Leading a team of people in the workplace is a monumental responsibility. Not only are you charged with maximizing productivity and efficiency, but it’s your job to keep morale high, have an open door and make sure expectations are clearly communicated. If you’re in a position of leadership you’re sure to encounter difficult situations that hamper the productivity of your team. How you handle these challenges can be the deciding factor in whether your team is successful or not. Below we discuss our best strategies for managing your team effectively and making sure productivity is maximized.

Communication is Essential

At some point in your career, you’ve probably had a manager that constantly made you feel like you were walking on egg shells. You never knew whether you were exceeding expectations or failing miserably. Simply put, this individual didn’t communicate and trying to do so with them was difficult at best.

If you’re team is going to succeed, it’s paramount that you not only clearly communicate with each member of your team, but make clear the expectations of up-front professional communication to everyone involved. If communication happens through appropriate channels in a safe space, job responsibilities are clearly defined and people feel empowered to ask questions or seek help, cohesiveness can thrive.

Know Strengths and Weaknesses

Whether you want to admit it or not, as a leader you have strengths and weaknesses. While being aware of your own skills and shortcomings is essential, knowing those of each team member is vital as well.

Maybe someone on your team is great with analyzing raw data and numbers. You probably don’t want to employ this individual to strategize a creative presentation. Leave that to the outgoing creative person that thinks outside the box.

When you create an environment that allows everyone to stay in their lane and utilize their innate abilities, you foster a freedom that allows everyone to feed off of each other and be excited about the work they are doing.

Environment is Key

It has been widely documented that the physical environment in which people work greatly affects how they feel. Does your team function best in an environment where everyone has their own office and a door they can close or is a shared space that welcomes creativity and sharing of ideas better? Whatever your team’s work environment is, it should reflect the culture of the organization and allow people to comfortably go about their tasks in the most efficient manner possible.

While the physical environment in which people work is key, having the necessary infrastructure in place is equally important. Making sure that your internet connection is solid, that IT help is readily available and that all systems are functioning properly and up to date allows team members to do their job with limited interruptions.

Incentives

There is nothing more motivating than incentives in the workplace. While monetary bonuses and rewards are always popular, there are plenty of other ways to motivate your team with minimal cost. If a deadline is on the horizon or a sales goal needs to be met, incentivizing your team with things like paid time off, a catered lunch or skipping out of the office early on a Friday for happy hour can do wonders. Frequent rewards for a job well done keep everyone’s spirits high, are motivating, and make people feel like they are working toward something greater than themselves.

Stay Out of the Way

One of the struggles for almost every leader is striking a balance between managing and giving people the freedom to do their job. While it’s important that you make sure each person on your team is performing as expected, creating the space for individuals to fully utilize their skills is important as well. When you build trust within your team and allow individuals the autonomy to do their best work, they do so with tremendous pride and your team can flourish as a result. This is also a key to keeping your best performers from looking for challenges elsewhere.

Mutual Feedback

It’s human nature to want to know how you’re performing. Consistent feedback is crucial so that everyone is on the same page and expectations are met. Scheduling frequent reviews with each team member is a must.

During these reviews, it’s important that the conversation be an open discussion about performance and anything that might be missing. This can go both ways however. As the manager of a team you need to have a conversation about a team members’ performance, but taking it a step further and asking for feedback about the job you’re doing as a leader as well can provide important insight. Ask them what you can do to help them be more effective in their job. You may learn about issues you hadn’t even thought of. When professional back-and-forth dialogue exists that is helpful for all parties involved, your team only stands to benefit.

It’s no mystery that leaders are needed in every organization. Without leaders to provide direction, motivation and oversight, most companies would perish. Some leaders are better than others though. If you find yourself in a position of managing a team or department, utilizing some of the tactics above can mean the world for your teams’ productivity and set you apart as someone who is both respected and effective.

Do you want to learn more? Contact me, Jeff King, owner of RQ Focus. I help business owners match with the right employee for their job opening in the life science industries.

Every job industry fluctuates. New technology develops and revolutionary ideas change job processes. In the life sciences industries, regulations and requirements can change relatively frequently. The most valuable employees research and learn the new trends. Doing so, improves the likelihood of a raise or promotion.

For many, the problem is optimizing learning practices. This article explains how to learn faster when job industries are quickly changing. Fast learning can be a valuable method to achieve your professional goals.

Determine Your Ultimate Goal and Objective

You will stay motivated when you discover your “why”.

To clarify your “why”, write down your goal and objective. The terms are often interchanged. According to Diffen, a goal is “the purpose toward which an endeavor is directed”. Goals are long term. To accomplish your goal, you must find your objective which is “something that one’s efforts or actions are intended to attain or accomplish; purpose; target.” Objectives are short term and refer to specific actions.

In business, your goal could be to get promoted. The objective is to complete trainings which will allow you to lead a project and earn the promotion. Objectives are the steps to complete your goal. Remember your objective and goals as you study.

Build a Healthy Learning Environment

It will be impossible to succeed in unhealthy learning environment. One of the most important functions of a healthy learning environment is eliminating distractions. This allows you to focus and implement strategies to succeed.

Another priority is a clean and comfortable setting. Find a room that has sunlight. You may also want a standup desk or comfortable furniture, and work equipment.

Get Your Sleep

Sleep should not be a luxury. It is mandatory for healthy cognitive skills. According to Harvard’s journal, Healthy Med, “sleep plays an important role in memory, both before and after learning a new task.” This occurs from two key ways. First, a sleep deprived person cannot focus attention to learn efficiently. Second, sleep helps consolidate memories.

Rather than staying up late to learn a new business technology, the better choice might be to go to sleep and return to the task when you are well rested. The time to learn the task could reduce dramatically.

Learn Information in Multiple Ways

What works for one person to learn, does not work for everyone. Try multiple methods to learn a new task. This includes videos, textbooks, seminars, interactive classes, and podcasts. Different learning techniques interconnect various parts of your brain.

According to Judy Willis of Loma School of Medicine, “The more regions of the brain that store data about a subject, the more interconnection there is. This redundancy means students will have more opportunities to pull up all of those related bits of data from their multiple storage areas in response to a single cue. This cross-referencing of data means we have learned, rather than just memorized.”

Learning is necessary in every job industry. I am a Specialty Quality and Regulatory Recruiter that can help motivated employees find high quality jobs. Contact me, Jeff King, at jking@rqfocus.com or (541) 639-3501.

Telecommuting is the dream. You get to work where you want and when you want. For many businesses, telecommuters can work great. They maintain happy and productive employees with a low turnover rate. Other businesses do not have the flexibility for telecommuters.

As a specialty recruiter for Regulatory and Quality professionals, I have seen when telecommuting works in extremely professional settings. Regulatory employees have more success telecommuting. The majority of their work is research and document generation and review which can be completed at home with the proper tools. On the other hand, Quality employees need to be onsite more to support manufacturing and product development. Each employee has their part to ensure that products meet FDA standards but the different tasks assigned to their profession prevents telecommuting for many of the employees.

When Is Telecommuting Appropriate for Companies?

Research Positions

If your employee’s research project requires only a computer and internet connection then they can probably work remotely. In the industries I represent, this applies to Regulatory employees but can, to a more limited extent, apply to some Quality professionals as well. You may choose to start your employees in the office to prove that they are responsible. With time, give them the telecommuting option to improve employee happiness.

Little Interaction with Coworkers

If your employee’s job requires a physical presence then a telecommuting job is not efficient for your company. For example, office manager, product testing, or supervisor. However, telecommuting works well for project-based, data analysis or computer programming work.

Already Working Considerable Amount from Home

Does your employee bring their work home? Employees that bring their work home are usually stressed and overwhelmed, which could lead to their resignation. This can also be true if their commute into your office is a difficult one. If your employee can work remotely half of the time or even full time, let them. The best remote workers depict responsible work ethic. You may want to call your employee into the office for an occasional meeting, but if the work is getting done when they are remote, allow the option.

When Is Telecommuting Not Feasible for Your Company

• Position requires high amount of supervision
• Position requires a lot of live interaction with co-workers
• Employee deals with sensitive or confidential information
• Employees must attend meetings

A large part of building a great company is making your employees happy. Now, more companies allow employees to work remotely. You can increase productivity and avoid high turnover. If your employee is asking to work remotely, evaluate their position and whether it would fit your company’s needs. A great employee can be hard to find. Do your best to make them happy and you will draw more forward-thinking workers.

Meetings – we have to have them but they can be giant time consumers in our work day. For many companies, meetings are prolonged from chit chat and ramble. Others are poorly organized. This can be frustrating for employees that have piles of work.

As a Specialty Quality and Regulatory Recruiter, I have seen the processes of many different types of companies. Some works. Others ends in disaster. Meetings can be crucial to organize your team and make sure you are on the same page.

I have outlined tips that can create more efficient meetings. Start implementing these tips to save valuable time at work.

Review Attendee List

It’s frustrating for employees who are sitting at meetings that they know that they don’t have to attend. A meeting could add an extra hour onto their work day. Before you ask for a meeting, consider who really needs to attend.

The employees that should be at meetings will contribute to the project. Unnecessary attendees will only waste valuable time at the company’s expense.

Distribute Written Agenda in Advance

Be prepared before the meeting. Create a written agenda and email it to your attendees. That way, they will be prepared with the information that they need to bring. Your employees will not be pulling up information spontaneously on their lap top. You have already prepared them for what you need to discuss.

Manage the Meeting by the Clock

It’s easy to waste time chatting about weekend plans, family, or sporting event. However, meetings are not the time to have these discussions. Create a timeline to keep the meeting moving.

For example, 10 minutes for project status. 30 minutes for planning.

Determine the timeline that works best for the productivity of your team.

Take Notes

We can’t remember everything. As a business leader, it is essential to take notes. Record project status, updates, and plans. Type out your ideas and send the record to attendees after the meeting. This will prevent your team from forgetting details. You will not have to repeat information at the next meeting.

Start On-Time

Along with following a time schedule is starting on-time. Tell your employees in advance the meeting will begin promptly at the arranged time. Start the meeting even if some of your attendees are absent.

Punctuality is professional and necessary in the workplace.

Tardiness is embarrassing for most professionals. Starting your meetings on time can help influence your team to arrive promptly.

Sleep – we know that we need it but between work and life, getting enough hours can seem impossible. However, it’s essential to make time for seven to eight hours of sleep per night. Sleep deprivation can lead to serious mental and physical health problems that impacts your work performance.

If you are a business leader, you may find that you need to hire another employee to get the sleep that you need (that’s where a specialist like me can help you find someone to help you sleep better and not lose even more sleep).

Not convinced? Learn how sleep deprivation could impact your mental and physical health:

Memory

Without adequate sleep, your body has trouble absorbing information. If you are sleep deprived at work, you could forget to complete daily tasks, phone calls, or even show up to meetings. Forgetting can severely hurt your job performance. In the worse scenarios, forgetfulness leads to losing your job.

According to WebMD, there are three stages of memory:

• Acquisition — learning or experiencing something new
• Consolidation — the memory becomes stable in the brain
• Recall — having the ability to access the memory in the future

Acquisition and recall occur while you are awake. However, consolidation requires sleep. If you do not get the sleep you need, your brain will have a hard time absorbing new information. That means, double the work or training time.

Moodiness

After a sleepless night, you may notice yourself irritable and moody. Not only does this create a bad day but can be annoying for everyone around you.

University of Pennsylvania researchers found that subjects who were limited to only 4.5 hours of sleep a night for one week reported feeling more stressed, angry, sad, and mentally exhausted. When the subjects resumed normal sleep, they reported a dramatic improvement in mood.

High Blood Pressure

Sleeping seven to eight hours a week may treat high blood pressure.

Sound too good to be true?

It’s actually pretty simple.

Sleep helps regulate your stress hormones. Lack of sleep could decrease your body’s ability to regulate stress hormones which leads to high blood pressure.

Make sure you receive adequate sleep if you experience high blood pressure. Missing sleep could make your blood pressure difficult to manage.

Weight Gain

Do you ever notice that you want to snack when you are tired? Your brain is looking for food for energy. Unfortunately, no almonds, chips, or vanilla latte will make up for a bad night’s sleep.

Sleep deprivation can cause increased levels of a hunger hormone called ghrelin and decreased levels of the satiety/fullness hormone called leptin, which could lead to overeating and weight gain.

Poor Balance

Lack of sleep can impact your coordination. This can lead to workplace trips and falls. It’s important to get enough sleep for any office setting.

Taking care of yourself is important to all aspects of your life. Make time for sleep and, at work, make sure you have a team you can rely on to meet your goals to reduce your stress. I can’t do much to help you with your sleep, but I can do a lot to help you build a great team.

Managers have more responsibility than overseeing project scope and client delivery. People Management can be the hardest tasks on a manager’s job description.

Every employee is different. Successful managers recognize employee strengths and different types of communication required. This is not an easy task. You must first understand the different personality types.

According to Gallup’s State of the American Manager: Analytics and Advice for Leaders report, there are 6 types of personalities.

Personality Types

Judging

Judgers want work to be neat, orderly, and established. They want the workplace to be predictable.

Perceiving

Perceivers are more openminded than judgers. They can change to your office’s situation and respond well to unpredictable events.

Extraversion

Extraverts are lively, energetic, and always looking for ways to interact with other coworkers. Extraverts are often involved in brainstorming sessions and work well with others.

Introversion

Introverts are the opposite of extroverts. They would rather perform tasks by themselves. They are independent, reserved, and focused.

Thinking

Thinkers are the analytical employees in the office. They will think of how to improve projects and are detail oriented. Thinkers are often experts in a single field.

Feeling

Feelers are the opposite of Thinkers. A Thinker is compassionate, warm, and supportive. They often go out of their way for other employees. Their motivation is often for people, rather than facts.

How-To Manage Different Personality Types

The first step is to assess, not assume. View every new hire as a blank slate. After you discover their personality type, you will be better able to manage for each employee’s strengths and talents.

Some simple way to gain some insights as to their personality type is to ask them to describe a job or project that they really enjoyed, and ask them what specifically made it such an enjoyable experience. You can also ask the opposite question of a job or project they enjoyed the least and what made it so terrible. Their answer will give you clues as to what is most important to them and how best to manage them.

The Meyer Brigg’s Personality test can provide a more accurate depiction. Speak with Human Resources to discover if testing is available for your employees.

Managers are the backbone of the company. Make it clear that your employees are all working toward a common goal. You may need to reassign your employee’s tasks for their strengths. Doing so, might be timely but will contribute to the success of the project.

By narrowing down your employee’s strengths, they will feel more successful and appreciated. Everyone wants to feel appreciated. Your team could work harder for you which increases productivity. Do not punish your employees in public if they are not achieving their goals.

Learning to manage different personality types can be rewarding and improve employee happiness and the productivity of your company. If you are hiring, know what skills you require. As a recruiter, I can help create appropriate personality questions to find the best employee for the job position.

Delegation can be difficult for many business leaders – even scary! When you delegate, you are handing over responsibilities. Often, these could be tasks that you performed well for years.

Wouldn’t it be better for the company to just continue the tasks yourself?

Rarely.

Delegation can improve the productivity of a company. You can complete work faster and grow branches of the business. It can even help you keep your most valued employees by giving them new challenges. If delegation is a struggle then follow these five steps:

1. Trust Your Employees

The first step to delegation is trusting your employees. If you cannot trust your employees you will never be able to delegate.

Ask your employees if they would like to take on more responsibility. Tell them if this could lead to a raise or promotion. You can even make this part of your employee development plan.

2. Establish Your Priorities

Create a priority system for delegating tasks. You can divide tasks into categories – for example, urgent, important, and low tasks. Delegate the urgent tasks first.

3. Hire If Necessary

No delegation systems work without a strong team. You may determine that you need to hire after you establish priorities and the status of your employee.

As a Specialized Quality and Regulatory Recruiter, I have helped business leaders hire productive employees to handle delegation, and to upgrade the caliber of their team.

4. Include Instructions

It would be great if your employees could read your mind. Unfortunately, most businesses don’t have that technology! Include detailed instructions to get your delegated tasks finished correctly and also set clear expectations. Eventually your employees will not require lengthy instructions which can save you hours, or even days of work.

What to Include in Your Instructions

• Detailed Milestones
• Deadlines
• Small Tasks

Delegating is a major step for any business leader. If you feel you need to add to your team, contact me to discuss your needs and we can create a solution plan for you. Contact me at jking@rfocus.com or (541) 639-3501.

Asking questions can be the simplest and most effective ways of learning. Innovators, brilliant minds, and curious thinkers ask questions. If you are not asking questions, you could be missing out on opportunities.

As a business leader, information is imperative. You need to understand what your employees and clients need, as well as where your organization can improve.

Not convinced? Learn why asking questions can be imperative in the workplace:

Questions Encourage Creative Thinking

An innovative company is always coming up with new ideas. Brainstorming sessions are a productive method to inspiring new ideas. Questions can create the creative thinking that you need for a great brainstorming session. Open-ended questions are some of the most efficient, such as;

• I wonder if/why…
• What would happen if…
• In what ways can we…

Questions Create Reflection

There are periods where we all just focus on getting the job done. However, if those periods turn into years, we can lose the spark that makes us creative leaders. Constantly ask yourself questions, such as;

• Why are you in business?
• What is your favorite part of your job?
• How did you create change this year?

Questions Start Change

It’s easy to get stuck in a rut. During those periods, we know that we need to make changes but we can’t find where to make it work. Your questions could open a new way of thinking that keeps your company innovative.

Now that you know why to ask questions, it’s important to recognize how to ask. You don’t want your important question to go unnoticed.

• Watch your tone by keeping it casual.
• Use follow-up questions by focusing on listening.
• If you are looking for information, start with the tough questions. If you want to build relationships, start with the easy questions.
• Keep the questions open-ended.

Memorial Day is this weekend! This means, it is a three-day weekend for many of us. As you launch into summer it is important to develop a great work/life balance. A healthy balance helps you to spend more time doing the activities that you love.

The following tips can help you build a balance to enjoy your summer while working productively:

Schedule Your Day

We often fail to schedule our day or modify our schedules when we get distracted. To work efficiently, create a schedule (every day!) and stick to it. This could cut hours of work.

Tips to Schedule Your Day

1. Morning Ritual – Create a routine that makes you feel best throughout the day. Get up half an hour early to exercise or meditate. Eat a healthy breakfast.
2. Plan Your Daily Tasks- You can save time if you have a plan for the day. Know what tasks are a priority and create a Google Calendar to organize your day.
3. Plan Your Meetings in the Afternoon – Get the important tasks finished in the morning and save the afternoon for meetings and important phone calls.

Stay Healthy

Do you often miss your kid’s summer baseball games or concerts in the park from working long hours? Maintaining a healthy body can help you cope with work’s pressures to prevent working more than 40 hours per week.

Tips to Stay Physically Healthy

• Eat Healthy
• Avoid Stimulants
• Exercise Regularly
• Get Plenty of Sleep

Unplug After Work

Most of us are connected to our smartphones. We even use our phones as alarm clocks. However, when we are connected to our devices, it can prevent us from being present with our friends and family.

After you leave work, put your phone to the side. If you can’t ditch your phone, turn off email notifications and put it on silent while you go on the mountain bike, golf game, or hike with your family.

Do not answer work calls after you leave the office. Your friends and family will appreciate your presence.

Delegate Your Tasks

We often take responsibility for tasks “just to get it done” or “because we can”. Eventually, accepting too much responsibility leads to burnout. You will then get stressed, tired, and overwhelmed.

It’s okay to delegate tasks. Hire a contractor to avoid the costs of a full-time employee or for temporary projects. You can hire contractors online from websites such as Fiverr and Upwork. And if you are in Regulatory Affairs or Quality in the San Francisco Bay Area, I can help you find contract help as well.

Take a Vacation

It’s summer! Have some fun! Go on that much needed vacation. A vacation helps you feel refreshed.
Encourage your employees to take a vacation also. Your employees will be more well-rested and energized to enjoy their work. Happy employees generate a productive company.

Stress can cause us to get distracted with negative thoughts, which impacts our work and personal lives. It’s important to find a way to overcome your negative thoughts to maintain healthy relationships, productivity, and attitudes.

Learn how to stop your negative thoughts at work with the following tips:

The First Step: Recognize Your Negative Thinking

The first step is to recognize your negative thinking. If you cannot recognize negative thoughts, you will not be able to fix the problem.

It could be as simple as someone not wiping down the table in the break room, getting called into another meeting when you have piles of work, or a customer complaint. Discover your triggers.

Changing Your Negative Thinking

Positive Self-Talk

Now that you recognize your stressors, use positive self-talk when the thought goes through your head.

Positive self-talk is not deception. Internal messages can evolve stressful situations into opportunities.

To achieve positive self-talk, write down a few messages that you can tell yourself, such as:

• Stop
• Get out of my head

Or something more colorful!

Get Around Positivity

Your environment will affect your mindset. Surround yourself with positive people. If your friends are dragging you down then decrease time spent with them. If you work in a negative work environment then you may consider changing jobs. As a Specialty Recruiter, I can help employees in the pharmaceutical and medical device industry find jobs that provide a supportive and healthy work environment.

Focus on the End Result

Accomplishing a goal can be frustrating. Keep the end result in mind to overcome hurdles that slow the process.

Why are you going through this process?

How will it help your company?

Drop the Expectations

If we have high expectations, we will often be disappointed when our plan falters. Be flexible with your plan. For example, you may have to work with a co-worker unexpectedly. Recognize that they bring different knowledge that could benefit the project.

Create a Heathy Morning Routine

Your morning routine can affect the rest of your day. Start your day with healthy choices to prevent negative thoughts. The following are a few practices that you could fit into your morning to achieve a more positive day.

• Stop hitting the snooze button
• Yoga or meditation
• Healthy breakfast
• Drink a glass of lemon water