksaws. What happens is that you just think they are bad at hammering things. As the expression goes: “To a man with a hammer, every problem is a nail.”  

To push this analogy right to the edge: If you use a hammer when what you really need is a saw, you are destined to fail, no matter how good you are at using a hammer and no matter how hard you try. 

Self-awareness requires an external perspective

Without some sort of external perspective people remain unaware of things they haven’t experienced themselves. How I see this manifest with the people I coach is that bosses get stuck with the same repeating problems. 

What this might look like for you is when you continually have the same disputes and problems with your employees. Has employee Dave done bad work again? This pattern will repeat until you figure out what YOU need to change to fix this.

Try it for yourself, take the boss superpower assessment

To start your own journey to be a better boss, find out what your own Boss Super Power is with the online assessment (You must be logged into you Go1 portal to view). The assessment will show you what your management strengths are and any potential problem tendencies. And it also gives you customised management feedback and advice.

The thing about people is that we are all different. What works well for one person can have the opposite effect for another. Watch out for one size fits all management advice because this might not be the right thing for you. Like Einstein wrote, “Everybody is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid.” Don’t be a fish trying to climb a tree, instead improve your self-awareness and find your management style that suits the person who you are.

Wrapping up – Join the self-leadership movement

I really like the new movement towards self-leadership. It’s wonderful to see people taking responsibility for improving themselves. But the first step towards self-leadership is self-awareness. You’re going to get stuck repeating the same mistakes over and over again, until you figure out what blind spots are sabotaging you. When you know your strengths and learn to leverage them, that's when you can go from average to Superhero.

Take the assessment in the Go1 Online Course: Discover Your Boss Superpower

The mission of Manager Foundation is to make work a better place by improving self-awareness, communication and relationships. Other supporting skills include:

Using delegation to achieve results, manage your own work load and strategically grow employees: See the Ultimate Guide to Delegation to find out more

Find out how to take care of almost all of your management duties in your One on One Meetings with Employees 

Increase your employees skills and abilities in less than 10 minutes a week by coaching them to improve their skills and abilities

How to use positive feedback to fix employee problems

Find out how to use Active Listening Skills to coach your employees to fix their own problems

Keith Tatley is a Chartered Accountant and Yoga Teacher. He helps people to have successful and happy careers by showing them the soft skills that people need to be effective in the workplace. For example: How to have One on One Meetings with your Boss. He operates ManagerFoundation, Karm.Academy and WWW.BOSS.CAMP 

Self-awareness: The secret to success as a boss

This month, we're focusing on all things management - so keep an eye on the blog over the next few weeks to read more about Go1’s relevant training content!

Being a good manager requires a special skillset that should be continually developed and improved upon, no matter what stage a manager is at in their career. 

At the core of good management is the ability to successfully manage your team. This means you know how to offer regular support and encouragement to employees, helping them to maximise their potential so they can get where they want to go in their career. 

The concept that ‘great managers are born, not made’, is very far from the truth today. Born with it or not, all new managers need training and development to reach their full potential. This month, we will look at courses for managers at all levels - which are designed to make managers feel more confident in their ability to lead and inspire a team, while managing team members in a fair and appropriate way. New manager training should focus on the specific habits and behaviours that lead to great performance. And even if you’re an experienced manager, it's important to not neglect training! With the workplace rapidly evolving, new skills and management techniques should be the focus of ongoing training, providing you wth additional skills to better run your team.

Why invest in management training? Trained managers are more productive employees - the right training means they know how to do their job efficiently and how to set realistic goals and devise strategies for achieving them. This is really important because managers must constantly balance their own workload and allow time to work with their team. 

Taking your team's management training online can strengthen any manager's skillset. 

With Go1 Premium, whether you're a new manager or an executive, you can explore hundreds of online training topics important in the day to day role as a manager. You can find courses for specific management skills including: providing feedback, developing employees, effective decision making, performance management, and using the SMART approach to goal setting.

Throughout the month of July we will spotlight raining for new hires, ethically important courses for managers, and a Go1 Premium provider with a strong management training library. 

To learn more about Go1's extensive range of management courses, be sure to come back to the blog throughout the month of July!

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