| JJ's (August '09) Tips in this issue: 1. Your Boss May Be Affecting Your Health 2. JJ's Favorite Quotes 3. Tele-Coaching & Tele-Mentoring Use the following tips as training tools. Present this situation to your group and brainstorm solutions together, or submit your own situation question to be answered in an upcoming newsletter. ------------------------------------- SITUATION QUESTION: ------------------------------------- What can be done about a high-ego boss who makes the people who report to him feel inferior? He takes credit for our ideas, talks about us in a demeaning way and is impossible to please. The people on our team get sick frequently and we suspect it is largely due to stress caused by our boss and the economic downturn. Quitting is not an option for most of us, so what can we do to make him aware of his destructive behavior? --------------------- SOLUTIONS: --------------------- No one can make you feel inferior unless you allow them to do so. If you have not tried to have a crucial conversation with him or her, this could be the first place to start. You must make him feel safe by talking about a shared goal that everyone would benefit from in the end. Act assertive and confident to gain his respect. He will listen to what you are saying if he perceives you to have something valuable and constructive to convey. Talk from the “I” perspective instead of the “you” as this will prevent his need to push back or defend himself. You want him to listen, so be prepared. Do your homework by listening to what he says is important to him and his work. Start with those subjects and project ways you feel you could work well together to accomplish his desires. This will feed his ego as he sees you helping him “look good.” You may be wanting to say, When you talk about us to other people like that, it makes us feel really bad. Everyone thinks the stress of it is making us sick too. You might say instead, When I hear myself described in that way, I feel inferior and it reflects badly on our department too. We need the respect and cooperation of other departments to meet our goals, so could you consider speaking about us in a more complimentary way? Of course, your sincere desire to help your boss, department and yourself must be reflected positively in your attitude, body language and tone of your voice. If you seem against him in any way, you defeat your purpose of working as a team with and for him. No one can change him. Only he can change himself, but if you change your way of dealing with him, you may be able to influence him in a positive direction. This would certainly help to create a healthier environment in which to work. The Energy Doctor and Optimum Brain Performance Educator, Dr Jerry Tiplitz, wrote this on the subject in his July Tiplitz Email Report. Your Boss May Be Affecting Your Health! A study in the November 27th online Journal of Occupational Environment Medicine was conducted over a ten-year period at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, Sweden. Researchers observed the long-term health effects that a boss might have on his or her employees. The study tracked 3,000 men with an average age of 42 and better than average access to health care. Each participant rated their boss’ behavior on 10 measures, including statements such as “My boss gives me the information I need” and “I have sufficient power in relation to my responsibilities.” By the end of the study, 74 men had suffered heart attacks and other serious cardiac events. It turned out that the lower a boss’ leadership score, the higher the worker’s risk of having a cardio event. The chance of a heart attack also increased with the number of years of exposure to the bad boss. So…if you have a bad boss, you might not want to stay in that position as it could harm your health over a long period of time. If you’re one of those bad bosses, it’s time you changed your ways! For more information on Dr. Teplitz' performance enhancement and productivity programs or his monthly Teplitz Email Reports, visit http://www.teplitz.com/ezine.htm ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ JJ's FAVORITE QUOTES: ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ “If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader.” - John Quincy Adams “Motivation is everything. You can do the work of two people, but you can't be two people. Instead, you have to inspire the next guy down the line and get him to inspire his people.” - Lee Iacocca ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Tele-COACHING & Tele-MENTORING ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ DO YOU WANT TO IMPROVE in an area? Service? Sales? * Motivation and growth of your people? * Dealing with irate internal or external customers? * Leading and Coaching your staff? TRY our one-on-one Tele-Mentoring (phone coaching service) that is available to business owners, executives, managers, supervisors and staff members. Call for your FREE CONSULTATION now! 800 500-9656 or 408 445-1590 __________________________________ EVALUATION OF YOUR ENVIRONMENT: __________________________________ Have you had an Evaluation of Your Environment lately so you could receive suggestions on improving it? (It's like the doctor's check up, you often don't know you need it, until after you've had it.) http://www.jjlauderbaugh.com/about.html **************************************** |