Sunday, November 25, 2007
The Impact of Stress
Watson Wyatt Worldwide, a national business group with a focus on health, recently took a survey among 275 employers to find out the key issues affecting employee productivity. Here are the issues they identified as reducing employee effectiveness:- Stress. Identified by 72% of the employers as a key issue relative to productivity, stress has been building in the workplace as employers find it increasingly necessary to have more work done by fewer employees.
- Personal/Family Issues. After stress in the survey, 59% said a key issue affecting employee productivity were personal and family issues. Personal and family issues include such items as day care, family illnesses, marital stress, financial troubles, and other personal issues. These issues are high contributors to presenteeism, a condition where employees are at work physically, but not mentally.
- Chronic Medical Conditions. An issue contributing to presenteeism and frequent tardiness and absenteeism, this issue was cited by 58% of employers.
- Unscheduled Absences. Just behind chronic medical conditions, and probably also a result of those medical conditions, sick and personal time was identified by 57% of employers.
A certain amount of stress is necessary and an important part of daily life if we are to grow as individuals. However people often will ignore this routine stress until it amplifies and starts to take a toll on their life. Lost sleep, ulcers, relationship troubles, nervousness, and slower responsiveness are all results of excessive or poorly handled stress.
Easy tips for reducing stress
To read some great tips that you can put to immediate use to reduce stress in your workplace, click here to read the full article.
Wednesday, November 21, 2007
Giving thanks
Tomorrow the United States will observe the Thanksgiving holiday. It is a time when Americans pause to show appreciation for the many blessings they have received during the prior year.Family and friends are important parts of this holiday, but so is remembering ultimately where our blessings originate.
Giving thanks should not be a one-day event. Leaders understand the importance of giving thanks:
- Employees that go the extra mile
- Customer that remain loyal
- Peers that offer encouragement
- Supervisors that help us discover the leader within us
It is by giving thanks that we show appreciation and strengthen our relationship with each other and our relationship with the One from whom blessings stem.
What I am thankful for
As the leader of Max Impact I am thankful for the many new relationships we have made this year and the fact that we are having another year of growth as an organization in a difficult local economy.
Most of all I am thankful for completing a life dream – the publication of my first book. As I travel and meet new people I am amazed at how many people aspire to write a book. They have great ideas and stories that are locked within their heads and hearts. Yet they have not yet begun to turn their dream into a reality.
It hit me while presenting a talk early this year that until I took the major challenge of writing a book and broke the overall task into smaller goals I would never realize the dream – even though I had been working off-and-on on the book for several years. As the book started to come together in the springtime, I was encouraged. Writing consumed my summer and finally I had a manuscript to send to the publisher.
It was amazing to see the final product and realize that the dream was reality. The feeling was overwhelming. It was humbling to know that it was not something I did on my own. It involved relationships from along the pathway of my life, encouragement from my wife and others, and moments of inspiration to turn brain waves into written words.
The book was designed for business leaders, such as yourself. It is a collection of 53 short stories about the people, events, and things in my life and how they taught me leadership lessons. The book contains many helpful lists to enable dealing with change, handling difficult people, overcoming adversity, leading others, and much more. It is designed to be a learning component in staff meetings or a personal study into how the reader can become a better leader. It is an essential for aspiring leaders and anyone wishing to enhance their leadership ability
Go to http://www.lifesleadershiplessons.com/ to learn more about the book or to place an order (it is only available from the website).
If you have a goal that has evaded you for years, I encourage you to break your goal into small chunks and begin moving toward the finish line. If I can do it there is no doubt that you can accomplish one of your life goals also.
Have a great Thanksgiving!
© 2007 Max Impact
Labels: Goals, Leadership, Recognition, Traits
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